#yhereafter

       THE CALL from dani had left max pale and worried, an agitated furrow between his brow. apparently she had been rushed and vague over the phone, simply demanding that he and allison hurried back to the dennison house. that is was important. so allison, a knot of worry forming in her own stomach, had murmured that she would drive.

      SHE HAD FELT off for a while. like a pressure headache building before a storm. she had attributed it perhaps to the coming winter solstice, the shifting energy of changes and renewal : but this call from dani had left allison with a nagging feeling that it was more intricately linked to them than any of them had realized. so she had gripped max’s hand the entire car ride over, a source of grounding for herself and an attempt at comfort for max. they couldn’t let their thoughts run away from them, not yet.

       WHAT, OR WHO, had greeted them upon their rushed arrival into the house was shocking. impossible, most would say  —  but normality got thrown out the window after halloween last year. thackery binx, solid, human, and very much alive, with his equally living younger sister tucked away behind his lanky form. that pressure building behind allison’s eyes reaches his peak, and she’s left feeling oddly drained. she sank down into the nearest armchair, still loosely gripping max’s hand as they both simply..... stared.

     EXPLANATIONS WERE in order, but some part of allison’s mind realized that mr. and mrs. dennison could return home at any moment, and the sight of unknown children in colonial dress would probably throw them for a bit of a loop. so she brought it up to max and dani, and the two siblings made their way upstairs to look through their respective wardrobes, muttering between each other at a mile a minute. probably coming up with some sort of explanation to pass off to their parents. allison exhales a short breath before turning to study a face she frankly thought she would never see again. he looked exactly the same as he had during those brief moments that november morning, simply lacking the ghostly sheen. her shrewd gaze darts between thackery and what she can see of emily, and she shakes her head.a faint, incredulous laugh bursts forth.         ❝    ━━━   THIS IS...... incredible. ❞

Looking over at Binx, the blonde sighed. “It’s not that I’m not into Halloween…I am. I love dressing up, eating candy, watching scary movies. It’s a blast. But Halloween is the one time of the year when it’s impossible to forget about my family. Everywhere you turn there’s some lecture or reenactment including the Sanderson Sisters. It’s all anyone ever wants to talk about in school. And, of course, you have your annual group of idiots who consider trekking up to the cottage. Add into that the fact most kids are too scared to come trick or treating at our house, I don’t really get invited to parties, and the local coven might as well put a tracker on me for the entire month on October and well…it’s just not the fun I want it to be. But Emery and I will celebrate in our own way. Make food. Do Samhain rituals. Watch movies. You and Emily are welcome to join….”

            ‘  you do realize october’s not for another FEW DAYS, right ?? or is time not linear in the beyond ??  ʼ  it’s an almost genuine question posed as she bends to pick back up the book she had dropped in fright. she isn’t sure if she’ll EVER get used to ghosts simply popping up out the blue. dusting off it’s cover, she fixes thackery with a mildly cross look.  ‘  and what ever happened to sticking around the graveyard ??  ʼ 

At least she’d come up with a plan of some sort.

Pulling her hood up, Ara runs in the direction of Emily’s voice, ducking into the small cave (really more a rock formation) just as the rain turns into a full blown monsoon. Smiling at the (seemingly) younger girl, she pulls back her hood and takes off her jacket, setting it on the ground so she can sit and not get her jeans too dirty. “So how long do you think we’ll be stuck in here?”

Abandoning the cookies she had been trying to steal, Poppy dashed back over to the table where Binx sat, climbing up on the chair beside him. Because, of course, she wasn’t going to make him do that all on his own. Where was the fun in that.

“I wanna do the scooping! It’s my favorite part.”