Aaaand… here we have the stunning conclusion of Jacuzzi's Halloween adventure with Shinji. You guys are gonna love this!
Shinji and Jacuzzi fell down, down, down, into complete darkness. Suddenly, they could see a huge fiery pit beneath them. Before they knew what was happening, they crash-landed in a large net, which broke their fall and then dropped them off on the burning-hot sand. The two of them took in their surroundings for awhile. "Oh, no," said Shinji.
"W-what?" Jacuzzi screamed.
"This is the scariest part of the entire haunted house," Shinji whispered, "I only came here once, and I vowed never to come here again."
"You morons!" Asuka screamed, "Now I'm stuck down here!" Her voice was quivering.
The three kids continued to walk along, They weren't alone. A few other characters whom Jacuzzi recognized from earlier were there, including the big, brawny man, the man with long, white hair, and the dark woman. The kids wondered if they should speak, but just then, the men and woman burst into flames, and seemed to disintegrate before their eyes. Jacuzzi tried to call to Shinji and Asuka, but then he realized that they were on fire too, and disintegrating fast. Too stunned to speak, he came face-to-face with a giant demon, with horns and wings. "WELCOME TO HELL!" the demon roared, "PREPARE TO BURN!" Then the demon's eyes turned into huge fanged mouths, each looking like the one in the center of the demon's face. Jacuzzi was too scared to move or scream. But in the next second, he felt a sharp jolt underneath him, and then he was going up and up. Slowly recovering focus, he realized that he was rising on the neck of the dragon from earlier. And Shinji and Asuka were right behind him, clinging to its back.
The dragon climbed so high, so fast, that the teenagers' eyes stung and their ears ached from the cool rush of wind. "This is a fine mess you've gotten me into, moron!" Asuka screamed as her dress and hair billowed out around her. Jacuzzi resisted the urge to shout something back. The dragon continued to climb, up and up until the children had a total aerial view of the Library's neighborhood, and the giant clock in the middle of town was at their eye level. Then it stopped, and plunged downward, eventually coming to a rough landing on the haunted house's roof, where it thrashed and roared. "How do we get off of here?" Jacuzzi screamed.
"I dunno, genius!" Asuka screamed. "I've never done this before!"
"Okay…," said Jacuzzi, "Lemme think… um…." It was then that he realized that the dragon's head, where he was located, appeared to be the closest to the ground. "I have a plan!" he shouted back to Shinji and Asuka, "Asuka, link hands with Shinji, quick!"
"Eew, what?" Asuka retorted.
"There's no time for that!" Jacuzzi insisted, "I'm trying to help you get off!"
"Fine," Asuka grumbled. She reached up tentatively, pressing herself against the dragon, and grabbed Shinji's hand.
"Now what?" Shinji yelled.
"Now… Shinji, you grab my hand!" Jacuzzi continued. Shinji inched slightly forward, and Jacuzzi bent backward a little, until the two of them could reach each other's hands. "Okay…," said Jacuzzi, "Now… I'm going to drop off the dragon. Don't let go, whatever you do!" he ordered. "Here goes," he muttered to himself, swinging his legs onto the ground and releasing his grip on the dragon's neck. He fell to the ground, and Asuka and Shinji fell on top of him as the dragon threw them off and flew away.
The three children picked themselves up. "You stupid, stupid moron!" Asuka screamed at Jacuzzi, "How dare you? You… you… I hate you so much!" She slapped Jacuzzi in the face.
"You were the one who asked for help," Jacuzzi protested.
"But… but I… oh…. Nobody understands me!" Asuka screamed, bursting into tears. She slapped Shinji again. "Why… oh… I have to be saved by a stupid scaredy cat who's never even done this before!" She ran ahead, "I'll be on the roller coaster!"
"This way," said Shinji with a sad little smile. Jacuzzi sighed as he ran after the boy and girl to a big structure that made loops and corkscrews up into the night sky, and went back down into the house again. The three of them got on pumpkin-shaped cars that took them all over the place, first deep down into the ground, where they came across a group of mummies scurrying in and out of their sarcophagi, and then up into a bell tower where a witch sat cooking something over the fire and grabbed for them. But before she could do so, they cut across the roof to a gargoyle, which jumped out at them, and finally, they plunged down into the house again, where a skeleton greeted them at the end. "Happy Halloween," it taunted.
That was where they unloaded. "So… how much more of this is there?" Jacuzzi breathed.
"Oh, there's just one more piece," said Asuka with a rather nasty smile. Shinji cringed.
"That way," the skeleton motioned toward a red exit sign, which seemed to be a long way off. Jacuzzi felt a sudden jolt of energy, and he ran for it, with Shinji and Asuka following behind him.
The last section of the haunted house consisted of something that looked innocently enough like a corn maze. Suddenly, a strobe light came on. Jacuzzi couldn't see Shinji or Asuka at all, and he could barely see the ghosts and monsters that peeked out at him from around corners. By looking around a little, he was just able to keep the red exit sign in view, and it gradually grew bigger and bigger. Suddenly, he heard cries of "This way!" and "That way!" coming from Shinji and Asuka. Soon, Shinji and Asuka appeared in his view. "Take my hand!" Shinji shouted to him. Jacuzzi did so, and the two young teenagers pulled him through the maze, closer and closer to the exit, until they burst through it out into the cool night air.
As Jacuzzi closed the door behind the three of them and blinked to recover from the flashing lights, he could see the giant clock tower in the center of town. It was five minutes until midnight. Halloween was almost over.
Suddenly, overcome with relief and unable to contain himself, Jacuzzi burst out laughing. He laughed as he had never laughed before. "Just what are you so happy about?" Asuka demanded.
"I… I j-just conquered a whole h-haunted house!" Jacuzzi choked. He grabbed Shinji's and Asuka's hands. "Thank you both, so much!"
For awhile, Shinji and Asuka just stared at him. Shinji gave a sad little smile. Then he said: "So… we should really be getting back to the library. There's still cleanup to do." And he and Asuka ran off, with Jacuzzi following slowly, shivering a little in the cold.
They did the mash,
They did the Monster Mash…
When Jacuzzi re-entered the library, he noticed that all the other characters were taking down the decorations, while party music played and some of the children danced. Everyone seemed fascinated to see him. "So, you made it through the whole haunted house by yourself?"
"No, not really," he replied, scuffing his feet modestly, "Shinji and Asuka, they… they were a big help."
Upon entering the library, Shinji and Asuka immediately, almost instinctively, began to take down decorations. "We only have about a thirty- to forty-five-minute grace period after midnight," Shinji explained, "By then everything we put up ourselves has to be taken down."
"That whole haunted house…?" Jacuzzi began.
"Oh, that was generated by magic," said Shinji.
There was a lot of work that had to be done, but the music made it fun. Some of the songs were quite short; others were a little longer. Once or twice Jacuzzi felt the urge to get up and dance.
By the time all the party items had been packed away, more than a half-hour had passed since midnight. The children all crowded around the heavy contraption Jacuzzi had seen earlier, and now realized had to be a music player. The music changed again and everyone began cheering. "Last song!" the children screamed. Jacuzzi felt his feet tap as he listened to the cheerful music, and he wondered if he should get on the floor.
Shake, shake, shake Senora
Shake your body line…
"Do you want to dance?" It was Rika, the blue-haired girl from earlier.
"I…," said Jacuzzi, "I don't really dance."
"Aww, you should come on!" Rika insisted, "You'll like it! My friends and I can teach you!"
"I… alright," said Jacuzzi, who dragged his feet to the dance floor and did the best he could to move to the rhythm.
After the song was over, the music stopped, and the various party guests quickly began to collect themselves into groups and depart. They vanished behind the bookshelves and up and down floors, and soon Jacuzzi was completely alone. It was only then that he realized how exhausted he was. He scanned the room for a nice soft sofa. Having found one, he dragged his feet over to it, flopped down on it, and fell asleep at once. Despite his fears that all the creatures he had seen in the haunted house would give him nightmares, he slept well.
Please note that although this is the end of Jacuzzi's Halloween adventure it isn't the end of the story itself. There is an epilogue.