This is the prologue to my current story. i do not own anything in this chapter except for internal thoughts of the characters. all of the dialogue is from The Reba Show, Season 5: episode 6 (Best Lil Haunted House in Texas). as i said it will serve as the prologue. please review and tell me what you think
"I'm off to my party." Cheyenne made her presence known as she walked down the stairs in her French Maid costume. She was headed to a twelve step Halloween party with her sponsor, Frank.
Brock, Barbara Jean, and Reba stood in the living room with shock written on their faces.
"Is that why you want to hire a cleaning lady, Brock?" Barbara Jean asked under her breath, still overwhelmed by the provocative nature of her step-daughter's costume.
Reba shifted her focus from the soon to be bickering couple in front of her. "Cheyenne, don't you think this costume is a little bit..." she paused, looking her daughter over. "...Little?"
"I'm a French Maid!" Cheyenne said making sure every bow was perfectly set. "It is historically accurate."
"I thought you were going to go as a goblin." Brock said, stepping away from his wife to play the over protective father that he was.
Cheyenne turned to her father. "Yes, but then i realized...Goblins are ugly!" her face showed her obvious disgust. "I could never pull that off!" she smiled her signature smile, finishing her argument. Reba turned to Brock, silently hoping he had a way to make her stay home.
"Honey," she began. "I'm just saying, I don't think it is appropriate for you to go to a party, dressed like that without your husband." Reba looked her daughter in the eye, emphasizing the word husband. She knew Cheyenne was a good girl; she had morals. She was worried about the shameless behavior of other men. She wanted to be an optimist, and hope that Frank, among other men at the party would respect her daughter, but after Brock had left her in the manner that he had, she wasn't such an optimist anymore.
"Well, it is too late." Cheyenne stated mater of factly. "Because Frank is going as Lord of the Manor. It's like he is my boss." she giggled thinking of the cute man who would be accompanying her to the Halloween party.
Cheyenne turned to the door, hearing a honk from the driveway. "That's Frank now!" she could hardly contain her excitement as she thought of the night ahead. "Coming Monsieur!" she said innocently from the door. "I love Halloween!" or did she just love this Halloween? "Don't wait up for me!" she told her mother and father as she waltzed out the door to the sports car waiting in the drive.
Reba shut the door after watching her daughter prance out the door. Nothing good was going to come of the Halloween party tonight, she could feel the danger lingering in the air.
"Something tells me the Lord of the Manor is getting his pillows fluffed tonight." Barbara Jean put her two cents in before Reba had a chance to speak. Reba glared at the woman, still keeping her thoughts to herself. She didn't enjoy the blonde's humor at the moment. Cheyenne could make a decision with Frank that would throw her high school sweetheart out the door and it put knots in Reba's stomach just thinking about it.
"Stop it!" Reba said, finally finding her voice. "I told you, she is a good girl."
"I was a good girl."
"Crap." Reba turned away from Barbara Jean, hating to think that she may be right.
"Hey, Hey, Hey!" Brock quickly interrupted the two women. "Look!" he said picking up a key that Cheyenne had dropped on her way out the door. "Cheyenne dropped this." He read the tag that was dangling on the key chain. "Pruitt Hotel and Suites."
Reba looked at the tag and then to Brock. "Pruitt? Isn't that kind of sleazy?"
"Oh no!" Barbara Jean interjected, being her over the top self. "What if they got a room? I'll call Joe, the night manager." Reba shot Brock a worried look. No, Cheyenne wouldn't do anything of this nature. She would not ruin her marriage.
"Look at this..." Brock trailed off seeing the words before him. "Room 601, cant wait. Frank." Reba closed her eyes, not wanting to believe her ex-husband's words.
"I'm going to put a stop to this." she couldn't let her son in law go through the same thing she was forced to endure 5 years prior. She needed to talk sense into Cheyenne to make sure she didn't do anything she would regret. She charged toward the door, but was quickly stopped by Jake, who burst into the living room and into her path.
"Mom!" he shouted with terror written across his face. "Something really bad just happened!" Reba quickly forgot her daughter as she saw the fright in her youngest child's eyes.
"What happened?"
"It's Van! Van and that guy!"
"What about them?"
"He saw them together! Van freaked!" Suddenly, the situation at hand came rushing back into Reba's mind. Thoughts rushed through her mind as she thought of her daughter and son in law. She had to do something before someone got hurt.
"I have to go stop them."
Once again her path was blocked by Van pushing his way through the already opened front door. "You have to hide me!" he said in a worried haste. Shouts could be heard around the living room as everyone tried to comprehend what was going on. "I got into a fight. It was bad, but i didn't mean to hurt him!"
Barbara Jean paced around the room. Staying calm was obviously not going to happen.
"Where is Cheyenne?" Reba asked her son in law. She could hear the tremble in her voice, but hoped it was not heard by anyone else. Brock, meanwhile, stood behind the couch, trying to stay calm on behalf of the women in the family. He heard Reba's voice shake, and that worried him.
"I left her there! She made her choice!" Reba's fears had just been confirmed in one short, angry sentence.
"Left her where?" she yelled back to her son in law.
"I don't remember." Van admitted. "All I saw was red!"
"Everybody, just calm down!" it was the first thing Brock had said since Van had rushed into the living room.
Brock's words brought Van out of his thought as he realized there was another male presence in the room. "I have got to get out of here! Mr. H, do you still know those guys in Mexico?"
"Who do you know in Mexico?" Barbara jean asked, temporarily forgetting the severity of the situation.
"Ask your private detective!" he snapped back shortly.
Reba turned her attention from the bickering couple back to her son in law. "Van! Where is my daughter? If you did anything to her-" she was cut off, however, by Cheyenne rushing through the doorway.
"Mom?" her voice was faint and weak as she sounded breathless...like she had been running. She rushed into her mother's arms. "Oh mom, it was awful! I couldn't see anything! There was blood everywhere!"
Reba made sure her daughter could stand on her own before turning around angrily. "Van! What did you do with Frank?"
"He is in a place where he can't destroy anymore families!" he retorted just as heatedly.
"Van, what did you do to him?" Cheyenne asked desperately. "The cops are on their way! I heard the sirens!"
"Police?" Reba said with incredulity filling her voice.
"I know how to buy us some time. Alright?" Barbara jean said running toward the front door. "I am going to tamper with the crime scene and get rid of Van's DNA. Don't worry!" she assured the rest of the family. "I watched all the CSIs." she grabbed hand full of candy as she raced out into the night.
"Tell me where you hid him!" Cheyenne said redirecting her anger. "If you do not tell me where he is i am going to tell the cops where you are hiding!"
"You want to know where he is?"
"Yes!"
"Fine! He's in the trunk!"
"You monster!" Cheyenne screamed, pushing her husband back against the wall. Reba closed her eyes. The scene before her reminded her so much of her and Brock when their marriage got rocky. The fights were unbearable, and though this one was a different subject, the body language was the same.
"Van! He could suffocate in there!" she said, not fully grasping what Van had implied.
"I wouldn't worry about that now." he said shamefully.
"What have you done?" she said breathing heavily. She ran toward the door, not quite sure where she was going. She had to do something, though. Brock ran after her, scared of what she would do in her current, frazzled state.
He path was stopped, once again, by a limp Frank falling through the door way.
"He got out!" Van said with disbelief.
Reba watched in terror as Frank fell to the floor. "He's dying somebody do something!" she shouted to her family. She stopped dead in her tracks as she saw the flash of Jake's camera.
"What are you doing?"
"Happy Halloween, Mom! You have been Jaked!"
"You know, you could have caught me!" Frank stood up from his spot on the floor and stretched out his shoulder. Everyone laughed as they reflected on the prank they were able to pull on their mother. Everyone high fived and cheered as Reba stood in the middle of the living room. She was speechless to say the least.
As the laughter died down, they could feel Reba's glare burning through their eyes. "Mom?"
"Reba?"
"How dare you." she said threateningly.
"Uh-oh." Van said hiding behind his wife. "Here comes the real blood."
"You made me feel ridiculous for doing all of my Halloween pranks," she creeped toward them slowly. "So you could pull this off? And all of you were in it!" she waved her hand around, showing that no one would be left out of her wrath. "Lying, scheming, plotting behind my back."
"Okay, Reba," Brock said quietly looking into her angry, blue eyes. "Calm down. It was only a joke."
"Only a joke? Are you kidding? I almost had a heart attack!" Brock's heart jumped at her words. She already had high blood pressure. To know that his and his kids' doings may have sent her flailing over the edge made him think. Had they taken the joke too far? "...And it was awesome!"
Everyone was caught off guard by her sudden excitement. Mostly, however, they were relieved that they were no longer on the receiving end of her anger. Reba walked back over to where Jake stood, giving him a high five in the process.
"It was great! You got me and you got me good!" she admitted. "This is the greatest present a mama could ever get." she was so proud that her children had continued on the Halloween tradition of pranking the family. She was so scared it would be one of the many traditions that had died. "And i pass the torch on to you." she took the oversized pirate hat from her head and placed it on to Jake's head.
