No rest for trouble

Chapter 22

"Ugh! How do we get in? I really need my beauty sleep." Grace complained. Marxes looked over the fence towards the direction of his backyard. The screen door was open. Marxes threw his scooter over the fence. "This way Grace!" Marxes confidently declared as he climbed over the fence. Grace passed her scooter over to Marxes when he was on the other side of the fence. Marxes caught the scooter and set it down. Grace backed away to the other fence. She then ran towards the fence and jumped. The youth sat on the top of the fence while moving her legs over to the other side. Grace landed into the backyard. Marxes waited as she climbed into the next backyard. Eventually, the two friends managed to get to the backdoor carrying their scooters on their shoulders. Marxes opened the door, only to be met by a horrible smell. The smell of rotting food. "Yuck!" Grace said as she turned away.

Marxes had the top of his T-shirt covering his mouth. He bravely entered the house. Grace also went inside but didn't dare to go inside. She still had her back turned away. Marxes looked around. There was no sign of the monster. His parents were sitting at the dining room table. They were shivering, and their faces were pale. Their heads were on the table. It was almost as they were doing some work, but they were tired and slept away. However, the adults eyes were wide open. It was as if they had seen a ghost. Marxes went over to the parents. When he touched his father's shoulder. He didn't respond. Marxes' dad kept shivering away. "It's all right. My parents are only shivering away." He spoke. Grace could hardly hear what her friend has said. She slowly turned around to face the door. Tired, but wanting to rest her weary head, Grace walked to the backdoor. She held the top of her T-shirt over her mouth so she could not breath the reeking scent. Grace went inside the house. She couldn't stand the smell. Grace found Marxes in the dining room. She then saw his parents. "Again?" Grace questioned as she saw Marxes' parents all scared. "Well, I knew the screams were coming from mom and dad. They must have had a scary night." Marxes said. "No kidding. They should be in their bedroom. They would almost have no sleep. I bet they are having a lot of nightmares." Grace mentioned. "We did know that there were two other people who screamed besides them." Marxes told her, remembering that he heard two other screams minutes before his parents screamed. "Oh no! I bet they are going to be having a lot of nightmares right now. And they are so going to be in a bad mood when they are going to wake up." Grace realized. Marxes went back outside to fetch the scooters. He brought each of them inside. Grace pondered on what sort of nightmares she's going to be having today. Marxes took the two scooters into his room. "Come on, I'm going to be sleeping in the hallway, you could sleep in my room." Marxes offered. "No way I am going to sleep with this smell in the house." Grace complained. "Don't worry, there's got to be something that will get rid of this smell."

Marxes went into the bathroom. He found a Febreze sprayer. Marxes spray the air in the dining room before Grace snatched the container out of his hands. She proceeded to spray the good smell in the rest of the house. She sprayed the hallway leading to the backdoor. Grace also stormed up the stairs, spraying the air freshener as she went. The youth didn't stop until she reached Marxes' room. The hole in his window has been covered up with a combination of aluminum foil and plastic wrap. Grace set the Febreze container on the bed. She went to investigate the window. In fact, the whole window is covered. The air smelled fresh again. Grace came out of the room. She left the container of air freshener behind. "Alright, it's all clean." Grace announced. Marxes went to his bedroom. "Check this out." Grace said as she pointed to his window. "That won't last for long. It has got to be replaced soon?" He felt a little disappointed. "At least it keeps the birds out." Grace adduced as she looked at the time on her phone. It was thirty minutes after six. Grace went to sleep in Marxes' room. She tossed the bottle of Febreze to him. Marxes carried the bottle of air freshener back to the bathroom downstairs. She felt please that she aired out Marxes' house. "That monster should be sleeping right now." Marxes said as he went to his parent's bedroom. The youth took a pillow and a blanket. He set them both on the floor. Marxes laid on the hardwood hallway floor. Grace left the door of his bedroom open. She slept in Marxes' bed. The two youths went to sleep. Marxes' parents were still shaking from their encounter with the creature. They both didn't know what to do. They were frightened about the thought of getting growled at again. The parents couldn't fall asleep. They were too frightened to move. Meanwhile, the smelly monster disappeared as it jumped over the roof of a house. The police car stopped next to the parked cars in front of the house. The officer got out of the car. He hurryingly ran for the front door. He rang the doorbell. The smell of rotting food could still be smelled in the air. There was an uncle of a child who was living with the parents and him. The officer asked the adult if he could get to the backyard. The man let him in. The officer ran for the backyard. When he got there. There was no sign of the undead monster. The officer looked on top of the house roofs. The agile creature was hiding behind one of the houses, on an opposite side of the roof.