Plushies Aren't Scary

     Each of the children were dressed as what they deemed scary enough to get them candy.

     These particular three were Eliv Thade, Balthazar, and oddly enough, Queen Fyora.

     Koiti bared her teeth in a nightmare inducing smile. She told them, "H-h-happy Halloween, kiddies!"

     The children grimaced and carefully took a piece of candy from her bowl.

     When the little queen reached in for her candy, Koiti growled and tried to show even more teeth.

     The poor child screamed at the top of her lungs, dropped the candy back in the bowl and took off with her friends.

     The Grarrl was having a laugh and a half. She held her stomach and proclaimed, "It never gets old! Oh ho ho, I think I'm going to pop a stitch!"

     "That isn't very nice, you know," Rose called from the couch.

     Rose, who was a very well-mannered speckled Krawk, was trying to spend her Halloween reading and sipping tea. She hated the idea of frightening little children who only wanted cavities.

     "Halloween is about being scared and scaring; I'm just doing my part," the Grarrl protested.

     Rose gave a sigh and went back to reading.

     The doorbell rang and Koiti snickered, "Just watch, these ones will be so scared they won't ever trick or treat again!"

     Koiti grabbed the doorknob, readied her so called 'scary face', and flung the door open.

     Just as she was growling and snarling her best, baring her teeth in a true Grarrl fashion, a perturbed faerie Buzz shoved her back and walked past her.

     "You are not scary, Koiti, you do know that don't you?" She turned her hands on her hips.

     The Grarrl pouted; she was very scary. Just not if you were used to it, or expecting it.

     Or if you noticed she was a plushie. Plushies aren't very scary.

     "I am too scary..." she whispered as the faerie Buzz walked over to the couch.

     "I think you're scary, Koiti." Eyye, who had watched the scene play out from the doorstep, was also a plushie. She understood how out of place you could feel. Grarrls were thought to be scary, so it was only normal Koiti wanted to be scary too.

     Rose raised an eyebrow at Snazzy, the rude faerie Buzz. "You know how she enjoys Halloween, why ruin her fun?"

     Snazzy plopped down next to Rose and offered her a piece of candy. She and Eyye had left to pick more up from the store.

     "She doesn't need to open the door like that. Those poor children! I remember trick-or-treating when I was little and it was never like that!" She popped a chocolate in her mouth. "She could at least use the peephole and see how old they are first. Some of those kids I saw running were really young!"

     Rose shook her head. "She has no control and you know it. If she saw they were younger she would try even harder to scare them."

     While Rose and Snazzy were busy talking about how Halloween should be treated, Eyye and Koiti were plotting.

     Both Eyye and Koiti loved Halloween. They loved tricking people, they loved candy, and above all, they loved children. Therefore they loved acting like children.

     "We could stand at the top of the stairs and..." Eyye scratched her chin, trying to think of a prank that wasn't completely overdone.

     She fluttered her wings; the Buzz was at a loss of words.

     Koiti sighed. "I don't think we can scare those two. They are so used to our pranks by now..."

*

     The next few hours went by like normal. Rose finished her book and was now busy trying to learn to sew. Snazzy was teaching her, but Rose was very slow on the uptake.

     Eyye and Koiti took turns trying to scare the trick-or-treaters. Koiti only got one more group running. Eyye just got laughed at.

     In between the children they plotted. Eyye got out some paper and they sat in the kitchen with crayons trying to figure out what to do.

     "Okay so from the top of the stairs, we can drop this?" the Buzz asked.

     Koiti shook her head. "No, no! You do THAT first, then I drop it."

     "Wait, why do I-"

     "Shhh, they might hear; whisper."

     "Why do I have to do that?" Eyye leaned in near Koiti.

*

     Snazzy groaned in frustration., "No Rose, you have to lock the stitches here or it will come undone."

     "Why?"

     "Because that's how sewing works. You'd learn a lot faster if you weren't asking so many questions!"

     Rose stared at the fabric in her hand, then looked over to Snazzy's half-done orange Poogle plushie.

     She would never learn to sew; it was pointless.

     "Why do I need to learn this anyway?" she asked, setting down her abomination to sewing.

     "So I don't have to fix all your clothing and things. And maybe you can help Eyye or Koiti if I'm not here."

     "You are always here. And you LIKE fixing things."

     Snazzy sighed, locked a stitch and brought the plushie to her mouth. She bit the string and set down the Poogle. "It's a nice skill to learn, don't you want to know how?"

     "No, not really. I don't bother you about being able to make perfect tea, do I?"

*

     Eyye and Koiti smiled at one another. They finally came up with a plan that would scare their friends.

     They snickered and Eyye rolled up the plans to their reputations' salvation.

     First step would be Eyye's to complete.

*

     "How's it going, you two?" Koiti leaned over the back of the couch.

     Snazzy was turning an orange Poogle plush over in her hands, inspecting it for imperfections.

     Rose was picking at a stitch, trying to take it out. She appeared to be sewing a cube. A very misshapen cube. Possibly a circle?

     "Not very well, obviously," Rose growled. "I think I'm done trying to sew anything."

     She threw her cube-circle thing into the fireplace and sighed. "Thanks for trying, Snazzy."

     The Buzz patted her on the shoulder. "Why don't you try and teach me about tea?"

     While the three were talking, Eyye snuck out the front door. Koiti made a great distraction.

*

     A few kids were left on the streets; it was late enough that most had gotten tired or their parents called them in for bed. Not many had candy this late at night.

     Perfect, no witnesses.

     Eyye crept around to the back of the house, where the fuse box was located.

     She took a needle she had in her pocket out, and jammed it in the lock.

     With some jiggling, the lock popped open and Eyye was granted full control of the power of the house.

*

     "This is so boring," Snazzy complained. She tapped her fingers on the table. "You just sit here and wait?"

     Rose nodded. "It's worth the wait. Believe me."

     "Uh, I'll be right back; I think I hear some victims at the door." Koiti pushed back her chair and headed toward the door.

     She detoured once she was out of eyeshot. She headed up the stairs and waited at the balcony that over looked the living room.

     She waited, snickering to herself. This would get them good.

*

     Eyye counted to one thousand in her head, then flipped the breaker for the house. All power was now cut.

     They were in the dark.

     Step three would be hers also; she ran into position.

*

     "Whoa, what's going on with the lights?" Snazzy lifted her head from her hand and tried to look around.

     She could see vague outlines once her eyes adjusted.

     "Maybe we blew a fuse with the stove being on and... well, that doesn't make sense." Rose got up from her chair, and Snazzy thought she could make out her heading to the door.

     She quickly got up too. "H-hey! Wait for me!"

*

     Once she caught the first movement below her, Koiti tip-toed down the stairs.

     She snuck into the kitchen once Snazzy left.

     Ever so quietly, she cracked open the door, making for a quick escape.

     She also made sure to lock it.

*

     "Don't worry so much, Snazzy. All we have to do is flip a few switches and the lights will be back on in no time." Rose tried to smile at her friend, but it was of no use in this darkness.

     "How are we gonna see which ones to flip?" the Buzz asked, looking behind her. She was not a fan of the darkness.

     "The street... lights?" Rose looked at the window which decorated the top of their door.

     Pitch black.

     Something had knocked out the whole neighborhood's lights.

     Little did they know that Eyye had covered up the window.

     She was now holding tight to the doorknob to prevent them from leaving.

     Rose tried the door, no luck.

     "It's jammed," she told Snazzy, who was now holding tight to her arm.

     "Jammed?! What do you think happened?"

     Rose shook her head. "I'm sure Koiti just slammed it too hard or something. Nothing to worry about."

     She jiggled the handle a bit, but to no avail.

     Before either could suggest using the back door, they heard a loud bang in the kitchen.

     Rose tried to look at her frightened friend, but could only guess that she was looking her in the eye.

     "It's fine, probably just the wind. Maybe we left the window open in there."

     Koiti quickly covered the backdoors window with black paper, obscuring their view of any light. She grabbed the doorknob, and held tight.

     Hand in hand, Rose and Snazzy made their way to the kitchen.

     Instinctively Rose tried the light switch. Of course it was already in the on position. She felt stupid for trying.

     Snazzy was the first to feel it.

     The water at her feet, lukewarm.

     She gasped and grabbed Rose's hand tighter.

     "It's fine, Snazzy, I'm sure... Well, maybe a pipe burst."

     "Rose, I... I'm scared."

     Both Eyye and Koiti had a finally step to complete. Then their reward would be reaped.

     Eyye opened the front door and made her way near the kitchen.

     She crouched near the entry way, waiting for Koiti.

     The Krawk and the Buzz, still holding hands, carefully walked through the water and tried the back doorknob.

     Locked, of course.

     "Rose... What is going on?" Snazzy asked, holding fast to the Krawk's arm.

     "I... I'm not sure, okay, Snazzy? Let's just..." Rose, who was always prepared and ready. Always able to think on her feet, was at a loss of words.

     Surely she just needed time to clear her head and think it through. It'd be fine.

     Koiti ripped open the door, roaring louder than she ever thought possible of herself.

     Eyye jumped from hiding and started to scream.

     The Krawk and Buzz screamed even louder and huddled into a ball on the floor.

     Even as Koiti and Eyye began to laugh, they kept screaming.

     The Grarrl patted Rose on the back and that only made her scream louder.

     Rose and Snazzy refused to get off the floor until the lights were back on.

*

     They made sure the pranksters were in their view the rest of the night.

     And of course, they wouldn't allow this Halloween to ever be talked about again.

The End