Jaune and Courage the Cowardly Dog
Chapter 2 Part 1: The Shadow of Courage
Sitting on my bed in the attic, I listened to the calming sounds of the thunderstorm raging outside. I always found them comforting in a sense. It has been three months since I moved in with the Bagge family. And I have learned a lot of things. One being that Muriel is the sweetest person you can ever meet. She is so sweet to everybody. Almost to a fault. But that just makes her all the better. Eustace on the other hand is the exact opposite. He is an ass through and through.
Courage is the most interesting of the three by far. He apparently can speak English, walked upright like a person amongst a multitude of other skills like cooking and sweeping. He is like a swiss army knife of skills. He also can type on the computer. The day after I moved in, I learned they had a computer in the attic as well. It seemed a bit old compared to others I have seen, but this one was far better and faster than any other computer I have ever used. And he was also much more of a prick than other computers, that's for sute. Yeah, apparently this computer is sentient and can speak for itself. Well, only when it's on. But when it's on, it certainly is mean and likes to rub stuff in your face and get personal. However, you cannot deny how helpful he can be.
Hearing a particularly loud thunder strike, I looked outside the window and saw the thunder storm still going strong. Looks like it will stay with us for at least a few more hours before letting up. But it was that point when I heard a loud 'humina humina' coming from downstairs. It took me a moment to realize that it was Courage who got scared from the thunder strike and is now shivering in fright. But it stopped when I heard a crash come a moment later followed by an 'oof' which told me that Eustace got annoyed at Courage and kicked him out of the bed. Hearing some footsteps come nearby my door, I figured he was either taking a walk or coming to my room. During the months since I have been here, Courage and I have gotten close. Not as close as he is to Muriel but we occasionally hang out and sometimes he sleeps on my bed. So, I thought he was going to come to my room to sleep. But a scream alerted me that he spotted something that scared him. Getting up, I went to investigate to see what happened.
Opening the door and looking around, I saw the shadows of Muriel and Eustace going down the steps. Following them, I went downstairs where I saw that they were shaking but armed. Eustace with a bat and Muriel with a rolling pin. Not sure the rolling pin would be helpful but to each their own.
"What's happening?" I asked them.
"Courage said there was a burglar in the house." Muriel answered while turning to face me. "But we don't see any burglar."
'This is crazy! I saw a burglar. I did.' Courage said looking around with his paws on his head.
"That's it. You're sleeping in the attic." Eustace said picking up Courage and bringing him to the attic.
'Why would making him sleep in my room be a punishment?' I thought as they went upstairs with Muriel heading back to her room.
'I don't want to sleep in the attic. I'm telling you there is someone here. Or my name's Shirley. And it's not.' Courage said trying to convince them. But is seemed like they ignored him or didn't understand him.
'Wait. Am I actually beginning to fully understand him? Or are they just ignoring him? Hopefully it's the later.' I thought as I went back to my room.
But as the lights were turned off, I heard a cackle from behind me. Quickly tuning around, I thought I saw a shadow, however, it disappeared before I could confirm it. Thinking it was just the shadow of a cloud, I went back to my room. As I went back to my room, I heard Muriel's voice. She asked if it was okay for Courage to sleep in my room as it was cold there. But Eustace simply lied and said Courage seemed happy to him. Hearing this, I quickened my pace to my room and saw Courage in the corner wrapped in a blanket. Shivering in fear and from the cold.
'I just know something bad is going to happen.' He said worried before howling. Stepping up to him, I gave him a soft pat on the head which relaxed him a bit.
"Hey Courage, don't be afraid. You probably just saw a shadow. Why don't you sleep in my bed?" I asked.
He stopped shivering for a moment and then dived into my bed and went under the covers. Smiling, I turned off the light and joined him in bed. A few moments later, I felt sleep about to take me when I heard a growling laughter close by. Sitting up, I looked around to see where it was coming from. For a moment I thought I was just hearing things but I noticed that courage as well was looking around for it. Not seeing anything, I was about to get back to bed when it sounded again really close to us. Then I noticed a shadow on the floor leading up to the wall next to us. Looking up, I saw a monster shadow that was apparently moving by itself and laughing at us. I was about to get out of bed and confront whatever it was when I heard Courage scream. Looking over at him, I saw that his whole head had become about ten times larger than normal.
'What the-' I thought at seeing Courage do that but was unable to finish my thought as he ran out of the room but instead of opening the door, he ran through the door. Leaving a hole in the shape of him behind. I was about to go and get him, when I heard the thing growl again causing me to run out of the room as well. But unlike Courage, actually opened the door instead of going through it. Not sure where to go or what I just saw, I decided to head to the bathroom to fully wake up. And maybe wake up from this dream I am having. Turning on the faucet, I splashed water on my face, getting rid of the crust in my eyes and fully waking up. Drying myself off, I went back to my room where I saw Muriel chastising Courage.
"Now Courage. We're not going to be doing this all night, are we?" She asked before turning to head back to my room. "Have a nice night Jaune."
"Goodnight Muriel." I told her and stepped back into my room.
"What did I tell you? If you wake me up again, you'll be sleeping with the termites." Eustace threatened. "So, I am giving you one more chance to act like a real dog."
'Master.' Courage said while throwing himself to Eustace's feet and cling onto them.
I was about to step in and say something when I saw Eustace turn around and some squeaky sounds came for a moment. As if he was putting something on. And he did as not a second later he turned around and scared Courage while wearing big ridiculous eyes. Succeeding in scaring him, Eustace began to laugh at Courage for being scared. Annoyed, I was about to go in and defend Courage but was stopped as I heard music coming from nowhere. And the type of music seemed to be as if someone is announcing a call to battle. Confused, I began to look around and saw Muriel suddenly rush into the room and whack Eustace on the head with the rolling pin she had earlier. Really hard. The smack causing him to be dazed as the eye balls fall of his head and bounced away to the other side of the room. She then picked up Courage and grabbed my hand.
"Now you sleep in the attic." She told him as she took us out of my room and brought us to her room. But as we left my room and closed the door, I heard Eustace ask what he did.
"Here we are. Now Jaune. You can sleep in Eustace's spot tonight." Muriel said to me, answering my unspoken question before getting into the bed and falling asleep.
Courage jumped to his usual spot on the bed and tried to rest. Deciding to do the same, I was about to get in the bed and sleep when I saw the shadow go past me and up the wall and then behind the bed. Courage had apparently seen it as well as he had stood up and was shivering again. Steeling myself, I was about to move the bed and check behind the bed when suddenly Eustace came in the room and started strangling Courage. Despite being asleep, Muriel heard Courage being strangled, woke up and hit Eustace with the rolling pin again. This stopped Eustace from strangling Courage which allowed him to run away. But instead of stopping completely, he chased after Courage with Muriel getting up and chasing him. Still not sure what is going on and worried for Courage, I decided to also give chase. Soon we were in the kitchen where I saw Eustace looking around for Courage. I was about to walk past him and look for Courage as well when suddenly he shot out from under the sink like a rocket and latched onto Eustace's face. Obviously, something scared him causing him to do that. Probably whatever that shadow was.
'Uh-oh. I'm gonna get strangled.' He said in fear. And not a second later he did as Eustace recovered from suddenly getting latched onto by him and started strangling him again.
"Now say uncle. Say uncle." Eustace said as he continued to strangle him. But was stopped as I heard the music again as Muriel came rushing out of the room and smashed Eustace on the head again with the rolling pin. This time with enough force to break it. She then took Courage from his arms and dragged me back to their room again.
'Uncle?' Courage asked confused just as the door closed. Though I did hear Eustace yet again ask what did he do. Muriel got into the bed with Courage under the covers shivering. I lifted the blanket wand was about to try and get some sleep when we heard Eustace scream in terror.
"Oh! That was Eustace." Muriel said sitting up and taking off the blankets. "He's in trouble."
'Wait, you stay here. I'll go.' Courage said stopping Muriel. 'I must be nuts!'
"I'll go as well." I told Muriel as I got up as well. 'I must be nuts as well!'
We both raced to where we heard the scream came. Getting there, we looked around and saw there was nobody there aside from us. Though we did see Eustace's hat on the floor. Picking it up, I began to worry on what could have happened to him. I may not fully like the farmer but that does not me I want to see him get hurt. And I can tell Courage felt the same way as he screamed in fear. But then went running back to the room and leaving the hat behind. Following him, we went back to the room to see that Muriel was nowhere in sight. The fact that a pillow was on the floor and the blanket was hanging on the side of the bed set all kinds of red flags for me. Looking towards Courage, I saw that he was bouncing up and down on his paws in fear and worried for Muriel's safety before howling.
'Stay calm. Stay calm.' He said before howling again. He then took off to somewhere with me following him. Mainly because I have no idea what to do as I have never even heard of something like this happening before. But Courage seemed like he had an idea. What that idea was, I did not know and got confused as we went back to my room. Opening the door, and silently laughing at the fact that Eustace shaped hole in the door, we entered and looked around to see if that shadow was here. Seeing that it was "safe," we entered the room with Courage running to the computer and turned it on before frantically typing away on the keyboard.
'Come on. Come on!' He said as he continued to type away. 'Evil... Shadowy... Evil things... Search!'
"You Twit." The computer responded with in its usual insulting way. "Do you mean Evil Shadows?"
'I don't know.' Courage answered confused while scratching his head.
"What a loser. Of course, you do." The computer said insulting him.
"Ok. You don't have to get personal." I told the computer. "This is a first for us."
"Oh. I see you're here. Finally decided to man up and do something for once huh." The computer said to me.
"Just shut up and search!" I demanded him ignoring the insult.
"Searching..." The computer said and actually began its search. As it began to search, Courage got of the chair he was sitting on and began to meditate. About ten minutes later, the computer finally responded.
"Search found." The computer said while making a ringing noise from a bell as well. "1item."
'What! What!' Courage asked typing to get to the answer.
"Evil Shadows. I wouldn't want them in my house." The computer answered. This caused me to facepalm while Courage howled yet again.
'Hey. I better stop that. I can begin to like it.' Courage said after howling. He then began to type again. 'How do we get rid of evil shadows?'
"How to get rid of evil shadows? 1. Pleasant conversation. 2. Move out of the house." The computer answered. Though judging by his tone, he being sarcastic with the first option and acting as if the second option was the most obvious one.
'Are you kidding? This thing is dangerous.' Courage said in disbelief.
"How do you talk to an evil shadow?" I added.
"I don't know. You are on your own kids. :]" The computer answered.
'I gotta save Muriel.' Courage said getting off his chair.
"Hey. Don't count me out yet Courage. I'm helping you save Muriel as well." I told him. He smiled at this and gave a nod of appreciation.
'Let's start in the basement.' Courage suggest while pulling out a grey ridiculous looking flashlight. I nodded and we made our way down to the basement door. 'The things I do for love.'
"Hey shadow. Are you done there?" I asked feeling a bit ridiculous at asking a shadow if it was down in a basement. Courage meanwhile was shining the flashlight all over the place. But as soon as he shone the light in front of us, we saw a giant shadow creature growl at us. We immediately closed the door and stepped back out in panic. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest in fear as my blood pressure skyrocketed. Looking over at Courage, I saw that he was on his back on the floor with his heart literally pounding out of his chest. Taking a few moments to calm ourselves down, we tried again.
'Muriel, we'll save you.' Courage said before closing the door again in fear. But I opened it up just as soon as he did that. 'Ok. We'll save you for real this time.' We started to go down the stairs but Courage started to lose his balance and because I didn't see that, I tripped over him. Causing the both of us to fall down the stairs to the floor.
"Ok, shadow. Where's Muriel?" I demanded. Courage was agin looking around with the flashlight. We didn't see anything yet but as soon as the light hit the wall, the shadow revealed itself as a horrifying creature that scared us. Courage quickly turned off the light before turning it back on a second later. This time, we saw Muriel waving at us.
'Muriel!' Courage said happy as he waved back. I let out a sigh of relief upon seeing that Muriel was okay. Only for both of us to scream again as she ripped her head off. Had I been paying attention; I would have seen Courage transform into a freakish design with his teeth showing and his eyes having blue veins in them. He quickly turned off the light again and turned it back on a second later.
"Muriel! Are you okay?" I asked as the light came back. Only to be greeted by the sight of Muriel tied to a pole with fire on her feet. The same process happened again as Courage turned off and, on the flashlight.
'Oh, my goodness!' Courage exclaimed as the next sight we saw was that of Muriel on a table with a spinning blade coming at her.
"No... No, no." I begged as the next imaged showed Muriel tied at the limbs as if about to be pulled apart.
'Oh, no. Not that!' Courage said as the next image we saw was Muriel about to be impaled by spikes coming down on her. We turned off the light again and turned it to see a ghost this time. I was relieved it wasn't Muriel this time but was confused at what I saw. Curious, I turned off the flashlight and turned it back on. This time we saw a hammer hitting an anvil. Courage then did the same and we saw a screw and a baseball. Next was a cuckoo clock with the bird coming out as it does when it strikes noon. I decided to try it one last time. But instead of an image, the shadow appeared this time. Looking closely, I saw that it was crying. Somehow.
"Stop all ready." It begged.
'Huh?' Courage asked confused.
"I can't take it anymore. On and off! On and off! You're both driving me crazy." The shadow begged as he threw his hands up and continued to cry.
'We're driving you crazy? What have you done with Muriel?' Courage demanded.
"I haven't done anything to her." The shadow answered.
"Then where is she?" I asked.
"What do I look like, her twin?" The shadow countered. At that moment, we all heard the sound of the toilet flushing. "See? She's been in the bathroom."
"Ok. Then why are you doing this and scaring everybody half to death?" I asked. The shadow then changed to look as if he was on a therapist bed before answering.
"Well, I was the shadow of a cruel old rich dude." The shadow answered.
'Yes, yes. Go on.' Courage told him. Hearing some scribbling sounds, I turned to him and saw that he somehow was now sitting on a chair that he got from somewhere and is now writing down everything the shadow was telling him. As if he was a therapist.
'Where did he get all that?' I thought amazed and curious.
"But that's not me. That's not me at all." The shadow exclaimed as he made a shadow of a top hat and cane and started dancing a bit. As if he was in a performance. "I always want to be in showbiz! To be a star baby. A star!"
'Don't we all...' Courage said. Clearly wishing the same thing as well. 'I have an idea. Come with me.' We followed courage to where he led us outside where it had stopped raining a while ago and the moon was casting its beautiful light on us.
'I don't know how to make it in showbiz. But up there are the real stars. Why don't we hang with them?' Courage suggested.
'Did not expect that. But not a bad idea if he can do it.' I thought once I heard Courage's idea.
"You mean become the shadow of a real star?" The shadow questioned.
"It's worth a try." I told the shadow.
"Never thought of that before. Sounds too romantic to me. But what the heck? It sure beats scaring the jeepers out of folks!" The shadow exclaimed. Clearly liking the idea.
"By the way. Have you seen the farmer?" I asked him.
"Yeah. He's hiding in that old pickup truck." He answered while pointing to the truck. "He's a bigger coward than the both of you."
"Gee thanks." I told him with a chuckle.
'Good luck.' Courage said as he had his shadow shake the hand of the other shadow. I did the same thing and yet despite my shadow shaking his hand, I could still feel his hand.
"Thanks. See you both in the funny papers." The shadow said before running off and jumping to the sky and disappearing.
"Wow!" I said in astonishment as the shadow made an outline in the sky before becoming hundreds of stars that faded leaving behind one bright shining star.
'Hmm. Not bad!' Courage said as he made his way back inside.
Seeing that it was late and that the shadow won't be bothering us now, I went back inside as well. Heading to my room, I saw Muriel along the way wearing many hair curlers. Bidding her good night, I turned off the light and got into bed. But as I lay there, I could not but think of all that happened today. Learning that a shadow can be sentient and can become a star is something I will never forget. Hearing Eustace and Courage scream, I was about to get up when I remembered that Muriel had enough curlers in her hair that her shadow can scare someone. Laying back down, I fell back asleep with one last thought running through my head.
'I did always want adventure. And it looks like I am about to get it. Just in the way I never expected to.'
Note: Please read the note in the next chapter.