Trick or Cheat

     Little Timmy squealed with delight as the Neopians before him dropped several pieces of candy into his bag. Chocolate candy, sour candy, caramels, lollipops, he couldn’t even keep track of all the treats he’d collected tonight! The moon glowed high above his head, reminding him that the night was drawing to a close, and he would only have time to hit a couple more houses before he had to return home.

     He took one last look into his candy bag, admiring all the goodies he would snack on tonight, as he waved goodbye to the Neopians in front of him and set off down the street towards another house. It was a beautiful Halloween night, and Neopia Central was buzzing around him with other Neopets running around in their costumes, bags of candy clutched tightly in their hands. The wind was crisp and cool, it was the perfect Month of Collecting evening. Little Timmy hummed to himself happily as he turned towards the next house on the block.

     Most places on this street had their porch lights on so Neopets would know to walk up and ring the doorbell for candy. This house, however, only had a single flickering light above the front door. There was an old forgotten pumpkin rotting on the porch steps. Little Timmy looked around him but didn’t see any other Neopets coming up to this house.

     If they do have Halloween candy, I bet they have tons and tons left! Nobody’s coming here cause it’s so spooky, Little Timmy thought to himself excitedly. His pulse began to race as he nervously made his way up the sidewalk and approached the front door. The porch steps creaked ominously as he slowly climbed them.

     “I’m not scared, I’m not scared…” He whispered to himself. He turned around and thought about how far away all of the other Trick or Treaters looked. Would anyone help him if a monster popped out? He gulped dramatically and turned back to the door. He reached up to ring the doorbell, but when he pressed the button nothing happened. A soft click let him know that the doorbell was probably broken. He shrugged and decided to knock.

     “TRICK OR TREAT!” He yelled as he banged his fist on the door. In that moment Little Timmy realised that the door wasn’t shut, and it swung completely open behind his hand! He froze, staring into the dark room before him.

     “Sorry, I didn’t mean to open your door!” He called, peeking around the corner, but no one was there. He hesitantly stepped into the room and quickly looked around him for anything suspicious.

     “Uh, hello?” He called out feebly, taking a couple more steps into the room.

     “Hmm, nobody’s home!” Little Timmy grumbled to himself, suddenly annoyed that he wasted his time at this spooky house when he could’ve been getting more candy. As he turned to leave, he suddenly heard voices coming from within the house. He froze, listening for the source of the voices.

     “Hello?” Little Timmy called out again, stepping deeper into the main room as the voices slowly got louder. He turned and noticed a door around the corner, and a faint glow coming from underneath it. The voices were coming from there!

     Quietly, Little Timmy slowly turned the knob and opened the door. He discovered that the room was a basement, and in front of him were rickety old stairs leading to a large space with several Neopets sitting around a table talking. Nobody had noticed him yet, and Little Timmy watched in fascination as the Neopets began to yell at each other.

     “You are such a cheater, Kalora!” A Blue Acara with a big strand of pearls and a shiny gold tiara screeched. She was so angry her hands were shaking as she shuffled the large pile of cards in front of her. The Kau sitting across from her cackled.

     “That’s the name of the game, Princess! Better luck next time.” The Kau smirked, fidgeting with her own cards as she laid down two of them onto the centre of the table.

     “Did you guys hear something?” A third Neopet, a Green Bruce with sunglasses, asked the table. Little Timmy ducked back around the corner before the other Neopets at the table could spot him.

     “Quit trying to distract us and take your turn Brucey.” The Acara snarled. Little Timmy waited and listened before deciding the coast was clear and peeking back around at the group.

     “You’re cheating!” The Bruce yelled, pointing accusingly at the Blue Acara. Her eyes glowed red as she howled and pulled the pile of cards on the table towards her.

     “HOW DARE YOU!” She bellowed while the other two players laughed.

     “You need to work on your cheating face.” The Kau teased.

     “And what do we have here?”

     Little Timmy jumped and almost tumbled down the stairs at the sudden voice behind him. A Red Jetsam stood at the doorway with his arms folded, staring down at Little Timmy intensely.

     “I’m sorry, I-I was just looking for c-candy…” Little Timmy stammered.

     “Spectre, what’s going on up there?” The Kau called as the other players paused and stared up at the top of the stairs. Little Timmy’s heart felt like it was pounding out of his chest.

     “Sorry little guy, no candy here. You sure you weren’t coming in to spy on our card game?” The Jetsam asked.

     “N-no sir! No tricks, just treats!”

     “Did he say cheats?” The Bruce called up with a laugh. “Come on Spectre, let him play a game with us!”

     The Jetsam, Spectre, gestured to the table and Little Timmy reluctantly made his way down the stairs to face the group.

     “I don’t know what game you’re playing, honest, I was just looking for some candy!” Little Timmy squeaked nervously.

     The players around the table laughed.

     “What do you think we’re playing for? It is Halloween, right?” The Kau smirked, and the three Neopets reached under the table and each pulled out a Halloween bag. Little Timmy could see each one was stuffed to the brim with candy!

     “Wow… you have so much candy!” Little Timmy could feel the stars in his eyes as he thought about all the goodies that they had.

     “Come on kid, we’ll teach you how to play, it’s not hard.” The Blue Acara smiled. “I’m Princess Fernypoo, this is Kalora, and Brucey B. You sure you’ve never heard of Cheat before?”

     Little Timmy shook his head no.

     “Well, pull up a chair. You’ll be addicted to the game in no time!” Brucey B grinned.

     “I mean, if that’s cool with you, Spectre?” Kalora asked, and the group turned expectantly towards the Jetsam. He looked at each Neopet, finally settling on Little Timmy, and nodded. Little Timmy cheered and made his way to the table, holding his own bag of candy close to his chest.

     “Don’t worry kid, we won’t touch your candy… yet.” Kalora laughed as she began to shuffle the deck in her hands.

     “Thanks. This looks like a really fun card game! I think I could get used to this.” Little Timmy gushed excitedly.

     He had no idea that, on this Halloween night, he couldn’t be more right.

     The End.