Home (Jeff's Family) (original Halloween story)
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Okay, one Halloween story posted. Two more to go! xD (and they're not yet finished!)
Title: Home.
Rating: PG-13.
Words: 1 474
Universe: "Jeff’s Family".
Warnings: Halloween. Also some possibly disturbing mentions of one of the X-Files episodes (“Home”).
A/N: at the last day wrote for the Halloween contest, mostly, because I promised myself I will write something :D
Happy Halloween!
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It was Halloween night. Beautiful Halloween night, dark, but pretty warm, and if Betsy had any kind of normal parents she’d be right now with her friends scaring people. Unfortunately Betsy’s mother thought that the better occupation for the evening would be to come home earlier from the party and take care of the younger brother. Sometimes Betsy thought there was something seriously wrong with her mother.
The parent away at the party and Mikey safely sleeping in his bed, Betsy started to get bored. It was Halloween after all and it’d be just wrong to just get to sleep. Unfortunately she didn’t prepare for spending the evening at home and she was totally out of the any kinds of horror movies unless you’d count… She smiled suddenly and quickly made her way to her father’s bookcase, were he kept his precious X-Files DVD collection.
With some boredom she read short summaries trying to pick something interesting from the two hundred and two episodes. Serial killer… collecting… disturbing…, unusual suspect… small spaces… livers…, possession… grotesque wounds… profilers…, pathologic family… small city… seriously disturbing… censored while aired…
Betsy smiled happily at the last summary she read. That sounded like a good Halloween episode. She took it up to her room. Turned off lights, small bowl of popcorn and she was ready to watch new mutants, monsters or whatever freaky think X-Files could come up with.
Stormy night, weird people, digging up some hole and… Betsy starred scared at the screen, too creep out to even think about popcorn. Was that a dead baby?
Oh, this wasn’t looking like fun… And it was just an opening!
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The strong scent of coffee somehow sobered him. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea to drink coffee in the middle of the night, but Jeff hoped it’d sober him enough to survive the ‘how could you go to drink with friends by the bar and leave me alone in the middle of the party’ fight. He was actually pretty surprised the yelling hadn’t started yet. Emma wasn’t exactly the woman that let go of the any advantage she had.
He shrugged, still in sort of blessed state, when he really didn’t care about the potential problems. It wasn’t even thanks to the alcohol, he barely drunk one drink. And if Emma for once would be reasonable, she’d remember that Jeff barely drink any alcohol at all. He was just still in a good mood after meeting some friends, talking with people, enjoying the Halloween fun. When he was younger he thought that it’s sad that Halloween one day, when he’ll grow up, will lost all of its magic. Thank God, it didn’t, he thought with a smile and quickly washed the cup, before making his way upstairs.
There was no light to be seen under Betsy’s door and he was slightly surprised. He half expected to find his daughter in wizards robe and stylized hair, standing above some cauldron and counting the robbed treats. He shrugged, she probably finished those activities earlier, it was way past midnight.
Emma was just going out of the bedroom, when he got in. Her queen costume already laid out carefully, the special hairstyle gone as well. Only some barely visible smears of shining hairspray on her temples were a proof that she just got back from Halloween party.
“I’m going to check up on kids,” she said quietly and made her way to Mikey’s room.
Jeff just shrugged and started undressing to get as quickly to bed as humanly possible. If the kids were asleep on Halloween night there sure was something wrong with them, but no amount of checking up would change that. Apparently barely few minutes later Emma agreed with this statement, since she slide in the bed and after a second moved closer to her husband, hugging him.
“Not that I’m complaining, but are you all right?” He finally asked unable to let the atypical behavior be.
“Yes.”
“Mhm. Spill it.”
“Well you left me in the middle of the party…”
He sighed loudly.
“And that’s the reason you’re snuggling to me?” he asked incredulous.
She kicked him slightly to keep him silent.
“And then Johnson and Trevor appeared and decided that since it’s Halloween, they should share some scary stories…”
He bit his lips to stop the laughter from escaping. He put his arms around his wife and hide his face in her neck.
“I can feel the laugh practically bubbling in you,” she accused. “And that’s not funny, so once in your life just be a good husband and shut up.”
“Not saying a word,” he stated with a snort. “You had to listen to scary stories from psychologists, poor thing. You have every right to be scared!”
She kicked him again just for good measure, but he laughed anyway. But he also hugged her tighter.
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Betsy opened her eyes with a snap and she gasped loudly, looking wildly around. The well-known sight of her own room made her slightly calmer, but not much. She sat quietly, breathing deeply. She wasn’t even sure what exactly she dreamed about, but she was sure she saw the dead baby again. Only it looked a bit more like Mikey… Which was even creepier.
She slid down in her bed, covering herself up to her nose and curling into a fetal position. She breathed deeply, calming herself down. It wasn’t as if the creepy family was going to burst right through her door right now, right? She was safe with still somehow more normal family.
Her eyes slid closed for flattering second before opening wide. There was a sound of someone walking through the hallway. Betsy could clearly hear the quiet footsteps and that one squealing part of the floor, no more than a meter to the left from Betsy’s door. She held her breath and waited until the footsteps quieted just before some door being opened.
Rationally she knew it had to be one of her parents or maybe her brother… After all she wasn’t living alone in this house! Everyone had a right to take a walk in the moonlight in the middle of Halloween!
But on the other hand: it was Halloween, rationalism didn’t have much to do with it. She sat in the bed again, her hands nervously putting her hair behind her ears. She wasn’t afraid, not much. She could suffer through this alone with no problem… But there was no sense in it either. Next time she’d say she’s brave like every Gryffindor, she’ll have to think twice about it. Oh, to hell with it, Harry Potter was just a book, if she could feel brave just to fit in the fictional universe, she could as well get scared half to death by another fictional universe. And God, but was she going to hurt her father for keeping such movies where every kid could reach for it!
She put her legs on the floor, but quickly retreated. The vision of the woman kept under the bed was still to fresh in her memory. She shuddered and decided to just forget about how ridiculous her fear is, she stood up on the bed and jumped as close to the door as it was possible. It was rather loud, but she didn’t care, quickly she got onto the corridor and almost run to her parent’s bedroom.
Quick knocking and opening the door without waiting for the response.
Three pairs of surprised eyes watched her and she smiled relived. They were here, her parents and probably even more scared than her, her little brother. They were alive and unrelated to each other more than it was healthy. X-Files was just a bad dream!
She made her way onto the bed.
“If the kid sleeps here, I do too.”
Her father snickered, but her mother just kicked him to keep him silent and for once Betsy was grateful for her mother’s actions. They shuffled and tugged on the covers, trying to fit two adults a teenager and a six-year-old kid in one bed. Finally Betsy ended between her mother and younger brother with her father on the other side of Mikey.
“I watched Home and I’m going to hurt you for that,” announced and her father just laughed, so she kicked him, since now she laid closer to him that his wife.
“You gave her X-Files?” asked Emma with irritation.
“I gave her nothing! She took it by her own free and stupid choice!”
“Very stupid choice,” agreed Betsy, turning on her other side and tugging at the cover. “Gosh, it’s crowded here.”
“Yeah,” agreed Jeff, his voice muffled by the pillow, but obviously still amused by the whole situation. “Who would have thought Halloween is such a family holiday?”
He just laughed louder, when Betsy kicked him again.
*The End*