“TRICK-OR-TREAT!” Blue yelled at the top of her lungs.
“More emotion!” Miss Allberry commanded forcefully.
“...I'm sorry, I just can't. I've given it all I've got,” Blue mumbled.
“Well, all right. Sit down,” Miss Allberry permitted, and Blue shuffled over to her seat. “So as I was saying, you all have very important homework other than memorizing lines tonight! You must, and I mean must, dress up in a costume and act as if you are whatever the character is. Never break character! I also expect you all to show up at the school's Halloween party tonight. Now will you please all tell me what you'll be going as?”
“Ooo! Me first!” Blue said, waving her hand in the air. “I'm going as a vampire! Like a cool one. Not like Twilight, right?” Teddy nodded as if this was something they had previously discussed as Miss Allberry wrote down Blue's costume choice.
“I'm going as Captain Jack Harkness from the British show Torchwood,” Teddy said with a proud grin.
“Omnisexual means you need to be into girls too,” Kip informed him with a proud grin of his own. Teddy stuck out his tongue as Miss Allberry waited for the next person to tell her his or her costume.
“I will be dressed as Vlad III of Romania,” Gerda stated with a twisted look that was only visible if you looked very closely.
“No sh--?” Teddy gasped, but Blue saw his words coming and interrupted him.
“BEEP!” Blue yelled.
Teddy rolled his eyes affectionately before turning his attentions back to Gerda, “Vlad III? As in, 'Vlad the Impaler'? Inspiration for Dracula?”
“Yes,” Gerda replied.
“That's going to be a fun character to stay in. This gives us no right to murder, correct?” Teddy laughed, and Miss Allberry nodded.
“If you kill anyone you're going to go to jail,” Miss Allberry warned, and Gerda rolled her eyes as she nodded.
“I'm going as Jesse from Team Rocket,” Malik muttered.
“And I'm going to be James!” Kip declared, causing Rashida to roll her eyes from the seat next to him.
“I was somehow suckered into dressing as Meowth. Which will be absolutely awesome in terms of staying in character,” Rashida sighed.
Silence followed as everyone turned to look expectantly at Austin, who glared at them all. Finally she stated, “I'm going as Austin Connelly, AKA me, and I'll be staying in my dorm room.”
“Stop being such a terrible non-team player. I can fail you,” Miss Allberry snapped.
“Fine, I'll come to your thing. But I'm not dressing up,” Austin sighed.
“You could go as Grumpers!” Blue said, and Austin rolled her eyes and sighed again.
“All right, if that's the best you can do,” Miss Allberry agreed as she wrote down Austin's choice. “Mr. Paddington and I will be dressed as Mario and Luigi. We tried to convince his fiance, Reginald the British, to dress up as Peach. We haven't convinced him yet, but we totally made him a costume, so he'll probably be guilted into it.”
“You know, not to be sizist or sexist or anything,” Teddy stated, using a term Blue coined herself, “but wouldn't you or Hammy be a better choice for Peach?”
“No way,” Miss Allberry replied singularly.
“So which one of you will be which?” Malik asked, and Miss Allberry shrugged.
“You'll just have to show up to find out,” their teacher replied. They spent the rest of the class period discussing how and where they got their Halloween costumes, and then preparing for their roles.
The next highlight of their day, as happened often, was Hammy's class, where he gave the class the same assignment. In his class they played improv games in character of their costumes, and discussed why exactly the Halloween celebration that was happening was happening the first Friday of November. Hammy explained that since it was a school sponsored event it had to be on a Friday or Saturday and since Halloween had been on a Sunday, they put it on the nearest Friday after Halloween. When asked why it couldn't have been on October 29th, Hammy simply shrugged.
After class the kids got ready for the night's party, dressing up in their costumes. Alec was predictably not going, so Blue told him to take good care of Shelly while she was away. After the group finished getting dressed in Teddy's room, they met up with the rest of their acting group, as well as a couple of tag-alongs by the names of Hakan, Pablo, Estela, and Kakahi. Hakan was dressed as “Pyro” from X-men, and had real flamethrowers attached to his arms, to everyone's concern. Pablo and Kakahi were dressed as Spock and Captain Kirk, respectively. Estela was dressed as a chopstick, since she'd allowed Kakahi to pick her costume as long as Kakahi wore Estela's choice. They'd all agreed to go along with the assignment as well, though Estela was having trouble deciding how to be a chopstick, Hakan was Hakan, and Kakahi and Pablo were convinced Spock and Kirk were lovers. Unfortunately this caused both of them to whine all the way to the gym, where the party was being held.
“I mean, I'm into girls and all, but I don't want to cheat on my beautiful boyfrienddddd.”
“And I'm totally a dude right now but I'm still only into girls, really...Except for...I'm not really a guy right?”
Estela sighed as she replied, “No, you're still female, even if you dress up like a guy. We talked about this, remember?”
“...Right,” Kakahi mumbled, as she fidgeted with her costume.
Blue was running ahead of the group, biting on a practice dummy's neck, when she was greeted by a sight that made her scream. “It's Justin Bieber!” she declared, and Teddy laughed as he ran to catch up with her.
“I forgot to tell you Kendall got dressed and left before us,” he whispered, so as not to get caught out of character.
“I must...suck his blood!” Blue declared, pouncing for Kendall.
Teddy got in her way, though, stating, “Whoa, whoa. Don't make me take you out, vampire.”
“I wanted to be a vampire...,” Kendall mumbled, “but my b—.”
“It's Justin Bieber!” Kakahi yelled, running over to “him” and grinning. “I love you! You're truly an inspiration to lesbians all over the world! ...I mean! Damn! Captain Kirk!” she shouted, as if an order to herself. She then took a rather feminine stance and wiggled her hips, as well as her head, back and forth with each word, “Captain Kirk has no need...For Justin Bieber. I fly space ships, thank you. I fly the 'inner prize.' I got it out of a cereal box.”
“That's not quite right...,” Teddy mumbled to himself.
“Most illogical, captain,” Pablo stated as he caught up with them.
“What is illogical?” Kakahi asked, snapping a “z” with her fingers.
“The way you're talking,” Pablo replied, stifling a giggle.
Kendall walked away while Teddy made “attractive” faces at Pablo to try to attract him over to him. Pablo, in true Spock fashion, ignored Teddy. Blue ran inside the gym then, and Kakahi chased after her, yelling something about space vampires and needing to shoot her with a “pew pew-er” gun. Pablo followed after, because he figured he should stay with Captain Kirk, since they were in love he was pretty sure. Hakan flew by them as well, simply because he wanted to beat everyone else inside.
Rashida, Kip, Malik, Gerda, Austin, and Estela caught up with Teddy, who shrugged at them when they asked what happened to everyone else. They walked inside, and were immediately greeted by Mario and Luigi.
“It'sa me, Mario!” Hammy declared loudly, and Miss Allberry nodded.
“Anda me, Luigi,” she added. “...And you are?”
“Uh, Jesse and Ja—.”
“Nu-uh,” Miss Allberry interrupted. “Don'ta you havea thinga to saya?”
Malik and Kip glanced at each other, then at Rashida and then started speaking, “To protect the world from devastation.” Malik sounded creepily like Jesse, they all noted.
Kip spoke next, “To unite all people within our nation.”
“To denounce the evil of truth and love.”
“To extend our reach to the stars above.”
“Jesse.”
“James.”
“Team rocket blasts off at the speed of light.”
“Surrender now or prepare to fight.”
Rashida chimed in at last, with what was probably her best Meowth impression, “Meowth, that's right!”
“Aha,” Hammy grinned, “welcome, please come ina!”
As Hammy and Miss Allberry stepped aside, the group realized exactly what it is that they had walked into.
“Shit,” Teddy mumbled, as they all looked around and their teachers faded from sight. “Blue! Pablo! Don't be idiots!” he shouted, though their friends were nowhere in sight. They all looked around then and realized they were in a scene very befitting of a horror movie, and the doors had been locked behind them. The only source of light was a dull glow, which showed a maze like structure which was divided up into various rooms. Every so often something would move, and the light would flicker out completely.
“So...Blue, Kakahi, Pablo, and Hakan. Off on their own in this...,” Malik mumbled, sighing. “Not good.”
“I think someone is going to get burned,” Kip warned, referring to Hakan and the presence of others who were clearly put there to scare them.
“IN CHARACTER!” they heard a shout from outside the door. “You're constantly being monitored!”
“Right,” Teddy and Malik mumbled at the same time causing them to give each other weary glances.
“We're here to...Steal your Pikachu?” Malik mumbled, to himself mostly.
“Hey! I know there's a vampire around here somewhere!” Teddy shouted. There was no reply, other than a dull mumble from Austin.
“I'm leaving,” the redhead stated, turning toward the door and knocking on it, “let me out!”
“You're doing perfect staying in character, Ginger. Unfortunately, letting you out is against the rules! Which, coincidentally, are simple. Find your way through the maze and get to the other end! Have fun!”
Austin growled at the door before turning back around to see find herself all alone. “Awesome,” she mumbled as she started walking forward.
Blue was sort of starting to regret how excitedly she'd run into the room. Because, well, even with Pablo, Kakahi, and Hakan with her, she wasn't exactly sure she was safe. The gym and a few other rooms, she and Kakahi and Hakan figured (though Pablo didn't agree for some crazy reason) had clearly been attacked by real life scary people, and it was haunted. Also, judging by the sounds they heard, there were murderers with chainsaws in there with them. So they stopped to talk and form a plan.
“X—Sorry, Pyro believes we should burn it down! Burn it all down!” Hakan shouted, cackling maniacally.
“Illogical!” Pablo declared, with a little more emotion than he should have, he knew, but he was a little worried by the group he was with. Sure, he acted like a moron most of the time, but he'd never suggest “shooting everyone” or “biting everyone” or “burning everything down.” Pablo cleared his throat then and spoke calmly, “We have to find the exit, right? So let's just move forward and...Oh god...There's an arm hanging down from the ceiling I'm scared!”
“X—Pyro will protect you!” Hakan declared, aiming his flamethrowers at the ceiling. The arm, to all of their alarm, moved out of sight as they watched.
Kakahi whimpered and buried her face in her hands, Pablo whimpered and buried his face in Kakahi's wig, and Blue and Hakan “got down to business.”
“OK, the way I see it, we have no other choice but to eat everybody's blood and then shoot them and light them on fire! And don't you have a death grip, sir?” she asked Pablo, who sighed.
“I suppose,” he mumbled.
“Let's move!” Hakan shouted. “I'll hold down the rear, you take care of the front, madame vampire-face!”
“OK!” Blue agreed.
“Teddy,” Pablo whined to himself, “I'm scared...”
“Don't worry,” a creepy voice said, from behind them. A blood curdling scream followed, and the entire group stopped moving at the same time.
“I wanna go home!” Kakahi declared.
“Be strong captain,” Pablo mumbled, as they heard a crash. The next thing they heard was a yelp, followed by the sound of flames bursting out of the cylinders attached to Hakan's arms.
“OH MY GOD YOU WEREN'T KIDDING WHEN YOU SAID THOSE WERE REAL!” Pablo shrieked, and Hakan nodded.
“Of course,” the daredevil replied. “I made it myself this time. I learned that the things Gerda makes for me always tend to be better for play. I made this for work and serious times.”
“Did Gerda help?” Blue asked from the front of the line as she flailed at the air when she heard something that sounded like a growl.
Hakan glared at the ground, “Only a little.”
As if on cue, the flames spurting from his arms died down, eventually becoming nothing more than torches. Hakan kicked at the air angrily, hearing a grunt as he did so and seeing a ghostly face. Hakan let out a scream and stumbled into Pablo and Kakahi, causing the three of them to fall onto Blue. A chorus of screams could then be heard from the group, as a voice shouted out to them.
“Hold still, you four! Captain Jack is on his way!” Teddy shouted, and Pablo threw Hakan and Kakahi off and ran to his boyfriend, hugging the spray dyed brunet and crying into his shoulder.
“Where's everyone else?” Pablo whimpered, and Teddy shrugged.
“They got grabbed and taken to another room. I'm glad I managed to find you, Spock. I trust you have Kirk, the vampire, and Pyro with you?” Teddy asked, and Pablo nodded as he noticed a ghostly pale arm touch Teddy's shoulder.
“God dammit,” Teddy mumbled, brushing the hand off his shoulder and turning around to stand between the figure and his friends. Blue let out a tiny squeak of terror as she, Kakahi, and Hakan stood up and backed into a wall. They looked all around and realized they'd walked into a dead end. An arm fell down from the ceiling again, and a person crawled down attached to the arm, causing Kakahi to hide in a corner. Hakan held his arms up threateningly to the two figures, who both were, notably, covered in blood. One had a badly mangled hand. The other held her arms up to approach Hakan, Kakahi and Blue, while the first grabbed for Teddy.
Teddy pulled something out of his sleeve as Hakan turned his flames on, now at a dull lighter-like level, and Blue held her arms up menacingly. A loud bang sounded, and the man approaching Teddy thudded to the ground. The woman walking up to Hakan stopped momentarily, then smiled creepily and walked away with no warning. Teddy grabbed Pablo's hand and pulled him over to where the other three were as Blue and Hakan gave each other high fives for scaring the woman away.
Teddy smiled at the sight of them, then started to speak seriously, “So this is basically a maze we have to get through. Unfortunately, I don't think the school planned this well. Though we definitely walked through security scanners when we walked in, I don't think they did their job if I still have this. It's a, well, I call it a stun gun. Vampire, you and Pyro used these previously in the zombie apocalypse. Since I was able to sneak this in, one can only assume others could have sneaked things in as well. Therefore take every threat as real and stick together as closely as possible. OK?”
“Where's Malik?” Blue asked, and Teddy sighed.
“You get points off every time you use their real names, careful. And I'm sorry. We were walking when someone with a chainsaw popped out and grabbed him. James and Meowth panicked and chased after Jesse, and they vanished from our sight, leaving only the chopstick and I.” Kakahi perked up at Estela's mention, but Teddy shook his head sadly at her excitement. “As the chopstick and I walked, we heard a shout and turned to look at it. What can only be described as a faceless man came running in and grabbed her around the waist. To be honest, it was a bit scary. Let's get going though, they'll find their way...I'll drop you guys off and head back in.”
“What about Vlad the Impaler?” Hakan asked, and Teddy laughed.
“Oh, she's fine. Don't worry about her,” he stated, shaking his head and smiling.
“So what do we do?” Blue asked, as Teddy frowned.
“You guys need to follow me. Stay close, and trust no one. The special effects department is having a great time with this,” he replied, grabbing Pablo's hand and intertwining their fingers, causing Pablo to smirk.
“This is sex for me, as a Vulcan,” he said, and Teddy rolled his eyes.
“You want to hold my hand, or make jokes?” he replied, and Pablo looked ashamed.
“Hold your hand...,” he mumbled, then shouted as he looked up. “Pyro! Look out!”
Hakan screamed as arms grabbed him from seemingly inside the wall and pulled him through, as Kakahi and Blue ran as fast as they could into Teddy. “Pyro!” Blue shrieked, as Teddy pulled her forward.
“Vampire, we know you are quite brave,” he said, “so I would ask that you please take the other side of our chain. Join hands with Kirk. Kirk, would you please join hands with Spock?” Kakahi and Blue nodded as they grabbed onto each others hands, then Kakahi grabbed Pablo's. “Step carefully. I saw a girl fall through the floor on my way to find you guys,” Teddy warned, and the other three glanced at the ground, only to notice that it was littered with bugs. Blue whimpered as they walked through the “wall” they'd previously been backed against, after Teddy did some sort of magic to it. As they walked the dim light flickered for a final time, and the room became pitch black. Screams echoed throughout the building, undoubtedly from other students lost within the maze.
“I'm worried about Jesse,” Blue mumbled, and Teddy nodded as he halted all of them to let a wandering translucent figure walk by.
“I'll find him as quickly as possible and return him to you,” Teddy guaranteed, and Blue nodded sadly.
“Thank you, Captain Jack,” she mumbled. They kept walking through the maze, and apparently Teddy knew his way through somehow,. Even though it was dark Blue felt only moderately terrified. The lights flickered back on and she was overjoyed, but only for a quick moment, since there was someone with a face that looked it had started partially melting off mere inches from her own.
“Hello,” the old woman uttered, and Blue buried her face in Kakahi's shoulder.
Teddy held his gun up at the woman, and Blue realized for the very first time that her bestie was left-handed. The woman simply smiled at him and vanished into thin air, causing Blue to cry inside her mind. “Don't worry,” Teddy assured quietly, “we're almost to the end. Just keep walking.”
“How do you know?” Blue asked, as Kakahi shifted her hand against Blue's. Though this scared Blue for an inexplicable reason, Teddy's words repeated in her mind. “Just keep walking,” she mumbled to herself, as she waited for Teddy's response to her question. Kakahi stopped walking, though, so Blue asked, “What's wrong?”
“Nothing's wrong,” a creepy voice responded, and Blue screamed. From the distance she heard someone gasp her name, then swear loudly and use her character name instead.
“Hold on, vampire. The exit is right there, Spock. Take Kirk and leave. Through the door!” Teddy shouted, running back to Blue. Blue, though, had started panicking because the person holding her hand started pulling her away. As it occurred to her that vampires wouldn't be scared of anything, even people trying to kidnap them, Blue made a big decision.
She bared her fangs big and proud and said, “I vant to suck your blood,” in her best Transylvanian accent. The person holding on to her hand hesitated for a moment, obviously in fear of Blue, and made a funny sound a little like laughter. Clearly it was a muffled cry of terror, and Blue felt pretty proud of herself as Teddy returned to her.
Her bestie grabbed her hand and started to run with her to the exit, making a huffing noise as if annoyed by the predicament they were in. Within a moment she was pushed through a door, and greeted by Estela, who scowled at her for a moment than smiled that she had company.
“Chopstick!” Blue said with delight, and Estela smiled.
“It's OK to break character in this room,” she replied. “I thought I would wait here for you guys. You're the first to show up...”
“How did you get here?” Blue asked, and Estela glanced at the ground in shame.
“Turns out if you start crying and curl up into a ball on the floor saying you want to go home one of the seniors dressed up like a ghost will take pity on you and walk you to the exit,” Estela replied with a light laugh. Teddy appeared in the doorway then and shoved Pablo and Kakahi through the door, smiling when he spotted Estela.
“I'll be back with everyone else, OK?” Teddy said, and the group nodded.
“Be careful out there,” Pablo and Blue said at the same time. Teddy titled his head and smiled at their simultaneous words before returning to the scary room inside. As soon as he was inside, he looked around for other members of the group. “Team Rocket” were hopefully still together. Teddy knew all he really needed to do was look for “Jesse's” beautiful abs. They would stand out in the darkness, right? Before that, though, he wanted to confirm that Hakan was OK.
“Pyro!” he shouted, then heard a shrill response.
“No touching Pyro! Pyro has flamethrowers!” Hakan shouted, and Teddy followed his voice back into pitch black darkness. As he walked the faint light flickered back on, and his eyes began to be able to see just a small amount. He followed Hakan's screams and his eyes to the entrance of the maze, and ended up in a secluded area, where four people were approaching Hakan as he held his arms up menacingly.
When Teddy realized what the people walking over to Hakan were saying to him, he found himself laughing. “Listen, we just want to get you out of here. We're sorry for grabbing you, it was a mistake.”
“That's what they all say!” Hakan shouted, and his eye twitched. There were four people talking to him, three looking like ghosts and the final one looking like she was in some terrible accident.
“Yes, we are all saying that! Because we don't want you to burn us, even with tiny lighters in your arms!” the girl insisted, and Hakan's eye twitched again as he looked at her and the swollen bloody growths covering most of her body
“NOOOO!” Hakan yelled, starting up the flames on his arms. Teddy decided to wait no longer as he jogged over.
“Hey Pyro,” he greeted, and Hakan excitedly hugged Teddy.
“These guys are trying to kidnap Pyro!” he exclaimed, and Teddy nodded.
“I know, they absolutely are. Let's go, I'll take you to the exit,” the smaller boy stated. Hakan nodded and began following Teddy, but held his flamethrowers up to the ghosts just in case they tried anything. Many of them rolled their eyes, and they all dispersed. Teddy held his gun up to a couple of wandering figures who looked very similar to the girl who'd been speaking to Hakan and they left the pair alone. Teddy wasn't sure yet, but it seemed like there were less roaming people trying to get them.
Once Hakan was safely with the others and had been reassured many times Gerda was absolutely fine, Teddy headed back inside to look for Malik, Kip and Rashida. As he searched he wondered if the “Space Invader” had had a psychotic meltdown yet.
“Team Rocket” wandered the room they'd been shoved into together absently, wondering if they were ever going to make it out. “Meowth” was holding hands with “James” for a time, until Rashida decided Kip was just being too annoying. None fo them were doing well with being in character.
“What?” Kip asked, and Rashida and Malik glared at him.
“Just knock it off,” Rashida commanded, as they walked forward.
“Seriously though, I don't see how any of this is scary,” Kip replied, and Malik and Rashida glared again as a ghost popped out then disappeared. The latter two in the group jumped, and Kip just shook his head and shrugged.
Malik spoke in spite then. “Guess how many of us there are here?” he growled, and Kip glared.
“Don't you dare,” he warned, and Rashida and Malik glanced at each other.
“Three,” they said at the same time. Kip screamed and covered his ears.
“What the hell?” Malik mouthed to Rashida, who just shook her head and shrugged. They kept walking forward, their eyes adjusted to the dim lights of the room by that point, until they found where they'd come in. Walking through the door, they realized they had finally made it back. To the room they'd started in, at least. They rejoined the maze, noticing a distinct lack of anyone at all trying to grab them anymore. Suddenly they heard someone shouting their character names, and shouted back. At least, Rashida and Malik did. Kip seemed to be both bitter at them for scaring him and frustrated that this place was supposed to be scary.
Teddy ran over to them with this awkward smile on his face, motioning the exit. They walked through the door and Teddy explained he felt bad leaving Austin behind and went back into the room. Once he was back inside the room, he laughed at the sight in front of him. Gerda stood among a field of bodies, cackling evilly. Teddy just laughed to himself as he called out to her, “Vlad! Have you seen Austin?”
Gerda turned to look at him and every hint of evil in her faded away, “Is she lost? I have not seen her. I will find her though. One moment.” She turned and sprinted back into the maze, and Teddy bent down and inspected the bodies lying on the ground. Gerda had apparently rounded up every single person who was terrorizing them that night and put them to sleep with weapons she'd specialized to fit Vlad the Impaler.
Teddy was admiring her handy work when she returned with Austin, who turned into a color that could only be described as “snow white” when she saw the bodies. Teddy guided her out of the room as Gerda made sure she didn't leave anyone behind. Once the group was all together again (minus Gerda, who was seriously enjoying the other room) they walked into the next area, where a happier Halloween party was taking place. Reg was there, dressed as Peach as Miss Allberry and Hammy had predicted, and there were buckets full of candy for them to consume. For the rest of he evening the group hung out and ate candy to drown out their sorrows.
So that's that. It's been a while since I posted a chapter, but yep. It might be a little long, actually...Anyway, I hope you liked it. :)
