The Scarecrow

 Where I work, there was a QR Code for a writing contest for a Scary Story.  I saw this and found it a nice challenge...

"Welcome to Mirror's short story horror contest! All participants must use the following prompt for their stories: The main character(s) is at an empty house where a scarecrow comes alive.

 Feeling like a challenge? Here are some optional challenges to include in your story, these do NOT affect your story's ranking in the contest. Include a cat, a pumpkin, fall weather, a famous movie line of your choice."

So I worked out a outline of the story I had in mind. I wanted to be different and challenge myself to tell the story from a unique perspective. The point of view I chose gave me a way to minimize the amount of detail I had to cover and allowed me to really focus on the specifics of what was happening. This was the kind of writing challenge I needed and helped me really learn how to write.

Please enjoy this spookie telling I created.

It was a dark and stormy night.  I was on my way home to my friend’s house.  He was running ahead of me and I was running to keep up. He wanted to get a quick run in before the storm came, but the wind picked up and it started raining on us. 
  My friend, humans call him Charlie or Chuck but he keeps saying he’s ‘daddy’.  He’s always saying ‘Daddy loves you’ and ‘Daddy’s got a treat for you’ but I know for a fact that I came from my mommy and she was a person and Charlie was a human. Charlie picked me up at this place other human’s call a farm but I always think of it as my first home.  I had 4 brothers and 5 sisters and we all were born in this big box that I think was called a barn. Humans have such strange words for things. 
Anyway, Charlie brought me to his big box which he calls a home, but some call it an apartment. That is where we live.  Charlie is my friend and I really like him. He takes me on walks and we play at the park where I met the other people and their humans. 
   Now we didn’t go very far on our run but the rain was getting heavy.

Charlie was running and I was keeping up with him, but he wasn’t holding my lead. He had that attached to what he called a “drone”. It followed us and held my lead so Charlie could run.  He said something about this being a test run. I have been around the drone for a while so it doesn’t bother me.  
I'm warm with my fur so I don’t mind the rain either.

I'm warm with my fur so I don’t mind it. I love running in this type of weather.  Not really the rain, but when the warm air goes away and the cold winds start to change the outside, there are so many new smells.  The leaves of the trees start to die and fall off. The grass is starting to slowly grow and the special types of smells that happen when we start to get close to the human winters. It’s this fun thing that the young humans call Autumn. Charlie calls them “kids” or “turnips” but they are basically young humans. Then one night the kids dress up in these weird skin covers, like what they wear in the cold but different. Then the kids go to other box-homes and get this really interesting smelling things wrapped in paper.  I tried one once and it really made me sick, but my pooped smelled good the next time it came out. I don’t try to eat that stuff anymore.
   Charlie slowed his running and was looking at a box-home.  I don’t remember passing this when we ran this way earlier and it smelled, not right.
   I mean I’ve been around other box-homes before and they always have a really comfortable or interesting smell because of the humans living there. But this box-home didn’t smell like that at all. It smelled like rotten fruit or garbage, which can be fun to roll in sometimes. This was not like that at all.
  “Let's wait here until the rain lightens, then we can get home.” Charlie said.  
I looked at the house and cocked my head at Charlie.
  “Are you kidding me?” I said. “That place smells wrong all over!  Why would you want to do that?”
 But of course my friend Charlie is human and they don’t understand how people speak so all he heard from me was a whine and low bark. 
  Charlie frowned, “It will be fine buddy, let's just get out of this rain.”  

Just then there was a bright flash in the sky and then a loud crack hurt my ears. Charlie jumped and he started toward the box-home. I was scared and followed him but I slowed as we got closer.  The drone started to fall because the rain was coming down now.  I started dragging it once we got close to the front. There was a covered area that seemed to run around the whole box-home.  We ran up the steps and the drone banged against the bottom step and made a weird noise that scared me.  

   “Oh No!” Charlie yelled through the rain.  He ran down the steps and grabbed the drone and set it down on the boards once he got to the top of the steps again.  “Well, that’s toast.”  He said looking at the drone. “Oh well, now we know how it works in the rain.” He smiled at me. “Guess we gotta put in for more tests. I was really hoping the company design team had made it more durable.” 
  A lot of this stuff is complete drool to me.  Charlie is a really smart human when it comes to this technology stuff. But running up to this house with its bad smells and wrongness wasn’t one of them.
  I  looked around and sniffed the boards of the house. There was just something awful about this box. I couldn’t figure out what it was, but I didn’t like it at all.  
 Charlie was shoving the drone and my lead into his bag that he wore on his back when I turned back to him.

“Come on, Jabberwocky.” He said. “Let's see if anyone is home.”  
I never understood why he called me ‘Jabberwocky’ but he always seemed to smile when he did.  The first time I thought he was talking to something else, but the constant repeating I finally realized he was calling me that.  He called me other things too. Buddy, Dude, Whiny Baby, and a few others, but Jabberwocky was his favorite and it finally grew on me.  I started calling myself that and the other people always thought it was a strange name.  The humans Charlie told always thought it was funny.  But when I try to explain it to them, they get this weird look and then tell Charlie, “Ok I get it now.”  Humans really need to learn how to talk with people like me.  

  Charlie and I walked up to the front door.  He hit the bell button, but it didn’t work. He then banged on the door with his hand, but nothing happened.
   Charlie looked at me and lifted his shoulders like he does when he gets confused. 
“Let’s walk around and see what we can see.” He said.
  I signed and said, “okay.” which to him I guess sounded like a whiny-growl.  

  We walked around the box-home under the covered area, which seemed to go all the way around.  As we walked I glanced out into the yard. The whole house seemed to be surrounded by trees except for a few feet of open grass, which was covered in leaves.  The strange thing is that I couldn’t smell the leaves. Usually they have a wonderful smell and when Charlie piles them up, I love running really fast and jumping in them.  Rolling in them is amazing and I get pieces of them in my fur and I smell great!  Somehow, these leaves had no smell at all. That made my body shake.  I don’t like this box-home at all.  We need to leave. 
   Charlie kept walking and I sped up to stay with him. We came to the back of the box-home and this part looked different.  The whole house smelled like bad wood and nasty garbage, I could almost feel the creepy crawly things in the wood. It made my paws itch. 
    Charlie knocked on the door and said, “Anybody home?”  No one answered.  
“My name is Charles.” He said into the box-home. “I was out for a run with my dog when the rain started.  I hope you don’t mind, we are just standing on your porch until the rain stops.”  
A PORCH!?  That’s what this thing is called?  What a silly name for wood going around a box.  Charlie and I have an apartment and we don’t have anything like this. 
  While Charlie was talking inside the box-home, I was looking at the back yard.  In the middle of the yard was a strange thing. I could barely smell it but it kind of looked like 2 big sticks, one in the ground and the other stick crossing close to the top. On the sticks was what looked like a human wearing old clothes, but they smelled like stinky mud, like what you find in the sewers. I learned about that smell the wrong way. I fell into a drain when I was a puppy, but Charlie caught me before I sank into it. The human-looking thing smelled like that only worse.  It had what looked like a human head, only rounder and bigger.  It had a strange hat on and it covered where the face was supposed to be. It smelled like really bad fruit or maybe rotten fruit. I didn’t like it at all and I growled at it to warn it.

  Charlie must have heard me because he was at my side in a minute. “What is it buddy?” He looked at the thing in the yard and he signed. “Dude, it's just a scarecrow with a pumpkin on its head.” He said, almost laughing. “The owner probably had an old Halloween decoration that didn’t get pulled in last year and he just left it there. It’s nothing to growl at.”
  I heard what Charlie was saying and I couldn’t believe it.  How could he look and smell that thing and not feel worried.  It wasn’t just the smells. There was something wrong about it. I could feel it from my nose to my tail.   
  “Come here buddy,” Charlie said.  “Let's check inside if someone’s home. The backdoor is open.”
I turned to Charlie and gave him what I thought would be a worried look and said, ”Charlie can we go home? I don’t like this place!” but I think it came out as a whiny-bark and growl. 

  Charlie looked at me and I could tell he didn’t understand.  “It’s ok boy,” He said.  “Come on inside and let’s dry off. We will head home as soon as the rain stops.”
  I really didn’t want to stay here, but I knew that if I ran, Charlie would be here all by himself and I didn’t want to leave him. He was my friend and I had to stay with him and keep him safe.  So I huffed out a breath and followed him into the house.  Charlie was moving around a corner and I could feel the air mixing from outside to the inside.
   As the door started to close behind us, I caught a smell that wasn’t there before. Charlie was walking into the next room of the home, but he didn’t react.  
Then I felt something else, I don’t know what it was but I could sense something.  I felt this once before. At the farm where I was born. A cat had come into the barn where my brothers and sisters were sleeping.  Our mother had gone to eat and left us sleeping. I had just woken up. The cat started hissing and growling at us.  I was terrified. This cat was huge and I was so scared. I turned and my brothers and sisters were sleeping. My mother was gone. There was no one but me.  I knew right then,  I had to defend my family, so I started barking my bark as loud as I could at the cat. The cat charged us, and just before it got to me, my mother came in and snarled at the cat, chasing it away.
  That feeling I felt was like that. I turned around and I could see the scarecrow through the crack in the door. It had changed.  The eyes and mouth were glowing a strange light from within. Almost like a small fire that grew brighter and bigger so that I could see it bleeding from cracks in the pumpkin.  I didn’t like what I was seeing at all. I could feel the same meanness that the cat had felt towards me and my sisters and brothers, but this was so much bigger. It was like a giant fire of ugly and pain all focused towards me and Charlie. The rain seemed to intensify and it was banging on the roof of the house. I heard the thunder bang again, which scared me. 
  Then, I saw it move. The arms came off of the stick, and its legs pulled away and stepped down to the ground. The leaves curled away from the Scarecrow.  It seemed to wobble, like it had not used its legs in a while. It slumped a bit and took a step, then turned and gripped one of the sticks that a moment before had been holding it up.  Then it reached behind its back and pulled a curved piece of metal out.  It then seemed to attach the curved metal to the top of the stick it was holding.  The Scarecrow looked at me with those now blazing flame eyes and took the stick in both hands.  I was scared, so scared.  I had never seen or felt something like this before. I turned to look for Charlie, but he wasn’t there. I tried to bark but I stopped. I couldn’t Bark! I couldn’t make a sound. 
   “Yes,” said a voice. “You are just a simple animal. You cannot stop what is coming. Runaway and leave the man to his fate.” 
 It was the Scarecrow! It’s mouth wasn’t moving but I could hear it in my head.  I felt my tail crawl between my legs. My legs started to feel weak and I started to lay down. I was so scared. I couldn’t move. I tried to take a sniff but it was so hard to breathe.  
   “Hello, is anyone home?”  Charlie said from the next room. The rain was making too much noise.  Charlie couldn’t hear what was happening.

“There is no one who can save your owner,” the Scarecrow said, his voice like an old vacuum in an empty hallway. “He is mine and you will die with him. Runaway little dog, you are nothing.” 
I heard its words, they were so heavy. I felt so small, like when I was a puppy during a thunderstorm. I could feel myself shaking. I didn’t know what to do. 
  Then I heard something. A voice I had almost forgotten. It came to me like cool milk on a summer day. It wrapped me in a warm blanket and I wasn’t scared anymore. “Good Boy,” said the voice. I remembered. I remembered being in the barn with the cat. My mother came in and scared the cat away.  She came back and saw all my brothers and sisters asleep and looked at me. She was panting and smiling. She bent down and kissed my face. “Good Boy,” my mother said. “You take care of your family. My brave good boy. Always remember to take care of your family.”
  And with that, the fear was gone. I held onto that image of my Mother in my head and I was filled with my own glow. I felt my fur stand out. My legs felt strong and my tail went straight out behind me. I stood up on all four of my paws and I pushed the door open with my front paw.
  The Scarecrow was about halfway up the steps to the porch and slowed to take another step up. I came out on the porch and stood in the way of the Scarecrow.  I lifted myself on my two back paws and then slammed my front paws down onto the porch. There was a loud noise of creaking boards and the roof of the porch shook.  I felt the dust and splinters pelt my back.  I bared my teeth in the loudest growl I had ever made.  I was not afraid of this thing. This was just a bunch of cloth and sticks. I tear that stuff to pieces every day. I chew sticks for breakfast.
 I said in a growling bark, “You cannot Pass!”
       The Scarecrow seemed to slump for a minute, then it put its foot back down. 
“Charlie is my Friend!” I barked at the Scarecrow. “He is my Family!” I barked even louder. I drew in a breath and it filled me with a blaze in my heart that I had never felt. I was a Good Boy and I was not going to let this pile of garbage hurt my friend. “Go back to the shadows from where you came! I am not afraid of you!”

  The Scarecrow seemed to lean back a bit. It tilted its head slightly, as if it had just seen me for the first time. Then it seemed to smile.
  “Then you will die,” the Scarecrow said. It raised the stick with the sharp metal piece and began to swing it at me. 
    I was ready for it. I’ve wrestled with sticks and Charlie so many times and I knew right where to grab it.  Just before the Scarecrow brought the stick down, I jumped at him, my claws ripping into the old wood floor and pulling chunks out. I opened my jaws and grabbed the stick at the lowest part by the Scarecrow's hand.  It flinched its hand back and lost its balance as my weight came down on the big stick.  I pulled the stick with me as my body started to fall from the leap. I could feel the cold rain hit my teeth as I bit into the wood.  I held on with everything I had, growling loudly. 
 I pulled the Scarecrow down and it came down several steps, trying to get a grip on the stick.  I kept pulling with all I had. Biting hard on that stick.  Whatever the Scarecrow was, it wasn’t super strong. I felt the rain on my fur. My claws dug into the dirt and mud as I pulled on the stick.  The Scarecrow growled in frustration and pushed back at me, rushing forward both hands on the stick. I tried to move with him but I had been pulling and not expecting the change.  The Scarecrow was able to pull the stick out of my mouth and as he came past me, he got a leg under me and kicked me away.  I felt my breath go out and I fell onto the wet ground and leaves.  The Scarecrow turned quickly and started toward the house.  I got my feet under me and shook the rain and leaves off. I saw the Scarecrow jump up the steps to the porch and was about to go through the door.  It was going for Charlie!  
With a growling bark I charged after it. My claws grabbing into the mud and grass, I accelerated and as I got close to the steps, I leapt up to the porch.  I hit the door with all my strength.   I was expecting to be stopped, but the door broke off the house and fell flat.  Wow, I was not expecting that.
  The Scarecrow turned toward me.  I wasn’t sure but it looked surprised and for a second I thought I saw fear there too. I was scaring him now.  I felt the blaze inside me brighten. I’m going to enjoy tearing that thing apart.
  The Scarecrow turned quickly and started thumping up what I think are stairs. I ran after it.
I got to the base of the stairs and looked up to see the Scarecrow reach the top of the stairs. I ran up the steps as fast as I could. I reached the top and didn’t stop, putting all my energy into a full run in pursuit of the Scarecrow.  I saw Charlie.  He was looking into a room down the hall and the Scarecrow was raising its stick to swing the blade at Charlie’s back.   I leapt.  The world seemed to slow. My leap was aimed at the Scarecrow. It was just about to swing the blade down and Charlie turned, seeing the Scarecrow for the first time. I could see as the realization hit him that he was in danger.  Was I going to be in time?

  My jaws snapped down on the Scarecrow's pumpkin head. I felt the rotten fruit in my mouth. It tasted terrible.  The fire in the pumpkin felt hot but it didn’t burn me. My weight came down on the clothing and I flattened it to the ground. I heard the blade on the stick hit the wall with a thud, but I didn’t stop with the pumpkin head. I ripped with my teeth and claws at the Scarecrow.  I could feel its hands trying to push me away, but I was heavier than it. My teeth and claws were strong. I ripped into its clothes like rags from the laundry. I tore and ripped them up. I could hear the Scarecrow crying and hissing out at me.
   “Stop! Stop it! Get off of me! Get Away!” It Cried and slurred.
 I didn’t care. I felt nothing for this thing that tried to hurt my best friend. It was bad and it needed to go away.  I stomped with my paws and ripped with teeth. I didn’t need words anymore. Now I know why I enjoyed running.  Tearing up my toys with my teeth. Learning to smell all the things in the world. I was preparing myself for this! Learning to be a Good Boy to protect my family!
   The Scarecrow stopped hissing and moving. I felt the fabric tear one last time and the clothes stopped moving. The pumpkin was a splatter of gunk.  Like when Charlie had dropped a big pot of something called spaghetti on the floor. I thought it smelled yummy and lopped it up. This stuff just smelled wrong and yuck.  I looked at my work. The shirt was torn and ripped along with the pants. There was nothing but rags left.
  I looked up at Charlie. He was just standing there looking at me.  I had never seen his face like that before. He kept looking from me to the rags and then at the stick with the blade stuck in the wall.
  “Holy Shnikes!!! What the Heck was that!??” Charlie screamed!
  “It was a monster,” I said. “Don’t worry, I got him.” It came out as some growls and woofs but I think he understood. Charlie just kinda sagged and got his feet under him and said. “Oh yeah sure, Ok.” He said. “Umm..Let's get out of here, yeah?” 
  I gave him a loud bark. Then jumped up and grabbed the stick with the blade.  The stick snapped at the metal and broke off. The part in my mouth  didn’t feel very strong anymore. I squeezed my jaws and felt the stick break in my mouth. I spat it out. I gave a loud chuff and panted at Charlie.
   Charlie quirked his head to one side and smiled at me.  “Good Boy Jabberwocky.” he said and rubbed my head between my ears.  There might have been some pumpkin still there so he only did it a little, then pulled his hand away and whipped it on his jacket.

  Suddenly the whole box-home started to shake.  Charlie looked up and I could tell he felt it too.
“Come on boy! Let's get outta here!“ Charlie yelled. I agreed and we both started running. We went down the stairs as fast as we could. I moved ahead of Charlie and led him out.   We ran over the door on the floor, Charlie barely noticed it. We rounded the door and ran around the porch to the front. As we ran I could hear the whole box starting to break. The wood was snapping and breaking. Glass in the windows was breaking and falling. There was this loud screeching and groaning that sounded like a vacuum was coming out from the ground.  It felt like the boards were falling into the house.  I ran faster, Charlie coming right up behind me. I could hear him breathing hard and he kept making these yipping sounds.  
We got back around to the front of the house and we both jumped off the stairs and landed on the sidewalk. The rain had mostly stopped but Charlie nearly fell on the wet sidewalk. When we turned around, I couldn’t believe what I saw.  
  The whole box-home was falling in on itself. The roof was falling into the house and the walls were snapping in half and falling into the house.  It kept falling apart and there was this glowing coming from the inside near the base of the box. The glow kept getting brighter and brighter until the whole house was engulfed in this bright light, that looked like the Scarecrow's pumpkin head.  I stepped back and Charlie was next to me looking at the house.  Then I heard it! There was a voice laughing. It was not like a laugh like Charlie has when watching the picture box at home, but like something from the movie he watches.  Then suddenly the light popped and it was gone.  The place where the box-home had been, was gone and there was just an empty grassy yard, surrounded by trees.  
  I looked up at Charlie. He was still next to me and just stared at the grassy yard, but he had the same shocked look, like he had before. 
 “Okay, ummm..” he said, looking down at me. “Lets umm.. take a break from going for runs in the evening.”
   I smiled and panted at him with a little bark.

  Charlie smiled at me and rubbed my head. We were both wet from the rain. 
“Come on boy, let's get home and get warm.”  Charlie said, and started running.  

I turned and ran after him,  staying by his side all the way home.