A/N – Hi guys! I wanted to have this story up yesterday and I was almost able to get it up, but life got in the way and so here I am right now. It's a Halloween story in the same universe where Shelby has always been a part of Rachel's life. Rachel is five and ready for the spooky day. Or is she?
Disclaimer – I own nothing. Sigh.
Rachel rolled over in bed once again and shut her eyes in an effort to fall asleep. The blue glow of the five-year-old's nightlight washed the room in a warm, comforting hue and Rachel knew she should be tired. She should have been asleep a couple hours ago, but she just wasn't tired. It wasn't her fault; there had been a party at school that day and it was Friday so there was no school tomorrow and the best part about it was that the next day was Halloween. They hadn't been allowed to wear their costumes to school, but it had been a pajama party day and Rachel had eaten her fill of candy and then some. Tomorrow she would be debuting her costume when she went trick-or-treating with her mother. She had wanted all three of her parents to come, but her dads were attending a party and so she and her mom were going to make it a girl's day out of it. Shelby was even going to dress up with her.
Rachel didn't know how they expected her to be tired after a candy and party filled day with even more excitement to look forward to tomorrow. It was unreasonable!
If she listened hard enough, Rachel could hear the TV on downstairs and so she decided to get up and see what her dads were watching. They wouldn't mind. Which was mainly because they wouldn't know. Rachel had discovered a while ago that if she laid on her stomach near the banister on the landing at the top of the stairs she had a perfect view of the TV. They almost never caught her.
Rachel threw the blankets back and put two feet firmly on the ground and got up. She was careful not to let her footie pajamas make any extra noise as she padded down the hardwood floor of the hallway. Sneaking around would be so much easier if there was carpeting everywhere.
When she reached her spot, Rachel lowered herself down to her stomach and then bent her knees so her crossed feet hovered above her body. Her hands were folded in front of her and her chin rested on them. She smiled at her cleverness and watched TV with her dads.
"This movie is so bad," Hiram laughed softly as he leaned closer to Leroy.
"But I can't turn it off," Leroy said. "Don't you want to see how they defeat that crazy old bat?"
The men were watching a marathon full of cheesy Halloween movies on their local cable channel. The current movie was about an old lady who turned into a witch at night in order to terrorize her neighborhood. It contained every clichéd trope that anyone could think of about a witch with none of the scare factor. When the old lady realized that some of her neighbors were on to her, she decided to kidnap their children, complete with luring them away to be baked into pies. Hiram and Leroy started to laugh at that latest revelation, but Rachel didn't find any humor in it. She was terrified.
The little girl's eyes were wide and her knuckles were turning white as she clutched the bars of the banister in front of her and pulled her face close to them. Those kids were following that old woman! She was going to bake them in a pie and serve it to their parents! The inside of the old woman's house was pleasant enough at first, but she lured the kids into the basement which was old and creepy and the shadows seemed to fighting a battle to defeat the light. There were brooms on the wall and mean black cats and a bubbling cauldron over the fireplace. The kids were scared now and Rachel wished she could have warned them. The old woman smiled devilishly at them and her face started to change and contort and Rachel scrunched her eyes shut. After a moment she peeked one eye open just in time to see the old woman lunge at the kids as she cackled. Rachel shut her eyes again and put her hands over her ears.
The movie went to a commercial and Hiram got up to take their empty popcorn bowl to the kitchen.
"I'm going to bed after this one," he told his husband.
"Me too," Leroy agreed.
Rachel got to her feet and made her way back through the dark hallway to her bedroom so she wouldn't be seen. She lied down in bed and pulled her covers tight to her and covered her head. She was fine. There weren't any witches in her room. But maybe that's what they wanted you to think. She pulled the blankets down and started to look around the room for any signs that a witch was waiting to gobble her up when she fell asleep. Rachel got out of bed just as quickly as she had gotten back in it and ran to the switch and illuminated the room with the bright light. She breathed a sigh of relief when she looked around and saw that her room was normal and there were no witches hiding in the corners. She squatted down and did a quick check under the bed and found it to be safe as well. She was ok, Rachel nodded confidently. But she would leave her light on just in case. The little girl climbed back into bed and pulled her stuffed giraffe close for protection and once again snuggled under the blankets and closed her eyes.
Half an hour later Leroy looked in on her on his way to bed. He smiled at the peaceful rise and fall of her chest as she slept before turning off her light and waiting for the blue glow of the nightlight to take back over. He left the door slightly ajar as it was every night and then went into his own bedroom with his husband.
Rachel sat up straight in bed a little after two and looked around wildly. Her heart was racing from the nightmare she'd been having. There had been cats and she didn't want to be cooked! The shadows that lined her walls were closing in on her and the blue light was no longer warm and comforting as it worked to show her all of the monsters that were there right in front of her. Why was her light off? She knew she had left it on. The witch must have turned it off so she could hide more easily. She was there in the room and Rachel knew it.
"Daddy!" Rachel let out a high pitched yell that startled both men awake.
Hiram rolled over tiredly and reached his hand out and nudged Leroy. "That's you."
"Dad!" Rachel yelled this time. "Dad!"
"No, that's you," Leroy said as he rubbed his hand over his face.
Hiram sighed as he moved the blankets back and sleepily got out of bed and made his way to Rachel's room. He turned on the light and looked sympathetically at his daughter.
"What's wrong, Peanut?" He stepped over to the bed and scooped her up. She wrapped her arms tightly around him and buried her face into his neck. He rubbed her back as he paced the room to try and get her to calm down. "Did you have a bad dream?"
Rachel nodded and held on tighter. "There were mean cats and a fire and I couldn't get away," she cried out.
"Shhh," Hiram cooed. "It's ok now; I've got you. It was just a bad dream."
He continued trying to comfort her for a few minutes until she calmed and moved her face from the crook of his neck and rested her head on his shoulder.
"Are you ok now?" Hiram asked.
"Mm-hmm," Rachel nodded but squeezed him tighter as if she could sense he was going to leave soon.
"Do you want to try and go back to sleep now?"
"No," she choked out.
"Ok," Hiram started his pacing again and began to hum and gave her bottom gentle pats in time with his song. At this point he was hoping she would fall back asleep while he held her.
"Can I sleep with you and Daddy?"
Hiram sighed as Rachel turned her head to look at him with scared, watery eyes. "Sure, Peanut. Let's go."
He shut off her light and carried her over to the master bedroom. Leroy looked up when they entered and saw Hiram's apologetic look. For as tiny as she was, Rachel was not always a gentle sleeper. She moved and squirmed and somehow took up more of the bed than seemed possible, but how could Hiram have said no to that face. He knew Leroy would have done the same.
Hiram carried her into the master bath and her down on the floor. He helped her unzip her sleeper so she could go to the bathroom and wet a wash cloth and filled half a cup with water as she did. When she was finished he got her arms back in their sleeves and zipped her up and then dropped a spot of sanitizer in her hand. While she rubbed her hands together Hiram made quick work of washing the tears from her face and drying it on a fluffy towel. She took a few sips of the water and then reached her arms out so he would pick her up. Her eyes were droopy with sleep when they walked back into the dark bedroom and he laid her in the middle of the bed and then crawled in beside her. Rachel immediately turned and curled up into Leroy's side as they situated the blankets.
"Bad dream?" Leroy whispered.
"Yeah. Something about cats on fire or something," Hiram answered.
Leroy nodded as if that made sense and they settled down to get back to sleep.
Hiram awoke to a pain jabbing him in his side. He reached down to feel what was sticking him in the ribs and soon found himself holding Rachel's pajama covered foot. He opened his eyes to see that Rachel was lying face down across Leroy's chest with one arm hanging in front of her and the other stretched to her side with her open palm on his face. Her legs were out behind her with one straight back on Hiram's chest and the other bent and pushing her foot into his side. Hiram looked up to Leroy's face and saw that his husband was glaring at him with the one eye that wasn't hidden under Rachel's hand.
"Good morning, sweetheart," Hiram whispered to him and then groaned as he shifted and moved Rachel's feet away so that they fell down on the bed. The sun was shining around the curtains indicating that the morning was well underway.
Leroy only grumped and then relented and offered a tired smile as Hiram knelt on the bed so he could pick up Rachel. He lifted the small body and cradled her while Leroy slid out of the bed. The fathers laid her back down and then watched in amusement as she once again curled herself into a tiny ball as the blankets were tucked around her.
"Figures," Leroy muttered.
Hiram just rolled his eyes and yawned as he stretched his hands above his head and glanced at the clock and saw that it was just after seven.
"I vote we drop her off at Shelby's early and then come back here and grab a nap before the party tonight," Leroy said.
"I'll call her after breakfast," Hiram agreed.
They each took another look at their slumbering child before making their way into the bathroom together to shower and get ready for the day.
Leroy drove Rachel to Shelby's house a couple hours after breakfast and she took delight in pointing out all of the Halloween decorations to her father. Her eyes grew wide as they passed Shelby's next door neighbor. The older woman that lived there was out in her front yard picking up some of her decorations that had blown over earlier in the day. She looked right at Rachel as she jammed a witch's broom back into the ground. Rachel shrank down in the backseat when the woman waved to them when Leroy's car pulled into the driveway.
"Good morning, Rachel," the woman said when the girl got out of the car. "Happy Halloween."
Rachel barely moved and then hid behind Leroy when he came over to her side of the car.
"Good morning, Mrs. Talbert," Leroy said. "It looks like we've got good weather for Halloween."
"It sure does," she responded. "I hope I'll see you later when you're trick-or-treating, Rachel. I'll save some good candy for you. I can't wait to see your costume."
Again Rachel didn't say anything and Leroy looked down at her like she was crazy. They'd known Mrs. Talbert since the day Shelby had moved in to that house. She'd even babysat Rachel on a few occasions. The woman's husband had died four years ago and she was alone in the house, but was a favorite of the neighborhood and everyone loved her. Except, it seemed, one little girl at the moment.
"Thank you, Mrs. Talbert," Leroy said. He held up his hands to indicate he didn't know what was going on with Rachel and the woman just laughed and waved him off. Kids were just like that sometimes.
Rachel stayed glued to Leroy's side as he tried to walk to the porch. He only took a few steps before picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder and holding onto her legs so that her front dangled behind him. Rachel put her hands on Leroy's back to support herself so she could look up the older woman who was still standing in her yard. Mrs. Talbert waved at her Rachel immediately flopped back down and hung limply so she didn't have to look at her. The woman laughed again and went back to her decorations.
Leroy rang the doorbell and only had to wait a few moments for Shelby to open the door.
"I've got a delivery for you," Leroy said.
"I don't remember ordering anything," Shelby teased as she stepped to the side to let them in.
Rachel perked up and put her hands on Leroy's back again and looked up at Shelby.
"Mommy," she whined, almost scolding.
"But I guess I'll take it." Shelby smiled at her daughter as she leaned over to kiss her head. "Put it anywhere."
Leroy complied by holding Rachel upside down by her ankles and lowering her head first onto the couch. She quickly righted herself and stood up on the furniture so Leroy could give her a kiss goodbye.
"See you tomorrow," he said. "Be a good girl."
"I'm always a good girl," Rachel said and then frowned and put her hands on her hips when her parents started to laugh.
Shelby and Leroy turned to head towards the door and Rachel took the opportunity to leap off the back of the couch. She landed not so gracefully on her feet but kept running for the stairs.
"Rachel!" Shelby scolded, but the girl was gone. This was something new that Rachel had only started doing in the last week and Shelby just couldn't seem to get her to stop. "She's going to break her leg one of these days."
"I'll bet she'd stop jumping off the couch if she did," Leroy said.
"Leroy!" Shelby scolded with her hands on her hips, looking very similar to how Rachel looked moments ago and he just laughed.
"You guys have fun tonight," he said. "Oh, and she's going to need a nap before she trick-or-treats. She had a nightmare last night and ended up sleeping in our bed."
"What was her dream about?" Shelby asked in a concerned tone.
"I don't know. Something about firing cats. Out of a cannon or something."
"What?"
"It was almost three in the morning, Shelby."
The adults said their goodbyes and Shelby went upstairs to find Rachel. She looked in the pink bedroom and saw the girl standing at the window and staring down into the front yard. Well, into the neighbor's yard would be a more accurate description. Rachel was leaning against the window and watching whatever was going on with obvious concentration.
"What are you looking at?" Shelby asked as she stood behind the girl and peered out as well.
"What do you think is in Mrs. Talbert's basement?" Rachel asked.
Shelby was thrown for a moment by the randomness of the question. "Umm, I don't know. Probably normal basement stuff. We could go down and ask her if you'd like."
"No!" Rachel exclaimed and jumped back, crashing into Shelby as she did. "We can't. You don't know what she has!"
"Ok, Rach," Shelby laughed. "We'll let it be a mystery."
Rachel let out a sigh of relief and tried to move away from the window, but Shelby stopped her as she sat down in a chair and had the girl stand in front of her.
"Ok, young lady, if I see you jumping off my couch one more time you won't go trick-or-treating tonight," Shelby said seriously. "Do you understand?"
"But what if I do it tomorrow after I've already been trick-or-treating?" the little girl asked cheekily with a Cheshire Cat grin.
Shelby's expression darkened and she didn't even have to look where it was when she pointed in the direction of the open corner in the room. Rachel pouted and slumped her shoulders but didn't argue. She stepped around her mother and the yelped at the firm spank that landed on her backside as she passed Shelby. The mother waited until Rachel was in place and then stepped out into the hallway so she could laugh at her daughter's snark. What a little smart ass! She's just like her fathers, Shelby thought with a shake of her head.
Rachel chatted excitedly about their costumes as she ate lunch after her short corner sentence. She'd made her mind up not to test her mother on the couch issue again tonight. Rachel had decided to dress up as Annie this year and her costume was all ready to go. It had been just a few months since she and her mom had seen the show in Columbus, but Rachel still talked about it all the time. When the topic of Halloween costumes was raised a month ago, Rachel had no other choice except for Annie, which didn't come as a surprise to her parents. Rachel wanted her mother to dress up as an Annie character as well and Shelby had started to make plans right away to go as Grace. She pictured a beautiful twenties style dress and already knew how she would do her hair. So of course Rachel had told her that she wanted her to be Miss Hannigan. So instead of a beautiful dress and hair, Shelby was going to frump herself up a bit, complete with a red wig so she'd be like Carol Burnett from the film. Rachel couldn't wait to show their costumes off.
After lunch, Shelby put her foot down through the tantrum and put Rachel down for a nap. She had whined and cried, but still slept for over two hours and when Shelby went back into her room after she'd heard her up and about, she found Rachel standing at the window staring out again.
"What do you keep looking at down there?" Shelby asked.
"There are two cats in Mrs. Talbert's yard," Rachel told her.
"Yeah, there's been a few stray cats hanging around for the last week or so," Shelby said as she stood behind Rachel and looked out. "But I don't want you playing with those cats, you understand? They may not be used to being around people."
"Only witches," Rachel said quietly.
"What?" Shelby asked.
"Nothing. I won't play with the cats," Rachel assured her. Nope, her mother didn't have anything to worry about in this case. Those cats weren't going to help lure her into the clutches of the evil Mrs. Talbert.
Rachel had some time before she had to start getting ready so she asked to go out and play and once Shelby had made sure she had her jacket on, the girl was given her freedom. Rachel went into the back yard and snuck over to the fence and carefully surveyed her neighbor's property. She wasn't sure what type of witchy stuff she was looking for, but she figured she would know it when she saw it. There was now no sign of the feral cats that had been hanging around earlier and so Rachel gathered her courage and climbed the chain link fence between the yards and ran to the back of Mrs. Talbert's house and stood with her back to the wall so she could catch her breath. She had to get over here and hidden so she couldn't be seen from a window.
Rachel crept up to the porch that wrapped around the right side of the house and quietly climbed the stairs and crawled along the house under the windows. She had to see in there to see what she was doing. Maybe she could catch her in the act and get some proof so she could tell her mom and then they'd be able to rescue the kids that Mrs. Talbert had certainly already captured.
Rachel stopped under the window she knew went to the kitchen and slowly raised up on her knees so she could peer over the sill. She ducked back down when she heard a noise and listened for the silence to return before she tried again. This time she got all the way up and looked into the kitchen. Mrs. Talbert was there, but her back was to the window and she didn't see Rachel. The girl watched her closely and to her horror, the woman put her hand in an oven mitt and opened the door to the appliance. Rachel's breathing grew erratic and her eyes widen as she watched Mrs. Talbert remove a pie from the oven. Rachel could swear her face was changing as she saw the old woman's eyes glint with satisfaction and insanity.
She was too late! She wondered who it was that had been baked into the pie. Which kids wouldn't she see in school on Monday?
A noise in the kitchen brought her out of her thoughts and Rachel ducked down just in time to not be seen. She crawled as fast as she could, but stood up after a few feet so she could run. She leapt from the top of the porch into the back yard, bypassing the stairs all together. If her mother knew how her jumping from the back of the couch had prepared her for this moment, Rachel knew that Shelby wouldn't be so quick to reprimand her for the practice.
The landing wasn't as smooth as normal and Rachel stumbled forward and slid on her hands and knees for a bit. She didn't give herself a chance to stop and got to her feet in mid-motion and raced to the fence and climbed it expertly and continued to run until she had reached the safety of her own back door. She propelled herself through it and then slammed it when she was inside and put her back against it and panted.
"Rachel," Shelby said with concern as she hurriedly walked into the room to see why the door had slammed. "What are you doing?"
"I – she – it's not safe!" Rachel got out between her breaths. "Pies."
"What are you playing?" Shelby asked.
"Nothing," Rachel said. She needed to explain.
"Were you rolling around on the ground?" Shelby asked when she noticed her grass stained jeans and hands.
"I fell."
"Are you ok?" Shelby asked and Rachel nodded. "Good, then run upstairs and get cleaned up."
"But-"
"Go on, Rach, we'll need to start getting ready soon."
Shelby walked back to the kitchen and Rachel turned and looked out a window into the back yard to make certain that she hadn't been followed. She locked the door just in case and headed for the stairs so she could go and clean up like Shelby had told her to.
An hour and a half later they were dressed and ready to go trick-or-treating. Rachel looked darling in her red dress and white tights with black Mary Janes. Darling wasn't exactly the word she would use for herself, but Shelby definitely looked the part of the orphanage runner. Rachel belted out numbers from the show while she was waiting for her mom and Shelby started a verse of "Little Girls" when Rachel grew impatient and started jumping on the woman's bed. She laughed and scampered out of the room when her mom came at her while singing the chorus. . Shelby took plenty of pictures of Rachel and set the timer on her camera so that she could get some shots of the two of them together. Rachel was hyped up and ready to go by the time they actually left the house.
Rachel carried an old Strawberry Shortcake pillowcase to collect her candy, and though it didn't exactly match the theme, she figured it would do. When they got outside Rachel immediately looked over at Mrs. Talbert's house, but didn't see the woman outside. Had she already captured enough kids for that night? But then again, she was already making pies so she probably had some slots to fill.
"Which way do you want to go?" Shelby asked when they reached the sidewalk in front of the house.
"To the right," Rachel answered. Mrs. Talbert's house was to the left and Rachel wasn't going to take any chances.
Rachel and Shelby worked their way through the neighborhood and received about as many compliments as Rachel did candy. Everyone loved their costumes and Rachel beamed over the praise from the adults who were usually so much nicer to her than a lot of the kids in the neighborhood. By the time they reached Shelby's street Rachel was having a tough time holding her pillowcase because it was heavy and so Shelby was helping her so they could keep moving. It was getting later and colder and close to the time they should be finishing up.
When they reached Mrs. Talbert's house Rachel's entire demeanor changed. To the little girl's absolute horror, Mrs. Talbert was standing on her porch and had on a long, black cloak and a pointed witch's hat and was holding a small cauldron in her hand. Rachel watched as she took candy out of it and put into another kid's bag. Rachel latched on to Shelby and tried to hide behind her, but her mother moved her around to the front and nudged her toward the walk.
"Go on," Shelby said. "I'll be waiting here."
"Can we just go home?" Rachel asked. She looked longingly over at her own house that was right next door. She was so close to safety.
"Rachel," Mrs. Talbert said in a screechy voice in an attempt to impersonate a witch. "Come up here, my pretty, and let me see you. Come and get some candy." She laughed deliciously and Rachel gulped.
"Mommy," Rachel turned back and hid her face against Shelby's leg.
"Rachel, this is the last house. She wants to see your costume. Go on."
Shelby picked up a conversation with other waiting parents as Rachel took slow, tentative steps towards the house. Her senses seemed heightened and she could hear her own breathing mixed with the clacking of her shoes on the path up to the porch.
She could do this. Rachel knew she could do this. She was brave and if she just pretended that she wasn't scared, she'd be fine and it would be over. The key was that she had to remember that she had the upper hand because she was on to Mrs. Talbert and she knew not to go into the house. She knew the signs to look out for.
Rachel jumped and stopped in her tracks when a ghoulish noise sounded from a couple houses down as the decorations scared another group of kids. Rachel looked to the orange lights shining around Mrs. Talbert's house and yard and tried not to pay attention to any of the formidable shadows they created.
"Come closer, my dear," Mrs. Talbert encouraged in her witch voice and Rachel looked back to see her mom still talking with the people who lived a block over. Their son was across the street.
The little girl turned her attention back to the doom that awaited her on the porch and took another slow step forward.
"Don't be frightened, little one. My witch's brew can't hurt you," Mrs. Talbert pressed. She knew how theatrical the girl was and was trying to put on a good show for her.
Lies! Rachel knew all about that witch's brew.
The first step of the porch creaked beneath her feet and Rachel stopped there for a moment and looked around at the broom that was propped up and at Mrs. Talbert's fat tabby cat that was lounging on the glider. There were fake spider webs and hanging ghosts and the ominous music from two doors down started again. Rachel shook her head no when Mrs. Talbert motioned for her to come forward.
"But look how cute you are, little girl," Mrs. Talbert said. "I could just eat you up." She shook her cauldron and laughed.
Rachel was not this brave and tears started to well in her eyes. She wanted to go home. "Mommy," she whispered out.
Mrs. Talbert reached into her cauldron and pulled out two bags of M&Ms which she knew were the girl's favorite candy. "I have something special for you."
Rachel's bottom lip was trembling as she slowly stepped closer and tried to hold her heavy pillowcase out. A tear slipped down her cheek when she got close enough for Mrs. Talbert to reach her and she wouldn't take her eyes off the woman's face. She just knew it was going to start to change and her yellow eyes would begin to bore into her at any moment.
"Rachel?" Mrs. Talbert's voice was soft and normal as she looked at the crying girl with concern. "Honey?"
"Mommy," Rachel whispered again.
Mrs. Talbert stood up straight and looked out to the sidewalk. "Shelby," she called out to her and the younger woman looked up from her conversation.
The tabby cat in the chair suddenly sprang into action as it went after a bug that had been bothering it. He jumped from the glider and ran past Rachel's feet. The sudden action of the car momentarily stunned Rachel and she didn't react until her ran into the broom that was leaning against the railing of the porch and knocked it over. The loud clang caused Rachel to jump and then scream and burst into tears. She dropped her pillowcase full of candy on the porch steps spilling it everywhere and turned and ran back towards her mom.
"Rachel," Shelby started moving towards her as soon as she heard the girl scream. She picked Rachel up and the trembling girl clung to her with her arms wrapped tightly around Shelby's neck and she closed her eyes so she didn't have to see Mrs. Talbert coming towards them. "What's wrong, Rach? What is it, honey?"
"She's a witch," Rachel sobbed out. "She's going to bake me in a pie. We have to go home."
"What are you talking about?" Shelby asked. "She's just wearing a costume like you are."
"No she's not," Rachel cried. "Don't let her get me."
"She's not going to get you," Shelby said as she held her tighter. "I've got you." She looked over at Mrs. Talbert apologetically and said, "I'm sorry."
"Nonsense," the woman said. "Take her home so she's not scared anymore."
Shelby carried Rachel next door and into the house where she sat in her rocking chair and held Rachel and rocked her so she would calm down. Rachel's tears started to slow to just sniffles so Shelby sat her up on her lap and picked up some tissues so the girl could blow her nose and dry her eyes.
"Alright, buddy, what's going on?" Shelby asked. "What's got you so scared?"
"Mrs. Talbert is a witch," Rachel said emphatically. "She was trying to get me away from you."
"No she's not, Rachel. You know Mrs. Talbert. You love her."
"Yes she is," Rachel declared. "And not a cool witch like in the Wizard of Oz, but a real life mean wicked witch."
"Where did you ever get such an idea?" Shelby questioned.
"I saw it in the movie Dad and Daddy were watching last night," Rachel told her. "This old lady was a witch and she lived in a normal house and had cats and everything. But she didn't like any of the people she lived by and she started taking kids and bringing them to her basement and cooking them in her cauldron and then baking them into pies and giving the pies to the parents. I don't want you to eat me in a pie!" Rachel said. "You wouldn't do that, would you, Mommy?"
"No, of course not," Shelby answered. It all started to make sense now; Rachel's nightmare and staring out the window and running inside scared this afternoon rambling about pies and wanting to skip the house.
Rachel breathed in a sigh of relief and settled back into her mother, but Shelby made her sit back up.
"Rachel, that movie wasn't real," Shelby said. "It was all just make believe. There aren't really witches like that. None of those kids in that movie got hurt and they really weren't baked into pies. You know Mrs. Talbert, honey, and she loves you and would never hurt you."
"But the witch in the movie pretended to like the kids too," Rachel said.
"Honey, but it's just a movie," Shelby tried to reason with her. "The woman in that movie was wearing a costume just like you and I are and like Mrs. Talbert was. You know all about pretending and playing roles and I'm sorry it scared you, but it wasn't real."
"Are you sure?" Rachel asked.
"Positive," Shelby told her.
Rachel leaned back into Shelby and burst into tears once more.
"What is it?" Shelby asked, her concern returning at the suddenness of Rachel's tears.
"I dropped my pillowcase and lost all of my candy," the girl wailed.
"Oh, honey," Shelby wrapped her arms around her and started rocking again.
A knock at the door drew their attention away and Shelby set Rachel down so she could get up and answer it. Rachel stayed right behind her mom and peeked around her skirt to see who it was. Mrs. Talbert was on the other side of the door, but she wasn't wearing her cloak and hat and she was holding Rachel's full pillowcase of candy.
"Rachel," the woman began, "I'm sorry if I frightened you. I picked up all of your candy and even added some extra."
Shelby moved Rachel from her hiding spot to stand in front of her so she could talk to Mrs. Talbert. She kept her hands on Rachel's shoulders to reassure the girl, but wanted her to speak on her own behalf.
"Thank you," Rachel said to the woman who was leaning down to her level. "And I didn't mean to scream and run away. Mommy says it's just make believe that you're a witch and that you won't really bake me in a pie."
A look of confusion passed the woman's features, but she recovered and played along.
"Well certainly not!" Mrs. Talbert exclaimed. "What makes you think that even if I did bake little children into pies, that I'd want a Rachel flavored one in the first place? It doesn't sound very tasty to me."
Now wait a minute! The tables had suddenly turned and while Rachel didn't want to be baked into a pie, there was no reason to believe that she wouldn't make a tasty one.
"I would so be a good pie. I'd be a Rachel Berry pie!" the girl countered and Shelby and Mrs. Talbert started to laugh.
"I suppose you're right. So I'm not scary anymore?"
"No, ma'am," Rachel said shyly and she stepped forward and hugged the woman.
"I'm so glad."
When she stood up straight after their hug, Mrs. Talbert looked to Shelby for clarification.
"Apparently our tasty Miss Berry watched a scary movie last night about a woman who is really a witch and bakes children into pies to serve to their parents," Shelby explained.
"Ahh, I see," Mrs. Talbert said.
"I can't believe your fathers let you watch that," Shelby commented to Rachel.
"They didn't exactly know that I was watching," Rachel told on herself and looked away from her mother for a moment.
"Ohhhhh," Shelby drew out the word and sent her sneaky child a raised eyebrow.
"That's my cue to leave," Mrs. Talbert said. "Goodbye, my pretty."
Rachel's head snapped up to look at her and the woman just laughed and closed the door behind her.
Shelby walked into the kitchen and put the loot of candy on the table and Rachel immediately got up in a chair and grabbed for a piece.
"You can only have a couple of pieces," Shelby instructed, "because it's getting close to your bedtime."
"But, Mom," Rachel whined before taking a bite of a mini chocolate bar.
"Well apparently you were up later than usual because you wanted to watch scary movies and then you didn't sleep well and you've had a lot of drama and excitement today," Shelby listed off all of the reasons her girl should be tired. She ate a Reese's Cup.
"But I'm not tired," Rachel told her. "Can we watch a movie? Please, Mommy."
Shelby wanted to stick to her guns, but relented at the puppy dog eyes Rachel was giving her. They didn't have anything to do tomorrow anyways.
"Ok, a movie sounds like fun," Shelby said and Rachel clapped. "Which one?"
They sat in silence for a few moments as they each looked at how the other was dressed.
"Annie," they said at the same time. Rachel's tone was excited and Shelby's was knowing.
"But we need to change first," Shelby said. She opened a bag of candy corn.
"But it would be so much fun to watch them with our costumes on," Rachel said. She opened a pack of Smarties and started to eat them.
"But we'll be more comfortable in our pajamas," Shelby argued.
"Ok," Rachel said after thinking over it for a minute. "But I'll put the movie in first so it's ready!"
She was off like a shot and Shelby stayed at the table so she could look through the candy to find what she wanted next.
Rachel put the DVD in the player and waited until the menu came up and then turned so she could race upstairs to get out of her costume. She jumped up on the couch and perched herself on the back of it so she could leap off, but Shelby stepped into the room and caught her red-handed.
"Rachel Barbra Berry," Shelby scolded.
Rachel stood still on the back of the couch as she tried to appear innocent as her mom moved with purposeful strides toward her.
"And what do you have to say for yourself, young lady?" Shelby picked Rachel up under her arms and held her up so they were at eye level.
"Umm," Rachel thought for a second, "I love you, Miss Hannigan?"
Shelby couldn't keep herself from laughing and pulled the girl close to her and kissed the impish grin.
"Well Miss Hannigan wants you to know that this is your last warning," Shelby spoke so that Rachel would know she wasn't kidding and then lowered the girl to her feet. "Alright, get upstairs so we can get changed."
Shelby gave Rachel a quick bath before they returned to the waiting movie. Shelby was in some sweats and Rachel was in another pair of footie pajamas. They were green and she spent a few minutes pretending to be a dinosaur that could only eat candy. Shelby's 'only a few pieces' rule was relaxed as they watched and the woman ate just as many sweets as her daughter. When Annie ended, Shelby went a more traditional route and put on her copy of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
Neither of them made it through the short program as their simultaneous sugar crashed took effect and they fell asleep.
Shelby awoke the following morning sprawled out on the couch with Rachel lying on top of her. The girl woke up when Shelby tried to shift and she cast a confused, bleary expression around the room.
"Can I have candy for breakfast?" Rachel asked even as she tried to find a comfortable position and closed her eyes again.
"No, ma'am," Shelby said. "No more candy until after a proper breakfast." How could Rachel possibly want more candy; Shelby felt sick.
There was a knock at the door and they both turned and stared at it like whoever was out there would just come in if they waited long enough. Shelby finally started to move which sprang Rachel into action and the little girl ran to the door to open it. She undid the lock and had it open while Shelby was still making her way over.
There was no one on the other side and Rachel was staring down at a box that had been left on the porch. A note was taped to the box and the outside read: For Rachel. Shelby looked around for someone but could not find any clues to had just knocked on her door.
"What is it?" Rachel asked.
"I don't know," Shelby answered. "But there's only one way to find out."
Shelby picked up the box and took it to the kitchen and set it on the counter. She lifted Rachel up to sit beside it and took the note off for her. They opened it up and Rachel read the words inside.
"Enjoy, my pretty."
Rachel gave her mother a confused look and waited for her to open the box. They looked in together and Rachel's eyes went wide and Shelby had to stifle a laugh when they saw the contents. A freshly baked pumpkin pie was inside the box.
"Mommy!" Rachel exclaimed.
Shelby swore she could hear the woman next door laughing. Cackling was more like it.
A/N – I hope you guys liked this. Please leave me a review and let me know what you thought. Thanks!