A/N : I wanted to finish this until Halloween...Well, I obviously failed. Blame it on computer trouble, work, writer's block and real life in general. Sorryyyyyyyy! I promise even if it takes a while to upload I won't stop writing RotG-stories anytime soon.
Thank you so much for all the new reviews, favourites and followers! All of you encourage me to continue this! ^_^
„You want to dress as what?"
Mrs. Bennett gazed at her little daughter in surprise, wondering if she had misheard something. They had been talking about the upcoming Halloween and the costume for her youngest. It was going to be the first time she would roam the streets with her brother on a quest to gather as much candy as possible. Last year she had still been too young to take part, so naturally she was all excited and looking forward to the big day. Since she had been wearing her pink toy fairy-wings regularly and her room resembled the typical home of a little girl in every way possible, her mother had been convinced that she wanted to be a princess or a fairy. In fact she had already looked for such costumes and was ready to show her a variety of sparkly dresses. That the 3-year-old suddenly stated she was going to dress as the Easter Bunny came quite unexpected.
„But sweetie, that's a whole different season, don't you prefer to turn into a-"
„No, Easter Bunny! Hop hop hop!" Sophie interrupted determinedly.
Her decision was final and obviously no counterarguments would be taken into consideration. Mrs. Bennett sighed with a smile and nodded. There was no way she could deny her the wish.
„Alright, then let's see if we can find you a bunny costume."
Jack had to chuckle when he spotted the two children waiting for him at the street in front of their house. Jamie had already told him weeks ago that he was going to dress as a pirate, so it was the small bunny-girl next to him who caught the winter spirit's attention.
"Hey, kids!" he shouted while still flying in their direction.
As soon as his feet had touched the ground his first believers rushed towards him and greeted him with a hug around the waist. After stepping back again the two Bennetts beamed at him proudly, waiting for a statement regarding their costumes.
Sophie was wearing a grey full-body fursuit with a fluffy short tail and long ears which made her rosy face stuck out and look both out of place and rather adorable. In her hands she was carrying a small basket which had been painted in several bright colours and adorned with simple shapes resembling Easter eggs.
Jamie's costume consisted of a black tricorne with golden rims, a beige cotton shirt, a dark grey coat, striped pants and brown boots. The obligatory eyepatch and a plastic sword completed the outfit.
"Shiver me timbers, Jamie, ye look like ye're ready ta loot teh candy supplies of whole Burgess, arrrrren't ye?!" Jack spoke with a heavily accented voice and grinned at him lopsidedly.
The brunette boy laughed and tried to mimick the performance.
"Aye, teh town will fear me wrath when they don't surrender teh sweets!"
"I want chocolate! Hop hop hop!" Sophie threw in and bounced around them in what she deemed rabbit-like.
"Arrr, yes, our fellow lil' mascot will help us succeed!" the frost teen added and patted her furry head.
"Say 'arrrrrr' when you're ready to go!"
"ARRRRRRRRRR!" the 3-year-old bellowed while jumping up and down excitedly.
Despite trying, Jack and Jamie couldn't suppress their laughter about the surreal image of a pirate bunny in disguise. Needless to say that the mental image involving Bunnymund didn't help to calm them down. Sophie on the other hand had no idea what was amusing them so much and impatiently
insisted on finally starting their candy hunt. Neither her brother nor the Guardian of Fun had any objections and soon they were roaming the streets and wandering from house to house. On the way Jamie's friends joined them, as well as several other children of Burgess. Pippa was dressed as a witch, Cupcake as a sorceress, Monty as a ghost, Claude as a werewolf and Caleb as a vampire.
Time went by with incredible speed, they had so much fun and were so successfully collecting candy that they didn't even notice how two hours had already passed. The later the evening the more satisfied they were with their booty. Their bags were almost filled to the brim and Pippa was the first to suggest to go back home. However, the rest of the gang decided to canvass the few remaining houses of the street they were currently in. When they had arrived at the last one everyone halted in their tracks and glanced at each other insecure.
"What's wrong?" Jack asked as he saw the worried expressions on the children's faces.
"That's Mr. Jenkins' house." Caleb stated matter-of-factly, as if that should be explanation enough.
"Aaaaand? Is he the devil himself, waiting for innocent souls to knock on his door?" the winter spirit chuckled while the others stayed unusually serious.
"Yeah, pretty much like that." Claude confirmed.
"He never gives anyone candy on Halloween. Last year he even called the police when some boys decorated his porch with toilet paper. Guess he's never heard of 'Trick or Treat'." Cupcake explained further.
"We secretly call him 'Mr. Jerkins'."
"That's still too nice, he's a real ass-" Caleb started but was stopped by Jamie, who slapped him on the arm.
"Not in front of Sophie!"
"Speaking of whom, where is she?" Pippa threw in.
Only then they realized that the 3-year-old wasn't with them anymore. During their discussion she had run towards the house of the malevolent man, eager for more candy, and by the time they became aware of her absence she was already knocking on his door. Shortly afterwards a man his mid sixties, who beared a disturbing resemblance to Ebenezer Scrooge with hints of the Grinch, stood in the doorframe and glared down at the small costumed girl. Just then he detected the bunch of slightly older children hurrying in his direction and stopping dead in their tracks the moment their gazes met his.
"Sending the little brat ahead to beg for sweets? You seriously think I give rewards to cowards?" the grumpy old man snapped and pointed his finger at them to make sure they were the ones he addressed.
"Trick or Treat?" Sophie muttered uneasily, innocently hoping that at least she still had a chance to get a chocolate bar or some bonbons.
All she received was a derogatory look and an annoyed snort, followed by a sudden barking from behind him. Before she could react a Yorkshire Terrier dashed onto the porch and almost jumped right into her. Even though it managed to halt mere inches in front of her, the blonde girl was taken by surprise and stumbled backwards. Mr. Jenkins merely snorted again, this time amused, as he watched the child landing on her behind.
"Serves you right, now get lost and don't dare to bother me again!" he yelled at her and the others before he called his dog back inside and slammed the door shut.
Jack couldn't believe it. How could a person be that mean towards children? They hadn't provoked him or had done anything bad in general. Together with the rest of the group he ran to Sophie, who was still sitting on the wooden porch and trying to process what had happened.
"Hey, you alright?" the frost teen and Jamie asked simultaneously.
Despite the worst being over she only now started to sniffle and hugged her older brother for comfort.
"That's it, he's gonna pay for this." Jack declared resolutely.
"What do you mean?" Caleb was the first to ask.
"Well, 'Trick or Treat', right?" the Guardian of Fun smiled devilishly.
Mr. Jenkins ripped the door open once more, ready to scream bloody murder at the brats who dared to disturb him again. But to his surprise none of them was in sight. He scanned his surroundings suspiciously, wondering if he had imagined the knocks on the door. A chilly breeze passed him, causing him to shudder and quickly retreat into his warm house.
From their hiding place in the bushes right in front of the window Jamie and his friends cautiously peeked into the living-room, where the old man was sitting down on his armchair. All of a sudden loud barking erupted from the ridiculously small dog as it noticed Jack and built itself up in front of him. The winter spirit wasn't impressed at all, to say the least. With a weak motion of his staff a cold gust of wind blew the oversized rat several feet away from him. It wasn't enough to make it shut up, though.
"Good Lord! What's the matter, Princess? Are you hungry again?"
Jack didn't trust his ears. That awful pet's name was 'Princess'? How could an old grumpy guy call his dog 'Princess'? He had to chuckle, it was simply too grotesque.
"Of course you're hungry, my sweet girl always has such a healthy appetite, hasn't she?"
For once in his immortal life Jack was actually glad to be invisible, because his laugh attack surely wouldn't have been approved. Once more the terrier growled in disapproval of the spirit's presence before she followed her master to the kitchen. A can of dog food was opened and the slick pieces of meat dropped into the feeding dish with a less than appetizing sound. Princess however lunged herself at her dinner the moment the old man had stepped aside.
"Not so greedy, it's all yours." he reassured his pet and went back to the living room.
Jack remained where he was and observed the miniature dog gulping down the sickeningly smelling food. Sensing him she turned around and snarled again as if to make it clear that it didn't want him anywhere near her.
"Gheez, calm down, I won't take that disgusting stuff away from you."
Still distrustful she continued to devour her meal and the Guardian of Fun jumped at the opportunity to freeze it. While she was eating it. Causing her tongue to be stuck on the block of icy meat. She tried to free herself, completely in vain, but nevertheless she kept struggling. If she hadn't been such a hysteric pain in the butt and knocked Sophie over he would have felt pity for her. He liked animals a lot, but there were rare exceptions, and Princess surely was one of those.
Being oblivious of the drama unfolding in the kitchen, Mr. Jenkins had gotten comfortable in his armchair in front of a heavy wooden table and zapped from one TV channel to another aimlessly. Jack walked past him and immediately noticed the displeased expression written all over his face.
"Crap, so much crap..." he muttered to himself and kept switching channels, but none of the programs was able to meet with his approval.
"A real sunshine you are." Jack stated matter-of-factly.
At this very moment he had an epiphany and grinned mischievously.
"Well, if you don't like what it has to offer..."
The pensioner stared at the outdated flatscreen TV as the images stopped moving all of a sudden.
"What the HELL!" he shouted out, put the remote control aside and walked to the device, trying to find out what had caused the strange malfunction.
He couldn't believe his eyes when he discovered a thin layer of frost which had spread over it completely out of nowhere. After staring dumbfoundedly at it for a while he pondered if maybe the window behind it wasn't closed properly. He checked it to make sure and the children in front of it quickly cowered to not be caught. It was firmly shut. So that couldn't have been the root of the problem. Eventually he came to the conclusion that the new oh-so-modern technique was simply flawed and grumbled to himself how he was going to write a complain letter to the company which produced the television set. Since he didn't have anything else to do and was boiling with suppressed rage, Mr. Jenkins went to his small dark wooden desk, where an ancient computer, a bulky monitor and an outdated printer were desperately waiting for someone to pay attention to them. Judging by the dust on their surfaces they weren't used very often. To be honest, Jack was surprised the old grouch even had a computer.
"Damn TVs, my old one lasted for 15 years and this piece of crap breaks after less than two. Unbelievable..." the man muttered to himself while sitting on a simple wooden chair and impatiently staring at the screen while the PC was booting up. It was taking too long for his liking so he rummaged through a drawer on the side of the desk in the meantime. Just as the computer was finally ready he had found what he had been searching for and put an envelope next to him.
The winter spirit gazed at it for a moment and facepalmed. Instead of simply sending an E-mail the human Grinch was seriously going to print a letter and send it to the company via snailmail.
Despite his urge to continue with his prank, Jack watched him starting the letter since he was curious about what exactly he was going to write. Soon he had to realize that children weren't the only victims of his foul mood and disturbingly distinctive misanthropy. He would have felt sorry for the recipient of the less than diplomatic complaint, hadn't he already developed a plan how to proceed. After patiently waiting until the letter was finished he snickered maliciously and aimed his staff at the PC and then at the monitor, literally freezing them in an instant. His grin grew even wider at the disbelieving and shocked face of Mr. Jenkins, who seemed at a total loss at how to react, if only for a short while. Jack dearly hoped that the window was soundproof so Jamie, Sophie and their friends wouldn't hear the fulminant curses which followed right after the pensioner realized what had happened.
"Watch your mouth, grandpa." he ordered casually.
A snowball was thrown at the senior and hit him directly in the face, forcing him to interrupt his angry yelling and further increasing his confusion about what the heck was going on. Was his house haunted ? It had to be the only reasonable explanation for the hocus-pocus.
"Was that all you got, you stupid rotten ghost or whatever you are? This is my house and YOU better get out NOW!"
"Or what?" the frost teen replied, even though his counterpart wasn't able to hear him.
"Anyway, challenge accepted."
Before the man knew what had hit him he was already sliding away from where he had been standing, thanks to a sudden cold breeze and a path of ice appearing on the floor. In circles he was slipping across the living room, again and again. He shouted out loud as he he tried to fight the invisible powers, completely in vain.
When Jack decided the old man had enough he stopped his assault, expecting him to be meek and grateful that it was over. But he was surprised once more. Scrooge 2.0 only took a few deep breaths and immediately did what he could do best, letting out his anger. Furiously he hurried into the kitchen, obviously too upset to notice that his dog was frozen to its food, and returned with a large knife. Jack wasn't intimidated at all. On the contrary, it was hilarious how the old man assumed that randomly waving about with a knife and screaming bloody murder was a reasonable way to get rid of 'ghosts'. Shaking is head unimpressed the winter spirit send a blast of ice towards him, causing him to drop the completely frozen knife which shattered into a thousand pieces as soon as it landed on the floor.
"That's enough!" he bellowed and reached for the phone.
Curiously the young guardian watched him dialing a very short number and couldn't believe his ears when he heard him talking to the person on the other end of the line. He was seriously calling the police! Jack could have stopped him but he wanted to see the face of the officers when the old guy told them that a ghost was harassing him.
"You don't understand, I'm being attacked in my own house! You better get here quickly!" Mr. Jenkins snapped and hung up the phone without even waiting for an answer.
Right afterwards a heap of snow landed on him and he was sent sliding through the house once more before his involuntary sleighing party ended in the kitchen. It took him a bit to catch his breath. Nervously he glanced around himself and eventually saw his dog, which was still leaning over her food. Only then did he notice the dilemma she was stuck in.
"Oh my God, Princess! What happened?!" he shouted as if he expected her to answer.
Miserable whimpers reached his ears and he immediately reached for a mug and got some warm water to unfreeze her tongue.
Jack almost felt guilty. A part of him had respect for the senior liking his pet that much, but that didn't erase the fact they had mistreated the children. Not only tonight, but according to what Jamie's friends had said on many other occasions as well. Even if he was going to end on top of the Naughty List again, the Guardian of Fun had to pay him back for his foul behaviour.
The hysterical barking of the Yorkshire Terrier ripped him out of his thoughts. Obviously she had been freed and was ready to avenge herself on him. Angrily she pounced on him but he was too fast, so instead of digging her teeth into his ankle a patch of ice sent her straight towards the armchair. Only a dull 'Umph!' and a short high-pitched yelp was to be heard as she made contact with it.
"That must have hurt." the immortal teen chuckled gloatingly.
The small animal shook its head dizzily, its hair standing on end as it glared at him. By the looks of it dear Princess wasn't sure if it was a good idea to attack him one more time, but she did everything she could to make sure he felt how much she hated him.
Outside a faint thud alerted all three of them.
"Oh no..." Jack muttered to himself as he concluded that one of the kids must have tripped over something.
Mr. Jenkins smelled the rat and stomped towards the door. The moment he opened it a strong breeze
made him stumble several feet back. Snowballs were thrown into his face but he was too enraged to let that stop him. When he spied the group of kids lingering in front of his window his anger knew no boundaries.
„You! I should have known it was you little bastards who caused all this!" he roared fuming, not being able to form a reasonable thought in his upset mind anymore.
Jamie and his friends retreated as the menacing man came nearer. They were scared and didn't want to find out what he was capable of doing, especially in this furious state. All of them simultaneously heaved a sigh of relief when the Spirit of Winter suddenly jumped inbetween them and their attacker. A powerful gust of wind lifted him up and sent him flying through the air before he ungracefully landed on his behind. Curses rang through the air yet again. This time there was no chance the children had missed hearing it. Jack didn't tolerate such foul speech in front of them and to Mr. Jenkins' frustration a patch of ice suddenly sealed his mouth. The teenager turned around and faced them with his typical crooked grin.
"That was fun, wasn't it?"
The kids smiled and snickered but before any of them could reply the high-pitched siren of a police car caught their attention.
"Wow, that surely was quick." Jack noted.
With a nonchalant motion of his hand the ice on Mr. Jenkins' facee was ripped off. Not too pleasantly, judging by his outcry.
"Jack, why did you-" Jamie started, being rather shocked that he had freed their 'opponent' already.
The white-haired teen pointed at the two officers who had just stepped out of their car and were now walking in their direction.
"Don't worry, I have a feeling this is gonna be good." he assured his first believer as well as the rest of the group.
"Finally! What took you so long!?" Mr. Jenkins shouted out towards the two males in uniform.
"I'm sorry, Sir, but we came here as fast as we could." the black officer, who seemed to be in his early 40s, replied calmy.
His partner, a white brunette man who didn't look a day older than 30, glanced at the costumed children.
"You might want to tell us what's going on here."
As if he had waited for that question the pensioner immediately blurted out his accusations.
"It was them! They attacked me! I thought it was a ghost at first, but then I spotted them hiding here! Call their parents or arrest them right away, I don't care, as long as they're punished for their crime!"
Everyone was staring at him. The children shocked and worried, the policemen dumbfounded. Only Jack was smiling amused. and very confident.
"Wait for it..."
"Alright, Sir, I'm sorry to tell you but we can't and won't arrest children. You said they were here, outside, all along. How did they attack you inside the house then? And what exactly did they do?"
The old man was obviously annoyed that they didn't dump the little brats in prison right away and wanted further explanations instead. He heaved a deep sigh which sounded more like a growl.
"It must have been them! There was nobody else around, for heaven's sake! They were mad because they didn't get any sweets from me, so they froze my TV screen and my computer, threw snowballs at me, covered my floor with ice and made me slide through the rooms and last but not least they froze my dog's tongue! That's animal abuse!"
A moment of utter silence followed. The officers merely stared at him blankly before darting a look at each other with raised eyebrows. Without a doubt they were thinking exactly the same and pondering how to stay polite.
"If you don't mind me asking...how were they able to do that?" the brown-haired man asked.
"Heck, I don't know! Now can you please give them the punishment they deserve?"
"Sir, it's October. There isn't any snow or ice around." the younger officer stated and gestured around him, where only red and orange withered leaves were lying on the grass.
"Then come in, I'll show you the frozen devices!"
"No, thank you, I don't think that's necessary."
"But-"
"No 'but'. It's Halloween, so it's not unusual that kids are near your house. I suggest you withhold yourself from alcohol or whatever else you took. And don't forget it's against the law to make an emergency call for no good reason. If you do it again we'll have to arrest you." the black policeman spoke firmly and glanced at the children with a softened expression.
"You better go home now, I'm afraid there isn't any candy for you here."
"Oh my gosh, did you see the look on Jerkins' face?" Caleb laughed on their way back.
"He couldn't believe what had hit him!" Claude added.
"Jack, that was awesome! You're the master of 'Trick or Treat'!" Jamie applauded him and the others immediately agreed gushingly.
"Hehe, well, if you've got it, flaunt it." the Guardian of Fun chuckled and skillfully swirled his staff around.
"Can't wait until next Halloween, you will join us again, won't you?"
"Of course! This is fun I'd never want to miss!" Jack winked at them with a smile.
In the meanwhile a certain grumpy old man tried to unfreeze his TV and computer with a hairdryer. It was going to be a long night.
A/N : I apologize to all Yorkshire Terrier lovers. I'm sure they can be lovely dogs, but the hysterical and constantly barking terrier of my former neighbours traumatized me. :P
Reviews are highly appreciated! ^_^
