Candice smiled as she walked into her new home. The old house was built in 1666 and withstood the test of time. 351 years later, it was still standing.

However, it wasn’t perfect. Not yet.

The woman dropped her groceries as she worked a sore shoulder. The moving company wouldn’t be here until midnight. Then it would be an hour of unpacking and that was just the essentials.

Candice’s smile faltered as she stared at the rune work again. She was giddy when she first saw this house, where a dozen witches had been ‘found’ and tried. She snorted at the stupid history lesson from the oily realtor.

No real witch was ever caught. They were always killed by professionals, not a mob of idiots.

Now that she was staring at the faded carvings, she grimaced at the work that needed to be done. The patchy magic kept the house in one piece, but dilapidated was a kind way to say the house was crap.

Her negative thoughts triggered the low moan-like that whispered in her ears.

Ah, the memories! The realtor had gone white and she feigned ignorance. The man did drop the price for her, however. She doubted that he would ever willingly set foot inside again.

She was irritated, however. The moan was listless, not haunting. She was sure that the cupboards had tried to shake, but the rust was preventing proper movements, much less creaking sounds!

How was she supposed to raise a child in such a home!? Why she doubted that the walls could shift or bleed anymore.

Bah. Cheap witchcraft.

Her gran, a proper witch, had a home rated for a thousand years.

Here, a third of it had passed and the house was only haunted by a subpar spirit.

The soft sounds of a musical jingle touched her mind and Candice smiled as Josephina walked in. Her clunky movements were cute, as the vintage doll made its way towards her.

Candice grabbed the adorable doll and hugged it to herself. The doll blinked with its working left eye and stiffly hugged back. Josephina was her doll when she was a child and Candice was never happier than when Alice inherited it.

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Candice’s smiled turned to a frown as she looked around but couldn’t find her little girl anywhere. Alice was rarely far from her prized possession. Then again, Alice wasn’t always Alice.

Echoes filled the air. They were the giggles of a young girl.

Candice made a face as she simply looked up.

The dark, possessed eyes of her darling stared between the black curtain of hair. Even upside down, her hair defied gravity and flowed down her body. The hunched little girl on the ceiling smiled back with a mouth full of jagged teeth.

Ah. Samantha was awake. Lovely.

“Samantha dear. It’s time for lunch~” Candice sang out. Much like her daughter, Samantha growled in return.

“Did you want sandwiches? I can make them look like hearts!” Candice asked as she made her way into the kitchen.

Samantha’s growl turned into a soft hiss as she crawled along with the ceiling.

Candice hummed as she proceeded to grab the appropriate ingredients and started to make a dozen sandwiches. Josephina stood by with her favored knife, not that Candice ever did figure out where she kept it and hacked at the meat slices.

Samantha hung on the top corner, each limb touching the walls as her long, dark hair swayed in the still air.

Finished, Candice held a plate and stopped. Crap. The table.

Shrugging, she simply sat down the floor and showed the possessed girl the heart-shaped sandwiches.

Samantha gurgled as she crawled her way down the wall and over to the plate. She snatched at one and used her sharp teeth to gouge out a chunk. Her gurgles hit a high, happy hiss as she dug into the food. She loved ham and mayo!

Candice smiled and hugged her girls. She did make a note to add waterproofing as Samantha seemed to leak more water than usual. It had ruined the floors of her last apartment and that had been annoying to fix. Magic could only do so much.

Josephina didn’t eat her piece, but the dozen stab wounds showed her own brand of love. Samantha proceeded to clean up after her fellow spirit and ate the remains of that bread and meat heart.

The house shook, the floor creaking as the old wood bulged.

Samantha fell over and groaned as she hit her head.

Josephina acted instantly as she began her happy dance. The knife flickered in her hand as she did her impression of a sewing machine and hammered the wooden floor with her displeasure.

Candice grimaced as she watched her old friend go to town on the floor. Last time she did this, her ex had to be scraped off the couch. She was a young woman! Not a harlot!

Alice groaned as she got up. She swept her hair back and shook her sleeves dry as she grabbed a sandwich for herself. Josephina had only stabbed this one twice and thus it was much easier to eat.

Alice smiled with her perfectly normal, white teeth before she gouged into the sandwich. She loved ham and mayo!

Candice laughed as she gathered her perfect little angel into her arms and had her sit on her lap. She used her fingers to comb the disheveled hair into something resembling tamed.

She smiled as she hummed to the sound of her family. A knife stabbing wood, creaking floorboards, and little girl ravaging lunch filled her ears.

Home sweet home.