"Oh shit! It rang. Garry, what now?" But Garry only shrugged at him.
"A ghoul will come to hunt us any moment now. We need to hide," he said. And although he was slightly panicking, he was in fact, very excited right now.
He has two choices. Either to go back to the graveyard or to hide in the forest. 'Nuh-uh! The forest is a better hiding place. The ghoul would most probably come out of the graveyard.'
"Garry, follow me." he told the toy and jogged towards the forest. It was night and the branches and leaves are preventing the moonlight from entering properly. It was pretty dark.
"Can you climb a tree?" Garry shook his head. "Ha! Where should I hide you?" Larry looked around him and thought of an idea. "Garry, c'mere! Lie on the ground. I'll camouflage you." As obedient as Garry was, it followed Larry and lay on the ground. Larry covered him with layers of dried leaves.
Satisfied, Larry looked for a tree suitable for climbing and hiding. "Don't make a noise, okay?" He told Garry before he climbed the tree nearest to him. And silently, he waited there.
It was utter silence and he was holding his breath. For reasons unknown, it seemed to have gotten colder since the bell rang.
It didn't take long before a crackling sound of twigs and dried leaves disturbed the silence. Larry covered his mouth as he watched from the branch above.
And from there, he spotted it. The ghoul! It was roaming around the forest. It has gray rubbery skin. Hairless and wrinkly. And it has bulging rounded eyes.
It was sniffing as it searched every nook and cranny. But it seemed to be not searching above. Something Larry was grateful for.
Probably thinking no one was in there, it turned its back and was about to leave. Larry sighed in relief as he puts down his hand but oddly enough, it landed on something warm and furry.
"Meoooooooooooow!" It was the cat! And surely, that meow didn't escape the ghoul's ears and it looked in their direction. It saw them.
"Oh! Shit! Shit! Shit!" he cursed under his breath as he immediately hopped down the tree. "Garry, quick!"
Garry shook off the leaves and ran after his owner, Larry. He was surprisingly fast for a stuffed toy.
Larry looked behind them and saw that the ghoul wasn't wasting any time catching up to them.
"Meoooooooow!"
"And why are you running with us? It's your fault we're caught!" Larry said to the grumpy-looking cat. He can't help but be annoyed with it.
He tried to stay close to the graveyard fence as possible. He did not dare go deeper into the woods as it might slow him down. Unfortunately, no woods can slow the ghoul either.
They sprinted as fast as they could. Larry can't remember when was the last time he ran this fast. When he was in High School maybe? But he ran as if his life depended on it.
He couldn't be any more glad to see the roofs of the brick houses from earlier. He tried getting there as fast as his feet allowed him.
Garry was surprisingly catching up to his speed. But the cat was faster than them so it easily ran past them. But it would stop on its tracks and wait for the two and would run again.
"What's wrong with you? Why are you following us? Shoo!" But the cat didn't do as much as ignore him. "What a dick."
He paused for a while by the curb to catch his breath a bit. He looked back and the ghoul was fast approaching them. 'No. I need to do something about that somehow. I don't know when will the bell ring again.' he thought.
"Meooooooow!"
The cat was now a meters away from them, meowing as it faced the space between the two brick houses. As if urging them to follow it.
Larry didn't really have a plan yet so he decided to go to where the cat was "telling" them.
But to his surprise, there was a woman there. She wore a striking yellow pajama with cat prints all over it. In her hand was a paddle. The one people use for washing their clothes before the washing machine was invented.
"Another human?" she exclaimed. "Ginger! Good job, you stinking grinch!" she praised the cat which Larry presumed belonged to her. But the cat ignored her and proceeded to lick its balls while looking proud of his "accomplishment".
"Hey, you! Are you an NPC? How cool! Can you speak? Do you understand me?" she bombarded him with questions while doing this exaggerated body language.
"Uhh… Yes. I can. But look—"
"Cool! Where did you come from? What's your occupation? Can you help me solve this scenario?"
"Okay! Ok—"
"Great! Thank you soooooo much!"
Larry was trying to explain to her that a ghoul was on its way to catching them but she always cut him off.
And then her eyes suddenly widened and her mouth turned into an "O" and exclaimed, "Behind you!" before swinging the paddle in her hand in full motion.
"Phew! That was close!" she said.
Larry looked behind him. And on the ground was the ghoul that has been chasing him just a while ago, probably dead as it wasn't moving anymore.
"You're — You're kinda strong!" He praised the woman.
"I know, right? How about you tell me about this village now?"