"Skipper! Skipper, help!" Gilligan yelled at the top of his lungs as he raced through the jungle as fast as his legs could carry him. If one could get a speeding ticket for running, Gilligan would've been first in line for a hefty fine.
Not too far away, the Skipper and the rest looked up when they heard Gilligan's shouts. "That's Gilligan. And he sounds like he's in trouble." Skipper said before hurrying off in the direction Gilligan's voice came from, the others close behind. "Gilligan, little buddy, I'm coming!" Skipper called, faintly hearing rustling coming from somewhere up ahead.
Hearing the Skipper's voice, Gilligan slowed down to a normal running pace, but inadvertently ran right past his friends. And all the others saw was a red blur zipping past them before stopping abruptly. Turning around, Gilligan ran over to them, stopping next to the Skipper where he proceeded to tell them what he saw, his mouth going a mile a minute. "'tme!" Because of how fast he was talking, every word spoken seemed to come out as one long jumbled word.
Not understanding a single thing the first mate was saying, the Skipper sighed and shook Gilligan's shoulders to get his attention. "Gilligan! Calm down. We can't understand a single thing you're saying."
"But I explained it in English. Even a monkey could understand." Gilligan replied, calming down enough to talk normally.
"That maybe so, but you're missing one thing." Skipper said, holding up a finger.
"I am? What?" Gilligan asked, confused.
"None of use are monkeys. So none of us understood a thing you said."
"Oh."
"Now, will you please tell us what happened so we can understand you?"
"Alright, Skipper. See, I was walking along looking for you guys and then I tripped over a costume a monkey stole from that crate I found," Gilligan started, acting out the events as he told them. "I tried it on. Boy what an adventure that was! I fought indians, mean old cowboys, saved damsels in distress, and I traveled in the Wild West. I-" Suddenly the Skipper cut him off with a whack over the head with his hat.
"Gilligan, we don't care if you grew wings and laid an egg. We want to know why you were hiding in the bushes there, then decided to strip down to your birthday suit in front of everyone." The captain said firmly, hiding how worried he was for his young friend. He was completely convinced now that Gilligan had finally gone island happy.
"Oh that wasn't me. It was the guy who looks like me, but isn't me." Gilligan replied as if the others already knew.
Looking at the Professor, the Skipper gave him a concerned look. And his concern only intensified when he noticed the serious, yet worried, look on the Professor's face.
"I suggest, Gilligan, that we return to the huts. I think you will benefit from some rest." The Professor suggested.
"That's okay Professor. I'm not tired." Gilligan smiled.
"Gilligan, the Professor said you need rest and you're getting some rest. That's an order." Skipper said firmly. Gilligan looked at him and sighed before muttering a 'yes sir' under his breath. The Skipper nodded in satisfaction. "That's better. Now let's go." Grabbing his first mate by the arm, the Skipper led him towards camp, wanting to make sure Gilligan didn't try one of his famous vanishing acts on the way back. The other castaways gave each other concerned looks before following after the crew.
At that same moment not far from the lagoon, Mr. Callahan and Andy were still searching for Dusty when he suddenly stumbled past them and fell flat on his face in the sand. While running, Dusty's foot had caught up on his pant leg, effectively tripping himself. The wagon master quickly knelt down next to him. Recognizing the clothes as the same strange outfit 'Dusty' had worn when they had found him the first time, Callahan helped him up. "Dusty, are you alright?"
Spitting out a mouthful of sand, Dusty made a face at the taste before it seemed to register to him who the voice belonged too. Looking at the familiar face, Dusty's eyes grew wide. "Mr. Callahan! Boy am I glad to see you! I've been having an awful time. See, I was riding Freckles and he wouldn't stop. I fell off and then I woke up here. This place is awful too! There's a lot of strange people too. One guy is fat and kinda acts like you, but he's not you. And there's this other guy who acts like Andy and-" Callahan suddenly cut him off with a hand over his mouth.
"Dusty, slow down. I can't understand a thing you're saying." The wagon master said firmly, his head having begun to hurt as Dusty quickly narrated his experiences in the jungle.
"Mr. Callahan, I think we should find some place to stay for the time being. I'm worried that Dusty might've hurt himself." Andy said, helping Callahan help Dusty to his feet.
"I found a bunch of these funny looking houses." Dusty said, brushing his sand beard off his face.
"Houses? Where are they? Do you know?" Andy asked, thinking that would be a good place to stay for a bit. And where there are houses, there are likely to be people.
"Yeah, I know. But I'm not going back." Dusty replied firmly.
"Not going back? Why not?" Callahan asked.
"Because they're haunted." Dusty said.
"Haunted? That's impossible. Ghosts don't exist. They're nothing more than figments of the imagination brought upon by stories people tell." Andy replied, firmly believing they didn't exist.
"Then tell that to the ghost who looked like me."
"Ghost that looked like...Dusty. What you saw was nothing more than a hallucination."
"A halluciwhatnow?"
"A hallucination. It's where someone sees something that isn't really there."
"Oh. Well, in that case, I didn't see a ghost who looked like me. But whatever he was, he sure looked like me."
Andy sighed and shook his head. Dusty could be impossible to reason with at times and this was looking to be one of those times. "Will you at least show us where the houses are? There maybe something to eat and drink there."
"I guess I could show you. But if a ghost shows up, I'm going the other way." Dusty replied, his tone serious.
"Don't you worry none, little pal. If a ghost shows up, all you gotta do is be yourself." Callahan said, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Be myself?" Dusty asked, looking at him.
"The ghost will be too scared for its own safety to stay around and spook us." Callahan said with a grin.
Completely loosing the meaning of what he meant, Dusty smiled. "I get it. I'll just be myself and they'll all go away. Thanks Mr. Callahan."
"It's no problem. Now, where are those houses?"
"Follow me. They're this way. I think."
Giving each other an unsure look, Andy and Callahan followed after the young scout, hoping they wouldn't end up in some kind of trouble.
Sorry this chapter is short. But I thought that was a good place to end it. Kiwi says thanks to all the yum yums and reviews ^^ The next chapter will be up as soon as I get it typed out.