Fuzzle

     I groaned and opened one eye. My small bedside table clock read 4:15 in the morning.

     "It's WAY too early," I grumbled, stuffing my face back into my pillow.

     "Please?" Zoner begged, ruffling his small blue Uni wings. "You Skeiths are always so lazy."

     "Well, did you HAVE to ask now?" I said in a sleepy voice.

     "C'mon!" Zoner said, stamping his hooves. "You're going to take me out! NOW!"

     "Not now," I sighed, my weariness making me impatient. "No one's up yet! And don't yell in the house."

     Zoner growled and snorted. He jabbed his horn into my side. I snarled and lunged at him. We wrestled around, horns stabbing and jaws snapping. All until Chiana clicked on the light. Zoner and I both winced as the light burned into our eyes. The purple Chia stood in the doorway, her foot tapping.

     "What are you guys doing up?" she demanded.

     "It's her!" Zoner whimpered, hiding behind me.

     "Zan, why are you teaching him how to fight?" Chiana asked me.

     "I was not!" I shot back at her, flaring out my red wings.

     "Zan, Zoner's a small Uni. You're a big Skeith," Chiana rambled on. "You could've crushed him!"

     She started to continue on again. Zoner got up and headed back to his room, without my Chia sister noticing. I approached her and clicked off the light, slamming the door in her face.

     "Zan!" she screamed, pounding her fists against my door. "Don't make me get Nason up!"

     Nason was our owner. He didn't get mad very easily, so it wasn't THAT big of a deal. Chuckling to myself, I lay back in bed. But her obsessive screaming dragged on. I heard Nason's footsteps coming down the hall, and his voice trying to talk over hers. Chiana protested, but stormed off into her room. The hall light clicked off, and I heard Nason's footsteps return to his room. Then it hit me. Why did Zoner ask so early in the morning?

     ****

     The scent of eggs fought off my sleep, as I bolted awake. Even for a Skeith, I had a really small appetite. I bounded towards the door, but came face to face with Chiana.

     "Whoa, did you to a part in a horror play?" I teased, jumping back from her.

     "Very funny, Zan," she sneered.

     "Were you there all night?" I asked.

     "No!" she snapped. "I'm just here to yell at you for what happened!"

     "Save it for the judge," I grumbled, heading towards the staircase. "Besides, I smell the mighty prey, eggs!"

     With that, Chiana groaned and stormed off to the bathroom. I trotted down the stairs, the heavenly scent teasing my stomach. Zoner sat at the table, eating his eggs while reading a comic.

     "Hey, Zoner," I called to him.

     Zoner seemed shocked, as he dropped his comic and his navy blue eyes fixed on mine. His face was full of surprise.

     "Oh, y-yeah, hi, Zan," he stammered, forcing out a fake smile.

     "What's wrong?" I asked, cocking my head in confusion.

     "Nothing!" he said as if he had been caught in a crime.

     Nason gave me my serving of eggs, and I sat down across from Zoner at the table. "Why'd you come that early in the morning?"

     "No reason, no, no j-just wanted to ask," Zoner said with a nervous laugh. "Y-you know."

     "There's something wrong." I sighed, shoveling scrambled eggs onto my fork. "Talk to me in my room afterwards."

     Zoner nodded, and he couldn't hide his relief. This time, a real smile broke out onto his face. The eggs were so delicious, but I couldn't shake off the fact that something was on Zoner's mind. Even if it were dangerous or not...

     ****

     "Okay, what's troubling you?" I asked once my room was secure.

     "I asked so early, because..." His voice trailed off.

     "Because?"

     "There's a monster that wanted to get me," Zoner spilled out in a shaky voice. "He's an evil fuzzle! That's why I came! Because the more time I spent with you in your room, he wouldn't be able to get me! And-"

     "Evil fuzzle? Since when did you get one of those?"

     Zoner took a deep breath and continued. "I j-just found him on the street. I didn't know they were actually alive... And on Halloween I'm going out for most of the night, so I won't have to stick around him much."

     I sat back in my bed. I hate to say it, by fuzzles make me uncomfortable. If he was threatening to scare my brother, what else could he do to the rest of the family? Zoner's blue body shook in fear.

     "I told his secret... he's mad now."

     "How do you know?"

     "He wants to scare me."

     Seeing Zoner so frightened made me realize that this wasn't one of his little pranks. He's not acting; you could ALWAYS tell if he's lying, even if you're the most gullible person in the world. I had to do something to stop the fuzzle, but how? How could I help, if I'm sort of scared of them myself?

     ****

     I creaked open Zoner's bedroom door. An unsettling feeling swept over me. Zoner moaned in fear, as he hid behind me. I saw his closet, with a chair tucked tightly under the knob. I could've swore I heard a shifting sound from inside.

     "He heard us," Zoner said silently.

     "Stop talking like that!" I hissed.

     I acted brave as I approached the closet door, though deep down inside I felt extremely nervous. I pushed the chair aside, letting it fall onto the carpet. Zoner's wings were held high in shock, as I turned the icy cold knob. The closet door swung open revealing what looked like a pitch black mouth gaping open in front of me. All until a gray ball of fur leaped out. I yelped and jumped back. The fuzzle grinned, his evil eyes flashing.

     "I see you told Zan our little secret," the fuzzle chuckled, with a sour edge to his voice.

     "Leave him alone!" I shrieked.

     The fuzzle's cold iron gaze fell onto me. "Say what?"

     "Scare my brother and be thrown out the window!" I challenged.

     The fuzzle's gaze loosened, as fear clouded his face. He took a step back, but grinned evilly. Zoner stood by the door, watching in disbelief. With a hasty sprint the fuzzle came behind me brother and hissed at him. Zoner screamed and raced around the room, the fuzzle hot on his tail.

     "All right!" I snapped, grabbing the fuzzle. "Out the window with you!"

     "Wait!" the fuzzle protested. "I can explain! I'm not actually an evil fuzzle!"

     The fuzzle squirmed in my hands, letting little droplets of face paint fall off. The once evil gray fuzzle was actually a normal one. His once evil eyes were now glazed with guilt.

     "Halloween was coming up," he sniveled. "I only wanted to dress up, and playfully scare Zoner. I thought he knew... I'm so sorry about this whole mess. I just wanted to be scary..."

     My grip loosened, as the fuzzle careened onto the floor. Zoner's horrid look faded from his face.

     "But you threatened me!" Zoner gasped.

     "It was just a joke," the fuzzle went on. "I thought he knew! But I really didn't mean to cause all this. I'm really sorry."

     Zoner and I sighed in relief. "Can we keep him, Zan?"

     "Of course."

     ****

     Zoner happily bounded along beside me in his new Von Roo costume. The gray fuzzle sat in his candy bag, guarding all the treats. All the Neohomes were draped in fake cobwebs, or were full of sounds meant to scare young pets. Of course everything was festive, but none of it really scared me.

     "This isn't THE greatest Halloween ever," Zoner said, watching orange lights flicker on the house we were about to visit.

     "Why not?" I asked.

     "Well, because of the fuzzle scaring me and all," Zoner mumbled. "But otherwise today was perfect!"

     The fuzzle shifted uncomfortably. Zoner rang the doorbell, and a Halloween Chia stepped out.

     "Oh, it's Von Roo!" the Chia giggled, handing him a chocolate bar.

     "I've come to suck down your chocolate!" Zoner said, laughing in amusement.

     When we left, the fuzzle started to examine the candy. "You know what, Zan?"

     "What, Zoner?" I responded.

     "This actually is the perfect Halloween!"

     ****

     Even Chiana was impressed by how much candy we brought back. It almost covered the whole table. Zoner dug in hungrily, both our feet aching from having to walk all the way around Neopia Central.

     "You guys did well!" Nason said, impressed.

     Before I could answer, a loud thud came from upstairs. An evil pink fuzzle glared down at us. But his serious expression soon faded into a goofy grin.

     "Fooled ya!"

     I laughed as he shook off the face paint.

     Zoner's startled face suddenly became confused. "Wait, where'd YOU come from?"

     The fuzzle's smile dropped, as it quickly dashed out an open window. Well, besides THAT happening, this was actually quite a neat Halloween.

The End