The Haunted Mask III; The Cat's Meow.
Carly Beth and Steve thought it was all over. Well, they were dead wrong! After six years, they and their friends have found another mask. A mask that was made a hundred years ago by someone with a thirst for immortality. And it has already found a host...
Prologue.
Steve's POV.
The sunlight blared through the shutters on my window as I lie in bed. I groaned and turned myself away from the light to get some more sleep. But then the clock just had to be a jerk. Well, at least it wasn't one of my sister's wake up calls. And they usually end up with me having egg all over my face. Rotten eggs. I'm pretty sure my sister came out of a rotten egg.
I slammed my hand on the clock, making it shut up, and I rolled out of bed, hitting the floor, hard.
Man, I felt like a... Don't say it. I'm not gonna say it. I'm not gonna say anything related to wrinkles, walking sticks, and anything that old people do!
Ah, poop! There I go! Thinking about that night again. Thinking about them. The 'Unloved Ones', as Carly Beth and the Shopkeeper said they were called.
Those masks. Those horrid masks that made our last Halloweens living nightmares six years ago. Her mask made her do horrible things, while mine mask had turned me into an little old man at the age of twelve! Ever since that I decided that I was too old for Halloween. And not like the way I was. I was told I was an honest guy at heart, and I honestly wanted to slap the Shopkeeper silly for making those little monsters. I'm sure Carly Beth felt the same!
*sigh* Carly Beth... I had been having weird feelings in my stomach for a four years now. Ever since the Shopkeeper told me that me saving her from becoming the Haunted Mask's host again was a Symbol of Love. I thought about it for a long time and tried to figure out what that meant, before I found out. That if me protecting her was a 'Symbol of Love' then that meant that I... I... love her.
That's right. I, Steve Boswell, had fallen for Carly Beth Caldwell. And buddy, I got scratched pretty darn good from the fall.
I had wondered how to approach her with this. I mean, she probably didn't like me back. And who would after the way I tortured her like that. To her, I was afraid that I was nothing but a disrespectful asshole that didn't know when enough was enough!
So I kept quiet. But it got harder and harder the more I spent time with her. I was going crazy! And Chuck and Sabrina noticed. Chuck started giving me advice (To which I'm questioning 'why?') and Sabrina had been acting like she was an informant and had been telling me what Carly Beth thinks of me. Like, she said, and I quote; 'I happened to know for a fact that she thinks that your cute, funny, sensitive and well mannered. And' get this, 'that my best feature was my honest and kind heart. Unlike some people I know'. When she said that, she had looked at Chuck's direction. I couldn't resist a tiny little laugh. Like how I don't admit my feelings for Beth, she heats up the mere thought of her and Chuck together.
But seriously, 'honest and kind heart'? What's up with that?! I swear, she's just saying that stuff to get me over-confident. I was practically the reason she got that mask in the first place! I was the cause of the entire thing! I tormented her too far and unintentionally encouraged her to slip that mask on her sweet, kind face and had her temporary turned into a monster.
I still feel horrible for it. But the advice Chuck and Sabrina have been giving me gave me confidence. And I felt I was ready to talk to her.
"Steve!" I jumped out of my thoughts and looked towards the door. Mom. "Steve!? Breakfast!" I heard her footsteps as she walked away, I sighed, getting up from the floor, about to put some clothes on, before I heard scratching and whimpering on the other side of the door. I smiled. Sparky. I loved that dog after founding out he berried Beth's mask when I found it, not with Spider-Head in the fireplace. I had searched high and low for it when I found out it wasn't dead, practically tearing the house apart, much to my parents and sister's shock. And then, Sparky saves the day by walking into my room with the little monster in his jaws, covered in dirt. I gave him milk bone for dessert ever since.
I gave the mask back to the Shopkeeper, and kept it under lock and key in this safe he showed me when I gave it to him. There was noway that I was having that thing. I don't want it to control me and have me hurt my friends and family!
I walked towards the door and opened it, revealing my dear old friend, Sparky, and he was getting a bit old, but he still had a little spring in his step. He barged in through the door and rubbed against my leg, jumping up and down, barking attention.
"Okay! Okay!" I laughed as I picked him up from the ground and hugged him, before setting him back down, getting dressed and headed for the kitchen. I decided that today was the day; today was the day I would talk to Carly Beth, tell her how I feel and ask her to be my girl. And if it didn't work out, then I could just live with being her friend, at least, I think I will.
I heard music on the other end of the hall. Loud music. I groaned. Marnie Boswell strikes again with her bloody music. I swear, she's gonna become a Goth one day with her nightcore and rock music.
A walk into the kitchen, Sparky at my heels and I noticed the Halloween decorations.
Oh. I forgot. Halloween's a few nights away. Yeah... I had lost my taste for trick-or-treating since Spider-Head. But that didn't mean I couldn't resist a Halloween party, and one was going to happen at Carly Beth's place. I'm invited and so are Chuck and Sabrina. I poured cornflakes into my bowl and added some milk and sat down at the couch in the den. I picked up the remote on the side table and turned the TV on. I suddenly heard the theme song for the news report and groaned. Just perfect.
"Welcome to London's News. And we are here with two young children, Charley Baker and Noah Caldwell." I stopped eating after that statement. Why would Carly Beth's brother be on the news?
"These two boys have been exploring out in the middle of the woods, looking for the fabled Witch's Hut," The Witch's Hut? I've heard about that legend. Some of the legends about that place say that a crazy old witch lived there and was desperate to have the gift of immortality. But died just as she founded it. But even till this day, she continues her black magic and experiments, and has even conjured up some sort of wild creature, that was half human, and half beast, to protect her Hut from trespassers.
Everyone said that it was just a story teens told younger kids around a camp fire. But after the 'Unloved Ones' I've never really known what was real and what was not.
"And have claimed to have been attacked by some sort of creature!" the woman with the microphone grabbed my attention again and I decided to watch, absentmindedly eating my cereal.
Noah, who was now eleven years old, looked very frightened and tired. Like he had been running for days.
"We were just playing kickball by the forest, and then Charley kicked the ball too hard and it into the woods. So we went to go get it. We didn't find it, but then we came upon the Hut. I thought it was pretty cool, there were all these potions and stuff, and decided to have a look around. I wanted to find something that could help me scare my sister." I resisted a growl when I heard that. No-one better had try to scare her. They have hard luck trying, and even if they did, then I would punch them. In the nose.
"Then we heard something clatter on the ground. I looked around a bit more when I stepped on something. I looked and I saw it was bones! Rabbit bones!" the poor boy looked close to crying and screaming for his mom and dad. "Then we heard hissing and turned around a saw this person wearing a black cloak with a hood. It was over it's head so we didn't see their face! But their arms were covered in black fur and it's hands were tipped with claws, like a cat's. It tried to attack us, it tried to eat us! But we managed to get away!" The boy broke away from the reports women and ran to the arms of Carly Beth, who had been off screen up until now with her parents. Carly Beth was looking at her brother worryingly.
"Excuse me?" Charley looked away from Noah and looked at the woman, who was smiling reassuringly at him, "Can you tell us what happened next?" "Well, we were so scared, that we didn't even look back. But we could hear it coming after us, hissing and growling. Screaming at us to leave it in piece." "It spoke to you?" "Yeah. It said to never come back, and never tell anyone about it, or it'll find us. Said it can smell fear, and ours was fresh, so it would be easy to find us." "Do you have any proof?" the woman asked, just making sure. I'm sure I would too if someone told me that crazy story.
Charley turned to look at Noah, who was still crying, still in Carly Beth's arms. He pulled up his sleeve and reveal three long scratches on his arm, going from his elbow to his wrist.
"Is this proof enough?" the boy asked bitterly. Both the women and me looked at the arm in shock. Who would do that to a young boy at age eleven? Who would even have the heart to?
I realized that I had finished my cereal and there was nothing else but milk. So I set the bowl down for Sparky and sat up from the couch, turning the TV off as I grabbed my coat.
"MOM?! Me and the guys are going over to Beth's place for a bit. Seeya!" I ran out the door without waiting for an answer, barely noticing Sparky walking out the dog door to follow me.
As I pulled out my phone to call Chuck to meet me at Beth's place, I didn't realize that I was being watched.
By bright yellow eyes, with slit pupils.
Chuck's POV.
I was in my room, watching a horror movie, slowly eating popcorn, until I heard my phone ring. I looked at the ID and saw that it was Steve. I pressed the button raised the phone to my ear.
"Hey Steve! What's up?" "Did you see the news about Noah and his friend getting attacked by that creature in the woods?" he asked me in a rapid-paced voice. I frowned. I didn't like where this was going. "Yeah..?" "Meet me at Beth's place. I want to hear this from Noah for myself. And call Sabrina. She might want to be apart of this too." I nodded, still confused.
"Okay." we hung up and I started dialing Sabrina's number. I really wished I was facing the window then. The maybe I could have saw those creepy yellow eyes that were staring at me through the window.
Sabrina's POV.
I was in the kitchen, eating a cold chicken leg leftover from dinner for breakfast, when my phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out and smiled when the ID said Chuck.
"Hey Chuck!" "Hi Brie! No time to talk! Steve wants us over at Carly's house. Something about that creature that attacked her brother." I frowned, remembering seeing the scars on Noah's arm through the TV.
"Yeah, I saw it. What about it?" "I don't know. He just said come over, and call you to let you know." he told me, and I nodded. "On my way!" we hung up and I grabbed my jacket and bike helmet.
"Mom! I'm heading for Carly's! Seeya later!" I walked out and grabbed my bike, and paddled out of there.
I really hoped that I wasn't being watched, but I was. By bright yellow cat like eyes.
Carly Beth's POV.
I didn't want to say it. But I was scared. Mostly for my brother. He had done nothing but sit in his room, and when I went to check on him, just to see if he was okay, I found that he had duck taped the windows shut and had check his room from top to bottom for anything cat related. He even checked under his bed and closet! He was traumatized!
I told him I'd stay with him until he fell asleep. But that seemed to be taking forever, for each time we heard a noise, which was normally mom in the kitchen, he had me check his room. Just like he did. He even had me look in the closet and under the bed.
He was just about to go to sleep, when the door bell rang and he squeaked, fully awake. I groaned and went for the door, knowing that Noah was following me, holding the brim of my sleeve. If I wasn't so worried about his physical health, due to the scars, I would treasure this moment. I was about to open the door, when Noah yanked me away from it.
"Don't answer it! It could be the Cat-Creature!" he cried, holding my hand tightly. I look through the door view, but jumped when something barked in it. Wait. Bark? Sparky? I peaked through again and saw that it was just Steve, Chuck and Sabrina. Sparky was there too. I turned to my brother and smiled reassuringly, "It's okay, Noah. It's just Steve, Chuck and Sabrina." I told him, but he shook his head.
"But what if the Cat-Creature used one of those potions?! It could have disguised itself and split itself into three people! I told you what it said; It could smell fresh fear! It can smell me!" I sighed.
"Noah! Listen to yourself! Your starting to sound like me when I was scared of everything!" I went to open the door again but he yanked me away again. I turned to him and smirked. "They have a dog with them." I singsong, and my brother went from shaking his head to nodding.
"Yes! Yes! Let them in!" he pushed me towards the door. I chuckled and opened the door.
I opened the door, and the door reveal the guys. Chuck was looking over Steve's shoulder, Sabrina smiled at me and I smiled back, and Steve was on his toes, where I know he had been trying to peep into the door view.
"Hi guys! Come in!" they smiled and stepped inside, making their way to the den. Noah hid behind me as they walked past, until Sparky walked by me and he lifted him up in his arms and held him tightly like he was his lifeline. I sighed, shaking my head. He really is my brother.
As I closed the door, I could have sworn I saw those eyes. Those shining golden eyes that fitted the devil so well, if he had black fur and a tail, and pointy ears.