Heyo people! I just had this random idea for a one-shot, so let's see how it goes. I'm starting to type the next chapter to my other story soonish, so you're stuck with this random one for now. :) -Les Phansie
It was a nice Saturday afternoon and Race, Jack, and Crutchie were at Medda's theater, like any usual weekend. Medda had wanted Jack to paint her another backdrop, so he decided to drag along the other two; they didn't have anything better to do.
The three boys were all in the room that Jack was painting in. He was furiously working away while Crutchie sat by him and critiqued his art.
"Hey guys, come here," called Race. "Look at this video I found." He was sitting at a desk with a computer on it, waiting for his best friends to come.
Jack stopped his painting and came over, Crutchie close behind. "So what exactly is this about?" he asked. They stood on either side of Race.
"Ok, so the video is going to show a car driving through some trees. Now some people who watched this claim to see a ghost along the car, but it's pretty hard. Wanna try it?" Race asked.
"Sure," Jack and Crutchie agreed. "Have you found it?"
"Yeah, I wanna see if you guys will." Race replied as he played the video.
Sure enough, the video was how Race described it. A white pickup truck was driving along a road by many trees while cheerful music played in the background. Jack and Crutchie both eagerly watched the video, trying to find the supposed ghost.
After about 20 seconds in the video, Crutchie got frustrated. "I don't see anything," He complained.
"Try moving in closer, that's how I saw it," Race answered, trying to stifle a laugh, as he leaned back in the chair.
"Ok," Crutchie leaned in closer.
"Race, why don't I trust you right now?" Jack questioned, leaning closer too.
"I don't know why you wouldn't!" Race smirked at him.
Ten more seconds passed with Jack and Crutchie intently watching the video. All of a sudden a huge ghost popped up on the computer screen and screamed loud, causing the two boys to scream while Race just laughed. Crutchie was so scared that he jumped backwards and Jack even fell from the unexpected jump-scare. Race paused the video, unable to stop laughing. "Wow! I got you guys good!"
"Yeah, and you nearly gave us a heart attack! Gosh!" Crutchie was still breathing hard.
Jack got up from the floor, heart still pounding. "Good Lord, Race. Why did you show us this?"
"Because I thought it would be funny," Race was still laughing.
"It definitely wasn't funny." Jack said with his arms crossed, but smiling.
"Well it was for me!" Race shot back. Jack just rolled his eyes and Crutchie was still trying to slow down his breathing. "I'm going to Spot's place. I told him I'd come. Maybe I'll even show him the video."
"If you do, Spot's gonna pound you," Crutchie said.
"Eh, it would be worth it," Race shrugged it off. "See ya scaredy-cats later!" He went down the stairs, leaving Jack and Crutchie.
"He should be careful who he's calling a scaredy-cat," Jack said to Crutchie.
"What do you mean?"
"I think that he should get a taste of his own medicine," Jack smiled at Crutchie. Crutchie caught onto what Jack was implying and smiled back.
"Medda!" Jack called out as he as Crutchie raced down the stage, where Medda said that she would be. She was saying her goodbyes to the three actors that just left.
She turned around when she heard her name to find two of her three favorite boys running up to her. "Hey guys, Race told me he was leaving for Spot's. How the backdrop working out?"
"It's great. Do you think you can help us with something?" Jack asked.
"Like what?" Medda waited for an answer.
"We wanna scare Race, for what he did earlier," Crutchie said.
"What did he do earlier?" Medda questioned.
"He showed us this video and-," Jack started but was almost immediately cut off by Medda.
"Was it the one with the car and the ghost?" She asked. When they both nodded their heads yes, she added, "He showed me that too and it scared me so bad. It still makes me shudder just thinking about it!" Medda shivered for dramatic effect.
"So are you in?" Jack asked hopefully.
"Of course!" Medda exclaimed. "What were you planning on doing?"
Crutchie sighed. "We aren't exactly sure yet."
"Hmmm," Medda said as she thought of many different ideas that most likely wouldn't work. Suddenly she snapped her fingers. "I got it!" She told Jack and Crutchie her idea. They added more to it and loved the final idea. They all couldn't wait to pull it off. Now all they needed was the bait.
"Race let's play checkers!" Crutchie held the box in front of Race, waiting for him to say yes. He probably would, after all, Race loved games and had a competitive side. It was also part of the plan for scaring him.
"Sure," Race agreed and Crutchie started walking towards the stage. "Wait, why are we playing on the stage?"
"Crutchie shrugged. "I don't know. It's just something different I guess."
"Ok." Race followed his friend to the stage and sat down. Crutchie set up the board and moved his first piece.
"Bye guys, I'm going to a movie with Katherine. See you later!" Jack waved goodbye to both of them and headed out of the theater. They waved goodbye and played more checkers until Medda came in and sat at the edge of the stage.
"I need to stop at the grocery store. Will you guys be fine by yourselves for a little bit?"
"Yep," Race replied, jumping one of Crutchie's pieces.
"Great, I'll be back soon." Medda got off the stage and walked out of the theater to where Jack would be waiting for her.
After a few more moves of Race dominating, Crutchie asked, "So did you show Spot the video?"
Race laughed, "Yeah, and goodness, he sure has a loud scream."
Crutchie chuckled. Suddenly, all of the lights went out, just what was supposed to happen.
"Aw c'mon!" Crutchie complained, "Race, you should try turning them back on."
Race sighed, "Fine." He hopped off the stage and starting making his way out of the auditorium. Race didn't know where the fuse box was, so he assumed that it was in the basement. The darkness would make it even harder to find. When he was just at the basement door, Race heard a scream. A blood-curdling scream that came from the auditorium. The scream could only belong to the only other boy in the building, Crutchie.
Race ran as fast as he could back to the auditorium, not even bothering to check the fuse box. "Crutchie!" he cried. He ran past the many rows of chairs and up to the stage, only to find an abandoned crutch in the middle. Race was scared. His friend had mysteriously disappeared, but he tried calming himself down by taking deep breaths. "Crutchie?" he called again.
When Race didn't hear any sort of answer, he was becoming more panicked. Where could have he been taken to in one minute? Was he ok? Was Jack going to kill him for not being more aware? All of Race's thoughts were erupted when a loud thud came from behind the stage, making him jump. Could that be Crutchie? Race took a deep breath and slowly walked to where the noise came from, looking behind the current backdrop before taking a few steps in. Race tried to scan the area, but the darkness was making it hard it see anything clearly. He heard a rustle coming from his left, coming from behind a curtain. Race debated if he should check it or not for his friend. He finally decided that it would be the best choice. Race took a few shaky steps towards the curtain and pulled it away, only to reveal what resembled a tall figure dressed in a long, black cloak.
Race screamed, loud enough to be heard all the way from Brooklyn. He scrambled out of the back area, tripping on pretty much every thing while the figure chased him. He jumped off the stage and past the chairs, not looking back at whatever was chasing him. It seemed like forever until Race reached the doors that led into the foyer. He twisted the doorknob. It was locked. Race looked back behind him, the mysterious figure was half way down the aisle. He turned back to the door, jiggling the knobs again. They wouldn't budge. Race made the mistake of looking back again. The figure was right in front of him. He backed up into the door and slid to the ground, too nervous to even scream.
Just as the cloaked figure was in front of Race's face, it shouted, "Boo!"
"What?" Race was confused. He pulled the cloak open, revealing Jack with Crutchie sitting on his back, both giggling.
"Wait, what are you two doing? What is happening?" Race sputtered out in between breaths.
Jack set Crutchie down in a chair before answering, "Let me explain. Medda! Turn on the lights and get down here!"
"Medda was a part of this too?" Race asked in disbelief.
Jack just smiled back. Crutchie replied, "Yeah, we sure got you good!" The lights turned on. Medda entered the room and went by the boys.
"Ok," Jack started and sat down beside Crutchie," Here's what happened. We wanted revenge for the video and Medda wanted to help too. We planned this all out while you were at Spot's. Me and Medda never left. When Medda shut down the lights, that's when Crutch screamed and I grabbed him to go backstage with me. I dropped a prop and then we covered up with the cloak. When you were backstage, Medda came and locked the doors."
"Wow, you guys scared the crap out of me," Race said, "But I don't think this is over yet."
"We'll see about that," Medda put her arm around Race and squeezed him. "Before you guys destroy each other again, let's eat. All that pranking made me hungry! I'll bring you guys some food."
"Good, I'm hungry too," Jack agreed. Pretty soon Medda came back with a bag of chips and gummy bears. Everyone dove in the food except Race, who was thinking of his next prank.
So yeah, I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did writing it. Maybe I'll add more on to it, showing other pranks they do. The video that Race showed actually is real. If you really wanted to watch it, it's on YouTube (called the scary car commercial). I don't recommend it if you hate jump scares. The first time I saw it was as an actual commercial on TV. (Yay, now it's story time!) So I was just watching the TV and the commercial came on. When the ghost popped up and screamed, I screamed back and covered my eyes. Then about a year later, it came back on and I didn't realize that it was the stupid ghost commercial, even though I was literally thinking that it reminded me of it. You can guess what happened when the ghost screamed. Yep, I screamed again, at nighttime, with almost everyone in bed. My dad and my dog gave me very weird looks. So I basically just don't trust car commercials anymore. (One more thing, I get to see Newsies next Friday and I seriously can't wait any longer!)
Yikes, that was a long author's note. Oh well. -Les Phansie :)