Chapter 28: Scaredy Boy
At Rusty's House, Rocky's younger brother Rocky is seen cleaning his bed. He finishes.
"Phew, chores are all done." He said. He left his room and went to the living room.
"Rusty? Dad? Are you guys here?"
He saw the Halloween decorations in the living room. On the wall, there was red paint that dripped down which was made to look like blood. The blood formed into the word "Boo." This spooked out Rocky.
"Ok Dad, I'll be leaving now!" He made a dash to the door but was stopped by his father.
"Hold on there. Where are you going?"
"To Lucy's House."
"Don't you wanna hear my annual scary story?"
"No thanks...Uh, does it have monsters in it?"
"The worst of them all."
Rocky hesitated. "Uh….no."
He began to head out but then turned back. "Is it a true story?"
"Definitely true."
"Ok. Maybe just a little." Rocky said.
"Great. Have a seat on the couch." Rocky sat on the couch. His dad turned on a fire log decoration in the chimney and sat down next to his son.
"Every year on Halloween night, the Gothic Mistress phantom ascends from her grave."
"Gothic Mistress Phantom?" Rocky questioned..
Rocky's dad continued. "She goes downtown and starts stealing people's souls. Then she puts them where you can never get them, in her soul bag." He pulled out a bag with the word "souls" on top and the words "trick or treat" are crossed out below. He laughed wickedly and Rocky looked frightened. Rusty suddenly appears behind him dressed up as the gothic mistress phantom.
"I've come for your soul."
Rocky sees this and jumps up, screaming in fear. Rusty took his wig and started laughing along with his dad.
"Rocky gets easier to scare every year."
Rocky was behind the couch. "Grr. Rusty."
"Ah, we're just messing with you son." Rusty's dad said. "Hope you're not too scared to come to the Halloween party at Gus Games n Grub, Scaredy Boy."
He walked off laughing. Rocky glared. Rusty snuck up behind Rocky.
"Steal your soul."
Rocky ran out the door screaming. He nervously walked through the neighborhood. He came across skeletons and pumpkins decorations that spooked him out.
"Trick or treat." A little girl said to him. Rocky got scared and ran off. The girl's mother walked up to her.
"What's with him?" The girl asked.
"Oh, don't mind him. That's just the scaredy boy." The mother said.
Rocky kept walking. Suddenly, Haiku dressed as a witch came by with a broomstick. Rocky was frightened and jumped into a tree, clinging onto a branch.
"Happy Halloween, you big wuss." Haiku said before she left.
"I'm not a wuss!" Rocky said. A squirrel climbed onto the branch. Rocky got startled and fell off. Luckily, he landed on a pile of leaves. A man walked over to him.
"Aw, come on man. I just raked those."
"Sorry."
Soon, Rocky arrived at the Loud House and noticed all the spooky decorations. He knocked on the door.
"I'll get it." He heard Lucy's voice.
"It's Lucy. I'm gonna scare her. It's my turn." Rocky said to himself.
Lucy opened the door. Rocky roared at her, though it was pretty weak. Lucy was wearing a Jason Voorhees mask.
"Hi Rocky."
Rocky screamed and fell backwards.
"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."
Rocky got back up. "Why can't I be frightening for once? Where's my chance?"
"It's ok Rocky. You tried."
Rocky came inside. "I'm not too fond of Halloween. Every year, no matter how hard I try, everyone always scares me and I'm sick of it."
Lily walked by wearing a pumpkin mask. "Goo ga ga."
Rocky got startled and jumped into Lucy's arms. "See what I mean?"
Lucy set him down. "My dad is a big coward when it comes to Halloween too. I mean, he may be a bigger one than you. But I can help you be scary. After all, I'm the queen of spooky."
"True." Rocky agreed.
And so Lucy helped her friend find a scary costume. Rocky finally found one he liked. He was getting dressed in the bathroom. He then came out wearing a bat costume.
"Whaddaya think Lucy?"
"Wow. You look adorable." She complimented.
"No. I'm supposed to look scary."
"Right. Hmm...I know what you're missing."
Lucy got out some fake fangs and put them in Rocky's mouth.
"Now you look more terrifying." Lucy said.
"I don't know about this." Rocky said.
Lucy heard the twins coming upstairs. "Here comes Lola and Lana. Try to scare them."
Rocky went in front of the twins. Lola was dressed as the bride of Frankenstein and Lana was a bear. "Rawr! Rawr!"
The twins just laughed.
"Aw, you're adorable Rocky." Lola commented.
"I'll say." Lucy said, suddenly appearing behind the twins which caused them to get startled.
"Of course." Rocky said.
Now Rocky and Lucy were in Lucy and Lynn's room.
"I just don't get it." Rocky said. "What do I have to do to be scary? I mean, look at you. You don't even have to try to scare anyone." Rocky got an idea. "That's it. I should dress up as you."
"Dress up as me?"
"Yeah. But I won't wear a dress, just a black shirt and a wig."
Lucy thought about it. "You know, that just might work. I have just the right clothes in my coffin. Go ahead and check."
"Ok." Rocky opened up Lucy's coffin. A bunch of her bats flew out, spooking out Rocky.
"Oh yeah. That was my Halloween prank."
"Yeah, real funny." Rocky said sarcastically. He then found the right clothing in the coffin.
"I don't think this wig will cover my hair though." Rocky said. "Maybe I could use a haircut."
"I know the right person for that job." Lucy said.
Lucy and Rocky are now in Lori and Leni's room. Leni was dressed as a mall cop. Rocky was now wearing a black shirt to match Lucy's favorite color. Rocky is sitting in a chair and Leni is preparing to give him a haircut.
"Are you sure you want me to cut your hair Rocky?" Leni questioned.
"Yeah, I like your hair." Lucy said.
"Don't worry, it'll grow back." Rocky said.
"Ok, let's do this." Leni said and turned on the razor. She began cutting Rocky's hair.
Soon, Rocky had on Lucy's wig and his face was painted gray.
"How do I look?"
"Spooky." Lucy said.
Just then, Lincoln's voice was heard. "Guys, we're heading out to the Halloween party!"
"Oh, we better get going." Lucy said. "I'm going as Grandma Harriet."
"But she looks exactly like you." Rocky noted.
"Still. It'll be nice to dress up as her for Halloween."
"Ok, but before we head to the party, let's go scare some body."
The two kids head out. The other younger Louds decided to do some trick or treating before heading to Gus Games n Grub. Lucy and Rocky go to a house. Rocky rings the doorbell and a man opens the door.
"Boo!" Rocky said.
"Boo." Lucy said.
The man got startled when Lucy appeared behind him. He dropped his bowl of candy.
"Uh, help yourselves." He ran back inside.
Rocky and Lucy collected some candy and left.
"Wow. This costume sure packed a punch. We both scared the heck out of that guy." Rocky said.
"Well, I think it was mostly me." Lucy said.
"Who should we scare next?"
"There's a bunch of people at Gus' Halloween party. And Great Grandma Harriet is gonna show up uninvited."
Rocky looked confused. "What do you mean by that?"
Just then, they saw younger trick or treaters.
"Let's scare them." Lucy said.
There were three kids. One dressed as a mummy, one as a witch, and one as a vampire.
"Boo!" Rusty popped up in front of them. They were unphased.
"Boo." Lucy said, popping up behind them. They screamed and ran off.
"This is fun." Rocky said.
At Gus' Halloween party, the place was all Halloween themed. A lot of people were there. Including the Louds and the McBrides. Clyde was dressed as Napoleon Bonaparte. His dads were dressed as British soldiers. Lincoln, dressed as Ace Savvy, walked up to them.
"Clyde, I thought you were dressing up as One Eyed Jack."
"I was going to but then I remembered our history report and thought I'd dress up as Napoleon."
"Well, I like it."
"Hey Dad, can I use that gun?" Clyde asked Harold, who was holding up a fake gun.
"Sure." Harold said, handing him the gun.
"This thing shoots candy." Clyde told Lincoln.
"But be careful with that Clyde." Howard said. "It's very-"
Clyde shot out a Caramel apple.
"...powerful."
The Caramel apple shot past Luan and Luna. Luan was dressed part clown part mime. She was wearing a clown wig and nose and also wearing a black and white striped shirt and pants. Luna was dressed as Mick Swagger.
"This is one rockin' party!" Luna said.
"Yeah, it's pretty sweet!" Luan chuckled, holding up a chocolate bar. She turned to Mr. Grouse who was dressed as the Grim Reaper. "Hey Mr. Grouse.
Mr. Grouse looked at her. "What are you supposed to be? A clown prisoner?"
"Actually, a clown/mime."
"I don't get it." Grouse said and walked off.
Outside, Lucy and Rocky made their way onto the roof. They had found a ladder. Rocky was now dressed as Great Grandma Harriet.
"So let me get this straight. I scare everyone by pretending to be your grandma?" Rocky questioned.
"Yep." Lucy said.
"Well, she must be as spooky as you."
"Oh, she was spooky alright."
Rocky opened a vent on the roof which has a way inside the party.
"Time to make a great entrance. Are you ready, Rocky?" Lucy asked.
Rocky gave her a thumbs up. Lucy finds a light switch.
"Ok Lucy, kill the lights!"
The lights go off in the pizzeria/arcade. Everyone starts screaming. Rocky is lowered down. Lucy speaks into a megaphone, doing an impression of her grandma.
"Bwa Ha Ha! This is Great Grandma Harriet! Booga booga booga!"
Everyone continues screaming. Lynn Sr., dressed as a waiter, is hiding behind a counter.
"Give me your souls!" Lucy's plan seemed to be working but then the rope was cut by a spiky Jack-o-lantern decoration. Rocky falls to the ground.
"Uh oh." Lucy said.
"Ow! My head!" Rocky groaned.
"Wait a minute. Rocky?" Rusty, dressed as Dracula, recognized the voice of his younger brother.
"Uh, hey." Rocky said awkwardly.
"It's the scaredy boy!" Lynn teased. She was dressed as a football player.
"Scaredy boy?" One guy said.
Everyone started laughing.
"Man, he almost had me fooled." Lynn Sr said to Rita, who was dressed as Medusa.
Everyone continued to laugh. Just then, lightning flashed. The front door was opened and there was a bright light. "ENOUGH!"
Everyone gasped. Black smoke appeared and formed into a gothic ghost lady. The Gothic Ghost Mistress! (A.k.a Great Grandma Harriet) She hissed at everyone. Everyone screamed in fear.
"It's the G-G-Gothic Ghost Mistress!" Lynn Sr. shouted before passing out. Lori, dressed as a cheerleader, looked at her father in concern.
"Aka Great Grandma Harriet." Lucy said, suddenly appearing next to Rocky. Rocky, however, was too scared of the gothic ghost lady to be startled by Lucy.
"Wait, Grandma Harriet is the Gothic Ghost Mistress?" He asked.
"Yeah. I forgot to mention that." Lucy said sheepishly..
"You're darn right I'm the Gothic Ghost Mistress." The ghostly woman stated. "And I'm gonna let ya in on a secret. I'm gonna steal your souls."
This made everyone scream again.
"QUIET!" The mistress roared.
"You had it coming you big crybabies! Every year people dress up like me turning the Ghost Mistress name into a laughingstock! But that's not why I'm taking your souls."
Rocky, still wearing his costume, attempted to hide but the goth ghost saw him.
"You! You're that scaredy boy! You dressed up as me and made me look like a fool!"
"So I'm not scary?" Rocky asked.
"YOU?! SCARY?!" The Gothic Ghost Mistress shrunk down to human size and put a shoulder around the boy. "Let me tell you about scary, kid. There are all kinds of scary stuff in the world. Spiders are scary. I'm scary. You, you're not scary. Ok let's get this over with."
The ghost lady went back to her huge size and laughed wickedly. Everyone screamed.
"Oh Great Grandma Harriet, have mercy." Lucy begged.
"But first I gotta get rid of this stupid costume." The ghost lady removed the wig from Rocky but was surprised at what she saw. She was so scared she flew out of the pizzeria screaming. Inside, Rocky is seen completely bald. He looked so different it was kinda disturbing.
"Hey! I scared her!" Rocky said happily.
Everyone else was surprised by Rocky's appearance. Lisa, who was dressed as alien dropped her bag of candy in shock. Everyone ran out of the party screaming. Lucy was the only one who wasn't scared. She and Rocky walked out.
"It worked Luce. I really scared everyone. Except you."
"Oh believe me. I'm a little scared on the inside." Lucy admitted.
Rocky noticed lots of candy was dropped on the ground. "Looks like I hit the jackpot this year."
Epilogue
Rocky had arrived home with Lucy. He collected a huge haul of candy that he split some with her.
"Man, I think this was the best haul I've ever gotten." Rocky said.
"I'm glad to see you had a good time." Lucy said. "Goodnight Rocky."
"Goodnight." Rocky said.
Lucy left. He opened the door. "Rusty? Dad? Are you home?"
"R-R-Rocky? Is that you?" Rusty and his Dad showed up.
"Hey guys." Rocky greeted.
Rusty and their father screamed when they saw him bald and ran off. Rocky was glad to scare someone but he didn't expect them to freak out this much.
"Don't worry. It'll grow back."