CHAPTER 6
Storytime
Gary rushed to the nurse to grab clothes. He didn’t want to miss hearing the scary stories. He loved being scared more than anything in the world. When he entered the nurse’s office he saw Mr. Stine sitting in the exact same place as last time.
“Oh geez, what now?” Mr. Stine questioned.
“We had an accident in our classroom and I need to grab my friend a change of clothes.”
“Oh boy, someone has a stink-stink in their pants, huh? Mr. Stine giggled.
“No sir, a student just ripped their pants.”
“Oh boy, another blowout! Go ahead into the back room and pick out an outfit for the poor fellow.”
Gary headed back and was immediately taken away. Piles and piles of clothes were neatly folded on several shelves from the floor to the ceiling. He went right to the area that looked like boys clothing, but something caught his eye on the way. He curiously looked at the fluorescent pink jeans that seemed to glow and began to grin.
“I’d really hate for Nardell not to get his wish of dressing like a girl for today.” He held to pants up to see if they looked big enough to fit Nardell.
“They look a little small, but he should be able to squeeze into them. After all, skinny jeans are in style.”
He then scanned the room for the most girly shirt he could find. After sifting through several piles he found the perfect one. It was an off white shirt with a drawing of a large unicorn galloping on a rainbow coming from a cloud. Underneath the picture were bright red letters that spelled, “PRINCESS”. Just thinking about Nardell wearing this outfit made Gary giggle aloud. He quickly snatched the outfit and headed back to the room.
Gary walked into the dark classroom and noticed the kids all huddling on the floor in silence. He gave a quick knock on the bathroom door and handed Nardell the clothes.
“What the heck is this?” Nardell asked with a huge grin.
“Hey, you said you wanted to dress like a girl today.” Gary said as he headed over to the group.
When Gary arrived he quietly sat down and listened to one of the students finish up a story about a Zombie chasing a man in a car.
“Man, I wish I could have been here for that one.” He thought to himself. “It sounded pretty scary!”
After the story ended, Mrs. Coy looked up at the clock.
“Okay class, we have time for one more short story. Who would like to share.”
She looked around and saw that only one of the students hands were raised. Braxton was once again holding his hand up vigorously trying to get called on. Mrs. Coy really didn’t want to call on him, in fear of an underwear comment, but she really didn’t have a choice.
“Okay Braxton, I don’t want to hear anything about underwear, we are sharing scary stories.” She warned.
“Don’t worry, I won’t say anything about underwear, although I did see Nardell’s again when he came out of the bathroom to talk with you.”
At that very moment the bathroom door slowly opened. The lights were off and no one was inside. The class grew suspicious and looked closely.
“TAADAA!”
Nardell jumped out in his new unicorn outfit. The class erupted into a frenzy. The outfit looked even better than Gary had thought. The pink pants were very tight and small. The bottom of the pant legs were an inch above his shoe. The shirt was also so small that Nardell’s belly button could easily be seen.
“Don’t get too close boys and girls, cause I've got me some UNICORN FEVER!” Nardell yelled as he struck a pose in front of the bathroom door.
“NARDELL MOORE!” Mrs. Coy yelled.
Nardell quickly and quietly came over to the group without another word said.
“Okay, Braxton you may begin your story.”
“Okay, before I begin, I just wanted to let everyone know that this story is not only scary, but true. It happened to my brother last Halloween at Dead Lake.” The class took a deep gasp and huddled close together.
“Last Halloween, my brother and his friend decided to camp out at Dead Lake. They went out in the afternoon and cleared a place right next to the water to put their tent. That night, they cooked hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire. When they were finished, they headed into their tent for the night. While they were laying in their tent they listened to the frogs and crickets chirp in the night. Suddenly everything became silent. It was like someone just turned off a T.V. My brother decided to peek out of the tent. When he looked out, he saw the trees and weeds lit up from the fire that was still burning. He then told me that he got the goosebumps and decided to look towards the lake. That is when he saw a creature standing in the water. He was waist deep. Just staring at the boys in the tent. His head was cocked to the side with hair hanging to his shoulders….”
“What was he wearing?” Gary interrupted.
“Gary, please mind your manners. It is Braxton’s story.”
“Mrs. Coy you don’t understand….”
“GARY….Mind you Manners…….Go ahead Braxton.” Mrs. Coy repeated as she glared at Gary.
“He slowly raised his hand from the water and began to walk out, dragging his left foot along. My brother quickly grabbed his friend and scurried out of the tent. The monster lunged at them and narrowly missed grabbing my brother’s leg. The two ran along the path that led them out of the woods. My brother turned to see the creature and it was just standing at their campsite staring at them.”
The kids all stared at Braxton with shock. They were scared out of their minds. Nobody was more scared than Gary.
“How is that possible?” he thought. Several seconds went by without a word said.
“Well Braxton, that was quite a story! Thank you for sharing it with us.” Mrs. Coy said. “Okay students, please quietly grab your stuff and prepare for dismissal.
When the kids went to organize their belongings, Gary went right over to Braxton.
“Braxton, did your brother say what the monster was wearing?”
“Yes, I believe it was a long sleeve gray shirt covered in really dark stains.”
Gary’s heart seemed to sink into his stomach.
“What’s wrong Gary? You look a little pale.” Braxton added.
“I had a dream about Dead Lake last night. I saw the same creature that you just described.”
Nardell overheard Gary’s discussion with Braxton. “Gary, are you serious?” Nardell questioned.
“Yes, he came from the bottom of the lake and chased me down a path. He caught me when I crashed into the bushes.”
“Wait a minute, you crashed? I knew you weren’t ready to get your training wheels off yet.” Nardell joked.
Mrs. Coy instructed the kids to line up. “You all be careful today and make sure you stay with a friend when trick or treating.”