"Did you hear that?" You whispered, sitting up on the mattress.
"What?" Michael mumbled.
"Shh," You hushed him, leaning forward to see if you could hear another sound.
For a long moment, it was quiet. However, that was quickly interrupted by the sound of footsteps running down the hall, followed by a light, childish giggle.
Michael sat up. "I heard that."
You smiled and turned to face him. "I think a few of our appleheads had too much sugar today."
More footsteps echoed down the hall. You held back a laugh.
Michael giggled softly. "You've got that right."
He yanked the covers from his legs and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. You raised your brows at him.
"You comin'?" He asked.
"Are we joining them for the night?" You said with a smile.
"You could say that. I just wanna see how many of them are up," he replied, slipping his loafers on, "And . . . maybe give them a little scare."
"Not without me you're not," you giggled softly, jumping out of the bed and slipping on your flats.
With a mischievous glint in his eye, Michael waited for you to get ready before walking to the door.
"Wait," you whispered, grabbing his arm.
He looked at you curiously before watching you turn your head and adjust your ear over the door.
"Oh," he whispered, smiling slightly before mirroring your actions.
Again, there was nothing but silence on the other side of the door. Suddenly, there was a relatively small bump against the door, causing both of you to jump back.
"Oops!" A tiny voice exclaimed, sounding extremely alarmed.
"Brandi!" A hushed voice scolded, "You're gonna wake up Uncle Doo Doo and Auntie Y/N!"
You looked at Michael, a hand over your mouth to muffle your laughs. Michael looked back at you, raising his brows with a mischievous grin.
"A little late for that," Michael whispered, making you laugh harder.
"You think they woke up?" Brandi's young voice spoke.
There was silence. You held your breath, knowing that whoever was with Brandi was listening for movement on your side of the door.
"No, I think we're good," the other voice answered.
You instantly recognized it as Taj's voice.
"Let's go," Taj whispered and their footsteps receded.
Your gaze fell back on Michael. "I thought you supposedly taught them how to 'sneak around like spies,'" you whispered.
"Aw, you can't expect much from little Brandi. Taj, however, knows better than to whisper that loudly," Michael responded lowly, making you laugh lightly, "Come on, it's time for us to go teach them a little lesson about staying up past their bedtime."
"Alright, but we can't do anything too crazy. The last thing we want to do is wake up the whole house. I'm not trying to hear flack from the rest of the family about us acting 'immaturely,'" you responded.
Michael rolled his eyes and scoffed. "They can suck my socks," he whispered, slowly opening the bedroom door, "Let's go."
~~~~
Brandi's Point Of View
Holding Taj's hand, I let him lead me down the dark hallway. TJ, Autumn, Taryll, and Valencia were already ahead of us.
"What're we gonna do?" I asked enthusiastically.
"Shh!" Taj shushed me, making me pout, "We're gonna play a game, but we can only play it when it's dark."
"Why?" I asked, tilting my head.
"Because those are the rules."
"Why?"
"Because we made them."
"Why?"
"So it can be more fun."
"Why?"
"Because," he hissed, " that's why."
I frowned before sticking my tongue out at him. Suddenly, I felt a familiar feeling in my body.
"Uh oh, I have to go to the potty," I spoke up.
Taj groaned. "Brandi, come on! Can't you hold it?"
I shook my head. "I can't, Taj! I can't!"
"Okay, okay, geez! Come on."
He turned left and pulled me down another hallway. I was glad that Taj was here with me. Everything looked really dark at nighttime. It was the perfect time for monsters to be out!
Once we stopped in front of a wooden door, he gently pushed me towards it.
"Go on and do your business," he whispered.
~~~~
Taj continued to pull me down the hallway. As I let him lead me, I looked around, trying to keep an eye out for monsters. Then, I saw one! As we walked down the staircase, a shadow ran down the main hallway. My eyes widened.
"Taj! A shadow monster!" I yelled.
"Shh, Brandi!" He hushed me, covering my mouth with his hand.
I looked back up the staircase, but the shadow was gone. I whimpered and gripped Taj's arm, letting him continue to lead me down the staircase. Once we reached the bottom, he let go of my hand.
"Okay, wait here for a second. I'm gonna go get the others," he whispered before running off.
"Wait! Taj!" I called, but he was already gone.
I puckered my lips before looking around anxiously. The shadow monster could be anywhere in the house! I didn't wanna he left alone. Tears began to prickle my eyes before I felt two hands grab me. One covered my mouth and one gripped my waist. I was instantly scooped up and I cried out in panic.
"Shh, Brandi. It's okay, it's me," a familiar voice whispered.
My eyes widened and I turned my head. Uncle Doo Doo smiled down at me before removing his hand from my mouth. I sniffled as he adjusted me to sit on his hip.
"Uncle Doo Doo, you scared me!"
"I know, Applehead, I'm sorry. I just didn't want you to make a loud noise," he replied softly.
"I'm scared! I saw something and I'm scared!" I cried, tears beginning to spill.
"Aw, Brandi, shhh. It's okay now. You're okay now," he cooed, pulling me close to him while bouncing me on his hip.
I whimpered and he hushed me. "I've got you," he whispered, running his hand over my long, braided hair.
"A shadow monster!" I cried.
Uncle Doo Doo chuckled before kissing my head. "No, Applehead. That was just Auntie Y/N. She wasn't trying to scare you. There's nothing to be afraid of."
I stared up at him, making him giggle. "Auntie Y/N and I wanted to pull a little prank on your cousins. They're up past their bedtime."
I gasped and nodded. "I know! Taj woke me up!"
He giggled before gently grabbing my chin with his thumb and pointer fingers. "So, you wanna help?"
I smiled and nodded eagerly. He giggled and gave me one more peck on my forehead.
"Okay, let's go."
~~~~
Valencia's Point Of View
"Come on. Brandi's still in here. You cats ready to play hide and seek in the dark," Taj spoke evilly, wiggling his fingers.
"Oh put a cork in it, Taj. It's not that scary," I replied, rolling my eyes.
He scoffed. "Whatever, Val. But don't start crying if something unexpected happens," he sassed, closing the sliding glass door.
"Y'all both need to be quiet," Autumn whispered, "You're gonna wake everybody up—
She stopped short when the kitchen light turned on. All of us stopped and ducked behind the couch.
"Do you think it's Brandi?" Taryll whispered.
"Can she even reach the light switch?" Taj asked.
Simultaneously, we all peeked over the back of the couch. To our horror, the light was repeatedly turning on and off. The kitchen looked empty, but from our angle, we couldn't tell for sure.
"It's a ghost!"
"It's not a ghost."
"A ghoul?"
"Goblin?"
"One of Uncle Doo Doo's zombies?"
"Will all of you shut up?" Taj hissed, "It's just the electricity acting funny."
"Yeah and that makes what kind of sense?" Taryll responded.
"I still say it's a ghost," I whispered.
"I second that," TJ agreed.
"Come on, you guys! There is no ghost!"
A loud bang echoed behind us, making everyone turn around. A dictionary had been knocked off of the bookshelf. Then, a loud noise came from the kitchen. Immediately, we spotted a handful of pots and pans that were on the floor. A sudden noise made us gasp and turn back around. The television had turned on by itself. We stared at the screen, becoming increasingly freaked out by the snow screen.
"No ghost?" Taryll asked sarcastically.
"No ghost," Taj replied defiantly.
"Are you sure about that, Taj?" A voice growled from behind us.
Everyone whipped around, but no one was there. We all looked at each other with wide eyes.
"It's a poltergeist!" I exclaimed.
"Ghost!" We all screamed before running in separate directions.
I took off for the coat closet and closed myself inside. My breathing was shallow as I tried to keep calm. The tiny space was pitch black, so I couldn't see anything around me.
As soon as I began to calm down, I felt something grab my ankle, causing me to scream and jet out of the closet.
"The ghost is in the closet!" I yelled, running for my life.
The door to the broom closet slammed open. Autumn and TJ ran out frantically.
"Come on! Let's go to the dining room!" Autumn exclaimed.
The three of us ran into the dining room and scanned the room for a place to hide. Almost instantly, we spotted the dining room table, which was covered by a table cloth.
"Over there!" TJ said, pointing his finger.
We all ran to the table and ducked underneath.
"Hey!" Taj and Taryll exclaimed.
"Shut up, we can all fit," Autumn snapped, raising the cloth for us to scoot underneath.
Once we were settled, we waited silently. For a while, everything was silent. The only sounds came from our heavy breathing and constant shushing.
"Look at you, all huddled together," the creepy voice growled.
We all gasped and huddled closer.
"Not the best plan, young ones," another voice hissed, "You've just made yourselves one big target."
"Please don't eat us!" I exclaimed.
"Wait, where the heck is Brandi?" Taryll asked.
We all gasped, realizing we'd forgotten all about our young cousin.
"She won't be joining you again tonight," the deeper voice growled.
"Oh my gosh! The ghost ate Brandi!" TJ cried.
Through the table cloth, we could see two shadows approaching us on both sides.
"Now, we're going to get . . . you!"
Two pairs of hands reached underneath and grabbed us. We all flinched and screamed at the top of our lungs.
"What the hell is going on down here?" An irritated voice spoke.
I opened my eyes and furrowed my brows.
"Uncle Randy?" I called, peeking from underneath the curtain.
Auntie Y/N and Uncle Mike stood up from the floor, laughing uncontrollably.
"Hey!" TJ exclaimed accusingly , "It was you guys!"
"Uncle Doo Doo!" I exclaimed.
"Do you guys know what time it is?" Uncle Tito asked, stumbling into the room.
We all began crawling out from underneath the table.
"They pulled a prank on us!" Taryll exclaimed.
"Only because you all woke us up from our slumber with your stomping," Uncle Doo Doo said, raising his brows at Taryll.
"You guys were supposed to be in bed," Uncle Tito said.
"Do any of y'all respect our need for sleep?" Daddy said, walking into the room.
"Marlon, go back to bed. Matter of fact, all of us should be getting back to bed. Come on, chop chop!" Tito said, clapping his hands.
"I did it! I grabbed a leg!" Brandi exclaimed proudly, running out of the coat closet.
"That was you?" I gasped.
She ran to Uncle Doo and he scooped her up. "Yep!"
"You little gremlin!" I shook my head.
"All of you are some nocturnal gremlins. Now come on, let's go," Tito said, pushing us back up the stairs.