A/N ok this is a one shot seeing as it's halloween and i love it. just written this morn and finished typed 30 mins ago :) so enjoy and have a happy spooky halloween x
Charlotte was stood in the school yard. Watching all the younger kids with their faces painted. As Dracula and werewolves and all those other sad Halloween characters. She was waiting for Dupe or Liv to arrive and pick her up.
"Hurry up!" she pleaded.
"Well if it isn't the weirdo!" A girl came up beside her and pushed.
Charlie closed her eyes as she lurched forward.
"What you waiting here for? Trying to find a new life except the sad pathetic pitiful one you have?"
"Go away please Jada." Charlie said.
"No seriously what you waiting for, your dad?" Aba asked.
"She'll have a long wait." Jada said.
Charlie tried to ignore them. They were unhappy they weren't getting a rise from her. They went one step further.
"Your mum probably doesn't even know who your dad is does she? Could be any man in the whole of Africa! She's that desperate!" Jada spat nastily.
"Yeah." Aba agreed. "Look who she's with now!"
Charlie's fists clenched and she glared at them with black eyes.
"Hey Char." Liv shouted walked towards her with Dupe at her side. "Whose your friends?"
Charlotte crossed her arms. "No one!"
"Why not bring 'em to Leopards den for our little Halloween do? Scary stories around a fire." Dupe grinned.
"They're busy." Charlotte said finally.
"Nothing as good as scary stories!" Jada said snidely.
"We'd love to come. We love CHAR don't we!" Aba told him.
"Yeah. She's like the best ever! I'll ask my mum to drop us off." Jada finished.
Liv nodded. Foaming at the girls. Her eyes sparkled. She knew what was going on. Could tell by Charlie's expression and body language.
"It'll be good having your friends round Charlie. Your mum'll be happy." Dupe said as he climbed in the truck.
Charlie exhaled. "Yeah Dupe." she said sadly.
"I'll sort it Char!" Live promised.
"Sort what?" Charlotte asked softly. "Everything is fine."
(X)
Charlotte sat in her room. God the next few hours were going to be sheer unadulterated hell! She'd rather stick pins in her eyes, no make that rusty blunt nails in her eyes than sit and not only have a conversation but actually be civil to the gruesome twosome. Who need's Halloween costumes when you had faces that like! She heard a car beep. Exhaled. Well they were here. Best go and face the music, she frowned so hard she thought her face was going to break!
"Hey Charlie your friends are here!" her mum yelled.
If they were her friends who needs enemy's she thought morosely.
"Coming!" to my impending doom she added silently. It was gonna be a miracle if she survived this night with her sanity intact.
She walked into the kitchen and saw her two 'friends' sat there smiling conspiratorially. God this so wasn't good!
"Hey Char your mum was asking why we don't come over more often." Aba mentioned.
Coz I hate your guts and would rather be boiled in acid! She longed to say.
"No reason mum." she lied smoothly.
"Charlie it was supposed to be me and Danny around the camp fire but Liv and Dupe volunteered. Cashile has cancelled. Ill off too many sweets!" Alice said smiling. She was looking forward to alone time with Danny.
Charlie nodded.
"You ok Charls?" Alice asked.
"Yeah mum I'm good."
"We can go home." Jada said snidely knowing that Alice would let them stay.
Charlotte perked up suddenly.
"It's fine. Charlie said she's ok. Why don't you kids go sit outside while dupe and Liv set up?" Alice suggested.
"Sure mum." Charlie said suddenly down again.
(X)
"We gotta do something Dupe!" Liv said piling wood.
"You've done enough. Do you know what I'd rather be doing than spending time with pre teen girls?" Dupe asked.
"What?"
"ANYTHING! Including running around town with no clothes on! Why do this to me Liv. Pre teen girls. Do you have any idea how much noise they make…..let me tell you. A lot! All the giggling and squealing!" he said in disgust.
"Trust me there'll be no giggling tonight!" Liv said coldly. "They're picking on Charlie and aren't gonna get away with it!"
Dupe frowned.
"But how?" Liv mused out loud.
They sorted the wood in silence. An idea came to Liv.
"Hey there's an old house on the edge of Mara land right. Really old. Falling apart?"
Dupe nodded. Took a drink from his bottle.
"You any good at making up scary stories? Like a Leopards Den legend maybe?" Liv asked smiling
Dupe grinned.
"I'm gonna go phone Rowan and Thabo!"
(X)
Everyone was sat by the fire. Charlie was lost in thought. Death was preferable to this. Their snide comments and threats were doing her head in and if they didn't shut up she wasn't being held accountable for her actions!
Liv arrived and handed out cans of pop. Jada's and Aba's cans fizzed up all over them. "Careful I must have jostled them abit!"
Charlie opened hers and it was fine. Liv winked at her.
Dupe arrived. "Ok who's got a scary story?"
The girls looked at each other.
"I'll start." Liv said. Told a story about a girl who always wore a ribbon around her neck. Her boyfriend took it off one day and her head fell off.
"Liv that was rubbish. Can't you do better than that?" Dupe grumbled.
"How about the Leopards Den legend?" Liv suggested.
Dupe looked at the girls. "No, it's too scary." he retorted playing along.
"Well Charlie deserves to be warned!"
"So we'll tell her another time."
"Why not now?" Liv pressed.
Dupe relented. "Ok girls the story I am about to tell is very scary and 100 percent true!"
The two girls scoffed.
"Ok. When I was a very young man my father died. I was running Leopards Den alone. I had dreams of being in the army but knew nothing would come of them because I had to run this place alone. Until a smooth suave business man came and made me a offer I couldn't refuse. He'd build a house on the land and run it with me in exchange for privacy. I was ecstatic truly. I mean I had my chance to go to the army. He only had one condition, he wanted his house a fair way away. We agreed terms and shook on it. He built his house and everything was fine for a couple of weeks. Until I found animals dead. With their skulls cracked open and their brains gone. Scooped out! We knew that these weren't animal attacks as the animals had been shot cleanly in the heart and a human nail embedded in part of the brain that had been left behind. Yes the brain had been scooped out with someone's HAND!"
The 3 girls jaws dropped.
"I think you better stop Dupe." Liv suggested. Lying through her teeth.
"Na the girls are fine aren't they?"
They nodded slightly. Liv warned Dupe with her eyes. Not to far keep it plausible. His eyes glinted with mischief.
"Good. Well I started doing nightly patrols. Actually caught this person attacking the animals. Not that you could call it a person. It was more beast than man! I was half asleep."
"Half drunk you mean!" Liv muttered.
Dupe made a face. "Anyway I was sitting in the place where most of the animals had been attacked, hidden. I heard a gun shot. Was instantly awake. Was greeted by a sight that will haunt me til my dying day. A person, beast was crouched over a gazelles body. He had already cracked the skull open with a hammer was reaching into the skull and…" he quieted.
"Tell us Dupe!" Jada said eagerly. Completely engrossed in the story.
"He was grabbing handfuls of brain and eating it!"
The 4 girls were frozen with shock. Liv looked ill.
"I shined the light on him and his eyes were red. He roared like a lion then ran off into the night. I tracked him but lost his trail. I went over to this business man's house. The beast had ran in his direction. Got him out of bed. Told him what I saw. He was very concerned. See he was dating a woman from the township and they had a date here the following night which just so happened to be…."
"Halloween night." Liv finished.
"Yup. This very night. I went home on the look out for the man beast as I called him. Something bugged me though. On the edge of my brain. The next day came quickly I had a few men around for poker and a drink. Told them what I saw. They scoffed. Told me I was drunk. The business man came and showed us a costume he'd designed for a party he was going to after his date. It wasn't very good but he was ploughing money into Leopards Den so I complimented it. An hour later it hit me. THIS was the man I had seen. The clothes he'd worn when he answered the door had matched. I told my friends and convinced them to come with me. We burst into the house and looked around. Found a recipe on how to cook brains in his kitchen. Hand written a personal recipe!"
The girls eyes were wide.
"He wasn't in the house. The door burst open and he ran in. Hit one of my friends with a hammer. He fell to the floor. He also got my other friend too. They lay on the floor unmoving."
Even Liv was caught up in the story by now.
"I was alone with the mad man. Thinking god he is gonna kill me and cook my brain with peas and carrots! I was terrified. He walked towards me and I realised I had my gun! I shot him in the arm. It didn't affect him. In the other arm. Still nothing. I was capable of killing a man! He just kept coming!"
There was a rustle behind Liv and someone wrapped their arms around her tightly.
"Argh!" she screamed and struggled. She felt laughter rumble against the back of her head.
"Danny! For Christ's sake!" she exclaimed hand on her chest.
Dupe and Danny roared with laughter.
"Me and Alice wondered if the kids were hungry." he said still chuckling.
"I'm gonna get you for that Trevanion mark my words!" Liv vowed.
"I love you too Livvie."
Liv rolled her eyes.
"We're good Danny." Charlie said.
"Ok." Danny said walking away.
"Ok then Dupe how did you get away?" Charlie asked.
"Who said I did? Maybe he did eat my brains." He said seriously.
"It is plausible. Explains a lot actually." Liv drawled.
Dupe shot her a look. "Well as I said I shot him twice and he wasn't feeling it and I couldn't kill someone. So I decided to run. I picked up a lamp and threw it at his head. It hit him and I finally noticed him fall. I ran over and hit him again with the butt of my gun. Knocked him clean out. Got some rope and tied him up, went to Leopards Den to retrieve some chain I had filched off some poachers. Drilled them into the walls of the attic. Used some proper heavy duty bolts and there he stays. And he is still there to this very day so Charlie don't go near that house yeah. BUT every Halloween night I find a slaughtered animal with no brains!" Dupe said seriously.
Everyone was quiet.
"Ok I'm off to the bathroom." Dupe said nonchalantly.
Dupe walked away smiling.
"What do you think then girls?" Liv asked.
"I think it's crap!" Jada declared.
"I agree." Aba said.
"Why would a man wanna eat someone brains?" Jada asked.
"Well that is the question!" Liv told them.
Charlie picked at the dusty ground.
"Hey I have an idea!" Liv said. "Let's go check out this house!" Liv suggested.
"NO!" Charlie blurted.
"I think we should!" Jada spoke up.
The three people looked at Charlie. She nodded.
"We'll go get a truck then!"
Jada and Aba walked ahead. Charlie walked with Liv.
"Liv I don't wanna go. I want my brain left where it is!" she hissed.
"Look Charlie none of this is real. I know how these girls treat you and I'm sorting it ok!"
"They don't do anything to me Liv!"
"Well I'm gonna torture them anyway!"
"Thanks Liv." Charlie said softly.
"No probs Char"
(X)
The 4 people stood outside the house.
"It's really quiet. No animals make a noise." Jada whispered.
"Coz they know what's in there!" Liv jogged up the stairs. "C'mon the kids not scared are ya's?"
"NO!" Jada said defiantly.
Charlie and Aba followed.
Liv pushed the door open. It creaked eerily. They walked inside.
"It smells musty!" Charlie said.
It was eerily quiet. They wandered through the downstairs. Heard a thud upstairs.
The girls jumped. Looked up then at each other scared. Liv was calm.
"I think we should leave!" Aba whispered.
"It's nothing!" Liv assured.
Another loud thud.
"Right this is creepy." Jada said.
All was quiet once again.
"Can we just go?" Aba asked.
Liv shrugged. "No. Lets go upstairs. You can't say you believe that story kids!"
They shook their head, unsure now. Liv again winked at Charlotte when the others weren't looking.
"C'mon then!" Liv said happily.
Liv smiled as they walked upstairs and looked in rooms. The 3 young girls holding their breath.
"See, nothing!" Liv said and smiled widely at Charlotte. Doors started slamming downstairs.
Jada and Aba were looking around scared.
"Right I'm getting out of here!" Aba screamed.
"No your not! The beast wants fed!" Liv said evilly. Pushed the two girls into a room and closed the door.
(X)
Jada and Aba were stood trembling in a room when suddenly across the room the closet door flew through the air and crashed to the floor with a thud. The girls started screaming hysterically. A thing appeared covered in blood and gunge hunched over. He dragged chains on his wrists. Looked up and saw the girls. Grinned menacingly.
"Brains!" he hissed happily. "BRAINS!"
"LET US OUT!" Jada pulled at the door and it flew open. Both girls ran out down the stairs and into a blood covered Thabo.
"He wants my brains." Held forward mince meat in his hand. "Help me. Put it back." His head matted in red.
They screamed louder. Ran outside.
Rowan stood up straight and walked downstairs. "No one messes with Charlotte Collins." he high fived Thabo.
(X)
Both girls ran out of the house and into the waiting truck. Tears streamed from their eyes. Liv drove back to Leopards Den.
"Go inside Charlie." Liv said. She did.
"That wasn't real." Liv told them coldly. "But if I hear from Charlie that you bully her anymore something will happen! And if I can plan that in less than 2 hours imagine what I could plan given real time! You have been warned!" she vowed.
Both girls nodded. Staring at her wide eyes. "Lets go ring your mum huh?"
They nodded again.
Liv and the girls walked inside. Saw Danny and Alice curled up on the sofa. Alice sat up as they entered.
"Are you two ok?" Alice asked the girls.
"Yeah Dupe's story scared them."
"I told him, not too far. I'll kill him!" she said testily
The girls nodded. They heard a beep.
"Bye girls it was nice having you." Alice said.
They again nodded. Not wanting to upset Liv by talking.
"Mum I'm in my room." Charlie yelled. Smiled at Liv as she passed. "You're the best." she whispered.
Liv nodded smiled back. "I'm gonna sit with Dupe." Liv said knowing that Danny and Alice were enjoying their time alone.
"Well Mrs Trevanion." Danny said kissing her softly as Liv walked away. "I have one question for you. Trick or treat."
Alice kissed him back. "Both, I'll show you a new trick which will definitely be a treat!"
He laughed as did she.
(X)
Dupe and Liv were sat on the veranda.
"Charlie just came out and thanked me. Hugged the hell outta me too!" Dupe said. "Usually if I scare your friends you all go mad." Dupe chuckled. "I get given my marching orders when they come around."
"Yeah." Liv laughed. "Your story was really good. Especially since it was improvised in like, an hour or something. Less!"
"How do you know it isn't true?" Dupe said seriously looking her in the eyes.
"Oh c'mon!" she scoffed.
Dupe shrugged.
Liv stared at him then paled. "No way! Does Danny know?"
Dupe laughed raucously. "That's what I love about you Liv!"
The End
A/N ok people there it is. My first one shot. Any feedback given greatly appreciated hope you enjoyed x :D