Damned if she stayed. Damned if she didn’t.
That’s how Summer felt, especially when the parents were out of the house and who knew when they were going to be back. She could be clueless when it came to people’s thoughts, but not so much anymore. She’d gotten to know this family. She loved them, each and every single last one of them. River, that much was obvious, he had been her rock, her protector, her savior. Dale, though he could be grumpy most of the time, he had a generous heart sharing his room with her, and she tried to repay the favor as much as she could with gifts of snacks that she’d get when she’d go into town. Turns out she inherited her father’s love of driving. Chip, the one that made her realize during one of their few conversations that she had to fight to be worth all of the sacrifices that this family had made for her. And she really did try. She was fighting all of the time. And Scout, that girl was a full sister to her, she’d do anything for that girl.
But with the break up with River? Yeah, she felt like they didn’t want to get close to her at all. So it was to another that she found companionship with. The older man with the dark golden curls at the back of his neck and the whiskey-colored eyes. Not only did she find a papa in him, but a conspirator. And oh, on this day, they had a plan, and walked out of the house together, a bag full of apples and spray paint, got into Thomas’s inconspicuous vehicle and went into town.
They’d be coming back with the giggles, but would say nothing, no matter how many times that they were questioned.
It would be all over Social Media before the news would get it, as such things typically were in today's days. Reddit and Instagram was a better source of news than anything on the telly.
Oogie Boogie had been meant to perform a small show. Her reputation had been being damaged since the Sherwood Massacre, and she wanted to give a concert in good faith. But before the doors of the venue had been opened, while the line was long outside, a horse came a trotting all by itself down the street, stopping traffic, cars a-beeping. But it wasn’t the horse itself that had been the main source of the attention. Such things happened around here, with all of the carriages, sometimes a horse got loose.
But what was the source of all of the laughter, the pointing, the gasping, the picture taking, was the fact that there was a very large naked man sitting backwards atop of the horse’s saddle. Tied down with purple and gold scarves that seemed never ending. weaving about, securing hands behind the back, securing legs around the saddle, a gag to keep him from saying anything. He wasn’t going anywhere, and no one was stepping forward with knives to cut the scarves to help. There would be a few who would recognize him as Cobra Bubbles, the gym teacher of Halloweentown High School.
On his back would be spray painted in white, as to contrast his dark skin, ‘Oogie Boogie’. And on the front of him, which would be seen afterward. ‘Stay in Halloweentown’.
The horse would stop in front of the venue, tail a wagging as it let loose it’s bowels right near the front doors. A couple of the staff would exit out of the side door and try to help but those bonds were tough to break. An embarrassing display, no doubt. One of Oogie’s strongest men humiliated publicly. One might think his reputation might never recover.
