Alright! Here's chapter ten of Broken Crayons for you guys! :D Sorry I haven't updated this in such a long time! Or any of my stories for that matter! Lots happened these last few weeks. The state fair came into town and I went everyday! Got myself too much stuff again! But then on top of that, my friend's dad broke his ankle so I had to drive him to the hospital, it was pretty awkward XD Anyways, enough of my life, you're here for a story! So here you go! :)
~X[Chapter: 10]X~
The sun was starting to set after a long Saturday of anticipation and excitement. It was Halloween tonight. After a long time of waiting, the fun could finally begin! I was downstairs in the living room with my Mom and brother. I was staring out the window looking out into the backyard, already in costume. I had my black cape draped over my shoulders and folded into my lap. It was silky and felt smooth across my arms. The inside was red and the material was cotton for comfort and warmth. It was supposed to get a bit chilly tonight.
Mom had even made sure to add the finishing touches to my costume by putting most of her makeup on my face. She had done a really good job! When I had looked in the mirror, I really did look just like a vampire! My face was this ghoulish kind of grey color and she had smeared black eyeliner all over my eyelids. My cheeks even looked sunken in! I had on white gloves, and underneath my cape, I had a tuxedo type shirt on and big black baggy pants. I had insisted on wearing my scuffed tennis shoes though.
I broke my stare out the window when I heard my brother giggling loudly and Mom sighing in an exasperated manner. I turned around and was laughing myself when I saw Cloud standing on one side of the living room coffee table with a big devious grin on his face. Mom was on the other side of the table, holding some orange material in her hands. She had a playful scowl on her face as she looked at little brother. It soon came to my realization that the material on Mom's hands were the pants that went to my brother's costume. I could see the orange and black striped tail dangling in the air.
This year, Cloud was going as a tiger. He had the shirt and ears on, even thin black whiskers made from eyeliner on his cheeks, but he wasn't wearing the pants to it. He just stood on one end of the table with the top half of his costume, and his underwear. Apparently, he was running from Mom so she couldn't put the pants on him. He thought it was the funniest thing in the world, although Mom thought it was amusing too, we needed to get going soon.
"Does Cloud not want to wear pants?" I asked with a giggle as I left my spot from the dim, yet sunny, window. I walked over towards my little brother with my best vampire stalk as I asked Mom my question.
"It's not that, he just thinks it's funny to have me put them on, then when I'm not looking, take them off and run away." She responded, her blue eyes twinkling in amusement.
Upon hearing that, it caused my little brother to start laughing even louder than he was before. Mom just gestured to him with her right hand, as if proving a point to me. Feeling a little playful, I decided to help her out. While Cloud was distracted with trying to evade Mom, I snuck up behind him and tickled his sides. It caused him to laugh and squirm, and eventually fall to the floor. I took that opportunity to hold him in place gently.
"Quick, Mom! Get him!" I exclaimed with a big grin plastered on my face.
Mom wasted no time in kneeling to the floor and scooting herself close to us. Cloud was still laughing, but had now started to kick his legs around. He had no chance against mom, and she then slipped the light orange pants onto him. She hoisted them up a bit higher this time so he couldn't take them off as easy as before. The blonde giggled and admitted his defeat by letting the pants stay on him this time. When the task had been accomplished, I removed my hands from little brother and continued to sit on the floor like Mom was doing.
Cloud sat up as his laughter finally began to diminish. Yet he kept a big grin on his face as he looked at me and Mom. The tiger tail rested stationary behind him, curled around itself. He looked over at me with those big blue eyes of his, then scampered his way into my lap, nestling his small body against my lap comfortably as he gave me a big hug. I returned the affection with a smile and without a second thought.
"Alright, you two stay there. I'm going to grab Cloud's shoes, then we can go." Mom stated, standing up from her spot on the floor.
She wasn't in costume like the rest of us. She was dressed in a plain black shirt with a red denim jacket over it. She was also wearing light grey jeans with a hole in the right knee, and plain black boots. Her long black hair was in a braid and draped over her right shoulder. Her bangs were swept to the left and framed her ever young face. She was just going to walk us around the neighborhood and keep an eye on us tonight.
"Okay, we'll stay put." I responded with a soft smile, stll keeping Cloud wrapped in my arms.
She smiled at us, then left the living room. I heard her going up the stairs, and then it was silent. My eyes went back to the window. The sun had all but left now, only leaving the faintest traces of orange near the horizon. The rest of the sky was a dark blue, fading into black quickly. In the spot where the sun had previously been sinking, light purple and deep indigo replaced the original firey colors. If I craned my neck, I could see a few trees from the other parts of the neighborhood, but they were all barren of their leaves and looked old and dead.
Especially the weeping willow in Mr. Rhapsodos' backyard. His was right behind ours. I didn't see him very much, but I knew he was pretty good friends with Mom and Uncle. I think he had a daughter too, I had seen her a couple of times when I had been outside. I don't see her much either, she's older than me by a year too. He came over once when Dad was still alive and before little brother was born. He was friends with Dad too. Maybe I'd see his daughter tonight, she was only nine years old, so she'd probably be trick or treating too.
I pulled myself out of my thoughts when I heard Mom come back from downstairs. She stepped into the living room and stopped in front of me. She knelt to the floor and sat criss crossed, placing Cloud's shoes beside her. She gently took him from my lap and sat him onto her's. She grabbed his shoes and slipped them on, making sure to tie them tight. Little brother watched her with interest, trying to memorize it himself.
Once his shoes were tied, she pulled him out of her lap and stood him up on his feet. She then stood up herself and stretched her back a bit. I was the last to get up, but I did so with a jump, my excitement hitting tenfold just knowing that we were about to leave. Without any words, we left the living room and made our way to the front door past the stairs and dining room.
Two plastic buckets lay stationary on an end table on the right side of the white painted front door. My bucket had black pumpkins with orange mouths and eyes printed onto it. Cloud's had cute ghosts on them with the word 'Boo' above them splashed in neon green. I think our buckets glowed in the dark.
"Alright, are you two ready to go?" Mom asked before she opened up the front door.
"Yeah!" I exclaimed, grabbing my bucket from the table along with Cloud's. He was too short to reach his own. So I handed his to him.
"Ye'h!" Cloud mimicked, taking his bucket from me and smiling.
With that, Mom opened up the front door and let us rush outside. The early dusk night was nice and cool, with an even cooler wind blowing by. It was a bit chilly, but running from house to house would get our bodies heated up. So in the end, it was the perfect night for Halloween. There were already a bunch of kids out with their parents too, navigating the neighborhood in search of the house with the best candy.
"Wh't do?" Cloud asked aloud, confused on how this holiday worked. He looked at me when he asked his question.
"Just follow my lead!" I responded, beginning to lead the way from our driveway and into the street.
Little brother followed me with a smile on his face. Even though he wasn't exactly sure what this night was about, he was just enjoying the fact that he got to spend time with me and Mom as a tiger. He looked around at all the other kids as he walked beside me, looking at their costumes to see what they all were.
When a child dressed as a banana walked by, Cloud started laughing and giggling uncontrollably. Just when I thought his laughter was done, another child dressed as a hot dog ran by with their mother, and Brother's laughter kicked up again. He was getting a kick out of all the other children's costumes.
We stopped at the nearest house with their porch lights on. They had fake cobwebs strewn over their patio with plastic spiders decorating them. They had purple and orange lights across the roof of their house, kind of like Christmas lights. There was a kind lady sitting outside, dressed up as an angel with a big orange bowl of candy in her lap. I cut across the yellow lawn with a spring in my step. Cloud followed after me, his right hand grabbing onto my flowy cape so I wouldn't leave him behind or run too fast.
I hopped up onto the bright lit porch with a big grin on my face. Little brother stopped next to me, keeping his eyes on me. Mom waited at the curb for us, standing next to her brick mailbox. The angel lady smiled at both of us, a little 'aw' following her smile.
"Aren't you cute?" The lady smiled, directing her statement to little brother.
Cloud got shy and stood behind me, blushing fiercely. He never got out much and didn't have a lot of contact with other people besides me or Mom. He was bound to feel anxious or scared around a new face. His little hands gripped my silky cape and clasped to it tightly, keeping his eyes downcast and away from the nice angel lady.
"Trick or treat!" I exclaimed, holding out my bucket with a big smile on my face. I still had to show Little brother what this holiday was all about after all.
"My! Aren't you a scary vampire! Have you feasted on any mortals yet?" The angel lady responded as she placed a handful of sweets into my bucket. They hit the empty bottom with a satisfying 'clunk' sound.
"Not yet! But I'll attack soon when they aren't suspecting it!" I responded playfully as I retracted my bucket back to my side.
I looked behind me to see that Cloud was still clutching my cape and hiding behind me and looking away. His head was down, and if I didn't know any better, I'd say he was still blushing and staring at his shoes.
"Hey, Tigger, It's your turn." I told him, stepping off to the side.
His grip on my cape was loose, and his fingers easily slid off the silky material. He looked at me with frightened and sad eyes. He glanced at the nice angel lady once, then turned his eyes towards me again. I could see scintillating moisture in his eyes and I knew he'd start crying soon if I didn't do something.
"It's simple, just hold out your bucket and say 'Trick or treat'! She's not going to hurt you, I promise." I told him, showing him what to do with my own bucket as an example.
He stared at me for a moment, but then turned to the kind lady with teary eyes. With unsure movements, he held out his bucket as far as his arms could stretch away from his body.
"Ticker-tree?" He spoke, almost unsure if that was what he was supposed to say or not.
The angel lady smiled and gently placed the handful of sweets into his bucket carefully. It was silent for a moment, no even a word or sound from little brother or the lady. Then a smile broke out over Cloud's face and a giggle followed after. He pulled his bucket back to him and peered inside. He then looked back to the angel lady and gave her a great big smile.
"Ta'koo!" He squealed happily before he looked back at me. "Lo'k Zack!" He exclaimed, showing me his bucket.
My eyes bulged a bit, but soon went back to normal as a great big smile consumed me. This was the first time Cloud had ever been able to say my name correctly. I reached over and gave him a huge bear hug, squeezing him tightly. It caused little brother to laugh and giggle and snuggle me back. After we broke out hug, I told the nice angel lady 'thank you' as well. We hopped off the porch just as some other kids rushed past to get some more sweets. We ran to Mom's side and showed her what we got.
After that, we hit some more houses down our street, collecting all the candy we could get. We were able to venture away from teh street we lived on, and went to the one behind us. There, we met up with Mr. Rhapsodos and his daughter. We went trick or treating with them for a few more houses. I got more acquainted with both of them. Mr. Rhapsodos' first name was Genesis, and his daughter's name was Minerva, but I knew that already.
I did learn that her nickname was Minnie though. Even Cloud got acquainted with them both, and he was hardly even shy around them, which came as a shock to me and Mom. Minerva was dressed as a vampire like I was, and we had a lot of fun pretending like we ate a bunch of people and drank all their blood. Though little brother mostly hung by Mom and Genesis.
Minnie and her Dad turned in early since they had been out longer than we had. We said goodbye when we reached their house. From there, it was me and little brother again. We were able to hit a few more houses on Genesis' street, then we took a right and ventured down a whole new street with more kids and houses with fun decorations. I had seen a car or two drive by a few times in the night, but there wasn't a lot of traffic this night otherwise.
Cloud and I had just hit our thirteenth house tonight, and our buckets were starting to get full. We probably had enough froom for two or three more houses. So we were going to make the most of it. We looked at both sides of the street, surveying which houses might have the best candy. I had come to the conclusion that the houses with the most decorations had the best kinds of sweets. I think my little brother had caught on to that logic too, because he had led the way to a few decorative houses before.
Right now, we were standing in a yellow yard, thinking about where we should go next. We still had some time before the night got too late. We had to make these last few houses count.
"Zack, the'r!" Cloud exclaimed, pulling on my cape to get my attention.
I looked up and noticed him pointing to a house across the street that was Covered in decorations. It had purple and orange lights strewn across the roof. It had fake spiderwebs and spiders hanging down in front of the porch. The front door even had a little Halloween cover of a witch and a bubbling green cauldron. It had a flashing white light pointing at the door, and I think I could hear some witch cackling. Probably some audio thing they had set up in their lawn somewhere. It looked like the perfect house to get the good stuff at.
"Good eye, Cloud. Let's see what kind of stuff they have!" I encouraged, getting pumped to see what delicious sweets they might have.
Without a word, little brother took off from his spot in the yard. I was going to run after him too, but something felt wrong. Time seemed to move slower than a snail for me. Small details started to point themselves out to me. The street was lit up awfully bright all of a sudden. Children were clinging to the curbs with their parents, not moving. In my peripheral vision, I saw my mom's face twist into that of one related to fright and horror. Then all the clues put themselves together.
My three year old brother hadn't looked both ways before darting out into the street. The light down the middle of the pavement, the children by the curb, Mom's terrified face. It all added up. There was a car coming down this road faster than it should be, and little brother was...
Without thinking for even a split second longer, I charged after him. He had stopped in the middle of the road when he realized the light was very bright here. He had looked in the direction that the light was coming and the big grin that was once on his face was all but gone now. I sprinted as fast as I could. It felt like I was stuck waist deep in mud. It felt like I couldn't move fast enough. I broke through the grass and over the curb. I heard Mom shout at me to 'Come back!', but I didn't listen to her.
My shoes bounced off the pavement of the road, slapping around and echoing in my ears. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest. I could hear my raspy breathing deep in my throat. I needed to move faster! I felt a rush of energy sweep over me in that instant. Time stopped moving slow and returned to normal again. I charged across the asphalt and to the middle of the street. I skidded to a stop right in front of little brother, then grabbed his right arm. I quickly pulled him back as hard as I could.
His body crashed into mine and sent us both to the pavement with a loud 'thud'. Most of his candy had been spilled near the curb as he fell on top of me. The vehicle that was speeding down the road quickly sped past, taking a right at the end of the street in a hurry. My breathing was heavy, and my arms were wrapped tightly around Cloud, as tight as I could hold him.
Why would he run out into the street like that? I thought he could see what could happen in the future? If he could, then why did something that scary happen? Maybe, just maybe, he couldn't see his own future. This was speculation on my part though.
I heard Cloud start to cry from my right side. I nestled his head into the crook of my neck and allowed him to cry as I continued to hold him tight. I was scared. Suddenly, Mom was hovering over us, worry and panic written all over her face. She knelt to the ground quickly and sat me up, careful to mind little brother in my own arms. She pulled me into a tight hug, letting me rest against her as I tried to catch my own breath. She raked her hands through my hair, as well as brother's, to calm herself down.
"Zack, for once, I'm glad you didn't listen to me." She whispered to me, gently kissing my cheek when she finished speaking.
I was still too shaken up to respond to her. I allowed her to pick me and Cloud up from the ground and stand us on our feet. Little brother had stopped crying now, but he clung to me and refused to let me go. We were able to salvage most of his spilled sweets from the side of the curb. We decided to go back home after that heart-stopping moment. My brother never let go of my hand once, even when I knew it was probably all sweaty and gross.
We arrived back at home around eight forty-five. Even when we all made it home, Cloud would still not let go of my hand. Mom had us go upstairs so we could get ourselves changed into our pajamas. So we climbed the maroon carpeted stairs and reached the upper level of the house where Cloud's room, my room, and a small bathroom was held. Mom had us go into the bathroom so she could wash all that makeup off us.
She washed Cloud's face off first since he had the least amount on. We were both sitting on the rim of the bathtub while Mom knelt on the tile in front of us with a wet rag coated with soap. She was able to gently srub the eyeliner tiger whiskers off little brother's face. My stubborn caked on makeup took more than a gentle wipe to remove. She had to put some pressure on it and push my cheeks into my face. Even as our faces were washed up and we were secure in our house, Cloud still kept his hand locked with mine.
By the time the crude makeup had been washed off, my face was tinted pink due to the amount of pressure that had to be used to get my persistent face paintings off. We then brushed our teeth and took care of anything else that needed to be taken care of while we were in said bathroom. When we were finished in there, we shut the light off. Well, technically Mom did.
"Go get ready for bed, okay? I'll take care of Cloud." Mom asked of me as she finally unclasped little brother's hand from mine and picked him up.
I nodded my head and made my way to my room, the last one in the small hallway past the bathroom on the left. Little brother's was right before mine on the right side. As I made my way into my room, I heard him start to cry and shout my name, obviously still scared and not wanting to be separated from me. I changed out of my costume and into my pajamas as quick as I could. They were nothing more than a light blue shirt with a little Bahamut on it, and sweat pants matching the same color of the shirt, only a few shades darker.
As soon as I finished changing, I heard those cries get louder. All of a sudden, Cloud had his arms wrapped around my legs and was whimpering softly as he clung to me. He had not been fully dressed in his own pajamas. He had his fleecy pale yellow pants on, but his white shirt was draped around his neck, not put on all the way. Mom appeared by my doorway, leaning against it lightly with a bit of a forlorn smile on her face.
"He couldn't wait any longer to see you. He's acting like you were the one-" Mom stopped mid sentence when she realized why her youngest one was so upset.
The realization came to me the same time it did for her. He wasn't scared for himself. He was probably remembering the time that I was hit by a car and sent to the hospital because of it. He was scared that I might have pushed him out of the way and take the hit myself, rather than do what I did. He was never scared or worried for himself. It was always for me or Mom. He was probably the most selfless person I had ever seen in my life.
When Cloud looked up at me with teary eyes, I just smiled at him. I unlocked his arms from around my legs and sat on my knees. I helped him put his shirt on, being careful when pulling his small arms through the sleeves. He had stopped whimpering by this point, but his eyes were still swollen with tears. When I finished helping him get dressed, I gave him a quick kiss on his right cheek. His sad eyes immediately went away and were replaced with a soft smile. He returned the affection by giving me a big, sloppy kiss on my right cheek too.
I heard Mom hum softly, and without looking, I could tell she was smiling. Cloud gave me a smile before he broke away, walking behind me towards my bed. I stood back up and turned around, wondering what he was doing. He had his hands balled up into fists, clutching my blanket and trying to hoist himself up on top my bed.
"Cloud, you need to sleep in your own bed." Mom reminded him, making her way to my room to go and pick him up.
"No, I dun't." He responded, trying to find a foothold against the drawers of my captain's bed.
"Cloud-" Mom warned, yet she stopped. She took a breath and just gave a soft smile instead. "-Alright, but just this once. Sleep closer to the wall, okay?" She told him as she helped to hoist him up onto my bed when she stepped close enough.
Doing as he was told, he scooted himself against the wall, which my bed was pressed against. I climbed into bed next after turning on a small fan on an end table close to my bed. Even though I had a ceiling fan and slept with it on high, I liked a little extra cool while I slept. Mom tucked us both in and kissed us both goodnight. She turned on my ceiling fan and shut the light off. She even closed the door behind her, knowing I liked my door closed when I slept.
As I layed their for a moment, enjoying the cool circulation of the fans in my room, I felt Cloud snuggle up to me. I smiled a bit as my blue eyes looked over at him.
"I luv you, big brudder" He said as he snuggled his face against my left shoulder.
That alone gave me a mile wide smile. That was the first time he had ever called me his big brother.
A/N: And we're done for the day! XD If I go any longer, I think my spine will pop out of my back from how much I've been slouching as I type! Ah, what lovely imagery, but I jest, that would be disgusting to see u
Anyways, don't forget to leave me some feedback as a present! :D Everyone loves presents! If you don't, well that's just weird X3 Well, I'll see you guys in the next chapter!
Toodles! :3
~Zimithrus1