Cree sat down next to me and grabbed a pencil and paper to take notes, "Let's brainstorm. What are some of the most humiliating things to a kid?"
"Hmmmm.." I went into a state of deep thought for a couple moments. ".. hard to think of.. gettin pantsed? Swirlies? Maybe we could sneak embarrassing notes into their backpacks or lockers or some'n? Put up embarrassing pictures on their locker doors or on the walls or the internet?.. eh, I don't really know.." then my eye brows narrowed. "wait.. did ya get a good look at the faces of them scientists while you were down there? They deserve the worst of all.. maybe sneak Wasabi or hot-sauce into their lunch or beverages?-" All of a sudden, Cree smirked like a hyena with a terrible joke, "I've got it! Why don't we make one of those stupid cursed chain letters?" My ears perked up at her words, "Oh? Tell me more-"
Cree starts writing something down on the paper, "We type up a cryptic-sounding message to send to a bunch of those snot-nosed punks, telling them they'll be cursed for, let's say, ten years, unless they do a bunch of stupid things and forward the message."
"Ooo perfect!.. them kids'll believe anything," I snidely whispered with a soft cackle. "So.. what stupid things should we get em to do? Do the hokey pokey? Pick up sticks n lay em straight?" I said, partially joking.
"Nah, nah. Think a bit bigger! I think step 1 should be... they have to clean every surface of the house to 'clean away the karmic rot'." My tail wagged a little as I lightly clapped my hands together and grinned, "Oo that's MUCH better! They'll be scrubbin' every inch of their Tree-houses for hours! How bout next, uh.. oh! Have em, uh.. paint all the ceilings of their house blue? I, uh, got that from the internet when lookin up stuff about 'warding off evil spirits'. " I blushed in embarrassment after saying this. ".. s-sorry, I'm tryin my best. Wish I had an imagination as big as yours."
"Aaw, Dilly baby," Cree assured me, "you're good! I think the whole painting the ceilings blue thing is brilliant!" she jots it down, "And how about something that they might get in trouble for if they get caught doing it?"
"Umm.. they cannot cover any windows or reflective objects?" I said, rubbing my chin with the knuckle of my index finger.
"Hmmm... I was thinking something they have to do or give us that the parents might get mad about if they catch 'em at it." Cree brainstormed, "Not alcohol or cigs, obviously."
"Uhhhh.. how bout we get em to send us all the soda pop they can find in their house-hold? They can get it from just about anywhere!" I grinned a little as i loved soda. "Oh, and it has to be regular! Nunna that diet crud, obviously."
"YES!!" Cree laughed and wrote that down, too, "Brilliant! And they have to leave half their allowance money out for us, too!" I bounced and clapped my hands, giggling like a school-girl, "this'll be PRICELESS!.. for US, that is-"
"Totally! Just imagine how paranoid they'll get when they get this message, ignore it, and then all kinds of bad stuff starts happening to them!" Cree laughs, her raspy cackle filling the air. I began to laugh too.. feeling my own cackles get progressively louder and more joyously evil. It was payback time!
Cree relayed the idea to The Steve later that night. He was hesitant at first, I could tell, but when Cree explained the effects of it, he decided he was on board. "Alright, cool," he nodded, "but we gotta draw this out. How do we make it last?"
Oh, shoot! we didn't think of that part.. I, once again in a state of embarrassment, face-palmed and shook my head. ".. good question.." I thought for a couple more moments..
.. and then it hit me. "Ya know them kids WILL get negative consequences eventually, right? Perhaps a, um.. 'mass-grounding' will be underway.." I say, slyly grinning like the Cheshire Cat.
"Which means more free reign for US!" Cree nearly squeals, "Oh! This is PERFECT!" Cree and I high-five each other. "So.. whaddya say?" The Steve nodded, one eyebrow going up, "Hm. Not bad, ladies. Lemme get some of our tech geeks to type up a final draft of this baby, then we'll relay it with you two for any tweaks before we send it to some of those brats." He smirked.
"Yes!! Thank you, sir!" I chirped with cruel glee.
Not even two days later, that chain letter had driven every kid in town nuttier than a squirrel's pantry and— though I'm a bit ashamed to admit it. —it was PRICELESS! We even managed to carefully get a few videos of the mayhem, and OH MY GOD.. let's just say some of us darn-near keeled over from laughin' so much - me included. I can't even count how many times I've re-watched each video with the others in our underground pad.. I genuinely think all that laughter may have even added a couple years onto my life. That, and our hide-out was eventually CHOCK-FULL with soda of many different sweet, refreshing flavors. Just enough to last us almost a year!
But the best part of all, was that we'd installed a bunch of miniature spy cams, ultimately sending them to eavesdrop and/or record all the kids' reactions, and the little demons were either flabbergasted or exasperated.. heck, even the news stations had no idea where the letters came from! During the next night we've spent in the hide-out, we decided to edit together a montage of the recordings from the spy cams and cell phones, while also going around and telling side-splitting stories about our little siblings and our little prank. It didn't help that most of us were drunk on soda, either, which, as you would've guessed, included me, and my sides damn near left this dimension that one night.. AGAIN.
But.. when Cree flaunted her own goings-on about Abby, I can't lie, a tiny fragment of remorse pierced through the mirth I was feeling before. And it didn't help that I'd just finished yelling at her and her friends just the other day.. so hearing how Abby pleaded her innocence until her parents ran out of patience and she had no choice but to claim guilty just to being peace back to the home... it hurt.
Poor Abigail. She's such a good girl. She doesn't deserve that. I realized that now..