Jaune and Courage the Cowardly Dog
Chap 2 part one: The Shadow of Courage
Sitting on my bed in the attic, I listened to the calming sounds of the thunderstorms raging outside. For some reason, I always found them comforting. It has been three months since I moved in with the Bagge family. And since then, I have learned a lot of things. The first was that Muriel is the sweetest person you can ever meet. She is kind to everyone she meets, almost to a fault. Yet, that only makes her all the better. Eustace, on the other hand, is the exact opposite. He is an ass through and through.
However, Courage is the most interesting out of everyone here by far. Not only can he speak English and walk upright like a person, but he can also cook, clean, and do many other things no ordinary can do. 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 sure. 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 near-deafening thunder strike, I looked outside the window and saw the thunderstorm still going strong. It seemed that the storm would be staying with us for at least a few more hours before letting up. But it was at that point I heard a loud 'humina humina' coming from downstairs. It took me a moment to realize that Courage 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 bed. Hearing footsteps quickly approaching my door, I figured that Courage was either taking a walk or coming to my room. Since I first moved in, 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 would come to my room to sleep. But a scream told me that he had 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 in fright yet were also armed. Eustace held a bat, and Muriel had a rolling pin. Not sure the rolling pin would be helpful, but to each their own.
"What's happening?" I asked as I walked up to them.
"Courage said there was a burglar in the house." Muriel answered. "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 Eustace. Unfortunately, they ignored him. That, or they didn't understand him.
'Wait. Am I the only one who understands Courage? Or is Muriel and Eustace just ignoring him? Hopefully, it's the latter.' I thought as I went back to my room.
But as I turned the lights off, I heard a cackle from behind me. Quickly turning around, I thought I saw a shadow; however, it disappeared before I could get a good look at it. Thinking it was just the shadow of a cloud, I shook my head before heading back to my room. As I made my way there, I heard Muriel ask Eustace if it was okay for Courage to sleep in my room as it was cold there. Yet, 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. He was shivering in fear and from the cold.
'I just know something bad is going to happen.' He said, worried before howling. Walking over to him, I patted his head which calmed him down.
"Hey, Courage, don't be afraid. You probably just saw a shadow. Why don't you sleep in my bed?" I suggested, smiling.
He stopped shivering before smiling and diving into my bed and under the covers. Chuckling, I turned off the lights before joining him in bed.
But right before sleep took me, we became wide awake when we heard a growling laughter nearby. Sitting up, I looked around to try and find out what was causing the laughter. For a moment, I thought it was all in my head, but I noticed that Courage had heard it as well as he was looking around the room. Not seeing anything, I was about to go back to sleep when we heard it again, except it was much closer to us this time. We then noticed a shadow on the floor leading up to the wall next to us. Looking towards the ceiling, we saw a monster shadow moving by itself and laughing at us. I was about to get out of bed and confront whatever it was but stopped when I heard Courage scream. Looking over to him, I saw that his whole head had become about ten times larger than usual.
'What the-' I thought, confused when I saw Courage do that but could not finish my thoughts as he ran out of my room. But instead of opening the door, he ran through it, leaving behind a hole in the shape of him. I was about to go after him but, when I heard the shadow growl again, I ran out of my room in fright as well. But unlike Courage, I actually opened the door instead of going through it. Unsure of where to go or what I had had just seen, I decided to go to the bathroom to wake up fully. Perhaps the shadow and laughter were only part of the dream I was having. Turning on the faucet, I splashed my face with cold water to get rid of the crust in my face and any traces of sleepiness. 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 clinging onto them.
I was about to step in but stopped when I saw Eustace turn around and reach for something with squeaky sounds coming from him as he did so. It almost sounded as if he was putting something on. And he was as not a second later he turned around and tried to scare Courage while wearing big ridiculous eyes. And he succeeded as Courage ran out of the room. Eustace then began to laugh at Courage being scared. Annoyed, I was about to go in and defend Courage but stopped when I heard music coming from nowhere. And the type of music seemed to be as if someone was announcing a call to battle. Confused, I began to look around and saw Muriel suddenly rush into the room and whack Eustace hard on the head with the rolling pin she had earlier. The smack caused him to be dazed as the eyeballs fell off 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 did he do.
"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 noticed it as well as he had stood up and began 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 Eustace strangle Courage and smack him on the head with the rolling pin again. This stopped Eustace from choking Courage which allowed him to run away. But instead of stopping altogether, he chased after Courage with Muriel getting up and chasing him. Still not sure what was going on and worried for Courage, I also decided to 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.
'Probably whatever that shadow is scared him.' I thought as Courage shivered against Eustace's face.
'Uh-oh. I'm gonna get strangled.' He said in fear. And not a second later, Eustace recovered from the jump and started strangling Courage.
"Now say, uncle. Say, uncle." He demanded as he continued to strangle him. But he was stopped when the music played again, followed by Muriel rushing into the room, hitting him on the head with her rolling pin. The force behind the blow caused the rolling pin to break in half. Satisfied, she took Courage from his arms and grabbed my hand before bringing us back to her room.
'Uncle?' Courage asked, confused just as the door closed. But as the door closed, we heard Eustace again ask what he did. Ignoring him, Muriel got into bed with Courage under covers, shivering in fear. Sighing, I lifted the blanket and got into the bed to try and get some sleep. Yet, as soon as I closed my eyes, they flew open when we heard Eustace scream in terror.
"Oh! That was Eustace." Muriel said, sitting up and throwing back 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 said as I got up from the bed.'I must be nuts as well!'
Exiting the bedroom, we raced to the kitchen, where we last saw Eustace. Getting there, we looked around and saw nobody there aside from us. But we did quickly notice Eustace's hat on the floor. Picking it up, I began to worry about what could have happened to Eustace and where he could be. I might not like the farmer, but that does not mean I want to see him get hurt. And I knew Courage felt the same way about Eustace. But, as I turned to him, he screamed in fear before running back to the room. Setting the hat down, I followed him back to the bedroom but, to our shock and fear, Muriel was nowhere in sight. And seeing the blankets and pillow on the floor raised 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. This was because I had no idea what was happening nor any clue what I was supposed to do, as this had never happened before. Yet, it seemed like Courage had an idea. What that idea was, I had no clue. We soon reached my room and entered. Although, we did silently chuckle at the Eustace-shaped hole in the door. However, before we closed the door, we looked around to see if that shadow was here with us. Knowing that we were alone, we closed the door before heading over to the computer and turning it on. Courage then started 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 said 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.
"Okay. 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 mocked.
"Just shut up and search!" I demanded him while resisting the urge to slam my first against it.
"Searching..." The computer said and actually began its search. As it began to search, Courage got off 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. "1 item."
'What! What!' Courage asked, frantically typing on the computer.
"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. Judging by his tone, we could tell he was 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 suggested while pulling out a giant, 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. 'Okay. We'll save you for real this time.'
Steeling ourselves, we closed the door and started to head down the stairs. But, after a couple of steps, Courage lost his balance and fell. And because it was dark, I couldn't see him and tripped over him, causing both of us to fall down the rest of the stairs. Shaking ourselves off, we quickly stood up, with Courage shining his light everywhere.
"Okay, shadow. Where's Muriel?" I demanded. For the first couple of seconds, we didn't see anything. However, as soon as Courage shone the light at the well, the shadow revealed itself as a horrifying creature. This scared us so much that I took a step with Courage turning off the flashlight. Composing ourselves, I had Courage turn the flashlight back on, and to our delight, 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 we saw her shadow again. Only to be greeted by the sight of Muriel tied to a pole with fire on her feet. Courage then proceeded to turn off the flashlight and turn it back on a second later.
'Oh, my goodness!' Courage exclaimed as we saw Muriel's shadow on a table with a buzzsaw descending upon her. He then turned the light off and back on again.
"No... No, no." I begged as we saw Muriel tied at the limbs and about to be pulled apart this time.
'Oh, no. Not that!' Courage said after turning the flashlight off and back on and seeing Muriel about to be impaled by spikes.
Not wanting to see the rest, we turned off the light yet again. However, after turning it back on, instead of seeing Muriel, we saw a ghost. While we were relieved that it wasn't Muriel, we were confused all the same. Letting our curiosity get the better of us, we turned off the flashlight and turned it back on. This time, we saw a hammer hitting an anvil. We then repeated the process a few more times. First, we saw a screw and a baseball. Next was a cuckoo clock with the bird coming out of the clock a few times. However, the final time was different as the shadow itself appeared instead of a random image. Looking closely, we noticed that, somehow, the shadow was also crying.
"Stop already." It begged.
"Huh?" Courage and I asked, confused.
"I can't take it anymore. On and off! On and off! You're both driving me crazy." The shadow declared 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."
"Okay. Then why are you doing this and scaring everybody half to death?" I asked. The shadow then changed to look like he was on a therapist's 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 currently 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. Almost 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.'
Curious as to what idea he came up with, we followed him outside. But as we walked out of the house, I noticed that the thunderstorms had finished. And with the clouds gone, we could see the beautiful night sky filled with millions of stars. The light of the moon only added to the subtle beauty of the night.
'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, surprised but curious to see if it could work.
"You mean become the shadow of a real star?" The shadow questioned.
"It's worth a try." I told him.
"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 already liking the idea and excited to try it.
"By the way. Have you seen the farmer?" I asked.
"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 said with a chuckle as we rolled our eyes.
'Good luck.' Courage said as he moved his shadow to shake the other shadow's hand. I did the same afterward, despite not understanding how it worked. Nor how I could still feel his hand as if he was an object and not a shadow.
"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 bid Muriel goodnight as she walked towards her room with her hair covered by many curlers.
Entering my room, I closed the door and turned off the light before getting into bed. Yet as I lay there, I could not help but think about all that happened today. Seeing some of the things Courage can do was still as big of a shock as when I first witnessed it. However, the biggest surprise today was that apparently, a shadow could be sentient. Not only that, but shadows can also become stars. I had no doubt in my mind that I would never forget the events of today. 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 could scare anyone. Chuckling, I laid back and down and fell 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 not in the way I'd expected.'
Note: Please read the note in the next chapter.