The Story of Rory

      “Looks good! Let’s check it out!” Rory exclaimed to himself and quickly hurried over to his standing mirror to try it on. He pulled the white sheet over his head and examined how the fabric fell. His piercing red eyes stood out against the white background. His costume was the perfect fit, except his tail still hung out in the back. The Flotsam had even sewn a little smile in the front. “I love it! A perfect little ghost,” Rory said with a smile, admiring his work.

      The Halloween Flotsam had a plan with his new ghostly attire. He always seemed to be getting himself in trouble, pulling pranks and scaring his elderly neighbours. He never had any cruel intentions, he just wanted to have some fun. Rory had toilet papered yards, positioned lawn gnomes to be turned towards the front door to look like they were sentient, jumped from bushes in front of unsuspecting victims… Tonight, he had plans to scare his neighbour pretending to be a ghost.

      Rory looked out his bedroom window and saw that the moon was high and glowing bright. Time for action. He didn’t want to wake his mother, or have her stop him from going out because it was a school night, so he made his way out through the window. The streets were quiet in the middle of the night, nearly silent except for a lone Crokabek that intermittently crowed.

      The mischief-maker found his target. Mrs. Norris, the Elderly Kacheek that lived just a few houses down from his. He walked up the steps of the porch and up to the front door. The anticipation and excitement were already making his heart race. Rory took a deep breath and then began pounding on the door. He paused until he heard some stirring from inside, gave a few more knocks, then hid behind a potted plant as he waited.

      The footsteps from inside the house grew louder. Rory perked up as he heard Mrs. Norris at the door, the lock clicking open. She opened the door wide, giving herself a full view of her porch. The Halloween Flotsam took his chance, jumping out from behind the plant. He waved his fins above his head, making the best wailing noises that he could. “I’m a ghost from the deep woods! OooOO! Beware!”

      Mrs. Norris did not react how Rory had expected her to. Not a shriek, not a jump, or a startle. Just a look of lack of amusement. “Rory, it’s late. Aren’t you getting a little old for these games? You should head home, I’m sure your mother wouldn’t like to hear that you’re out.” Without giving him any more attention, the Elderly Kacheek closed the door to go back to bed.

      “Hmph.” Rory walked off Mrs. Norris’ porch and back to the streets. He didn’t have a destination in mind, but just wanted to wander as he buried himself in his thoughts. “I’m only trying to have a little fun. I just wish I could be a bit scarier,” Rory said with a sigh.

      A large gust of wind blew in, shaking the trees and giving Rory a chill. As the breeze blew past, Rory thought he heard a voice carried with it: “Head to the graveyard… You have much to learn…” The Flotsam took just a second to ponder this before turning in the direction of the nearby graveyard. “Might as well check it out, right?” he said to himself.

      Rory walked up to the graveyard in no time, passing through the opened gate. He looked around and surveyed the gravestones, empty except for flowers left for lost ones. “Well, I don’t see anyone. I must have just been imagining things.” He turned around to leave, except he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. Rory looked back at the gravestones, and instead of the still and eerie presence he saw before, he watched as one by one ghostly Neopians began to rise from their graves. His jaw dropped open, surprised by the scene that was unfolding before him.

      A Ghost Aisha floated over towards him. “Greetings! Do we perhaps have a new little ghost in our mix?” she asked with a giggle, looking at Rory’s attire. “My name is Sara. What brings you here this time of night?”

      Rory was stunned, but a new wave of adrenaline kept him talking. “Yeah, I made my own ghost costume! Do you like it? Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever met a real ghost before! What’s it like? Do you get to scare people? That’s what I was trying to do. Oh, I’m Rory by the way! Do you always–”

      Sara cut him off to stop his rapid-fire questioning. “Hey hey, slow down kid! As a ghost, we have all the time in the world. There’s no need to rush,” she said with a sly grin. “You said you wanted to scare? Here, let me introduce you to some of my friends…” Sara said as she floated away further into the graveyard.

      The Halloween Flotsam followed along without hesitation. He met plenty of Ghosts, most friendly, some grumpy, but they all chatted with him. They told stories and gave tips and tricks for scaring the unsuspecting. One even claimed to perform some type of voodoo magic to give him great power from his new ghostly friends. This continued for hours, the time clearly escaping Rory.

           Rory had been so distracted by the fun he was having; he didn’t realize the sun was beginning to rise. “Shoot! I didn’t realize I had been out all night. I really should be heading home. Thanks for the great night though, I had a blast!” he said as he turned to leave.

      “My pleasure… see you again soon,” Sara called out to Rory as he wandered towards the graveyard gate.

      Rory reached the gate and was ready to go home. He willed his body to move, but a force stopped him from proceeding forward. “What…” he said quietly as he looked around. Nothing physical was keeping him in place. It was more like a strong feeling that had a tight hold on his being. He tried again, but still couldn’t budge forward.

      Rory felt a sudden chill that made him shiver from his horn all the way down to his tail fin. He felt ice cold deep to his core. Through the cold he realized he could no longer feel the earth beneath him. He looked down, realizing that instead of laying upon the ground he was now floating. He pulled off the sheet that he had been wearing all night. Looking at his fins, they were no longer maroon, but a transparent grey. Rory was no longer a Halloween Flotsam but had changed to a Ghost.

      Sara wandered up beside Rory. “I said I’d see you soon,” she said with a laugh. “You should know, you can only leave when the sun is down, but you should have an easier time scaring now.” She gave her sly grin as she left Rory to return to her grave.

      Rory was left to ponder these words and his future as a Ghost at his local graveyard.

     The End.