Somewhere in the human world

"Are we there yet?"

"No"

"Are we there yet?"

"No"

"Are we there yet?"

"No"

"Are we –"

"Hugh Badger, if you don't stop teasing me in this very moment I'm going to trow you out of the window!"

The boy grinned, resting his head on the headrest. "Out of the window? Hey, it wouldn't be that bad" he said, playing with a deck of cards "better than school" he added grimly.

The woman sighed. "Hughie..."

"No more 'Hughie', mom!" the bot protested "I'm a big boy now!"

"A big boy acting like a three years old child" she sighed "listen, Hugh, I would really appreciate you trying to get along with your schoolmates..."

"They're boring" Hugh pouted, finally turning his glance away from the cards "I don't like boring people. And I don't like boring places like this town. What about asking your Company to move ya in Las Vegas next time? That'd be fun!"

"Hugh" she said "I know you miss your old school..."

"But, mom, I don't miss my old school. I hated that place" he reminded her "I miss it as much as the toothache. Well, I must admit I had some fun back there...do ya remember when I put a spider on the teacher's hair?"

She let out a groan. "I do."

"C'mon, there was no reason to take it that bad! I mean, I was just joking. Just having fun. What's the big deal?"

"You do really think putting bugs on other people is fun?"

"Uhm...yeah."

The woman sighed. "I give up" she said, turning her attention back to the traffic as the car passed a crossroad.

The boy shrugged and turned his glance away from the her, shuffling his cards once again. He was about eight years old, not very tall, wearing a dark oversized jacket with a hood. The jacket's sleeves were too long for his arms, and he always had to roll them over to freely use his hands. He had light brown hair, with a wisp of hair falling over his forhead, just between his black eyes.

"Mom?" he asked after a few minutes, breaking the silence.

"What?"

"Pick a card. Any card."

"Hugh, can't you see I'm driving?" she said sharply.

The boy shrugged and drew the top card himself, yawning. "You're not fun, ya know..." he muttered mostly to himself, then: "Mom?"

The woman let out a groan. "What's up now?"

"I'm hungry."

"You've just had breakfast, Hugh!"

"So what? I'm still hungy. I cannot just stop being hun...WHOA!"

He was slumped forwards as almost the car suddenly stopped in front of his school. "Hey, I almost split my head on the dashboard!" he whined.

"Here you go, boy" his mother said sternly "now you're going to go to school and act like any normal kid. Got it?"

"But I'm not a normal..." he began, then he stopped as he noticed his mother's expression "I'll do my best anyway" he added quickly.

"Good" his mother said slamming the door shut.

"Act like any normal kid, Hughie" he muttered to himself, imitating his mother's voice as he began to walk towards school "you need some friends, Hughie...you cannot play with those dices the whole day, Hughie...trowing bugs at people to scare them is not funny, Hughie...bah, she's so boring. Boring, boring, boring!"

A few kids looked at him as he walked into the class and sat down at his desk, a little apart from the others.

"Look, it's the newbie. The one who took the Tarantula Spider in the lab with his bare hands last Friday."

"Yeah, it's him. He says he likes bugs. I've heard he's got a hudge collection of 'em."

"Bleah!"

"Look, he's muttering to himself again."

"I told ya he's a freak...always playing with his cards or dices, and barely talking to anyone."

"And have you already seen him eat?"

"Eeew, please! I can't believe he can eat that stuff..."

"Ya mean the stuff the school's cook plays off as food?"

"Yeah. And he eats tons of it. It's just disgusting."

"Bleah! I'd eat rubbish rather than that..."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he eats rubbish too, ya know..."

"He's so...so strange" a girl muttered aloud.

Hugh smiled to himself, keeping shuffling his cards as somebody sat on the chair next to him.

"Hello there, Weirdo."

Hugh raised his eyes to the freckled little girl named Raven sitting beside him. "Hello, Freckle" he grinned, then he extended his hand "pick one card."

Three hours later.

Hugh yawned, looking at his watch. Thankfully, it was almost lunch time: he was beginning to feel ill with hunger. He toyed absently with his dices as the teacher went on with her speech. Man, she hadn't stopped babbling since nine! Scool was definitely the dumbest thing in that utterly dumb world. He looked at Raven: she seemed as bored as he was.

A barely audible wirring noise came from his bag. He grinned to himself thinking about the cockroaches he was keeping in the can inside his bag. That pain in the butt af Timothy Franklin was going to find a little surprise inside his locket, that afternoon. Next time he would have tought twice before stealing his things.

Reverenge was sweet. Almost sweeter than his mother's apple pie.

His stomach grumbled at the thought. It would've better for him stop thinking about that pie before ending up to drooling over the desk.


"Hey, kid!" a older student about thirtheen, one Steve Warden, patted rougly on his shoulder "that's my table!"

"Uh?" Hugh swallowed his bite and looked up at him "sorry, pal...I cannot see your name anywhere."

"Yeah, very funny" the other boy barked "now get up from my chair."

Hugh began to laugh, causing steve to blink. No one had ever laughed on his face before. Never.

"What's so funny, ya little bugger?" he asked menacingly.

"Oh well" Hugh chuckled again "I was just wonder how stupid ya can be to think I would stand up from this very comfortable chair just to give it to ya."

The boy's eyes narrowed threateningly. "You're calling me stupid?"

"Wow, ya can actually understand spoken languge then...I may begin to considerate your Q.I. as high as a snail's..."

"ENOUGH!" the boy snapped. There was a sound of ripping fabric as he grabbed Hugh from the collar of his shirt "ya're gonna pay for this..."

"What's happening here?" the teacher's voice exclaimed. Steve let him go immediatly, then he turned to the teacher.

"It's nothing, sir" he said politely "I was just leaving."

The boy sat at another table, then he looked towards Hugh and grinned, making rather obvious throat slitting motions.

"See ya later, snotty."

"I guess he's gonna beat ya down after school" Raven said quietly from behind him.

"Yeah" Hugh shrugged, turning his attention back to his meal. He was not afraid, not even a bit. Fear was something he had never felt in his life.

"And I guess you'll get your reverenge very soon" she added with a grin.

Hugh just grinned back. "Indeed."

"I don't know if you'll be able to scare him, Weirdo. Some students say he's fearless."

"Wanna bet?"

Halloween Town

"I tell you I did see something!" the teenage witch exclaimed, pointing at her crystal ball "I saw it just for a moment, but it was there! I'm sure it was!"

"Oh, please" the young demon answered "you've never seen anything in you crystal ball, Shock. You're just not capable to use it, deal with it!"

"But this time I did!"

"Suuure" the boy in the skeleton costume grinned "then tell us, what did you see?"

"A human boy" the girl exclaimed "and than a bunch of bugs, and..."

"Bugs?" Lock and Barel looked at the each other.

"Yeah! Bugs, and a pair of dices, a full moon and...a three? Yeah, there were some threes too..."

"Bugs, dices..." Lock said "are ya thinking the same thing?"

"Yeah, of course!" Barrel exclaimed "er...what are ya thinking exactly?"

"The Boogie Man!" Shock and Lock exclaimed simultaneously.

Human world (again!)

Steve released his grip on Hugh's shirt, letting him fallig on the ground, blood running down his face. "Next time you'll think twice before boyhering me, snotty" he laughed as he disappeared behind the corner. Hugh slowly got on his knees and wiped away some blood with his sleeve. He took his dices from his pocket and rolled them on the floor.

Six and five.

He grinned.

Eleven. His lucky number.

/Looks like I won the jackpot./

He began to laugh, his laughter echoing through the school's now desert halls.

You're done!

You're doomed!

You're gonna pay for this!

You have no way,

No chance to escape,

Prepare to face your fate!

Be ready!

Be scared!

You don't know who am I

I pity you

You have no idea

Of what I'm gonna do!