[ He's about the most impassive person that she's ever met. Ellie blinks within her costume, heaves a dramatic sigh, and then walks (hobbles, really) back toward her own room. ]

This is kind of like what I told you about. [ She speaks up out of nowhere. ] When we first met? When we were talking about holidays? This is like Halloween, except it's in the summer, and... there's a real monster here. Pretty sure there weren't any involved at home.

[ Now the world is full of monsters, of course, and Halloween is a story to pass down to Ellie's generation. ]