Chapter Seventeen

(Hey, y'all.

How's life for you?

Good? That's cool.

"Ehh"? I would probably say the same.

Bad? Things would get better.

Horrible? Keep calm, take a few deep breaths, watch a funny video, and read FanFiction.

Anyway, the hotel that I'm staying in right now has a good WiFi signal so here is the chapter that you're waiting for.

Enjoy life as it goes!

-imaginarytoon1

PS: Heads up: In this chapter, a clown makes an appearance and if you're afraid of clowns, then you might want to skip to the end of the chapter.)

Beatrice:

Greasy and I walked out of the room and down to the first floor. As we walked down the staircase, Psycho joined us.

"Hey, muchacha." Greasy said. "What should we do if Boss asks us about what happened just a second ago?"

"Pretend that it didn't happen. Just tell him that you were having some time to yourself after your talk with him. After that, say to Smarty that after you had some time to yourself, you remembered about the challenge and you came to the room to come and get me. Smarty wants us to come to the meeting room, right?"

Greasy pauses for a few seconds.

"Si, and about what you said about talking to Boss, I did talk to him but I also…um…" He began.

I stopped walking and looked at Greasy.

"What did you do?" I asked.

Greasy looks at me and Psycho and I watch him in surprise when he pounds his fist in to his palm.

"You punched him?" I asked.

"I punched him because I was angry with him. After Boss told me about scaring you by using the book, Wheezy separated us and I came back to you after that." Greasy replied. "I know that I told you that I was going to control my actions but that was-"

"Greasy, if you punched Smarty because you were standing up for me for a good reason, then it's okay. Think twice about it and decide if punching someone is for a good reason. What you did is okay but I want you to keep in mind on what I just said."

"I'll remember."

I looked at Psycho.

"Are you going to remember that, too, Psycho?" I asked.

Psycho smiled, closed his eyes, and nodded.

"All right." I said.

Just as I was about to walk to the meeting room, Greasy stopped me.

"I just realized something else." He said.

"What is that?" Psycho and I asked in unison.

"What if Boss asks you about if you knew anything about all of this being a dream?"

"I'll pretend that I don't know anything about it. I heard you and the other weasels talk about this dream while I disguised myself as a rock on that hillside and I'm fully aware of it. Like I said, I'll tell Smarty that I don't know anything about this whole thing being a dream." I said.

"All right." Greasy said.

When Greasy, Psycho, and I went back to walking, I said to them, "Normally, I don't choose to lie to someone. I only lie if it's for a good reason. Like right now, I have a good reason to lie so that Smarty would stop me because I know too much."

As we got closer to the meeting room, I told Greasy and Psycho to pretend that we didn't say anything before we arrived. When we entered the room, we found the other weasels sitting in their original seats and doing their own thing. Smarty, with his pink hat really wrinkled and torn, Wheezy, with six cigarettes burning in his mouth, gave me a cold, hard, angry stare; Flasher was tapping his fingers on the table, Slimy had an evil smug on his face (he was also looking at me), and Stupid…wasn't really doing anything. Smarty glared at Psycho, Greasy, and me. Well, he glared at me the most.

With a determined and serious look on my face, I said to Smarty, "I'm ready for the next part of the challenge."

"Have a seat, Birchwood." Smarty said.

I exchanged glances with Greasy and Psycho. They both nodded their heads and we sat down on the chairs that were left for the three of us.

"Before we start, I want to tell you that you lost one of your three 'Kansas'." Smarty said.

"I think you mean 'chances'." I corrected.

"Boss, don't you remember when we trapped Birchwood under the ice and we found the ball in her hand? She still has all three chances." Wheezy said to Smarty after blowing out a cloud of smoke.

I'm not sure if that's right. If Smarty or any of the weasels catch me in the woods, even with the tennis ball in my hand, then I lose one of my three chances.

"To make things run smoothly for now, I'm okay with losing one of my chances." I said to Wheezy.

He looked at me and blew another cloud of smoke.

"Really?" Wheezy asked me.

"It is what it is sometimes." I shrugged. "I'm okay with losing one of my three chances."

Wheezy shrugged and muttered, "All right."

Then, Smarty reaches down on the floor and brings up…a ladle…and…a container of cinnamon.

I pushed away from the table in terror. Unfortunately, I pushed away too hard and my chair falls back. I lied down on the chair in a paralyzed-in-fear state and my wide-eyed expression was pasted on my face. I heard every weasel, except Greasy and Psycho, laughing really hard.

Greasy asked me if I was all right but I couldn't answer because I was too scared to say anything. I was staring at the ceiling for a little bit until…Pennywise the Dancing Clown's head appears on the ceiling before my eyes.

"HELLOOO…Beatrice!" He exclaimed to me with an evil, yellow-toothed smile.

Then, Pennywise slithers out of the ceiling and stands on the table.

"Birchwood, meet…" Smarty began.

"I know who it is!" I interrupted and stood up. "PENNYWISE THE DANCING CLOWN!"

"EXACTLY!" Pennywise exclaimed.

In case if you're wondering, Pennywise the Dancing Clown was the main villain of a Stephen King book called It. Obviously, he's a clown and he acts like Freddy Kruger a little bit. He scares children…and maybe some adults…by going into their minds and haunting them with their most dreaded fears. Pennywise is also one of my most dreaded fears but other clowns…I'm not afraid of them. Pennywise is an exception.

Anyway, Pennywise picks up the container of cinnamon and dumps an enormous amount of it in the ladle. I quickly covered my nose and watched Pennywise dump the cinnamon in to his mouth. He blows out a huge cloud of cinnamon as Smarty says,

"What I was going to say is this: Meet Armageddon. He looks like the person who you call 'Pennywise' but there's more. He has a clown body, eyes like Judge Doom, acts like 'Bready Cougar' (Freddy Kruger), and he's a combination of some of your worst fears."

"And Armageddon is going to participate in this part of the challenge." Wheezy said.

"And why is he involved?" I asked nervously.

Smarty, with an evil grin, asked me, "Do you like scary movies?"

"No." I said.

"Do you like to read survival 'guys'?"

"It depends on the topic, yes."

"Have you ever read anything about surviving a horror movie?"

I thought about it and then, I nodded my head.

"This is what the challenge is going to be." Wheezy said. "We're going to see if you can survive a horror movie and outsmart Armageddon. We're going back outside because that's where the starting point is located. As you do this part of the challenge, we're giving you a fifteen minute timer. You're trying to avoid Armageddon as long as possible. If he catches you, you'll lose another one of your chances and move on to the last part of the challenge."

"Do you think that you can handle this part of the challenge, Birchwood?" Smarty asked.

I looked at Greasy and a look on his face tells me that I shouldn't accept this part the challenge. I sighed and looked back at Smarty.

"I can handle this part of the challenge, Smarty. I came to finish this challenge and bring Lexi back home. I'm not doing this for myself. I'm doing this for my little cousin." I said.

"All right, Birchwood." Smarty said. "But before we start, I'm going to leave you alone with Greasy for five 'millets'. He probably might want to say his last words to you."

Everyone, but Greasy and I, left the room. After the door closes, Greasy grabbed me by my arms.

"You're taking another life-threatening risk, muchacha." He said. "You're really going to get yourself killed!"

"There is no other way to get Lexi out of this!" I exclaimed. "The only way to get her out of this is to finish the challenge! I have to take this risk!"

"No, you can't. Don't you remember our conversation a few minutes ago? I said that I wasn't going to let anything hurt or kill you."

I rolled my eyes and I made Greasy take his hands off my arms. I looked at him with a series look on my face.

"Greasy, you have to listen to me." I said, almost repeating the same thing that Greasy said to me in the room from the second floor. "Are you listening?"

He nodded.

"In times like this, there are no such things as promises because they always come and go." I explained. "You said that you're not going to let anything hurt me and you have to accept the fact that I have to take risks in order for me to finish this challenge. If I don't take risks, then I'll lose the challenge and I'll never see Lexi again. I don't want you to worry about me because I really finish this challenge and take Lexi back home."

Greasy looks at me with concern and worry and I can tell that he really doesn't want me to take that risk.

"You have to trust me, Greasy. I know that I didn't trust you from the beginning but…that's going to change. We have to trust each other now. I haven't thought of a plan and in order for this to work, we're going to have to cooperate in secret. Smarty must never know about this and I'm counting on you to help me out on this one."

Greasy thinks over on what I just said and as he is about to say something, Smarty shouts, "Three 'millets', you two!" After he left, Greasy sighed.

"Do you really have to take this risk?" He asked.

"I have to, Greasy. It's the only way to finish this challenge." I replied.

Then, there's a brief pause.

"All right," Greasy said. "I'll help you out on this one and I want you to be-."

"Very careful?" I finished.

"Si."

"I'll try my very best."

"All right, let's get to work on this."

Hang on, Lexi. I thought. I'm almost done. Just hold on for a few more minutes.

Even though, in real life (I think), Lexi is doing all right, I act like Lexi is really in danger, even if this is all a dream. But still, I want this to be remembered and even teach Lexi about taking risks. This is something that is meant to be remembered and taught, instead of forgotten.