This is really supposed to take place AFTER my Hawaii-story "Pupukahi i holomua", but since Halloween was yesterday I just want to get this up. It's not reeeally including any spoilers but if you read well through the lines you may be able to catch some stuff up ;D Hope you had a good Halloween and hope you enjoy this!
I do not own Charlie's Angels or the characters except people you haven't seen in the show. This story is for entertainment/enjoyment purposes only.
Thank you BlueOrbs998 and kp1185 for help and support!
When Borders Become Thinner
"Booo!"
Kelly looked around and raised an eyebrow as she heard someone jump up behind her and try to spoke her. It had not succeeded though, Kelly was prepared for anything that would be thrown in her way today. It was the night of the dead, the festival of Samhain which celebrates the end of the lighter half of the year and the beginning of the darker half. The ancient Celts believed that during this night, the border between the world and the Otherworld became thinner which allows both good and evil spirits to pass through. For ages people dressed in costumes and masks to scare of the evil, harmful spirits, and even though that pretty much wasn't the purpose anymore, people still enjoy dressing up in costumes and attending or hosting masquerade parties.
And that was what was happening at the Garrett house today. Aurore had her two sous chefs from her restaurant at their house and they had been preparing food and snacks since early this morning. The entire gang was coming over to their place when the darkness had fallen and they were going to celebrate Halloween together, and for the start of the party it was an open house where everyone had invited all of their friends. It was approximately 50 people coming and Kelly was looking forward to see what everyone would dress up as, she herself didn't plan to dress up like anything. She didn't like dressing up and didn't see a point with it at all, but obviously the teenager behind her had other plans.
Kelly looked Peggy over, wondering what had happened to her. Something was so off with her clothing and Kelly tilted her head. Peggy always wore real country clothes, flannel blouses, western boots, brown dresses and so on, but today she was dressed very strictly in a brown suit with a cream colored blouse underneath it. Her big hair that usually could fill out a room by itself had been slicked back into a tight ponytail and Kelly hardly recognized the southern belle as she stepped inside. She wore high heels on her feet and she had a light blue scarf around her neck to get some color into it all. The suit jacket was tight around her chest and in the cleavage was a pair of black sunglasses hanging on the outside of the jacket.
"Are you dressed up?" Kelly asked in confusion, not used to see Peggy in these clothes but she could not for the love of god understand what Peggy was dressed as.
"I am! Can't ya see it?"
"What… are you?"
Out of nowhere, Peggy stroke a pose, pulled up a purple watergun from her back pocket and spurted a ray of water into Kelly's face. Kelly didn't move a muscle except her eyebrows which raised up again before heaving a sigh.
"I'm Garrett. Kelly Garrett. Licensed PI." Peggy said, in as calm, deep voice as she possibly could, trying to imitate Kelly's accent. She pulled up Kelly's license and showed it to her before tucking it back into her inner pocket.
"Is that MY detective license?" Kelly asked in surprise and Peggy nodded proudly as she put the gun back and put on the sunglasses in a movement that looked like it was taken right out of a movie about mobsters.
"I've borrowed it." Peggy grinned, then putting down a big bag onto Kelly's bed. "Now you get changed! It's getting darker soon and we're gonna be leaving in a few hours ya know. I'm sending the children up here too so you can change on them, theirs and your costumes are all here."
"… What?"
"We're going out trick or treat Kelly, ya know that! We've spoken 'bout it all week! I need to head ov'r to Jill's a while but ya get the kids ready and come see us when y'all goin' out."
"But… What? Do I have to come too!"
"Omigod Kelly! I can't take them all out mahself! Ya know Jill is busy with Annie and won't come ov'r until the party and Rory is cookin' and Kris ain't goin' anywh're. She's still all gloomy and sad, ya know that, ya seen her. We need to do som'thin' for her by the way 'cause I can't stand seein' her all sad."
"She'll come out of it soon Peggy, I will make sure of that." Kelly said gently to Peggy who smiled back at her, then opening the clothing bag she had brought and pulled out Kelly's costume.
"Aurore told me to get this for ya."
Kelly stared at it, not knowing really what to say, but she didn't even have time to say anything either before Peggy dropped the costume on her bed and skipped out of the room, then remembering she was playing a part, and instead of her normal bouncing around, she walked calm and steady with beautiful poise and grace. Just like Kelly. Kelly shook her head as she watched Peggy leave before looking over her costume, sighing before rolling her eyes. She could just as well put it on because she knew she would not get any rest until she had dressed up. The others would be nagging at her for all day if she didn't show up in a costume.
It didn't take long before she heard a rumble coming her way, and soon the four children dropped into her room. Ella and Sarah bounced up into the bed while Jacob and Jessica immediately let out loud wails because they couldn't get into it by themselves, they were still too small.
Oscar had followed inside too, and Ella had been carrying Fluffy, the big iguana who for some reason had left Jill's place after a few months, just like Peggy had promised, but he had moved over to Kelly's place instead. Kelly never understood why, when or how that happened, but here Ella was coming half pulling half carrying the enormous blue iguana. Oscar took a leap up into the bed and begun sniffing around among the costumes as Ella managed to get Fluffy up into Kelly's bed too. Kelly got Jacob and Jessica up and then looked over her bed. There were four children, five costumes, a dog and a three foot iguana. It might have been a weird sight, but to Kelly, it felt completely normal. This was not really uncommon to the Garrett House.
The kids all begun pulling at the bag with costumes, wanting to find their own, and Kelly managed to grab onto hers and hung it over the door to her closet before she took the costumes away from the children. Ella pouted as she managed to grab onto a pair of small horn and a little red cape. Happily, she put the horns onto Oscar's head as he turned around and licked her in the face, and she managed to tie them down with a string. She then put the red cape around his neck and smiles all proudly.
"Mommy do call you devil a lot, I think this fits." Ella said, nodding, whereupon Oscar let out a loud bark and then jumped over Jessica before landing on the floor, running in circles as he tried to catch his cape. Kelly couldn't help but to laugh as she grabbed the small crown from the bag and tied it down on top of Fluffy's head. Peggy had bought that especially for Fluffy, and he did look good in the small golden crown. Oscar ran out of the room and Ella and Sarah immediately ran out trying to catch him.
"When mommy come?" Jacob asked as he looked up at Kelly with big eyes.
The twins had been staying at Kelly's place for weeks now, just because Kris was still too much in sorrow over losing her husband. Everyone was trying to help her get on with her life, if not for her own then for her children's' sake, but it had been months and nothing had happened. Kelly didn't know what to do for Kris anymore, but she went over there every day to check on her and make sure she was eating and taking care of herself. It was not their Kris anymore, it was just an empty shell of who she used to be, and Kelly was worried. Kris was fading in front of her eyes and it scared her to death.
"I'm sorry Mommy hasn't been around much, buddy." Kelly said as she sat down in the bed while pulling the costumes out. Getting Jacob's small lion costume, she begun dressing him into it as he giggled and laughed. Kelly turned him upside down and the lion mane in fabric fell down into his face, tickling him before Kelly put him down in the bed again. He crawled around roaring as he came back to Kelly's side, looking up at her with his big light blue eyes. Jessica was upside down in Kelly's lap as Kelly tried dressing her into her dinosaur outfit.
"Mama fix?" Jessica asked, before laughing as Kelly tickled her.
"Fix?" Kelly asked, looking down at the little dinosaur who were on her back and legs straight up towards Kelly's face.
"Fix Mommy!" Jacob called out, bouncing on all four as he did.
"Oh! What do you think I've been trying to do, you little tiger?"
"I be lion!" He immediately corrected her. "Raaawwwr!"
"You're lying to me?" Kelly asked with a smile, petting the little lion's mane.
"Mama silly!" Jacob laughed, laying down flat on his stomach. Kelly loved how he called her mama, and after these weeks of the twins staying here, even Jessica had begun calling her mama.
"Mommy not come?" Jessica asked as she rolled around in her outfit, looking up at Kelly too with her big blue eyes, slightly darker than Jacobs'.
"Aunt Jill will make her come. She'll even dress her up, I promise."
Oscar was suddenly back in bed, jumping into it and happily licking the kids, still dressing in his horns and the red cape. Sarah came running after him, and she grabbed her princess dress from the bed and begun changing into it. Getting it on all wrong she ran up to Kelly only partly in it.
"Mommy! Dress is dumb!"
"Mommy?" Both Jacob and Jessica asked in confusion, immediately thinking of Kris, whom they called mommy while Kelly was "mama". The twins were confused and hopeful as they looked up at Kelly and she didn't even know what to answer them.
"Oh my God, I have four kids. How did this happen? WHEN did this happen?" Kelly said to herself, rolling her eyes. How HAD this happen? She was just as confused as the two children.
Ella suddenly stormed inside holding Kelly's make up bag.
"Moooom you have to do my make up now!"
"Mommy, my dress first!" Sarah shouted, putting at Kelly's arm while pushing Ella away. Ella immediately jumped her and the two of them begun wrestling like real sibling do, and Oscar immediately jumped at them, barking and wiggling his tail in joy thinking it was all a fun game. Kelly rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh. Four kids were a lot of work.
A few hours later, Kelly, Peggy who had returned, Jacob, Jessica, Ella and Sarah were strutting the neighborhood. They were not alone, for sure, there were a lot of kids outside. Some of the older ones walked alone in groups of three or four while the younger kids had some parent or older sibling with them to make sure they got home safely. Everywhere you looked you saw small witches, trolls, kids in jail suits, ghosts and all other creatures of the darkness. Kelly looked down at her own children and couldn't help but to smile. They were all so adorable.
Jacob, the lion, were stumbling pretty much all the time and for the last couple of minutes, Kelly had been carrying him around instead. Jessica was still walking by herself, even if she had trouble too getting anywhere in the big blue dinosaur suit she was wearing, which was, just like Jacob's lion suit, covering her entire body, even her feet. She looked very cute though, dressed as a triceratops – the dinosaur with three horns in it's forehead and she had been crawling around on her knees, running into people's ankles with her horns first. Luckily, the horns were made out of fabric and couldn't hurt anyone.
Kelly had not been surprised to see her Sarah dressed up as a princess in a big white dress with lots of glitter and sparkling rock over it, and a golden crown in her red curls. She loved everything pink and she loved princesses. She had already told Kelly that she was going to grow up and become a princess. 'Fine by me' had been Kelly's reaction. There were worse things to do in life than marry a prince and live in a castle with an endless stream of money coming in. Kelly wasn't all that hopeful though to her daughter's career path, but oh well, nothing is impossible is what they say.
Ella was not a princess though, and she would never settle with something so strict. No, instead, she had dressed like Peggy. She had a Dolly Parton wig on her head, she had on a checkered flannel blouse and a pair of stone washed jeans. She had a pair of western boots on and as if that wasn't enough, she had brought Jill's blue Grand Cayman iguana Fluffy in a leash. He was not in a hurry though so it was taking the gang of six forever to get anywhere on the streets and Peggy had picked up and carried Fluffy several times too, just like Kelly had done with Jacob.
The last costume to mention though was Kelly's own. She was actually quite comfortable in it and she knew she would've been standing out more if she hadn't been dressed up. There were not a single person out at the moment who weren't dressed up, except for some single person hurrying home to his or her family in time for dinner, late from work. Anyway, the costume that Peggy had brought in to her room earlier fitted her nicely, both size wise and her personality. It was a long black dress that sat tight around her body and showed off her curves nicely, and she had a huge black necklace covering big part of her bare chest. She was wearing a long cape too, the outside of it was black as the night while the inside of it was dark blood red. The collar around her neck was stuck to the cape and it reached up to her ears, but with a good distance from her head. It was spiked tops all around it which pretty much looked like claws coming out from the cape. To it all she wore black leather boots with stiletto heel and dark make-up with blood red lips. And not to forget, the most important part of the costume – the custom made fangs she had in her mouth. She had never in her life seen a pair of fangs look so lifelike. She had scared herself a little and Jacob was the only one of her children that hadn't been bothered at all about them, in fact, he had been fascinated and kept wanting her to show them to him over and over again.
Knocking the houses, they filled their baskets up with all sorts of candy and other things that the houses had to offer, and everyone was in such a good mood and it was lots of smiles and laughter. As they were getting tired and the clock was getting closer to party-hour, the gang of six begun heading back. Even though Kelly had not been fond of the idea to go trick or treating, she had for sure been having a fun night. She had never herself been allowed to go trick or treating during her childhood, but her girls had been doing it together with Kris or Jill, or during some years both of them, while Kelly had stayed home, not really interested at all in it. But she sure could see the charm it in, people's beautifully and spooky looking gardens, the darkness surrounding the city, that was bathing in the light of lamp posts and different Halloween decorations that were glowing in the dark. Everywhere you turned there were Jack-o'-lanterns filled with candles, carved differently into random scary faces. Fake spider web were hanging from trees and body limbs were sticking up from the ground.
The gang went over to their neighbors across the road and knocked the door as they saw that the lights were finally turned on. Jill opened the door and her face immediately turned into a wide smile as she saw her family. Kelly and Peggy's smiled too as they saw Jill, she was dressed in a huge pink dress, the bottom layer was enormous and wide while from her hip and up it was as tight as could be. Just like Sarah she had sparkling glitter all over it, and she also had on a pair of small wings on her back. Her hair was neatly put up with some small strings of corkscrewed hair hanging down, and her hair was stacked with small fake pink flowers with diamonds attached to them.
"Aw don't you guys look awesome!"
"Candiiie!" Jessica immediately said, holding out her bucket for Jill to fill up, even though it was so heavy that she could hardly carry it herself anymore. Jill smiled brightly as she leaned down and lifted the girl up, giving her a kiss on her cheek. Jessica frowned and immediately started whining, holding up her bucket for Jill to put something in it. She was a Munroe and she wanted candy. Jill laughed as she put the dinosaur back down and turned around, face into the house, as Jessica immediately started pulling at Jill's dress, still mad about not having gotten anything yet.
"Damien, you coming?"
Damien appeared a second later with a pumpkin in his arms, although as Kelly looked at it closer she realized that it was Annie in a pumpkin suit, not looking happy at all. The girl was so easy to deal with and she was very rarely mad or upset in any way, but being dressed in that costume, Kelly could immediately see that the girl was not pleased at all. Damien looked cool though in a black tux with a white shirt underneath and a black bow tie. He had a holster underneath his suit jacket with two water pistols and he had a pair on sunglasses on. Coming up to Kelly, Peggy and the children with Annie on his arm, he smiled and reached out his hand to Kelly as to introduce himself.
"Hello Miss Vampire. I'm Bond. James Bond."
Kelly couldn't help but to laugh as he shook her hand before introducing himself to Peggy, kissing the back of her hand even which made Peggy giggle all uncontrollably, which followed by Jill swatting her arm away.
"You look good as Agent 007." Kelly smiled as Jill grabbed her fairy wand and the three of them followed the other six over the street back to Kelly's place. "You should try and get into a movie."
"Thank yo me dear." Damien smiled, exaggerating his British accent as much as he could. "This suit actually belonged to Roger Moore, he wore it in Live and Let Die."
Kelly rolled her eyes as she made sure the road was okay to cross before the walked, then turning back to Damien as they crossed it. "You two have way too much money."
"Nah, we get around." Jill giggled, making Kelly send her an angry glare.
"I should've dressed as a cat. A cat made out of ice. An icecat." Damien said thoughtfully, whereupon Kelly and Jill began laughing, loving the fact that he could joke about his past life as much as he actually did. Peggy Lou on the other hand didn't understand at all what he meant but she laughed anyway just because Kelly and Jill did.
Getting back into the house, the party had already started and guests were filling up the big house. There were people in all ages, dressed as everything you could possibly imagine. Some Kelly recognized, old clients, friends and friends of friends, but there were a lot of people she couldn't place at all, mostly because they wore masks or full covering costumes. Kelly made the way around welcoming most of them to her place, hoping they would enjoy the party.
Aurore came out into the big living room with another tray of treats from the kitchen, and Kelly smiled widely as she saw her dressed as the Bride of Frankenstein, the high black hair and the heavy makeup. She was zick-zacking between all the people and sat the finger food down onto the table in the middle of the room. Kelly grabbed her arm on her way back and looked her over with a grin on her face.
"What a beautiful bride. Mind if I take a bite?" Kelly grinned, as Aurore laughed before leaning forward and giving her a kiss, not minding all the people around them.
"Is everything going okay?" Kelly asked as they pulled apart and Aurore looked around. Everything was going smoothly.
"Yeah, just that Kris called and said she would be a no-show. She wasn't up to it she said."
"What? Oh gosh, she can't lock herself in like that."
"What are you going to do?"
"Take her here."
Aurore nodded before she went out into the kitchen again to get the chocolate cookies she had made, and Kelly went over to the pink fairy and grabbed onto Jill's arm. Jill turned around with her mouth filled of cookies and she used her wand to swat Kelly's arm away. Kelly rolled her eyes before grabbing onto her again, pulling her with her.
"Come on, we will go and get your sister. She is saying she won't come."
Kelly didn't have to say much more before the two of them were in Kelly's car, driving over to Kris' place. The house was dark and from the outside it looked completely empty and abandoned, and at this night, it seemed very spooky, almost haunted. The big white house that once had been so filled with life and love was now just standing there. Dark. No one had taken care of the garden. The lights were out and the leaves hadn't been gathered together with the rake.
Kelly grabbed her spare key and the two of them walked inside, trying to lit the lamps but they wouldn't turn on. Knowing the house they kept walking through it, calling Kris' name until they found her in the living room. She was sitting in a big chair, staring into the wall, not giving away anything that showed that she had noticed them. Kelly and Jill looked at each other in the darkness before walking up to Kris. Kelly put her hands on Kris' cheeks and turned her face towards her.
"Sweetie. You can't go on like this. You can't. Now come with us to the party."
Kris shook her head, but didn't say anything, and Kelly rose to her full height and looked over at Jill who nodded. The two of them grabbed onto Kris and carried her out of the house, which did wake her up out of her stupor.
"Guys put me down!"
Kelly and Jill wouldn't have it, they carried her out to the sidewalk where the car was parked, Kris thrashing and shouting bad words at them, pissed off and angry at the fact that they wouldn't leave her alone.
"This is kidnapping!" Kris screamed, making people turn their heads around and look confused at the vampire and the fairy shoving a woman into a car under the light from a lamp post. Kelly looked up towards the people that had stopped to stare, feeling how her cheeks turned red. Jill turned against them too with a wide smile on her face.
"Happy Halloween!"
That seemed to do the trick, the people rolled their eyes and kept walking, as Kelly and Jill got into the car and drove out of there with a fuming Kris in the backseat. She was whining and complaining, but Kelly nor Jill would have any of it.
"Kris, your children misses you and we will not let you fade away in that house all by yourself. You have to get a grip of yourself, now." Kelly said angrily.
"Yeah I agree Kris. We know your hurt, sad and upset but you can't destroy your own life and the life of your children for Tommy's sake. That's not what he would've wanted. Nothing can't bring him back, and I know it hurts so bad sweetie, but you need to move on."
Kris didn't say anything, but at least she had stopped whining and sat quiet in the backseat instead.
"Why were all the lights turned off by the way? And it was freezing inside Kris?" Jill asked, looking back at her kid sister in the back seat. Kris had her arms crossed over her chest, leaning back and looking all apathetic once again. Getting no answer Jill leaned over and smacked Kris' knee, making Kris jump slightly. "Why was everything turned off?"
"Oh, I haven't paid any bills." Kris muttered, looking out through the window so she didn't have to meet her sister's eyes.
Jill and Kelly sat quiet, they should've realized that. They went over to feed her and make sure she didn't do anything to hurt herself, but they hadn't even thought about taking care of her bills. Jill did a mental note in her head to grab all the bills and pay them for Kris tomorrow.
Getting to Kelly's house, they could see the party through the windows and everyone seemed to have a great time. Kelly and Jill grabbed Kris and pulled her inside, and Kris didn't even argue anymore, she knew she would lose it anyway, she was so weak and mentally exhausted, she didn't have a chance towards Kelly and Jill. She followed them inside voluntary, her injured legs still gave her some trouble and she had accepted the fact that she would never be as stable on her feet as she used to be but at least she was able to walk even if it was slow and unsteady.
Getting inside, Kris slid down into couch and Kris and Jill looked at her, not knowing what to do with her anymore. Jill hurried away and before Kelly had understood what was happening she had returned with a white sheet. She pulled it over Kris head and covered her completely with it, and even though they couldn't see Kris' face underneath it, Kelly was sure that Kris was rising her eyebrows in confusion, just like Kelly. Jill then grabbed a pair of scissors and cut out three holes, two for the eyes and one for the mouth.
"There. She's a ghost. I'm pleased." Jill smiled as she backed away from here sister. In the same time, two little animals hurried up to her and started pulling at the sheet, the twins were so happy to have their mother back even though she looked weird in the ghost costume. For the first time Kris leaned down and pulled them up, not saying a word but hugging them closely as they cuddled as close to her as possible.
Kelly smiled gently before she looked around. She saw Aurore coming out of the kitchen, glaring angrily at Kris and the kids but didn't say anything. Kelly already knew what that was about but decided to not make a scene. Not here, not now. As she looked around at all the guests in her house that were enjoying themselves as they mixed together, talked to each other, eating Aurore's food and some of them were dancing. Kelly noticed two people she recognized by the corner and she walked over to them. A black Wonder Woman with the suit and all, and next to her was Catwoman, completely dressed in black leather slicked to her body.
"Kam, Jane, is that you?" Kelly smiled as she came up to them, and both of them turned their heads, smiling as they saw her.
"Kelly. Who is cooler, Wonder Woman or Catwoman?" Kamili asked, and Kelly immediately knew she would get stuck in a death trap if she answered that. It was safest not to.
"Errm, I don't know. I think they are both cool woman, but I've always fonded Superwoman the most."
"You chicken." Janet smiled. "She does know Catwoman is the best though."
"Catwoman, no way. It's just like a crazy ol' lady with cats." Kamili immediately bickered back. "Now Wonder Woman, that is something else."
Kelly rolled her eyes and decided to leave her two employers behind and seek up other people she knew. She noticed Jill talking to Morgan, Kamili's husband, and she walked up to the two of them. Morgan was dressed like Michael Jackson, dressed in his red circus suit with white gloves and a black hat on his head.
"I absolutely love Michael Jackson! His music is just awesome and I've never seen anyone dance like him! I saw him live not too long ago and he seems so cool."
"His music is going to live on in this world forever, I'm telling you, even in 20 years people will still listen and love his music."
"I hope so." Jill smiled, looking over at Kelly, and she was just about to say something when Morgan stole the words right out of her mouth.
"Have you seen the kids?"
Jill swatted him on his upper arm and he looked over at her in confusion.
"Don't you dare steal my thunder Michael!"
Kelly laughed at the two of them before she looked around the room, spotting Jessica and Sarah standing by a table snatching cookies from it. Jessica had a hard time reaching up but Sarah happily handed her cookies, making sure that the happy Munroe wasn't starving. Jessica sure had the Munroe's appetite and she would always be hungry. It was just a fact. Yasmin was with them too, the little girl was dressed as an angel with wings and a halo on her head.
Kelly sighed, before she jumped high as she felt something tickling her leg. Looking down she moved her cape away and saw Jacob sitting there, his mane brushing against her leg. He giggled happily as he noticed that she saw him and he pulled his hands up for her, or actually his paws up towards her. Kelly leaned down and picked him up, smiling happily towards him and he giggled loudly and put his paw towards her mouth, trying to pry it inside to make her open her mouth more.
"Mama teeeth! Me see!"
Kelly smiled widely to show her fangs off to Jacob and he poked them with his paw and happily laughed at them. He was so confused by them and at the same time so fascinated. Kelly smiled as she put him back down onto the floor and he immediately disappeared in underneath her cape again.
The following second, Kelly noticed how people started looking out through the windows, and she too walked up to one and looked out. A blonde woman in a stunning old dress from the 16th Century, looking like a duchess with amazing hair and poise, was coming riding in a side saddle on a stunning crystal white horse. Riding up to the lawn she jumped off gracefully, leading the horse into the lawn, closing the gate behind her and took the saddle and bridle off the horse and let it graze on the lawn before walking inside. People immediately flocked around her and Kelly welcomed Sandra as she came inside, looking absolutely stunning in her old outfit.
Kelly turned around to get away from the hallway and accidentally walked into a man dressed as the grim reaper. Kelly excused herself and looked over the amazingly well done costume. She had seen several people dressed as the grim reaper through her times but not as well as this one. It even sent her a cold shiver down through her spine as she looked at it, but she shrugged it off. Excusing herself again she walked back into the room and saw Annie on the floor, being stuck on her back since the pumpkin she was wearing was stuffed, and she was just rolling on her back like a beetle. She started screaming and crying in the same time as Jill got to her and pulled the baby girl up into her arms. Kelly walked up to their side, with Jacob still underneath her cape. Jill and Kelly stood next to each other and watched over Kris who was once again alone sitting in the couch, sitting absolutely still, lost in her own state of mind.
"Gee. This is depressing." Jill said quietly, making Kelly nod.
"I know, it really is."
"She's not wearing white shoes." Jill added, in the same slow monotone voice.
"That's not what I mean!" Kelly sighed annoyed, it was so typically Jill so she shouldn't even be surprised. Jill smiled to Kelly before she gave Annie to Kelly and then walked towards the front door. Before she got there though, the door slammed open and on the door step was Cyndi Lauper, dressed in god knows what kind of costume, red hair absolutely everywhere and an over-the-top dress filling out the room. Kelly let out a loud laughter before slamming her hand over her mouth, realizing that had been out loud.
Julie smiled as she walked inside, up to Kelly, brushing Annie's hair with her hand that was covered by a black glove. She gave Kelly a hug, and Kelly did take her hand away from her mouth even though she was scared that she would start laughing again. She giggled stupidly as she hugged Julie back, then kept her on arm's length to once again look her over.
"Oh gosh Julie, you look really…"
"Awesome, I know." Julie smiled happily as the two of them, plus Annie on Kelly's arm and Jacob crawling underneath the cape, walked up towards the food and drinks.
"Yeah, that was exactly the word I was looking for." Kelly grinned as Julie swatted her arm, poking out her tongue towards her. Aurore came up to the food table to with the last of the food, finally gotten everything out and so proud over it.
"Good job sweetie." Kelly smiled, in the same time as Kelly put Annie down onto the floor, whereupon she immediately crawled away towards Damien. Halfway there she slipped over onto her back again, which was not the first nor the second time this evening, but instead of screaming which she had been doing the latest times she had fallen over, she begun rolling around on the floor instead, rolling until she hit Damien's feet. He laughed as he picked her up and she immediately threw up onto his Roger Moore suit.
Kelly couldn't help but to laugh at them in the same time as Julie gave her a glass from the punch bowl, in the same time as she felt a tug at her cape.
"Mama, I have some?"
Kelly smiled as she looked down at the little boy that were still by her feet. "No, no, this is for grown ups only."
Julie took a sip before she smiled happily towards Kelly. "Oh man Kelly, did you put rum in this?"
"Of course!" Kelly laughed happily, before turning to Aurore who was once again glaring at Kris. Kelly leaned forward and kissed her cheek. "Smile. Tonight. For me."
Aurore flashed a smile as Kelly gave her a glass from the punch.
"Try to have fun, hm?" Kelly smiled gently before leaning over and kissing her on the lips, Julie "aww-ing" in the background.
"Oh, Frankenstein will be after you now." Aurore giggled as she tasted the blood-red punch in her glass.
"Let him do his worst."
"You're a glutton for punishment, Dracula."
"I am. Now drink up. This is happy punch."
"Oh yeah, your spiked punch."
"Well yeah. Basically cherry kool aid with added liquor." Kelly smiled devilishly, before frowning as she came to realization. "Damn, wish I had invited Sabrina."
"Do I wanna know?" Aurore asked with a grin as she took another sip of the punch.
"No. Back in '76, Jill and I watched her make some in her bathtub. I know I was unconscious for 3 days."
"It was the best shit EVER."
Jill's voice behind Kelly, Julie and Aurore made all three of them jump in their spots and spill punch over themselves, cussing loudly before all three of them looked down and saw Jacob sitting between them looking up at them with big eyes. Kelly then turned towards Jill with a wide grin plastered across her face.
"How would you remember? You pissed yourself and fell asleep after the first glass."
"Yeah, but I remember you running into the door 10 times."
Kelly blushed as she looked over towards Aurore. "It looked open to me."
"I'm sure it did sweetie." Aurore laughed towards Kelly, patting her shoulder. Aurore then looked down as she realized something was stuck to her leg, and she rolled her eyes as she saw Jessica stuck to her leg. During the weeks the twins had lived here, Jessica had begun clinging to Aurore as often as she could and today was obviously not an exception. Aurore didn't know why though cause she was really not a child's person and she was not too fond over having four kids in the house, but she had a guess that it was because Jessica was a cookie monster… and Aurore liked to bake cookies.
Jill smiled before she turned around, walking to her sister, and Kelly noticed Jill was holding onto a pair of white shoes. Getting down on her knees, Jill crawled in underneath Kris' sheet and begun changing her shoes.
"Jill I know you're my sister and we're close but this is ridiculous." Kris said tiredly as she watched Jill changed her shoes. Jill just smiled at her before crawling back out from underneath it, looking more happy as she saw that the shoes matched the ghost costume.
Kelly had backed away as she looked over her friends and family enjoying themselves on this night of the dead. Sandra was busy kissing Zorro, Damien and Jill were playing with Annie, Janet and Kamili were still bickering like an old married couple about which superwoman was the best and Julie was talking to Aurore about all sorts of stuff. They were not the only ones there, the rest of the about 50 people in the house were happily enjoying themselves, drinking, dancing, mixing and standing outside smoking and watching over Sandra's horse. The night turned into a successful party and Kelly was pleased that everything was going to good. It was a long time ago since they held a big party like this, and she had not been to sure about it, but now she was very happy that she had been able to let herself get convinced by the others.
"Thank you so much for coming." Kelly smiled as a pirate and his damsel in distress left the party, being the last ones out, except for the people now sitting in the living room. Sandra, Kamili and Janet were in one of the couches, Kamili holding a sleeping Yasmin in her arms as Sandra and Janet were trying to find out who Zorro had been behind the mask. Julie were on the floor, Kris in the same armchair which she had been in all evening, Aurore just walked in with hot chocolate for everyone, Jill and Damien leaning towards each other in one of the couches, and Peggy sitting in another armchair with a sleeping Annie, who had been taken out of her costume, on her big chest. Peggy had opened up the jacket to get some air into her lungs, Sandra had let her hair down and everyone was just starting to unbuttoning tight jackets and tops to get slightly more comfortable. Kelly sat down on the floor, Jacob crawling up into her lap and happily settling down. Jessica was in Kris' lap, sleeping happily on her tummy underneath the sheet that Kris still had on.
"But come on, someone must know who was behind the Zorro mask?" Sandra asked again, being all up in the air about not knowing who she had been kissing all evening. No one seemed to knew who it was though, they had rambled up all invited friends and Kelly had even gotten her list, and they had counted out everyone.
Everyone was laughing at Sandra not knowing who she made out with, and Kelly told her that the doors had been open all day and people could've easily brought in more people than was actually on the list. The party had been without any troubles at all though and Kelly couldn't have been more happier about it than she was. So relieved. They usually didn't have that much luck when they tried to plan anything.
"Sit down and I will tell ya a story!" Peggy said happily as they all were gathered up into the living room. The wooden fire was cracking behind Peggy and all the lights got turned off. Everyone huddled together as Peggy went into scary-story mood as she begun talking.
"During last summer, in a quiet town near Minneapolis, Minnesota, the charred body of a woman was found inside the kitchen stove of a small farmhouse. A video camera was also found in the kitchen, standing on a tripod and pointing at the oven. No tape was found inside the camera at the time. Although the scene was originally labeled as a homicide by police, an unmarked VHS tape was later discovered at the bottom of the farm's well, which had apparently dried up earlier that year. Despite its worn condition, and the fact that it contained no audio, police were still able to view the contents of the tape. It depicted a woman recording herself in front of a video camera (seemingly using the same camera the police found in the kitchen). After positioning the camera to include both her and her kitchen stove in the image the tape then showed her turning on the oven, opening the door, crawling inside, and then closing the door behind her. Eight minutes into the video, the oven could be seen shaking violently, after which point thick black smoke could be seen emanating from it. For the remaining 45 minutes of video, until the batteries in the camera died, it remained in its stationary position. To avoid disturbing the local community, police never released any information about the tape, or even the fact that it was found. Police were also not able to determine who put the tape in the well, or why the height and stature of the woman in the video didn't come close to matching the body they'd found in the oven."*
"Oh my god Peggy that is not even scary." Kelly laughed, rolling her eyes when Peggy was done telling her story. Looking around though, she had Jacob cuddled up as close as he could in her lap, Jessica was in Kris' lap leaning against her chest, and Jill was pretty much in Damien's lap, shaking from fear. Sandra and Janet were holding hands and Kamili was holding onto Yasmin. Kelly realized that even if the story might not have been that scary itself, the entire mood, lighting and situation of this had set them all of in a frightening mode.
The flash of a lightning sending the house into a clear light for a second before going dark again made everyone in the room jump from the floor and ram together into each other, huddling close and protecting the children in the middle. Everyone looked at each other and then broke out in laughter. They must've looked absolutely hilarious and ridiculous. The following second the rain came smashing down above their heads and they all got quiet, so quiet that they could hear the rain slam against the rooftop.
"Me grandma always told me that when a lightning strikes before tha rain, someone's soul went to hell." Peggy said in a quiet voice, which made Kelly giggle.
"Speaking of death, did you all see the grim reaper tonight?"
"Oh gosh, yes, that person gave me chills every time I got near him." Jill said, everyone else in the room agreeing that they had also felt chilly and he had sent shivers up their spines. His suit had been so real and so absolutely cold. As they begun discussing him they all in the room realized he hadn't spoken to any of them, and Janet grabbed the lists of everyone invited, realizing the grim reaper was not on their list. They all looked up at each other and sat quiet, the only sounds being the rain slamming against the room and windows and the children's stable breathing as they slept.
Jill was the first one to open her mouth and she let out a small whisper in confusion.
"So… who was he?"
The end.
* The ghost story is from :)