Oh What a Fright!

It was your typical All Hallows' Eve night, with wind whipping through the trees as trick-or-treaters scurried to and from their neighborhood houses. The night was alive with chatter and shouts of 'trick or treat!', youthful laughter filling the air and feet pounding the pavement with an eagerness to reach the next house. Though it was dark, each house giving out candy had their porch lights on, and there was always a street lamp to turn to if no house was close by. With so much joy and festivities going on this whimsical night, it was almost hard to believe that anyone could have sinister thoughts on their mind. This would all change as the night began to die down, as folks went home to their families to dream of the candy corn and chocolate bars they had collected through the evening. Two individuals would make their way through the darkness, sleek and silent against the tree line to avoid any midnight walkers wandering gaze.

"Man, I'm really hungry..." the smaller of the two shapes, known as Gurt, muttered as his wet nose lowered to the ground, beginning to sniff through the tall grass he and his accomplice were trudging through. He was on the hunt for stray candy, perhaps some trick-or-treaters had made the mistake of dropping a piece. Just one single piece! His search nearly distracted him from the mission he had set out to assist with, but his head coming into contact with the leg of the cinnacat in front of him threw him off the scent. Falling onto his rump with a dull thud, he grunted and raised his head to give the taller of the two a dirty look. Grub, who had begrudgingly brought Gurt along, had stopped suddenly and now looked over his shoulder at the seated cinnadog.

"Is that really all you can think about?" He hissed in irritation. It was already annoying enough that he'd been convinced to bring the sweets-loving dog with him for his annual celebration, but if Gurt was about to start whining and complaining about how hungry he was, Grub might just lose his cool and use HIM as a sacrifice instead of candy. His heavy footsteps began once more as he trudged onward, making a sharp turn and beginning to walk into the woods now. He cringed inwardly at the sound of his paws loudly crunching the leaves, finding it deafening in his own ears, though the munchkin behind him could not hear his footsteps at all. He was focused on his own four paws not landing in mud.

"You knowww, it rained last night AND earlier today. Don't you think we could have waited until it was more dry outside to do all this?"

"Are you kidding me? If we want this ritual to go right, which I know at least I do, it has to be done on All Hallows' Eve."

"Oh come on, man!"

"You agreed to come with me, don't forget that. I can't take you back home until I finish what I'm doing."

Despite all of his whining, Gurt continued to follow Grub further into the woods. He was terrible with directions, and if he tried to go back home on his own, it would end up horribly. He would get lost and be unable to find his way. His snout scrunched up in disappointment as he realized that he would in fact not get to just sit back and eat stray trick-or-treat candy pieces on this adventure. Grub pushed a final branch out of the way, then stood in his tracks admiring the small dell. It was a circular area with relatively short wild grass and thick, plush moss growing. There was very little visible dirt in this area, apart from a dug out fire pit near the center. Gurt took a seat on the plush moss and tilted his head to the side as he looked around and wondered to himself how they were going to perform some sort of evil, scary ritual in such a peaceful looking place. Grub however, did not stop to ponder or take in more of the view, he swung his cloth sack over his shoulder and placed it on the ground. He began to take out various items and ushered Gurt over to help him with setting the scene up.

"Okay, this ritual needs to look real. I don't believe any of the make-believe shrink stuff in this book, but it says that we need these candles to be lit a very certain way for the ritual to really work. So, in case anyone who watches -- and they WILL watch, Gurt. I know that my movie producer career is going to take off after this film. Anyway, like I said, in case anyone who watches owns this book or believes in rituals for real, they'll think that this is totally legit."

Grub was as focused as a worker bee as he shuffled around, and Gurt did his best to match his pace. The two of them set up candles, cameras, EVP devices, movement detection devices, and more. It was quite a bulky set up for a small-time film producer, but to Grub, it was hardly scratching the surface. He planned to have more filming equipment and props in the future. For now though, what he had would do. As soon as the munchkin carefully placed the last of Grub's props, he scampered into position. So far throughout the film, Gurt had been playing the main protagonist, and there have only been a few appearances of other characters if Grub could convince a friend or stranger nearby to get into the shot. It put a lot of pressure on him since he wanted to impress his best friend with his acting skills, as well as be helpful since he knew it had been hard to get Grub's films out there. Gurt took a deep breath and sighed out his nose as the sound of the dumb slate clapped and he heard a single word.

"Action!"

Just as soon as the nervous jitters started, they stopped. Gurt was immediately able to compose himself, and began to read from the spell book before him. Even though it made his stomach churn, he trusted that Grub was right when he said that this magic stuff was a bunch of phooey. He waved his paws in the air as he chanted, slowly lighting the candles in order. It worried him as clouds began to thicken above the clearing but he pressed on, seeing the blink of the recording camera in his peripheral vision. He closed his eyes and set his palms upon either side of the book and took one more deep breath. He resumed his reading. His eyes felt heavy as his ears began to ring and his paws became sweaty. His voice began to tremble as did his body, his snout scrunching as he struggled to recoil.

The book wouldn't let him pull away!

He became more frantic. Gurt continued to read in a more feverish tone, desperation setting in as his only goal turned into separating himself from the book. Maybe if he finished the spell, he would be able to let go of it and run behind Grub. Tears filled his eyes as he exclaimed the last word of the incantation. It felt like his paws had been seared by an iron, and he yelped as he threw the book he was finally able to let go of. He didn't care about the film anymore, his eyes wide as he turned to face the videoscope head on, looking at Grub through the lens.

"Did you see that?! I couldn't let go! It burned me! I don't want to do this anymore!"

He ran towards his friend for protection, but something grabbed him by the ankle and pulled him back towards the book. He shouted in terror, and Grub hollered something he couldn't quite understand over his own screaming. The invisible force let out a growl that resonated deep within the forest, shaking the trees down to the ends of their roots and disturbing all the nesting birds nearby. Gurt slashed his claws in the air wildly in an attempt to escape the force that had such a firm hold on him. He was successful, as he heard a yelp and felt his paw come into contact with... something. He fled past Grub without hesitation, Grub following on his heels after lifting the camera from the tripod.

"Come on, let's go! Hurry, hurry!"

The two cinnas ran the entire way home side by side. They didn't ever return for their props, too shaken up by the experience. Grub used what footage he had gotten to form a public service announcement on how you should take warnings seriously and not mess around with dangerous magic. Gurt refused to take part in any further acting gigs Grub offered to him, even if they were not horror related or asking him to chant any more spells.