Scotland, a long time ago. It was Halloween, and every child in the village was dressing up as an evil spirit to go trick or treating, especially us - me, Luke, Resus, Cleo, Bluey, Bingo and Mackenzie. We were all dressed in onesies especially for the occasion - Bluey and Bingo were a zebra and a cheetah, because you know where they got their onesies from. I was a scary lion, Resus was a pig, Luke was obviously a wolf and Cleo was a tiger. Our costumes wouldn’t be complete without our masks, which looked ancient and scary as hell. Oh! And I forgot about Mackenzie, too - he was a pirate, and he had a scary white mask with a demonic red face.
“Roll call!” I announced as everyone lined up outside my house. “Luke?” “Awwoooooooooo!!” “Resus?” “Oink oink!” “Cleo?” “Raaaaarrr!” “Bingo?” “Ready!” “Bluey?” “Neeeeigh!” “Mackenzie?” “Yarrr!” “And I am ready as well, but we cannot go without this.” I held out a huge basket with a white sheet inside. Everyone stared at it hopefully. “With this basket, we can collect all our treats, so the ghouls that come to haunt us won’t steal it away from us. I will need one of you to hold the basket with me. Luke, you’re strong enough to hold this basket, right?” “Yep,” said Luke, “I’m ready whenever you are.” We all put on our masks, and growled at one another like big cats. “Okay, let’s get going!” I said, and off we went down the street.
Down the road we walked, trying to see through the eyeholes that appeared in our masks as we saw the other wee bairns going trick or treating. We could see Indy and Chloe on the other side of the neighbourhood, dressed as witches with green masks with pointy noses. We had to stifle a giggle because they looked so silly. At last, we came to the home of Frisky, Bluey’s godmother. Being related to Frisky, Bluey banged on the door. Frisky answered to see me and Luke holding our basket, and us calling “Trick or treat!” “Ah, I see you’re all dressed up for Halloween.” said Frisky. “Yeah, you bet,” we answered. “Why are you holding this basket together? I thought you were each going to carry a trick or treat bucket.” “This is our Ghost Basket,” said Luke. “We’re to carry all our treats in it.” “That makes a change,” said Frisky. She went into her house, then came back out with a basket full of lollies and chocolate. “Yay!” we cheered. “Okay, here’s a handful of my favourite candies, just for you kids.” “Thanks!” I said. “Good luck and happy Halloween!” she smiled, and shut the door. We set off down the road, unaware that a grizzly butcher-like man wearing the skinned face of a pig was watching.
The next house we reached was the home of Bluey’s school teacher Calypso. She never whipped any of the children in her class because she allowed them to play really well, and Bluey thought this was her chance to thank her. She banged on the door, and Calypso answered. “Thank you, teach!” she cried. “Thank you teach?” she asked, and then smiled. “Oh, that’s so nice of you Bluey.” “It’s to thank you for being unlike any other teacher in ancient Scotland.” she said. “As a thank you from myself, I think you all deserve some candy for your - what’s that?” “That’s our Ghost Basket,” I said. “Ghost Basket, then,” said Calypso, and she went inside her house to look for some candy. At last, out she came with a bowl full of toffees. She placed them into our basket and said, “Toffees are my favourite thing to eat. I hope you enjoy them too. Happy Halloween!”
As we left, Indy and Chloe approached us. “Happy Halloween, guys!” said Chloe. “How was your candy collecting? We got lots of tablet.” “Tablet?” asked Mackenzie. “You mean pills?” “No, tablet - a sort of fudge! A Scottish treat!” “Yum!” said Resus. “I would love to have that, other than pig swill every day.” “But you’re not a pig, you’re a vampire!” I laughed. “Oh.” said Resus, “I’m a bit dumb with myself.” “No matter what happens, we must keep our masks on until we get home, or ghosts will possess us.” The grizzly man from earlier was watching us from behind an alleyway, growling like a bulldog with rabies. We froze in our tracks. “Did you hear that?” I whimpered. “Nothing, just Winston.” Chloe was still smiling. “He’s just possessed by the devil.” “Nonsense!” scolded Indy, “I think Winston’s dressed as a bulldog with rabies.” “Guys,” said Luke, “Look behind you.”
We all turned around and saw the grizzly man towering over us, blood all over his hands and pieces of pig skin stitched into his. We all screamed! “Yuck!” said Bingo, “Is it me or does he smell of manure?” “Don’t judge how I smell,” growled the man, “I am the Malevolent Meat Man, and I’m here to hunt down anyone who dares dress up as something that was originally meat. Bloody, fried meat! Now, who shall I choose?” He pointed a finger at us, and we shivered and shook in fear. Resus shrank back in horror, whimpering like a mouse with his tail chopped off. The Meat Man pointed his large, fat finger at Resus. “A-ha. A pig! And there’s nothing I like more than mashed mutton and pork for tea!” The Meat Man grabbed Resus by his neck and dragged him away kicking and screaming. “RESUS!” I shouted. “Help! HELP!” he cried as he was carried away. “Oh no! Resus has been taken away by the meat man!” I cried, “He mistook him for a real pig!” “We have to do something fast or Resus will turn to a sausage roll - with fangs!” wailed Cleo. “I know that Luella and Eefa live down the road, maybe we could consult their spellbook for ideas.”
It didn’t take a single hour for us to run down the road towards Eefa’s shop, and we burst through the door to the sound of a squeaking bat. “Hello, kids,” said Eefa, “What’s with the red, exposed, puffed out faces?” “Resus has been taken away by the Meat Man!” shouted Cleo. “Can we consult your spell book for help?” asked Bingo. “My spellbook, hmmm? It’s just over there.” We raced towards a big brown leather book lying on a table. “I’ll turn over to page 43.” remarked Eefa, and she turned the pages, until she found a section titled “How To Vanquish The Meat Man”. It read:
“With use of the spellbook and a blessed amulet, try to find a cheetah closest to you in the area. Recite the below spell, and the cheetah’s spirit will merge into your amulet, turning the creature to hard, cold stone. Once you approach the Meat Man’s house, you can smash your amulet against a rock or something, then the spirit of the cheetah will merge with whoever holds the amulet.”
“I have an amulet hung up on my counter. Hold on, I’ll go and get it.” Eefa went to a section of the counter where a selection of ancient amulets were hung up. She chose a golden one with a red centre, and wrapped it round Bingo’s neck. “Bingo, it’s yours. You have the power to save Sybil’s brother from being dinner for the Meat Man.” We all clapped as Bingo bowed low. Later, we took the spellbook and the amulet to the zoo near the village, where lots of animals were fast asleep in their cages. Once we got to the cheetah cage, we watched as the cheetah was fast asleep on his rocky podium, dreaming fast, adrenaline fueled dreams. Bingo flicked to page 43 and began to recite the spell, which was surprisingly in Latin:
“Cheetahs caudae omnes habeo
Tu me recipis?
Ille abduxit, et nunc solvet
Ut reddas spiritum tumm in amuletumm meum…”
She finished the spell with a chant of “Ommmmm…” The cheetah’s spirit flew out of its body and into the amulet. “I never knew Bingo could be so mystical…” whispered Chloe. “Yeah, whoever knew,” said Mackenzie. “Now let’s go and save Resus!” cried Bingo, and we all raced off to find our friend.
In the Meat Man’s house, Resus was trapped in a cage, surrounded by millions of other pigs trapped squealing in cages. Some of them were piglets who have been separated from their parents. The Meat Man’s house had butcher’s knives dangling from the ceiling, and blood splattered on the walls. Resus watched as the Meat Man forced a piglet onto his bench and used a giant carving knife to chop him in half. Resus screamed, setting the other pigs off. “Silence!” shouted the Meat Man, “There’ll be no noise while I choose my kill.” Resus didn’t get down on his hands and knees because his head kept bumping on the hard surface of the cage.
Meanwhile, we all reached the Meat Man’s house, our costumes blowing in the wind. There was a large, sharp rock nearby. “Alright, Bingo, do it.” said Luke, and with that said, Bingo ran up to the rock and smashed the amulet onto its hard surface, breaking it, and causing its glass to shatter and Bingo’s paws began bleeding. The cheetah spirit flew out and merged with Bingo’s body, causing her to float and transform. Her paws became cheetah paws, her bones cracked and reformed into cheetah ones, and her onesie fell off as she transformed from a Blue Heeler puppy to a real life cheetah. The cheetah roared in the fog and raced towards the house, with us cheering her in the background. “Go Bingo!” we shouted.
In the Meat Man’s house, Resus struggled as the Meat Man pulled him out of his cage and slammed him against the table, hitting his head and elbows on the hard surface. “You’ll look good sliced to pork, I just know people will love to taste your insides.” he growled. But just as he was about to stab Resus with his knife, the cheetah burst in and pounced onto the Meat Man. She scratched and bit at him, until she finally ate up his remains, which were scarred out by force. She then scratched away Resus’ cuffs, and pulled him up from the blood soaked table, letting him ride on her back away from the house as it crashed to a million pieces. All the pigs raced out, free from their cages, as we cheered the cheetah, who let Resus down. But our celebration didn’t last long, for the cheetah faded away into dust, which flew away into the moon. “Well, at least we got Resus back,” said Luke. Bluey sniffed, tears filling her eyes. “Goodbye, Bingo.” she whimpered, sobbing.
The next morning, Luke, Resus, Cleo and I woke up to breakfast. “You must’ve had a long night last night,” said my Mum as she poured out orange juice. “We sure did. Let’s just say Bingo ascended to Heaven.” I said. “Resus, I’m so glad you’re back with us.” Resus booped me on the nose, causing me to giggle. “We’ve got your favourite, Resus - a full Monty! Bacon, eggs and pancakes.”
“Yuck!” said Resus, “No meat, I’d rather have just the pancakes. And can I have some extra butter please?”
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