46. Family

I strolled through the pumpkin patch on my way to Behemoth’s briars, the only way to Halliwell manor.
Suddenly four figures dove out of the bushes and tackled me to the ground.
“Hey Jonathan!” laughed a familiar voice,
“Oh, hi Ranga” I said, “what brings you to town?”
“We wanted to know” Lock started,
“About your family” Shock continued,
“And why you always come here” Barrel finished.
I sighed; I hated having to explain my presence to the townsfolk that thought I shouldn’t be there. “Very well, follow me”

We continued through the briars, the tangled vines and thorns stopped all at once, in the clearing sat a beautiful gothic manor; it was hidden from view from a hill. It was the perfect place when you wanted t be alone.
“Welcome to Halliwell manor!” I said as I threw open the door
“What a house!” lock gasped, he had never been to Halliwell manor, Ranga, Shock, and Barrel had but that’s another story…
I walked up the stairs and pointed to a portrait, it showed my mother and father, me, my brother and another person, a tall girl with brown hair and blue eyes, I named the people in the picture as I pointed to them, but when I reached the girl I stopped, a sad look crossed my face.
“Ok, if Daniel and your dad Coleman stay in the real world, then what about her?” barrel asked and pointed at the girl.
“Oh, yes” I said sadly, “that is my cousin Samantha; I haven’t seen her in forever”
“What happened to her?” lock wondered,
“No one knows” we all turned to see my mother, Sharon Halliwell standing at the base of the stairs; she had been listening to the conversation.
“She disappeared when Dr. Dark attacked Halloween town” I replied.
“Dr. who?” lock asked,
“Never mind” Ranga snapped, “he got you too?”
“No,” I explained, “we were in the real world at the time”.
“But we returned just after they were mutated” I said, “We immediately went to the other holiday worlds to make sure they were ok”
‘Mutated?’ barrel thought, ‘I don’t remember any of this’
“When we went to Christmas town” Sharon said, “Samantha was supposed to be working there turning jack’s scary presents into nice ones, but when we sot to Santa’s house” mom broke off.
“He told us she had pursued the Doctor” I finished, “and no one had seen her since”
“Don’t worry,” Ranga said, “we’ll help you look!”
The two of us smiled, “thank you” mom said.
“But what about your brother and father?” Barrel asked, “Aren’t they worried about her?”
“They don’t have the slightest idea she, or this town exist!” I laughed.
“So how did you make that portrait?” Shock wondered,
“Magic of course!” mom smiled,
We all laughed as we made our way back to the town.