One day on the week before Halloween, Lucy, Chryssie, Jack, and I were decorating the house and finishing up our costumes. I was helping Chryssie with her costume while Jack and Lucy were in the kitchen making candy apples and Halloween cookies to give the trick-or-treaters. Four years ago, when Lucy came to live with us, I decided that we should have a theme for Halloween costumes. The first year was "Alice in Wonderland." Lucy was Alice, I was the Queen of Hearts, Jack was the King of Hearts, and Chryssie was the Cheshire Cat. The second year was "Despicable Me." Lucy and I were two of the Yellow Minions, Jack was Gru, and Chryssie was the Purple Minion. The third year was Disney Princesses. Lucy was Anna, I was Merida, Jack was Prince Charming, and Chryssie was Cinderella. Last year's theme was Historical Figures. Lucy was Pocahontas, I was Cleopatra, Jack was Julius Caesar, and Chryssie was young Laura Ingalls Wilder. This year, our theme is TV & Movies. Lucy decided that she wanted to dress up as Alice again. Jack and I decided to dress up as Jack Skellington and Sally from "The Nightmare Before Christmas". Chryssie decided that she wanted to dress up as Wendy the Good Little Witch from "Casper Meets Wendy." We always watch those movies on Disney Channel and ABC Family every Halloween. Jack and I also told Lucy that she was old enough to take Chryssie trick-or-treating on her own this year. She had just turned 12 in April and is now in seventh grade. Lucy was very excited about it and so was Chryssie, who was squirming a little while I was making a finishing touch to her Wendy costume. "Is it ready now, Mommy?" she asked. "Not yet, honey," I chuckled. "Now stand still. Just one more-there! Now it's ready!" "Can I look, Mommy?" Chryssie asked again. I nodded. Chryssie looked at herself in the mirror and boy was she happy. "I love it!" Chryssie said as she hugged me. "Thank you, Mommy! Can I show Aunt Lucy and Daddy?" I chuckled. "Of course you can. But, be careful," I warned her. "Aunt Lucy and Daddy are making candy apples and cookies. I don't want any caramel sticking on your costume." "I'll be careful, Mommy," Chryssie said. "I promise!" She headed towards the kitchen. "Daddy! Aunt Lucy! Look at my costume!"
I chuckled a little and I began to clean up. Just as I was about to throw away the red fabric scraps, I thought I saw two smiling ghosts at my window. Binx? Emily? I thought to myself. I was sure that I saw them. I looked around for them for about a few minutes when I heard my phone vibrate. "Hello?" I said. "Dani, is that you?" asked an elderly voice. "Hi, Sylvia. It's me," I replied. Sylvia is Jack's grandmother. Sylvia raised him at his hometown in Westport, New York after his mom and dad died from a plane crash when he was ten. "How are you?" I asked my grandmother-in-law. "Not very well, dear," Sylvia replied. "I'm at the hospital. I fell down the stairs at home and broke my hip." "Oh, Sylvia," I said in sympathy. "Are you alright?" "I'm alright, but I need help at home when I leave the hospital." "Hold on, Sylvia. Let me go get Jack," I told her. I walked into the kitchen, but he was not there. "Lucy, where's Jack?" I asked. "He's upstairs cleaning up," she replied. Chryssie was twirling around in her costume. "Chryssie, your grandma Sylvia's on the phone," I told her. "Oh let me talk to her, Mommy, please?" I put the phone back to my ear. "Here's Chryssie, Sylvia. I'll give her the phone and I'll be right back with Jack." I could smell the cookies baking in the oven as I gave Chryssie my phone. "Hi, Grandma Sylvie!" I heard Chryssie say as I went upstairs.
"Jack," I called. "Where are you?" "I'm in the bedroom, babe," he called back. "What's wrong?" "Your grandma is on the phone. She wants to talk to you," I told him. "She's in the hospital with a broken hip." "Oh, no," he said. "I'll be right down." I went back downstairs. "...and Aunt Lucy is going to take me trick-or-treating this this year. She's going as Alice," I heard Chryssie say. "And Mommy just finished making my costume! I'm going as Wendy. No, not Wendy from "Peter Pan". Wendy the Good Little Witch!" I stopped at the kitchen door. Chryssie looked at me and then to Sylvia, she said, "Here's Mommy again. Bye, Grandma!" Chryssie gave the phone back to me. I saw Jack coming down the stairs. "Here's Jack, Sylvia," I said to her and then I gave the phone to Jack. "Hi, Grandma," he said as he went into the living room. "Come on, Chryssie, let's take off your costume and into different clothes." I took Chryssie into my arms and carried her to her bedroom. That afternoon, Jack told the girls and I that he has to go to Westport for a week to help Sylvia. Chryssie asked if she, Lucy, and I could go with him, but he said the girls have to stay here because the medicine Sylvia's doctors gave her has been making her feel a little moody and sick. Jack also told us that he would have start heading over as soon as possible. Chryssie and Lucy helped Jack pack his suitcase and then we said our goodbyes. As Jack was getting in his car, he kissed me and said, "I'll call you in a few hours to let you know where I am." "Give our love to Sylvia when you get there," I told him. The girls and I waved and then we headed back into the house to finish decorating.
Later in the evening, we had tacos with chips and cheese and salsa for dinner. Lucy was very quiet. "Luce, is there something wrong? You've been awfully quiet. Everything going okay at school?" Lucy nodded and then asked, "Dani, who are the Sanderson sisters?" I stopped eating my dinner. I knew that she would ask about them. I wondered if I should tell her the truth or if I shouldn't tell about my encounter with them. "The Sanderson sisters are three evil witches who brew potions to suck the life forces out of young children," I explained. "Can you tell us about them, Mommy, please?" Chryssie asked me. I didn't want to scare Chryssie, but I had to tell them. I nodded and began. "Long ago, before we were born, the sisters captured a little girl named Emily Binx." I went on after dinner telling them all about the sisters and what they did to Emily and how Binx went to their cottage to try to save her and was later turned into a black cat. "What happened to the sisters, Mommy?" Chryssie asked again. "They were captured and sentenced by all of the villagers and everyone believed that Thackery Binx had disappeared. Before they were sentenced, the sisters cast a spell that they would be brought back one Halloween night if someone lights the black flame candle."
"Did someone bring them back, Dani?" Lucy asked. I nodded quietly. "Who?" I was about to answer, when I saw Chryssie falling asleep next to her plate. "I'll tell you after we put Chryssie to bed," I whispered. After Chryssie was in her pajamas and into bed, Lucy and I went to the living room to talk more. "So, who lit the black flame candle, Dani?" "It was Max," I told her. Lucy's eyes widened. "How?! Why?" I went on telling Lucy that Max didn't believe the story about the Sanderson sisters at first after we first moved from California. I also told her that the sisters kidnapped me and tried to suck my life force, but Max rescued and sacrificed his life for me until the sisters turned to dust. Lucy was speechless, but she asked me one more question before she went upstairs to get ready for bed. "Do you think the Sanderson sisters will come back, Dani?" "I hope not, Luce. Come on, it's time for bed." We were halfway upstairs when we saw Chryssie coming down. "What are you doing up, baby?" I asked. "I-I-I just wanted to get a drink of water, Mommy," she told me. "Okay, baby, I'll be right with you." Little did I know that Chryssie had listened to the whole conversation. After getting Chryssie her cup, I took her back to bed before I checked on Lucy. "Good night, baby. I love you." I kissed Chryssie good night and she fell back to sleep.
Lucy was still awake when I came in. I asked her why she wanted to know about the sisters. "Because my social studies teacher is going to tell us about the Salem witch trials and she also mentioned the Sanderson sisters and…" "And you wanted me to tell you about them, too, huh?" I finished for her. Lucy nodded. "Can we go to their cottage, Dani?" Lucy asked. "I want to see what it looks like." I hesitated, but I told her that we can go after trick-or-treating on Halloween night. "Now get some sleep, Luce." We said good night and then Lucy fell asleep.