CHAPTER 35: BUBBLES

The snowy path through Winters loomed. I walked down the road, looking side to side, expecting a killer squirrel or a vorpal bunny to leap out at any moment. There were surely worse threats in the world, but at that moment I didn't care. With a shaky hand, I drew my Pop Gun and pulled out the clip. The clip held sixty BBs, and it appeared fully loaded. I put the Pop Gun away and walked once more. Moments later, I drew the weapon again and aimed it into trees. Something had just moved.

"I see you!" I shouted. "Don't come this way! I'm armed! I have a highly dangerous... gun, and I'm NOT afraid to use it."

A flash of brown fur caught the corner of my eye. I spun and found the bushes rustling. I aimed the Pop Gun and held my finger on the trigger.

"I-I said, I-I see you! DO NOT come this way!" My teeth chattering stole the bluster from my threat.

A groan came from behind me. I spun back the other way and pulled the trigger. One shot fired off with a loud POP. The bushes continued to move, and it dawned on me, it had to be the wind.

"Bloody hell, I wasted ammo on an unhostile force! I need every single one of these shots to-"

A dark brown hand reached from behind me and tore the gun from my hands. I cried out and turned, expecting to see a predator ready to shoot me. Instead, I saw a tale whip about and disappear into the bushes.

"Hey!" I cried. "Give that back! I need it to survive!"

The chase commenced. I ran, full speed, and leaped over the bush. A small brown form ran on three of its four legs, speeding away and towards the nearby drug store. Growling, I followed after the simian-looking thing. It ran up to the door of the store just as a woman in a red pants suit walked inside. The monkey stopped and looked at me with widened eyes, then rushed inside the building.

"I've got you now!" I cried and ran to the front of the store.

With my breath stolen from me, I leaned against the wall before entering. I gasped and wheezed. I needed to exercise more, or even just go for a walk once in a while. Ninety-nine percent of my tent involved me hunched over a new invention, or fixing an old one.

I sucked in the frigid air, and my lungs felt like they were on fire.

"Must. Work. Out." I breathed.

Finally, after a minute of rest, I pulled open the door and entered the drug store. The blast of dry heat smacked me in the face, as well as the smell of bubblegum.

At first glance, I didn't see any sign of the monkey up or down the first aisles. The only people visible were a guy in a leather jacket, looking at something on the shelf, and the man behind the counter. I turned to the clerk, and he had his nose buried in the folds of a magazine. The title read, 'No Hope for Threed.'

"Sir?" I asked.

"Oh, Jeff!" he lowered the magazine, and we met eyes. "I didn't realize your class was coming on an outing so late at night."

"Um..." I had to think fast. "It's just me this time. I'm on an errand for Mr. Maxwell, you know."

"He WOULD send a child out into the dangerous world at near midnight, wouldn't he? the clerk sighed and rubbed his forehead. "That man gives me an absolute migraine."

"Don't be too hard on him," I said. "And please keep this hush hush, so he doesn't get in trouble with the Head of House."

"Fine, fine, fine," he said. "What is it that Maxwell needs so late?"

"I'll get back to you on that. First, have you seen a monkey anywhere in the store?"

The clerk's eyes fell half-closed. "Are you ON something, son?"

"W-what? No way!" I said. "I meant a stuffed animal. Not a REAL monkey! That would be ridiculous. Pfft! A monkey in Winters. Who would think of such a nutty idea?"

He raised an eyebrow but then shrugged. "Cheerio then, get whatever you came to get so you can get your butt home!"

"R-right!"'

I started off by walking by every aisle, peering down each one. In aisle three, I spotted the woman in the red pants suit, but no sign of the monkey.

"Maybe she can tell me where the monkey went..." I murmured.

I walked down the aisle but stopped short. Despite the formal wear, she looked beautiful. She wore all of her clothes, form fitting, and heels. I swallowed hard. How could I ask such a woman a question? ANY question, she would view as idiotic. The woman turned to face me, and I could see she had the first few buttons of her blouse undone, revealing her cleavage. Her eyes landed on me, and she strutted over. I quickly wiped the hair from my eyes and swallowed hard again.

What could I say? I had no idea. I'd never had an easy time talking to females, especially drop dead gorgeous ones. She gave a little wave as she came. I lifted my hand and gave a little wave back, but my heart became lodged in my throat.

"Hey, good lookin'," she said.

"Good lookin'?" I blushed. "You're n-not so b-bad looking yourself!"

The woman's brows furrowed and as she walked past, she said, "I wasn't talking to you, nerd."

A shattering pain gutted in my insides. I turned around and saw she had walked up to the man with the leather jacket. He glared at me, then grinned. "Don't worry, kid, I'm sure you'll get a chick someday. In nerd land!"

They both laughed and left the aisle. I could still hear them laughing a minute later near the front of the store.

"So much hate," I whispered, with my head lowered.

The laughing continued, but then again, it didn't sound like laughing. It sounded like a monkey.

"Monkey!" I cried.

I ran back to the front to find the monkey standing by the door, hopping up and down, pointing the Pop Gun at both the couple and the store clerk.

"There's a monkey at the entrance," the woman glared at me. "Take the monkey. He's really noisy."

"He's not my monkey, though!" I said.

The small bouncing animal turned to me and pointed the gun at me. I threw my hands in defense. "No! Don't shoot!"

"P-please, Jeff, get the monkey out of here!" the clerk said.

The woman in red chimed in, "I hear monkeys like bubble gum. If you buy a pack of gum, you can have the monkey for free. Otherwise, he'll cost you a buck. So do you want him?"

"Now you're trying to sell me the monkey?" I creased my brow.

The monkey hooted and turned the gun on the woman in red. Leather jacket guy screeched and jumped behind the woman. The woman glanced back at her boyfriend and glared. She turned back to me. "Well? Bubble gum comes with the monkey!"

"Okay, fine!" I crumpled up a dollar bill and tossed it to her.

In return, she pulled a pink pack of bubble gum and tossed it. With the stick in, I peeled back the wrapper and pulled out a square of gum. The monkey lowered the Pop Gun, and its eyes went wide. It stared, mouth hanging open, making a small, 'ooh' 'ooh' sound.

"Yes, monkey, here's some gum. All you have to do is give me back my-"

The Pop Gun flew through the air, and I cried out. It smacked me in head, drawing out a sharp pain.

"Ow!" I whimpered, as I picked the gun up front the floor.

"Ooh! Ooh! AAH AAH!" the monkey screeched and snatched the bubble gum square from my hand.

It bounced up and down, stomping its feet. Then it popped the gum and chewed frantically. A moment later it moved its mouth into an O and blew. A big bubble formed and to my amazement, the bubble grew larger than the monkey. I found myself even more amazed when said bubble lifted it from the ground and several feet into the air.

"How on Earth is it doing that?" I gasped.

I looked at the store clerk for an answer, and he shrugged. The woman and the coward behind her had the same reaction. When I turned back to the monkey, it sat on the floor, chewing away again.

"You're quite the bubble monkey aren't you?" I patted him on the head.

He gave an 'ooh ooh' and leaped onto my leg. I cried out and swatted at him. "I'm not a tree!"

The monkey climbed its way onto my shoulder and sat down, chewing loudly in my ear.

"Fine," I said. "You can sit there for now. But I'm leaving Winters so you can forget about getting too comfortable."

"You're leaving?" the clerk gasped. "So you aren't on Maxwell's errand! You're going rogue! You're going AWOL!"

"Have a nice night!" I cried and ran out the door.

As I ran, crows flew overhead. An entire murder of them landed in a single large pine tree. They cawed and screeched as I ran and stopped at the tree's base. Bubble Monkey whimpered on my shoulder.

"What is it?" I wheezed.

Bubble Monkey smacked the side of my head, hard.

"Ow! What the bloody hell do you want?" I cried.

The cawing grew louder and more fierce. A single crow landed on a patch of frosted grass, just a few feet away. It hoped over and right away I noticed an anomaly. A blackish energy hovered over its eyes, looking almost like sunglasses.

"What on Earth?" I whispered.

It cawed and hopped forward again. The energy snapped and crackled like electricity. With a screech, it launched itself at me. I whipped up the Pop Gun and fired. Instinct alone saved me. The pellet struck the crow's wing, and it flew past into the tree bark. With a thud, it crumpled to the ground.

"Did a crow just ATTACK me?" I whispered.

Thousands of caws exploded from the tree above. Bubble Monkey screeched and gripped my shoulder with his tiny fingers.

"Time to run!" I said, and burst from under the tree, leaping off a small hill. I landed on my knees but scrambled away again as fast as my body would move.

Behind I could hear more cawing and screeching. Crows dove next to me, clawing and pecking, but I jumped and cleared three of them.

"What have I gotten myself into?" I whined.

I ran and spun between some trees. The crows cawed louder as they swooped in but kept striking the tree. A series of tall bushes sat just a few meters away. If I could get to them, maybe I could hide, and the birds would lose interest.

I whispered, "I should've known this was a bad idea!" and rushed into the bushes.

I laid on the ground, flat on my belly, listening to the insane murder trying to find me. Bubble Monkey whimpered. I turned my head and shushed him. He no longer chewed his gum.

"You didn't swallow it, did you?" I asked. "You know they say it'll stay in your digestive track for years... but that's not true. Still, you shouldn't swallow gum!"

The monkey whimpered, sounding apologetic, but then held out his hand. With a sigh, I reached into my messenger back and pulled out the gum pack. I popped off another gum square, and he snatched it. Then came the annoying chewing and popping sounds. I rested my chin in the dirt and sighed. "This bites."

My eyes felt heavy as lead. I had just woken up in the middle of the night. But I couldn't fall asleep just yet. I needed to move on. Plus, if I stayed too close to Snow Wood Boarding House, they could find me and drag me back. I did NOT want punishment for running away. I found myself dozing off, and maybe I did. I only knew that some time later the murder of crows had stopped cawing.

"They must've moved on, Bubble Monkey!" I said.

The monkey stood from its sitting position and grabbed my jacket sleeve and pulled.

"Fine, we'll carry on," I said.

I crawled out of the bushes and looked around. We'd put a dozen meters between crow tree and us. Looking down the hill ahead, I spotted a bunch of tents just before the lake.

"How are we going to get across the lake, Bubble Monkey?" I asked.

The small beast hopped up and down on my shoulder making his monkey sounds.

"You're right," I said. "Maybe Tessie will give us a ride."

I laughed at my own joke, which made me lame, but I didn't care. I had real concerns about the lake, but maybe the campers had a boat and would be kind enough to take us across.

"Only one way to find out!" I said with a nod. With that, we headed for the camp.