No More Smurfing Chances

Chapter 2

It was dark. Pitch black in fact. A creature stirred from slumber and shouted out in terror. It was afraid of the dark. It stood up on it's two trembling legs and felt a burlap sack on the floor. With shaking hands it bent over and felt the sack, it was tied at the top but the rest of it was missing. It then noticed that it was naked, apart from a piece of rough cloth around it's middle. Confused, shivering with cold and trying hard to remember, the bipedal staggered forwards until it felt the clammy, slimy wall of it's prison?

Slowly and with trepidation, it followed the wall, but it never seemed to arrive at a corner. It just seemed to go on and on with no openings.

The creature deduced that it must be a circular structure. As it's eyes adapted to the darkness, it could almost perceive a shape in the middle of the cage. It had decided that it must be a cage as it was devoid of furniture, windows or even a door. Whatever was in here with it was making it nervous.

The shape moved abruptly. The creature screamed and flattened it's bare back against the wall. It then felt something strange, un-natural. With a feeling of horror it reached down to touch it's rear end through the cloth and made contact with a little bulbous mass. Was that a tail?

It's mind was racing, trying to find an explanation. Trying to remember something important. But just as it came to a conclusion, the shape in the centre of the room squeaked, took a flying leap at it's head and clung on. The creature was shocked to it's core. Whatever was on it's head had big claws and they were hurting so much! The creature let out a blood curdling scream and fell into a dead faint. The shape still clung on, squeaking pitifully.

Just outside the 'cage';

At the same time a crowd of Smurfs drew back in alarm at what they had heard.

"Papa, what the smurf is down there?!"

The leader of the Smurfs was standing on a low toadstool just above a pit. It had been dug into the earth the depth of four Smurfs. Planks had been laid over the top with a heavy mat laid over the top of those, so that all light was blocked out.

Of course his little Smurfs had been curious about the purpose of the pit, but they did not think of questioning their leader's actions. Not when it had been the middle of the night when the village was awakened by Papa Smurf shouting for help.

Their leader had been to the hovel, found the spell book that Gargamel had used to turn the force field against them and he had reversed it. He had then returned triumphant to the village with a big sack.

But the other Smurfs didn't know what was in the burlap sack that Papa had dragged all the way to the village. He had ordered for a pit to be dug that night and over twenty of the Smurfs had done the job in record time. He just told his family that the sack was dangerous and must be kept in the dark for as long as possible, until the time was right.

But the time was not yet. Papa listened carefully and could hear no more noise from the pit. The creatures of the pit would have to wait a little longer for their release. If he ever chose to release them that is.

He dismissed his fellow Smurfs and told them to carry on with their daily tasks. It was dawn and village life was going to carry on for now. This might be their last day of normality. Everything changed last night and Papa knew that anything that happened from now on would be his responsibility and his alone.

In another part of the village, some of the Smurfs had got together to talk about what was in the pit.

"I think that Papa has caught a Smurf sized Troll, did you hear that scream? Only a Troll can scream like that!" said Brainy Smurf

"No, why would Papa catch a Troll? Makes no sense. And more to the point was has happened to Gargamel? How did Papa manage to keep the wizard and his cat away? They could come back again and be even nastier!" answered Smurfette. All the Smurfs stayed quiet for a moment, and then one spoke up for them all.

"We'll never know just smurfing here! Let's go and have a look" piped up Vexy with a glint in her eye.

"But, Papa Smurf said we should not touch the pit coverings" Brainy began, but to his surprise he found himself disagreeing with himself. At no point had Papa told them NOT to go in the pit. He normally had to tell his little Smurfs not to do something. Maybe he thought they would all be too scared. Or maybe he wanted them to find out what was in there.

It was no good. They would HAVE to go and look!

In the meantime Papa Smurf was sitting in his favourite chair and waiting.

Waiting for his family to find out the truth. He wanted to see if all he had ever taught them about kindness and forgiveness had ever sunk in. He knew for a fact that without a direct order they would disobey him. It was good that they had a mind of their own.

Because very shortly, they would find out what truly lay in their hearts and it was important that they recognised it and turned anger into love. For all their sakes. Papa felt so tired, it had been a very long night and he could not keep his eyes open any more. He drifted off into a troubled sleep, still sitting up in his chair. All he could hear was the mocking laughter of their enemy, Gargamel.

Brainy, Vexy and Smurfette sneaked out of their house just after midday. No other Smurfs were about. Brainy had made sure to send almost all the Smurfs in the village on a fools errand to find some special roots for Papa. Even the Smurflings and Hackus had gone out into the woods. Vexy and Smurfette had checked on Papa and saw that he was fast asleep in his laboratory. Now was the time to make their move!

They crept up to the pit and took off the covering. They then removed a couple of the planks. Even in the bright sunshine they could not see right into the pit. They did not want to open it up any further just in case. Brainy then laid down on his belly holding out a lighted lantern. At first he couldn't see anything, but he could see a shape moving in the gloom.

It came closer very fast and this made Brainy flinch and he let go of the lantern which dropped into the pit, it was still alight. They then saw what the terrible creature was.

The Smurfs almost laughed out loud. The creature was a...Mouse!

"Ha,ha,ha! Look, at that dangerous monster! It might nibble us to death!" squealed Vexy, holding her sides.

"Smurf up! There's something else down there!" shouted Brainy.

In the circle of light that was being produced by the lantern, they could make out a tall shape. It seemed to be humanoid and the same size as a Smurf. It came closer to the light and they could see that it's skin was very light blue. It was barefoot, with only a black rag as clothing round it's middle. It stepped into the light and then into the bright sunshine streaming through the opening they had made.

All of a sudden, Smurfette and Vexy screamed out in shock at the same time when they saw the creature's face. It was bald, with tufts of black hair over it's ears and a large nose. It's blue face was covered with angry red scratches.

But the eyes, the eyes said it all. And at this moment they were full of anger and pure hatred. If looks could kill, none of the Smurfs would have been left alive.

It was their father...GARGAMEL!

To be continued...