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A/N: I just watched hocus pocus 1 and 2 for the first time yesterday YES I KNOW I AM EXTREMELY UNCULTURED AND VERY LATE >:( but I am now completely hyperfixated on Sarah😛 she’s my favorite and I’ve guessed she’s a lot of other peoples favorite too. I really enjoyed the backstory of the Sanderson sisters in Hocus Pocus 2 and decided to make a oneshot about them. Really hope you enjoy it!^^
Oneshot:
Salem, 1652
During a time long before the Sanderson Sisters wreaked havoc on the Salem villagers, they lived among the townspeople as villagers themselves. They were just as vulnerable as the rest, they got sick, their bodies could get hurt, and they were expected to follow the traditional housewife style every other village woman was expected to follow.
But, Winifred Sanderson and her sisters were not like the other village women, especially Winnie herself. No, she was cunning, feisty, ferocious, and she took no guff from anyone. She was completely herself and she would always be herself, whether the villagers liked it or not.
And it was no secret that none of the villagers, especially the Reverend, liked it.
They took pity on the poor girls after their parents had died and tried to understand the young girls’ anger and pain. But I’m their minds, the villagers figured that enough time had passed for the Sanderson sisters to move on from their past and fall in line like the rest of them. Go to church and praise the Lord every Sunday, present themselves to the men in the village and become a housewife, bred children and follow along like every other village woman.
Winnie hated the very thought of becoming a housewife, in fact, she despised it! She would never be like those other foolish women, she would make a life of her own with her sisters.
Fifteen years old, parentless and orphaned, the eldest Sanderson sister stood inside the butcher’s shop dying the cuts of meat. She had found some work in the village and managed to procure enough money to finally feed her and sisters.
As the eldest, it was up to her to take care of her younger sisters, Mary and Sarah. Foolish and dim-witted as her younger sisters were, Sarah vowed to take care of her kin and protect them till the day she died. She always made sure they were fed, cleaned, and had a roof over their heads.
“Ah, young Sarah,” Samuel, the village butcher said as Winnie entered the shop, “what might thy want today?”
“Depends on what meat thou would have today,” Winnie said, matter-of-fact.
“Thine son hast prepared only the finest and tastiest of lambs this morning,”
Samuel offered,
Smiling to the young woman.
“I hate lamb,” Winnie replied, most unimpressed.
“Hmm, well perhaps thou would like a cut of fresh chicken?”
“Pass.”
“Er- perhaps thee would like porkchops? There’s have just a bit left from last-”
“No!”
“I’m, er, afraid that there’s not much more options to choose from, young Winifred.”
“I heard talk in the town of a cow that thou hadst prepared. Perhaps thou could procure a cut of meat for my poor, parentless sisters and I?” Winnie looked up into the butcher's warm face, luring him in. The man had a heart of gold that Winnie could easily prey upon.
Samuel scratched the back of his neck nervously. “Heh, well indeed, thou does have a cut of the freshest beef. But, it’s er, bit on the priced side,” she said.
“Oh, thou couldn’t perhaps offer up a small discount to thee?”
“Well, er, thou would, but alas. Thine wife forbids it. Only members of the church and personal friends and family get that discount, dear Sarah.”
“Hmm… Samuel,” Winnie said, sighing out. She had him on the line now, she just had to keep reeling him in, “thou hast been shopping at your store for… how long now?”
“Er, ever since your parents passed.” Winnie shifted her weight in her foot and tapped her mouth thinking.
“So that would be-?”
“Oh, about… two, maybe three years.”
“Thou hast surely paid thine rent with the money I’ve given you. Samuel, are you to send me off to my poor orphan sisters, hungry and tired? Surely you couldn’t help three young girls this time? The beef would surely keep us fed through next week!”
“I, uh… well… oh, I sup-pose,” Samuel said, hesitantly accepting Sarah’s deal. “Beef half off of for thou and her sisters.”
“Bless you,” Winnie forced herself to say, feeling the words burn in the back of her throat. The meat was cut and paid for half off, Sarah handed over the money and took the meat in a paper bag, curtsying the butcher before exiting the shop.
She stopped outside, closed her auburn eyes, and took a deep breath. She smiled cunningly to herself and swaggered away from the door. She could play that man like a fiddle every time. “Foolish imbecile,” she muttered to herself.
Winnie continued walking past the village people off towards her house where her sisters should be. She hoped they had both completed their chores by the time she came home.
“Sisters,” Winnie greeted, opening the door of the Sanderson house and stepping inside.
“Winnie,” Mary greeted from the living room, sewing holes in some of their clothes that had been ripped. “How I’ve missed thee today! How was your day?”
“Tiring, Sister Mary,” Winnie said, setting the bag of meat on the table and coming over to her younger sister. She sat down on the chair opposite Mary and crossed her legs, holding her head in her hands.
“Thou does look exhausted,” Mary agreed, continuing to knit away. Winnie yawned and curiously looked around the house, suddenly noticing her youngest sister Sarah was nowhere to be found.
“Sister Mary?”
“Yes, Sister Winnie?”
“Where is Sister Sarah?”
Mary rolled her eyes and sighed before replying, “out in the gardens finishing her chores.”
“She hasn’t finished picking herbs and spices from the gardens,” Winnie asked, “it’s nearly supper time! What could possibly be taking her so long?”
“Oh, Sister, Winnie! Thou know how much fun that child hath in the woods! She be out playing in a field of flowers, singing to all the animals, and what not!”
“She needs to do her chores and grow up, that damned child! She be almost a woman now,” Sarah said, rubbing her aching head.
“I do agree with thou, Sister Winnie,” Mary agreed, nodding her head as she finished stitching up one of Sarah’s dresses. “That girl will soon be a woman in a few years. But, I say let her hast some fun before then.”
“Hmmf,” Winnie responded, rolling her eyes.
“If she isn’t back by the time I’m done cutting the meat, I shall go search for her,” Winnie said, about to get up from the chair and prepare supper for herself and her sisters. Mary put a hand on her thigh and stopped her, getting up and cutting the meat herself. She knew how tired Winnie was after working today and allowed her older sister to relax a bit.
“Thank thee, Sister Mary. I can count on you, at least.”
“Oh, Sister Winnie, thou know thou can count on both of her sisters!”
“Yes, of course! However, you, Sister Mary, don’t get distracted so easily!”
“I shall not argue that!” The two sisters shared a hearty laugh together before the front door burst open.
“Sister Mary, thou will never guess what happened!” Sarah Sanderson, the youngest of the three yelled, running up to Mary excitedly and not noticing her eldest sister had returned home. Winnie smiled at the girl’s cheerfulness, it was a nice break from the usual gloomy life the adults lived.
“Oh? And what might that be, dear sister?” Mary asked, taking the slices of beef out of the paper bag Winnie brought home and cutting them up.
“I made a new friend today! She’s only the most kindest, and most beautiful woman I hath ever seen!” At this Winnie perked up and brushed her red curls back with her hands.
“Even more beautiful than thy own sister?” Winnie asked. Noticing her oldest sister in the house, Sarah gasped excitedly before running over to Winnie and jumping into her lap.
“Oh no, Sister Winnie! For no one is as beautiful as…” Winnie waited, narrowing her eyes and looking expectantly at her youngest sister, holding her in her lap.
“As thy own sister?”
“As… as me!” Sarah teased Winnie.
“Oh, you wretched little minx!” Winnie yelled, tickling Sarah’s torso mercilessly.
“Ah! No, Sister Winnie! It was only a joke, I swear it!” Sarah laughed.
“Swear it!” Winnie yelled back.
“I do! I swear it, I swear it!” Winnie let her sister go and smiled as Sarah laughed, climbing the ladder and plopping onto her bed.
“Tell us of your new friend, sister!” Mary yelled, finishing the last cut of meat.
“Oh sister, you should have seen her! For she was an enchanting woman, nothing like you’d ever seen before!”
“Really?” Winnie asked curiously.
“Really! She claims to live on the outskirts of the village, just south of the river.”
“Hmm, I didn’t know there were villagers that lived that far out.”
“Me neither, but I guess they do. She helped me pick the plants, even let me have some candy!”
“How curiously kind of a stranger to help thee with your chores.”
“She says she knows what it’s like to have sisters just like us! She wanted to help me,” Sarah explained.
“Well, I suppose no harm done then,” Mary said.
“Did you happen to pick all the herbs and spices we needed, Sarah?” Winnie asked.
“Yes sister,” Sarah yelled, gesturing to the door, “I left the basket outside, all the herbs and spices you told me to pick are in there.”
Winnie signed out in relief, at least Sarah had managed to complete her chore without getting distracted for once. She would sort through the plants Sarah picked later on that night and helped Mary prepare for supper.
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That night, Sarah lay in her bed fast asleep. She was exhausted from the trip to the woods today and soon fell asleep after supper. Winnie had helped her up the ladder and put her to bed as Sarah’s was the highest in the house, a small landing with her bed and an end table at the top of the house.
Winnie and Mary had stayed up only a little while longer, talking about gossip among the village before beckoning each other goodnight.
Fast asleep, each of the tired sisters lay in their beds. The moonlight shone through the skylight of the attic in Sarah’s makeshift room, making her blonde hair glow in the light.
“Come little children,
I’ll take thee away,”
The most hypnotizing, luring voice Sarah had ever heard in her whole life suddenly woke her.
“Into a land of enchantment,”
It came so suddenly to her, her eyes grew wide and her mouth sprung wide open, she could feel herself in a trance and allowed the beautiful, soft voice to lull her.
“Come little children,
the time’s come to play,”
Sarah lifted the covers off her and stood from her bed, beginning to descend down the ladder.
“Here in my garden of shadows,”
Dressed in only her nightgown,
Sarah opened the door and stepped barefoot in the cold, wet grass walking outside in a complete trance. She felt so relaxed and calm, it was unlike anything she had ever felt before.
She needed to find this mysterious woman that was singing, needed to be with her. Sarah knew she would be safe with this woman, she could feel it in her heart. With a voice this pure and gold, what harm could ever fall onto her?
“Come little children, the times come to play,”
A cold breeze swept through the house, making Winnifred shiver and hide under her blankets. She scrunched up her face as another cold wind swept through the house. “Confound it!” She cursed. Winnie sighed and threw the covers off her, jumping out of bed and climbing down the ladder.
She only needed to climb down a few steps as her room was the closest to the floor, and the biggest in the house.
Winnie walked over to the door that was sprung open by what she assumed to be the wind, and turned her attention to the fireplace. She added more logs into it and blew on the fire to make it grow. Satisfied once the fire grew, she warmed herself for a bit before walking back over to the ladder. She looked up at her sister's beds seeing Mary snoring in her bed fast asleep, and Sarah’s sheets on the floor. ‘Good, they’re sleeping,” she thought tiredly.
Wait, Sarah’s sheets on the floor? What?
She stepped back and took another look up at the attic and rubbed her eyes. Sarah wasn’t in her bed it seemed. Perhaps she was in the outhouse? Winnie looked outside and rolled her eyes before making her way over to the door. She knew she wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep unless she knew where Sarah was.
It was pointless really, she knew this. Sarah would come back inside in no time and go back to bed, but Winnie needed to make sure. She already had to bury her mother and father, she wasn’t going to bury one of her sisters. She’d be damned if she ever let that happen.
“Sister Sarah? Are thou in there?” Winnie asked, pounding on the door of the outhouse. “Sister?” There was no response. “Sarah? If you don’t answer me I shall break down the door and force my way in!” She waited a few seconds before cupping her nose and kicking the door open. It was completely empty, Sarah was nowhere to be seen.
Winnie closed the door and stood there before opening it again as if her sister would magically appear. “Sarah? Sister Sarah? Where are thou?”
Winnie began to panic and looked around the yard for her youngest sister. “Sarah? Sarah!?” If she wasn’t in the house or in the outhouse, then where could the blonde possibly be? Where oh where was her youngest sister!?
Winnie ran around the yard, frantically searching behind the house where the laundry was hanging, but finding no Sarah. “Sarah! Sarah, where are you!?” Winnie yelled out, looking around the yard desperately. She ran back to the front of their house and saw all the lanterns lit on the other houses, but saw no shadow of her sister
“Sarah!” Winnie screamed. She was terrified that something horrible had happened. Where was she? Why would she leave the house at night? Where could she possibly have snuck off to? Winnie was sure it wasn’t to see a boy,
Sarah had never expressed any interest in boys to her or Mary and she was still so young. “SARAH!!!”
She stood and waited listening for a cry, a scream, an answer, anything!
“Come little children,
The time’s come to play,
Here in my garden of magic.”
What? Was that- singing? Winnie furrowed her brows curiously and looked around towards the voice. It seemed like it was coming from every direction.
Another cold breeze swept past her and Sarah turned towards the wind’s direction seeing a small child from afar walking to the forbidden forest. “SARAH!” Winnie yelled. Immediately she understood, the townsfolk had always wanted their young not to wander off to the forbidden woods. Witches were known to lure children into the forest and take them away. Winnie herself never believed in the rumors, but after hearing the strange lullaby and seeing a young child walking toward the voice in a daze-like state, she was not going to leave her sister's life to fate.
The child continued walking to the forbidden forest. It had to be Sarah, Winnie couldn’t tell for sure, but she knew it was her. She immediately sprinted to the blonde as fast as she could, holding her dress up to keep herself from falling.
Sarah was close to the forbidden forest, continuing to walk in a daze ever so slowly towards the enchanting voice that continued lulling her. All she could hear was that same song over and over on repeat in her head. She hadn’t even noticed that she had left her house.
“Sarah! Come back to me!” Winnie yelled desperately to her sister, but the voice seemed to grow louder and drowned her voice out.
“Come little children,
“No! NOOOOO! SARAAAAAAAHH!” Winnie shrieked, desperately screaming as loud as she could hoping her voice would make Sarah snap out of it. She used all her might to race to Sarah and catch her before it was too late.
“The time’s come to play,”
She was so close, at the edge of the forbidden forest now, getting closer and closer to the melodic voice. Sarah could see a figure in the distance far away beckoning her over and making a ‘come hither’ motion with her hands.
“Here in my garden of magic,”
“SARAH!”
Winnie grabbed Sarah right before she stepped foot into the forest and pulled her back so hard that both Sanderson sisters fell down on the grass, Sarah on top of Winnie. Winnie held Sarah tightly to her as the blonde shook on the older girl’s torso utterly bewildered.
“W-Winnie?” Sarah asked, shivering in the ground. “What happened?”
“I was going to ask you that!” The winds picked up and blew hard and ferocious, almost as if the forest itself was breathing. Together they stood back up, Winnie not letting go of Sarah, and sprinted back to their house. “Go! Run!” Winnie yelled, pushing Sarah back to the house and following behind her making sure her little sister made it back to the house safely.
They burst through the front door of the Sanderson house and panted. Winnie quickly shut the door and locked it, clutching the stitch in her side. Sarah rested her palms on her thighs and caught her breath.
“W-Winnie?” she asked. “What hast happened? Why were- we walking into the forbidden forest?”
“Arg! You stupid girl!” Winnie suddenly stormed over and grabbed a confused Sarah’s shoulders, shaking her. “What is the matter with thou!? Are thy crazy? Have you a death wish?”
“Wass going on?” Mary asked from her sleep, waking up.
“Winnie! Sister! What are thou doing?” Sarah asked, pushing Winnie off her and shrinking back. “I do not understand!” She was confused and scared, not understanding what had just happened and didn’t know why her older sister was furious with her.
“You! You walked to the forbidden forest! Out of thy bed, I only realized after adding more wood to the fire!” Winnie yelled, pointing to turning to the ladder, Sarah’s bed where the sheets were still askew, and the fireplace.
“I-I walked to the forest?”
“You almost stepped foot in it, confound it! What the hell were you thinking!?”
“I-I don’t remember… I, I don’t know.”
“Thou doesn’t remember?” Mary asked from her bed.
“I went looking for thou when I realized you weren’t in thy bed!” Winnie explained. “I thought thou were perhaps in the outhouse, so I checked but thou weren’t there! Next I know you’re out walking into the forest!”
“I-I don’t remember!” Sarah exclaimed, stepping back from Winnie and holding her arms. “I don’t know why I was walking to the forest, I… I don’t know what what happened.”
“The stories of the forbidden forest,” came Mary’s soft voice as she sat up in bed. “So, they’re true?”
“Whatever does thou mean?” Winnie asked.
“Thou know what I am referring to, Sister Winnie! The old stories of wi-”
“Confound it, sister Mary!” Winnie yelling, shutting Mary up instantly. “Thou know it it’s only a rumor! It isn’t real!”
“A-are you sure Winnie?” Sarah asked, the young girl’s ocean blue eyes wide and staring frightenedly up at Winnie. “What if the rumors were true? What if I was lured into the woods by a wit-”
Winnie clamped a hand onto Sarah’s mouth and shushed her. “Oh, come now Sister Sarah! There’s no such thing as witches! Tis but an old wives tale! Scary stories that village parents come up with to keep their children from, ah, you know, wandering about and what not!”
Mary instantly understood what Winnie was doing and shook her head eagerly. “Oh yes, you’re right Winnie! This but an old wives tale, nothing more, of course.”
“Come, little Sarah. Let us put thee back to bed,” Winnie said, leading Sarah over to the ladder.
“Sister Winnie?”
“Hmm?”
“May I sleep with thou in thy bed? I don’t want to be alone, I’m scared!” Sarah cried, her eyes glistening with tears. The very sight of the poor girl made Winnie’s heart break for her. She stopped walking and hugged her little sister close to her. Winnie kissed the top of Sarah’s head and shushed her cries wiping her tears away. “Of course, Little Sarah, of course. Come now, I shall tuck thee in.”
Mary too joined her sisters in Winnie’s bed. It was small, but big enough to fit all the sisters together. Sarah slept in between her two older sisters, Winnie and Mary holding her through the night and cooing the younger girl as she cried.
“There there dear Sarah, tis over now,” Mary said.
“Don’t worry, Little Sarah. I shall never let anything dreadful or deadly befall upon you,” Winnie promised. She wrapped her arms around Sarah and held Mary’s hand. She was the oldest sister, all Mary and little Sarah had left. It was her responsibility to keep them safe and she would do anything for them, rip out her heart and give it to her sisters. She loved them both so much and held them close to her.
Soon Sarah’s sobs died down and she quieted, her chest rising and falling slowly with each breath. Winnie held both of her sisters through the night and ensured nothing like this would ever happen again. She kept a watchful eye on her youngest sister after that night and always made sure the door was locked at night from now on.
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A/N: please lemme know what u think of this in the comments^^
~TheAuthor😛