Tales From the Neotree House by cebu_that_meows |  |
"Buster! Hurry up! Everyone else is there already!" Hopper
yelled down the hallway to his younger brother.
"I'm coming!" Buster yelled back, while running
out of his room and dragging his big, blue sleeping back on the floor behind
him.
Hopper rolled his eyes and ran over to his brother,
grabbing the other end of the sleeping bag. Together, they carried it to the
back door to the garden. In the garden was a huge tree, the one in which was
built their prized tree house. It had taken Hopper, a green Gelert, and Buster,
a small, white Zafara with glasses nearly as big as his head, nearly all of
last summer to complete. They couldn't go in it for awhile because of the cold
weather, so they had to wait until the spring. And now, tonight, they had invited
their best friends over and were going to spend the night in it for the very
first time.
The two got to the tree and stood back, looking
up at their house in awe. They still couldn't believe that they had built it,
with their own paws. It was fairly large, for a tree house, built out of wood
left over from when their owner had built her Neohome. It was a nearly perfect
square, with a window on each side, and blue shutters, although the rest of
the house remained unpainted.
Hopper stepped closer to the tree and loudly
shouted "Hey! We're here now!"
The door to the tree house opened, and out walked
Timmy, a red Cybunny, onto the deck that went around the house. He threw down
a basket, attached to a rope, so Hopper could put his sleeping bag in it and
Timmy could pull it up. They did so, and then Hopper followed Buster, who was
already climbing up the tree.
"Hey, you two! I'm so glad you are finally here!"
Timmy said as soon as they were all on the deck. "Now come on, Ducky is inside
waiting for us!"
Ducky, Buster, Timmy, and Hopper. The gang was
all there! They were the best of friends. Buster and Hopper had met Ducky and
Timmy at the toy store one day. Their owner had been particularly lucky playing
games that day, and decided to treat Buster and Hopper to some new toys. Ducky
was there buying a birthday present for his sister, and Timmy was there with
his owner, waiting for a restock. It turns out they were all interested in,
and asked the shop keeper about, the same red toy car. They got a good laugh
at it when they found out, and have been inseparable since.
Ducky, a yellow Kacheek, eagerly waved when
he saw everyone.
"Yay! You're here! Come on! We brought enough
games, coloring supplies, and snacks to last us all night!"
Everyone happily played together for a while,
until it got dark. Buster got up from his spot on the floor walked over to the
window, and anxiously looked outside, but could see nothing except the pitch
black darkness. He turned, afraid, to the rest of the boys (who were busy lighting
candles), and looked back outside. Lupes howled in the distance, and through
the thick fog that filled the air, he could see a Batterfly, gliding by the
ever-dim moon. Buster felt a shiver go down his spine, then quickly slammed
shut the shudders on the window, locking them behind him. He headed back into
the middle of the room, where everyone else was laughing and talking. He sat
down on his sleeping bag.
"So what should we do now?" Ducky asked.
"Let's tell scary stories!" Hopper yelled excitedly,
as Buster loudly gulped. "I have one! I'll go first!"
Hopper cleared his throat, made a scary face,
and began.
"Back in year four, explorers were found, and
they claimed they had photos of an entire world made out of orange jelly…"
Timmy groaned dramatically. "Puh-leese! Jelly
World? The only person who believes in that any more is old man Jones down the
street, and he's crazy! He collects old issues of the Neopian Times and uses
them for interior decorating!" Timmy rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I have a much
better story!"
Timmy grabbed a candle, illuminating his face,
and made a sinister look. You could see every bone in his fat, furry head.
"Back in the year 200 BN, there was a Blumaroo
born. This was no ordinary Blumaroo. There was something truly evil about him,
for he was a vampire. He preyed on innocent Neopets, who were simply walking
alone during the night. Eventually, he settled in an old castle on Roo Island,
and slept for 200 years. But now, he is awake, and back to his old game."
Everyone sat still, breathless. Timmy continued.
"There are three signs of Von Roo's presence.
First, you'll hear a bone chilling scream." They paused as they heard a shriek
in the distance. "Second, you'll feel a cold chill across your back…" A gust
of wind blew through an open window, making even Timmy shiver. Hopper quickly
ran to the window and slammed it shut. "And third, you'll hear and evil laughter,
and then you'll see the Count himself, with his shiny white fangs, pale vampire
skin, and his eyes, black as night, as full as a pool of water, staring at you
with… black pool-of-wateriness!" He paused for a dramatic effect.
Everyone looked around the room, still silent,
expecting to see Von Roo standing in the corner of the room.
Timmy chuckled nervously, and everyone followed
him, in unison.
"I think I'll go to sleep now!" Buster said,
in a high-pitched squeak.
The rest of the group squeaked in agreement,
and they snuggled into their sleeping bags-without blowing out the candles.
Everyone fell asleep quickly. Everyone except
Buster, that is. He lay awake, afraid. Was Von Roo here, in their tree house?
There WERE the first two signs, and it was a very scary night out…
Buster turned to his side and looked at Hopper,
who was snoring loudly, a thin line of drool coming from the corner of his mouth.
Buster relaxed a little. His brother and friends surrounded him, in his nice,
safe tree house. He closed his eyes, and started to drift off to sleep…
CREAK! Buster opened his eyes. That sounded
a lot like someone was climbing up the tree, and broke a branch. It wasn't storming
out, and it was windy, but not too windy. Buster sat up, put on his glasses,
climbed out of his sleeping bag, and listened intently. He could have sworn
he heard someone. He turned and quickly shook Hopper awake, explaining to him
what happened. Hopper looked at him sleepily, and was about to Buster that he
was crazy when, he too, heard someone climbing up the tree. They quickly woke
up the others and headed to the far corner of the house, unsure of what to do,
and huddled close together. They could imagine Von Roo now: the pearly white
fangs, glistening, and his long, flowing black cape…
They heard footsteps on the deck, then at the
door. The handle was turning, and the door slowly creaked open. A shadowy figure
stepped into the doorframe, and laughed as it did. Buster buried his face in
Hopper's chest, trying not to cry out in terror. The figure stepped into the
candlelight, and Buster saw the terrible face of… his owner?
"Hi boys!" his owner, Tai, squealed in delight.
"Just came to check on you and make sure you were okay!"
The boys sighed heavily, as if a huge weight
had been lifted from their shoulders. "Hi mom!" Hopper exclaimed, relieved.
"Why are you all huddled in the corner?" Tai
asked. Timmy explained the situation to her, and she laughed.
"The shrieking was me. I got a consideration
letter for the article I sent in to the Neopian Times, and I was so happy! The
wind was because it was chilly out, and the laughter was, as you know, me. I
was remembering a joke I had heard earlier." She giggled again. "What do you
call an outdated red Lenny?"
The boys shook their heads in confusion.
"Ugly!" Tai laughed at her own joke, and the
boys pretended to.
"Could you sleep in here, with us?" Ducky asked,
while everyone nodded in agreement.
Tai giggled yet again. "Of course. Let me go
grab my sleeping bag, okay?"
She headed out the door, and was starting to
climb back down the tree when she noticed something snagged on the railing to
the fence, which surrounded the entire deck. She grabbed it, and although it
was scratched and torn, she could still tell what it was. It was a long, flowing
black cape.
Tai gasped audibly, and grabbed the cape as
she continued climbing down the tree. She reached the ground, and held the cape
out in front of her, turning it over in her hands, feeling it.
"Fluffy!" she called for the Snowbunny that
lived in the bushes. Fluffy stuck his head out of the bushes and hopped towards
her curious. She leaned down, gently fastened the cape around his neck, and
patted him on the head.
"Now you're a Halloween Snowbunny!" Tai said,
as she walked into the house, feeling rather satisfied.
The End
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