THREE

It was nearly quarter to ten and the stars were out in full force. So were the crickets. Their chirping filled the quiet moments, along with the snapping and crackling of burning wood. The area around the group was bathed in the fire’s glow, but that light rapidly faded into shadows the further away from the fire it fell. On each cabin, a mercury light on the outside wall near the door threw its rays out onto the grassy areas, but that light also faded into darkness. The end result was that the places where the mowed areas met the forest’s edge could not be seen anymore. This added an extra sense of creepiness to the setting. It was heightened further by an occasional ‘thump’ from the woods, as some unseen animal ran about in there. Every now and then an owl would hoot, contributing even more to the spooky atmosphere.

The feeling was broken temporarily by the twins’ feeble attempt at storytelling. The only thing scary about their stupid and fumbling tale of a three-headed dog, in which one of the heads was always trying to eat the other two, was in the way it was told. Not in any dramatic sense that inspired terror, but that when one twin would stop speaking, the other would pick right up where his brother left off without missing a beat. That they could do that so smoothly, as if they could read each other’s minds (as twins often seem to do); yet have it turn out so badly, was indeed frightening. Other than that, it was so pointless that most of the other kids laughed. Blossom rolled her eyes, but a look from Ms. Keane told her to stop that. Mercifully and without embarrassing them, Ms. Keane put end to the twins' story.

Harry went next and told a halfway scary story about a robot that turned on his master and the rest of the world. Even though that idea had been seen many times in movies and books, he made it a little different by finding a way to work his favorite subject, dirt, into the resolution. The robot had tried to turn the world into a spotless paradise, but when the people embraced dirt as their savior, the robot was defeated. The boys liked it better than the girls, but Ms. Keane told him he did a very good job, and Blossom also praised him out loud, which earned her a toothy smile. Buttercup still had no reaction.

Ms. Keane then turned to the three who had yet to have their turns. "We still need stories from Blossom, Buttercup and Mitch. Who wants to…"

"I’ll go next, Ms. Keane." Blossom said. She had to get it over with sooner or later. Her tale was that of a young boy who one Monday found himself being followed home from school by a pretty little girl. There was something very strange about her. She didn’t smile or frown. In fact, her facial expression never changed at all. And she never said a word. She just kept staring at the boy. When he would ask her why she kept staring at him like that, she remained silent. When he got home, he ran inside to get away from her. He looked out the window and there she stood on the sidewalk in front of his house, just staring. Finally, when he checked later, she was gone. But the next morning when he left for school, there she was again. She followed him to school and home again, every day all that week; but in all that time she never spoke a word. But what was the strangest thing of all was the girl’s eyes. Instead of having a single pupil, each eye had two and one was larger than the other. They were like eggs with two yolks. Those strange, creepy eyes just kept staring at him, and though the girl was very pretty it was starting to drive him crazy. That, and that she wouldn’t talk, smile or anything to make you think there was a person inside.

Then, on Friday afternoon, after she had followed him home, it happened. He crossed the street to get to his house, leaving her behind like always. He turned to look at her and suddenly, she smiled at him for the first time and started to cross the street. But she didn’t notice that a car was speeding toward her. He called out to her to watch out, but she just kept smiling and walking. Time seemed frozen. The girl, the car. The girl, the car. The car that didn’t seem to notice her and wasn’t honking or slowing down. What should he do? He had to save her, even if it meant seeing those weird eyes forever. He ran out to push her to safety just as the car was almost to her, but suddenly something whooshed past him, knocking him and the girl out of the way. The car sped on by, never stopping or even bothering to slow down, and when he picked himself up, there stood a little boy about his size. The boy helped the girl to her feet, and that’s when the first boy saw that the new boy’s eyes were just like the girl’s. Just like them. The two smiled at each other, took each other by the hand, and walked away, never looking back at the first boy. It had been the new boy she had been smiling at, not him. As he watched them walk away, they simply vanished into nothingness, leaving him to wonder just what it had all been about.

Blossom said she was finished.

"Uh, that was an interesting story, Blossom, and sort of creepy," Ms. Keane said, "but it does leave a lot of questions unanswered. You need to tell it in a way that doesn’t leave us guessing."

"Uh, I’m not really sure…"

"She can’t, Ms. Keane." Bubbles interrupted. "I didn’t get it either, but that’s sorta like how it happened on ‘Dexter’s Lab’ the other week."

Blossom gasped and looked at her sister in shock. Julie looked at Bubbles, too. "Hey, yeah, I knew I saw something like that someplace!"

Ms. Keane was very surprised and whipped her head to stare at her top student. "Blossom, is this true? You got that from television?"

"Yes, Ms. Keane," she answered, hanging her head in shame. Then she looked up. "I told you I was no good at makin’ things up."

"That’s ok, Blossom." Julie tried consoling. "It was a little different. I don’t remember the part about almost getting run over."

"Yeah, it’s like you put in the part about saving the day!" Bubbles said. Scratching her head, she added, "I’m just not sure who saved it…"

"There, Blossom!" her teacher said. "You did change it a little to make it your own. Goodness, the things they put on these days for you kids to watch!"

"Hey Blossom? I never saw it, and I liked it! Man, those eyes sounded weird!" Elmer told her.

"Yeah, I don’t ever wanna see eyes like that!" Harry agreed.

"Yeah, yours are bad enough!" Mitch rasped, grinning at Blossom. She immediately scowled, her arms stiffening in anger, and she was joined in this by Bubbles.

"Mitchell!" Ms. Keane scolded the boy for the second time. Then a loud snap was heard, and all heads turned to see Buttercup holding a broken stick. Her right hand reached next to her for a new stick from the pile she had gathered. Her green eyes flashed for just a second at Mitch, but then her attention was back on the flames.

"Mitchell, you know better than to make a comment like that." Ms. Keane frowned. "Now, I think it’s your turn."

Mitch grinned at the two Powerpuffs who were still scowling at him and noticed Julie doing the same.

"Stupid girls all stick together. Ah, well at least Buttercup’ll like mine!"

"My story is about a vampire named Count Goo from Snotsylvania."

"Oh, brother!" Blossom snorted, and looked at Bubbles and Julie.

"Now, Blossom…" her teacher said to quiet her.

"He wasn’t like other vampires ‘cause his skin was green instead of white. An’ his skin was all green because he didn’t drink blood like other vampires do. He would sneak up on people in Snotsylvania when they were asleep at night and drink their boogers!"

"Oh, GROSS!" Blossom said loudly. Bubbles and Julie looked horrified, but the boys reacted just the opposite. Elmer grinned, Harry chuckled and the Floyjoydsen boys cackled like hens while their leader grinned.

"Mitch, that is really uncalled for!" Ms. Keane said sharply, her hands on her hips. "If you can’t tell a nice…"

"Hey, it’s easier than havin’ Count Goo pick everybody’s noses!" Mitch said and laughed, drawing more laughter from the other boys.

Blossom pointed across the fire. "If you picked YOUR nose, your head would cave in!"

Bubbles, shocked at first by the outburst, began to giggle.

"Oh yeah?" Mitch fired back. "At least I have a nose!"

All of the other children except Blossom and Buttercup drew a sharp breath.

"Oh, that’s it!" Blossom shouted, standing up.

"Mitch Mitchellson!" Ms. Keane barked. "You apologize right this instant!"

Blossom acted like she didn’t hear it. "Mitchell," she said in a low voice, "you know darn well that we have noses. They just don’t stick out like all of yours do."

Bubbles reached up to touch the small, barely noticeable bump that was her nose, as if to reassure herself that she still had one. Nostrils weren’t needed because smells could pass right through the skin to the working part, the olfactory gland, which lay just below the surface, and oxygen could be breathed and taken to the lungs the same way.

"You know that," Blossom continued, "because we let all of you touch them back on our first day of school so you could see we weren’t that different from you. And our ears, too, you know they’re just on the inside…"

"Auditory ports."

It was Buttercup’s voice, low and emotionless. It got everyone’s surprised attention, Blossom’s in particular.

"They’re auditory ports." she repeated, a bit louder but still looking straight ahead. "We don’t have ears."

"What are you talking about, Buttercup?" Blossom demanded.

"We don’t have noses, either." Buttercup said to the flames. "They’re called proboscises."

"What?! They are not! Professor told us a long time ago that we do too have noses and ears!"

"He wouldn’t be the one to know that. I know."

"What do you mean, you know?" Blossom said, looking down at her sister, her voice rising. "Buttercup, you’ve been acting weird all night. What’s wrong with you?"

The sudden exchange between the two sisters held the others in fascination, even Bubbles, because Buttercup was not being Buttercup. An argument would never find her speaking in a cool, reasoned manner. It was like something had taken control of her body. Bubbles felt a chill run down her back.

Buttercup tilted her head back and looked up to the sky. She sat there staring silently.

"Buttercup?" Bubbles squeaked.

"Buttercup, please say something!" Blossom pleaded, her heart pounding. The other kids’ faces showed various open-mouthed expressions. Something was wrong with the dark-haired Powerpuff. A Buttercup story would include lots of punching and guts and other not-too-nice stuff. Mitch still couldn’t believe she didn’t laugh at the booger-sucking Count Goo.

Her teacher leaned across Elmer and lightly touched her arm. "Buttercup?" she said softly.

"Aren’t the stars beautiful tonight?" the girl said, giving everyone a start. Her head remained tipped back, and the voice stayed low. "I miss them." A tear trickled down her right cheek.

"You miss the stars?" Blossom asked incredulously. "We can go see them anytime we want!"

"No, Blossom!" Bubbles whispered, touching her sister’s right leg. Blossom looked down and Bubbles said quietly, "I think she misses someBODY!"

Blossom’s eyes opened wide and she sat, very close to Bubbles. "Who do you miss, Buttercup?" the blue-eyed girl asked softly.

Buttercup lowered her head and made eye contact with her sisters first, then looked around the fire, her gaze briefly resting upon each of the others. Her voice was the voice they all knew, but she sounded strangely older as she began to tell her story.

Chapter Four

Chapter Two

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