Sitting on her bed on a quiet Friday evening was Miranda Knight, age fourteen. Her chores were done, her homework was done, and she was relaxing on her bed while watching cartoons on her phone. "Ah, this is the life." Miranda said to herself. She looked around her room. Her parents were out bowling so Miranda was home alone.
Seeing her phone battery low, she plugged it in to charge and turned on her TV Unfortunately, there was nothing good on TV. She wished to visit her monster friends at the Scare B&B, but Miranda promised her parents that she would stay home and hold down the fort.
Miranda sighed. "I'm so bored." she said to herself.
Just then, there was a knock on the door. Miranda went downstairs and looked out the window. Her eyes grew when she saw Aunt Tessa with a tall man in a hat and trench coat. With them was a huge cardboard box on her doorstep!
Excited, Miranda opened the door. The package was taller than she was! "Aunt Tessa! Chef Remy!"
Tessa grinned at her niece. "Hi, Honey! You won't believe what Remy and I found in Transylvania!" He and Miranda brought the box inside and laid to down gently.
Chef Remy took off his hat and fake beard. "Behold and be amazed, little one!" The skeleton ripped open the box and Miranda couldn't believe it!
"WHOOOOOA!" Miranda's eyes lit up. "A suit of armor!"
It was indeed. A suit of armor with a purple cape. He even came with a sword! "This is the coolest thing ever!"
"You better believe it! It was at a thrift store of all places! For some reason, the clerk was happy to see it go!" Tessa explained.
Remy shrugged. "Their loss! We already have a suit of armor at the Scare B&B. So we thought you deserved one!"
Miranda hugged her skeleton friend. "Thank you, guys! This is the best present yet! I miss visiting the Scare B&B. This spooky armor reminds me of the place! It's perfect!"
"Well, let's get it in your room right away." said Tessa.
Miranda, Tessa, and Remy brought the armor upstairs. They set it up right next to her door. Miranda was loving it already. "This is too cool! Maybe I can wear it!"
Tessa laughed. "I'm pretty sure it's just for decoration, Honey."
Remy rubbed his bony hands together. "Miranda, may I, perhaps, haunt your kitchen? I have a new recipe I'm just dying to try out!"
"I don't see why not!" Miranda patted her tummy. "I've been craving your Chef Remy specials!"
Dinner was served as Chef Remy presented dinner to the two ladies. "Presenting Chef Remy Bones' shriek loaf and spooked potatoes with ghoulish gravy accompanied with creepy corn!"
"Oh, Remy! That looks delicious!" Tessa said. Her boyfriend's cooking never ceases to impress her.
"And it smells just as delicious!" Miranda added. The three began eating and sure enough, Remy's dinner was a scrumptious success.
Miranda sighed. "I wish Mom and Dad were here to taste this..."
"I do too. But you know how it is, hon." said Tessa.
"Oui. I would love to just throw away that awful disguise in front of your parents. But alas, my skeleton self would terrify them!" Remy pointed out.
"Yeah, you're right." said Miranda. "But someday, someday, you guys, Mom and Dad are going to know the truth."
"But what if there's a problem?" asked Tessa.
"Well...if there's a problem, we'll deal with it. So for now, this'll just be our little secret. In fact..." Miranda raised her glass. "I propose a toast to us and our extended monster family."
Tessa and Remy raised their glasses as well, toasting to their family. As they resumed their dinner, Miranda tried to think of a way to introduce her parents to the Hauntley family. A dinner party? A sleepover at the Scare B&B?
But what if her parents didn't approve of Miranda's friendship with monsters and Tessa's budding romance with a skeleton? What if they forbid her to seeing them again?
Miranda pushed those thoughts out of her mind. She had to focus on the present, which was enjoying dinner with her aunt and skeleton buddy.
Once dinner was finished, Tessa was watching T.V. in the living room while Miranda and Remy washed the dishes. Remy tapped Miranda on the shoulder. "Miranda, I have to ask you something."
Miranda turned off the faucet. "What's up?"
Remy turned the faucet back on, confusing Miranda. He leaned in close to Miranda. "I don't want Tessa to hear us." he whispered. "But there's something I need your help with."
"Sure, Remy! Anything for you!" Miranda smiled.
Just then, there was a knock at the door. Miranda gasped. "Oh, no! It must be Mom and Dad! Remy! Go down to the basement and be a Halloween decoration!"
Remy dropped everything and made a mad dash for the basement. Miranda hurried to the window and was shocked to see not her parents, but two police officers and their squad car parked outside! Miranda quickly answered the door.
"Uh, hello?" Miranda said, a bit nervous.
The officer looked down at Miranda. She saw the stern, serious looks in their eyes. "Are you Miranda Knight?"
"Yes, is there a problem?"
Tessa came over. "Miranda? What's going on?"
"Who's this?" asked the other officer.
"My Aunt Tessa. What's going on here? What's the problem?" Miranda was getting very anxious in the presence of these two officers. They walked in and closed the door behind them.
"Miranda, I'm afraid we have some...terrible news about your parents."
Once the officers took Miranda and Tessa to the living room, the boys in blue started talking. Miranda and Tessa were two humans who were aware of the existence of monsters. Vampires, ghosts, skeletons, werewolves and talking gargoyles, it was all a big shock.
But none of it compared to the bombshell the officers dropped on the two.
Stanley and Carol Knight were arrested for plotting Tessa's murder. The couple hired a hit man to kill Tessa and steal her account information so they can have all her money. When Miranda's grandparents, who are also Tessa and Stanley's, passed away, they left all their money to Tessa, who took care of both of them.
But the hit man they hired was actually an undercover officer who recorded Stanley and Carol's plan to kill Tessa. The police showed Tessa and Miranda the hidden camera footage of Stanley and Carol talking to the officer in a car.
And there it was. The ugly truth. What Stanley and Carol said in that footage was so shocking, Tessa and Miranda didn't want to believe any of it.
In their own disgusting words, Stanley and Carol talked about how they so were jealous that Tessa had all that money and had this happy life as a single woman with no kids, no husband, just herself. They even told the officer different methods and scenarios to kill Tessa and have them get away with it.
Hearing the vile, chilling words coming out of their mouths, it didn't take long for a jury to make a verdict. Stanley and Carol Knight each received a lengthy prison sentence. They put the brakes on their own lives and will be incarcerated for a very long time.
Tessa was crushed. But Miranda, she took it the worst. It never occurred to her that her own parents, the people who raised her, took care of her and gave her so much love, would be cowardly scumbags who wanted a family member dead for money.
Since Miranda had no parents, Tessa took it upon herself and adopted Miranda. She sold her house so she can move in with her niece. But it was still hard for Miranda to recover.
A week later, on a cold and rainy day, Miranda locked herself in her room, still depressed. A knock came to her door.
"Miranda?" It was Tessa's voice.
"Yeah?" Miranda called out. It was hard for her to raise her voice due to the heartbroken state she was in.
"Dinner's ready." Tessa said from behind the door. "Remy and I made it together."
"I'm not hungry."
"Okay." Sighing, Tessa closed the door. She tried everything to help Miranda cope with what happened, but nothing seemed to work.
A few minutes later, Chef Remy came in with a tray of Miranda's dinner. Miranda looked over at the skeleton with empty eyes. "Hey."
"Hey." Remy put the tray on a dresser and sat beside Miranda. "Sweetheart, I know you feel bad about your parents. But you have to understand that everyone is doing so hard to help you feel better. You can't stay depressed forever."
"I know but..." Miranda tried not to cry. "my parents, the people who I always trusted, the people I thought didn't have an evil bone in their bodies, turned out to be...evil." Her heart stung when she said 'evil'. "It feels like I've been living a lie my whole life. I just don't know how I can trust anyone anymore. You know what I mean?"
Remy placed his bony hand on Miranda's shoulder. "I do. And I know it's going to be hard to trust people from now on. You just have to be careful. But you should have peace of mind knowing that you have an entire family you can trust." He hugged Miranda. "I promise to be the best uncle in the world just for you."
Miranda hugged the skeleton back. "Thanks, Remy. I-" She blinked. "Wait." She looked at him with a stunned look. "What do you mean 'uncle?'"
With a gasp, Remy covered his mouth. His bones rattled. Actual sweat formed on his brow.
Miranda stood up. "Remy, are you saying..."
Remy expected the worst.
"that you...want to marry my aunt?!"
His nerves reaching the limit, Remy broke down. "Oui! It's true! It's all true!" He slumped in defeat. "I wasn't going to tell you right away, but I was going to tell you about it later so you can help me plan the proposal. But I didn't mean to tell you right now! It just slipped out!"
"How come you didn't want to tell me right away?"
The skeleton looked saddened. "Because you're going through so much right now. And I don't want to make things more complicated for you or Tessa. What you need is a friend, a friend you can trust. Besides, I can wait, because you and Tessa are worth waiting for."
Miranda suddenly threw her arms around Remy. The gesture caught the skeleton completely off guard.
"Thank you for understanding." Miranda hugged him tighter. "Thank you..." Her shoulders heaved and she started to cry. "Thank you so much!"
Remy embraced Miranda. He let her cry for as long as she needed to. Once she let it all out, Miranda wiped away her tears.
"Are you okay?" Remy asked gently.
Miranda sniffled. "I am now." She smiled a little. "You're right. There are people I can always trust." She reached out and rubbed Remy's back. When her fingers carelessly ran in between his ribs, the skeleton rattled and jumped off the bed. "AAHH!"
Miranda couldn't help but laugh. "Man! You're so ticklish there!"
"I can't help it! My bones are frightfully sensitive!" Remy retorted, hugging himself for protection.
"Come on, you nut." chuckled Miranda. "Let's eat. That dinner must be getting cold."
With a bony grin, Remy got up and offered his hand. Without a moment's hesitation, Miranda gladly took it. As they went downstairs together, Miranda wondered where her life goes from here.
She didn't know. But this wasn't the time to focus on the future. Right now, she wanted to spend time with her true family. She had a whole clan of monster friends who loved her dearly, a kind-hearted aunt and her skeleton boyfriend who has so much love and talent to share.
Miranda looked at the skeleton and smiled even bigger. She was feeling pretty good about her future uncle.