The Road to Newtopia (The Calamity Girls Book 2)

The Shut-in

This is gonna be my first chapter where I'm switching the point of view because I want to. Happy Halfway to Halloween. -Mal.

One night, Hop Pop sent me, Anne, Sprig, and Polly to search for supplies. "Stay inside, hide your eyes, give us practical supplies!" We chanted at Felicia's door. "Oh, you're just in time, I got one last box of nails, and they're rusty." Felicia explains as she puts the nails in our sack. "Thank you." We replied as we left. "Man, this is a workout." I sighed. "Can you explain this holiday to us again?" "It's not a holiday, guys, it's the annual blue moon shut in." Sprig explains. "We need the supplies to survive through the night." Polly added. "Huh, well, you know, we have a similar thing in our world called Halloween, we say, trick or treat, and people give you free candy." Anne explains. "Free candy?!" Polly asked. "What's the cache?" "If they don't give it to you, you get to play a trick on them." I explained. "That is the most beautiful thing I've ever heard!" Polly gasped. "Hey, kids, what'd y'all get for tonight's shut in?" Hop Pop asked, pulling up to us with Bessie. "I got a hatchet!" Polly exclaimed. "I got a first aid kit!" Sprig shouted. "I got a flamethrower!" Anne responded. "I got a rock." I added.

On our way back to the house, we drove by some frogs, carving pumpkins. "You sure this isn't a holiday?" Anne asked. "You even have jack o' lanterns." "Those are fear gourds, Anne, and yes, I'm sure, the shut in is dangerous, for tonight, the moon turns blue and anyone who gazes upon it becomes a hideous beast." Hop Pop explains. "And is this true, or just a legend, because sometimes it's hard to get a handle on what's real around here?" I asked. "No one knows, Rowena." Sprig replied. "And no one wants to find out!" Hop Pop added. "You guys are really close to us right now." Anne commented as we pulled up to the house. "Wow, so when you say shut in, you really mean it, huh?" "It's actually kinda nice, we sit by the fire." Sprig explains. "And tell spooky stories." Polly added. "And Bessie hides in her shell until morning." Sprig continued. "Cool, let's get this holiday started!" Anne and I exclaimed. "It's not a holiday, girls!" The Plantars complained. "Fine, okay." I grunted. "Now would you two grab the rest of the decorations from the cart?" Hop Pop asked. "It's totally a holiday." Anne whispers to me as I nodded. "I heard that!" Hop Pop snapped.

After we got everything from the cart into the house, we all sat around the fire. "Remember, the stories had to have actually happened, and be scary enough to remind us not to go outside." Hop Pop explains. "Okay, kids, who wants to go first?" "Ooh, I do, this is the first year I have one that's really scary." Polly said, turning off the light. "I'm telling the story of, A Night at the Inn, I was traveling with my family  on a stormy night, little did I know I would soon come face to face with cannibals!" "Uh, Polly, we were all there for that." I said. "Oh, right, gimme a minute, I'll come up with another one, someone else go." Polly remembered. "Ooh, I got one, now this didn't happen to me, but it did happen to my phone, get ready for the tale of, Phone Mo!" Anne exclaimed. "I love this story, we heard it all the time back at home!" I cheered.

Anne's POV

It took place at a school that was like our school, but not our school. And this story wasn't about me and Rowena, it was about two other girls at our rival school named, Anna and Ramona. "Yo, Anna, Ramona, what's up?" A boy asked walking up to the two girls with his twin sister. "Sup, Twig." Anna greeted. "And?" "Molly." Twig's sister replied. "Ooh, check this out, guys." Ramona said, showing all of them a skateboarding fail video on her phone and they all started laughing. "Comedy is truly peeked." "Sup, Haddie, Sup, Brody." Anna greeted two of their other classmates. "Hey, have you guys seen the latest trending cute animal video?" Haddie asked. "Show em, Brody." Brody pulled out his phone and paused for a second. "Wait, I should probably tell you people say this video is cursed and everyone who watched it has mysteriously disappeared, so, ready to watch it?" Brody asked. The four friends were unsure whether they should watch the video. "I don't know, guys, is it really worth the risk?" Twig asked. "You may be right, Twig." Anna sighed. "I'm with Anna and Twig on this one." Ramona replied. "You may be right, or you may be wrong, show me the video." Molly said as she hopped over to Haddie and Brody to watch the video with them. "Maybe we can watch a little." Anna said. "No, Anna, be strong." Ramona responded. "But look how happy they are!" Anna cried. "You heard Ramona, be strong." Twig replied as they walked into the school.