Chapter 28: A Spooky Night

I waved bye to the adult Heelers as they drove off into the night with their kids in the back seat. Halloween, one of my favorite holidays had finally arrived and the Heelers had decided to celebrate it with the adults going to an adult get together whilst the kids would be joining their friends to go trick or treating.

Of course, the last time I ever went trick or treating was when I was twelve and I felt like I had completely grown out of it, so I chose not to go. Thankfully, Bandit and Chilli had given me the okay to invite some of my friends over to hang out for the night, just as long as they didn't leave the house a complete mess.

As I waited for Mia, Captain, Hachi and Digger to arrive, I decided to carve a Jack-o'-lantern for the occasion, deciding to go for the traditional triangular eyes and goofy smile with a square tooth, mainly because I didn't want to accidentally scare Lucky's little brother, Chucky or any of the other nearby kids by giving the lantern a more intense design.

The deep orange sky was already halfway turning into nightly darkness as I placed the lantern down, deciding to put it on top of their mailbox so the others would get a better view of it.

That was when I heard the sound of several small things hitting the side walk as I turned and noticed a bunch of apples and some plastic canisters rolling to a stop at me before looking up to see a new face.

She appeared to be a Spitz with black fur asides from a white muzzle and a few light red highlights, specifically on the tips of her ears and the strands of fur that stuck out of her forehead almost like hair, there was even a long bunch of it at her left side fashioned like a ponytail. And last but not least was a pair of white rectangular glasses that rested on the bridge of her nose.

It only took me noticing the grocery bag with an open hole in the bottom in her hands to figure out that they belonged to her.

Strangely however, the second she saw me, she suddenly tensed up and froze on the spot. Perhaps she had not been given the news about me being here or had just never seen a human before.

I looked down at the apples and canisters again, the latter of which were labelled as protein supplements before kneeling down to pick them up and approaching the Spitz, only for her to briefly take a step back as I did so.

...Was she afraid of me?

Trying to look as friendly and harmless as possible, I held the dropped groceries out to her. The awkward silence between us must have lasted ten seconds before she swiped her purchases out of my arms and back into the bag, wrapping it up into a ball to stop them falling out again before giving me another anxious look before rushing past behind me.

However, she immediately stopped in place and hastily turned around and bowed, throwing her body forward so quickly she could've ended up giving herself whiplash.

"I...I-I-I'm so sorry! So sorry!" She squeaked out before turning and running off again, vanishing down the road.

...What on earth was that all about?

My train of thought on that odd spitz girl didn't last long as the group I was waiting for had arrived seconds later and I proceeded to let them in, wondering what we'd be doing first for the scary festivities.

...

We were all just slouched in the living room, the amount of ennui we were radiating was enough to be practically infectious. Captain and Hachi would often check their phones perhaps to see if anything interesting had come up on the web.

"So much for a bonza Halloween…" Digger exclaimed in a very bored tone. I was about to nod in agreement until I spotted the bookcase under the stairs to the upper floor, which suddenly gave me an idea.

"Halloween is meant to be a night of scary stuff, isn't it? Why don't we try scaring each other with ghost stories?"

Hachi was the first to immediately perk up at the idea, and given that he was part Japanese, it was easy to see why.

"Oho, when I'm done, you all will definitely be wetting yourselves all night long!" Hachi playfully threatened with an evil cackle.

"Oh yeah? Do your worst, Karate Pup!"

"...And they say… That ANYONE who hears this story of Teke Teke… will be visited by her within a month… and unless you give her the right answers…" Hachi paused before drawing a finger across his neck and making a sound like cutting.

Mia gulped as he lightly clung on to Captain, and even he and Digger looked a little unnerved.

"Was it your grandpa that told you that story?" I asked, curious as to where he knew of this particular story.

"Yep! I think he first told me about it two years ag…" Hachi stopped, realizing that he had just let it slip that the whole "meeting the ghost after hearing their story" thing wasn't true, not that I believed it anyway.

"Crikey… No offense, Hachi, but Japan sounds mental." Digger said with a bit of a shiver in his voice, which made the Akita laugh.

"Ya know… If Japan has creepy stories like that, what about where Nate came from, there must be a few!" Captain suggested, which encouraged all the others to look at me expectantly.

Of course they weren't wrong, America had quite a LOT of folklore legends such as the Jersey Devil, Mothman and the Flatwoods Monster, the question was, which one should I tell them about?

And that was when I remembered Denver, my home town and one particular piece of art there that has some terrifying history.

"Oh, you'd be surprised, and have I got a story for you all. And the scariest part… is that it's a true story." I explained in the most sinister tone I can pull off. Hearing that got the teen dogs even more invested as their eyes were all on me, paying close attention as I began.

"In my home town of Denver, there is a statue at it's airport. The statue is a giant blue horse with eyes that glow red in the night… The locals call it 'Blucifer'."

I swear I could hear Digger gulp faintly as I mentioned the statue's nickname.

"And they say that Blucifer is cursed… because as the artist was building it, a piece of the statue fell off… and cut his leg, and the artist DIED as a result. And to this day, Blucifer still stands in the Denver airport, his eyes glowing red. Every. Single. Night."

Hachi and even Captain were shivering as I finished that story, no doubt because of the fact that everything I had said actually happened.

I nearly tensed up when Hachi suddenly yelped and shuffled closer to us. Confused, I looked at him as he pointed at a shadow on the wall. The shadow had something of an equine shape which made Mia gasp as she clung onto Captain some more.

I rolled my eyes however when I found out that the source of the shadow was really just a hand puppet of a unicorn. 'Unicorse', I think Bluey and Bingo called him.

"A-A-Anyone else got a horror story?" Digger said, quivering a little.

Surprisingly, it was Mia who would raise her hand as she let go of Captain and composed herself before speaking.

"Well… I guess it's only fair I tell you this since Nathan is here… But, there are stories from some of the locals…"

…

…

…

"...That Nathan wasn't the only human here in Canistralia after the New Zealand War."

"What?!" The rest of us, even I exclaimed with shock. Another human had perhaps been here before me?

"That's what I heard. Many have said that he is big, hairy, and runs on all fours like a beast… But only a few of them have seen his face…"

Mia pulled out a notepad and opened it to a specific page as we were all met with a sketch of a human bust.

"I based this sketch off of the legends regarding the human. They call him… The Wild Man."

I stared in silence at the dramatised sketch of the Wild Man. Everything about his face just looked wrong, the scars on his malnourished cheeks, the snarling mouth with exposed teeth, the unkempt hair…

But I think what unnerved me the most was the eyes.

They say that a human's eyes are the window to their soul with the pupils serving as said soul. But the Wild Man eyes were just… blank, just empty white soulless orbs on an already deranged looking face.

"...How long has it been since there have been any reports of the Wild Man?" I asked, my tone laced with a bit of dread, I was genuinely hoping that this really was all just an urban legend. God knows what the Wild Man's motives are or if he even has any morals.

"Actually, the last time I heard one was a month before you came here. They might have just seen something else and mistook it for the Wild Man."

…

"Well, I think Mia wins this round." Digger said nervously, all of us nodding in agreement when Hachi suddenly perked up.

"Hey, we have movies of our own, right? Like Chunky Chimp and such… Humans must make movies as well, you must have at least one or two scary movies on you, Nate!" Hachi asked turning to me very eagerly.

Granted, I was aware of a few of the well known horror movies such as Friday the 13th and Child's Play, but my parents had made it clear to me to never watch those movies until I was an adult and for likely a good reason.

So what could I tell them? I didn't have any of those kinds of movies on my phone, the few movies I had on there were…

…

Wait.

I think I had just the thing.

"Well… I might have something, but I must warn you that even if it was advertised as a kid's film, it could easily traumatise even adults." I explained to them a little forebodingly, only for Digger to roll his eyes.

"Oh please, like a kid's movie could be so terrifying! Well, do your worst, Nate, because I doubt even a second of whatever that film is could make us wet ourselves!" Rusty's older brother coaxed me with a cheeky tone in his voice.

I inhaled before turning to the living room TV and finding a USB connector at the stand, using it to connect the TV to my phone and select the movie in question.

"DOROTHY GAAAALE! DOROTHY GAAAAAALE!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Captain was the first to scream in horror, followed by Digger and Hachi, their pupils shrunk to the size of raisins as they stared at the TV screen which showed the headless body of the witch, Mombi, practically gravitating towards Dorothy like a phantom. All the while, the witch's many living heads screaming out the little girl's name in what could easily be described as a cacophony of demonic voices chanting in rage.

To this day, I still have no idea what was going through the heads of the people who made 'Return to Oz' to think that any child would be able to watch it without suffering any kind of trauma, not helped that when it wasn't trying to make you stain your underwear, it was often very bleak and depressing, especially with it starting off with Dorothy looking absolutely miserable after having left Oz. A happy whimsical continuation of the original musical with Judy Garland this was not. In fact, I once read online that the only thing that made this movie even slightly canon to the Judy Garland movie was the inclusion of the ruby slippers.

Suffice to say, if Bluey, Bingo or any of the other kids were to come across this movie, they'd for sure have nightmares for weeks.

Even I was a little unnerved still by this movie, despite having watched it a few times before and slowly getting used to it's even more mentally messed up moments.

Mia meanwhile was clinging to Captain's side, burying her face against him and quivering. I think the poor girl was more scared than any of the guys were… Even if Hachi had leaped onto me, forcing me to hold him bridal style as he had his arms locked around me.

"W-What do you humans think sometimes?!" Hachi stammered out to me, his face starting to look pale.

"I wonder that myself sometimes…" I mumbled with an internal groan.

If they thought Mombi was terrifying, then they haven't seen what anyone could consider the worst of the movie.

The entire house was just chaos the second all dogs saw the true monstrous rock form of the Nome King. What might have horrified them the most was the uncanny humanoid formation of the face combined by the rough stop motion animation, all the while, he, Dorothy and her friends were surrounded by a ring of blazing fire and a hallway inhabited by horrendous stone monsters, thus giving them nowhere to run.

Digger had his head under a side table with very faint whimpers coming from him as the Nome King lifted Jack Pumpkinhead with Dorothy's chicken in tow with his skeletally thin rock arm, his jaw practically unhinging itself like a pelican with the obvious intent of swallowing them whole, laughing maniacally the whole time… that is until an egg laid by the chicken fell out of the pumpkin and into the Nome King's throat which made him suddenly stop his attack, his stone minions freezing in horror at what was about to happen next.

"AN… EGG…?" The Nome King uttered out in a deep echoed voice, his tone laced with a mix of shock and disbelief before we were shown a close up of one of his eyes turning into cracked stone before the surrounding Nome creatures either vanished into the walls or melted, groaning out the word "Poison" in a creepy death rattle.

"DON'T… YOU… KNOW… THAT EGGS… ARE… POISONED?!"

Hachi clung onto me even tighter, almost to the point of choking me as the Nome King uttered out "POISON" multiple times as his body finally crumbled away, degrading to what looked like a stone formation of a skull with an expression of agony, lightning striking around them as the rock being that had put the Land of Oz under an age of tyranny and post-apocalyptic despair finally took his last breath.

The dogs were still shivering a little fearfully even after the movie had ended with it's obligatory happy ending. And honestly, I couldn't blame them, they had just gotten a taste of one of the more popular sources of human childhood trauma.

"...Hachi? The movie is over, you're fine." I tried to reassure the Akita who slowly regulated his breathing to try and calm himself down. To my fortune, he managed to compose himself as had the others.

"Wow… That was mental! You humans are full of surprises!" Mia was the first to speak, albeit with a bit of a nervous chuckle, still shaken by the movie.

"I think we should all try to make ourselves feel better with some candy now, I'm sure poor Nate here is still shaking in his boots!" Hachi then said, patting my shoulder with an obviously smug tone, as if trying to act like him being practically terrified through the whole thing never even happened.

"Har har." Was all I responded with, crossing my arms in faux annoyance.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

"YIPE!" Hachi suddenly squeaked, his fur bristling as the moment was interrupted by the sound of what sounded like very aggressive knocking.

...Oh great, I bet one of the neighbors had been disturbed by my friends' screams and had come to complain.

I was about to head to the door whilst putting together a sentence in my head that'd be best used when apologising to whoever was at the door about the noise when I took a glance at the front window and noticed who was actually there at the door.

A grey Bully Kutta with a scruffy neck and a scar on the muzzle and a Greyhound with patches of dirt on the fur.

...Zeus and Hopper.

How did they even know I was staying here?

"Nate, who was-"

"Shh!" I quickly shushed Captain and stepped back, gesturing him and the others to do the same to avoid getting the attention of the two dogs at the door.

"What are they doing here?" Digger growled in a hushed tone upon recognising them. My only guess was that they had come here to get some form of revenge. No sign of the Mastiff, Rex anywhere. He was probably still recovering from the fight between me and him.

Then I noticed something about the two. Hopper was the only one slamming a fist against the door with a snarl on his face whilst Zeus just had a look on his face that looked completely fed up when they began to speak.

"Hopper, just let it go already. That human took out Rex, there's no way you'd stand a chance against him."

"Shut yer trap already, Zeus! I ain't goin' nowhere 'til the score between me and that meatbag is settled for good, see! I oughta teach 'im a thing or two for siccing a spider on me last time!"

Well, I was right. It was revenge for my bout with them, though only Hopper seemed to be hell-bent on getting even with me. Eventually, Hopper stopped banging on the door and stepped back.

"Well then… If that human ain't gonna come and fight me like a man, then we're gonna scare him 'til he needs an underwear change, that oughta make sure he NEVER messes with us again!"

How funny that he had decided to try and go for a scare tactic on Halloween in order to intimidate me.

But then I remembered just how scared Hachi and the others had been from seeing 'Return to Oz' and that was when I got an idea… It sounded crazy, but I thought it just might work.

"Guys? I got a plan." I told them with a grin as I looked aside to find a pile of used cardboard near the door to be later thrown into a recycling bin.

If it had been only me there, it would've taken me more than an hour, but thanks to the help of my friends, it took less than half an hour at best to put together the very thing that was sure to send our two home invaders running with their tails between their legs. Even the others looked impressed at the handiwork.

"Let's do this."

After looking through a window to make sure the coast was clear, we quietly exited the house through the back door, taking our home-made prop with us, making sure to keep hidden at all times.

Hopper and Zeus were still there at the front of house, only the Greyhound was now holding a cricket bat and a bag of what I could only assume was fake blood while Zeus was holding a fake severed head and a box of eggs.

"Now remember, don't throw the head in 'til the window is smashed in, see! I want it to git up close to that bald ape!"

So that was their plan, to try and scare me with a severed head and possibly make me believe I was going to be attacked by a serial killer.

That was one thing, but them deliberately vandalising the Heeler house just to pull off this prank was a low even for them.

With my brows furrowed in anger, I nodded to Hachi and others as we made a quick maneuver into the nearby bushes before putting the plan into motion by tapping on my phone screen to play a scene from the movie I had paused at.

"Dorothy Gaaaaaale…!"

I watched the two dogs prick their ears up a little upon hearing the raspy snarl of Mombi's voice near them, making them dart their heads around in confusion. I then followed this up by playing another scene of the movie, specifically the moment right after the Nome King swallows the chicken egg.

"POISON… POISON… POISON…"

"Alright, whoever's doin' that, that ain't funny, see! Git out 'ere and show yerselves!" Hopper called out, looking fierce, but I could still sense a bit of fear in his voice.

"You shouldn't have come here…" I then whispered out, trying to sound as ghastly as possible and it seemed to be working as Zeus' movement as he looked around for the source of the noises was now more erratic.

"O-Okay, ya can stop now, we get it!" Hopper stammered out, still trying and now failing to hold a brave face as he held the bat in front of him defensively.

"Hopper, let's just go, this is insane!" Zeus finally blurted out, now clearly wanting to get the heck away from here as fast as possible.

"H-Hey, don't go bein' a coward on me now, it's probably just some kids tryna be funny!"

One last time did I hit 'Play' on a scene from the movie.

"DON'T… YOU… KNOW… THAT EGGS… ARE… POISON?"

"W-W-What-?!"

"Now!" I instructed in a hushed tone to the others as they quickly sprang to action and let the cardboard cut-out we had made of the Nome King spring out of the bushes right in front of the two as I immediately tapped my phone screen again as it played a video of a sound effect of a roar at full volume. The cut-out in question came with one of a hand as if what they would see would be reaching out for them, and just for extra effect, we attached a torch to one of the Nome King's eyes and mouth to make them glow.

"ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

It took less than a second for us to watch as Hopper and Zeus screamed the loudest I had ever heard in genuine terror as they clung onto each other, there were even tears coming out of Hopper's eyes, and was it just me, or did some of the fur between his legs get darker?

"AAAAAAGH MUHUMMY!" Hopper wailed in fright as he and Zeus dropped their items and immediately made a beeline down the road, far away from the Heeler house, their screams eventually fading in the distance.

We all slowly got out of our hiding spots and stared at the road the two had just ran down to flee from the "Monster" we had sent on them before we all turned to look eachother.

I must have been the first to break out into laughter as the others joined in. Hachi was practically on the floor, laughing hysterically from our prank on the two troublemakers.

"AHAHA, did you see Hopper actually piss himself?! I wish I got that on camera! Nate, you're a legend!" Digger wheezed through his laughing fit. Even Mia couldn't help but let out a few giggles.

"I guess you're actually glad now that I showed you that movie, huh?" I asked as my laughing died down to a few chuckles and I walked over to our Nome King dummy, looking at it proudly.

"Oh boy, I wonder what Doreen or the others would think of this!" Hachi said with a snicker when we all suddenly heard a yelp nearby, making me turn to find a certain Chow Chow tensed up and staring at the cardboard Nome King with an anxious look.

"...Evening, Wendy." Was all I could utter out rather sheepishly.

"H-Hello, Nathan dear… O-Oh my…" Wendy stammered out as she slowly paced past me and the others, not keeping her eyes off of our Nome King prop the whole time.

As soon as she was out of earshot, we all couldn't help but let out a little laugh at the fact that the prop had even managed to scare even Wendy, an adult.

"So you and your mates just scared them off with just a bunch of cardboard?" Bandit asked me with both curiosity and confusion. He had arrived home from the party a few minutes before Hachi and the others headed home for the night with Stripe having joined him and both were interested in hearing what I had been up to.

"You bet. And boy were they petrified! And all it took was a bit of inspiration from a rock monster from Return to Oz!" I confirmed with my arms crossed and a smug smile, only for Stripe to scoff and roll his eyes.

"Ha, yeah, like anyone would be scared of a rock monster from what you call a kid's movie!" Stripe playfully said tauntingly in disbelief, sipping from a can when the prop Nome King suddenly sprang out of the bushes in front of us again.

"I AM A ROCK MONSTAH!" Muffin yelled as she popped up behind the cardboard beast, no doubt she was the one that pushed it up for Bandit and Stripe to get a face full of.

...The latter of which upon being startled by the Nome King jolted back and let out a very girly sounding scream that made Bandit burst out laughing and would cause some of his own drink to run out of his nose.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!"

A/N: Don't know what to say here, other than "Happy Halloween", I guess.