CHAPTER 6: I'M ONLY SLEEPING
"And that's the story of the Banshee." explained Violet.
"Wow..." gulped Freddy.
"Verona and Damien tell a killer tale featuring some of us gals." Peppermint Patty exclaimed.
"Sir, it's half past three, go to sleep." groaned Marcie.
"Can't...the movies are too good." the tomboy argued.
"I AM THE QUEEN OF SLUMBER PARTIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIES!" joked Violet as Claudia, Skylar, Peppermint Patty and Marcie screamed. "Chill, girls. I was joking."
"Don't EVER do that again!" scolded Skylar.
"Mister common sense, huh?" questioned Freddy.
""Now, can i show you a TRUE horror scene?" asked Patty (Swanson)
"Sure." Peppermint Patty smiled. "I LOVE horror!"
"I'll try not to scream." gulped Marcie as Patty lead them to the kitchen.
"What B-A-N-S-H-E-E made this mess?" questioned Peppermint Patty as she and Marcie noted the trash scattered across the floor.
"Just a 9 and a half year old girl that we caught SLEEPWALKING earlier tonight." Patty (Swanson) replied.
"Pat, that's ridiculous. The only 9 and a half year old girl here is...is me..." Marcie realized.
"You said it, sister." sighed Peppermint Patty. "But I doubt it was you-Claude's also 10."
"She turned 11 a few days ago." argued Marcie. "I'M the culprit here...oh, what're mom and dad gonna say when they find out?! I know I'm gonna get the belt when they find out! BAD GIRL! BAD GIRL!"
"Marcie..." Peppermint Patty gulped as Patty facepalmed.
"I'm so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so sorry!" Marcie explained anxiously. "I never meant to cause such a clutter; do forgive me."
"CHILL!" the tomboy shouted.
"Patricia's right, Marcie. You're overreacting." Patty added.
"I'M NOT!" Marcie argued. "Can you EVER forgive me?"
"Let's just get you back to bed...you get really emotional when tired." Peppermint Patty groaned as she dragged Marcie back in the living room and got her into her sleeping bag reluctantly.
"Sir, I'm so sorry." Marcie trembled.
"Do stop. You sound like a broken record..." the tomboy sighed. "Besides, I'm just as clueless as you on what Pat meant by sleepwalking."
"It's better this way." suggested Violet from the couch.
"You were stumbling." Shermy explained. "But you were sleepwalking." he giggled slightly.
"Sorry..." Marcie blushed.
"It's fine. Trust me; PIGPEN'S been messier." joked Violet.
"Oh good grief..." sighed Patty (Swanson) before her eyes widened. "You DO have a point, Vi."
"Patty, are you pondering what I'm pondering?" the girl with the ponytail asked.
"I think so, Vi-but Marcie never really explained why her glasses are so thick..."
"Not THAT, Patty-well, in a way; but not now..."
"So what ARE you pondering?"
"I'm pondering about why people sleepwalk, Patty..."
"Stress, Vi. Stress, over exhaustion and ambient cause sleepwalking. " Patty smiled.
"Makes sense..." Peppermint Patty intervened. "If my dad was pushing me to devote every waking hour to study, study, study and if I didn't sleep much at nights-I'd be a sleepwalking zombie too."
"You kinda were once." Franklin reminded.
"Very funny." the tomboy sighed.
"I remember it vividly." added Marcie.
"You do, you two?" Peppermint Patty groaned.
"Yeah." Franklin giggled. "It was hilarious."
"TOO hilarious too." Marcie agreed.
"Ha, ha, ha." sighed Peppermint Patty. "As if my sleepwalking episode was funny..."
"Yeah. It was not your fault, Freundin." Franco reassured.
"You said it..." she blushed a little.
"Yup." Franklin and Marcie agreed.
A few minutes later, Charlie Brown awoke to a mess of curls in his face. He didn't say anything when he found Frieda asleep and using his chest as her pillow. He giggled to himself as he brushed the curls out of his face though and she smiled in her sleep, murmuring a little. "Sweet dreams." he whispered. "Sometimes, I lie awake all night wondering what's gonna become of my life. Then a voice answers me and says-"
"I love you, Charlie Brown..." Frieda murmured in her sleep loud enough for him to hear.
"And I love you too, Frieda." he smiled.
Sighing, Violet turned on the radio and put on one of the CDs-a Will Smith CD to be exact.
Now I have a story that I'd like to tell
About this guy, you all know me I was scared as hell
He comes to me at night when I crawl into bed
He's burnt up like a weenie and his name is Fred
He wears the same hat and sweater every single day
And even if it's hot outside, he wears it anyway!
He's home when I'm awake, but he shows up when I sleep
I can't believe that there's a nightmare, on my street!
It was a Saturday evening if I remember it right
And we had just gotten off of tour last night
So the gang and I thought that it would be groovy
If we summoned up the posse and down watch a movie
I got Angie, Jeff got Tina
Ready Rock got some girl I've never seen in my life
That was alright though, ''cause lady was chill
Then we dipped to the theater set to ill
Buggin' , cold havin' a ball
And somethin' 'bout Elm Street was the movie we saw
The way it started was decent
You know, nothin' real fancy
About this homeboy named Fred
And this girl named Nancy
But, word!
When it was over, I said, "Yo, that was def!"
And everything seemed alright when we left
But when I got home and laid down to sleep
That began the nightmare, on my street!
It was burnin' in my room like an oven
My bed soaked with sweat, and man, I was buggin'
I checked the clock, and it stopped at 12:30
It had melted it was so darn hot, and I was thirsty
I wanted something cool to quench my thirst
I thought to myself, Yo! This heat is the worst!
But when I got downstairs, I noticed something was wrong
I was home all alone, but the TV was on.
I thought nothin' of it as I grabbed the remote
I pushed the power button, and I then almost choked
When I heard this aweful voice comin' from behind, it said
"You are my favorite rapper, but now you must die!"
Man, I ain't even wait to see who it was
Broke inside my drawers and screamed, "So long ''cuz!"
Got halfway up the block, I calmed down and stopped screamin'
And thought, Oh, I get it, I must be dreamin'
I strolled back home with a grin on my grill
I'm thinkin' since this is a dream, I might as well get ill
I walked in the house, the big, bad, Fresh Prince
But Freddy killed all that noise real quick
He grabbed me by my neck and said,
"Here's what we'll do. We've got a lotta work here, me and you,
The souls of your friends, you and I will claim.
You've got the body, and I've got the brains."
I said, "Yo, Fred. I think you've got me all wrong.
I ain't parnters with nobody with nails that long.
Look, I'll be honest man, this team won't work
The girls won't be yours, Fred, your face is all burnt"
Fred got mad and his head started steamin'
But I thought what the hell, I'm only dreamin'
I said, "Please leave Fred, so I can get some sleep.
But gimme a call, and maybe we'll hang out next week."
I pat him on the shoulder, say, "Thanks for stoppin' by."
Then I opened up the door and said, "Take care, guy!"
He got mad, threw back his arm, and slashed my shirt
I laughed at first, then thought, Hold up...that hurt.
It wasn't a dream, man, this guy was for real
I said, "Freddy, uh, uh, there's been an awful mistake here."
No further words, and then I darted upstairs
Crashed through my door then jumped on my bed
Pulled the covers up over my head and said,
"Oh please, do somethin' with Fred!"
He jumped on my bed and threw the covers with his claws
Tried to get me...but my alarm went off. and then
Silence
It was a whole new day, I thought.
Heh...I wasn't scared of him, anyway.
Until I noticed those rips in my sheets
And that was proof that there had been a nightmare, on my street.
"Oh good grief..." groaned Charlie Brown as Snoopy began snoring.
Giggling, Cobra pretended to be asleep as Dominick wrapped his arms around her. "Psst, lambcake..." she whispered.
"Forget it!" yelped Marcie.
Skylar sighed as he pulled out a newspaper clipping from under his pillow and read it to himself.
Dezmin Grandin had been arrested for the death of Kim Williams. Local authorities say Grandin was drunk while driving and should be released in ten years. Eye witnesses say that Williams' aunt, uncle and their three small children were in the car as well. Out of the three small kids were Elie, Kate and Skylar-Kim's cousins.
Sighing, he looked over at Claudia before slipping the clipping back under his pillow. She gave him a concerned look-mainly due to the newspaper being 11 years old before shrugging it off as him seeing something he liked.
"Claudia Grandin, I don't know how to react..." Skylar told himself. "How could he have done that? Tell me, someone. Anyone."
"Skylar, what's wrong?" asked Linus.
"I can't stop thinking about what he did!" Skylar spat out.
"What who did?"
"Some...what's the term?"
"Blockhead?"
"Yeah. Something some blockhead did 11 years ago!"
"Was it bad?"
"To me it was."
"If you ever need to talk with me, I'm right here." Linus comforted.
"Thanks, Linus..." Skylar sighed. He then pulled out the paper and hugged it. "I thought you were only sleeping, Kim. Why was he so mean?"
"Skylar, babe?" gulped Claudia, looking at the clipping. "What's that?"
"Some old newspaper clipping from August 11 years ago." Skylar trembled.
"Oh, d-don't stay up too late." she yawned before turning in.
"I don't believe this..." Skylar sighed before looking back at Claudia. He couldn't tell her about the clipping-yet. One day he would, though.
A little later, Snoopy, Gracie, Andy and Olaf were out with the Beagle Scouts on an early morning truffle hunt in Monte Woods. Howling instantly caught their attentions.
"Wolves..." explained Snoopy as Conrad chirped. "No, there's never been a werebird before."
"RUN!" screamed Olaf as Andy and Snoopy ran off, followed by the Beagle Scouts.
Gracie watched in confusion as Olaf tried pushing her towards the other two dogs. "We have to skedaddle..."
"Where were you?" asked Sally as she opened the door to see five anxious birds, two panting beagles and traumatized looks on their faces.
"Truffle hunting..." trembled Snoopy. "Then they came."
"Then WHO came? Genvieve?" she scoffed.
"Coyotes?" gulped Linus as his hair stood up.
"Wolves!" Olaf yelped as he and Gracie limped towards the two dogs.
"Wolves?" Sally trembled. "We have to get them to the vets."
"It's closed." yawned Thibault as he rolled onto his side. "And it doesn't open until 0900 hours."
"We're too late!" gulped Olaf.
"No, dumb-dumb. It means 9 am." Andy sighed.
"No wonder Marbles is so smart..." Snoopy thought.
"I hope the 'French Café' is open...I'm thirsty." said Gracie.
"Same." added Olaf.
"Ditto." replied Andy.
"It's always open." Snoopy reassured as he ran towards Marcie and licked her face.
"What, Snoopy?" grumbled Marcie.
"Table for four, Sweetie?" the beagle asked.
"Get your own table." she huffed before Snoopy began whimpering and giving her the puppy dog eye trick. "Fine, but only because I can't resist a puppy dog's eyes..." she gave in.
"Real smooth, Marcie..." snickered Peppermint Patty. "Are you ALWAYS gonna let him keep you up this late?"
"No; I think I'll get a few tips from Frieda on how to be a cat person." Marcie suggested as Snoopy's ears lifted and he collapsed.
"Yup, that's our brother-only cat he can tolerate is lazy-limp boned Faron..." pointed out Andy to Gracie.
"Good idea." Hans agreed. "Teach him lesson!"
"But do get a cat that can teach him the lesson." joked Linus as Charlie Brown sighed.
"I was thinking of a tom cat..." Marcie smiled to herself. "Or even a tabby..."
"Keep it away from the lasagna..." joked Sally.
NEXT CHAPTER: MORE NIGHTMARE WEREBEAGLES?!
'Nightmare on My Street' written by Jeffrey Townes, Peter Brian Harris and Willard C. Smith
© Universal Music Publishing Group
