Default Title - Write Your Own

Life As We Know It

She locked her door. Shouted, mom, "I'm headed off to the square to meet Alec..."

"See you tonight honey"

She put her earbud back in her ear and skipped down the stairs of the apartment...

Her and Alec were best friends all their lives they grew up just down the street from each other and graduated high school and college together. Alec went to college with her and they both majored in history together, but in the end he got his mixology license to help run his families bar and he would one day own it. Salem was sad that their dream of owning a museum and running it together wasn't happening, but she was confident that she could take over for her father one day.

She walked the streets of Salem toward the town Derby square where she planned to meet Alec after work. They often would meet up after she got off work and before Alec went to work at the bar. She hadn't seen much of Alec over the weekend because her grandma came to visit and her family had a get together that weekend. And although Alec was invited to come, he came by for a short while then had to get to the bar to cover someone's shift Sunday and Monday so they planned to meet at Derby square Tuesday before he picked up an evening shift.

After a few minutes of walking she reached the square... before Alec. He must be running late again... he's had a long weekend of working double shifts and was most likely tired. Salem leaned against a big tree that stretched out towards the sky. It still had its green leaves but there was a hint of the leaves changing colors. It was the first day of fall, September 22nd. But she couldn't wait till fall came full force. It was her favorite time of year and her family tended to go all out for halloween which was always fun! Sometimes their family would have a family reunion on Halloween, have a Halloween party and go trick-or-treating together when they were kids and when they got older they would help hand out candy. This year it didn't work out, as of late to be honest, it had been harder now that they had grown up, some of her cousins had gotten married and were starting to have kids now... she bit her lip thinking about it...

"Did your grandma ask you when the wedding is again?" Alec asked and jarred Salem out of her thoughts. He breezed on his bike next to her on the street then brought his bike up to lay it on the grass next to her.

"Yeeaaah" Salem said with a sigh. "I don't think there has been a single time she has come to visit that she doesn't" she said with a hint of frustration.

"I figured she would, you had that look on your face." He said knowingly.

"Well, it's not like she doesn't have grandkids that are popping out kids, and it's 2026, nobody else in the world is pressuring me to get married and have kids." She said defensively.

"I know, I know." Alec said sympathetically. "You know you don't have to want that right now. When the right person comes along, you know you'll want it." He encouraged. "Your grandma is gone now and you don't have to worry about being pressured for a while." He joked to lighten her mood.

She rolled her eyes. "So how was your weekend? You worked so many doubles it's a wonder you're alive!" Salem exaggerated.
Alec shook his head at her exclamation. "It went alright," he said vaguely. "I mean it's work, you give people drinks, listen to their woes and get paid."
Salem laughed. "The underpaid therapist!" She joked. "That's a new one!"
Alec laughed, "I guess so. I suppose I should charge per hour." He gave a quizzical look as if seriously giving this some consideration.
"Oh come on!" Salem said as if scolding a child. He laughed and shrugged it off.
"Besides that nothing really happened this weekend." He said with a shrug. "How about you?"

"Other than that thing with my grandma, it was great!" She said enthusiastically. We looked through some photo albums, made some fall cookies, had hot apple cider and watched the Hocus Pocus movies!

"Ahh, Edward is a witch!" Alec joked quoting the movie. They both laughed and reminisced for a few minutes before he had to head to work. Salem mentioned taking a walk around down town before heading back home for the night. Alec suggested that she visit her father at the museum. He had seen her father at the bar the other day and seemed really busy and would probably like it if she came by. Salem thought about it for a minute and decided to spend a few extra minutes walking to the museum. She thought her dad might say something to her about being busy but she hadn't talked with her dad much that weekend and he didn't always volunteer information on being busy at work sometimes the maintenance on the building would keep him late. So the friends said their goodbyes and she walked down the street in the direction of the museum. It took her approximately 9 minutes to walk the length but she got there none-the-less. She walked around the back on the office side- her dad might have a lot of paper work he was working on. She went inside and called for her dad.
"Dad?" She walked into his office and saw a bunch of papers on his desk and a long piece of paper that looked like house plans she set her phone absent minded on her dads desk walked around her dad's desk and looked at the plans. They were for sure house plans. She stared at it for a good couple minutes then saw handwriting on the top left corner that read "Witch museum house plans" then she realized something was circled... was there a room there? Was that right? She knew this house inside and out, she grew up here, played in the halls whether or not she was supposed to, but still, she would know if that room would have been there... she knew exactly where it was supposed to be- she left her fathers office and made a bee line for that wall that supposedly had a door that led to a room. Sure enough- it was a wall... she wondered if her dad planned to close the museum to knock down the wall... unless, like some cool story she could find a button or lever to open a secret door! She looked around and found a suspicious lamp that quickly became her target. She studied the lamp, then decided to pull it. Nothing. She tried to pull it down and felt a tug... then she decided, pull out and down? It worked! The wall slided ever so slightly inwards then to the side inside the other wall and created an opening and presented a door that had to be original! She gaped. Staring at what had just happened. Stuff like this happens in stories but, uh, what?!