Chapter Text
It was once said that a madman had built the house at the end of Elderberry Lane. Asymmetrical with jutting parts where they should be concave, and with intimidating architecture and gargoyles sitting on it's tiled roof, it was painted black and stood out like a sore thumb in the other wise cookie cutter gated community of upper suburbia.
No one had been interested in buying it. It seemed the place had been cursed by the man who had built and owned it. The plot stood abandoned and left alone, collecting dust while the houses around it with their perfect square lawns and pastel colored outsides saw countless families move in. Until one day, somehow during the middle of the night without any fanfare, a couple had moved in.
No one would have even noticed someone had moved in, if not for the smoke rising from the sideways chimney that rested on the left wall of the building.
“Do you think it's a ghost?” Margaret asked, as she stood outside the wrought iron fence that was rusted over. The house was on a slight incline, a winding path going up to it's gloomy front porch. Along the way piles of trash and junk people had thrown over to left rot decorated the uneven stone.
She and two other middle aged women, wearing matching sun visors and light pink track suits, stood under the midday sun, compelled to come here from their jog.
“Don't be ridiculous, Mar,” Karen chided. “Everyone knows there's no such things as ghosts there. Not when father Clements cleared them out with holy water and prayer.”
“Could it be a real estate agent, trying to get it cleaned up before a sell?” Alyssa supposed.
“Who would buy such a thing? Honestly, I don't know why the home owners association haven't torn it down by now. It lowers the value of the neighborhood.”
“We've been over this,” Karen said, with middle annoyance towards Margaret. “There's some stupid law around it where it can't be torn down.”
“Maybe it's burning down from the inside,” Alyssa said. “Would do us all a favor.”
The front door of the house opened up and all three women froze, stunned with fear at the thought it was indeed a ghost. Their fear subsided when they saw a fellow pastel wearing woman on the other side. “Howdy neighbors!” she called out, almost skipping her way down the path. She stopped right by the fence.
She was younger than them, with blonde hair to her shoulders that had the tips dyed pink and blue. Three faint scars lined one side of her face. She wore a bright orange shirt with green overalls on top. “Did you come to greet us to the neighborhood?” she asked, radiating pure happiness and energy.
“We were curious about what sort of folk would move into this house,” Karen said. “You must have gotten it for such a discount.”
“It was actually a steal,” a dry voice responded and all three women jumped when they saw the blonde woman had been joined by another woman. This one was wafer thin with black hair done in two long braids and a pallor of skin that looked sheet white. She wore an all black dress despite the warm weather.
Where had she come from? She hadn't been there a second ago.
“A steal?” Margaret asked. “Did you move in without permission? We weren't informed a new family would be arriving.”
“She's just joking,” Enid said, smiling a bit awkwardly now. “We didn't actually steal the house.”
“It was a five finger discount, where in exchange for the house the real estate agent got to keep his fingers,” the dark haired girl supplied. All three women felt shivers go down their backs. Her stare was unnerving; not once did she blink.
“Another joke!” Enid filled in when she saw their apprehensive looks. “She may not look it, but she jokes all the time.”
The dark haired girl let out a heavy sigh. “I suppose.”
That answer wasn't very reassuring.
“Please, let's not fight in front of the guests,” the blonde said with a small pout.
“I have had a long night. Portaling all the luggage over was taxing on me. Perhaps I could do with a coffin break.”
All three women's jaws slightly parted. What? Was this another joke?
“You'll have to excuse us then,” the blonde woman said apologetically, clasping her hands together. Her nails were done in a technicolor style. “I would love to give you a tour of the house and invite you over for tea, but it's still a mess as we settle in. I'm Enid by the way,” she said. “Enid Addams.”
“Nice to meet you,” Karen said, pulling herself together from her shock. “I'm Karen Doughter, and these are Alyssa Burns, and Margaret Yatch.”
“And who is the young lady- oh, she's gone,” Margaret said in disappointment when she noticed the dark haired girl was already out of sight.
“That's Wednesday Addams,” Enid said proudly. “I hope to see you all around soon. Don't be strangers,” and she bounded off back to the house.
The three women looked at each other.
“Addams?” Karen questioned.
“Do you think they're sisters?” Alyssa suggested.
“They don't look anything alike,” Margaret concluded.
They all thought long and hard about this, stumped as to what the proper conclusion could be.