So here's chapter 2. Full disclosure: I write my stories as ideas come to me, writing in the heat of the moment, as opposed to spending all day brainstorming what should happen next. So that, coupled with being occupied with other stories, which I also write heat-of-the-moment, is why updates take so long. So in advance I apologize if this chapter takes a while.
Anyway, in this chapter, Fern and Eugene must find a way to hide when new customers come into the store, and must also find a way to communicate with each other, and to leave the store and find help without being spotted by cops and/or animal control. Obviously none of this will be easy. But hey,it's Goosebumps.
Anyway, enjoy!!!
Chapter 2
Fern jumped off the counter and motioned to Eugene, pointing to the doors off the side of the counter, hoping he'd understand. The donkey that had been her best friend just moments earlier stared at monkey-Fern, confused.
Fern slapped her hand on her head in frustration. Usually, a monkey facepalming would be hilarious if SHE was watching it, but since SHE was now a monkey in a serious, frightening situation, it was definitely NOT funny.
'What to do? How can I make him understand me?',she thought. Then she had an idea. Running to her crumpled clothes on the floor, she reached into her jeans and pulled out her phone. Turning it on she went to her apps and opened the Text-to-Speech app. Quickly she typed in her message to Eugene, then clicked "Read."
"People are coming. We need to hide!! Let's go to the storage room. I'll grab our clothes and take them with us. Hurry!!!"
Eugene finally understood. He bent down, trying to grab his clothes in his mouth. He managed to pick up the remains of his shirt, and part of his jeans. Fern grabbed the rest, and Eugene's glasses, then grabbed her own clothes, and together the two children-turned-animals ran down the side aisle to the storage room. Since Fern was both too small and too overburdened with clothes, Eugene pushed the door with his large donkey head. The door opened and they ran in.
Just in time. Fern heard the front door open and the chime of the bell above the door. She heard people walk into the store. Kids by the sound of their shoes. She heard a laugh, somebody shove another, followed by another laugh. Strange, the voices sounded familiar.
Fern looked at the empty boxes stacked in the corner. 'I bet I can climb on them and be able to look out the window without being seen, and see who came into the shop.', she thought.
So, very carefully, she climbed onto the stacks of boxes, until she reached one of the storage shelves, then hoisted herself onto the top. She was right: from here she could see through the window. And she saw the people who had come into the shop. She groaned. She recognized them, all right. Niles Ulrich and Kurt Flanders.
The boys had gone to the same middle school as Fern and Eugene, but had been a few grades ahead, and had recently transferred to their junior year at the local high school. Good riddance: they had always been jerks, pulling nasty pranks, shoving kids into lockers, and stealing things from backpacks. Fern was pretty sure they had been the ones who had set the fire in the dumpster outside the cafeteria last year. Exactly HOW they had managed to graduate middle school was beyond her understanding: they were both as dumb as a box of rocks. Fern was sure the school had just wanted to get rid of them.
Fern strained to hear as they spoke. "So, did you bring that firecracker? You still gonna toss it in the pool?", asked Niles. He was tall and lanky, with short, greasy-looking black hair, and a round face full of acne. He had large front teeth that always stuck out.
"For sure. I might toss it in DURING the game when they switch lifeguards. Just to watch the little kids panic", replied Kurt, and laughed. Kurt was large and beefy, with muscular arms. He always wore short-sleeved or sleeveless shirts, even when it was cold. He had red hair, which he liked to wear in a crew cut, like guys in the army. He wore a spiked bracelet on one wrist, and fingerless gloves on each hand.
The two had another brief shoving match, then looked around the store, to see who was around. Then they noticed the shelf Eugene had knocked over.
"Hey, what happened here?", said Niles. He looked around the store again, then cupped his hands and shouted. "HELLO?!! Anyone here?"
The two waited another minute, then started walking around the store, pulling different bags or boxes of candy from the shelves. Fern noticed Eugene shifting around uneasily on the floor, obviously confused, wondering what was going on. He groaned anxiously. Fern held a tiny finger to her lips, and looked back up as Niles and Kurt approached the counter, their arms loaded with candy.
Niles rung the bell on the counter, trying to signal help. When nobody (obviously) came, he rang it again, then again, then a few more times ,then about six more times in a row. Very annoying.
"HELLOOOO??!!! Is anybody here?!!", Niles shouted again, after his bell solo was over.
They stood for another minute with their merchandise, then looked over at the new boxes of candy, and noticed the spilled jellybeans on the floor.
"Another mess. What the hell happened here?", Kurt said.
Niles reached into the box and pulled out another bag of jellybeans. He turned it over in his hands. "Weird. No name or anything. Doesn't even list the flavors."
Kurt looked around again, then nudged his friend's shoulder. "Hey, looks like nobody's here. What do you say we just split with the goods, save our money?"
Niles looked confused for a second, like the idiot he was, then caught on. "Yeah, good idea!! Let's bounce!!"
Fern had to bite her tongue to stop herself from shrieking. She couldn't BELIEVE it: these two jerks, these two lowlife, puberty-ravaged juvenile delinquents, were going to STEAL from her parent's store!!! She wished she could jump out and chase them off with the box cutter knife she had dropped. But then,of course, a knife-wielding monkey in a store would probably mean animal control. Or even the police. And poor Eugene...
So she watched helplessly as the two idiots walked towards the door with the purloined candy, laughing and stuffing their ugly faces. Just as they stepped outside, Niles opened the bag of jellybeans he had taken and held it out to Kurt.
'No, no no!! Don't eat the jellybeans!!', she thought.
Despite the danger, she jumped down off the boxes. Furiously typing in a message on the Text-to-Speech app, she pressed PLAY again. "WE HAVE TO STOP THEM. OPEN THE DOOR. "
Eugene nodded his head, and pushed the door open. Fern bolted out of the room and ran to the door of the shop, just in time to see Niles pop a blue jellybean into his mouth, and Kurt a yellow.
"STOP!! DON'T CHEW THEM!! SPIT THEM OUT!!!", she screamed, then remembered she was a monkey.
Niles and Kurt looked over at her, attracted by her shrieks.
"Dude, check it out. The candy store has a pet monkey!!", Niles said, and laughed.
Kurt spotted Eugene standing behind her. "Whoa, and a donkey. Are they opening a petting zoo here?"
Fern growled, and typed the message she'd tried yelling out into her app, and hit PLAY.
"Don't swallow those jellybeans!! Spit them out!! Spit them out NOW!!!"
Niles and Kurt gasped and looked at each other. "Huh?", Niles said, and swallowed. Beside him, Kurt chewed and swallowed his jellybean.
'Oh no, no, no, Fern thought. NOW what?'
No sooner had she wondered than, in front of her, she watched as the two teenagers gasped and clutched at their chests, doubling over in pain. Their ill-gotten merchandise, including the jellybeans, fell from their hands. As she watched, their bodies changed. While Niles appeared to shrink as fur sprouted over has hands and arms, and his ears grew pointed, Kurt appeared to double in size. His already muscular arms grew until they ripped through his shirt, which shredded to pieces like the Hulk. Thick black hair grew over his arms and face.
In seconds, they stood in front of the shocked Fern and Eugene. The pile of clothes that had belonged to Niles shuffled,and out climbed a scrawny black cat. Towering over him was Kurt, now a gorilla.
Kurt examined his hairy hands, then saw his reflection in the shop door. He jumped back and let out a loud cry. Niles saw his reflection also, and let out a loud meow, followed by a hiss. His black fur stood on end.
Fern desperately typed in a message on the app, and pressed PLAY. "I TOLD you not to EAT them!!! Look what those jellybeans did to US!!! Guys, I'm your former schoolmate, Fern. The donkey is Eugene. We ate them too. "
Niles and Kurt stared at the monkey and donkey, puzzled. Kurt scratched his giant, furry head,like Fern saw gorillas in the zoo do. Any other time she would have laughed, but this was too serious. Too terrifying.
Kurt looked at his reflection again, and let out a series of roars. Suddenly, Fern was shocked to find out she UNDERSTOOD him. "ROAR!!! ROAR ROAR, ROAR!!!" (FERN?!!! HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?!! WHY ARE WE ANIMALS? WHAT IS GOING ON?!!!)
Fern was completely thunderstruck she had understood him, then she remembered that monkeys and gorillas were related, like animal cousins. Perhaps, since she was a monkey, she could understand OTHER primates.
Still confused, she decided to give a go, and try responding, see if HE understood HER. "EEEK, EEEKK EEK,EEEKK!!! EEEK EEEK EEEK EEK, EEK!!!" (I don't know!!! Me and Eugene both ate one, and turned into animals just before YOU guys came!!! We hid when we heard you coming. We were scared!!!)
Kurt stared at Fern for a second, obviously as confused as her that they understood each other.
Fern continued. "Eeeek eeek eeek eeeek, eeeek eeek!!!" (Besides, YOU two wouldn't have ended up like US if you guys hadn't decided to STEAL from my parent's store!!!!)
Kurt looked down at the ground. Niles also hung his cat head in shame. Fern suddenly felt guilty. She shouldn't have yelled-or rather screeched-at them. They must also be as terrified and confused as her and Eugene.
Wanting to ease the situation, Fern gestured to the store. "Eeeek eeek, eeeek eeek!!!" (We'd better get inside before someone sees us. Grab your clothes. We'll think of a plan inside!!)
Kurt obediently grabbed the clothes he and Niles had been wearing, then pushed open the door. Fern, Niles and Eugene walked in. Kurt closed the door, then, dropping the clothes, pulled the 'Sorry, we're closed ' sign over it, followed by the shutters.
"Eeeek!!" (Good thinking) Fern shrieked.
Kurt nodded, then turned to the other animals. ROAR?!! ROAR ROAR??!!!" (Now what are we gonna do?)
Fern looked at the spilled bag of jellybeans. Then she walked over and examined the boxes they had come in. She squinted closely at the label on the boxes: Valiant Steed Shipping.
She pointed at the label. The others walked over and looked. Kurt rubbed his hairy chin with his large gorilla thumbs. (Yes, i think i saw the truck in this neighborhood. It has a picture of a horse with armor. So what?), he growled.
Fern facepalmed for the second time that day. She jumped up and down. Then she picked up her phone again, and typed her message into the Text-to-Speech app. Pressed PLAY.
'Guys, don't you see?!! The Jellybeans have no label, it doesn't mention who makes them, but if we can find the warehouse where these boxes came from, maybe we can find like a manifest, that will mention where they got them from, and track down the source of the jellybeans!!! Then, once we find out where they came from, who made them, we can hopefully find a cure to turn us back!!!"
The others looked at each other, trying to understand. Finally Eugene nodded. Niles meowed in agreement. Kurt beat on his chest. "ROAR!!! ROAR ROAR!!!" (Let's go), he growled.
Fern shook her head. "EEEK? EEEEk eeeek eeeek, eeek eeek eeek eeek!!!!" (Only one problem: we don't know where the warehouse IS!!!)
Kurt waved his massive paw. (No problem. I know. My dad is a trucker. He makes regular stops there all the time to pick up or drop off packages. It's only like 20 minutes from here.)
Fern gasped. She felt her tail harden. She guessed that must be a sign of stress in monkeys. (TWENTY minutes?! How the hell are we going to walk across town without being SEEN?? People will call animal control, or the zoo!!! They'll think we escaped from the zoo, or a CIRCUS!!!), she shrieked.
The others looked from one another for several minutes, all trying to think of a plan. Finally Fern looked at the clothes on the ground, Kurt and Niles' clothes, and remembered her and Eugene's clothes in the storage room. Then she remembered something else. Not wanting to say it twice, she typed in her message on Text-to-Speech, so everyone could hear.
(Next door, just down the block, is the abandoned theater. It just closed last month. But they still have all the costumes. We can sneak in and steal some disguises, and put them on. We can walk till we find some transportation. If we disguise ourselves good enough, and remain silent, we can maybe get on a bus or cab part of the way. )
The others looked at each other again. Obviously they had no better ideas.
Kurt shrugged. (Let's do it), he growled.
Fern nodded. She thought for a second. Perhaps they should grab a few things before they left, so they wouldn't have to come back here. She thought, then typed in the message in the Text-to-Speech app and played it. "Ok, Kurt, grab your phone, and also Niles' phone, I'm going to go into the storage room and get Eugene's. That way if mine runs out of power, i can use yours to communicate, and also use the Maps app to guide us to the warehouse. Also, Kurt, grab your firecracker. You never know, it might come in handy. I'm also grabbing the box cutter knife. Let's go, everyone!!"
After Fern played her message, everybody got moving. Fern went into the storage room and grabbed Eugene's phone, then looked around the room. Where was it, where was it... THERE!!! She reached under the shelf and grabbed the backpack. She checked it. Empty. Good. She tossed in Eugene's phone. Then she went back into the room, and Kurt tossed his and Niles phone in, followed by the firecracker. Then she grabbed the box cutter, and tossed it in too. She zipped the backpack and handed it to Kurt.
She typed in her message and played it. "Ok guys, you ready? Let's go, the theater is only down the block!!"
They walked to the door. Kurt held it open, they stepped out, all looking left and right for coming traffic. Nothing yet. For a summer day it was quiet. Everybody must be at the pool or the park. And here they were, sneaking around as animals.
Fern nodded, and they stepped out, Kurt closing the door, the 'Sorry, we're closed ' sign still over the door. Then they started walking down the block, still looking and listening for cars. Fern's tail was still tense as she walked on all four paws. Eugene's large ears stood straight up, listening for cars and people. Niles also looked tense, his black fur standing up, his tail swishing side to side.
Would they make it to the theater without being seen? How would they get in without triggering an alarm? Would they find costumes good enough to pass as still-human? Even if they did, then what? Their adventure was only just getting started...
End of chapter 2
Hope ya'll like it so far. Like i said earlier, i didn't want to use the telepathy (thought-speaking) like i use in my Werewolf Skin story, so i decided to have Fern communicate with her friends with her phone apps. But i thought at least ONE character should be able to understand her, and vice versa, so i decided to make Kurt a gorilla.
Like i said before, i think up most of what happens on the go. I usually don't spend hours od days brainstorming like most writers, the muse usually speaks to me as i am sitting down writing: i just follow the ideas i am given in the moment, so if a lot of stuff seems or feels random, that's cause it IS.
Anyway, next chapter might be a while. I'm working feverishly on my Werewolf Skin story, and also two other stories, called Invasion Of The Cooties and Pandora's Music Box. I'm hoping to get at least a few chapters of the former out before Valentine's Day, since it takes place ON V.D. But don't worry, I'm always jumping between stories almost constantly, whenever the music strikes me, so no chapter of any story will take long.
Anyway, see ya'll soon(is) in chapter 3!!!
