Chapter 9- The arsonist
He really wished that he could have thought of a better plan than this.
He found that staying inside of his boat and waiting for whatever was about to burn it down wasn't exactly the most sounding of strategies, especially when in the night, he had to close his eyes and rely on his hearing.
Almost every movement that he had ruled out as wind or the waves nearly scared him out of his costume. and he found himself on his toes as he pretended to sleep. He was ready to fight, it's just that would he be able to take him down. And that question alone made him bring the axe if he needed to do some serious damage to his arsonist.
He didn't know how long he had been waiting for this mystery person, but it felt like it was forever and the worst part was that it appeared that he wasn't in a rush, so he was taking a long and agonizing slow time to burn his very fragile boat down.
He found that the best way to pass the time that he was waiting for whatever was suppose to come and hurt him was to try and think about another story. Like, what would happen if he would publish this story? Who would read it? Would they believe that half the stuff that happened in the book actually happened for real?
He also wondered what would happen on the day should he return. If he did, he hoped that he would first get a hug from everybody (Let's be real, who doesn't want a hug?) and then have some of Chica's pizza and cake, not because he needed to eat (He didn't) but merely to have something and enjoy some time with her and catch up on all of the things that he had missed out on the….how many weeks was he gone now?
Now that I think about it, He thought how long have I been gone?
Foxy assumed that at the least, he had been gone for about two weeks and maybe a month at the most. Which seemed pretty rational considering that he was able to build two boats with one of them burning down and be able to have some time exploring the land around him.
He thought some more about Chica, not that he needed to, but he figured that his thoughts about her would be a nice way to get this dreadful waiting off of his mind.
He thought about the scene that should he come home, what he hoped would happen.
I'll walk through those front doors. He thought and I'll see her in the kitchen. We'll look at each other for a long time, maybe a few minutes even, and then we'll hug and hopefully kiss. She'll ask 'God Foxy! where have you been?!'. Then, I'll just show her my book and tell her about all of the crazy stuff that happened to me.
He soon found that his large bush tail was no longer in between his legs, and also that he had calmed down significantly and was no longer paranoid about the darkness and what could possibly await for him in it.
He imagined it some more about his fantasy about when he got home.
Maybe I'll ask her if we could have a family… He said In a strange way, I always kind of wanted a few kids. Well, as a kid I thought I would be pretty awesome dad. Maybe it's not too late for me…..
He thought about this until he heard a snap!
His eyes snapped open and his fur stood on end as the snaps started getting closer.
Snap!
Snap!
Snap!
He also saw that there was a strange and ominous orange light behind him.
He saw Goldie's pinprick eyes darted towards something behind his head, and he had the feeling that his mystery arsonist was merely less than ten feet away from him.
He didn't know what to do. Did he jump now? or did he wait longer to get closer to it.
He then heard Creeeeeekkkkkk... of an old door in a creepy house near his ear.
Foxy was actually fighting to stop himself from trembling in fear from what was behind him.
He then felt something brush against his large and fluffy ears that felt a lot like old wood.
Foxy had the feeling that who, or whatever the arsonist was, he was right behind him.
He turned around and stood up, turning his LED Lights on and glaring at his arsonist.
In a strange way, he didn't expect for this to be his mystery arsonist.
The Arsonists actually stood a few inches above foxy (And Foxy knew he was at least six four) and he wore old tattered clothing like it had been hanging out in the wind and the sun for years. His head was also not human. In fact, it looked like a long-decayed pumpkin or squash, he wasn't entirely sure what its original shape was. The eyes inside of the pumpkin were now alight and seemed to give out a dark glow just like Foxy's, only this time, they were illuminated by a bright orange fire and not the LED's in his eyes.
He knew he was the arsonist because he was holding a stick, which it had in its mouth and was pointing the flaming stick towards his boat.
Foxy knew what that thing was. It was the scarecrow from earlier.
But….how? he thought looking at it.
"Who are ye and what are ye doing here?" He asked in his most threatening way possible.
For a few moments, the arsonist was quiet.
Then, it pulled out a long saber from behind it and pointed it at Foxy.
"Oh...so ye'd be a fighting guy aren't ye?" He asked
The scarecrow was silent and only raised his blade at Foxy's neck.
"Well then…" he said "I've been meaning to get even with ye, especially since ye burned me previous boat down."
He then saw the scarecrow lunge at him with the saber.
Foxy dodged it and tried to hack at the scarecrow's rotten head with his axe. But the scarecrow ducked and caused his axe to only chop empty air.
The scarecrow then tried to slash at Foxy's feet with his blade, but Foxy jumped over the slash.
Wait a minute… he thought I'm made of metal! Why am I dodging his attacks?!
The arsonist attempted to do an overhead slash on Foxy, but he then did soemthing that would normally slice off any man's fingers: he grabbed the blade.
The scarecrow tried to withdraw the blade, but Foxy had it in his figurative and literal iron grip.
He pulled the blade and the scarecrow towards him. Foxy then punched the scarecrow in the chest with his hook. Which then went through the man's chest and out of his back.
the scarecrow then looked at the arm in his chest and then at Foxy with it's shrunken eyes and rotten smile.
He then saw the man drop his sword and just look at Foxy.
"Have you lost your bloody mind?" It asked in a really pissed-off voice
"What?"
"In case you haven't noticed, there's a arm going through my body! Do you seriously know how painful this feels?"
He wasn't entirely sure how to respond to this. Normally, he would probably stuff this guy in a costume since he was starting to get on his nerves, but there was only one costume on the island besides himself, and he had the feeling that Goldie wouldn't really like to have an angry Englishman as an endoskeleton for very long.
"Um…Can you please tell me what's going on here?" Foxy said
"I'll tell you once you get your damn arm out of me." He said as he tried to get off of Foxy's arm.
Foxy really wanted to just tear his hook from the side and continue bashing this guy's brains out, but the guy didn't seem that much of a threat considering that just one punch had impaled his fragile body.
He decided that he would put him down, and should this fellow try to pull a fast one, Foxy would be willing to tear him apart.
He then gently pulled his arm out of the man's chest and allowed him to move around.
"Sorry lad." Foxy said "I just thought ye were gonna burn down me boat that's all…"
"Oh, I was," He said "Unless of course, you give me whats mine."
"What?" Foxy asked
"So...what are ye doing here?" He asked
"Don't act like an idiot, you know what you took." It said "And I demand that you give it to me now."
Foxy was confused, he didn't remember taking anything from this guy.
Unless of course, he was talking about that one time that Foxy had borrowed the scarecrows axe, when he thought it was dead, and never gave it back.
"Do you mean this?" He said raising the axe
"Oh thank goodness!" He cried with relief. Looking at the axe like it was a prized possession. "Now...hand it over so I can rest."
"Okay, this should be -what what do ye mean ye'll rest?"
"Yes I will." He said "And I really want to rest. I'm getting tired of this island already. Stupid commoners thinking they can take my stuff…"
He was seriously straining himself to not rip this guy apart. But he reminded himself that his guy was going to rest and hopefully would never bother anybody ever again, provided they didn't steal.
"Here you go." He said handing over the weapon "Now that I think about it, I don't think I need it anymore."
The man seemed pretty happy with his now returned axe and appeared to be hugging it.
"Oh thanks!" the man said only for him to stop hugging it a few seconds later and act all gentleman-like "Apologies for my…brutish behavior earlier. I was just incredibly angry and upset that's all."
"That'd be okay."
"So you say you're leaving?" The scarecrow said looking out to the ocean .
"Yes." he said "I have a girlfriend and friends at home."
"Well then," The scarecrow said reaching inside of his mouth and pulling out a bright lantern "Then take this. You're going to need it more than me."
"Uh…thanks?" he said taking the lantern.
"Don't worry lad, the light won't burn until you reach the land, even if it's trounced with water.
Although he already had a light, he figured a little more couldn't hurt. And besides, not being able to be put out meant he could go at night or if there were a lot of storm clouds.
"Thank you really." He said
"It's nothing really." The man yawned as he then saw the scarecrow lie down on the sandy floor with his wooden body spread out and looked at the sky.
"And I really do thank you child." It said with his eyes growing dimmer "I hope you can reach home, wherever that place may be…"
He then saw the flame inside of it burn out. Leaving behind only an empty pumpkin head, some old clothes, and some wooden sticks in a body-like shape to give the scarecrow shape.
He was confused for a few seconds until he realized that the soul of whoever this was now at peace.
He was filled with a strange sense of wow…I actually did something good for once feeling. Which in Foxy's case rarely ever happened.
Once that feeling had gone (Which lasted about thirty seconds) He looked over at the now empty scarecrow and wonder if maybe, just maybe, this empty body could serve just one more purpose.
"Hey Goldie!"
"Eh?" The said half-asleep "Sorry...just woke up from a nap, what did you say?"
He then looked at the skinny wooden body of the scarecrow and figured that now that there was no longer an angry Englishman in it, maybe could be more useful. But this time as endoskeleton to his endoskeleton-less friend.
"Would you like an endoskeleton?" He asked
End of Chapter.
Sorry to end the chapter like this, but I thought that it was a decent way to go out.
Anyway, hope to see you in the next chapter, bye!
