CHAPTER 3: HOW TO WAKE AN OX FROM HIS NIGHTMARES

"Well, at least she's not sleepwalking anymore..." sighed Franklin as they walked towards Marcie quietly. "Somehow, she stumbled into the trashcan..." he added.

"How?" Melanie worried. "Is her vision failing her? Does she need new glasses?"

Sighing, Skylar turned to Melanie. "You see, when people walk in their sleeps, they stumble and fumble all over the place! 20/20 vision or not." he explained.

"He's right." added Linus.

"So?" asked Melanie.

"So what?" Skylar and Franklin asked back.

"So how do people get 20% off of 20% off vision?" she questioned.

"Mel, you're overtired...off to bed." signaled Franklin in worry before sighing. "One way or another, we have to find out the cause of this scattered trash."

"Yeah." added Patty (Swanson) in disgust.

"I mean, it's not like Marcie to stumble around this much...with her glasses on." Schroeder joked to himself as Claudia snickered.

"I w-wonder why someone sl-sleepwalking is so c-c-clumsy though..." Claudia realized.

"Sleepwalking?" Hans responded groggily. The crash of the trashcan had woken him up and he was not thrilled to see a mess on the floor and he seemed a bit scatterbrained.

"Yeah...guess who." Lucy joked.

"Freundin?" he sighed, looking over at the scattered trash.

"Somehow, he knew..." Charlie Brown realized before looking IN the trashcan. "Oh...THAT'S why..."

"This is insane!" exclaimed Thibault. "Stumble, fumble, stumble again. How do sleepwalkers do it?"

"They're just graceful at being klutzy." responded Rattler. "Hopefully this is the only incident we get tonight..." she yawned. "Back to sleep, guys."

"Yeah!" argued Francesca.

"How does one gracefully be a klutz?" yawned Melanie as she sank into her sleeping bag. Sleep soon overcame her and within seconds, she was snoring.

"Rats..." sulked Marcie. "Sir, I'm stuck." she sighed.

"Need help?" Ox asked as the girls nodded their heads.

"Grab my hands. I'll pull ya out." reassured Peppermint Patty as Ox grabbed onto the other side of the trashcan. "On three."

"One, two, three!" exclaimed both Ox and Peppermint Patty without much luck.

"Drat!" the tomboy huffed. Ox sighed as he kicked the trashcan from the side facing him. It too had zero effect. "Sorry, kid...you're stuck until we can free you."

Ox's eyes lit up. "Or not..." he smiled to himself before pulling out a Swiss army knife and cutting the trashcan in half with it. "See? Easy peasy lemon squeazy."

"Thanks, Ox..." Marcie smiled. "I was a bit blind..."

"We can tell." joked Peppermint Patty as she handed Marcie her glasses, only to receive a hug in return.

"You're the best, Sir!" exclaimed a content Marcie.

"1, 2..." a girl began. "Freddy's coming for you..."

"Run..." screamed Ox.

"3, 4...better lock your door." the girl continued.

"I know this! 5, 6...grab your cross thingy; 7, 8...better stay awake; 9, 10...never sleep again." realized Peppermint Patty.

"Crucifix, Sir!" Marcie groaned.

"Whatever."

"Watch the sass." sighed Ox as he scooped up both girls and hid them in a basket of something. Squash, he thought. Oh how he was mistaken.

"Oxford..." a voice called out.

"Who's there?!" asked an alarmed Ox.

"We are...your friends..." a few potatoes called out as they cornered him.

"Oh no..." he gulped.

"Aren't you hungry?"

"No, no! No, no, no, no, NO!"

"Oh come on...eat us!"

"NO!"

"Oxford...Oxford...Oxie..."

"What got into Ox?" asked Violet in confusion.

"Nightmare, I guess..." suggested Charlie Brown.

"Nightmares are horrible." Frieda added.

"Agreed." remarked Violet.

"Oxie?" Patty (Swanson) whispered as she nudged her boyfriend. "Wake up."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" exclaimed Ox before jolting awake in a cold sweat and recognizing the faces of Patty (Swanson), Violet, Charlie Brown and Frieda.

"Hun, what's wrong?" Frieda asked.

"Potatoes...potatoes everywhere..." Ox murmured to himself, wideawake and panicking.

"Chillax." Violet comforted. "You'll be fine."

"Potatoes..." he trembled.

"Oxie, what's so bad about potatoes?" asked Patty as she nuzzled up next to him.

"They trapped me." gulped Ox as he snapped out of his trance.

"In what? A potato sack?" joked Violet.

"No." Ox argued.

"It's fine...I'm here, babe." Patty comforted with a kiss on the cheek.

"No...1, 2."

"1, 2? 1, 2 what?" asked Charlie Brown.

"Freddy's coming for you." Ox replied.

"Freddy's coming for me?"

"3, 4..."

"3, 4 what?"

"Better lock the door."

"Lock the d-"

"5, 6-grab your crucifix."

"Our crucifix?" Linus asked as Ox continued.

"7, 8-better stay up late." Patty sighed as she comforted her boyfriend. She was sure he was murmuring gibberish.

"Of course we're staying up late." giggled Charlie Brown as Ox finished the chant.

"9, 10-NEVER sleep again."

"NEVER EVER?!" gasped a shocked Violet.

"I need my beauty sleep." groaned Francesca.

"Ox, you had a bad dream." Frieda comforted.

"That's Freddy Kreuger's chant." Lucy realized from her sleeping bag, having overheard the whole thing.

"Where's Cobra?" asked a confused Rattler.

"Lambcake? Lambcake?" Cobra called out from the kitchen.

"There's your answer." replied Lucy with a slightly smug smile.

"Cobra, stop teasing Marcie!" Linus called out.

"I'm not; she's not even awake a little." Cobra responded.

"Neither are Freckles or Francesca's brother." Rattler added.

"Melanie's out like a light though." Franklin smiled.

"Frankie..." Melanie murmured in her sleep. "How am I out like a light? We don't have light switches..." she then went back to snoring.

"Lambcake..." chanted Cobra. "See? She's not even aware that I'm calling out her nickname."

"Don't jinx it either." sighed Rattler as Dominick stormed into the kitchen and dragged Cobra back by the arm.

"Back. To. Bed." bossed Dominick.

"But-" began Cobra.

"Goats butt, birds fly and children going on outing with their fathers AND Serpent Sisters need their sleep." reminded Dominick.

"What do you mean?" asked a slightly sleepy Sylvia.

"It means 'Goodnight, Cobra.', silly." he smiled.

"Oh sure. Good luck with the nightmares, huh?" she joked.

"Claudia made a little trinket." Skylar smiled as he handed Cobra a tiny dream catcher.

"Wow. What are these?" Cobra asked.

"It's a dream catcher. Claudia has a little too much time on her hands." Skylar added. "She's making one for all of us."

"Wow!" Dominick exclaimed.

"I think a glass of warm milk might help." suggested Patty (Swanson).

"You think so?" Ox trembled.

"Yes, Oxie...c'mon." she smiled, grabbing his hand and almost forgetting about the mess in the kitchen until...

"WHAT HAPPENED HERE?!" Ox asked, looking at the strayed litter.

"Don't ask too many questions..." Patty (Swanson) blushed. "Because even though we know what happened, it's not a pretty sight."

"Who let a raccoon in here?"

"I said 'don't ask'..."

"And..." began Ox before following the garbage trail to the trashcan. "Who's idea of a joke is this?"

"No one's." Patty replied. "I can guarantee you that this was no one's idea of a joke."

"How do you know?"

"We have our ways of knowing."

"Oh great..." Ox sighed. "Now I have to do cut the can in half again..."

"Again?" Patty asked herself before tiptoeing back to her friends. "I think Ox isn't telling us everything." she advised Violet. "Also, he said something about cutting the trashcan in half."

"WHAT?!" gasped Violet.

"A sleepy ox with a lowercase 'O' is always bullheaded; a sleepy Ox with a capital 'O' is always half asleep." Lucy explained. "He doesn't know what he's talking about, Patty."

"Again?" Patty gulped. "Not asking."

NEXT CHAPTER: WAKE UP, GUYS!