by Justin Sloan
Down below, Ari inspected the stone walls that now made up the prison for Aldis. Giants and shadow monsters guarded the prison, led by the newly-promoted Harpner.
“You won’t get away with this! Do you know who I am?” Aldis ran for a wall and slammed into it, landing on his butt.
“That should about do it,” Ari said with a wink to his friend Harpner.
“You, you’re to blame here….” Aldis’s voice trailed off as the shadow monsters passed through the rock and came at him.
The orc king smiled at Ari. “This is my favorite part.”
Aldis’s screams echoed through the chamber as Ari turned to go.
Chapter Twenty-Two: Peace of a New Type
After all of the children had been found and returned to their normal selves, the monsters led them to the cliffs above the shimmering pools. Bears and children lined the cliff as the bears introduced the children to the different monsters. Rick and Tiffany hugged amid tears of joy, and Brutas played a jig on his bagpipes.
A humped monster grinned at Tiffany. There was food stuck in its sharp teeth. Mia pulled Tiffany away and told the monster, “Maybe with time.”
The humped monster backed off, sheepish.
“No, it’s okay.” Tiffany said with a smile. “You’re kinda cute, actually.” She took the wreath of dandelions from her head and put it on the monster’s, and giggled at the monster’s goofy smile.
Ari stood with one paw in Rick’s hand and took Tiffany’s hand in his other. “Are you ready?”
They both gave him a nod.
Mia stared at them with wide eyes. Brutas allowed the bagpipe music to fade away and approached, coming to stand beside Mia.
Ari chewed on his lip. “Mia—”
She held up a paw. “Don’t say anything.” She looked away, doing her best to hide a tear. She pulled Ari’s sail-cloak tight around herself. “I’m going to miss you.”
Brutas allowed a groan to come from his pipes, and then added, “Ahh-huhh. Me too.”
Tiffany’s eyes lit up. “Can they come with us?”
“What?” Rick said in surprise.
“The other kids have plenty of bears now, can we…?”
Rick assessed the situation and looked to Ari. “She does have a point, you know.”
Ari eyed Mia, unsure but hopeful. “I don’t know if they’d want to....”
“Are you serious?!” Mia ran for Ari and threw her arms around him. Then she did the same for Tiffany, who giggled with joy.
Brutas lumbered over and Rick wrapped an arm around him.
“Okay, now we’re ready,” Rick said.
The five jumped, as all around them bears and children jumped as well. Light burst around them like fireworks, and laughter filled the air. Having been instructed by the orc king on how to properly fall, the five friends floated down, seemingly forever. The orc king cast a spell and the pools of shadows expanded, shimmering with silver. Images of houses appeared as the children and bears disappeared into their depths.
Ari felt the silvery pool engulf him like a warm bath, the others floating close behind. Light everywhere.
The laughter faded along with the light.
***
Rick’s eyes burst open. The TV was on, but only static showed. He sat up and looked at Ari beside him. He held Ari close and stared into the teddy bear’s button eyes. He moved for the edge of the bed, Ari in hand, and carefully lowered himself before making his way to the hallway.
After a short pause at his sister’s door, Rick peeked in. Tiffany was safe in bed, her pink comforter tossed to the ground. Beside her lay two teddy bears: a pink one and a fat one in a kilt.
Rick smiled at Ari as he entered the room. With a kiss to his sister’s forehead, he placed Ari between Mia and Brutas and whispered, “You are all going to have so much fun,” before returning to his room to get some sleep. He was exhausted and, if he had his calculations right, they had made it back just in time. Today was Thanksgiving. He had better get some sleep to be ready to fill his belly.
When Rick entered his room, a shadow darted across the floor and there was a scratching sound. He paused, then looked to the moonlight outside and the wind blowing the tree branch across the glass. He laughed to himself and crawled into bed, never to be afraid of the dark again.
***
Not everyone in the house was asleep. Upstairs in the attic, Grant the ghoul made finishing touches to the wall mural, humming with satisfaction.
The painting’s lowest level showed darkness surrounding the crying form of Aldis, trapped in his stone cage. Above that, the mural showed Rick sleeping soundly in bed. On the top level, monsters smiled and played with bears in the picnic fields, where tables were covered with turkey, marshmallow-smothered yams, and corn. In the midst of it all, Father Moroz and the orc king danced together in joy and thanksgiving.
Teddy Bears and the Halloween Ghost
Book 2 in the Teddy Defenders trilogy: A Short Story
Justin M. Sloan
www.JustinMSloan.com
TEDDY BEARS AND THE HALLOWEEN GHOST
Book 2 in the Teddy Defenders trilogy: A Short Story
by Justin Sloan
Copyright © 2015 Justin Sloan.
All rights reserved.
This is a work of fiction. No people known to the author have actually met ghosts, although many claim they have. Please consider leaving a review, and tell your friends about Teddy Bears and the Halloween Ghost.
Thank you for supporting my work.
A SHORT STORY
Mia nudged the other teddy bears awake after she had made sure Tiffany’s eyes were closed. Yes, Tiffany had seen them walking and talking in the monsterlands, but that was eleven months ago. Since then, Mia and the other teddy bears had reverted to the traditional rules—no human should see a teddy bear moving—and so Tiffany had likely assumed it was all a wild dream.
“Who’s on watch tonight?” Ari said when he opened his beady brown eyes. He adjusted his red bow-tie and nodded to Mia.
She knew it was her turn, technically, but she shook her head. “No. The monsters and the Teddy Defenders have an agreement, there’s no threat.”
Ari stared at her, then turned to her large, kilt-wearing brother, Brutas, for help. But Brutas just shrugged.
Mia motioned for them all to keep quiet for a moment as Tiffany turned in bed and let out a soft snore. When they were sure she was still asleep, Mia said, “Just tonight, let’s agree that none of us sit here observing old traditions, right? We go and we have fun, because that’s what teddy bears should do at night.”
She smoothed out her pink fur and adjusted the ribbon on her head, watching Ari to see how he was taking her argument. It was the same argument she had put forth every day since the pact with the monsters was made, and since the monsters had never really wanted to cause problems in the first place, she didn’t see what the big deal was.
Lucky for her, Ari couldn’t seem to come up with anything. He finally glanced around and said, “Fine.”
“You mean it?” she asked, probably louder than she should have, considering Tiffany was trying to sleep. However, since the girl’s seventh birthday, she had become a super heavy sleeper, so it was probably fine.
“I call the swing!” Brutas yelled as he ran for the door.
“Thank you!” Mia said, and gave Ari a big hug before running out after her brother.
They stopped suddenly and Ari nearly collided with them in the hallway, so as to not be seen as Rick went stumbling by. Ari pulled the other two past the closet door that had luckily been left open, and he peeked out.
“Shouldn’t Rick be in bed by now?” he asked.
“I’m not sure that was Rick,” Brutas said with a look of confusion.
He was right, something had been odd. Mia took a chance and poked her head out, waiting, and then saw Rick run past—but he had a mustache and a wide-brimmed hat!
“How long were we sleeping this time?” Mia asked as she ducked
back into the closet.
Ari took a look and then he turned back with a smile.
“What?” Mia waited but he didn’t say anything, just sat there with his silly grin. “What’s so funny?”
“Tell us,” Brutas said.
Ari tried not to laugh, holding his paws over his mouth, but he couldn’t help himself. “Okay, okay,” he said between laughs. “It’s not your fault, you’ve never been here for a Halloween yet.”
“Hall-o-what?” Brutas asked.
“He’s not old or anything,” Ari replied. “He’s just dressed as a cowboy!”
Mia knew her expression must have showed just as much confusion as Brutas’s always did.
“Okay,” Ari motioned for them to both look. “See that bag he’s holding? That’s for candy. The kids go door-to-door, saying ‘trick-or-treat,’ and the adults give them candy. But you have to wear a costume, or you don’t get anything.”
“Ohhhh,” Mia said. “That sounds amazing!”
“Let’s do it!” Brutas added with a look of glee.
“I used to go,” Ari said. His smile faded as he remembered. “Only, that was when Rick was younger. He took me all the time, even dressed me up once, though I don’t know if I liked that part—he made me wear bunny ears.”
Mia and Brutas laughed.
“Wait,” Mia said, realizing what this meant. “Then shouldn’t Tiffany be going? Is she too young or something? Or…”
A CREAK came from a door and they all pulled back into the shadows.
“Tiffany?” the children’s mom said. “Are you ready dear?”
“Just a second,” Tiffany’s voice replied from nearby.
Mia looked to Ari and Brutas—she wasn’t asleep?!
“I’m looking for something,” Tiffany said. Then, quieter, her voice echoed through the closet, “Are you three in here? I know you’re around here somewhere.”
The door started to open and the light from the hall inched toward Mia. They saw the outline of Tiffany, the light behind her so she appeared like a giant shadow. Just as she was about to spot Mia, Tiffany’s mom came into view and swept Tiffany into her arms with a “There you are!”
“Mom,” Tiffany protested. “I’m busy.”
“You should be busy getting your costume on,” Rick said as he joined the others. “We gotta go soon.”
“I don’t wanna go to some stupid school Halloween party,” Tiffany said with a pout. “They’re always so lame.”
“Only because you don’t have any friends there,” Rick said.
“Rick!” their mom turned on him. “Say you’re sorry.”
“Fine, but I’m just saying, if she spent more time getting to know people and not playing with her teddy bears, maybe she’d have a friend or two.”
“And you never played with teddy bears?” their mom said, hands on her hips.
“Whatever,” Rick said before running off.
“Come on,” their mom said to Tiffany. “Let’s put on your angel wings and make you a friend.”
Tiffany cast a last wishful glance back toward the closet before her mom dragged her away, leaving Mia to think over everything they’d just said. Could it be their fault that Tiffany wasn’t making real friends at school? That was horrible! They loved her with all their little teddy bear hearts, and loved being with her. But if that was in any way bad for her, something would have to change.
Ari jumped up and checked the door, then turned back to Mia and Brutas. “Well, I guess that does it. We’re all staying in tonight.”
“What?!” Mia said.
“You heard them, and the other kids won’t be going to sleep either. The streets will be filled with them, so we can’t—”
“Forget that.” Mia motioned to her brother and made a dash for it. “No way am I missing out on this!”
“No, you can’t—”
Mia didn’t wait to hear his protestations, but was instead already crawling through the open bedroom window to the back yard. Brutas followed closely, and by the time they made it outside, Ari had joined them.
“I’m telling you this isn’t safe,” Ari said. “We have rules to follow.”
“No, we don’t.” Mia led the way to the hole in the backyard fence, the one they always used to sneak out of on their way to the park. She took a moment to marvel at the stars, as she did every night when they went out—back in the land of the teddy bear picnic, it was never night. “Those are old rules. Tonight we have new rules—we have fun. Tonight we learn about Halloween.” And after all, it was her and Brutas’s father, Father Moroz, who had instituted the rules in the first place.
Ari sighed, but didn’t object further.
The first kid they spotted was dressed like a superhero, his friends following close behind were dressed as zombies, mummies and skeletons. A cute little girl was dressed as a fairy and carried by a mother that wore a pirate outfit, and then more kids ran by dressed in costumes that Mia couldn’t start to guess at. She watched with fascination as the kids ran up to a house and rang the bell and were rewarded with candy for their ‘hard work.’ What a holiday! Mia led the way around a corner in the street to where the park was visible, the same park they went to play every night when Rick and Tiffany went to sleep.
But this night there were children everywhere, glowing pumpkins with faces carved into them, and strange flashing lights that lit up fake fog. Was that—yes, she would know the goblins anywhere! She pushed back, and motioned for Ari to take a look.
“Think they’re up to no good?” she asked. Watching the monsters, she remembered the new friends she’d made in the final battle, at Ari’s side, to stop the evil teddy bear Aldzis and his plan of changing the children to monsters. She especially thought of the winged monster, Harpner, and the way he had flown in to save the day. She’d always wanted a friend with wings. He hadn’t turned, she was sure of it, but… “Could there be some left who were loyal to Aldzis?”
Ari scratched his nose with his paw, then shook his head. “The goblins are good on the pact, we can’t go doubting them all the time.”
“Then why—”
“Shhh.” He motioned to the shadows of a fence as the goblins grew closer, and then a smile spread across his face. “Ah… Plus the goblins didn’t have bags for candy or need masks.”
Mia looked closer and saw that yes, these were indeed simply children in costumes.
“Ohhh,” Brutas said, but it was clear he didn’t get it.
“Wait, what’re they doing?” Ari said, inching closer to better hear.
Mia crouched low beside him. “They’re not supposed to take off their masks yet, are they?”
Ari shook his head and they listened as one of the children, tears streaking down his cheeks, turned to the others.
“You can go back if you want,” the boy said. “But not me. No way.”
“Come on Dex,” an older boy said. “We don’t even know if it was a real ghost, for all we know—”
“Forget that man, I saw it. That thing was floating, and I don’t mean like some Halloween prop. It was a real live, flying ghost.”
The other kids looked at each other with wide eyes, each as scared as the next.
“We just have to accept it guys,” Dex said. “Mt. View elementary is haunted.”
The children walked off, leaving Ari to look at Mia and Brutas with worry.
“What?” Brutas asked.
“Bad news, Mt. View elementary is where Ashely and Rick were headed… And it may actually be haunted.”
“Ghosts?” Brutas scoffed. “Ghost stories are for babies.” He looked nervously at Mia, then added, “Aren’t’ they?”
Mia wasn’t sure what to think of this conversation. The boy had certainly seen something, but a ghost? She supposed that if goblins, orcs, and shadow monsters really existed, then why not ghosts?
“Only one way to find out,” she replied.
The three teddy bears ran as fast as they could while staying out of site. Lucky for Ari, Rick
had taken him to his elementary school several times before the other kids laughed at Rick enough to make him stop. Ari had a faint idea of where it was, and hoped he was right. If not, they had no idea what an actual ghost’s presence meant for Tiffany and Rick. Could it hurt the children, or simply terrify them? Was this some sort of other-worldly being that could take the children into the after-life? Mia shuddered at the thought, and pushed herself faster.
They passed large, scary cat decorations, a witch decoration that Brutas swore was a real woman floating in the air, and more trick-or-treators than they could count.
“What are we going to do if there really is a ghost?” Brutas asked.
Ari kept running but looked to Mia with uncertainty.
“Maybe try some of this on it?” she asked, pulling light from a jack-o-lantern onto her paws so that they shone brilliantly in the night. This required a small bit of focus, but was natural to all Teddy Defenders, as it had been the way to fight monsters for thousands of years, if not millions—the elders often debated how long ago the first teddy bear had come into existence.
“Put that out,” Ari said, and just in time too, because a group of kids rounded the corner before them.
The teddy bears flopped to the ground, pretending to be just toys.
“Oh, cool!” a high pitched boy’s voice rang out. “Someone lost their teddy bears!”
Mia felt her chest clench – if someone else took them now, how would they escape and get to the school?
“Seriously?” a little girl’s voice answered. “Teddy bears are for little kids, how boring.”
“Oh,” the boy replied. “Right….”
Mia was relieved to hear the children walking away, but she couldn’t believe her ears. “Boring?!” she nearly shouted, jumping to her feet. “If she had any idea what we’ve been through, if she—”
Ari cleared his throat. “The school.”
“Yeah, but if she—”
