Venomaze

Prologue: The Grinch

It was a small play, just one for the holiday that the students could work on before they started on the end of the year performance. Family and friends sat in the large auditorium, waiting for the grand drape to open and for something to start.

Nancy Venom was curled up next to her husband, Acanthus. The arm between their seats had been pushed up, allowing them to sit comfortably while they whispered to one another. If you just glanced at the two, you would think they were related by blood instead of being a married couple.

They both had dark black hair, light complexions (one with an olive tone and the other just pail and smooth), both also being of Italian background. Their only difference when it came to the simple descriptions was the obsidian eyes versus a vivid navy blue.

Their younger child had run off, heading backstage to find her older brother. Artiglio was the spitting image of her mother, just like her brother was of his father. The eleven year old dashed through the back hallway, dragging her 'boyfriend' behind her.

Zephyr was twelve, with plain blond hair, bright blue eyes, and a funky digestive system that was actually getting better by the year. But that didn't stop people from calling him by his preferred nickname, The Gasman. Or, Gazzy for short.

The two kids wound through the hallways before finally spotting the door to the greenroom. Artiglio, or Lio for short, was about to peek through the doorway when a bell rang, signaling for everyone to get to their seats before the play started.

She huffed and turned, dragging Gazzy off back to the auditorium.

(/*-*)/

The grand drape pulled away from the stage, leaving room for a group of ten students standing like a choir off to the side. They were dressed in odd clothes that looked oddly familiar. Almost like… Whos?

The set was the entrance to a cave, fake snow and white flooring of whatever it was laid everywhere. It wasn't extravagant, but it gave off the perfect feeling.

There were props off the stage and the main actor waiting to come on. The background music started softly as the ten started talking, saying their lines one by one.

"Every Who down in Who-ville liked Christmas a lot."

"But the Grinch, who lived just north of Who-ville, did not!"

"The Grinch hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season! … Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason."

"It could be his head wasn't screwed on just right."

"It could be, perhaps, that his shoes were too tight."

"But I think the most likely reason of all… May have been that his heart was two sizes too small."

"But, whatever the reason, his heart or his shoes… He stood there on Christmas Eve, hating the Whos."

At this point, out of the cave entrance, came the main actor. Fang Venom was dressed in filthy looking jeans and an old brown t-shirt. He had a deep scowl on his handsome face as he stared out in the audience, making hatred filled eye contact with a few people here and there.

"Staring down from his cave with a sour, Grinchy frown… At the warm lighted windows below in their town… For he knew every Who down in Who-ville beneath… Was busy now, hanging a mistletoe wreath."

Fang snarled out in a voice that reached the farthest people even without his microphone, "And they're hanging their stockings!"

"He snarled with a sneer."

"Tomorrow is Christmas!" Fang began to pace the stage, making sure to never turn his back on the audience, "It's practically here!"

"Then he growled, with his Grinch fingers nervously drumming."

"I must find some way to stop Christmas from coming!" Some toddler in the audience began to boo before his mother hushed him, but Fang kept his face, just laughing on the inside.

"For tomorrow, he knew…"

"...All the Who girls and boys would wake bright and early. They'd rush for their toys! And then!"

"Oh, the noise! Oh, the noise! Noise! Noise! Noise!"

"That's one thing he hated!"

"The NOISE!"

"NOISE!"

"NOISE!"

"NOISE!"

"Then the Whos, young and old, would sit down to a feast."

"And they'd feast!"

"And they'd feast!"

"And they'd FEAST!"

"FEAST!"

"FEAST!"

"FEAST!"

"They would feast on Who-pudding, and rare Who-roast beast."

"Which was something the Grinch couldn't stand in the least."

"And then they'd do something he liked least of all."

"Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small… Would stand close together, with Christmas bells ringing… They'd stand hand-in-hand…"

"And the Whos would start singing!"

"They'd sing."

"And they'd sing!"

"And they'd SING!"

"SING!"

"SING!"

"SING!"

"And the more the Grinch thought of this Who-Christmas-Sing."

"The more the Grinch thought…"

Some in the audience jumped when Fang stopped dead in his tracks and stomped his foot, "I must stop this whole thing! Why, for fifty three years I've put up with it now! I MUST stop this Christmas from coming… but HOW!"

"Then he got an idea."

"An awful idea."

"The Grinch got a wonderful, awful idea!"

Fang pointed his finger up, staring straight ahead with a wicked smile, "I know just what to do!"

"The Grinch laughed in his throat."

"And he made a quick Santy Clause hat and a coat."

Fang pulled a red coat and hat much like the traditional Santa gear out of the cave and began to pull them on.

"And he chuckled and clucked."

"What a great Grinchy trick!" Fang tugged on the coat for emphasis, "With this coat and this hat, I look just like Saint Nick! All I need is a reindeer…"

"The Grinch looked around… But, since reindeer are scarce, there were none to be found!"

"Did that stop the old Grinch?"

Fang, who had finished peering at the audience and pointing as if accusing some of being a reindeer then deciding not, stomped his foot again, "No!"

"The Grinch simply said…"

"If I can't find a reindeer, I'll make one instead!" Fang leapt down the stairs that lead from the audience to the stage, grabbing a fellow actor out of his seat.

Aidan Aze had red hair (not orange) and faded yet bright red eyes. The blind boy was taller that Fang, an amazing feet since Fang was pretty tall for his age, and was dressed in the same scruffy clothes to give off a dirty look. The only thing added was a pair of dog ears.

"So he called his dog, Max."

"Then he took some read thread… And he tied a big horn on the top of his head!"

When Fang was finished with this, he and Aidan went off the side of the stage like they were just going to a different part of the mountain. They came back with prop sleigh that was only good enough to look like the real thing and hold what it needed.

"THEN he loaded some bags."

"And some old empty sacks."

"On a ramshackle sleigh."

"And he hitched up old Max."

"Then the Grinch said…"

Fang, now perched inside the sleigh, took his reins hooked up to Aidan's belt loops and snapped them, making not to actually hit the blind boy, "Giddap!"

"And the sleigh started down… Towards the homes where the Whos lay a-snooze in their town."

\(*-*\)

When the grand drape opened again, the set was the inside of a Who-ville living room. The lights were dim, just enough to see the silhouette of the set pieces. The Who narrators were still off to the side, all perfectly in position.

"All their windows were dark… Quite snow filled the air."

"All the Whos were all dreaming sweet dreams without care."

"When he came to the first little house on the square."

Fang's voice sounded off the stage, almost as if he was above it and his voice was coming down the chimney that stretched up pretty far, "This is stop number one."

"The old Grinchy Clause hissed."

"And he climbed to the roof, empty bags in his fists."

"Then he slid down the chimney… A rather tight pinch."

A sliding noise came from the chimney and Fang feet hit the bottom smoothly, but he stayed there.

"But, if Santa could do it…"

"Then so could the Grinch."

"He got stuck only once, for a moment or two."

"Then he stuck his head out of the fireplace flue… Where the little who stockings hung in a row."

"These stockings," Fang gave a sickening grin that the audience could see as the lights slowly shown brighter.

"He grinned."

"Are the first things to go," Fang began to pull them off of the mantel and stuffed them into the bag he was carrying with him.

"Then he slithered and slunk, with a smile most unpleasant…"

"Around the whole room, and he took every present!"

"Popguns!"

"And bicycles!"

"Roller skates!"

"Drums!"

"Checkerboards!"

"Tricycles!"

"Popcorn!"

"And plums!"

"And he stuffed them in bags."

"Then the Grinch, very nimbly… Stuffed all the bags, one by one, up the chimney."

"Then he slunk to the icebox."

"He took the Whos' feast!"

"He took the Who-pudding!"

"He took the roast beast!"

"He cleaned out that icebox as quick as a flash."

"Why, that Grinch even took their last can of Who-hash!"

"Then he stuffed all the food up the chimney with glee!"

"And NOW!" Fang had just finished throwing all this into the 'chimney' and turned back to the audience.

"Grinned the Grinch."

"I will stuff up the tree!"

"And then the Grinch grabbed the tree and he started to shove…"

"When he heard the small sound like the coo of a dove."

Lupo Greyback was out on stage now, dressed in a white nightgown with her pen straight waist length dirty blond hair up in pigtails. She was holding a teddy bear, giving off the vibe of a young girl.

"He turned around fast, and he saw a small Who."

"Little Cindy-Lou Who."

"Who was not more than two."

"The Grinch had been caught by this tiny Who daughter… Who'd got out of bed for a cup of cold water."

"She stared at the Grinch and said…"

"Santy Clause, why?" Lupo's voice was usually strong yet still feminine, but at the moment she was focused on playing her young role and used a fragile voice. "Why are you taking our Christmas tree? Why?!"

"But, you know, that old Grinch who was so smart and so slick… He thought up a lie…"

"He thought it up quick!"

"Why, my sweet little tot," Fang reached out a hand and exaggerated patting Lupo's head. The nightgown hid her hourglass, Lara Croft, figure, but still, with her only being a head shorter than Fang, most of her role depended on just her acting skills.

"The fake Santa Clause lied…"

"There's a light on this tree that won't light on one side… So I'm taking it home to my workshop, my dear… I'll fix it up there. Then I'll bring it back here!"

"And his fib fooled the child."

"Then he patted her head… And he got her a drink and he sent her to bed."

"And when Cindy-Lou Who went to be with her cup… HE went to the chimney and stuffed the tree up!"

"Then the last thing he took was the log for the fire!"

"Then he went up the chimney, himself, the old liar."

"On their walls he left nothing but some hooks and some wire."

"And the one speck of food that he left in the house… Was a crumb that was even too small for a mouse!'

"Then he did the same thing to the other Whos' houses!"

At this point, a farther back curtain moved so that they could only see the narrator Whos while they changed the scenery back to the cave, not taking the curtain up until the Grinch was back home.

"Leaving crumbs much too small for the other Whos mouses!"

"It was a quarter past dawn…"

"All the Whos, still a-bed."

"All the Whos, still a-snooze."

"When he packed up his sled."

"Packed it up with their presents!"

"The ribbons!"

"The wrappings!"

"The tags!"

"And the tinsel!"

"The trimmings!"

"The trappings!"

"Three thousand feet up!"

"Up the side of Mt. Crumpit!"

"He rode with his load to the tip-top to dump it!"

Fang's voice came from the speakers as the finished up with the scenery, "Pooh-pooh to the Whos!"

"He was Grinch-ish-ly humming!"

The curtain began to move now as Fang sat outside of his cave with Aidan and the sleigh, "They're finding out now that no Christmas is coming! They're just waking up! I know just what they'll do! Their mouths will hang open a minute or two then the Whos down in Who-ville will all cry Boo-Hoo! That's a noise…"

"Grinned the Grinch."

"That I simply must hear!"

"So, he paused. And the Grinch put his hand to his ear. And he did hear a sound rising over the snow."

"It started in low."

"Then it started to grow…"

Fang began to get anxious, keeping his hand cupped over his ear as he stretched towards the narrator's while hearing what they heard that was being played over the speakers.

"But the sound wasn't sad!"

"Why, this sound sounded merry!"

"It couldn't be so!"

"But it WAS merry!"

"VERY!"

"He stared down at Who-ville!"

"The Grinch popped his eyes!"

"Then he shook!"

"What he saw was a shocking surprise!"

"Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small, was singing!"

"Without any presents at all!"
"He HADN'T stopped Christmas from coming! It came!"

"Somehow or another, it came just the same!"
"And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow…"

"Stood puzzling and puzzling…"

Fang rubbed his chin, "How could it be so? It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes, or bags!"

"And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore."

"Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!"
"Maybe Christmas," Fang 'whispered'.

"He thought."

"Doesn't come from a store… Maybe Christmas… perhaps… means a little bit more!"

"And what happened then?"

"Well, in Who-ville they say… that the Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day!"

"And the minute his heart didn't feel quite so tight… He whizzed with his load through the bright morning light."

Fang and Aidan had left the stage now with the 'sleigh' again and that back curtain came down. Things moved fast and no one knew how they did it, but the curtain came back up quickly with just a table full of food with Lupo in the middle of others with Aidan by her side and an empty seat on the other.

"And he brought back the toys!"

"And the food for the feast!"

Fang came onstage with a large platter with a silver covering.

"And he…"

"HE HIMSELF!"

"The Grinch carved the roast beast!"
Fang grabbed the top of the covering, everyone freezing as the lights went down and 'You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch' began to play. The grand drape closed and everyone in the audience clapped, the applause getting louder when the cast came out with grins on their faces.