Coco Stevens and the Willow Street witch.

Part 1

Chapter 1

"Who's kid is this!"

Someone yells outside my bedroom window and with a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach
I just knew that once again my 4 year old

nephew Gus had managed to sneak
out of the house
and was standing

in the street in front of the abandoned house next door.

Rolling my eyes I screwed the top back on the bottle of "Magnetic Magenta" nail polish that I'd used on the nails of my left hand and slipping my feet inside my fluffy ,pink

bedroom slippers I stand up from my Queen sized bed with the purple

comforter that matched the curtains on my bedroom window and hurried downstairs.

You should already know by now that I love bright colors.It goes even deeper than that.

Last year I dyed my shoulder length hair neon pink .

The only problem was that after picking her bottom jaw up from the floor after I came down for breakfast the next morning ,

my Mom  made me march right back upstairs to wash it out.

Good thing it wasn't real hair dye but something I'd invented with pink Koolaide and baby oil (Author's note :#Don't try this at home kids! )

Today they'd left moi in charge of the petite monster and truthfully I'd been more interested in painting my nails

which in hindsight *is* definitely selfish and could even be termed irresponsible but heck I'm only sixteen and a half and

besides I never signed on as anyone's *babysitter*.

So needless to say I was in a bad mood as I rushed outside into the scorching heat of a Saturday afternoon in late June.

Alas...there he was standing in the street facing the creepy house at number 22 Willow street.

My little cousin is shorter than the average 4year old with bowed legs like his dad

(my oldest brother Russell aka Wuss) he's still wearing his Batman p.j's.

An older guy with shaggy gray hair and wearing blue shorts and a brightly colored Hawaiian shirt is kneeling in front of my nephew while a kid

about my age with neatly brushed shiny ,brown hair and dressed like he attends some kind of snooty prep school

is standing off to the side holding a tan backpack by one strap that even from where I'm standing looks expensive.

It occurred to me that I've never seen these two people before in my neighborhood in my life.

Suddenly alarmed and with all thoughts of bright nail polish and being annoyed at my nephew leaving my mind

I'm dashing down the front steps of my house and heading into the street ...
which is when the sleek, red car speeds around the corner bearing down on them.

"No!"

I'm screaming and it seems like my scream becomes an echo that reverberates crazily in the back of my head.

(No!No!No!) .

Suddenly everything slows down. The man and boy react to my screaming by ever so

slowly craning their necks to look in my direction.

It's almost comical how their faces share the same gape mouthed ,wide eyed looks of astonishment.

Strangely enough Gus doesn't react at all and for the first time
I notice the orange cat peering out at me from a corner of the overgrown hedges in front of the abandoned house.