Wow! First episode is posted in short order. Crazy right? Might not be very common, but I'll try to get these chapters up as soon as I can.
I should also note that episodes will be posted a little out of order and I'm mostly basing it off of memory to the best of my ability. So please bare with me and just know that I won't be doing every single episode of the show. But should be doing as many as I can.
A week had passed since Avery's arrival at the farm and to say that she was happy would be a vast understatement. Sure her uncle still drove her nuts from time to time and she saw the occasional out of place object running around during the night. But overall, the fact that she had her aunt and Courage helped make things much more bearable. She was at least glad that she still had her more calm moments with Eustace.
The major downside though, was the ornament that was still stuck fast to her wrist. She had tried everything she could think of to get it off of her wrist which included using various lubricants and oils. However, all that they managed to do was cause some chaffing around her wrist and add a little pain to her frustration. So she eventually stopped trying to get it off and could only hope that Shirley could somehow find a way to help her out of this circumstance.
But for now, she figured it would be best to move forward and try to live as normally as possible in this weird place. Hopefully an answer would come in time.
It was early evening one night and everything was mainly calm around the farm. Eustace and Muriel were sitting in the living room, watching one of the classic horror movies that they both loved so much. Courage was in the kitchen, getting himself a snack of pie and milk. And Avery was sitting up in her room in the attic, strumming on her guitar so that Eustace wouldn't be bothered by her playing. Just as she and Muriel had predicted, Eustace was not a fan of her guitar playing as much as he wasn't a fan of Muriel's sitar music. So would simply have to make due in her room or out on the farm somewhere far away from him.
She was just beginning the opening chords of a classic folk song she that she was familiar with, when she swore that she could hear some rattling sounds coming from outside. She stopped playing for a moment and perked her ear up to listen in a little more carefully. Definetly sounded like something was messing with the trash cans.
"Wind must be rattling them right now," she said with a shrug and went back to playing her music.
Things only got worse however as the rattling sounds became louder clatters, followed by a loud raspy roar. Now she knew that something had to be up. She set her guitar down on her bed, walked over to her window and peered out to see that something was digging through trash... and swallowing large handfuls of garbage.
Avery couldn't help but gag as she watched this thing eat the trash, not that she could get a good look at whatever was out there but could tell what it was doing very easily. The idea of something, anything rummaging around in old dirty cans and actually EATING handfuls of rotting trash with all sorts of wriggling bugs and mold within made her want to puke her dinner up all over the floor. Thankfully she was able to tap it back down and made her way out of the room and ran down the stairs.
By the time she reached the landing, she could already see Courage pointing towards the kitchen with a scream. And this was followed by Courage morphing into a dinosaur as it went on a rampage of death and destruction.
'So Courage must have seen it too,' Avery thought to herself.
To no one's surprise, Eustace merely laughed at Courage and called him, once again, "Stupid dog."
Muriel however was a lot more tactful as she glared at Eustace and calmly asked, "What is it Courage?"
Courage kept prancing about the floor in terror and she could hear him trying to gasp out the word, "Help" over and over again. Muriel decided that maybe it wouldn't hurt to see what was troubling Courage so much, so both she and Avery went with him to see what had happened outside. When they stepped out the backdoor, whatever had been feeding on the trash was gone, but it had left the shredded remains of the trashcans behind with garbage either spilling out of the cans or strewn about. Avery gulped at the sight, but Muriel was unfazed.
"Oh it's just the raccoons Courage. They must be hungry," she said and then walked back inside.
But both Courage and Avery stood on the doorstep, looking at the wrecked garbage cans and strewn about trash.
Avery looked down at Courage and said, "You saw that thing too, didn't you boy?"
Courage nodded his head with a whine.
"I don't know what Aunt Muriel is thinking, but THAT... that was no raccoon," she said and Courage nodded in agreement.
They both stepped back inside and they were greeted by the sweet smell of Muriel's baking. She was in the middle of baking one of her delicious blackberry pies and the smell could practically drive anyone mad with hunger. Especially those with a sweet tooth. For a moment, Avery was able to forget about what had just happened and focused on her aunt taking the pie out of the oven and setting it down on the windowsill to cool.
"This is our lovely dessert for tomorrow you two," she said as she patted Courage on the head and walked off.
But both Courage and Avery could tell what the other was thinking and that was hoping that would make it to tomorrow.
Hours passed and most of the house was asleep by this point. Eustace and Muriel were sound asleep in their room while Avery was sleeping lightly in hers. Part of her mind was still going back to those wrecked trash cans. Part of her wanted to believe that she had simply mis-seen what she had seen out there earlier and that it really was a just a raccoon that she had seen, but even in Florida she had seen raccoons in the dark and they certainly didn't stand tall and eat handfuls of garbage at a time. She hoped that her mind was simply playing games with her, but that seemed more and more unlikely as she continued dwelling on it.
In time she heard a loud crash coming from downstairs and the sound startled her back up in bed. She sat frozen in her bed as the realization began to hit her and hit her hard. What if that thing had returned and what if it had broken into the house.
She began to shake her head a little and said to herself, "Calm down Avery. You're becoming just as worrisome as Courage."
But then again, Courage hadn't steered her wrong yet and he had seen that thing out there as well. So she at least owed it to him to see what had caused that sound. Knowing him, he'd be running towards it as well. So she stood up and pulled herself out of bed. She rushed out the attic and zipped down the stairs. But by the time she reached the living room, her aunt was just leaving the kitchen with a look of slight amusement on her face.
"Aunt Muriel? Is everything okay?" she asked.
Muriel nodded and said, "Everything is fine dear. Courage just wanted a snack and accidently dropped the pie."
"Oh?" Avery exclaimed.
Muriel patted her hand and said, "Nothing to worry about, I'll bake a fresh pie in the morning. Sorry you were bothered dear."
With that, Muriel sauntered back up the stairs to her room. Avery was not fully convinced of Muriel's explanation though and ventured into the kitchen herself anyway. Inside she saw Courage was looking out the window, peering across the dark farm with pie filling dripping down his head.
"Courage? Are you okay boy?" Avery asked.
Courage looked at her and nodded, pulling a little bit of the pie filling off of his head and eating it. He still had a look of worry on his face though and it didn't calm Avery's nerves.
"Was something out there?" she asked.
Courage nodded his head fretfully.
She smiled at him and said, "At least it's gone for now. Now lets try to get this mess cleaned up so that we don't have to hear about it in the morning."
Courage looked at the smashed remains of the pie and chuckled nervously. Avery made sure to grab the broom and dustpan while Courage helped her mop up the mess. As they finished, Avery took her turn to look out the window. She saw nothing out of the ordinary and just saw a calm family farm in the middle of the night. But just because she couldn't see anything now, didn't mean that there wasn't anything out there. She looked back at Courage who was proceeding out the kitchen. She knew that, as a dog, Courage had sharper instincts than her. If he sensed that something was out, then there very likely was.
The next morning came without any further incidents. Murial had been so grateful for Avery and Courage cleaning up the mess, that as soon as breakfast had finished she had set straight to work on making the new pie. Avery had offered to help, but Muriel had turned the offer down and told her that cleaning up the kitchen had been enough. So Avery went back into the living room to watch the morning news with her Uncle Eustace.
It contained the usual weather and local sports, which wasn't very much so she hadn't been very interested in what they had to say. That is until the anchor had mentioned something about a Bigfoot being spotted around their area. At the mention of the name, she, Courage and Eustace leaned in closer to the TV to listen in even better.
"He's been terrorizing Nowhere. Now we know the cause of all of them disasters," he said as he displayed photos of various infamous disasters on screen.
Avery rolled her eyes and said in her head, 'How did this guy get into journalism?'
The anchor continued by saying, "We have proof positive that Bigfoot is here."
He pulled up a picture of a giant footprint that made everyone in the news studio gasp at the sight. Even she and Eustace had to gasp at it. Courage's eyes even widened at the sight. Now she began to worry a bit and she could tell Courage was thinking the exact same thing.
The news anchor removed the picture and said, "I hear tell, a reward is being offered by the Nowhere Museum."
Now it was Avery and Eustace's turn to go wide eyed.
"A reward?" Eustace said.
Avery giggled and said, "What kind?"
"Twenty-five dollars and a lifetime membership," the newsman said enthusiastically.
Avery's excitement dropped flat, but Eusatce was still ecstatic.
Eustace cheered and said, "A lifetime membership? Ya-hoo." He began jigging a little in pre-mature celebration.
"Couldn't they have sprung for some extra money though? I'd probably make more money selling pictures to them or the media," Avery stated and an idea began to form in her mind.
Eustace ignored her question and jumped up in glee. This caused him to throw his back out.
Avery shook her head in annoyance to him. She knew how greedy her uncle was and she hated to admit, but she tended to share his love of money from time to time. Thankfully she had a better sense of judgement than he did though, so at least to date her greed hadn't caused her as many problems as it tended to cause him. Not yet anyway.
"If anyone has any information about any strange doings lately, contact us," the newsman finished.
'Take your pick,' Avery said in her head and looked down at her bracelet. 'Maybe I should let them know about this.'
She considered it for a moment, but decided against it. That would really infuriate Shirley no doubt and would truly seal Avery's fate. And she had no intention on spending eternity inside a crystal.
Even with his back out, Eustace was still pretty excited.
"A reward! A reward and a lifetime membership to boot! Oh baby!," Eustace said gleefully as he ignored the pain in his back.
The newsman continued by saying, "But my friends, be careful."
"Don't need to tell me twice," Avery stated.
Muriel stepped into the room drying her hands asking, "What's all the excitement?"
Eustace still held his back and said, "I'm gonna get me a Bigfoot." He laughed gleefully.
He walked off still spouting about a reward and the lifetime membership.
Avery looked back at her aunt and asked, "Do you guys still have that Polaroid camera. I'm going to see if I can get pictures of something. Even if they don't turn out the best, the photos might mean a lot to a satirist paper."
Courage looked at quizingly and she said, "Hey at least it's better than looking foolish on the news. Something Uncle Eustace could learn from."
Muriel pointed at the closet and said, "I think it should be in there. Why? Is something wrong."
Avery shook her head and said, "No. Just a good opportunity to make some money. Or a new hobby at least."
Muriel smiled and said, "Well it sounds better than one of Eustace's get rich schemes. Take the camera and good luck dear."
Avery smiled and went for the closet.
A little bit later, both Avery and Courage were searching the area around the farm. Courage was examining the ground with a magnifying glass while Avery was carrying around the camera her aunt had given her for anything good to photograph. She had already taken some pictures of the damaged trashcans and hoped that those could be a good lead in for whatever they found. It wasn't until she heard Courage howling that her concentration was broken.
She saw him running back to her while screaming and he stopped in front of her. He pointed at where he had come from and was babbling like crazy.
"What? What did you find boy?" she asked as she knelt down to him.
Courage then morphed into a giant foot and stamped into the ground over and over again before turning into a giant feral looking creature, or Courage sized giant monster at least, before he went back into his normal look and whimpered as he continued pointing at the area behind him.
She looked back at where he was pointing and could see that something was in the ground back there.
She looked Courage square in the eyes and said, "Show me."
He took her back over to where he had come from. He ran ahead quickly, but she followed after him quickly to keep a short distance between them. He pointed at the ground and whined once more.
Avery's eyes went wide and quickly took several pictures of the thing in the ground.
"What did this?" she asked as she snapped the photos.
Her aunt blamed raccoons which could explain the mess of the trash cans. But since when do raccoons leave giant footprints in the ground?
Back at the house, Eustace was going through his various trap items that he was planning to use in his hunt and was marking them off on his checklist. That is until Courage ran in and began babbling to Eustace, morphing into a giant monster foot and pointing back out the door as Avery stepped in.
Eustace merely rebuffed Courage and then the doorbell rang and was swiftly followed by someone knocking on the door before ringing the doorbell again. Whoever it was must have been desperately waiting for someone to answer the door.
Eustace, annoyed by the disturbance, walked over to the door, threw it open and rudely said, "We don't need any."
Standing on the porch was a little old lady. She had a worried expression on her face like she was looking for something and desperately needed to find it. Didn't help that she looked as helpless as one could look.
She looked up at Eustace and said, "Please mister, my little boy is lost. You seen my little boy?"
Avery was mentally groaning.
'Great, we have a Bigfoot in the area and now there's a lost kid running around here? I don't need this right now,' she thought to herself, but almost immediately afterwards, her mind began to scold her viciously.
'Oh shut up! I know you don't like kids, but shouldn't you at least be a little worried? I know you don't like them, but one could be in danger now. Do you really dislike kids that much?' she asked herself. 'I don't know what to think.'
Eustace however was less tactful as he angrily stated, "Ain't seen no lost boy." He then slammed the door in her face.
Avery couldn't help but groan at her Uncle's rudeness. Especially since the lady was looking for someone.
"Who was that?" asked Muriel as she walked into the room.
Eustace walked right past Muriel and simply said, "Nobody."
He began gathering up all of his things and prepared to set out on his Bigfoot hunt.
"Hey Uncle Eustace. I know you are adamant on catching this catching Bigfoot thing, but just hear me out real quick. What if we just took pictures of him? It would mean more money and possibly a little extra fame if we sold them to major newspaper," she said as she held up the photos that she had already taken.
Eustace turned away and said, "Bah, stupid photos. That won't give me my lifetime membership. That Bigfoot is worth more to me than some stupid pictures."
Avery just huffed in aggravation.
Eustace finished gathering his things and said, "Gonna get me a Bigfoot," as he walked out the door.
Muriel still din't know what to make of the scene, but could tell by the rising anger on her niece's face that a distraction was in order.
"Come on you two, let's have some pie," Muriel suggested as she walked back into the kitchen.
Avery's anger began to diminish at the suggestion of pie. Like most problem's in life, pie was a good temporary solution to whatever plagued someone. And she could tell by the smile on Courage's face that he seemed to have the same idea as well. But as the two of them walked into the kitchen, their jaws just hit the floor.
Standing the middle of the kitchen was the one that the two had been searching for. His fur a reddish brown and hairy feet so large. A grey beard adorned his chin while his eyes were a mix of blue and white. He stood at a slight hunch and stood about as tall as Muriel, who was currently feeding him an entire pie.
He turned his head and saw both Courage and Avery standing in the doorway. As predicted, Courage began to scream. The creature roared back at him and they could see the sharp teeth in his mouth. He certainly looked and sounded like the creature they had seen the night before.
The screaming and roaring went on and Avery took the time to step away from the door in case things were about to get dangerous. As soon as the roaring stopped, Muriel took the time to offer Avery a cup of tea which she gladly accepted.
Turns out that Avery made the right move as Courage grabbed a watermelon and chucked it at the creature. The watermelon struck the beast in the head and in retaliation, he grabbed one of the pies and chucked it Courage who just barely dodged the pie.
"Hey! We were going to eat that," Avery complained.
But the duo ignored her and began throwing more food at one another, even setting up their own defenses. Back and forth, over and over again the two threw food at one another. Neither making a strike as lucky as Courage's first throw, but making a mess of the entire kitchen. Avery had originally been concerned, but Muriel held her back. She simply made some tea and gave a cup to her niece. So the two casually sat by and watched the chaos unfold. Avery had to admit, it was amusing to watch. She just hated that so much food was being wasted in the process.
Finally, a huge mess of fruits went flying about the room. A banana hit the radio and turned on some random dance song while the rest flew to both Courage and Bigfoot, covering them in fruit in a way that the two looked like a couple of hula dancer's wearing fruit on their heads. The two, amused by the current looks then proceeded to step into the center of room and began dancing goofily to the music.
Avery had to admit, she was very entertained by what she was watching. A dog and a creature with fruit covering their head, dancing to some song that was playing on the radio. Wasn't much of a dance either, just the two of them shaking their bodies to the music that was playing. It wasn't something special, but Avery couldn't help but laugh as she watched. She even took the time to snap a few photos of the scene. This scene was pure gold.
Too bad the amusement didn't last very long.
Suddenly, the back door opened and into the kitchen, stepped Eustace.
"Hey! What's for dinner?" he called out as he stepped into the room.
But as he set eyes on Bigfoot, he gasped and then proceeded to scream. Bigfoot roared back at him in response.
"Not this again," Avery said with a sigh.
Thankfully it didn't last as Eustace ran out the door and out of sight. Courage and Bigfoot merely shrugged and started to go back to dancing.
That was when the rock flew through the window and the angry mob could be heard. The rock itself, collided with Bigfoot's head and the shattering sound woke up Muriel who had dozed off during the food fight.
Avery looked at the rock and the window and anger rose in her throat. She dashed over the window and hollered, "Whoever did that is paying for the window."
But as she looked out, her heart dropped as Courage and Bigfoot joined her. Outside, they could see a large mob approaching the house. Many of them were even carrying torches and pitchforks. Everyone gathered were chanting, "Bigfoot! Bigfoot! Bigfoot!"
Then they saw that Eustace was leading the mob as he came forward with an ankle clamp and cried out, "Bigfoot! Come on out!"
The mob became even more energetic than they were just a moment before.
Avery frowned and said, "Well... this is a pickle."
Muriel however was unfazed by the crowd and merely picked up the rock that had been tossed into the house. She stepped out the back door and demanded to know who had thrown the rock. Eustace in turn, told Muriel to get out of the way so that they could get Bigfoot. Muriel however, remained defiant and even threatened Eustace if he threw another rock.
Courage and Bigfoot huddled together, both jittering and chattering in fear of the rising mob outside.
Avery gulped and looked back down at the photos that she had taken with the Polaroid. The creature that she had originally been somewhat fearful of was simply a creature that was looking for some food. Wasn't his fault that he looked scary. Had she really been planning to expose him to the world?
It was here that a group of people broke through the mob with a giant log. They watched as the men went around to the other side of the house and began banging it against the front door, beginning to splinter the thing in the process.
"You guys are paying for the door too," Avery called out.
It was here that Bigfoot finally snapped. He let out a roar of rage and then smashed right through the kitchen wall and ran outside and roared even more at the mob around them.
Avery looked at the hole in the wall and said, "Why do I even bother?"
Bigfoot roared even more at the crowd as Courage came running out of the kitchen and began trying to address the crowd. He even morphed into an angelic version of Bigfoot to try to win over the crowd. This backfired as Eustace continued to egg the crowd on, only caring about the reward and the lifetime membership. The crowd rallied around him and began to approach Bigfoot, preparing to do whatever to him. But they were stopped when a voice rose above their own.
"What are you doing to my boy?" came a vaguely familiar voice.
It was here that the little old that Eustace had slammed the door on earlier, came running out of the crowd and towards the creature.
"Theodore!" she called out.
The creature saw her, smiled and growled out, "MOMMY!"
The two ran to each other and caught each other in a hug, which caused the crowd to calm down and all go, "Aww!" The crowd all looked ashamed of their actions and watched the sweet display in front of them. Some of them even began to lower their weapons in response. Even Avery, Courage and Muriel had to admit that the display was a cute one with Avery taking a couple more photos.
'So the little boy wasn't even an actual little boy. Bigfoot was simply a lost child trying to keep from going hungry. I feel foolish now,' she said in her head and smiled.
The only one that was not in love with the display was Eustace, who's face turned sour as the prospects of his reward and lifetime membership to the museum of Nowhere were quickly dwindling. He took the ankle brace and quickly fastened it around Bigfoot's ankle. Both Bigfoot and his mother were in shock and the both of them even began to jitter in fear.
Eustace laughed at his victory and said, "The reward is mine!"
Muriel however was not amused and threw her rolling pin at him, getting him in the head. Muriel glared at him and demanded that he let the child go right that instant.
Eustace merely crossed his arms and said, "NO!"
That's when the crowd became angry again as they lifted up their weapons, this time approaching Eustace and yelling, "YES!"
Eustace remained defiant and said, "Make me!"
The crowd showed no restraint as they all approached Eustace who learned very quickly that the crowd was not going to stop for him. He screamed as he turned and ran across the field and into the distance with the mob chasing him close behind.
"Should we be worried about him?" Avery asked.
Muriel shook her head and said, "It's not the first time Eustace has had an angry mob after him. I just hope he'll learn something this time."
Courage went over to Bigfoot and unclamped the brace from around his ankle, freeing him. While Bigfoot may have been free of the clamp, he wasn't free from his mother's wrath.
She wagged her finger at him and said, "Next time you want to play, stay in OUR backyard," as she scolded him.
Avery could swear she heard him say, "Sorry mommy," in the process. The little old lady grabbed him by the ear and began leading him away, scolding him all the while as they walked off.
Some time later, Avery walked out onto the front porch and joined her aunt and Courage for some of the pie that she still had leftover. She sat down and took a piece of pie that Muriel had saved for her.
"So? What did they say?" Muriel asked.
Avery took a bite of the pie and said, "Well they said that if they look good, they'll offer me a couple of hundred for each photo I took."
Muriel smiled and said, "Well that sounds nice. Too bad it's not a big newspaper."
Avery shrugged and said, "Yeah, but I kinda want his existence here to remain a secret so I decided a satirist would be best. This way I can still get something from those photos and Bigfoot and his mother can keep their identities safe. Problem is that after I calculated the total damages to the house, there's not going to be anything leftover after the repairs."
Muriel frowned and said, "That's a shame. At least it would have been better than what Eustace tried to do."
"Yeah. But this way, he gets a lesson and everyone else goes home happy," she said.
The bracelet pulsated in agreement.
So that's the first episode of this series done. The next episode will be Shadow of Courage. An episode I'm looking forward to.
Until then, please read and leave a review.