| The moon was out on this warm spring night, its light casting
a spooky glow around everything that once seemed so familiar. It was approximately
two A.M. NST. A young Gelert, named Swift, woke up and stretched as his little
alarm clock went off. He turned it off quickly and paused to make sure no one
else was awake or heard his alarm. He got out of his bed, and tip toed over to
the mirror. He sees his lush yellow fur glimmer from the moon's light, and his
long ears hanging in front of him with style. He smiled a confidently and then
tip toed out of the room and proceeds into the hallway.
The hallway was dark as the shadows through
the window danced on the carpeted floor. He proceeded slowly, not to make a
noise. He reached the top of the staircase and looked over his shoulder again
and descended them. He moved slowly yet swiftly. When he reached the second
to last stair, it made a loud squeak! Swift froze instantly, he wouldn't move
for a minute. When he convinced himself that the coast was clear, he went down
the last two steps. He sighed relieved closing his eyes. He reopened them and
continued to walk quietly. Swift became more and more confident as he got closer
to the front door. Once he put his paw on the doorknob, he heard the refrigerator
slam shut. He turned around instantly and looked around franticly for a place
to hide. Swift saw a couch near by and he dove for it to hide under it. His
breathing became a little heavier, although he tried to remain as quiet as he
could. He looked out from underneath the couch to see a yellow Lupess eating
her sandwich. It was too dark to tell who it was, so he crawled back under the
couch and waited. Swift's ears were at attention the whole time as he waited
for the Lupess to go back to sleep.
After ten minutes or so Swift had dozed off,
but was woken up by the sudden creaking of the second step of the staircase.
He became aware of his surroundings and waited patiently. When all was clear
Swift began to crawl out from under the couch. When he was halfway out, something
jumped on top of him and yelled, "Boo!"
Swift screamed in terror and jumped up hurting
his back as he landed on the floor. The same yellow Lupess was now looming over
him smiling. She was very pretty; her big blue eyes would make anyone's heart
melt when they looked into someone's eyes, and her fur seemed to be perfectly
kept. She spoke, "Hi, big brother."
Swift, as fast as he could, covered her mouth
with his paw. He looked into her eyes and whispered, "Shhhh. Jewel, are you
trying to get me caught?"
Jewel, Swift's younger sister, looked at him
confused. She tried to figure it out, but can't. She whispered back, "What do
you mean?"
Swift sighed, "Come with me and stay close."
Jewel got off of him and looked at him in complete
awe. When Swift got up, he moaned in pain. His back was hurt, but he tried to
hide it. Jewel instantly was by his side ready to go wherever he went. She looked
at him, "Where are we going?" Her voice had a hint of nervousness in it.
Swift seemed to become uncomfortable, "We're
going to The Deserted Fairground." He opened up the door silently.
Jewel stopped instantly in her tracks, now terrified.
She looked at him and ran up to him and hugged him, "Why are we going there?"
She yelled.
Swift, quickly, covered her mouth again. He
dragged her outside and he shut the door then lets her go loose. Jewel jumped
out of his arms and then turned around to face him. "Why?" She asked again.
Swift lowered his eyes, "I need to purchase
something there."
She responded quickly, "Like what?"
He began to walk down their driveway, "A scratchcard."
She ran up next to him and seemed confused,
"But why would you go there?"
Swift stopped and turned to her, "Look, if you
come you'll see why. Just stop asking me all these questions!"
Jewel sunk back away from him in fear, "I'm…
I'm sorry big brother. All I wanted to do was help." Her eyes now looked down
at her paws.
Swift sighed, "I'm sorry." He hugged her for
a few seconds then he let go. Swift looked into her eyes confidently, "Are you
coming?" he asked with a calmer voice.
Jewel paused, she leaned toward the house and
then back to Swift. She sat next to him still looking at the ground, "I'll come."
Swift smiled, "I'm glad, I wouldn't have wanted
to do this alone." He began to walk.
Jewel perked up a little. She followed him happily
walking with great grace. They proceeded to walk down Terror Mountain with no
interference. Eventually they reached an area where the grass was lush and peace
was all around, even if it was in the middle of the night. They continue to
walk through this area silently. Swift held Jewel's paw and he continued to
walk with confidence. After they walked for a few minutes, Jewel noticed something.
The ground began to become dry and the grass instead of being green was dead
and brown. The numerous trees that once surround them had disappeared and was
now a barren waste land. Jewel looked at Swift again, "The ground isn't pretty
anymore, big brother."
Swift looked around as they continued to walk
and he nodded back to her. His confident face now began to have some doubt in
it. On their right side a black metal picketed fence started and continued on
down the side walk with them. As they continued to walk they passed a few trees,
but the trees were dead. They had no leaves on them and began to droop. Jewel
began to shiver, "I'm scared."
Swift stopped and so did she. Swift held her
paw a little tighter, "Don't be I'm here for you," he smiled.
Jewel relaxed a little and took a big gulp.
They continued to walk. The picketed fence's pickets began to get taller and
thicker in their size. Swift looked up at them and gave them an evil look, but
nothing more. Up ahead, was the gate that would give them access inside this
spooky area. The gate was closed. Swift and Jewel sat down in front of it in
awe. The gate towered above them, giving them the sense it was looming over
them, the tops of the gate was a perfect arc that looked as if a spider made
it, and out from the arc were two wings. The black metal gate intimidated them
both; as they continued to look at it Jewel spoke, "Look."
Swift looked at her paw which pointed toward
something at the gate. He followed her paw to find the top of the gate just
below the arc. Right before the top of these metal pickets, the pickets were
diamond shaped, and then at the very top these spooky pickets became extremely
sharp and were pointed at the end. Swift got a chill go down his spine. He shivered
and then shook his head trying to keep himself from backing out. He walked up
to the gate and put his paw on it. Before he got a chance to push it open, it
began to open itself. Swift jumped back screaming in fear. His heart began to
race. The gates slowly opened and as they did they made an awful sound. It was
a high pitched squeak. Finally the gates opened all the way open to let anyone
enter. A gust of wind blew past them then, picking up stray leaves and other
objects into the air as they floated along. Jewel peaked out behind Swift, "Ar…
Are you sure you want to do this?"
Swift smiled, "Yeah, everything is going to
be fine."
Swift held onto Jewel's paw again and they walked
in. The sidewalk turned into dirt with a few big rocks marking the pathway.
The landscape had become completely barren, there were no more trees, and a
mysterious fog began to slowly roll in. They passed a group of pumpkins; their
carvings almost made them look real. Jewel wandered over to them and lit up
with joy, "It's Halloween!"
Swift kept an eye on her not moving, while Jewel
looked at the pumpkins for a while. A bad sensation began to go through Swift.
He yelled, "Jewel! Get away from them!"
Jewel turned around with sudden shock and tilted
her head lovingly to one side. "Why?" She asked confused.
The pumpkins began to move and waddle their way
near Jewel. Jewel turned around ready to admire the pumpkins again, but instead
screamed in fear and froze. Swift ran over to her and grabbed her by the paw.
"Come on," he said as they ran off down the stone marked path.
The pumpkins were able to keep up with them,
"Come on! Let's get them!" They chanted as they chased them.
Jewel and Swift continued to run along the path.
Swift began to pull away from Jewel. Right as they were turning a corner, Swift
stopped and darted to the right and grabbed Jewel in with him holding her mouth
closed. The pumpkins continued on along the trail yelling and yahooing. When
the coast was clear he relaxed and let Jewel go. She shivered in fear constantly
turning around to make sure that there wasn't something there. Her baby eyes
looked into Swift's and he began to feel really bad. He began to continue down
the path, his head hanging low. Jewel came up behind him and stayed on his heals
as they proceeded.
The rocky trail curved and straightened as they
walked. Swift lifted his head when he saw a sign next to the trail. He looked
at it for a few seconds when Jewel asked, "What does it say?"
Swift replied, "It says Spooky Food," as he pointed
in the direction of the arrow. He turned to her, "Maybe some food will make
us feel a little better. Would you like some?"
Jewel relaxed a little not shaking as violently,
"Sure." She held onto his paw.
They took the fork in the rocky trail and headed
down a small hill. The fog was beginning to lighten and ahead of them was a
pale blue food stand with pink and white colors as its roof, a pink strip going
across the middle of the food stand, and to red dots on the two triangles at
the top of the food stand. Swift hesitated, "Let me go first."
Jewel nodded and followed behind him at a distance.
Swift walked up to the food stand and stood up and put his front paws on the
counter. No one was present at the moment. A breathing sound could be heard,
but where it came from was undetectable. Swift called, "Hello, anyone there?"
The blue food stand began to move and Swift jumped
back, his eyes widened and he shook in fear, "How may I serve you?" The food
stand said.
The food stand's red dots were actually its eyes
and the pink jagged frou-frou's that went across the middle of the food stand
was actually his mouth! Swift's heart stopped and he fell to his knees grabbing
his chest. He looked at the food stand for a moment and tried to speak, "Y-
Ye- Yes, I would like to buy some food?"
Swift struggled to get back onto his own paws
and continued to back away. A dark figure in the sky came up behind the food
stand and swooped down at them. It looked like a bat-winged penguin, but the
fear and shock sent Jewel running off. Swift turned and raced after her frantically,
finally catching up to her.
When they both slowed down to a calmed walk again,
Jewel's face was a pale white. The fog had completely lifted and they were now
near the back part of The Deserted Fairground. A small tent was assembled here,
Swift took a sigh, "We're here."
Jewel remained silent still terrified about everything.
They walked into the tent; it was nothing fancy, just an inside of a tent. A
very tall neopet approached them. It was all dressed in two shades of purple.
One shade was a lavender color and the other was a dark purple. Its body was
slumped and bent over. The hat had a patch mark in it where it once had a hole,
and the band that went around the hat contained two scratch cards inserted in
it. It walked out from behind the counter in the tent, "Yess?"
Swift and Jewel were now able to see the rest
of its body. It had a hole in its left pant leg. It was blue with unkept hair
that went in between its yellow eyes. Its feet were big and covered in some
type of white leather looking material. Swift took a step back, as she spoke
once again, "Ssidney sspies a customer!" The blue Neopet's voice was slurring
all the s sounds it made.
Swift's confidence completely dropped and he
began to shake in fear. Jewel quietly pushed him forward. Swift tried to speak
but only a squeak came out. Sidney looked at him with a sly look. Swift howled
to try to get rid of his fear and then spoke, "Yes, I'd like one."
Sidney's posture stood straight up for a second
in delight and then slunk back down into her original slumped over state. She
looked him in the eyes, "I sssee. Where's the Neopoints?"
Swift took the Neopoints he had been carrying
out and threw them at her feet, trying to keep as much distance as possible
away from her. She slouched over even more and picked the Neopoints up. She
slowly counted them as her big hand counted each coin that fell into her other
hand. "Ah, good," she said holding out a scratch card for Swift.
Swift stared at the card and hesitated, but never
went for the card. Sidney got tired of waiting and threw the card like a Chinese
star hitting Swift right in between the eyes. He shook his head and rubbed the
spot where the card hit him; he picked the card up off the ground and looked
at it. He went over to the table and put the scratch card on it. He pulled out
his one extra Neopoint, and scratched the top left corner. A blank square was
the result, he growled quietly and angrily, then scratched the one to the right
of it and again a blank square resulted. Swift only had four picks left.
He studied the card for a few seconds and then
scratched the center square. A bone appeared; he lit up with joy and scratched
the one to the right of it. Another bone appeared and he howled with happiness,
he knew now he had two chances to find the other bone to win a prize. He scratched
the top right square, but it was blank as well. His hopes instantly vanished,
and he sunk down putting his head on the table next to the card. In this position
he looked at the scratch card, pondering which one to pick. He lifted his head
back up and scratched the lower left corner. He jumped up with glee and yahooed
happily; the last square he scratched was another bone. He won! He confidently
walked up to Sidney and gave her the scratch card, "I'm ready for my reward."
Sidney's tongue wisped back and forth in surprise
and she grumbled. She walked back behind the tent and came back in with a long
white bone with a yellow ribbon attached to it. She handed it to him. Swift
stared at it and then looked back up to her. She smirked, "Better luck next
time."
Swift held the bone up and a tear went down his
face. He won alright, but got the best of the worst prizes there could've been.
He lowered his head and found his sister waiting outside and began to walk home.
As they did so, Sidney waved and laughed, "Thankss for the businessss, hope
you come again."
Jewel turned around and stuck her tongue out
at her and walked next to Swift. All of what he used to dream of on this night
had been shattered. It was easy to tell because his head was slumped down and
he wouldn't take his eyes off the ground. They came across a stray Race to Riches
scratch card. They both stopped, Swift picked it up and threw it out of the
way as he remained silent. They made it back home before the sun rose and everything
was as if it never happened. Little did they know that that scratch card that
Swift threw aside was the jackpot winner and made a lucky passer-by later that
day one of the richest Neopets in all of Neopia.
The End
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