Funk's the Chocolate Loving Demon

8/6/2019 Funk's the Chocolate Loving Demon

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Chapter 1

Saturday at three ‘o’clock his dad wassupposed to pick him and his sister up so theycould spend some time together. It was, now,four ‘o’ clock and Layton lay on his belly in

the grass as he rolled marbles over the antsthat scurried about in his mother’s flowerbed.The ants were franticly running about withlittle specks of white on their backs. He wasvaguely amused and quickly tired of the ants.Layton rolled onto his back, looked up at the

blue sky and sighed aloud.

What a boring day he thought tohimself.

Finally, sick of lying alone in thegrass, Layton left his empty backyard. Hisdad was supposed to take them out for pizzaand miniature golf but, as usual, he canceled.He was actually looking forward to spendingtime with his dad, plus he was tired of spending every day bored and alone. Now hissister was off with her friends, his mom wasat work, and he was home alone again.

School had been out nearly two weeks, andall he’d done is sit and sigh. No fun days atthe water park, backyard barbeques or crafts



at camp, like they used to do. Now that his parents had split, finances were tighter, or sohis mother explained to him.

Despite the promise to his mom thathe wouldn’t leave the house that day – incase his father showed -, he left the backyard

and headed down to Priddy street where his best friend, Rick, lived.

As Layton walked to Rick’s, hewrestled with feelings of anger, pride, andloneliness. On one hand, he never wanted totalk to Rick again, but on the other hand it

sucked not having any friends. He felt like areal desperate dummy, going to Rick’s house,

but he was such a dork at school and Rick was the only one that ever liked him. Maybehe didn’t want to be seen with him at school,

but maybe Rick would hang out with himnow that school was over.

Layton tried to forget that last week’sincident, at school, when Rick’s new friendsthrew handfuls of mashed potatoes at him ashe walked past their table in the cafeteria, andRick laughed the loudest. Ah hahahaaaaawas all Layton could see and hear. It was

humiliating to be picked on but it was worseto feel his only friend in the world turn onhim.



School sucked big time but thingswould be better if his parents would let himthrow away his stupid glasses and put somegel in his frizzy blond hair. Maybe he wasn’tas cute as Jeff Barley, the one who seemed tolike making fun of him the most, but he had agirlfriend once. Cindy was a cute little

brunette who always wore pretty barrettes inher hair and had the shiniest lips. All the boysat school wanted her, and she was his untilJeff shorted him, humiliating them in front of the entire school. Cindy was too embarrassedto be seen with Layton and she never talkedto him ever again.

“Hey, Funk! Show us your under pants!” he recalled.

Ugh! He hated that memory and triednot to think about it, but it was too late. Thelook on everyone’s faces when Jeff pulled hisshorts down and everyone saw the supermanunderwear, was unforgettable. It was badenough to have kids pick on him because of his name, Funk, which he already hated andwas a daily source of agony for him, buteveryone knowing the kind of underwear he

wore was beyond humiliation.Fortunately, that joke had died downand Jeff, eventually, moved on to bigger,



better insults as well as methods of torture,like ripping up his homework so he couldn’tturn it in or stabbing him in the buttocks witha pen.

Layton wasn’t a total wuss, though,and he did try to stand up for himself once.Unfortunately, it didn’t work out too well. He

was standing next to Rick, waiting in line for lunch when Jeff decided it’d be funny to pour the contents of his plastic Kool Aid into hiscurly frizzy hair. Layton pushed him hardonto the ground, but his buddies (andfraternal twins), John and Brad Miller caughthim and pushed him up onto his feet.

As soon as Jeff was standing again,he sent a nasty right hook at Layton’s face.The teachers took them both to the

principal’s office and sent them home for theday, but his hair retained a reddish glow

because he didn’t rinse out the Kool Aidimmediately and, the next day, everyone hadsomething new to laugh at him about. Butthat was when his daily school torture really

picked up – that was the day Rick turned onhim.

The next day, Rick did everything toavoid Layton. Normally, in the mornings,

they walked together; Layton would catch upto him right as he was leaving his house. Thistime, Rick opened the door and ran ahead.



“Hey Rick!” Layton called, but he keptrunning. Layton ran after him, but he onlyran faster to get away; the next day, it was thesame thing all over again. It didn’t take longfor Layton to get the message. He hung back and watched Rick’s back, and they walked

back and forth to school like that for weeks

until Rick’s new buddies – John and Brad - began giving him rides.

He walked with his head down toavoid the hot glare of the 100 degree sun.Layton continued past a half dozen houses,looked up momentarily and froze in his

tracks. Rick lived in a yellow house at theend of the block, and he already hadcompany. There was Rick, Jeff, and the twotwin brothers, John and Brad, all splashingand laughing as they took turns belly slidingon a water mat on Rick’s front lawn; his dadstood over a charcoal grill and the fumes of smoke and meat could be smelled even whereLayton stood.

More hurt than angry, Layton turnedaround and walked fast hoping they wouldn’tsee him. The sadness and humiliation wasoverwhelming. His scalp felt like it would

melt away under the heat and pressure of hisemotion. His eyes burned and he could feelthe sting of tears tempting his eyes.





“Shut up, hoe.”“Watch your mouth,” his mother

slapped the side of his face.

Layton looked at his mother, and thenran out of the room. He slammed, as hard ashe could, the door to his bedroom. Why did

everyone always treat him like crap, but thenhe was never allowed to treat them like crap back - it wasn’t fair.

Moments later, his mother knockedon the door and entered with a plate of pizzaand a soda.

“I’m sorry baby,” she said as she setthe food on the nightstand next to his bed.“You know I hate that word. Do not say itanymore, and I don’t care what your sister says.”

She leaned over and kissed andhugged him. “Now I want you to eat your dinner, and then I want you to brush your teeth and go to bed.”

After Layton washed up and was

lying in bed, he thought about Rick andwondered why he turned on him. Was he that



awful of a person? Was he such a pathetichuman? A waste of space?

Unable to sleep, Layton turned on thetelevision his mother put in his room. Laytonwas prone to fits of insomnia. The doctor saidit was stress and prescribed pills, but hismother was against medication, except for

when legitimately sick, so she put an oldtelevision for him to watch when he couldn’tsleep. It was an old thirteen inch televisionand it didn’t have any cable – not that it wascompatible with digital signals. The onlychannels it got was 3, 6, and 9. That wasokay, though, because cartoons were on 3 in

the mornings, and there were always movieson 9, albeit black and white.

Layton hated black and white, and hethought they were lame and should all betaken off the television – they were so boring.But they did help him get back to sleepsometimes. In fact, it was already working,and his eyes lids became heavier and heavier.

In between heavy blinks, some uglyold face came into view. His nose and eyeswere most disturbing to Layton’s vision. Theugly old guy attacked the man he’d brought

to his home, but Layton didn’t understandwhy. He thought the women wanted to kiss





“Now here’s twenty dollars. I wantyou to get cereal, ravioli and paper towels,and then you can get something sweet for yourself.”

Later that day, he set out for the store.He put off walking to the store for as long as

he could because he couldn’t stand the heat, but it was nearly 5 ‘o’ clock and his mother would be mad if he didn’t go.

Outside, the temperatures werescorching, and the heat from the groundradiated through the shoes on his feet.

The worse part about walking to thestore was that he’d have to pass Rick’s house,and he didn’t want to see him, so instead hewalked through an alley right behind Rick’shouse.

He walked past Priddy and turned leftinto a large clearing that narrowed into analleyway. Layton saw a house ahead that hadfull bloomed rose bushes along a chained link fence; the roses towered two feet above hishead. In the very next yard, there was a black lab that stood and watched him approach.

Layton stopped for a moment to look

at the house that belonged to the yard withthe rose bushes. It was an old broken buildingwith broken windows and a large hole in the



door and in various parts of the walls. He jumped when, unexpectedly, he saw awoman with a feather in a baseball hatdigging around in the yard.

“Hello,” the woman looked up andnoticed him.

“Hi. Is that your house?”“No. But it’s been condemned, so Iwouldn’t go in there if I were you. I’m justusing the yard to grow flowers.”

“Why?”“Gotta pay some bills, and I could use

the extra cash. I hope you’re not planning to

mess up my garden.”“No, I would never.”“Good.”The black lab in the next yard walked

up, stood on its rear and put its legs on thefence and whined for Layton to pet him.

“That’s Mad Dog.”“Oh,” he said as he stroked his head.

“Well, I’d better be going. Nice to meet you,”said Layton

“You too.”

Layton continued along the alleyway.

Rick’s backyard was only two houses up, andhe couldn’t help wishing that he could set the place aflame with Rick inside.



“Aww Mom! I don’t want to invitehim!” Layton stopped walking when he heardthat voice coming from the other side of thefence because he knew they were talkingabout him. Every year about that time,Layton would get an invitation to Rick’s

birthday party.“Why not?” asked Rick’s mother.Layton stepped up close to the wooden slatsand could see Rick was outside throwing the

ball to his dog, and his mother was there.“Because no one likes him.”

Not wanting to hear anymore, hecontinued on to the store. Inside, it was arelief to get out of the heat, and into the air conditioned store where he got the ravioli and

– what else was he supposed to get? Cereal.He walked over into the cereal aisle

and looked at all the prices. His mother always complained that it was so expensive,“$5 for a little box,” but Layton wanted hisfavorite – Count Chocula. The box was

brown with a long chinned vampire who poured milk into a bowl of cereal withseeming delight. With the way he was

feeling, he needed a “pick me up” as Dadalways said, and he pulled the box from the



shelf knowing what his mother would say,later.

Next, he wandered over to the candysection, in which, there were two kidslaughing and playing with candy trucks; theywere trucks made out of lolly pop-likematerial and encased in thin truck shaped

cardboard.“Cool trucks,” Layton said, but they

turned and said “get away glass face.”“Yeah, you’re ugly.”

Disturbed, Layton walked out of the

store without paying for the ravioli or CountChocula cereal. It was a shock when thestore’s proprietor came out and started toyell. Layton apologized and gave him the $20and then walked off. Waait said the man, butLayton didn’t want to wait – he wanted to getfar, far away.

Walking back through the alleyway,he came across Mad Dog again. Laytonstopped and petted him for a moment.

The woman from the rose bush cameover.

“Are you alright?” she asked. “Youlook kind of down.”



Layton didn’t say anything as hecontinued to pet the dog.

“Why don’t you come in for amoment and have a soda. Come on,” sheopened the gate to her side of the property.“My name’s Molly.”

Layton followed the woman into the

house. She pulled off the ball cap and Laytonnoticed the feather was an eagle feather thatlooked like it would’ve made an excellentquill. It was long, light to dark tan with along white tip.

The woman had long curly medium brown hair and tan skin.

“Take a seat over there,” and Laytonwalked into the living room, and Mad Dogfollowed. The dog laid his head in Layton’slap.

“My nephews are coming over in a bit; their names are Billy and Bob. Bob’smore your age, and Billy’s a little bit older than you, but my sister and I want to goshopping at the Planks. They get really bored,

but maybe you guys can hang out and watchsome movies? Mind you, the neighbor mightcheck in with you from time to time. He’s agood friend of mine.”

“Sure,” said Layton. “I’d love to hangout. It’s so boring at home alone.”



“So I guess you and Rick aren’tfriends anymore?”

“How did you know Rick and I werefriends?”

“I used to see you over there playing, before they put up the fence.”

Silence ensued a moment; Layton

took a sip of cola.“Oh, look. Chasing’s on,” a televisionshow about law enforcement.

Unsure of whether he should stay or not, Layton remained still in his seat and theywatched together, in silence, a few moments.

“Well, I guess I should go. My mom

will be back from work soon.”“Why don’t you ask her if you can

come and watch a movie? I’m sure Billy andBob would rather hang out and watch moviesrather than shop with girls, and they’d lovesome company. Apparently, they are at therental store. I know Billy wants to watchFantasmo and Trixter. He’ll be here alonemost of the day – he’s twelve but veryresponsible.”

“Okay but I have to ask my mom. Shedoesn’t like it when I don’t come home.”

Layton walked home in the coolingtwilight. Up the driveway, his mother’s car was already parked.



“Where have you been?” his mother asked angrily.

“I went to the store, and then thiswoman named Molly invited me to hang outwith her nephews and watch movies. Can Igo?”

“I don’t know who this Molly is and,

until I meet her, you can’t go hanging out atstrangers houses.”“But she’s real nice, and she thinks

her nephew and I will get along. Why don’twe go over there and you can meet her? I’mso bored and I’m sick of not having anyfriends. It’s been two weeks and I’ve spent

every day alone.”“I’m too tired. Not tonight. Wash up,

make yourself some dinner,” and she walkedoff.

“Where’s Heather? How come shegets to go out all the time?”

“I don’t know where she’s at, butshe’s older than you.”

“So you trust her but not me? I’mway more responsible than she is.”

“When you prove that to me, then wecan talk.”

Layton shut his mouth, went into hisroom and shut the door. He didn’t want toargue further because he was very close to



telling her what he really knew aboutHeather, which was that she hadn’t even beengoing over to Charlotte’s, her best friend’s,house to hang out at all, but, instead she’d

been going to the bald spot where there was ariver hidden by a line of trees, and the kidswould sit on the bank and do things that they

weren’t supposed to. He was always torn between wanting to get Heather in troubleand the relief he got from her being gone alot. In the end, he decided her absence wasfar more valuable.

His mother opened the door.

“Can’t you knock? You always tellme too!”

“I’m going to bed early, as I’mworking the early shift tomorrow at thehospital. I want you to keep it quiet. By theway, you forgot to get paper towels, go to thestore and get some tomorrow. ”

“All right,” said Layton, thinkingabout the change he’d left at the store.

“Good night” and she shut the door.

Layton lay there and lay there but,again, he couldn’t sleep. Finally, he lookedup at the clock and it said 1 am. He turned on



the television and it was Dracula again, onlythis time it wasn’t that freaky looking guywith a butt chin, as Rick would have called it.This time it was some tall skinny guy with acape.

Still, this sucks he thought, and heclimbed out of bed and put on some clothes.

He gently raised the window next to his bedand crawled through. He didn’t know wherehe was going or what he was doing, but he

just wanted to go for a walk. Layton knew itwas stupid and probably dangerous, but itwas a nice cool night with the sky so dark and the stars twinkling.

Layton decided to go to the schooland maybe sleep under the stars. Yeah, hismom would be mad, but she probablywouldn’t even notice he was gone. Being anurse, she was always working absurd hours,and, since his dad left home, she’d beenforced to take extra work to pay bills. Lately,she’d hardly had time to notice that thekitchen sink was leaking, her garden wasover grown, and that Layton hadn’t washedhis bed sheets in two weeks! He walkeddown the alley, passed the rose bushes, butstopped in his tracks. He walked backwards a

few paces.Once again, Layton was a littlemesmerized by the old house. It was spooky



yet he felt compelled to go in and see if itwas haunted. Briefly, Layton had the idea of turning the abandoned house into his privategetaway, so he wouldn’t have to live withhim mom and sister anymore. Rick hadalways told him things about that house, likethe owner had died in it by falling down the

stairs after he saw a ghost. He always daredhim to go inside which he didn’t, but at themoment he was feeling fearless.

He unlatched the fence and walkedthrough the garden. He looked at the flowersand then over the fence, but Mad Dog wasn’t

there.He tried to gently open the door, but it

wasn’t hinged and it slammed flat onto theground, making a huge smashing noise.

“What was that?” Layton heard fromsomewhere in the alley.

Layton jumped at the sound of thevoices and ran inside the house. He stoppedon the other side of the wall and listened.

“It came from the old house,” another voice said.

Was that Rick and Jeff? What werethey doing out at that time? Layton was about





“AAAAAAHH” Layton watchedRick through a small hole in the partition.He’d jumped a mile high and then ran out.“AAAAAAAAAAhhhh…” Layton couldhear him yelling across the alley.

“Wait, hahaha,” his friends laughed.“What happened?”

Layton waited a moment until itsounded as though they’d left the yard. Then,he slowly, quietly crept out of the house andacross the alley to the fence of Rick’s

backyard.“What happened?” Layton overheard.

“Something or someone was inthere.”

Layton peaked between the woodenslats of the fence and saw they were in asleeping tent - Rick’s mother used to putthem out there when their sleepovers weretoo rowdy.

Feeling as though he didn’t get themenough, Layton bent over and gathered somestones. He tossed them over the fence sothey’d hit the tent.

“Oh my gosh,” said Rick. “What wasthat?”Layton tossed another stone.



“Well, go out and see what it is,”yelled Brad.

Through the space of the slat, Laytoncould see that someone had shoved Rick outof the tent. He tossed a rock at him and Rick ran straight indoors; the others remained in

the tent laughing at Rick.“Who is it? Who’s there?” called one

of them from the tent.

Layton picked up his feet and randown the alley fast while trying to contain his

laughter. He made it to the school, and hestretched out inside a plastic tube the kidswould play in. It had been too long since he’dhad a good, hard laugh as he did thatmoment. Oh it felt good to get back at Rick even though he didn’t know it was him. Onlyone thing troubled him and it was why Rick was friends with boys who sounded mean.Why choose mean boys over him?

When he woke, it was to a doglicking his face - it was Mad Dog.

He climbed out of the large green

plastic tube.“Hey! What are you doing in there?”called Molly.



“I fell asleep.”“Why didn’t you come by

yesterday?”“My mom said I couldn’t because she

was tired and she didn’t know you.”“Oh well, if you get bored, come by

later. I have some yard work I’d love you to

help me with. Later on, we can go and meetyour mom. My nephews will be over againlater. You guys could keep each other company.”

“Okay. Bye.”

Layton walked back home. When he

got there, he saw his mother had already goneto work, so he made himself cereal andwatched television.

“Where’s Mom?” asked Heather.“Work. Where were you last night?

With your boyfriend?”“Shut up or I’ll kick you.”

The Party

Chapter 2

Despite not wanting to invite Layton, he gotan invitation, like regular, to Rick’s 10 th

birthday party.





Layton was amazed at how much heenjoyed working out in the hot summer day,despite the heat and sweat that affected every

bit of his body. Layton and Molly took turnsdigging planting, soiling and watering; theytook turns drinking the cold water from thewater hose. For the first time, he didn’t think

remember to think of himself as a loser.About noon, the sounds of laughter and shouting boomed through the house. Intothe backyard came Molly’s sister Melindaand her two kids: Billy and Bob. Billy was atall dark half-Mexican with ashy legs anddirty scruffy clothes; it was obvious he was a

boy who liked to play hard. His younger brother, Bob, was in the third grade and,although he had the same father as Billy, waslight and golden like his mother. Unlike his

brother, Bob was more laid back and liked totalk, and his clothes were less scruffy.

Molly’s sister, Melinda, was carryinga bag of tacos and a couple liters of cola.After a round of introductions, they sataround the living room table, as it was a tinyhouse, and ate tacos and watched a movie.

“Mom, can Billy and I go to Golf ‘n’

Games after this?”



“No. We have to go get a present for Rick across the way. He invited you to his

birthday party.”“I was invited to the party, too,” said

Layton. “My mom told me to get him a gift.”“Well, you can come with us.”

After lunch, they piled into Melinda’sSUV; Layton crammed in between Billy andBob. They drove to the Planks ShoppingMall where they went to the toy shop and

picked out gifts for Rick’s party.They wandered along an isle full of

cars.

“Oh wow,” Billy exclaimed at the Hscale train set, “I want this. Mom!?!” andBilly walked off to find his mother.

“So how old are you?” asked Bob.“Ten.”“Oh cool. I’m eight but I’ll be nine in

a few months. It sucks being the youngest. Ihave to do everything Billy tells me, like lastnight when he made me smear toothpaste onthe seat of our neighbor’s, bike. He wouldn’ttell me why, but only that he’d put my feet

behind my ears and sit on me if I didn’t do it,

but I know he’s mad because the neighborsdaughter broke up with him. I threatened totell Mom, but then he said if I did, then he’d



put potato bugs in my cereal, and he already put jumping spiders in my shoes so I figuredI’d better do as he says.”

“I have an older sister, but she’s goneall the time, thankfully. I hate her so much – she’s a bully.”

“What should we get Rick? I don’t

even know him that well.”“How about a box of dirt? I’m not buying him anything; I don’t care what mymom says.”

“How come you hate him?”“Because he’s a jerk. Oh, WHOA!”

Layton shouted at an electronic sling shot. He

pulled it off the shelf. It had a miniaturetelescope, so you could zero in on your target. He pulled the trigger, and the plastic

pulled the bands back into place. Laytoninserted the little pellet into the plastic foldthat appeared when the bands were in

position, and then he pressed the button againand WHAM! The pellet ricocheted off bothsides of the aisles; Layton and Bob hit theground.

“Who hoa hoa… Coooool. Let metry,” only Bob, looking around, saw Billystanding at the end of the aisle. Bob pressed

his eye up to the telescope and aimed theslingshot at Billy’s back.



“OOOWWW!!!” Billy lookedmurderous as he chased Bob around and intothe next aisle.

Barely able to control his laughter sothat he could breathe, Layton grabbed anunopened electronic sling shot package.

This will come in handy.

For the first time in weeks, Laytonhad a really good day. Molly invited Laytonto stay for dinner, and he really wanted to buthe needed to get home and stash the

slingshot, for if his mother found it, she’dnever let him keep it. As it was, she’d be madthat he didn’t get Rick a birthday present.

Layton opened the door to his home,and there on the couch was Heather. Her

boyfriend was lying on top of her and givingher kisses.

“What the hell are you doing?”“Get out of here, Layton!”“You’d better pray that I don’t tell

mom who’ll be home any minute!” and he

walked to his room and slammed the door shut.



Layton opened his slingshot and practiced aiming at the paper target that camewith it. Heather opened the door, “Where didyou get that?”

“Get out, Heather!”“Mike is gone. You’d better not tell

Mom or I’ll kill you!” and she slammed the

door.That night, his mother came home

and yelled at Layton for not getting Rick a present, like she asked. She especially flippedwhen he didn’t have the money she’d givenhim. He told her he spent it at the ice cream

shop, and she nearly went hoarse yelling athim about how they didn’t have money towaste.

That night his father called to sayhello and apologized for not meeting him andhis sister. The only reason Layton went to the

phone was to keep his mother from further yelling at him, but, as usual, he held thereceiver and didn’t say a word.

“Layton? Layton?” but he just satthere in silence for fifteen minutes as hewatched television, but his dad was used to

his behavior by now. “Look, I’m sorry but Ihad to work,” but Layton knew it wasn’t thathe had to work, but it was that he was with





intrigued by the 1931 Dracula which was rerunning. It was a dark film, and even more soas the film was in black and white.Periodically, he put his head under the cover,

but now that he understood the movie – thanks to the old white haired guy – heunderstood this other old creepy guy with the

spooky eyes.The following week was more of the

same thing: his mother would go to work, hissister would pretend to go to Charlotte’s, andLayton would be left all alone in the house.His mother was kind enough to put him in

charge of all the shopping, considering thathe had nothing to do. Today, the list wasmilk, eggs, and butter.

After putting off going to the store aslong as he could, he put on his shoes and took the money, his mother left him, off the table.When he approached Priddy Street, hedecided to take the alley way down, and notso much to avoid seeing Rick this time, but inthe hopes of running into Molly and her nephews.

As he passed the flowers in the yardof the condemned house, he noticed the seeds

he’d planted had already begun to grow; littlegreen sprouts were sticking out of the groundas though reaching for something. Reaching



over the fence, he put his cupped hands in thewater of the sprinkler and pour it down his

back. Next door, Molly’s house appeared to be still, but Mad Dog was in the yard and ranup to him.

Layton scratched and stroked him.Across the way and two houses up, he heard

some commotion going on in the backyard.Rick’s family must have been getting readyfor the party, and they always loved to have atheme of some sort. One year, it was Batmanand Robin, the next was Superman, maybethis year it would be the Green Lantern – Rick loved superheroes which was something

they once had in common.He continued onto the store and back,

and then he spent the day bored and watchinglame daytime television.

The next day was the party. Laytonwoke, quietly put on his clothes, andattempted to sneak through the front door after grabbing a cereal bar from the kitchen,

but his mother caught him and, instead, madehim put on his nice shirt for the party.Further, to make sure he didn’t skip out, shedrove him to Rick’s house and walked him

up to the door; Layton kept his head down ashis mom and Rick’s mother chatted.



His mom handed Rick’s mother a bag, and then she turned and left. Laytonsilently walked over the threshold, throughthe house, and into the backyard where a

barbeque was going; the theme wasSpiderman. Some of the older guests werestanding about the grill or under the awning

on the patio conversing. To his right, he sawRick, Jeff, and the twins playing a short gameof football with each other.

“Hey,” said Jeff loudly. “Isn’t thatLayton Funk?”

He continued to the back andunlatched the wooden gate and was preparedto leave, but, then, Billy and Bob from acrossthe way almost walked into him. “Hey,Layton,” said Bob.

Slowly, Layton retreated back into theyard, “Hey, guys.”

“Layton,” called Rick’s mom. “Wereyou trying to sneak out?”

All in all, it wasn’t a bad day; Rick and his buddies didn’t say anything toLayton, Bob, or Billy. Rick and his buddies

tossed the football while Layton, Bob, andBilly sat bored in a shaded corner of the yard.



When it was time to eat, Rick’s groupmade an effort to sit at the opposite end of the wooden bench and table, which left theadults to sit in the middle.

After lunch, Rick’s parents broughtout the cake and everyone, except Layton(and Bob out of loyalty), sang happy

birthday. When it was time to open the presents, they sat and watched Rick and theadults “ooh” and “aaah” over the toys he’dgot.

“Wow! The Brancham Monster Set!”and “Whoa! A water proof DVD player!” For

each person, he read off a name and said“Thanks.”

Finally, he picked up a package anddidn’t say anything at all.

“And who is that present from?”asked his mother.

“Layton Funk,” Rick blushed.

Layton was shocked! He justremembered his mother handed a bag toRick’s mother before she left! His mother

always got people the worst gifts! Instantly,Layton knew this was going to be bad.



Rick untied the gold ribbon and pulled back the blue wrapping.

“Layton! You idiot. You always getme the worst gifts,” and he threw the packageacross the table to him. The package smackedhim in the head and landed in front of him.

“Rick! You ungrateful! Apologize!” but he’d run off into the house. His mother followed him inside where they could all hear shouting coming from the kitchen.

He looked down at the package. Itwas a white watch with pictures of catsfrolicking on the band. His face turned

completely red. “I didn’t know. My mother got it for him.”

“Let me see,” said Billy. Turning thewatch over in his hand, he said, “Well, itwouldn’t be so bad – if he were a girl!”

Rick didn’t say another word toLayton while they were there. Layton, Bob,and Billy sat under the shade in a corner of the yard while Rick and his buddiescontinued to play football. Layton tried toremain calm but, inside, he was madder thanever because of what Rick did to him in front

of the guests. Once more, he’d made Laytonfeel completely humiliated in front of people.



Yeah, it was a crappy gift, but was that anexcuse to hurt him?

Another hour passed and Layton, bored out of his mind and still seething, wasready to leave until Bob stopped him.

“Want to spend the night?” asked

Bob. “Yeah, I’d love too.”“Here,” Billy handed Layton his cell

phone. “Call your mom and ask.”

Later that night, they lay awake,watching television: Bob on his bed and

Layton on a cot. Molly came in and checkedon them. She brought two mugs of hotchocolate with her and set them down on thenight stand.

“Don’t stay up too late guys.”

Layton peaked through the windowand saw there was a light on in the backyardof Rick’s house. He wondered if they werecamping out in the back, again, and wouldn’tit be fun to scare him?

“What are you looking at?”



“The lights are on in Rick’s backyard.I was thinking it would be really funny toscare him, again.”

“Again?”

Another hour passed, and Bob wasasleep. Layton, however, was burning to get

back at Rick for what he did at the birthday party. He knew he should stay in bed, as hedidn’t want to worry Bob’s aunt who had

been so kind to him, but he was compelled tosee what Rick was doing.

Slowly and quietly, he opened thewindow and crawled out onto the soft dewy

lawn. He looked to his right and left and sawthat only street lamps lit the alleyway.

He ran over to the fence and peaked between the wooden slats, but it was hard tosee anything. Then, he quietly unlatched thefence. Not seeing Rick or his tent in the back,he walked around to the side of the house.The curtains to his window had not beencompletely drawn, and Layton could see Rick was asleep in his bed.

He took his finger nail and dragged itdown the pane of glass, creating a high

pitched scratch. Rick was a light sleeper, and

Layton knew it wouldn’t take much to wakehim. Layton scratched it several times more,and Rick sat straight up in bed – his eyes



bugged out and his mouth hanging open as helooked toward the window. Layton decidedto try it once more, and he scratched from thevery top of the window down.

Layton heard a mild cry from Rick’smouth as he got out of bed and ran out of theroom.

Not wanting Rick’s parents to findhim in the backyard, Layton ran out, fast, andquickly, quietly unlatched and closed thegate.

“What are you doing?”

Layton nearly screamed - it was Bob!“I felt the cold air and it woke me up,

then, I looked over, and you were gone. Whatwere you doing?”

“Nothing. Let’s go back to bed.”



Fangs

Chapter 3

The next morning, Layton and Bob sat downto eggs and bacon with Billy. Coffee in hand,Molly went to work in the next yard. About

noon, the boys decided to walk to the schooland play on the grounds there.

“So where do you guys live?” askedLayton.

“On the other side of town. Our mother works a lot to support us, so we come

over here,” said Billy.“What about your dad?”“Gone. Never see him,” said Bob.“Sorry to hear that. My dad is around

but he’s more concerned with his new familynow.”

“I think our dad has a new girlfriend,too.”

“My teacher says the average manwill have three families in his lifetime,”quoted Billy.

“Three families! That hardly seemsfair! No wonder kids never see their fathers.”

“That’s not all. The average womanwill have two families in her life.”





“Too bad. Go put on a clean shirt andthen we’ll go pick up Heather.”

Twenty minutes later, they were inthe car and driving to Charlotte’s house,where Heather was supposed to be. Laytonknew that this could end with Heather getting

in big trouble. He didn’t know if he washappy or sad about that. On one hand, hewould love to see her get busted for a change,

but, on the other hand, she would probably begrounded forever. Layton didn’t know if hecould stand her being home all the time.

“Did you call Heather and tell her we’re picking her up?” Layton asked,candidly.

“No, but I should have,” she said asshe reached for her phone. “Hello Jane. Can Italk to Heather please?”

There was a pause as Charlotte’smother told her that, as Layton expected,Heather wasn’t there. The look on her facewas sour and Layton, who was never a reallygood liar, felt his skin get hot.

“Huh,” sighed his mother.“So,” he hesitated, “was Heather there?”







BETTER GET YOUR BUTT HOME NOW!”

Layton tried to sneak back to hisroom, but as she passed, he noticed she wasmaking funny sniffle noises – she was crying.

“What’s wrong?”“It’s nothing. I’m just really stressedout. I’ve been working around the clock andthis is what I have to deal with. You don’tknow where she is, do you?”

“No.” Then, feeling bad, Laytoncontinued, “Sometimes she hangs out with

her friends by the river.”“Show me,” she got up and got her

purse.Layton just stood there, “Come on,

let’s go,” she motioned toward the door withher arm.

They got into the car, which was stillwarm from the heat of the day, and theydrove to the side of the forest; they walkedinto the bald spot and into the trees by theriver where there was a small run downwooden house that should have been

condemned. Near the river bed, she lookedup and down, but saw no one. There was asmall crackling noise that caught his



mother’s attention. Gripping Layton’s handtightly, they walked onto the small porchlanding of the old house. On the other sidewas a group of teens huddled around a fire,smoking and drinking; there, in the middle of the group, was Heather.

Layton’s Mother and Heather, both,

looked shocked; their eyes locked for amoment, but then Heather got up and put oneleg over the wooden fence. Layton’s mother ran after her and caught her by the hair just asshe was about to put her other leg over thefence. She put her other arm throughHeather’s and dragged her back into the

fenced off side yard, over the porch landing,and then out to the car: Layton followed.

Heather screamed and screamed, buthis mom forced her into the car.

“Laaayton, I’ll kill you!” Heather screamed.

“I had to tell her, she was crying andcalled the cops.”

“Don’t give him a hard time. You’rethe one in trouble here. You’re not goinganywhere ever again! ”

She started the car and there wassilence for a few moments, but, when they pulled up to a stop sign, Heather jumped out



of the car and ran. Layton’s mom left the car running as she jumped out and went after her.Layton turned around in the back seat andsaw Heather run off into a side alley withmother in tow.

A moment later, his defeated lookingmother returned to the car without Heather,

and they went home.The next morning, Heather was stillgone. His mother stayed home from work that day and didn’t leave the bed. Notwanting to bother her, he packed his bag, hadsome breakfast and left. Even if he didn’t seeBob that day, there was no way he was going

to stay in the house with her. Not once,throughout the incident, did his mother ask if he was okay. She didn’t come over to see if he was even still alive; she didn’t even talk tohim – not even to say goodnight. Hecontemplated how his mother hadn’t beenaround for months, except for the fewmoments she’d take out of her day to bark orders at them like they were servants, andnow she’s all depressed over Heather whowas a mean, atrocious little brat, yet showsno concern for her son whom she left in anunparked car.

Why is it that the meanest kids are themost revered? He, further, contemplated Rick who had everything a kid could want – the







his head. When Bob tried to get back up,Billy pushed him back down, grabbed thehose and soaked him, turning him into a

brown muddy mess.Finally, Molly told them they didn’t

have to work anymore. They went inside andBob took a shower.

An hour later, and still suffering fromthe heat, Molly decided they should all go tothe mall and get some corn dogs and icecream. What a great idea! As soon as theywalked in the door of the Planks, the cold air hit them all, and they sighed with relief.

After their indulgence, they walked

around and browsed the shops in the mall.They walked through several toy shops and afew novelty shops that sold things like fakeshrunken heads and loads of incense. Soonafter, they came upon the Haunted HalloweenShop which was always open for thesummer. Bob was only too happy to followLayton when he exclaimed that the joke aislewas his favorite section. They closelyexamined all the fake candy: cod liver oilcandy in a variety of different colors, black

pepper bubble gum, itching powder and stink bombs, of which Layton happily stocked up

on. Next they walked through all thecostumes. They tried on various monster and



superheroes, and numerous funny wigs.When they finally got into the vampirecostume section, Layton felt a jolt of excitement in his every bone. There werelong capes, short capes, red and black capes,

black wigs, white wigs as well as whitestreaked black wigs, short fangs, long fangs,

and entire mouth pieces. After tryingeverything on, Bob, Billy, and Molly tired of the vampire costumes and wondered intosome other aisles.

While they were off looking at other costumes, Layton counted his money. He had

just $10, but that was enough to buy the

fangs with the plastic molds you melt in themicrowave – and they could be re melted – for just $5; then there was a cheap little black widow peaked wig for $5! Molly wouldn’tmind lending a little extra, and so he was set.

After that, the wheels turned in hishead, and it must have shown too becauseBob asked him several times what he wasthinking. He didn’t want to tell him that hecould make a cape out of the red sheet hismother didn’t use anymore, that with thestink pellets, sling shot, fangs and wig, hecould finally get back at Rick; Rick who was

easily scared, and who was probably alreadyfeeling paranoid because of what Layton had,already, done.



All in all, it was a fantastic day.Layton was thinking about giving Rick another visit that night. He was happy andelated until his mother called Molly’s house.She was angry that Layton had been away allday, and she ordered him to come home.

“Why? It’s only 4 pm; you’re alwaysworking at this time; you’re always tellingme I need to get out of the house, so why areyou making me come home now that I’vefound something to do?”

“I don’t want any more back talk. I

want you in this door in 15 minutes!”“You’re always taking out your

problems on me. Don’t like your life, soyou’ll tell me what to do with mine; no timeto visit with your friends, so you’ll tell me Ineed to get out and get some; Heather goesmissing and you’re angry, so now you wantme to come home!”

His mother started to reply, butLayton hung up on her in the middle of thesentence. She always liked to talk to him likehe was an idiot, so there was no point in

listening. She’d say he didn’t understand, heshould show her some respect, yada yada…Well, Layton thought she should show him



some respect by having an honestconversation: one with real replies, and not

just “do as you’re told.” So, when he walkedin the door, his mother tried to talk to him,

but he cut her off, went to his room, and shutthe door. It was the same thing with his dad.Dad thought Layton couldn’t tell when he

was lying, but he could, and that’s why herefused to talk to him most times.He ignored his mother’s call for

dinner and stayed up watching televisionuntil 3 am in the morning. When he knew hismother was sure to be asleep, he crawled outof bed and got the red sheets from the

hallway closet. He cut out a red half circleshaped cape from his mother’s old red bedsheet. For fun, he pinned it around his neck,

put on the wig and inserted his glue in fangs,which he snuck out to melt in the microwave.

Whoa! Except for his glasses, helooked pretty spooky. He slipped off theglasses and it was foggy but his visioncleared up a bit after a few minutes. He snuck into Heather’s room and stole her ManicPanic Hemlock white face powder and

powdered his face, neck and applied redlipstick.

He stowed back into his room, pocketed his sling shot, stink bombs andfilled his pocket with little rocks he’d



gathered, from the alleyway for the slingshot, and then made off for the alley. Thatnight, they were finally having a cool off

period, and fog and dew had settled heavilyonto the ground.

All the street lights were on and mostof the houses were dark. Along the alleyway,

it was dead quiet.He snuck up to the wooden slats and peaked through. Carefully and quietly, heopened the gate and walked up to Rick’s sideof the house. Standing on tip toe, he tried tosee through the foggy windows; there was alit lamp inside and sleeping bags were on the

floor.Layton wiped, clear, a spot on the

glass. Although he couldn’t tell which one, atfirst, one of the twins spotted him and shot upinto sitting position from the ground. Laytonducked below the window sill.

“What was that?” Layton heardthrough the pane of glass.

“What?”“Someone in the window, looked like

a zombie – white skin and dead eyes.”“Ah hahaha,” they laughed.

“You’re just as gullible as Rick.”



A second later, Layton heard the glassdoor open around the back. He lookedthrough the window – “Oh my Gosh!”exclaimed one of the boys inside who saw hishead poke up - and saw that one of the twinshad left the room. Panicking, Laytonremained dead still where he was, but when

Brad stepped into view, Layton stood outunder the lighted portion of the cement,grabbed the sides of his cloaked and raisedhis arms to the sky, the way Dracula flung hiscape in the movie. Brad disappeared back around, and into, the house.

Layton tried to look through the

window, which had fogged up again.Thinking of the lady in white from the films,he wrote the word, in large backward letters,in the fogged, dewy glass, E – T – A – L - O- C– O – H - C. Then he wiped another clear circle on the pane, next to the words. Heleaned in close to see inside the room. Rick and his buddies stood still, all staring atLayton’s face through the window.

Layton realized that, still, none of the boys recognized him, which made him feelmore confident. Layton continued by writingin smaller letters below the word, chocolate,

w-o-r-r-o-m-o-t t-h-g-i-n r-o e-i-d.



It took him a minute or two to finish,and especially since he wasn’t accustomed towriting words backward, but he had to so hismessage would be seen on the other side of the window. Layton stood back, a few feet,from the window, allowing his full self to be

seen. He threw his cape once more by raisinghis arms skyward, and opened his mouthwide to show the fangs inside.

Layton didn’t know what JohnMiller’s intent was, but he ran to the windowand threw it open. Instinctively, Laytonhurled a stink bomb through the window, and

the plastic broke inside, instantly releasing afoul sewage odor. The smell was stronger than Layton had anticipated, as up until that

point, he had not broken a stink pellet before.Unfortunately, the smell was so strong thatLayton had begun to hack – it was like athousand rotten eggs-, and his eyes to water.Through his squint eyes, he noticed Rick andhis buddies were covering their mouths andcoughing too.

Layton took the opportunity to pullout his slingshot, which he’d already loadedwith little rocks. He pulled back the plastic

trigger, set the button, and CRACK-POP-CRACK – half a dozen pellets jetted, at once,in all directions of the room, and then



ricocheted off the walls. OW! Cried Rick who’d grabbed his forehead. UUUghh! CriedBrad who’d taken a couple rocks to the chest.John hit the floor, and the others followedsuit.

The door to Rick’s bedroom opened,and a light flooded the room. Layton didn’t

waste time. He ran up to the gate, unlatchedand closed it as quietly as he could, and thentook off, fast.

In a hurry to get out of there, Laytondidn’t realize that he was being watch untilhe heard a high pitch scream, like a girl’s.Jerking his head, there, outside in the alley,

was Bob who ran fast back toward Molly’shouse.

What was Bob doing out?Layton didn’t stop to find out, but he

made it through the window and into hisroom five minutes later. Quickly, heundressed and wiped the makeup from hisface; he hid away his costume. It was onlywhen he was lying in bed that his heartslowed its beats, and then he laughed andlaughed, until he fell asleep.

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Funk's the Chocolate Loving Demon