Okay, be prepared to laugh! This is the wildest chapter yet, and by far one of my most original. Just hope you're prepared for madness.

Randall Flagg2

(1)

Spike awoke slowly. It had been four nights since their discovery of Ed being an arsonist. Everyone except Spike had forgiven her. Even Jet had dismissed this as being no big deal. Spike could not believe he had agreed not to throw Ed out of the house. If he were Ed's parent or guardian, he would have made sure she never tried something like this again. Unfortunately he was not, and thus did not have that kind of authority over her.

That did not mean Spike had forgotten about what had happened. Every time he and Ed crossed paths, he would see Ed get a nervous, empty look in her eyes. He could understand why. Whenever he saw her, he could almost feel his eyes turning to ice and he could always feel his fists clench. The only thing that kept him from giving Ed the whopping of a lifetime was that he knew if he did, Jet would not be pleased. If not for that, Ed would have regretted coming near him awhile ago.

Spike got out of bed, got dressed, and went out into the hallway. Time for another day on planet earth.

"I hope I get off this planet soon. Living with freaks like Haruko and Inuyasha are going to drive me mad." Spike thought. He went downstairs and into the kitchen. When he got there, his jaw dropped and his eyes widened.

There, sitting at the table, was Inuyasha. He was dressed in a baggy gray jersey, jeans, and sunglasses. His head was rocking from side to side and his tongue was lolling out. When he took off his sunglasses, Spike saw that the half demon's eyes were vacant, glassy, and almost drugged. Spike then noticed that on the table was a small bunch of weed on the table.

Inuyasha looked at Spike and spoke. "Hey brother!" Inuyasha said. "Come and join the fun and be free!"

Spike blinked. "What the?" was all he could come out with.

"I decided to let my inner child out and just have fun man! Come on over and join me!" Inuyasha held out some weed to Spike.

"What the heck is with him? He's acting like a hippie! No matter, I'll get him back to normal." Spike adjusted his voice and said "I think your sister is planning more practical jokes Inuyasha. You should do something about it."

Inuyasha giggled. "I don't mind that man! Kids should be free to do what they want! Let her have her fun and-"

He didn't finish as Spike seized a frying pan nearby and used it to cold cock Inuyasha on the head. He fell over unconscious. Spike had seen some pretty odd stuff in his life, but this just took the cake. Inuyasha-the hotheaded overly strict half demon Inuyasha-acting like a hippie? It just didn't make sense.

All of a sudden, there was a terrible series of noises, half screeching, the other half honking. Spike covered his ears and went upstairs. The sound was coming from Haruko's room.

"Haruko what the heck are you do-"

The sight before him just could not be.

Haruko was no longer wearing black slacks and a jacket. Instead she wore a plaid cap and a Scottish kilt. And she was not holding a bass guitar. Instead she held a pair of bagpipes.

"What the heck is going on?" Spike yelled, covering his ears.

"Oy, hello their Spike!" Haruko said, her voice now having a Scottish accent. "Yah heard me music eh?"

"But…" Spike whispered, "…what happened to your guitar?"

"Oh, that old thingy. I gave that up and now I'm going into bagpipes instead!" Haruko emphasized this by playing said instrument, badly at that. Spike was beginning to freak out. Nothing made sense here.

Haruko's bagpipes began to become more screechy. Spike ran out of the room and downstairs. He sighed and leaned against the wall.

"Either some other force is at work here or I'm going crazy." he said to nobody in particular. "What's going to happen next?"

Perhaps he should not have asked that.

(2)

As Spike tried to pull himself together, he felt a hand dug on his shirt. When he looked down, he almost screamed. This was too much.

It was Serenity. But it couldn't be. The Serenity he knew wore either jeans and a tee shirt, or sweat pants and a long sleeve shirt, and every so often, a blouse. Every once in awhile she would wear that school uniform of hers.

But this Serenity wore none of those.

This Serenity, wore a pink dress.

This time all Spike could say was "buh-huh-how-what-I-how could-this-I-!"

Serenity beamed up at Spike. "Hi mister! Do we have any milk in the house?"

"Why?" Spike almost whispered.

Serenity put her hands over her mouth and giggled. "I wanted to have a milk and cookie party!"

Spike backed away as if she were diseased. From what Inuyasha had told him about his sister, she was the biggest tomboy that ever lived. According to him, she even knew martial arts and had special demonic powers. And furthermore, Serenity hated dresses above all other things, especially pink ones. And she most definitely did not have milk and cookie parties.

"And then would you like to play dress up with me? Or maybe we could pick flowers out in the garden or-"

Spike's nerve broke. He ran upstairs, screaming as loudly as he could. Something was definitely wrong here. Maybe Ed was still normal. She had to be. She couldn't get any freakier then she was already.

But when Spike threw open the door to Ed's room, he was proven wrong again.

Ed, still in her nightgown, was singing into a spatula like a microphone. Her voice was surprisingly musical.

Kizukarenai de todome wo sasu, dono jidai mo iki nobite kita. Uso mitai na sora no shita, kowai mono nante oboecha inai." Ed was singing the lyrics from an earth song Spike had heard of called The Last Dinosaur. According to Ed, the song was done by an old earth rock group named The Pillows.

Ed smiled when she saw Spike. "Yo Spike! Whassup?" Ed asked. This could not be Ed, because she most definitely did not say things like "Whassup" or "Yo". And she did not call him Spike without adding the word "person" after that. And she also did not sing Japanese pop rock. She wasn't even into music.

"What… is… going on?" Spike squeaked.

"Ed is going to record this and send it to the music companies, and then once she gets a band, she is going on a world tour!"

"AAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGGHHHH!" Spike shrieked like a girl as he sprinted out of the room. Whatever had gotten into his comrades must've been serious. They would never act like this! His only hope now rested in Jet and Faye. They were too tough to give in to whatever illness had gripped the rest of them.

Spike threw open the door to Jet's room. "Jet you have to help me! Something's wrong with-"

But when he saw Jet, his words died.

Jet wore a colorful, Mexican poncho and had two maracas in his hands. On the floor was a sombrero. Jet was doing some sort of hat dance. He started to say something, but Spike didn't hear it because Spike was already running out of the room, screaming like the devil was after him.

Spike panted, out of breath. He considered going to see Faye, but then he decided that wouldn't be the best of ideas. For some reason he had a feeling that would be the worst of the lot. In Spike's opinion, some things were left alone.

As he regained his wind, Ein walked up to him and looked at him. Spike smiled and patted the corgi on the head.

"Well at least your okay boy." Spike said.

And then…

Ein said "Meow!"

Spike recoiled. "What did you say…?" he whispered.

Ein said "Meow!" again. He started purring, but since he was a dog it sounded more like a gargle. Then he rubbed up against Spike's leg.

Shrieking like a teenager in a horror movie, Spike launched himself upstairs and into the attic. He moved so fast as to leave after images. He slammed the door shut, locked it, and then moved a heavy looking trunk against the door. He sat against the wall and panted. What was he going to do?

Weary with exhaustion, he fell asleep. Maybe when he woke up, things would be normal again.

(3)

When Spike woke up a few hours later, he instantly came to a realization: this was not a dream. All of this was real, and he was going to have to deal with it. It wouldn't be easy, but he would just have to grin and bear it. He had been through far worse things then this.

It was then that Spike got a good look at the attic. It was filled with so many interesting trinkets and clothes. He had never seen so many things in his life.

On one side was a clothes rack with various colored kimonos on it. Some red, some blue, one black, a pink one, a yellow one, and finally one which was part black and part white. On a shelf, there was a bowl of waxed fruit (Spike remembered these had been popular during the nineties before the gate incident), and a lovely clear crystal ball. There were also books and magazines of all sorts. Some of the books were comics, others were novels. Also in the attic were Chinese lanterns, Halloween costumes, old looking pajamas, cartons of video games that were from the nineties and early two thousands, and all sorts of other things.

But the one that caught Spike's attention, was the collection of weapons near the back of the attic. There were throwing knives, shuriken stars, a sickle, and a very, very large sword. Spike approached the collection and picked up a katana which had been placed inside of its scabbard. Curious to see the sword itself, Spike unsheathed it. Much to his disappointment, the blade was dull, dented, and rusty.

"How could anyone use such a beaten up weapon?" Spike muttered. As soon as he said that, something pulsed through him. Spike did not possess demon powers, he did not even have super natural powers, but he felt it anyway. Then when he felt something go through him again, he saw an image of the blade he held, but in his image, it looked more like a giant steel fang instead of a katana. But it was only there for a second, and then it faded. It was just a rusted sword again.

"I remember now." Spike thought. "Ed once told me a legend about a demon who used a giant fang like sword to defeat his opponents. She also said it could harness the wind to form a special attack. Could this be… the legendary tetsusaiga?"

Spike shook his head. He didn't believe in things like that. It was just a myth, a folktale. Demon's didn't exist!

But Spike quickly ate his words up. Inuyasha and Serenity were both demons. Well, half demons anyway. And hadn't Inuyasha been carrying this sword on the day he came out of the well? Then that would mean…

As Spike surveyed more of the attic, a large book caught his eye. It was titled "How to get out of a sticky situation, no matter what it may be!"

"Shit, why not?" Spike said aloud. He picked the book up and looked through the contents. It listed various subjects. Spike scrolled down until he reached "When your family/friends act odd".

Deciding to get more specifics, Spike went to the back and into the index. He looked through the reference to chapter eight until he foundtwo wordsthatcaught his eye. Those words were"Opposite day."

Spike flipped to the specified page and read the provided information aloud.

"Opposite day is when the people living in your household act, as you could guess, act out of character and not like themselves. Only one random person out of the entire said household will not be affected. The cause of this phenomenon is still unknown, but there is a known cure. The person who is not affected must join in with the actions and antics of the victims. Only then will they revert to normal."

Spike sighed. Partake in the fun the others were having? Why oh why did they have to crash land on earth? But if that was the way it was to be done, then that was what he would do.

With a heavy sigh, Spike moved the trunk aside and went downstairs, bracing himself for the inevitable.

To be continued…

Sorry it took me so long to update this one. I could really use some ideas for future chapters (not the next one since I'm working on that already though). If you have any, review! Please? Don't make me beg…

Sorry, I got carried away. Just review if you want.

Randall Flagg2