“AHHHHHHHHHHHH” a little girl screamed.
Leaves crunched as she quickly ran away with a handful of candy in her fist, leaving a trail of chocolate bars left on the uneven sidewalk.
The night of halloween, junior Abby Bachelor put on her costume, and walked outside to the haunted house her and her dad had built. She eyed every corner, plotting on the right hiding spot to scare people.
As the little girl walked through the haunted house, tension thickened the air. Abby slowly creeped around the house and planted her feet near the candy bowl.
When the girl got to the end of the house, Abby knew it was time to perform.
For a second, the air got quiet, so quiet to where only the grimace laughs of the animatronics could be heard.
The girl reached into the candy bowl and grabbed a handful of chocolate bars.
Abby slowly squatted around the candy table and crawled behind her victim.
“BOO!” Abby yelled with her arms spread out.
Abby chuckled as she completed her mission of scaring someone.
***
When Abby was 12 years old, she started noticing that her neighborhood always went all-out for Halloween. Everyone’s houses were always covered in decorations like spider webs and Halloween decals.
One October afternoon, two weeks before Halloween, Abby’s dad was driving home from school.
“I have an idea,” Her dad said. “ “Let’s build a haunted house for our neighborhood.”
She smiled and quickly agreed to help out. For her, it wasn’t random for her dad to be asking to help with his projects. Since Abby was little her dad would always ask for help doing crafts that included mechanics, as their way of bonding.
But the relationship between her and her father wasn’t always smooth sailing.
For Abby, spending time with her dad through her teenage years had been difficult. Her and her father found it more complicated to find time to connect.
Not only was the haunted house something fun to do for their neighbors, but it also made time for them to catch up after a busy week.
Around a day or two before they started building, Abby and her dad went to their local Lowe’s to grab supplies. Her dad drew sketches of designs for the haunted house, and she chose which one she liked best.
For them both it was fairly easy, Abby’s dad mainly handled most of the building supplies like tarp and pipes, while Abby stuck to the fun stuff. Going through the Halloween decorations brewed excitement in Abby for Halloween.
“Decorating is always my favorite part of building,” Abby said.
Now their relationship has grown much stronger, but there are still stressful moments. While assembling the haunted house, this past year, Abby and her father had to spend extra hours fixing the haunted house after bad weather struck it down.
There were high wind speeds throughout the area and rain gathered at the top of the tarp that acted as the “roof” of the haunted house, causing it to collapse.
Walking outside to see the damage, they both looked at each other in awe. Abby let out a deep breath knowing they both would have to come up with a plan to fix what the whole neighborhood had been looking forward to.
With only three days left until Halloween night, they re-built the haunted house, tensioned filled the cold. air. Although they were both stressed out, they. Knew in order to finish they had to work together.
With less than a day to spare, they were both able to rebuild and repaint, thankful they finished it all in time.
Looking back on it now, Abby and her dad laugh, but then, it was a way for Abby to learn how to cope with stressful moments. Despite what may happen in the future, she knew her dad was always there to help her.
“By the end of building the haunted house, I feel a lot closer with my dad than I did before,” Abby said. “I feel like that’s what I enjoy most about building it, that I make so many memories and talk about my feelings with him.”
Ryan Bachelor, Abby’s dad, enjoyed seeing his daughter be able to express her creative abilities. Being able to be a part of the challenges they’ve faced while building and the laughs they’ve shared, made the experience for both of them memorable. Although it takes a lot of time and effort, it is always something he looks forward to every October.
One of her dad’s favorite memories was the first time they built the haunted house ..Abby had to connect the tarp to the PVC pipe on the very top of the house, securing it in place. She nervously climbed on the ladder to get to the top of the house, but her dad made sure to hold it tightly.
Although she wasn’t scared of heights, the possibility of falling from a tall place made her nervous. On her way back down, she fell off of the ladder and the leftover top fell on her. Abby brushed herself off and quickly got up. They both shared a laugh together and continued building.
The memory slowly turned into a bonding moment as they built and shared a story to remember that they would be able to talk about for the rest of their lives.
***
Throughout the month leading up to Halloween, kids in the neighborhood passed by her house looking to see the progress her and her dad made everyday. They waited eagerly for the haunted house to be built and always showed excitement when it was finally done.
”This is the first time in years that someone has out beat me in decorations” Abby’s neighbor, Joe, said. “I’m so glad the kids have something like this.”
This year Abby and her dad have started setting up the PVC pipes in front of their house. Gathering supplies together again, they are both excited to see what new layout they come up with.
If you want a scare, thrill, or simply just want to go for the candy at the end, Abby and her dad have the perfect solution that everyone nearby looks forward to seeing.
“It makes me so happy seeing all the kids’ faces when they pass by the haunted house and see it’s finally done,” Abby said. “Their faces light up with so much joy.”
