The Curse of
Charlie the Storyteller
Written and Illustrated by Adrian A. Loza
The Curse of Scare Town Charlie the Storyteller
To my nephews M, L & R. Written and Illustrated by Adrian A. Loza
C
are Town is an interesting place, where interesting people happened to live. It is
near thick forests, lakes that stretch for miles, and large fields of sunflowers. Let me share a tale of Care Town’s townsfolk and their adventures.
This town is full of engineers, doctors, librarians and lunch ladies too. The townsfolk of Care Town shout “Hello!” and “Good Morning!” to each other every day. From sunrise until sunset the birds chirped, the dogs barked and the mail carriers completed their daily routes. It is similar to where your dad, your mom, brother, sister or even your grandparents live.
There lived a person in Care Town who was undeniably, unquestionably, utterly mean. He disliked everything and everyone. He would grumble, “People get in my way and most annoy me!” His name is Ralph Mezquino. Most people don’t understand why Ralph is the way he is but there are rumors. Some say it’s because he dislikes joy. Others think it’s because he stays alone all the time. But I believe he was simply, born mean. He lives in the shadows of Care Town, beyond the local cemetery, on top of a pointed peak in an old creaky home. Each day he would glare at people, through his dusty windows, as they would walk by. Ralph is a sign maker and he has a habit to grumble after each sign he makes. He eats chocolate bars for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and even as a snack.
Ralph was never alone in his big old house. His friendly pet dog, named Puggy, lives there too. Puggy enjoys eating fruit bowls by his owner’s side.
One morning on his way leaving the town’s food market, a biker accidently splashed dirty water onto him. “That’s it!” he yelled as he shook his cane angrily up in the air. He stormed home. He thought to himself, “I know what I must do. I’ll teach myself magic. I will control what everyone does so no one will cross me ever again!” I will become a wizard!”, shouted Ralph in his home, as Puggy groaned.
It’s surprising what can be found on the Internet. Ralph searched on Google and found a magic manual with many spells and incantations. He ordered the book and waited impatiently for three days before the package arrived. He immediately taught himself dark magic. He learned and practiced and learned some more for many months becoming evil in his mind.
On a thunderous night he decided for everything to change around him and to curse the whole town. And with that thought boiling in his head, he chanted – “Demand the world, demand the sun, change the town and change the tons” At that moment he struck his cane onto the ground with a quick splat. A flash of violet light came from the bottom of the cane, shining like a thunderbolt. He had marked his horrible curse upon all the people of Care Town. It seemed that the town and the world froze.
“Yes! Whha---what?!” he yelped. He was shocked to see his reflection in a nearby puddle. The cane he once used to lean on had turned into a blue fountain pen. Ralph was stronger and younger than moments before. He began to evilly laugh to himself. He was happy his curse had worked. That very night he found the local white pages, listing everyone’s name and address in town. In many pages, with his magical pen, he wrote down instructions for everyone to follow. The pen would bring his written commands to life. He collected these pages and kept them safely hidden in his creaking desk. Ralph the sign maker had become Ralph the evil wizard.
It’s surprising what can be found on the Internet. He searched on Google and found a magic manual with many spells and incantations. He ordered the book and waited impatiently for three days before the package arrived. He immediately taught himself dark magic. He learned and practiced and learned some more for many months, becoming evil in his mind.
The following day, Care Town townsfolk walked out from their homes as usual. They were unaware that they were brainwashed to do horrible things as soon as they left their front doors! During the day terrible things would happen on the streets of Care Town. After sunset, each day the townsfolk would return inside their homes from their daily assigned commands and the curse was lifted. Since most people would be strangely tired, no one ever left their homes for the remainder of the day. Inside townsfolk homes they would return to being themselves and everything would be back to normal, until the next day. Ever since the curse was placed, Care Town had become Scare Town vanishing from the rest of the world. This story is about this unfortunate place.
Now let me introduce a boy, who is apart of Scare Town’s doom. He is no younger or older than most children in the neighborhood. He lives in a small home with a green door with his parents. He has toys and gadgets and coloring books too, but he is happiest of all when playing with his pets. His name is Charlie Martinez.
Charlie enjoys riding his scooter around his house. He builds imaginary places with his blocks and likes to make home-made ice cream with his mom. Charlie finds he is most happy when telling stories. It’s a hobby he’s liked to do since he was little. Charlie’s favorite part is when everyone listens. He enjoys when his parents read to him but he decided to make some stories up for himself. He shares them often with his best friends. Charlie has four best friends. Each has a special ability that they like to practice. Gavin is an avid flyer and he just so happens to be a bird. Sherrill, a snake, likes to wrap around objects in a spiral and occasionally shows her affection by hugging Charlie’s arm. Crystal is timid and light as a feather for she is a quick-footed rabbit. And last there is Marshmallow. This dog holds this group of animal friends together by listening and sometimes barking for them to follow his lead.
Charlie’s best friends would keep him company whenever he is alone. They are always happy to listen to his stories. On any given day he would begin with ghosts or goblins. In the next he would describe imaginary scenery in a deserted island where wild children lived and hippopotamuses roamed. “There was a king named Nero” he would start one story, while the following night he would begin with, “The volcano erupted at 10 pm mountain-time while covering the land with lava”. Charlie didn’t know what mountaintime meant but he thought it sounded important. He invited his friends daily to cushioned forts and heavy trench coat tents he would help make many nights. And with each passing day he became a better storyteller. He was learning to share his stories to all those who would listen. His parents would sometimes join too.
Like the rest of Scare Town, Charlie was under Ralph the wizards’ curse. Every day Charlie would leave his home to make mischief and do work most people would be horrified doing, but he didn’t know this. In his mind and memory he thought he was going to school. When he got back home, he would dash to make a new story. To his pets he was the best kid to ever exist.
Ralph was pacing outside his gated home, still unsatisfied with himself. He was still unhappy with all the power he now had. “Something is missing,” he mumbled to himself one night. “Something is missing!” he shouted to a bicyclist who sped by the street. The biker waved quickly, looking straight ahead while his newspaper bag flapped through the wind. In a blink, he was out of sight. Ralph couldn’t believe this surprise. “How could this be possible? Had the curse not been full-proof? Surely he must be a wizard too,” thought Ralph. But then Ralph remembered where he had seen his face. It was Jimmy, the local paperboy, who had ridden in front of his home many times making his nightly newspaper drop-offs. “But of course!” shouted Ralph, lowering his eyebrows.
This wizard had to think of something quick to fix this problem. He knew that the curse was “uplifted� during the night. An idea quickly came to him. That night in his study he rewrote a few notes with his blue fountain pen. He controlled some townsfolk to keep him company, planning their actions to follow during the night hours. He chose one individual and then three and then had a total of eight. He was cheerful to see he had their attention though they acted like zombies and only mumbled when spoken too. Ralph also used some of these people as night patrol guards. The once lonely wizard had made new friends and assigned night guards that very night.
One morning at Charlie’s home, Sherrill wrapped herself on a bird stand and noticed something strange outside the window. As soon as Charlie left out the door he became a monster! Not a real monster that you have nightmares of, but a real monster that disobeys and does bad things. Charlie was digging a hole with his hands in his neighbors yard! Within minutes, police officers came. Sherrill nervously thought Charlie would surely be in trouble. But the policemen didn’t take Charlie. They joined him! And they continued to dig holes in the ground until after a few minutes they ran away leaving chunks of grass and a large mess. Not knowing what to say, Sherrill slythered out, “They have Ch-Cha--Char-Charlie! They have him!” Marshmallow ran to her side, barking, “What’s the matter!” Sherrill tried to explain what she saw. The pets did not believe her story and thought she must have seen things. Crystal wept thinking she wasn’t believed in. Crystal comforted her with a hug. For the remainder of the day, the pets wondered how Charlie was, but Sherrill was concerned the most. When Charlie came home that day, all of the pets sighed with relief. Marshmallow happily patted his tail up and down, hitting the floor. He whispered to Sherrill, “See?! You must have seen things!” But she sat perched, crossing her feathers behind her and remained unconvinced. Charlie finished the night sitting on a comfy couch with a book in his hand and read from where he had left off. And before they all knew it night came and they all went to bed.
The following day, they followed the same routine as the day before. Charlie got dressed, brushed his teeth, ate breakfast and was ready for school. He made sure to tie his own shoes, picked up his backpack and stepped out the door, yelling “Goodbye!”. Marshmallow slowly pulled himself awake and came closer to window with the front porch view. What he saw next made him alert with attention. Marshmallow pulled on the curtain, falling and slipping onto the floor. He yelped for the others to come to take a look. And they all watched what the big deal was. Charlie was at his neighbor’s home. Returning from an opened garage, he had two bottles of soda in one hand and waving to others to come join him with the other. The scene seemed unreal. Sherrill made eye contact with Marshmallow and whispered, “What is he doing? Are you seeing this!?” But before he could apologize for not believing in her, Charlie started shaking the bottles and spilled the drinks onto the sidewalk, before tossing the bottles and running off.
The animals talked the whole scene over many times. “He must be forced to do these things”, suggested Crystal. “What if he was dared to do this by a bully?” said Sherrill as she angrily squeezed a ball. They all shook their heads because they new Charlie was a good boy. Once again Charlie came home that evening giving no hint of change to the pets. As he sat on the couch that night reading to them they inspected every area on his body they thought could to explain his behavior. Charlie became annoyed with his pets shuffling, so he closed his book and left early to bed. The pets however, stayed wide-awake and whispered amongst themselves. They knew something happened to Charlie just as he left the house. So they made a plan for each day for one pet to watch over as Charlie left and report what they saw. Every day, Charlie did something awful that was different from himself. “But how could this be possible?”, Sherrill said aloud one morning meeting. “We must tell Charlie somehow, but how?”, tweeted Gavin. Marshmallow knew the answer. He huddled with all of them to discuss a plan. They had to get him to understand or he would be ruined forever!
One Thursday night on his return home from mischief, Charlie was startled as he walked through the front door. Gavin kept oking his right shoulder. When he looked to his right he saw that the pets had built a large fort together. “You did this for us!” asked Charlie. Charlie was ready to tell one of his favorite stories. But the pets were too impatient to listen. As Charlie sat down next to the fort and began reading aloud Marshmallow overheard Crystal whisper to Shelley, “We must do something!” Marshmallow knew he had no choice. He ran towards Charlie and pounced onto to his chest pushing him onto the floor! In between the pillows and chairs there was a crawl space to go through. Luckily for Charlie, he had fallen right through this space and landed on a pillow to cushion his head. Charlie was about to yell, when Gavin swooped and flew to catch Charlie’s attention. He followed his flight until he perched himself landing upside down onto a set of books that were scattered on top of each other. That’s when Charlie saw it. The books had been set up to spell out a sentence from six book covers, “Do Not Leave The HOUSE Ever.”
Charlie met all his pet’s eyes staring at him. He was about to ask something when with a breaking shatter, a newspaper flew through the house. “Aaaah!” Charlie cried. All the pets were scared scattering in different directions except Marshmallow who ran to the front, ready to protect them. Charlie quickly stepped outside expecting to see a stranger and saw instead the worried face of Jimmy, the paperboy. “Gosh I’m sorry Charlie! I aimed too high”, as Jimmy waved to Charlie. “Hello!” Charlie said, relieved as he stepped outside. His pets were about to stop and pull him in but it was too late. Charlie was out the door! And to their surprise, he acted as he normally did. Charlie was going to tell Jimmy it was fun seeing him the other night, but couldn’t remember when that was.
That’s when Charlie noticed something strange. Jimmy had grown older! “You look different”, Jimmy said with a confused faced. He must have thought the same thing. Even though Jimmy had just broken his window, Charlie knew it was an accident. Charlie asked, “Would you like to come over to play?” “I have to finish this run before being able to hangout with you”, Jimmy said. Charlie knew Jimmy to be a responsible kid. They decided to meet the next day’s evening. Charlie returned back inside his home, where his pets looked at him confused. For now, Charlie forgot his pet’s mysterious message. Since it was past his bedtime, Charlie closed his front door and headed for his bed looking forward to playing with his friend the next day.
The next morning Charlie found his parents weren’t home. He had slept through his alarm and was really late for school. Charlie was tired from yesterday’s weirdness. He felt too tired for school and instead decided to stay home. So he stayed to catch up on his homework, knowing he would have a lot of make-up a lot work. He pulled out the assignments from his backpack and was shocked once more. All the assignments had been finished! The math, the vocabulary sheets and the book report were all finished! He didn’t remember ever doing them. Gavin flew to inspect the homework. Charlie thought “That’s impossible, isn’t it?! But my name is on it!?” Since he didn’t remember doing the homework, he decided to do the right thing by doing it all over. When he was done the house clock striked 12 o’clock. He found he was hungy and had an idea to make a sandwich. He went to the kitchen and started to make one. As he looked outside the kitchen window, he thought his eyes and brain were truly playing tricks. He looked closer onto the streets below and saw people were running around in all directions! People all over town looked to be crazy! Water balloons full of paint were being thrown by adults, bus drivers were riding horses connected to small wagons and books were being used as Frisbees at the local dog park. He ran to his TV set to view the news but all that he saw was static screen as he skipped through the channels!
“Stranger and stranger”, said Charlie aloud. Jimmy never did come over that afternoon, but Charlie thought to ask him if he saw the same weird things going on earlier that day. Charlie smartly thought to take notes to report all the crimes he could see. He took out a pen and collected his notes in a notebook from his backpack. A few hours passed and night came. Before he knew it his parents walked through the front door, as usual. They quickly yelled “Hello Charlie!” at the same time and nearly ran to their room. They loudly locked the door behind them. Charlie was not going to get a chance to talk to them. They seemed oddly tired and looked as if they were working for hours. Charlie’s day only got stranger. He noticed no one called that day, not even his school. “But they always call, even if he was out sick”, he thought. He checked the recorded messages on their home phone, but he only heard old messages. He looked once more outside the kitchen window. This time no one was outside. Only lights from neighborhood homes were on. There wasn’t a single car in sight! Tired from all the confusion he decided to sort things out tomorrow and went straight to bed.
On Saturday he awoke earlier than the day before, but once again, Charlie’s parents were not there. “That’s strange. It’s the weekend. They never work on the weekend”, thought Charlie. He looked for a note on the fridge door, but nothing was posted there or anywhere in the house. Remembering yesterday’s strangeness it didn’t take long for Charlie to look out his house windows to see people doing more strange things. He had to reach out to someone. He tried to call his grandmother. But when he dialed the phone number the operator kept repeating “Sorry, please try your call again” over and over again. He even tried calling his school, but that didn’t work either. Before trying to dial again, Charlie heard a crash coming from the room next door. When he arrived, he saw his pets had dropped books onto the carpet floor. And there was once again a message from his pets! “Your Under a CURSE” read the book titles this time. He knew something was wrong. Thinking aloud, “How was all this possible? What is going on?! I was speaking to Jimmy and he seemed normal, unlike the neighbors I see every day. My pets can write sentences?!” His pets stood at his feet and for a second he thought Marshmallow was nodding his head quickly in approval. Charlie had to make a plan. His best idea he thought was to head to Jimmy’s home and find him there. At that moment, night had fallen. Everything outside his house looked to be normal.
With his bike in mind as his way of getting to Jimmy’s place, he packed some snacks and placed Sherril and Crystal within his backpack. He pulled out Marshmallow’s leash from the coat closet. Marshmallow lead from the attached leash. Gavin followed by flying alongside Charlie right out the door. He had a plan ready. At that moment, his parents came home just like so many nights before. And once again they hurriedly went toward their room, almost knocking Gavin onto the floor. They passed Charlie without saying hello, slamming their door loudly behind them and locking it shut. “There is definitely something wrong,” he feared. His parents hadn’t even asked him how he was or said a quick hello like they always had. This was enough to convince Charlie to head straight to Jimmy’s home. He stepped out his home bravely into the night and peddled his bike as the night sky covered the town.
Charlie recognized Jimmy’s home as soon as he arrived. He quickly wrapped Marshmallow’s leash onto one of the handlebars. The home was dark, but he decided to knock on the door anyways. He waited patiently in dead silence. Suddenly a light from Jimmy’s living room flashed on. The door unlocked and Jimmy was at the door looking tired and weary. Charlie had glanced at his watch. “It’s only 8 o-clock Jimmy?” said Charlie. Jimmy was wearing his striped pajamas and nightcap. Jimmy’s eyes widened instantly. “It’s what time?! I work late hours, Charlie! Come on in, I have to get ready!” said Jimmy with disbelief. Charlie was about to ask him to listen to his story. His pet’s shuffled in the backpack urging Charlie to hurry and say something quickly, while Marshmallow barked outside in agreement.
But before Charlie could sputter another word, Jimmy rushed up into his room and yelled, “I’ve got to get going! It’s a good thing you woke me up, I almost missed my schedule!”, and with that Jimmy raced back down the stairs with a toothbrush in his mouth. He kicked up his helmet with his foot and grabbed his bag, holding the town’s rolled newspapers. He left before Charlie could say another word, speeding along around the house to the garage to pick up his bike. Charlie quickly thought of a plan. “Let me join you along your route”, rushed Charlie. Jimmy looked at Charlie strangely. While he got onto his bike Jimmy said, “I’m sure you could join the town’s newspaper route. But sure, you can join me tonight. Just try to keep up!”, Jimmy yelled back as he ran out the door. Charlie picked up his backpack, leaping outside after him, but Jimmy was already peddling down the neighborhood. As Charlie lifted his bike he thought of a great idea. He would look to see what other people were doing outside their homes. But something told him that no one would be outside their homes that night.
As he assumed, all the homes were lit with lights, but not a single person was outside. They had peddled for what seemed a long mile and Charlie’s legs were becoming heavy. He was about 3 minutes behind Jimmy who was use to the daily exercise. Jimmy had stopped at a particular alley, where the narrow path was enclosed. Jimmy knew it was a tight squeeze between the walls, so he shouted back, “Wait here! I’ll be right back.” When Charlie arrived they were separated for seconds. He waited patiently looking into his backpack to see if his pets were in discomfort. They popped out their heads greeting the night. He petted Marshmallow, who stuck out his tongue. The next noises Charlie heard were muffled. Lights from a black Buick flashed on revealing the area Jimmy was heading into. The engine roared as it headed towards Jimmy’s rear wheel, causing Jimmy to get out of the way as quickly as he could. It barely missed him, but in his hurry he crashed into some trash cans. Charlie wanted to yell out, but instead he raced down the alley, leaving his bike and Marshmallow behind. Charlie stopped when he saw his parents in the automobile! His mother stepped out of the car looking dazed as if in a trance and his father followed her lead. Both walked as if they were dragging one hundred pounds. The other passengers were following his parents. They enclosed Jimmy surrounding him in a circle!
Charlie stood cold with shock. They were piling on top of Jimmy! Charlie was sure he was going to hear Jimmy shout. But in the next second the group stood up and got off of him. To Charlie’s surprise, Jimmy stood straight up. But something was odd. He stood robot like. He acted in the strange manner that his parents did like the many nights he had seen them before! Jimmy stepped over the trash that had spilled walking straight towards his bike. He mounted his bike and peddled out of the alley. Charlie kept his mouth shut the entire time staying in the shadows. The group, including his parents, regrouped back into the car. They backed out slowly from the alley while turning off the car’s lights.
When it was safe to do so, Charlie bolted for his bike. He didn’t know for how long he was out of danger’s way. He was headed to find Jimmy. Luckily he had found him back on the route they had come from. Jimmy arrived at his home 20 seconds quicker than Charlie had. “Something had changed in him, he didn’t even finish his paper route like he always had”, thought Charlie. But as he got off his bike Jimmy paced into his home loudly closing and bolting the door. The lights immediately turned off. Charlie knew he wasn’t getting into that home, even if he knocked. He understood that just like his parents something had taken control over him!
He sat down on Jimmy’s front porch, thinking of what to do and how to avoid his parent’s clutches. Charlie needed help. He had to share what he had seen and say it aloud for others to believe him. Charlie is a smart boy and he quickly had an idea. He knew the White Pages Jimmy had in his home from his newspaper route detailed everyone in Care Town’s addresses and phone numbers. He knew once he had to get ahold of a copy of the White Pages he would be able to reach people that would believe him or at least listen. And the only copy he could get access to was at Care Town’s library. He needed to get there fast. The only plan in his mind was to go to the large building where on the fourth floor there was a single copy of the White Pages. He had seen it many times before by the Adventure section during his trips to to the library with his parents. Since the tired townsfolk were all within their homes, he couldn’t waste time in searching for those who would listen or believe him. He had to do this on his own.
Once he found the White Pages, he knew just who he would call. He decided on his school’s principal, Mrs. Nelson and his schoolteacher, Ms. Honey. They both have known Charlie since he was little, getting to know him well at school. But Ms. Honey knew him better and had always commented how well Charlie preformed in class. She knew that Charlie was an enthusiastic storyteller and commented on his good writing. He had to find them. He knew he could trust both of them and would know what to do. But there was a big risk in this plan. He could be trapped back into doing bad things if he was caught. But Charlie was persistent and was ready to face danger. As he held Marshmallow’s leash he and his group of friends made their way on Charlie’s bike through the hilly neighborhood. Charlie noticed an old home that was both large and dirty, located about a mile from the cemetery. Not because of how scary or lonely it looked. But because it was the only home with the lights on! Charlie peddled faster trying to get a better view of this house.
Just then he saw car lights turned on in the distance. He swerved to right in front of a parked truck covering his bike and himself on the opposite side of the street. The car slowed down as it passed the large moving truck. But the car suddenly stopped! Charlie and his pets stopped breathing. Marshmallow growled silently. With the skipping of dirt form the car’s tires, Charlie was relieved to see the car finally turn on and drive away. Gavin flew from Charlie’s shoulder, deciding to be on the lookout for any possible danger. Charlie peddled faster, hiding in building crevices until the coast was clear. Marshmallow used his hearing abilities to alert if any trouble was heard nearby. Charlie and the four best friends had barely made it to the library. The building was tall and in the night it looked haunted. Charlie thought of this large building that held thousands of books and stories. Charlie had always come to this place as if it were his second home. His parents would takehim on trips to listen and read the tales they borrowed from the library. His favrotites were the stories of heroes. They would tell of bravery and adventure. The stories had prepared him for this moment. He would get his teacher’s and principals address.
As he hid his bike within a nearby bush Sherrill got out and coiled onto a tree. “I’ll stay back and watch the front doors. Gavin should watch out for the night squad” she thought. Marshmallow and Crystal went with Charlie quickly to find an opening of the library. To his luck, Gavin had found a back door that was open. They walked to the cements steps passing the front doors. From outside, Charlie noticed all the lights were off in the building except for the exit signs. They ran inside, quickly locking the door behind them. The elevators weren’t on, so they had to take the marble steps of the spiraling stairs. They were met darkness and dead silence inside. All the pages in the library books stood still as Charlie walked past each floor taking the stairs to reach the fourth floor. When he arrived on the fourth floor, Crystal hopped out of Charlie’s backpack landing softly onto her four paws. In the middle of the 4th floor Charlie saw it. He had found the White Pages near the courtesy telephone.
You could hear a pin drop inside the library. Shuffling through the index he found the addresses to the person’s who were his hope. Pulling out a pen and pad from his backpack he wrote down the address onto a peice of paper he found in his backpack. That’s when he noticed that Crystal was gone. In his hurry to place the White Pages back to the spot he found them, he accidently bumped the telephone off from its spot. He was about to place it back when he heard it. There was a dial tone coming from the phone! He didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of it before. The phones worked during the night, just like everything else! During the night the weird curse that was happening, dissapeared!
He had the first number dialed. “Mrs. Nelson speaking” his school’s principal said with impatience. Charlie hurried his words. Principal Nelson kept telling him to calm down and to speak slowly. But she kept interrupting him. She was confused on what was going on, asking “What do you mean?” Charlie would try his answer as best as he could. “How many people know about this?” Charlie knew he wasn’t getting all of her attention. The phone call was starting to disconnect!, making it hard for Charlie to hear her! She finally asked, “Who else have you told?” Before he could answer, the call ended. “Mrs. Principal?” asked Charlie into the phone. There was no response. He hanged up the phone and immediatley tried to call the next best person to talk to. The call went through! “Hello?” yawned Mrs. Honey, who sounded as if she just woke up. Charlie was so happy in that moment that she picked his call even though it was very late. He almost could not speak. He slowed himself down and tried not to hurry his words. This conversation was very, very important. Charlie told her everything. He made sure to mention his weirdly acting parents, his missed days at school and the neighborhood problems happening every day and why he was at the town’s library. But there was trouble outside. The night guard had arrived near the entrance of the library!
Outside, Gavin saw the car and swooped down to the tree Sherrill was in and picked her up. They had to find a way inside without being noticed. The night guards went inside! Just then outside of the library a figured appeared out off the shadows. Ralph the evil wizard walked slowly through the front doors of the library as if by magic! Charlie was about to hear Ms. Honey talk but then he heard an awful sound. There were others in the building! He and his friends had to leave. He quickly said “Goodbye!” to Mrs. Honey, cutting off the conversation. He placed the phone back to it’s spot. Charlie was about to run down the stairs when he saw them. His parents were on the third floor! He had to escape. At that moment he noticed outside a window Gavin carying Sherril her in the rain. Sherrill was pointing at something with her tail. Charlie saw the fire escape! All of a sudden Charlie remembered Crystal wasn’t in his backpack. She wasn’t anywhere to be found! Crystal was exploring on the second floor. Just then a figure walked near her. “Who is that man? I know I have seen him before.” she thought as Ralph walked straight past her, without noticing. His gaze was enough to scare anyone. She quickly hopped down into the book collection tunnel leading her directly to the fourth floor. Crystal zoomed to the fire escape. “There she is” noticed Charlie, questioning her unusual hurry. Someone must be coming. He found Crystal outside, shivering with cold. He picked her up, placing her gently into his backpack as Marshmallow stood aler. The cold wind rushed at them as they made they’re way outside, down the slippery fire escape.
They hurried down the ladder and safely onto the street. They were met by Gavin who carried Sherril into Charlie’s backpack. Charlie immediately ran toward his bike. They raced down the lane, as Charlie peddled. But suddenly, his bike had landed into one of the potholes giving his bike a quick turn. Without warning, Charlie flew past his handle bars, crashing in a large thud. “Marshmallow!? Marshmallow, where are you?!” cried Charlie. Charlie saw his pets move inside his now dirty backpack, but they were unharmed. Bright lights in the distance flashed on, causing Charlie to look in their direction. It must be the night squad! He knew they were about to get him. Charlie tried to get up. The engines roared on as the driver drove towards his direction! Charlie wasn’t leaving without Marshmallow. He tried to get up but was stuck under his bike because it was bent badly. He was scared. Just as the vehicle came near him it screeched to a stop parking in front of them. To his surprise, Mrs. Honey opened her driver door, running out to help Charlie. “Marshmallow!” yelled Charlie. He was happy to see his pet in the passengers seat, barking with excitement. The rain was now pouring. Mrs. Honey and Charlie pulled as hard as they could to release the bike off from trapping him. They dashed toward Mrs. Honey car trying to stay dry from the outside rain. Before Charlie knew it, Mrs. Honey sped away as fast as she could. “We need a plan Charlie. Where were you headed?” said Mrs. Honey. Charlie was so happy he almost forgot to speak.
“What if we go to my house?”, asked Charlie. “I think it would be better if we go to my home instead where I know it’s safe. Nobody will look chase after us there,” said Ms. Honey. Marshmallow barked in agreement. “We need to contact others to understand what is going on in Care Town”, she said. Charlie quickly nodded. As they drove he talked to her about the problems occuring in Scare Town, not forgetting a single detail. They zoomed passed the library swerving into wrong driving lanes. Since no one was driving at 7am, no one took notice of their troubles. Almost reaching their home, it struck 8:00 am and townsfolk and neighbors came out of their homes.
And of course there were folks who would drive. They drove they’re cars in crazy directions and almost crashed into Ms. Honey’s car. To blend in with the others, Ms. Honey drove like the others, backwards and without following driving rules. Nobody noticed them. Ms. Honey and Charlie were very convincing to be under the curse. “Charlie, I definitely believe you now!” said Ms. Honey as they made their way to her home, avoiding every person being weird in the town. Ms. Honey parked the car away from the house. They stood still for a minute before Ms. Honey said, “Let’s go!” They ran towards her house, while she opened her garage door with her remote tucked into her pocket and ran inside. She closed it immediately behind them. They had made it!
The garage was dark. Suddenly Ms. Honey called Charlie into the next room where she was. The lights were on and he saw a clean living room. “Make yourself at home”, said Ms. Honey. They sat down on couch. “Would you like some hot chocolate?” asked Ms. Honey. Charlie couldn’t remember the last time someone asked him something. He said, “Please.” She returned with two mugs from the kitchen and sat down next to Charlie. Charlie immediately told her about everything that was happening with his parents and how they tried to capture him many times to be under the curse. He showed her the the notes he had stored away in his backpack. Ms. Honey saw how excited Charlie was getting. She had calmed him by the warm chocolate that she passed him. She sat down while Ms. Honey continued to listen with a full attention to Charlie. When he had finished, she placed her mug on the table nearby. She stepped out of the living room and went into the kitchen once more. Charlie smiled when she saw what she was holding when she returned. She had brought a copy of the White Pages! She had a plan! “We should to get in contact with important individuals from the city”, she told Charlie. She quickly shuffled through it’s pages, and highlighted a few of the important contacts that she thought would be important. They started to form a plan.
They worked together all the next day and night. They would contact as many people as they thought they could trust. If the phones would not work, they would have to contact friends in other ways. For now, using the telephone was the best way to reach people. Charlie suggested for Jimmy the paper boy to be placed at the top of the list of trustworthy contacts. They started by first reaching a few individuals leaving a message to meet on a specific date during the night hours. Each call they made was met with similiar reactions of surprise and confusion. But in each call they told each of them that they would have to sleep during the day and awake during the night to avoid the curse and to see for themselves.
They were also told to call only them and for no one else to be told. It had to be kept a secret. Over the next few days many people claled back, saying they believed them. Over the next few weeks many started stopping by Ms. Honey’s home. Many of them would call back and ask, “How this was possible?” For now, things looked brighter for Scare Town, now that some people were aware of Care Town’s curse. Charlie had become a brave person just like the heroes in his stories. It was his turn to share the story of the curse of Scare Town by storytelling all those who were eager to listen. He had learned how to share and in the best way he knew how.
One morning, Mrs. Nelson the principal walked out of her bathroom as neighbors outside were doing crazy things just like many days before. She walked towards the phone where she was calling someone. As if by magic, the call had reached it’s caller. On that same morning, Ralph was in his room, speaking with his friend. Care Town and the townsfolk were in more trouble than ever before.
To be continued.
Copyright © 2015 ADRIAN LOZA. All Rights Reserved.