Meanwhile at the lair of Dr. Callyco

The lair was decorated with a bunch of paper pumpkins and cotton webs. Dr. Callyco stood in an archway as he stared at the lair tapping his chin with his paw.

“Soooo… Something on your mind?” Dr. Cutie Pup asked as he entered the room.

“I dunno.” Dr. Callyco shrugged. “I just feel… It’s a bit too… I dunno. Kiddy?”

“Doesn’t that make it more appropriate given…” Dr. Cutie Pup gestured at his own body and then at the kitten’s.

“I get the point.” Dr. Callyco nodded. “But don’t you worry decorating the lair like this might limit people’s ability to take us seriously as mad scientists?”

“Well…” Dr. Cutie Pup gave a long pause as he looked at the kitten and then at the decorations. “I can say without a doubt that I don’t think they specifically will have any impact on how serious people take us.”

“That was a very odd way for you to answer a yes or no question.” The kitten narrowed his eyes.

“Was it?” Dr. Cutie Pup turned away from the kitten to avoid meeting his gaze. “I hadn’t noticed but… Hey look at the time! Don’t we have a new tale to be getting to!?”

“I suppose…” The kitten glared at the wolf before glancing at the decorations. “I’m going to go get some plastic spiders. That should fix the issue. You go ahead and introduce our next guest.”

“Yes.” Dr. Cutie Pup replied in a completely flat voice. “I’m sure that will fix everything.” He watched as Dr. Callyco left the room before speaking up again. “Our next guest goes by the name Areat. And… This is an interesting one. He’s an adult human.”

“A human!?” Dr. Callyco ran back into the room carrying a jar of fake spiders. “Aren’t those endangered now? Oh man, are we going to get in trouble with the EPA messing with him?”

“I don’t think so…” Dr Cutie Pup shrugged. “I mean technically you’re the one chiefly responsible for them becoming endangered in the first place and no one has said anything yet.”

“I choose to believe it’s because they all love their fluffy new tails.” Dr. Callyco puffed out his chest in pride. “Now then… Areat ventures out one night looking for a bit of Halloween fun! What he finds may not be impressive at first… But maybe that just means he needs a new perspective. I present our second tale. The Tale of Midnight Festival.”

Thirteen Karmic Tales

Second Tale

The Tale of Midnight Festival

Areat paused as he passed the local park on his walk. The entire place was lit up. Paper lanterns in the shapes of pumpkins and skulls hung from the trees. Festive music sounded from within the part as the sounds of children playing echoed.

“Huh… Must be a festival.” He muttered as he looked at it. He didn’t remember seeing any notices for it and he was pretty sure there hadn’t been one last year.  Still it wasn’t as if he had any other plans tonight. He supposed he should check it out.

As Areat entered the park he found it had been completely transformed from its normal tranquil lakeside trail. Whoever had done the decorations had truly gone all out. The street lights now all looked like pillars made out of bones. The trees that weren’t lit up looked devoid of leaves and were covered in webs. Some of them had bats perching in them that almost looked real. They even moved. Then the park benches looked like coffins and even the lake itself was decorated. Areat wasn’t sure how they did it… But the entire thing was now colored green and lit up. He assumed they must have put lights underneath the water surface or something.

The area was full of various booths and attractions. Some of them sold food, while others seemed to be games or puppet shows. The area was flooded with kids in costume running between the different attractions and enjoying themselves. Each and every single one of them was in costume… And the costumes were really good. Really really good. These kids must have had some really well off parents. Kids with costumes covered in scales or fur looked almost like the real thing! Heck, if they weren’t clearly kids Areat would almost have been intimidated by them. One child in a werewolf costume ran past him that Areat clearly saw his ears and tail moving. He couldn’t imagine how much that kid’s parents must have paid.

And yet… He didn’t see any parents in the park at all. The kids seemed to be by themselves. He didn’t even see anyone running the booths. That was certainly strange. Yet, something was going on as almost every single one had a large line to get through.

Areat felt conflicted here. The festival was clearly intended for younger kids… But it still might be fun. Still, just about everything looked packed… And he would feel awkward standing in a line surrounded by a bunch of kids. Not to mention he probably looked weird as the only adult in sight. It was probably best to move on. And that was what he intended to do… Until he noticed one attraction that everyone was ignoring.

It was an Apple Bobbing booth. The apples floated in a large bucket next to what appeared to be an old well. Curious as to why this and only this attraction was abandoned Areat approached it. There was a sign in front of it. It read: ‘Please return your apples by dropping them into the well. Thanks. –The Management.’

Whoever set all this up must not have wanted the kids eating the apples. He supposed if they were floating in the water all day they probably weren’t the freshest of fruits. That was probably a much better idea than eating them. Still… Why wasn’t anyone using this booth? It couldn’t be because the kids were just bad at it right? Anyone could grab an apple right?

Strangely… As soon as Areat had the thought he felt a need to prove it. He couldn’t say what made that urge rise up in him… But he decided to go for it. He bent down and dunked his head into the water trying to grab an apple in his mouth. He felt pretty foolish as water was splashed onto his shirt and jeans… But at least he was able to grab one of the apples! He brought his head out of the water holding the red fruit in triumph for a brief moment… And then remembered that this was an attraction largely meant for kids. Sheepishly, Areat transferred the apple to his hand and looked around to see if anyone had been watching. With a sigh of relief that no one had noticed he dropped the apple into the well like the sign advised and prepared to leave.

“Excuse me.” A voice rang out from within the well. Areat nearly jumped out of his skin as it did. “You left this here.”

“Wh-what!?” Areat stammered as he very slowly approached the well and stared down into it. He was trying to see who was speaking but the well was too dark and too deep to see into.

“The apple you dropped.” The girlish voice spoke again. “You can’t leave without it. Let me give it back to you.”

“But the sign said to leave it in the well.” Areat explained blankly. He couldn’t believe he was talking to someone in a well.

“It said to drop it in the well.” The voice replied with a giggle. “But you still get to take the prize home. Now then… Which of these two did you drop? Was it the golden apple? Or the silver apple?”

“Gold or silver?” Areat tilted his head completely caught off guard by the names. “I’ve heard of gold as an apple flavor but never silver.”

“They’re not flavors silly.” The voice teased. “One apple is made of solid gold. The other silver. Both quite valuable. Now… Which of these apples did you pull out of the tub and drop down here?”

“Huh…” Areat stared at the well. It sounded like the two apples the voice had would be pretty valuable. Yet… He was pretty sure he had just dropped a normal red apple. “I’m sorry… But I don’t think either of those are mine. I thought it was just a normal apple.”

“Didn’t even think about taking them huh?” The voice giggled. “I like you. You have the innocent heart of a child. Okay, I’ll give you a much better prize then. I think it’ll help everything be a lot more fun.” As the voice spoke Areat felt a shiver run down his spine.

Suddenly he felt as if there was a massive pressure upon his head. It was as if he was being pushed downward into the ground by some invisible force. In fact, he found himself sinking lower into the ground! No… That wasn’t it. His feet were clearly staying planted where they were… But the ground was getting closer to him! Then not only that. The well, the booth, even his own clothes were all getting bigger! He was getting smaller!

Areat let out a squeak of shock. He then let out a second one in surprise of how squeaky and high pitched his voice was. He stumbled backwards falling out of his jeans and shoes. He found himself almost swimming in his shirt as he tried to stand up in it. Soon even that fell right off his body leaving him naked. Areat stumbled over to the bucket containing the apples. He had to stand on his tippy toes to see over the edge. There he looked at his reflection in the water to find out what was going on.

A young child’s face stared back at him. It was Areat’s own face. He recognized it from old photos. It was what he looked like as a five year old.

“What happened!?” Areat shouted in a voice that sounded too high pitched to be his own. He flailed around nearly falling into the water. Luckily… Someone else caught him. He turned around to see who it was. It was the kid in the werewolf costume with the moving tail he had seen earlier.

“Careful there!” The werewolf kid said. From his size and voice he must have been at least three years older than Areat was now. “You almost fell in! You should get someone to help you if you want to play that game. You’re not really big enough. Why not check out the puppet show or play one of the other games instead?”

“But but…” Areat blushed at being addressed by the older kid. He was supposed to be an adult! And now here he was as a little kid and a naked one at that! As he remembered that fact he blushed a bit. “I can’t I mean I lost my clothes now and I’m naked and-“

“So?” The werewolf kid tilted his head. “No one else here wears clothes.”

“What but-“ Areat paused as he noticed something very off. He looked over the werewolf kid’s body. It was a very realistic costume. From the way his muzzle moved when he talked, to how his tail swayed and his ears twitched at every sound… And then there were other qualities that no costume would contain.

“Though I guess not many of your kind come to the Midnight Festival.” The werewolf smiled. “This your first time? Come on I’ll show you around!”

Areat followed meekly as the werewolf kid led him through the festival. After his own recent magical transformation it wasn’t too hard to believe what he was seeing… Not to mention his now younger brain didn’t feel the need to rationalize everything. He was following around a real werewolf… And the other kids in the park… They were real monsters.

Yet as the werewolf led Areat through the park none of them seemed vicious. They waved at Areat happily as he was led through. Despite being fuzzy or scaly they just acted like normal kids. Most of them were just excited to be here enjoying the festival for Halloween.

Despite his situation Areat was soon enjoying himself. It was hard not to. Everything in this place was so much more fascinating now. He watched a puppet show hanging on every punch line with baited breath. Then he went on a small roller coaster that circled the lake. It didn’t go very fast or upside down… But right now it was the perfect amount of thrill for him. After that he checked out one of the snack booths! There had marshmallows on a stick just sitting out where anyone good take them. Areat greedily went for one but was stopped by the werewolf before he could eat it.

It was at that point the werewolf introduced Areat to a real living dragon! The dragon was closer to Areat’s size and age. He was also quite smug to show off what he could do. At the werewolf’s advice Areat handed over his marshmallow to the dragon. Then the dragon opened his mouth and released one small ball of fire toasting the marshmallow in an instant. After Areat got it back it was absolutely wonderful. It had tasted better than any toasted marshmallow he had ever had.

Later he found an arts and crafts section! The kids there were making masks out of construction paper and coloring it in. The werewolf and the dragon both made masks shaped like humans. Areat was a little embarrassed with his own as he made a werewolf mask. The wolf seemed to take it in stride though and patted Areat on the head telling him he was a good kid.

He couldn’t remember the last time he had so much fun.

And then the park clock struck midnight. Twelve loud rings echoed out indicating that Halloween was over. In an instant the park was back to normal. Areat looked around in confusion. The monster kids were gone, as were the decorations and all the attractions. The park looked completely normal.

The only hint that anything had ever been different was the werewolf mask Areat held in his hands.

That and he was still a five year old.

The End