Wednesday 2: A Halloween To Remember

by Smack Dab

Upon keeping his end of the bargain with the Addams, Stewart is home-free to continue his plans for Halloween. That is until he receives yet another letter from them, an invitation to participate in a little contest, with a grand prize for the winner. Will Stewart accept the challenge to participate, or will he merely play it safe as he did before?

3. A Night On The Town

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing pertaining to the Addams Family, beyond this personalized work of fiction. Thank you. :)

"Are you scared? Are you scared? Are you scared? Are you scared? Are you scared? Are you scared? Are you scared? Are you scared?"

My body uncomfortably twitched left and right as my hands firmly gripped the sheets of my bed. Warm beads of sweat started to pour down my forehead as I could feel my body start to burn up. The words Wednesday spoke from that dream continued to dance around in my sub-conscious like the mocking laughter of grade-school children. Why was this happening to me? Why was I picked out of all the other kids in my neighborhood to participate in this competition? Not to mention the most important detail of all...how could I get these awful nightmares TO STOP?!?

Paul began to shake me somewhat violently as he could tell I wasn't having the most pleasant of dreams at the moment.

"Dude, get up! It's time for us to go pick up our duds at the costume shop! Jesus...why are you so warm?!?"

I woke up with a jump as my vision was still mildly blurred from having yet another unsightly abomination of a night terror. Paul's disgusted exasperation was all the reminder I needed to tell me my shirt was soaked to the bone with my own sweat.

"Ewwwwww!! Why the hell is your shirt drenched in sweat?!! There better be some disinfectant left in the bathroom!"

I groaned in pure frustration as the shirt I had on was my own personal favorite. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, just a navy-blue jersey with 2 zeroes on the front-center. It does have some considerable sentimental value to it though as my grandmother gave it to me for my B-day 3 years ago. She passed away peacefully in our home just last year, so suffice it to say the pain of loss still held true even now. Besides looking damn good on me (at least I'd like to think so), it served as a reminder of the dear family member we lost due to old age and sickness.

Wherever she is...I just hope she's found peace.

As I took my precious time regaining consciousness, I realized this was now officially the 2nd time I had a nightmare like this. It came to me in pieces as I re-visited all the most terrifying moments from that horrible dream. Paul being tied to that stake, me crashing hard to the ground on my left knee, my limp body being dragged off to the back-yard of that creepy mansion, and finally my body being thrown on a torture rack with Wednesday glaring me to death the whole time.

I never felt more pain than I did when my knee made solid contact with the ground beneath me, and what's worse is that I wasn't even awake when it happened. It was literally all a dream! I couldn't find a way to justify any of it, not to mention why I'd even have such a dream out of nowhere like that. I did at least consider it could have been a message of some kind, but right now I needed to concentrate on what was in front of me. I'd have plenty of time to "psycho-analyze" myself afterward.

Slowly, I lifted myself off my bed and began to adjust my clothes. I shivered in disgust as it turned out Paul wasn't joking when he said my shirt was drenched. I wiped off some of the slight residue from my right hand on his bed-sheets as I waited for him to "disinfect" himself. The little prick had some nerve complaining about my shirt when he used to pee in my bed before mom and dad got him his own. It wasn't anything I hadn't expected from him, but all the same his audacity was truly the stuff of legend at times.

I let about 10 minutes go by as I could still hear the water running loudly from the bathroom. I decided to use the time I spent waiting to fetch myself some fresh clothes while my usual gear dried itself out. I dug through our closet toward the upper-left corner of the room and pulled out a gray sweater along with some brown winter pants. It was supposed to be a bit colder outside than normal, and with how much I'd sweated while dreaming, I couldn't take a chance with getting sick.

After putting my moist clothes in the laundry basket, I waited once more for Paul to finish up. I just wanted to splash some water on my face to hopefully put my mind at some ease before I went out to the family van parked outside the garage. Paul finally exited after about 5 minutes with an expression on his face that suggested he was still partially grossed out having touched my sweat covered jersey. I would have felt some minor sympathy for him had we not argued an hour or 2 ago. All the same, he greeted me with his usual smug charm and arrogance that I'd come to expect having lived with him since birth.

"Just what kind of dreams have you been having lately? I'm no expert here, but I'm pretty sure a temperature like that is NOT normal, even if you are having nightmares!"

I figured I must have been burning up for a while, but I had no way of discerning why. I was or at least felt completely healthy for the past couple of months or so. I hadn't any allergy attacks to speak of, and my throat and sinuses hadn't bothered me at all. Could it just be all the stress and fear I've harbored since collecting that letter? Were these peculiar "hot flashes" related to the strange visions I'd been having lately? I could ask all the questions I wanted naturally, but none of it meant anything without answers to speak of.

In truth, I had no idea what to say. All I could do was blame my condition, or whatever it was on all the stress and anxiety I'd been feeling lately.

"I'm honestly not sure. It's probably just all this stress between Halloween and now this new "challenge" thing. My answer on that's still undecided by the way."

Paul nodded his head as he casually strolled out of the bathroom, making way for myself to enter, but not before delivering one of his trademark snappy quips at my expense.

"You should know me by now...normally I couldn't care less what happens to you, but when touching you feels like I just grabbed a storm-cloud, then it becomes my business!"

I shot him a dead-pan glare as I stepped through the door-way, and then abruptly closed the door behind me. Credit to my brother, he was nothing if not consistent, which in fairness is the nicest thing I could think to say about him. I wasted no time as I hurried over to the sink. I quickly turned the water back on, but not before taking a look at myself in the mirror on the wall above it. I noticed my short, blonde, hair was disheveled and matty, damp with sweat and somewhat sticky. My eyes were beginning to show tinges of red as a result of the rather poor sleep I'd been having lately.

It only now began to sink in just how much everything was affecting me. I was going to drive myself into an early grave if things kept up the way they were. This was no longer a matter of choice or opinion, I needed to find a way to calm myself down before I got any worse. After all, it's not like they were forcing me to accept the invitation, but then again...we all know what happened the last time I tried to duck out on them.

Regardless, I needed to concentrate on finding a suitable costume to make this Halloween every bit as memorable as it deserved to be. After freshening up a bit, I quickly made my way down to the living room where Paul stood by the front door, impatiently tapping his left foot on the floor as he waited for me. He wore a light-brown jacket and small black cap. He had even less tolerance for the cold than I did (I've caught dozens of his colds to prove it), so like me he wisely wasn't taking any chances with the elements either. I snatched my bright red hoodie off the coat hanger and we both finally made our way out toward the black family van, where our parents were waiting for us the whole time.

I entered through the rear door to the left as Paul entered through the right, just like we'd always done so when going for a drive. His presence was considerably more tolerable as having mom and dad so close by forced him to filter out what he could normally say. This gave him far less opportunities to annoy me as he generally did, although he did manage the odd snappy retort here and there.

I closed my eyes and attempted to center myself as I silently wished the drive and crisp, night air would help take my mind off things. My parents kept quiet as they no doubt had more pressing matters on their mind than the adolescent hijinks of 2 pre-teen kids. It should go without saying, but my mom and dad would never approve of me going to a stranger's house, even if I was invited. If I was to accept this challenge, there was no way I could let either of them know about it. I hated that option though as I'd never lied to either of them before, ever! I didn't like the choices this scenario was forcing me to make, but if it meant getting these people to finally leave me alone, I had no time to be picky about my options.

When I opened my eyes, I took a look out my window, forcing myself to stare out into the bleak darkness of the early evening so that I didn't have to look at Paul. His usual antics had really been tiring me out lately. Of course looking at it objectively, it was a culmination of everything that had been happening lately. The strange visions, the God awful night terrors, the stress of the year long Halloween plans my friends and I made, and the fact that I'd have to be baby-sitting Paul the whole night through. Was I simply destined to have every good thing in life go bad?

I couldn't answer that question even if I wanted to know the answer. The only thing I knew for sure was that I couldn't let the people important to me down no matter what. I wasn't going to let some weird, gothic side-show ruin the plans that me and my friends spent a whole year putting together. I was going to see this Halloween through to the end even if it KILLED me damn it!

We past through our neighborhood streets which were illuminated by the street-lights. This gave me a decent view of each house I'd be visiting before my friends and I met up at the rendevouz point, where we'd raid every house we could reach before we had to head home. I stared out blankly at every house we drove by, briefly wondering to myself what sorts of candy they'd have for this year.

Suddenly...I caught from the corner of my eye an odd, shadowy figure of sorts. It was just barely made visible from the various street-lights and the illumination of the various houses we past by. It's eyes showed a bleak, empty stare that felt all too dreadfully familiar to me. They possessed an ominous gleam which caused them to shine menacingly at me from a distance. I figured I had to be imagining it. It was just something my paranoia wracked mind cooked up while I was lost in my thoughts. As much as I wanted that to be the case, I would have known if I'd dozed off or not, so it couldn't have just been a dream or hallucination. I had no idea just whom those creepy eyes could have belonged to, but I had a feeling it wouldn't be the last I'd see of them...much to my chagrin, of course.

For the first time since we'd begun the drive, Paul turned his head toward my way to look at me. We hadn't spoke a word to each other since our exchange at the bathroom, which was by far the most pleasant experience I enjoyed thusly. All the same, I could feel him begin to tug on my right shoulder. Lord knows why he wanted my attention at the moment, but I quietly sighed and turned my head to face him directly.

"Psssst! What were you looking at just now?"

He asked this in a hush tone to not draw the attention of mom and dad. My eyes widened a little at his question. How did he know I was looking at anything in particular? Was he watching me the whole time? I tried to play dumb so I wouldn't have to go into detail about the sinister pair of gleaming eyes we just drove by.

"Uhh nothing special...just the window Paul."

I pointed at my window with my right thumb to deflect interest from what I'd saw in the dark. Thankfully, Paul didn't seem to catch on to what I was doing. That meant he hadn't seen what I saw, which also meant I didn't need to go into detail about things further. His expression went from genuine curiosity, to pure boredom as he responded indifferently to my casual answer.

"Whatever, didn't mean to bother you."

He then turned his head to look at his own window as he left me to myself once more. I sighed under my breath in relief for what felt like the billionth time in weeks. I don't especially enjoy lying to people mind you, let alone my own family, but Paul either didn't know or simply didn't care when enough was enough, and I'd already exhausted what little energy I had worrying about this new "challenge" thing I'd have to confront on the horizon.

Nonetheless, I was just happy to have a few precious moments of him not constantly buzzing around my own business like flies circling a garbage can. Quite honestly, it amazed me how suffocating a sibling could be. I only had one, and it felt like I was "blessed" with 7 or 8. It would be a disservice, if not an outright insult to refer to Paul as a handful. He was like a one-kid shmorgasboard of annoyance and grief. Not only was he dry witted, calculating, and sharp tounged as someone far above him in years and experience, he still had the rambunctious energy of a child at least half his age!

At least now I had some peace of mind. I could take my focus off what I saw and aim it at where it should be: the costume shop! I took notice of the street we were on, and I realized we were about to exit our own neighborhood and enter the city. We live in a small quiet town just outside the city of Chicago. The rents only take us outside our town's borders when we need something we can't get at any of the shops here. Don't get me wrong, I love my little town and all it's familiar skate parks, shops, eateries, movie theaters and so on, but it'd be nice to see the hustle and bustle of the big city a little more often. Even I need a change of scenery here and there, haha!

Anyhow, at this rate it would take us only about 20 minutes to reach the costume shop. I began to mentally prepare myself for what costume would best suit me. I swiftly rummaged through my memories of my current favorite shows and horror movies to see what might work. I hadn't dressed up as one of the X-Men for a few years. Cyclops was cool and sleek, whereas Wolverine was fierce and badass. Either one could work with the right approach, but I realized going as something too common lacked originality. I hated the thought of one of my friends picking out the same costume, and then both of us becoming embarassed when we saw we were both wearing the same thing. I harshly shook those thoughts away as I pondered the horror movies I'd been watching lately. I briefly considered going as Freddy Krueger, but then I remembered Paul has been wanting to go as him for years now. Jason would be an option, but he's too lumbering and bland for my taste.

We finally pulled up at in all-too familiar parking lot as I instantly recognized all the restaurants, shops, and even the local movie theater I'd attended once. My eyes instantly brightened in excitement as I began to wonder what new costumes my favorite store would have for this year. I could have whatever I wanted provided Paul didn't already have his eyes on it. I quietly reminded myself to stay out of whatever aisle he was already in. The last thing I needed was him taking interest in a costume I wanted.

We parked directly in front of the store. I could see some of their newest costumes in both of their front windows. There was a brand new, brightly colored, Superman outfit in the left window with all the standard details. The one thing that stood out the most was his symbol on the chest-plate was uniquely stylized. It had a dark copper color to it with silver glitter, and encrusted diamonds lined up and down his trademark "S". Even as someone not into Superman, I had to admit the coloring and cool signia had me quite interested...until I saw the price tag. My rents weren't stingy when it comes to spending, but not even Paul could whine his way into making them shell out "60.00$" for just one costume.

At the right window, there was actually a Night-Crawler costume. It was practically an exact duplicate of the real deal too! It was colored to perfection, it even came with a dark blue hair-piece and that long, blue tail he has in back of him. I myself am more of a Cyclops or Wolverine guy though, and if I wasn't going as either of them, I couldn't see myself going as Night-Crawler. The price tag of "49.99$" only further dissuaded any remaining interest I may have had in the costume before hand.

My parents began to exit the car from their respective seats as me and Paul shortly followed their lead. Before opening his door however, he gave me one last douchey smirk and a final piece of "advice" before we both ran ahead to pick out what we wanted.

"I don't care what you pick out, provided it's not something that I want, or anything too lame. It's hard enough being seen in public with you, and I can't keep looking cool enough for the both of us. I have limits y'know!"

I just smiled and shook my head while preparing to enter into the chilled autumn night. I wasn't going to allow Paul to ruin what little excitement I had to savor for the moment, he'd already done enough of that these past few days. I quickly got out of the car wanting to get to a decent aisle before my spoiled jackass of a kid brother did so. Sadly, I didn't count on Paul turning into the Road-Runner as he high-tailed his way toward the 2 front doors of the costume shop. Hell, he ran faster than I did in the dream! My parents briefly tried to call out to him so he wouldn't go too far, but he was already out of ear-shot before their voices could reach. Silently, my dad made an expression that basically said "get him before he hurts himself". I repressed the urge to facepalm as I shook my head once more, this time in aggravation rather than calm indifference.

I wasted no time in rushing to where Paul was standing, practically salivating as he took in the various costumes, Halloween posters, and cardboard cut-outs of popular horror movie villains and monsters. It took me about 5 minutes to reach his position, upon which I lightly tapped him on the back. I tried rather poorly to hold back my growing rage as I didn't feel like getting banned from the costume shop I'd been visiting since the very first Halloween of my life.

"Would you do me a favor Paul? Could you wait until after we've purchased our costumes to get us thrown out?"

Paul looked down at the ground, keeping his mischievous grin while also relaxing himself a bit. It really didn't matter what I told him in all bluntness. He generally blocked out whatever I said to him, regardless of how nice or courteous I expressed myself before-hand. The only thing that could ever get through to him was a threat of some kind, one that he couldn't talk his way out of. I never really bothered to question it before. I've just accepted this was the way Paul's mind worked. Whereas I'm the type to avoid trouble and danger of any kind, Paul embraced it as he always had some way around it. Whether it be exploiting his baby of the family status with mom and dad, using my generosity to his own benefit, taking advantage of his own friends, and so on. He always had a plan, or an exit strategy if you will.

Regardless, he said nothing as we both patiently waited for mom and dad to join us. Dad, being the gentleman that he always was, held the doors open for all of us. He also made sure to give a playful "wink" to mom as they briefly locked eyes with each other before she entered the store herself. I'll just leave the nature of what that means to your own imaginations.

Anyway, Paul and your's truly quickly followed right behind her as we both scouted each aisle for the proper section. The store itself was hardly Wal-Mart in terms of size, but it still had a fairly respectable selection of costumes to suit just about any taste there was. There were about 12 aisles in all, each of which featured a specific kind of costume for the holiday consumer. One aisle was filled with space-man gear. Another filled to the helm with more traditionally feminine stuff, such as fairy wands and princess dresses. There was even one for those interested in Tarzan, such as the grass loincloth, long brown hair wigs, face paint, and even the spear he used from the film. Plenty of quality options to choose from, but none of which suited my own immediate interests.

I sped through the aisles looking for the right one for myself. I knew I had to pick one that wasn't too far away from the one Paul was at. This would give me the best position to monitor his behavior, and with us being so close by, I could hear his footsteps if he decided to run off somewhere. I knew better than anyone how hyperactive he could get whenever he was excited about something, and there was no way I could afford to take a chance with him getting lost or causing trouble. As the older sibling, I was responsible for him whenever mom and dad couldn't be there. I'm not exactly crazy about the fact, but even a kid like me knows there's plenty of things one must do against their will...whether they like it or not.

My shoes skidded on the ground as I forcefully halted my own momentum from running. Here it was, aisle 10! This section was a treasure trove of monster movies, horror movie villains, among other gory, over-the-top scary costume supplies. If Paul was going to end up at any aisle in particular, it HAD to be this one! Feeling satisified at this realization, I turned my back to check out one of the aisles nearby, silently hoping one of them would have what I was looking for. Now that I knew where Paul would be, I could concentrate on finding the perfect costume for the biggest Halloween ever.

I gave a quick once-over of aisle 9 to see if anything would spark my interest. It was comprised of comic book and Sci-Fi heroes and villains galore. There was a Cyclops outfit as I'd predicted from earlier, and the price of "19.99$" was certainly holding my attention, but in the end I decided against it. With how popular the X-men were as a whole (especially with kids my age), I wouldn't be surprised to see 5 other kids with the same thing. I needed something special, something unique! I generally didn't care much about standing out, but this Halloween needed to be perfect!

Even so, I couldn't deny the selection was incredible all things concerned! They had pretty much every X-men hero, villain, or otherwise ever conceived before. The Sci-Fi side of things had great costumes for Star Wars and Star-Trek fans alike. There were these sick glow in the dark light-sabers for the Star Wars side of things. Darth Vader's helmet and cape both looked beautiful and in pristine condition. It even came with a voice changer to replicate all his most infamous quotes and sayings from the films. For the Star Trekkies, they got to enjoy authentic T-shirts that all the main cast were known to wear. There was also a plastic head-piece for commander Worf...preeeeety sure that wasn't gonna be the look for me. Just sayin'.

I quietly exited aisle 9 in favor of aisle 8. I could tell by the loud slapping of shoes on the ground that Paul had found his way to his aisle of choice. That could only be good news for me naturally. Not only could I keep watch on him from a safe vantage point, it also gave me all the time I needed to search out a costume for myself in the process. I wasted no time looking my merry way through aisle 8 at my own leisure. This one featured costumes for popular cartoon and anime characters simultaneously. I noticed supplies and character specific attire for shows like Dexter's Lab, Hey Arnold, Spongebob, and many, many others. For the anime side of things, there were costumes and gear for animes like Inuyasha, DBZ, Cowboy Bebop, and so on. I carefully observed each and every shelf for something that could give me just the right blend of cool and bad-ass I was hungrily searching for.

Then...just when I thought I'd never find it, a miracle had occured right there at aisle 8.

It stood dead-center on display within the aisle itself. You could imagine a chorus of heavenly music with the display surrounded by a golden aura of sorts to properly capture the moment in your head. It was a freshly delivered, silk white gi, not unlike the one Samurai Jack wore. Within it's plastic packaging also contained a jet-black sheathe with a golden stripe running down the top, and ending all the way at the bottom. It also had a pin one could use to tie their own hair in a pony-tail, another one of Jack's many trade-mark characteristics. The crowning jewel ontop this picture perfect collection was a light-brown pair of wooden sandals that Jack always wore. The best part of it was they were exactly in MY size, so that I could wear them on Halloween night without them impairing my mobility in some way.

It should go without saying by this point, but I didn't just want this exact replica of Jack's usual attire. Oh no, because you see...I needed this exact replica of Jack's usual attire! The details were sharp. The package couldn't be more complete if it came with a DVD for season 1 of the show itself, AND it just so happened to be the best costume for the look I was going for. It was cool and slick, but with Jack's stern, constantly serious demeanor and deadly, break-neck sword play, it also could strike fear in the hearts of anyone, be they man, beast, or otherwise.

I raced over to the display in a frenzied hurry. I was in such a rush I barely even could register Paul's foot-steps or excitement anymore. It was though the world and all that encompassed it had stopped, and all that mattered was the amount of space there was between myself, and the designated costume of my choosing. At least I'd have the costume in my possession before Paul ever caught wind of it.

Anyway, it took me mere seconds to reach the display before anyone else. I immediately snagged the plastic bag containing my prize off it's display before bolting to where my folks were. I was so excited I nearly missed checking the price tag before grabbing the costume. I was considerably pleased to know it was only "19.99$", which for a collection this perfect was a steal in every sense of the word. Of course, I also made a mental note to head back to aisle 10 so I could check on Paul, but right now my singular goal was securing my costume of choice for myself. I had little doubts Paul hadn't already done the same thing anyhow.

I found my parents diligently waiting for me by one of the many registers the store had. All I had to do was hand this plastic bag over to one of them, and my Halloween gear for this year would be all set! Before I could get crowded by the other patrons of the costume shop, I seized an opening in between the gaps of the various costumers attending the shop to reach my folks with the plastic bag still in hand. Since my mother was closest to me, I nearly threw the bag into her arms, and then right afterwards hugged her, gave a kiss on her right cheek, and rushed back to where I last left Paul. I assumed he'd of gone back to look over anything he might of missed (as I would have no doubt). As it turns out, me and my brother weren't always so different after all.

I reached aisle 10 in about 5 minutes or so. Much to my immediate chagrin however, Paul was nowhere to be found anywhere up or down the aisle. I forced myself to not panic as I attempted to calmly deduce where he could have gone. I harshly facepalmed myself square in the forehead at my own stupidity for leaving Paul to himself. I normally would never leave him alone anywhere knowing how easily he could either get into, or cause trouble simply on his own merits. That costume collection was a one of a kind though, and I became so obsessed with getting it to safety that Paul's well-being simply evaporated within the moment. I began to silently vow to never leave Paul unattended again, not just for his own sake of course, but for the sake of anything else within his immediate presence.

As I became disoriented by Paul's disappearance, I began to hear some of the contents on the shelves shuffle a bit. Was there a roach or rodent problem in the store I had no way of knowing? I quickly backed away and looked in every possible direction around me, to make sure nobody could possibly sneak up on me. I had a growing suspicion that Paul was pulling a prank on me. The only question was...from where would he strike?

If the contents on the shelves were moving around, he had to have been at the opposite aisle, moving things from the other side. The more jittery he made me, the more likely I'd want to exit from the aisle itself, and then that would prompt him to jump out and scare me by the time I did so. As much sense as that made to me, as fate would have it I knew my own brother way too well for him to go with that approach. It was far too predictable, even for him! If he was going to come at me from anywhere, it would be where I last expected it...

"GOTCHAAAA!!!"

Right on time...how quaint.

Sadly for me, Paul's sudden leap off the shelf had caught me completely off-guard. I was a moron to expect anything less from him, he was always pulling this kind of crap whenever he could get away with it. As I took in what few details I could manage in such a short span of time, I noticed Paul had already slipped on his Krueger costume. He was wearing a rubber mask complete with Freddy's signature burn scars and disfigurements. A christmas sweater, with rips and tears in the middle and the sleeves for dramatic effect.The infamous pair of razor sharp claws that he was known to murder his victims with, both in life and in death, and let's not forget his trademark fedora hat, which he wore both with pride, and swag.

Paul was no doubt testing the costume's scare factor out on what he knew would be the easiest target. In fairness, he wasn't inaccurate by any stretch of the imagination. Between how jumpy and anxious I'd been for a while now. Not to mention the pressures of having to pull off the Halloween plan I'd spent a year putting together, explain to my friends that Paul would be accompanying us the whole way through, AND that I'd essentially be babysitting him for next 3 hours during it all! Suffice it to say, I was one nervous brat, and Paul made sure to milk that fact for all it was worth.

I had enough time to analyze what Paul was wearing, but sadly not enough time to react to his approach. He landed feet first on my chest, with our combined weight causing us both to ungracefully plummet to the floor beneath us. Of course I involuntarily softened the impact of the fall...at the cost of my lower back. He soon laughed hard in my face as if though he just pulled off the prank of the new millenium, and to think all it costed were potential back issues for me in the future. At least nothing "important" was lost here...right?

"HaHAAAAAH!!! You should of seen the look on your face. Let's see how THAT affects your dreams tonight!!"

Okay...I'm more or less accustomed to this kind of lunacy from Paul, but when someone's knees or something just as stiff are firmly planted within my chest, that's when the kid gloves come off!

"Uhh Paul? Not to spoil your victory here, but you have precisely 10 seconds to get off of me before I explain to mom and dad why you're trying to eat your fedora."

Paul's eyes instantly widened in fear at the sound of my voice, as well as the threat I gently threw his way. For once in his life, he did exactly what I told him to do and practically jumped off me the first chance he could. He then ran all the way to the opposite end of the aisle, slapped his butt like the juvenile monkey he was, and ran off toward the right of the store. I facepalmed and snorted in pure anger as now I had to chase him throughout the store. With adrenaline flowing through me, I too jumped to my feet and proceeded to wherever the hell Paul could have run off to. I had zero idea why he decided to pull this crap now. It's not like he had anything to gain from doing this! Was he trying to get us both grounded?!?

Huffing and grunting as my legs carried my full weight as swiftly as they were able to, I could at least hear Paul's mocking laughter and giggles, giving me some direction as to where Paul was running. This continued until finally I saw him running through 2 doors of what looked like the entrance to the storage room of the store. I growled in rage as I shouldn't even be running toward here in the first place. Once again, mischief was one thing, but even so Paul wasn't stupid. I knew my brother well enough to understand he wouldn't pull a stunt like this when Halloween was right around the corner. So why in the blue hell would he try something like this when there was nothing to be gained from it? It just didn't add up!

At any rate, I shoved my way past both doors as I was still hot on Paul's trail. The room itself was dark and damp, there were no lights present here nor any special details about the room itself. It was comprised of a few concrete walls, a couple mountains of boxes crudely stacked ontop each other, and a pale orange light from some of the windows. I begun to hear Paul's mocking laughter and giggling become louder in here. It seemed obvious he was close by, but with each step I took toward the source of it...not only did it grow louder, it also sounded...deeper.

I was rapidly growing unnerved as Paul's jovial laughing was starting to sound from someone much older. It was like his voice was undergoing a transformation of some kind. I cautiously took each step forward to where the laughter was coming from, though every remote scrap of rational thought within me was screaming to run from where I was as fast as possible. There was no way in hell I could do so if Paul was still here however, so that option was by far and wide off the table.

I finally reached Paul whom had his back turned to me, his head slumped down as it looked like he was catching his breath. He was still laughing, albeit much slower this time. Having reached my limit for unnecessarily creepy shit this fine evening, I firmly gripped Paul's left shoulder to make it clear I wasn't screwing around here.

"Look Paul, enough's enough! We should have already been out of here by now. Let's go before mom and dad flip!"

Just then...Paul's laughter went from playful and silly, to low pitched and sinister. It was at that point I realized, whomever or whatever this person was, it was not my little brother at all.

"Daaaaaaaaw, you're such a tight-wad Stewie boy! Why can't you be more like the little guy? He at least was fun to torture!"

The blood running through my veins stopped in that instant. My left hand flew off whatever this...thing was supposed to be. I used my now free left hand to clutch my now pounding chest as my heart felt like it was on fire. Each pulsating beat felt like a rock was being smashed into my chest as I recoiled in petrified terror at the monster that stood me down! With my back up against a wall, I took in familar features that brought to mind of an iconic horror movie villain not but 2 decades ago, that I knew all too well. The burnt face, the ripped, tattered christmas sweater, the razor sharp claws, the fedora, and that demonic sounding voice with a slight growl to it. The only major difference here was his size. He was the same size as Paul! Was he just trying to mess with my head? With a sudden surge of boldness, I angrily shouted at this monstrosity who implied torturing my little brother.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH PAUL?!?"

The creature's expression went from dark amusement, to a somewhat confused expression. It soon spoke again, taunting me wll the way with it's cruel sense of humor.

"What have I done with him you say? Why, I just gave him the scare of his life, that's all! As for you, I'm supposed to deliver a message, but I don't see why I can't do 2 things at once...know what I mean?"

N-No...my only brother.

"Y-...YOU SON OF A BITCH!!! If you've touched even one hair on his head, I'll rip off what's left of your hideous FACE!!!"

"Hoo-Hoooo!! Aren't you the brave one all of a sudden? Well if you miss him that dearly, I'll be sure to slash you to ribbons as soon as possible. Don't you worry, I'll see to it personally you'll be reunited...IN PIECES!!"

With this, the dwarvish abomination pointed his sharp, steel, talons at my face, and lunged forward to my position. I'm not exactly what one would call a natural fighter, but I have gotten into a few scuffles in school before. Most of them were from fighting back bullies and whomever decided to bother my friends. I've won more fights than I probably ought to, but it takes a long time to push me to the point where I'd actually fight back. I generally don't think about it, I just start punching anything in my way in my way, and this time was no exception.

In a blind, emotionally berserk rage, I threw the hardest punch I could with my right arm. I could feel my elbow snap painfully as the punch was thrown with all the strength my right arm had at that moment. My opponent saw the attack coming, and simply side-stepped me to the left, watching me stumble awkwardly to the floor, but not before I collided head-first with the wall in front of me.

Before I had the chance to regain my footing, the assailant placed his left claw on my back. He began to slowly dig his razor sharp talons through the material of my hoodie and sweater, and into my bare flesh. It was like being stabbed by the world's sharpest pitch-fork. I tried to jump up once again to fight back, but he proceeded to use his right claw to catch my neck. He pointed it's sharpness directly toward the back of my neck, with one slash he could easily tear it apart from this position.

I closed my eyes and silently waited for the inevitable. It disgusted me that I couldn't avenge my brother, but at least I wouldn't have to wait long to see him again. The only thing that remained a mystery by this point is what he exactly meant by having a "message" for me. Did he have some early funeral arrangements in mind or something?

Suddenly, I could feel him taking a few steps away from me. It was hard for me to move around as much due to the pain in my back from where his claws stabbed me, but I managed to turn to my right to see what he was doing. He just stared me down with that malicious, shit-eating grin as I began to wonder just what he had planned for me. Much to my shock however, this morbid freak of nature soon collapsed to the floor in a pile of dust. With a look of pure bewilderment, I gently rubbed my eyes with my hands just to make sure I hadn't imagined the whole thing. I opened them up only to be greeted with the same sight.

My injuries began to take their toll on my state of consciousness. As my eyes grew heavy and my vision started to blur out, I noticed something that scared the strength I once had back in me all at once. Right where that dwarven Freddy Krueger demon stood was now Wednesday. Her eyes displayed the same total lack of emotion as her arms were crossed as she stared at my pathetic dying state. Not only was I dying, I now was scrambling on the ground to get away from her. A task which rapidly depleted the adrenaline I had pumping through me. Wednesday soon began to approach my position, each foot-step feeling more omnious as she stepped ever closer to my writhing carcass. This scenario practically mirrored my dream in every way, including the fact that the pain I was in for the moment made it clear I could not be dreaming. With the little energy I had left, I decided to spend my last sentence in existence by asking just what I'd done to deserve it in the first place.

"What do you want from me?!"

As always, nothing. Just complete and total silence, followed by a maddeningly empty, unfeeling stare. She now stood directly over me, keeping her lifeless gaze on me as she pulled out something. My eyes widened in complete horror as I saw her clutching a huge, sharp, stainless butcher knife from her right hand. Rather than plunge it down into my back however, she got down on one knee right beside me. I closed my eyes as I embraced the fate that I had no hope in hell of escaping. That was when she spoke into my ear, with that same dull, lifeless voice she had from the dream. It was just barely above a whisper, and held no emotion nor empathy whatsoever.

"...Don't be late.""W-...What?"

In that instant, she plunged the 12 inch butcher knife into my neck, silencing me on the spot as my vision went totally dark once again.

However...as the darkness completely overtook my vision, it was soon driven out by a blinding surge of light. I quickly opened my eyes to see the two doors opened up, with Paul staring down at me from them, a confused expression lay evident on his face as he did so.

"So this is what you do when no one's around. If only we brought the family camera."