A Star in the Breaking
Chapter 1
The creature rose to his feet. His nostrils opened wide. The scent of his prey was still fresh. Silently he searched the dwelling for his next victim.
Mostly humans lived there. At times they could be a bother. Today they were of no concern to the creature. Today he sought a vile and smelly beast that had invaded his world once too often. "This loathsome thing must be taught a lesson, " the monster reasoned. "And I will be its teacher!"
And a fearful teacher he was....
His large, misshapen head was covered by reddish orange shafts of hair. On top there were two menacing gray horns. His mouth hung open and you could see a drooling tongue and sharp, jagged fangs.
But the most hideous feature was his eye-one huge, red, swollen eye in the middle of his forehead. It looked around, back and forth, search-ing for its victim, who was hiding somewhere among the humans.
Suddenly the eye caught sight of the victim. It was a short distance away, sound asleep! The poor, unsuspecting fool.
But, just to be safe, the monster froze in its tracks. Any sudden movement now might alert the animal. Then quietly, with the speed of a leopard, he moved forward....
Unaware of the deadly stalking game going on in their living room, Nicholas and his two sisters watched TV. But not just any TV-this was "TRASH TV," The kids’ game show where the contestants are slimed, gooped and, you guessed it, "trashed."
Right now one of the kids was having a dickens of a time trying to make it up the "Slime Slide." Each time he tried to crawl up the chocolate-covered slide his feet slipped out from under him and down he went in the goop.
Sometimes it was plop, sometimes splat, or even slurrrrrrrp. Whatever sounds the kid made, they were no more disgusting than the way he looked. There were worse ways to go, though. After all, drowning in a vat of chocolate probably wasn't so bad. Besides, it sure looked funny. And Nicholas and Jamie sure were splitting a gut over it.
But not Sarah ...
Sarah was above that sort of thing. Sure, she sat in the room with the other two. Sure, she heard everything that was going on. However, at the mature age of thirteen (almost fourteen) she really was quite beyond all that childishness. Instead, she sat curled up on the sofa, reading one of those Hollywood teen magazines. You know the type, with TV stars all over the cover and anti-zit advertisements all over the inside.
Little sister Jamie, on the other hand, was into the show. Normally she's kind of a shy kid. You know, real sensitive like. In fact, she probably takes everything way too seriously. But boy is she smart. I mean, if you're thinking of coming down with some kind of disease, try to hold off until she gets through medical school because she's the one who's going to find the cure.
Nick was having a good time, too. He never missed the show. And he was constantly amazed at how stupid and clumsy the contestants were. He could do better with his eyes closed. In fact, he'd even sent his name in as a contestant. If they'd just pick him, he'd show them. Of course, they'd never pick him. That sort of thing never happened to normal kids. That sort of thing never happened to average, run-of-the-mill people like Nicholas Martin....
The fanged monster moved fast. He was in the kitchen. Quickly he closed in on his sleeping victim. The thrill of the chase raced through him, giving him even greater speed.
Suddenly, one of the humans stepped into his path It was the older one. The Grandma. Probably fixing dinner.
With amazing agility the monster leaped to one side, narrowly missing a collision. Good thing, too. A collision would have alerted both his victim and the rest of the household. Catching his breath, the courageous monster focused on his victim. He would have to move quickly now before anything could warn his prey. But "quickly" was his middle name....
Back at the TV, the trashing continued. Only this time the other contestant was the victim. Again there was a lot of squashing and squashing. And again there was a lot of laughing and groaning by the studio audience.
"Oh no," the Host yelled. "I hope that doesn't taste as bad as it smells!"
More laughter.
Nicholas and Jamie could only look at each other.
"Yuck," Jamie said.
"Yuck," Nicholas replied.
Sarah, not to be outdone, finally raised her regal head. It only took her a moment to judge the situation. Then from her lips came the wisdom only a girl going on fourteen could have. It was a single word. The one word she used to describe almost everything in her life these days. She used it to describe all of her friend's actions. She used it to describe the clothes her mother picked out for her. She especially used it when she emptied the cat box.
"Gross," Sarah said. Then she turned the page in her magazine and went back to reading.
Obviously the girl didn't appreciate the finer details of being trashed. She didn't appreciate the oozing orange slime in the hair. She didn't appreciate the maple syrup running from the hands to the elbows and into the arm pits. She didn't even appreciate the classical and ever popular pie-in-the-face.
Luckily, Nick did.
Now only a few feet separated the creature from his victim. Opening his gigantic mouth, he stretched his hairy hands high above his terrible head. His approach had been silent and swift. Now, at last, the sleeping beast lay before him-an unsuspecting bag of fur.
The rumblings of a victory howl began low and deep in the monster's throat. It rose and built with unearthly volume until it exploded from his fanged face: "OOOOAAGGHHLJBAGGAGABOOONNESSS!!"
(Translation: "I got you now, Fuzz Face!")
Although the monster had won numerous shriek and scream contests (he even had a degree in Screech Speech), he knew this scream was his best yet.
So did his victim....
The poor animal jumped from his sleep like a flea on a hot rock. In fact he barely touched the ground as he leaped over my head and raced for protection from my monster mask.
Oh, uh, yeah, maybe I forgot to mention ... it's just me ... McGee. I'm the monster. Or rather, I'm the one wearing the monster fright mask. When I saw that furry freeloader, Whatever, the family pooch (or should I say, "mooch"), run like a rabbit, I nearly fell over laughing. Now don't go feeling too sorry for the fuzz ball. He and I sorta have a running gag going between us. I play gags on him ... and he just plain makes me gag! (I think I'm allergic to ugly.) Anyway, wearing a fright mask was fun. From the laughter going on in the family room I could tell the kids were having a good time, too.
I moved in for a closer look....
Back on the tube, "Trash TV" had started to wind down. The two contestants stood together and tried to grin through the slime that kept sliding down their faces.
"Nice effort," the Host said. He reached out to shake the winner's hand. It was a boy. Then as the kid reached out to take the Host's hand, the Host yanked his away. "But keep it to yourself," he snapped.
The Host was that kind of guy. His name was Bill Banter. One minute you thought he liked kids. The next you weren't so sure. He was funny, though. Always had a wisecrack for everything. Sometimes, though, you weren't sure whether he was laughing with the kids or at them. In fact, sometimes you weren't sure whether he was a great guy or just a smart-aleck creep.
"Now," Banter continued, "for next week's contestants. Shena, do we have the cards?"
Some cheerleader-type kid raced up to him with a couple of cards.
Back in the living room Nicholas leaned forward. He'd seen this part of the show a billion times. A billion times he'd hoped they'd read his name, and a billion times they didn't. Still, he always listened carefully ... just in case.
"All right. from the town of Ashcroft we have Amy Packard." Banter threw the card over his shoulder as if he didn't care. That was part of his image, not caring. "And from Eastfield ... Nicholas Martin."
For a moment the living room was still. Had Nicholas heard right? Had the man said what he thought he'd said? Even Sarah looked up, a little startled.
Finally Jamie shouted, "That's you!"
Then the room exploded. Everyone started shouting and yelling at once.
"You won, Nicholas! You won!"
"I don't believe it!"
"Way to go!"
"I sent that card in months ago......
"All right!"
On and on they went, slapping Nick on the back and high living. Sarah even managed to lose her place in the magazine.
Bill Banter wasn't done. He was still holding the card with Nick's name on it and talking.
"Shhh, shhh," Nicholas said. "What’s he saying? ... listen up ... shhh....".
"Guys," Banter said, looking into the camera. "Can we get a close-up of this?"
The camera jerked and bounced into a close shot of the card.
"For those of you who think this show ain't art," Banter said, "one of the reasons we chose ol' Nicholas is this little drawing he included."
It was a drawing of McGee. But not just any old drawing: it was McGee as the mighty superhero Major Mishap, his chest thrust out, his cape proudly blowing in the wind.
I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised at seeing myself on TV. I mean, fame was bound to be mine sooner or later. It wasn’t even one of Nick’s better drawings of me. Still, it was me. I have to admit I did look rather dashing in my pose. It’s a little wonder that the TV audience and Nick and his sisters were all going nuts. How could they resist?
I pulled off the fright mask I was still wearing. After all, Nick and I were on our way to stardom. Wearing a mask would only spoil my image as a Hollywood leading man.
In fact, I was sure the harsh light in the living room might already be spoiling my complexion! So I whipped out the sunglasses to protect my baby blues. Not for me, of course…for my fans.
"All right," the TV Host was saying, "that’s our show for today. So, until next time, this is your Host, Bill Banter, saying to each and every one of you Trash Heads…Hey, make like a fly and buzz off!"
He gave a wheezy little laugh. The music started blaring. The Martin kids kept cheering. Everyone knew things in the house would change. Everyone knew things would never be the same.
They were right. But the changes weren’t exactly what any of them thought they would be…
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