Part One: Halloween Special
A special Halloween story in the Princess Hanna series...
Boo!
Halloween is almost upon us! What better way to celebrate than a special Halloween bedtime story!
This will be the first in a three-part Halloween special based in the world of Princess Hanna.
You can find the full Princess Hanna series here:
But don’t worry, you can read this Halloween series on its own as well! All you need to know is this: this is a world of dragons!
Without further ado…
Princess Hanna and Carrie sat at the dining table in the middle of the Scale City home where they were staying, each with a bowl of porridge in front of them. Carrie was sleepily yawning as she looked out the window at the brilliantly blue sky above. She was eager to get out there and go for a lovely morning fly.
Across from Carrie, Hanna was wide awake and intently focused. She was scribbling down notes in her notebook as she chomped down her porridge. She was writing out a training plan for the days ahead. Seeing George practising the day before had lit a fire in her. She was focused and driven.
As Carrie looked out at the sky, Michael suddenly appeared in the window, strangely covered in green paint for some reason. He was pulling a funny face, like he was sleeping with his eyes open. He was also holding out his arms in front of him, letting his hands dangle.
“Braaaains!” he said, his voice flat and deep.
Hanna and Carrie were totally confused.
“What happened?” asked Carrie. “Did you fall into a cauldron of goo?”
Michael ignored her. He came in through the window and landed down. He walked slowly towards Hanna and Carrie, swaying from side to side, still holding out his arms in front of him.
“Braaaaaaaains!” he said again.
Michael saw that they were still baffled.
He broke character and stood up normally.
“I’m a zombie,” he said, his normal voice back. “Can’t you tell?”
They were still lost.
“What’s a zombie?” Carrie asked.
“You’re kidding,” he said, shocked. “A zombie. Like in those old fairytales. I eat brains and scare dragons.”
“So you’ve covered yourself in green paint to look like this zombie thing?” said Hanna. “Why?”
“Do you two have any idea what day it is today?” said Michael.
Hanna and Carrie shook their heads.
“It’s Halloween!”
“What’s Halloween?” Carrie asked.
Michael’s jaw dropped in shock.
“You don’t know what Halloween is?”
“I’ve never heard of it,” said Carrie.
Michael’s voice was bursting with passion.
“Halloween is awesome! It’s a special spooky holiday where everyone dresses up as monsters and scary stuff. There’s parties and special markets and trick or treating!”
“What’s trick or treating?” Carrie asked.
“Trick or treating is the best! You go from door to door and ask trick or treat. If they pick treat, they give you candy. And they always pick treat.”
“What if they pick trick?”
“Then you give them a trick!” said Michael with a wicked smile.
Carrie eyes were wide with excitement.
“And all of Scale City gets into Halloween,” he went on. “Everyone dresses up and sets up spooky decorations. There’s the markets with all sorts of special food. There’s scary music in the plaza. In Cobblestone Alley there’s even a haunted house!”
“A haunted house?” Carrie wondered. “What’s that?”
Michael’s smile became bigger than ever. “I won’t spoil it. You’ll see.”
He was turning back towards the window, ready to get going, thinking Hanna and Carrie were too.
“First off,” he said. “We need to get you two some costumes.”
Carrie jumped up, but Hanna remained seated.
“I have to train today,” said Hanna.
Carrie looked distraught.
“Come on, let’s do it,” said Carrie. “Pleeeease, Hanna!”
“There’s a lot I need to do today,” said Hanna.
Hanna’s dad, the king, was just taking a seat with his newspaper.
“Go on, Hanna,” he said. “Go have fun. You can train tomorrow.”
“But I need to prepare,” said Hanna.
“And you can prepare tomorrow,” he said. “Experiences matter. Go try out this Halloween thing. If it’s really fun, maybe you could bring it back home to Courage Town.”
Hanna was still hesitating. “But what about Uncle James?” she said.
“He will absolutely understand,” said the king.
Hanna thought it over for a last moment then turned to Michael.
“Ok, I’m in.”
Carrie and Michael were elated.
Now for the costumes. Michael thought about it for a moment and then he had an idea. It was go time.
*
Michael led the way to the part of the city with lots of stalls. The whole city seemed to be getting into the Halloween spirit. All sorts of decorations were getting set up in the streets. Pumpkins with scary carved faces, skeletons made of painted tree branches, all sorts of strange but spooky sculptures made of different bits and pieces. Although it didn’t seem like any of the other dragons were dressed in costumes just yet.
“I may have put on my costume a little bit early,” said Michael shyly at one point.
They eventually made it to a general store that sold a broad range of different essentials. Michael went straight for the barrel full of toilet paper. He filled his arms with rolls of toilet paper and asked Hanna and Carrie to do the same. Confused, they cautiously went along with it.
Once they bought the toilet paper, Michael took them to a quiet alley and asked, “Which one of you wants to be a mummy?”
“What’s a mummy?” Carrie asked.
“It’s an old ancient type of monster,” he said. “Dragons dress up as them for Halloween all the time, I promise. If we wrap you up in toilet paper you’ll look just like one.”
“No way I’m doing that,” said Hanna.
Surprisingly, Carrie jumped straight in.
“I’ll do it,” she said.
Michael and Hanna ran circles around Carrie as they wrapped her up from head to toe in toilet paper, just leaving her nose, mouth and wings free.
When the job was done, Carrie asked, “How do I look?”
“You look amazing!” said Michael.
Hanna was howling with laughter.
“Ok,” said Michael, turning to Hanna. “Now we need to find something for you.”
Carrie had a troublemaker’s smile. “I’ve got an idea.”
Thanks for reading!
Here’s a link to Part 2:
