The alarm went off at 6 o’clock on a brisk October morning. The sun still wasn’t up and I figured why should a boy my age get up now? Plus, the way I see it, 6 am on a Saturday should never be. But, I had to get out of my warm, cozy bed so that my parents, sister, Marie, and I could get an early start to visit my grandma’s house in Salem, Mass. I figured I would try one more time to get out of going.

Well, there was no bargaining, no opinions, not this time. We were going and that was that. For the first time in SIXTEEN YEARS, (almost two decades) we would have to endure the miserable trip and the torturous two weeks of being with a grandma I barely even know. Tell me, where’s the fairness in that?! I sure don’t see it! Anyway, we got our little Honda Prius, just barely big enough for all the luggage my mother was bringing. With some maneuvering from dad, we got the bags in, and then we got in. Miami, FL to Salem, MA, I’d say this was going to be a long trip.

Finally, we arrived in the tourist town. I still had no idea why it was so famous; I mean who really believes in witches and magic. Then, all at once, it happened. Time slowed down just for me. I spotted her and all I could think was; Wow. She was beautiful and I couldn’t take my eyes off her. Her hair was a deep brown color, like smooth dark chocolate, with light brown and red highlights. Her eyes were deep brown and they had a softness to them. She was wearing tight black jeans, with a loose white-knit sweater and black suede boots, and she turned and smiled directly at me. My heart fluttered and sang and everything else you could imagine. I was in my own little world when suddenly:

“Well hi there Danny! You sure have grown!” This unusual compliment came from my grandma. I guess I had grown a little since she last visited us in Miami a couple of years ago. Ok, it was around 5 years ago that we last saw her. Gram had strawberry-red hair and pale skin unlike my dad. Seeing her meant that we had arrived at her home. That place was older than her 62 years, which made it seem ancient.

“Oh, it’s so good to see the family together,” said my mom as she embraced my grandmother. Gram’s eyes kept staring at me with a sinister look that seemed odd. Can’t blame her, after all the years of being apart, it would be hard to call us all family.
“Alright kids!” yelled out my dad. He was a tall man with good looks and sandy colored hair. I was a spitting image of him. “Now here’s the plan. Mom and I will get our room, Marie will get her own room, and then Danny will get one as well. Sound good? Good. Let’s go!” Everyone started moving into the old house but me. Rooms for the parents; good. Room for the Marie; fine. Room for Danny; there are only 3 rooms and the last one’s Gram’s, I thought. This is going to be a long two weeks.
“Alright Danny,” whispered Gram. “I’ll let you pick the room that you want and I’ll stay with Marie.” Something was defiantly wrong. That’s not like her at all. I tossed this around in my head as I walked into the house.

Not much to tell about the house. The floorboards creaked as you stepped on them and the windows were kind of dirty with a thin layer of dust on the sills. On the table, there were ancient books with weird writing on them. Never seen those before.
“Gram, did you know that this place is dirty?” Marie questioned the older lady.
“Well, when ya ain’t got any help, ya can’t do much.” She glared at my dad. “An’ the dishes are like that ‘cause, after all this time, I just don’t wanna do it no more.” There was a hint of anger in her voice and on her face. The family was quiet after that. All you could hear was the wind whispering throughout the hollow house. After a few minutes of silence, we made a silent agreement to go pick our rooms.

As I inspected each room, finally, at the end of the mile long hallway, there was a small room, barely big enough for my bags and me. The paint was fading from the walls and there were cracks in the floor boards. There were wood shutters on the windows, but you couldn’t open them without making them creak and fall apart. I opened the closet in the back of the room, and sure enough, dozens of spiders crawled around, searching for a hiding spot. I jumped back at the sight of them.

Time to clean it up. I picked up a broom and found a mop down the hall. I started with sweeping the dusty floor with the broom. I kept looking at the spiders and, oddly enough, they stared back. Eventually, I just shut the closet door. It took me about an hour, and I was feeling great. That is, until I looked around; only the floor was clean! I thought for sure I’d done a lot more than that. I poked my head around the doorway and I could see everyone else was cleaning their rooms. At the beginning of the hall was Gram, sitting in an old chair, watching everyone with a smile. She’s got her whole family working together to help her. I went back in the room and over to the shutters, placed my hands on the knobs, went to open them, and CCCRRRAAACCCKKK!!!! I closed my eyes.

Hope no one heard that. I opened my eyes. Yeah, I’m pretty sure everyone heard that! I mean, they weren’t all standing at my doorway for nothing. Gram stepped forward and looked at the splinters that used to be her shutters.

Here it comes, I thought.

“Thanks Danny,” said Gram sarcastically. “I’ve been trying to open those shutters ever since I was little, and I could never do it.” She looked out the window. “Uh, Danny, I need you to, uh, help me outside. Ok? Ok! Let’s go!” She grabbed my arm and, for a 62 year old, she was strong and fast. Before I could even say no, we were out the door.

“Alright Gram, what’d you need me to help you with?” I asked warily.

“Oh. I just need you to go over to that house on the corner and ask the young lady if I could borrow some of her gram’s sweet stuff. Ok? Now hurry up.” You know, she’s kind of pushy when she wants to be. So I walked alongside the road, looking at all the old houses. Each one had something missing; shutters for the windows, parts of the address, and one even had the doorknob missing. The creepiest of all was the vines, cobwebs, and cracks that each of theses rickety homes had. Finally, I got to the corner of the street and saw the house I was to go to and it made me shutter. It was tall, but narrow, and looked as if it had been in a fire. It had a burnt, crimson door with a silver doorknob. It was so far the only house with Halloween decorations out. I walked up the broken stairs that crumbled with every step (they reminded me of jigsaw puzzles) and knocked on the door. It started to open when a streak of black fur, bolted out the door. When trying to move out of the way, I tripped over a pumpkin and fell on my backside. I lied still on the dying grass so that I could catch my breath.
“Oh, I’m so sorry. He didn’t mean to startle you. It’s just, he’s still a kitten,” these were the frantic words spoken by an angel. Her voice got louder, giving me the impression she was walking over to me. “Um, are you alright?” she asked. I started to get up and it was her. The girl I saw on the street. Between her smile and her eyes, she was an angel.

“Yeah, I’m alright. I take worse hits and falls than that, in football. What was that thing?” Suddenly, something stepped on me. I looked and saw a black ball of fluff.
“This is Blinx, my little protector,” she answered. “Show our friend why you’re called that.” The cat blinked at me. Well, the name fit him well. “So, what did you come here for?” she asked.

“My grandma lives down the street, and she wanted me to get some of your grandmother’s sweet stuff. She said you could get it for me?”
“Oh of course, you must be Danny. Ms. Mary talks about you all the time.” She looked me up and down, then gave me a surprised look, “Strange and yet not really surprising, I mean, she does tend to exaggerate. Sweet stuff; sure thing. Come on in.” I followed her in the doorway hesitantly. The door slammed shut behind us. I wanted to scream with fright, but instead I held it in. As I looked around, I could see a bunch of herbs, spices, and a pile of history books entitled Witches in Salem.
“Like learning about witches?” I asked.

“They have a lot to do with the history of Salem. They’re pretty much what made this town famous.” She kept her back to me, looking for the “sweet stuff”.
“What’s your name?” I asked. “I mean, surprisingly, you know mine. So your turn.”
“Raven,” she paused. “Raven Black. Interesting isn’t it.”
“Sure is.”
Finally, she stopped, opened up a drawer, pulled out a bag and walked over to me. She handed me that bag, and walked me to the door. As she opened it, I could see a frail old woman come down the stairs. She lifted her head to see me. Her eyes were the same as Raven’s but more sinister, like Gram’s.
“Well, good night Danny,” Raven said as she began to shut the door.
“Um, good night Raven,” I snuck it in as the door was closing, but she kept it open for a second longer, while she smiled softly.
I walked home just as the sun was going down. The houses seemed even scarier because they looked like Jack O’Lanterns, but with people peering out of the cracked windows. As I walked, each set of eyes were on me, like the spiders, so I quickened my step. As soon as I could see Gram’s house, my heart started to race, for the neighbors’ eyes were still on me. I ran to the wooden stairs, leading to the porch, and looked down the street. Big mistake! Starting from Raven’s house, she and the rest of the neighbors poured out of their homes and onto the street, chanting something. I looked to the front door and there was Gram, walking out the door, holding a cauldron of something, and chanting as well. I looked around for my parents and sister but they were no where to be found. Then I looked at the bag of “sweet stuff”, and… and it was glowing!!! The mob of people went silent.

“Pour in the last ingredient, Danny,” Gram held out the pot and I looked around. What the heck is going on!? I could see Raven, standing with her grandma in the back of the crowd, eagerly smiling and mouthing the words “Please Danny.” So I poured in the “last ingredient” and a giant smoke cloud arose from the pot and filled the street and yards of the houses. Then, in unison, the women of the neighborhood said something in an unknown language and the smoke cleared. The houses were filled with amazing lights, special effects, and the scariest Halloween decorations I’ve ever seen! The women scurried back to their homes and Gram dug her bony elbow into my ribs.

“Still don’t believe in witch craft, Danny?” She asked. I looked all around; trick-or-treaters were coming from both sides of the street, knocking at the doors of theses witches; who would come to the door and give them enough candy to rot their teeth. Raven was at the end of the street, helping to scare the kids with her witch costume on. It was an amazing Halloween night and the strangest way to start off the visit with Gram. What am I forgetting? I thought, Mom, Dad, and Marie. I turned around to ask Gram about them, when Marie ran out with a vampire costume on and Dad followed behind her into the street. Mom sat on the porch with a bowlful of candy for the kids.

“Do you believe now?” my mom asked with a smile. Everything was so amazing and strange at the same time that I didn’t want it to end. Gram looked at me and suddenly something started to beep. What is that? No one seemed to hear it but me. Can’t they hear it? The world started to spin, and I got dizzy. Suddenly I fell to the ground.

I awoke to sound of the alarm beeping. I ran to the windows, everything was gone; the decorations, the people, and there was no sign that anyone had been around last night. Was it all just a dream?

“Morning Danny,” Gram smiled at my door. “How’d ya sleep? Have any interesting dreams?” The look on her face said it all.

“It was an amazing Halloween last night, Gram,” I walked over to her. “Thanks for helping me believe.” She rolled her eyes. I couldn’t expect everything to change, now could I?