All Hallows' Eve - A Chilling Tale Of Warmth and Love
Part One

Great Aunt Agatha had passed away several months ago. Mother was very melancholy. The usual for her this time of year. She was positively morose. Father always whisked her off to Paris. Apparently Paris was eternally gay, as were many of it's gentlemen (but that's another matter). This was a tradition in the family.

Due to the passing of Great Aunt Agatha, the girls were being left on their own. Mother had left strict rules of conduct however, for this All Hallow's Eve.... No going door to door for treats! No going outside at all -- the doors are to be kept locked at all times! This too was a family tradition -- and also a family "mystery". The older girls were perfectly able to care for their younger siblings....and so it was.

After Mother and Pappa left, the older girls Amanda, Melinda and Natalia locked the the four younger girls in the nursery. The little ones understood that this was not a mean act but for their own safety.....because of the "mystery."

The younger siblings accepted their prison of love and gazed out the window. There was a full moon.

Lou-Lou looked over at the grim site and their sad little faces.She knew it was her duty to entertain them this evening. It had always been. This she was very good at. Story telling was her passion. Daydreaming was her normal state. The younger ones looked to her for this and gathered around.

Lou-Lou began, pretending to read but really just fabricating her story. "Once upon a time on All Hallows' Eve there were three young ladies (here she named their three older sisters) who gathered together in the parlour just as the sun set. They had fetched from the old trunk in the attic the boxes their mother had hid from them," and so on and so forth. Her story went on...