I Just Wanna Be Yours

The Gumbus

        ~Normal POV~

     "Hello? Is someone there?" I was laying in a pillow fort with Mikey as he watched horror videos. The little boy on the screen let out a shrill shrieking noise. "It's the Gumbus!" Mikey screamed and tossed the tablet away, wrapping himself up in a blanket.

     "Uh, what'cha watching, Miguel?" Leo spoke up and I looked out the pillow fort to see him and April standing there, the boy picking up the tablet. The orange turtle bounced nervously, destroying the pillow fort with his movements. I let out a groan and sat up from under the plush.

     "I was just watching my favorite can-stacking channel," he tried to calm himself down, and I patted his shell gently.

     "Can stacking. . . okay," April raised a brow at the younger turtle.

     "It's a thing," he slid up between his brother and their friend. "There's this one supermarket stock boy," he pulled on the tablet that Leo held onto and scrolled through the channel. "He builds forts, towers, national monuments!" the boy spoke excitedly.

     "Yeah, I see his channel has a like," Leo leaned forward over the orange turtle's shoulder.

     "I would've liked it twice if I could," Mikey jokingly rolled his eyes. "Anyway, he's at this store after hours, and you gotta see it!"

     "And now, I shall complete the most difficult stack of all, only completed by one other stock boy: the Lady Liberty stack!" I heard the little boy's voice play over Donnie's tablet, followed by cans falling over in the video. "Hello? Is someone there?" a can rolled, followed by chains rattling and finally the kid's scream. "It's the Gumbus!"

     "Whoa! What's a Gumbus?" April queried.

     "It's a ghost that haunts the Stock-&-Shop," Mikey wrapped his arms around my waist tightly and I patted the top of his head comfortingly.

     "Oh, pfft," Leo scoffed at his brother's fear. "There's gotta be a simple answer. Earthquakes, magnets giant prankster mice," Leo named off on one hand. "There's no such thing as ghosts."

     "What?" Mikey cried out, falling over in his rush to stand in front of his brother. "How can you say there's no such thing as ghosts when there's such a thing as us?" I raised a brow at the question Mikey asked. "The Gumbus is real!"

     "Only one way to settle this heated debate," April wore a mischievous grin and pushed the brothers apart. "We head up to the Stock-&-Shop and tamper with the mysterious forces of the underworld," she cackled and Mikey whimpered, clearly unhappy with the suggestion. Meanwhile, Leo stood with a smug grin, agreeing with April.

     "Uh. . ." Mikey let out a nervous chuckle and shrunk back. "I'm fine just getting the pants scared off of me in my pillow fort," he brushed off the suggestion.

     "Oh, no," Leo grabbed his wrist to stop him from going back to the safety of our pillow fort. "April's right. I'm gonna prove to you there's no such thing as a Gumbus."

     "Leo, no, no!" he pleaded as his brother dragged him. "I don't wanna go! Please!"

     "Yeah, ghost hunting!" April cheered as Leo led us out of the lair. After getting out of the lair without alerting everyone to us leaving, we made our way to the grocery store. Per Leo's idea, we snuck in through an air duct, tumbling down as the duct suddenly became a straight shot down into the store. Leo and Mikey hit the ground first, followed by April, then me and I apologized profusely before a vacuum fell and bounced off Leo's head.

     "Mikey, why do you have that thing?" Leo covered his head, not making a single sound or indication that it hurt.

     "To suck up the ghost," Mikey reasoned as he pulled himself out from under April and me and grabbed the device. "It's lined with tin foil to keep him in," there was a glimmer in his eye as he explained his contraption that had a flashlight taped to the nozzle.