A/N: This is just a short little fun exercise I came up with for Halloween. I tried to mimic the writing style of the Goosebumps books a little, but I'm not totally sure if I succeeded. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys!

Stay Out of the Attic

Chapter One

A lot of my friends think living in an old house is cool. I guess it kind of is. It has a lot of pretty details other people's houses don't, and there are old things everywhere inside. But it can be annoying, too (almost as annoying as living with two sisters!) The doors stick, and things always need repairs. We can't even get into our own attic! There are a lot of creaking noises too. Grams says it's just the house settling, but a lot of my friends don't like to sleep over here because they think it's haunted. I always thought they were stupid for thinking that. Now, I'm not so sure.

One day, my little sister Phoebe and I were in our older sister Prue's room. Phoebe had convinced me to try on Prue's makeup with her. I usually don't do things like this, but Phoebe's always good at getting me to cause trouble! Okay, I guess I was a little curious about how it would look, too. And a little jealous that Prue had been wearing makeup and wasn't showing me how to use it or anything. I guess she thinks her little sisters are lame now that she's a teenager. I knew it would be bad news if she found out, because she'd tell on us right away. Prue's always like that. She thinks she has to be our mom, because our real mom died. But we have Grams! I wish she realized that more.

"Did you hear something?" I asked Phoebe as she rubbed Prue's eyeshadow on with her fingers.

"Stop being a scaredy cat, Piper," she answered, handing me a lipstick. I was putting it on when Prue came in the room.

Phoebe and I didn't know what to say, because she was going to yell at us no matter what. So we just sat there.

"You guys are SO dead!" Prue said finally. "Grams!"

"Prue, we're sorry..." I began, but Phoebe elbowed me. She hates that I always apologize for everything, even though if I didn't, she never would.

"I can't believe you guys. I spent my whole month's allowance on this!" Prue continued, grabbing things out of our hands. "You used up so much of it, and look, you smushed my lipstick!"

"We were just having fun, Prue," Phoebe said. "You should try it sometime."

Prue scowled at her. "GRAMS!" she shouted again and ran out into the hallway. Phoebe and I followed her. She stopped when she found Grams, coming down the set of stairs that lead to our attic.

"Grams, look what they did!" Prue said, pointing at us.

Grams burst into laughter when she looked. "You two look like circus clowns!"

"That's not the point, Grams," Prue interrupted. "They went into my room without permission, they messed up all my stuff... look at my lipstick!"

"Grams, were you up in the attic?" I asked, trying anything I could think of to change the subject.

"Of course not, Piper," Grams answered me. "I was just changing the lightbulb at the top of the stairs. Now, you girls know you're supposed to ask your sister's permission before you play with her things."

"But she'd never give it to us!" Phoebe whined.

"Yeah, because of what you do with it!" Prue reminded.

"Girls, girls, enough," Grams interrupted them. "Phoebe, it's Prue's choice if she wants to share her makeup with you or not. Maybe if you ask nicely next time and have her show you how to use it first, she'll let you."

Phoebe shook her head angrily. I was afraid she was going to start complaining again.

"And if not," Grams continued, noticing the look on her face, "I can show you how to use mine sometime. Okay?"

Phoebe and I nodded. Prue looked angry that we hadn't gotten a bigger punishment, but she didn't say anything.

"Now, go wash that stuff off of your faces before it gets stuck on there," Grams said with a smile. "But use the old towels!"

Phoebe and I ran off to the bathroom, glad to be getting away with just a lecture.

"I wouldn't wanna use Grams's makeup anyway," Phoebe said as she turned the sink on. "It's all old lady stuff."

I went over to the closet and pulled the old towels off the bottom shelf. "Do you think Grams was really changing a lightbulb?" I asked.

"Yeah, why?" Phoebe said. She'd started scrubbing her face, and the makeup running down it made it look like she was melting.

"She wasn't holding anything," I answered. "Shouldn't she have the old lightbulb? Or the box or something?"

"I dunno, maybe," Phoebe said as she stuck her head under the water.

A/N: I know Prue comes off as a little mean in this chapter, but really, what teenager wouldn't react that way to seeing her little sisters messing up her things like that? I don't hate Prue, but obviously she has to be written as a bit prickly in this story, given her age. I'm planning on posting a new chapter each day (it's a pretty short story), so stay tuned!