Spooked!

I blog to get people to donate to kid’s charities. I don’t want money, I want you to donate direct to a children’s charity then write to me by commenting on the blog. Please read the ‘About Lesley’ section of the blog to find out why I do this; the Comments and Running Totals pages to see how far we have come….

Having ‘had a bash’ with a story on Star Wars, Unicorn and Platypus, I thought that I should do a short children’s story for Hallow’een!

Tonight, we will tell the tale of Griswald the kindly demon. Everyone may think that demons are horrible but there is always one exception who proves the rule. Our exception was Griswald. All Griswald wanted to do was make people smile and that is not a talent that comes naturally to a demon who looks like this:-

Courtesy of Download-Free-Pictures.com

Griswald had a hard life, his family all thought he was quite mad! Demons are supposed to creep up behind the nasty humans, give a bloodcurdling scream and scare their souls clean out of them. Griswald merely walked up to the humans and said hello! The only problem he had was that saying hello often scared the souls from the humans anyway…..

This was the only thing that stopped Griswald being banished from his demon family but it made Griswald very sad. What was he to do? He wanted to make people smile and make some friends but every time he tried they were frightened to death and the deadly demons gathered another soul. It was so depressing that Griswald decided that he wasn’t leaving his demon hovel any more. He decided that he would rather stay at home than hurt another lovely human.

But this was not going to make his family happy. There are rules that all demons need to follow. They need to scare people and collect their souls so that they can keep their demon status. All demons have to meet their scare targets; if you don’t scare enough nasty humans then you are sent to Oblivion. Oblivion is not a nice place for a demon, the demon grannies have horrible tales of Oblivion. It is a place where you can only eat cakes, ice-cream and jelly! No demon wants ice-cream and jelly, they want caterpillars and beetles with mealworms sprinkled on the top. And why would any normal demon want to live in a place where there were warm and plumped-up cushions to sit on? All demons like to sit on a comfy jagged rock, everyone knew that.

The family decided to sit down and have a chat with Griswald as they were worried the scare-numbers were down. They pleaded with Griswald to think of the family. It didn’t matter that Griswald wanted everone to smile, that wasn’t going to save them from jelly and ice-cream. They finally persuaded Griswald that he must go out on Halloween, it was the busiest night of the year after all.

Poor Griswald, he was torn between wanting to make the lovely humans happy and not letting his family down. They were terrified of Oblivion, it was all pink and fluffy and Griswald knew that his family would not do well in a place like that.

So, with a heavy heart Griswald got ready for his Halloween hunting. He put on his best scowl and headed out the door of the hovel. Of course, being Halloween the humans were everywhere. They were all dressed up for trick or treating in their scariest costumes. There were devils, skeletons, ghouls and ghosties everywhere. It was very easy for a demon to fit in on a night last this.

Griswald knew what he had to do, he had to scare the soul from three humans to make sure that his family would be saved from the horror of Oblivion for another year. But how to do this? Griswald knew in his heart that this was not the life for him but he could not see that he could do anything else. This was what he was born to do, what he was meant to do. How could one small demon fight against his family and his fate?

Poor Griswald walked and walked through the crowds of children and their parents. He was so confused. He didn’t notice the little girl with red hair watching him. Her name was Esme and she was watching the sad demon as he wandered through the crowds. Esme was puzzled as he didn’t even see the fireworks that were going off in bright bursts of colour. There were reds, blues and magnificent gold trails flashing through the sky and everyone else was ooohing and aaahing as the sky lit up and the faces in the crowd glowed with smiles and the reflection of the glittering shower.

Esme looked at Griswald and was sad. How could anyone look so sad when it was Halloween? Esme was wearing her favourite angel costume with extra-large wings and she was as happy as happy could be until she saw the unhappy demon. Esme decided that the sad demon needed a hug, that was what her mum gave her when she felt sad and it always cheered her up, especially when there was a kiss to go with it.

Griswald was standing still. He watched the fireworks but didn’t see them. His mind was caught inside the struggle between hurting people and making his family happy. He didn’t notice the little red-haired girl coming towards him with a very determined look on her face. Esme stood in front of Griswald, smiled and said hello. Griswald looked down and saw a little angel and was sadder again; how could he scare the soul from her? Esme smiled again, reached up and hugged Griswald. With this, Griswald felt very strange. There was a lump in his throat and his eyes stung. Then Esme reached up, pulled him down and kissed him on the cheek. Griswald was taken by surprise, no-one had ever kissed him before. It was a weird sensation as the warmth spread from his cheek and down through his body. Something was happening and Griswald wasn’t sure what.

Griswald looked at his hands, they weren’t green like they should be. They were turning pale and the nails weren’t hooked, they were small and smooth. What was this? Esme was still standing in front of him and her face showed how puzzled she was. Esme asked, ‘Who are you, you aren’t a monster any more?’. Griswald asked, ‘What do you mean?’. ‘You look like a boy, where is your costume, where did it go?’.

Griswald looked at his hands, his legs, his whole body. He wasn’t green any more and he was all smooth! And his brain was playing tricks on him, he knew his name wasn’t Griswald, his name was Mike! He wasn’t a demon, he was a boy and his name was Mike……..

Suddenly he remembered a home with a mum, a dad and a dog named Buster. He had been a happy boy with a family who loved him. Then one night he had seen the demons and he had been taken. They had worked their evil magic and he became Griswald. That was why he didn’t want to scare the humans, he was one! Mike knew who he was and where he should be.

He gave Esme a huge hug and told her how she had saved him. Mike knew what he had to do next. He looked through the crowds, there was always a policeman at the fireworks display and Mike knew he had to find him. He walked through the crowds again but this time as a boy, not as a demon. It was a wonderful feeling, he didn’t have to scare anyone, he just had to not feel so scared himself.

You know what happened next don’t you? Mike found a policeman and they found his family. Mike was reunited with his mum, his dad and his dog Buster. He went home and he knew this was the right place, he was home. Everything was right and Mike could smile and be happy again. He did make a new friend after all, Esme became his best friend in the world as she saved him and helped him get home.

As for the demons? I am sorry to say that they replaced Mike very quickly with another little boy. This is what happens when you have quotas to meet so that you will not end up in Oblivion and have to eat ice-cream and jelly! So, be warned, always watch out for the demons behind you, especially at Halloween……..

I do hope that my story for Halloween entertained you and your children. I close with my normal request to you:-

• Donate to a valid children’s charity of your choice. It is easy to do – online, collection boxes, Give as You Earn. Any amount is important and I am delighted for one pound, dollar, euro, yen to reach a charity.

• Visit this blog and comment anywhere with the charity, amount including currency and please also tell me what you wanted to be when you were 8. I love the stories of childish ambitions.

I will then:-

• Add your donation to the Totals page on this blog, totals are updated weekly.
• I will also write some words about the current donations and the charity
• All comments will be stored on the comments page so that you can see what charities people are interested in and also what a variety of 8-year-old ambitions we have already. I am looking forward to way more surprises from you all.

The steps are simple. Again, if you like the idea please tell others so that they will come and tell me their stories.

Take care of you and yours.

Lesley

© Lesley Miller 2010