(Author's notes: The second episode of the "Growing Up Creepier" series, once again, updated daily until completion
Rated "T" for violence and drug use. Reader discretion is advised)
Growing Up Creepier: Episode 2
Peoplenip
"I don't know, Carla…" The high voice of her blonde friend was shaking slightly, partly in fear, partly in excitement that shined from deep within her bright blue eyes. Carla and Melanie were hiding in the thick bushes in the center of Middlington Park, peering down curiously at a small bag of powdery substance they had never seen before. Carla was rubbing her hands together, but Melanie looked concerned, which was strange for the normally thickheaded girl. "Are you sure we should be doing this? I've heard it can be kind of… dangerous."
"What isn't dangerous? We could die tomorrow swimming or choking on a pretzel, this doesn't seem that much worse." Carla smirked. "Still, you do have a point… I'd feel better if we had a guinea pig to test this stuff on." She sat up and poked her head out of the top of the bushes with a 'plop', and Melanie followed suit. The two of them scanned around the park until they noticed Creepie walking down the walkway nearby with one of her arms hooked around Skipper's. Carla and Melanie exchanged a devious glance, then vanished into the bush again.
Creepie laughed and leaned against Skipper's side, gripping his hand tightly with a broad grin on her face. "I can't believe that burglar actually tried to ride your mom to safety."
"I know, he got a pretty nasty surprise too when she bucked him off and broke his leg." Skipper laughed along with her. His typical sweater had given way to a sleeveless orange muscle shirt over the summer months, though he continued to wear his blue jeans. "Truth is, though, we got lots of people like that in the circus before I found my life here. Everyone thought they could come right in and take whatever they wanted because we didn't have 'homes' like everyone else does."
"My mom told me about a couple of criminals who tried to hide out in Dweezwold before I arrived. They thought they could hide there away from the law." Creepie smirked. "Aunt Rose nearly ate them, it took them hours to convince her not to. That's why she spends her time locked up in her special room now."
Skipper smirked. "She's like a giant, venomous guard dog, then?"
Creepie grinned. "Let's just say I sleep pretty well at night." They chuckled together as they passed by a conspicuously large bush right beside the beaten path. Right after they'd passed, Creepie glanced back in surprise to find that Melanie and Carla were now walking right behind them with strange smiles on their faces. "Aahhhh! Uh… hey, guys. What's up?" Creepie asked suspiciously.
"Oh Creepzilla…" Carla rested one of her arms around Creepie's shoulder and flashed her a kind, toothy smile. "Could we have a word with you in private?"
"Oh, uh, sure." Creepie looked over at Skipper. "I'll catch up with you at the ice-cream parlor."
"Sure, I'll have your cup waiting for you." Skipper smiled and waved before turning to continue down the path with a light step.
Once he was gone Carla and Melanie put their hands on each of Creepie's shoulders and turned to lead her away from the path. "Tell me Creepie, you like trying new things, right?" Carla asked.
"Well, sure. I'm always open for trying new things." Creepie smiled.
"Great, so are we, and we have something very interesting to experiment with." Carla smiled. "So, are you up for joining us?"
"Maybe." Creepie narrowed her eyes cautiously. "What exactly are we going to be doing?"
"We can't talk about it here." Carla grinned conspiratorially. "Just walk with us, and you'll see. It's something you've never done before, I can tell you that for sure." Melanie giggled, and Creepie put one hand to her chin. She wasn't sure about this at all, but though Carla and Melanie could be irresponsible they'd never tried to do anything outright dangerous before. Plus Creepie had to admit, her curiosity was piqued.
"Alright. Let's go." Creepie replied. The two cheerleaders grinned in victory and turned to lead her away from the park, leading her down the winding sidewalks toward the less populated part of town, where Creepie had once tracked Carla to an abandoned mall for a rather disturbing display. Creepie was surprised to see that it was this same mall they were heading toward. They went inside and shut the main entrance behind them, heading deeper into the dark building where the first rays of the golden sunset outside couldn't reach them.
They made their way into one of the many abandoned clothing stores. The clothes had all been taken when the mall shut down, leaving the store full of life-size, plastic people who stared perpetually at the dust-covered walls like the trapped souls of the dead stuck in purgatory awaiting a release that was never to come. Creepie smiled and muttered a soft 'wicked' to herself. She needed to explore this mall more thoroughly when she had time. She could undoubtedly get some nice photos here.
They made their way to the back of the clothing store, where Melanie took a small blanket out of her backpack and spread it out on the floor. The two cheerleaders sat down, then patted the spot on the blanket beside them, which Creepie quickly occupied, sitting with her legs folded in front of her.
"Now, ladies, let's see how this works out." Carla reached into her purse and pulled out a small plastic baggy which she dropped on the carpet between the three of them. Creepie peered down at it curiously, unsure what to make of the white powder within.
"What on Earth is that?" Creepie looked up at her friends curiously.
"It's-" Melanie began, but Carla slapped her hand over her mouth to silence her suddenly.
"You know how on the last sleepover we had, we gave Chris-Alice's cat that catnip?" Carla asked. Creepie nodded. "Well, you can think of this stuff as catnip for people."
"Peoplenip." Melanie grinned helpfully.
"Well, I guess if it's okay for cats…" Creepie looked down at the bag curiously again. "Maybe just for a few minutes we can try it. What do we do with it?" Carla and Melanie grinned and exchanged another glance.
A soft sigh accompanied the sight of the last of his ice-cream melting into the bottom of his cup. Skipper looked past the cup at the unoccupied seat on the other side of the table, where another cup sat virtually untouched. By now the deep crimson light of sunset was shining through the window beside his booth, shining onto the liquefied remains in the cup that had sat out for far too long. He tried to think of a reason for Creepie to stand him up like this, but he couldn't think of any. It had never happened before.
"Hey, Skips." Skipper blinked and looked up to see Budge standing beside the booth with a friendly smile on his face and a tall cone in his hand. "What are you doing sitting there all alone?"
"Waiting for Creepie… for the last three hours." Skipper sighed and rested his chin on his hands.
"Ooh, that's not good." Budge plopped himself down in the opposite side of the booth with a concerned look on his face. "Are you sure she's okay? That doesn't seem like something she would do."
"She was with Melanie and Carla, and it's not like she can't take care of herself." Skipper leaned back in his seat, swirling the liquid remains of his ice-cream around his cup. "Maybe she just forgot."
"That's really unlike her." Budge insisted. "I know her, and she's more into you than she's into her photography." It was an offhanded statement, but Skipper couldn't help a small blush. He liked being in a relationship with Creepie, but he wasn't sure about the idea of her spreading their relationship around. Then again, he knew Budge was her closest friend in Middlington. He had to fight back a pang of jealousy when he realized that. "She probably just got hung up on something important. I'm sure she'll find you tomorrow and explain everything."
"Maybe I should just wait a little more…" Skipper glanced out the window, surprised to see that the sun had vanished beyond the horizon, plunging the town into the darkness of night.
"Or maybe not." Budge flashed him a smile and scooted out of the booth to stand up. "Come on, let's get out of here. Creepie will probably find you in the morning." He moved around the booth to pull Skipper out of the booth. Skipper struggled for a moment, then finally sighed and let his big friend pull him from the booth. "Come on man, let's get you home." Budge's thick hand patted his back and guided him toward the exit, stopping momentarily to drop the finished and melted cups of ice-cream in the garbage.
Skipper glanced back at the empty booth one more time before they went out into the dark night under the full moon, sighing once more before turning to watch where he was going.
The thin blanket spread out on the floor of the clothing store did little to shield Creepie from the cold, hard tiles underneath. She stared at the ceiling blankly, her body lying sprawled out on the floor while Carla and Melanie laid on the floor beside her. She didn't move, she wasn't even sure she was thinking. It was like she was staring into a dream, watching the shadowed ceiling above her dance with shimmering, beautiful colors.
"So?" Carla asked from her position on the floor near Creepie. "How do you guys feel?"
"My head feels funny." Melanie giggled. "I feel so giddy."
"Yeah, it actually feels… nice." Creepie agreed softly. "Maybe we could do this again some time."
"No can do, Creepie. I only had enough money for the one bag." Carla sighed. "Too bad…"
"Well, what if I got us some money? Could you get us some more?" Creepie asked curiously.
"Sure, I could do that." Carla sat up, putting one hand to her head. Her eyes looked a little unfocused at the moment and she almost fell over again, but she managed to stay up. "Remember though, we can't tell anyone about this. Ever."
"Huh? Why not?" Creepie asked. "Did we do something wrong?"
"That's… subjective." Carla replied. "Some people would get us in trouble if they found out, so let's just keep it between us."
"Oh… alright." Creepie pushed herself up from the floor, finding it difficult to keep herself upright even at a sitting position. Carla looked like she was sitting in the middle of a beautiful fog, as the floors and walls around her shifted in Creepie's vision. "Whoa, that's weird…" Creepie giggled softly and managed to push herself to her feet. "I think I should get home before my mom and dad miss me… they don't like it when I break curfew."
"Alright. See ya Creepie." Melanie waved from the floor.
"Later, and thanks for trying this with us." Carla waved as well.
"Yeah, see you." Creepie waved and turned to make her way through the mall, pushing her way through her strangely shifting surroundings until she made it out to the sidewalk out front. She was surprised to find that it was already nighttime. It occurred to her that she had somewhere else she was supposed to be, but she couldn't remember where anymore, so she decided to just make her way home.
She began to beat her wings at the air and lift into the sky, but her body instantly leaned to the left and slammed into the wall of the building with a painful crack. She landed on her feet, leaning woozily against the wall. "Okay… walking." Creepie started down the sidewalk instead, her eyes flitting back and forth through the night, watching the strange mist coalesce and swirl inside her vision. She could see okay, she knew where she was going, but it was as if everything was changing in some strange way, she thought to herself as she passed a street lamp that seemed to be glowing with pale green light.
Eventually she found her way to the door of Dweezewold mansion and pushed her way inside, closing the door behind her and leaning against it for a few moments. She could see her nocturnal family members crawling across the walls, looking like the wall itself was seething back and forth. Creepie stared at the display curiously for a few moments, then blinked and looked down when she heard a familiar voice cough near her feet.
"Good evening Creepie. It's nice of you to come home." Caroleena Creecher folded her tiny insect arms across her chest, her bright yellow eyes seeming to shine through the midnight gloom, glaring up at her sternly.
"Hey, mom…" Creepie smiled innocently down at her. "I guess I'm a little late, huh?"
"Uh-huh." Caroleena nodded.
"Sorry, I was just hanging out with my friends and lost track of the time." Creepie insisted truthfully.
"Is that all you have to tell me?" Caroleena narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
"Of-of course." Creepie gulped slightly. Did her mother know something? But how would she?
"Alright, Creepie. You missed dinner, so you can go to bed without any. Just because it's summertime doesn't mean you can do whatever you want." Caroleena pointed toward the back of the house.
"Yeah, thanks, sorry…" Creepie hesitated a moment. "Goodnight." She turned to rush toward the back, eyeing the moving walls and floors until she disappeared into the slightly more stable hallway.
She was relieved when she finally reached the sanctuary of her bedroom, locking the door behind her and making her way to her bed. She peeled off her dress, not bothering to slip into her usual nightgown before falling to her back on top of her thick, comfortable bed. It was a long time before she was able to get to sleep, staring at the ceiling above her head with a blank stare. She felt so strange now… but she also felt strangely pleasant.
TO BE CONTINUED