Have you ever read Enid Blyton’s The Faraway Tree? Jo, Beth and Franny are three children living in a little cottage deep in the country. Well, I live in the country like the children in this book, and I have roommates too. These roommates are no ordinary roommates. They’re Luke, a werewolf, Cleo, an Egyptian mummy, and Resus, a vampire. We spend all day together every day, because I am homeschooled. Mum doesn’t use CBBC to caretake my homeschooling, because she says CBBC is a complete waste of time and it hates Scream Street. We have two pets too - Dig, a half-dog, and Lulu, a leech. Life with my roommates was full of happiness. We’d play out in the garden and hide from each other whenever a game of hide and seek was played. We’d sit together on the bench and watch the sun go down whenever it was a quiet and peaceful night and whenever we had the chance, we’d go for long walks in the forest. Life in the country was paradise.
This story is about the time we experienced a mini crisis unlike any other.
It was the beginning of the October school holidays, and Luke, Resus, Cleo and I were excited because our cousin Six was coming to visit. We loved playing with our cousin. She was really strong, and yet she was so gentle. She had been gentle to me ever since I was a baby, and we have been on multiple visits to see my Aunt F and cousin Six on days in and out of the school holidays. Our mum had recently got a job for the local newspaper, about the lifestyle and wellbeing of monsters across the UK, and today we had a copy. The latest section was about watching too much TV and how the loss of money had made the channel CBBC go downhill, and soon it will start airing American cartoons, so kids should watch streaming instead.
“WHAT?!” cried Resus. “How can they do this to Scream Street? By the way, has anybody read your column, Mum?” “Oh yes,” said Mum, “In fact Wembley Werewolf reads the gazette every day to keep up with his thousands of children.” “Wow,” I said, “For one werewolf, he happens to have loads of children.” “Loads, yes,” said Luke, “If I were to marry you, I think we’d have two children.” “What will we name them?” I asked. “Lola and Sapphire.” I blushed and giggled as Luke kissed my cheek. “Now, kids, remember: your cousin Six is coming tomorrow. I want you to be extra nice to her, because she’s going through a very hard time right now.” “Cousin Six! Cousin Six!” we chanted. “I knew you were going to say that,” said Mum. “Yeah, we ALWAYS say that when we hear Six is coming for a visit.” “Cousin Six!” Resus continued chanting. Cleo playfully punched him in the side. “Hey!” he cried. “I was only setting the mood!” “Never mind, I think we’d better not chant it for all of today, in case we’re clockwork monster machines.”
We got everything ready for our cousin. We cleaned our room, I made the bed and Luke refused to clean his room, so he just sat downstairs playing Zombie Kickboxer while Cleo and Resus cleared away my toys. As we finished cleaning, Mum called “Dinner!” and we all raced downstairs. Luke dropped his console and raced to the table. It was battered cod and chips again - our favourite. Mum turned on the radio. A jolly tune began to play. Mum always tells us to not dance while eating, as it’ll give us hiccups. I remember when I danced while eating dinner, and I got a terrible amount of hiccups. Luke had to turn werewolf and hang me upside down so that my hiccups would go away. As we were eating our dinner like good children, Resus being funny by sticking chips into his fake fangs, the tune was suddenly interrupted by this voice on the radio:
“We interrupt this programme for an official government announcement. All through next week, CBBC will air the new episodes of Scream Street. There will be some changes to the episodes, so follow our instructions carefully. If you’re a monster, it is vital that you hear our advice before thinking twice. We will be delivering government announcements throughout Monday to Friday next week. That’s all.”
“This is it!” I cried. “It’s nothing to get excited about,” said Luke, “We’ve been waiting for this for a long time, but with all those changes I think you won’t like this series.” “But I love season 1!” I said. “Not this time. Us Scream Street residents were very, very, VERY upset to learn that the second series will ruin our reputation of life on the street. For starters, they’ll be taking away some characters we know and love. Secondly, it’ll have a more unsettling tone. And three, it’ll be unwatchable!” I was so shocked food fell out of my mouth.