1994

-.-

Despite what others may have thought, Mrs. Jenny Dennison was very familiar with the dynamic between her two children. It was one with a wide age gap and prone to have a lot of friction—she all of people would recognize a typical sibling relationship when she saw it, for she had been brought up with three sisters and one brother herself.

Indeed Max and Dani were regular twentieth-century siblings. They bickered constantly, mimicked each other, bribed each other, and whined about their privacy being invaded. Of course Jenny wouldn't tolerate their usual monkey business for long, but most of the time she allowed them have at it. Just to let then blow off their steam. After all, some conflict here and there was normal and healthy for siblings. It made them test their bond and build up the other's character.

And being the perceptive motherly type, rarely did anything get past her. Heck, Max came home one evening without shoes on and her husband didn't even see until she mentioned it!

Jenny also happened to notice something else in their household had gone awry, especially when it came to Max or Dani. To be exact—these changes started to appear more to her shortly after the Halloween the previous year.

There had been very subtle changes at first...but still not completely invisible to her eye. And the strangest part of it was, that these changes reflected in both Max and Dani at once.

That in itself was rare.

So for whatever reason it was, Dani had gradually began to show basic symptoms of insomnia. Jenny would sometimes hear her daughter's light shuffling down the halls at least four or five times during the night, aiming for the kitchen to fetch a glass water. When Jenny and her husband Dave, eventually confronted Dani about this developing habit of hers, she had (quite) bluntly blamed it on "weird dreams" she'd been having frequently. Dani otherwise had gained a similar tendency of zoning out at the table while the family went out to eat, or she'd become easily distracted right in the middle of casual conversations with them.

To try a different tactic, Jenny went to see what insight Max had on the matter, if he had any that is. But Max just kept rephrasing himself and Jenny kept hearing the same answer from him over and over again.

He'd usually say, "Dani's probably sad about that stray cat running off on her after we brought home to feed it...," or else, "Don't sweat about it anymore, Ma. Dani's a tough kid. Just give her time to get over not having a pet around here like she hoped."

All of her son's adlibs and suspicious brush-offs had to do with the black cat Dani managed to carry right into the party hall to show her.

Even Dani's teacher, Mister Harper, had brought up her "odd" behavior during Parents' Conference Week. He explained how Dani shifted from being a giggly, outspoken girl with a thick layer of spunk to becoming a wallflower at recess and lunch—in addition to this, Dani grew overly-sensitive to ghost stories and Halloween tricks compared the other students.

In result, with the little information actually provided, Jenny and Dave talked it over and both of them hoped that buying their daughter another pet cat would be the antidote.

Once they approached Dani again however, that time asking if she wanted another cat to replace her lost stray, Dani had completely turned down their idea, saying that "keeping a fat, useless, contented housecat" wasn't really the point anymore.

So when their options ran incredibly thin, Jenny told her husband they should just lay the subject to rest for a bit, and with any luck, Dani could just grow out of this phase.

Though Max's own sudden change in character on the other hand, began to show when he started pulling late nights at Salem's local library...with Allison.

Even Max's mysterious I-will-now-always-skirt-around-the-issue routine seemed contagious. Allison was careful with her choices in topic as well in their house, as if she knew a big secret. The two teens somehow built a close relationship way too fast in Jenny's caring opinion. She didn't even remember when Max had started spending time with Allison exactly—and yet—there was that everlasting feeling she was still missing something. Private details they still didn't want to share.

Another Salem Halloween was nearing though by then, and Jenny figured she may have been overacting a little during the last several months. She was being overprotective. Maybe her family was just adapting to the move still. Besides, her children seemed to be functioning well enough. They had their mild quirks now, sure, but that was just human.

That evening, she located her son currently sitting on the living room floor, textbooks spread out across the coffee table. She smiled down at him. "So...Peter, what time are you and Wendy going out?"

Max rolled his eyes as he started to gather his papers together. Of course Dani just had to leak that sort of ridiculous information to their mother. But he knew better to waste time dreading the town mocking him for wearing green tights down their streets all night long, walking hand in hand with a Wendy half his size—because it was actually Dani who called off the deal altogether. (After trying to save her life, she said that they were even.)

Max therefore briefly shook his head, responding to his mother. "Obviously you didn't hear the update, Ma. I'll be at Allison's for the night...," he said cautiously, trying hard not to disappoint her again, "...you know for that Harvest Masquerade they always have over at her house? And trust me, I'm not ditching Dani. She doesn't even wanna go out tonight."

Jenny frowned in confusion. "Why not? I thought Halloween was Dani's favorite holiday."

"If you don't believe me, ask her."

"Well, I'll watch her then. You're father actually has to work late anyways tonight. No wild party for us this year."

"Good." Max sounded relieved.

If Allison ever shared the secret with her old friends at school, then surely they'd think it was her idea of a joke—a funny story made up by the daughter of the Sanderson Museum's head director just to scare them.

Cindy and Donna had always said she possessed a wild imagination. And the harder she would try to pursue them, the faster she would most likely land herself in a mental ward. She recalled how the adults reacted when Max crashed their costume party and got up on stage. All their parents were still too ignorant to believe them even now.

So instead of celebrating All Hallows Eve and partaking in the usual fall festivities with the rest of town, Allison made her own plans with Max.

It was really remarkable what fear and holding the knowledge of bizarre things could do to the mind.

Now it wasn't if Allison had grown downright paranoid after what happened last year...because she had always been a "believer," but the incredibly–close encounter with the Sister Witches did prove that taking precautions against real supernatural forces were needed.

So, she and Max began more authentic research after classes in the public library. That led to her personally visiting a small Occult shop about five miles outside of Salem to purchase an entire case of ritual cleansing salt.

And that Halloween night, Max remained indoors with her, upstairs in her room, while her parents hosted their annual party; and they went to scatter down clean thick strips of the salt across every windowsill and doorway nearby and merely sat next to each other against the pillows, waiting for dawn.

Just in case.