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"Poor Thackery Binx. Neither his father, his mother, nor anyone else ever knew what became of him those 300 years ago."
Penelope chewed on the end of her pencil, as she listened to Miss Olin recount the classic tale that everybody in Salem knew so well. Of course, nobody knew the story better than Penny - it being her own family history after all!
Her teacher always narrated the story every Halloween and all the students admired the effort she employed. Dressed completely in black, the old woman had transformed into a macabre vision. Nestled on top of her greying hair sat a witch's hat and dangling around her neck were several necklaces, bearing a jack-o'-lantern charm and assorted signs of the occult.
If Penny had any aspirations for the future, she thought she would like to be like Miss Olin. An unmarried, crazy cat lady, spreading folklore (or as it was, true stories) about the haunted history of Salem, Massachusetts.
She began to pace down the aisles of her students' desks. "And so, the Sandsrson sisters were hanged by the Salem townfolk. Now, there are those who say that on Halloween night, a black cat still guards the old Sanderson house, warning off any who might make the witches come back to life!"
With a dramatic flourish, Miss Olin waved her hands, before letting out a blood-curdling scream. Penelope looked up in alarm and saw a flash of black, darting towards her. She closed her eyes and yelled sharply, as the spiralling, ebony force made contact with her face.
When she realised that no harm had befell her, she opened her eyes and saw that it was only a black paper streamer, usually used in parties. The rest of the class began to laugh and applaud Miss Olin and Penny joined in.
"For a brave girl, that was quite a chilling scream, Miss Sanders. I wouldn't be surprised if you awoke the dead with that yell of yours."
"Perhaps I've resurrected the Sanderson sisters and they'll come and take their vengeance on you for that little prank, Miss Olin," Penny replied with a grin.
A scoff came from the other side of the room and a voice mumbled, "Gimme a break."
Penny hardly needed to bother raising her eyes to identify the sarcastic drawl as Max's. He was wearing a green and purple tie-dyed shirt, establishing him as more of an outsider than ever in traditionalist, old Salem.
"Ah, it appears we have a sceptic in our midst," the elderly professor commented with a small smile. "Mr Dennison would you care to share your California, laid back, tie-dye point of view?"
Max threw a glance towards Penny, who rolled her eyes in an attempt to beg him not to reply. He smirked and leaned back in his chair, only further encouraged.
