Halloween - Day 2

From what happened on day 1, it was clear that this year's competition is going to be tough. Someone like me can only imagine of what is going to happen next.

Elevator stopped at my floor with a jerk. It was a scary feeling for me."Relax JD. It is just a jerk. Besides the rule says that same trick cannot be used on person who has already used it before." - said a voice from behind. I looked over my shoulder to see Alice behind me giving a beautiful smile. I was scared like hell, for I know Pete very well. After what happened yesterday, it would be a clear intention from his side to get even with me soon. It is also true that same trick cannot be used again. The idea was to make people think to come up with more new tricks. Since Alice was standing behind me, I did not want to show her how scared I am today. As soon as my floor came, I dash out, but then stopped to wait for Alice.

As we were walking down to reception, I saw receptionist with a worried face. "Anything wrong?", I asked her as calmly as I can. Deep inside my heart, I hope she is not playing any trick on me. "Nothing JD, it is just usual stuff." - receptionist. "Ahh, okay then, I will see you later." Without waiting for her reply, I quickly dash my footsteps and headed straight to my cubicle.

"Ahh, finally. Now I am safe." I never liked concept of cubicles. There are 3 partitions, with height of about 5 ft. To look beyond your cubicle, you either need to stand up or sit as straight as you can. However, one open side partition is what makes cubical, not a cube. That one open side is like an open gate of a strong guard palace. You never know when enemy will strike, for that open side, is behind your back.

"Hey JD, wass up?" Sound of Pete brought me back from palace to my small cubical. "Ahhh Pete. I m good. How are things at your end? Everything fine." I wasn't trying to strike conversation with Pete. Instead, I was trying to figure out what is next in line for me. Is he up to something? While Pete and I were chatting, I saw Tina screaming from her cabin. Pete, Alice, I and few other colleagues stopped what we were doing and started looking out of curiosity of what is going on in her cabin. Through the glass sheets, we can see her bouncing like tennis ball from one court to another. In her case, from one chair to another. Finally, she was able to reach the door of her cabin and.... "AHHHHHHHHHH, HELP ME." came shrill noise from those glass door. It was so huge, it seemed like all the noise which she created came out at one. The noise was so huge, I can see our accountant jumping from his seat and under the table as if it was an earthquake.

Alice finally makes Tina calm. She was still out of breath. While she was catching up with her senses, Pete and I started sneaking into her cabin trying to look for anything suspicious. One thing in which Pete and I are horrible at, is our classification of what is suspicious. We have a poor track record in that.

I visited Pete a few days later after he came back from his honeymoon. That night, Pete and I were sitting and chatting while Patricia cleaned the table and was off to bed. A few minutes later, we saw strange lights coming from Pete's bedroom. It looked like lights from Alaska skies, but more scarier. "Pete, I think something is wrong in your bedroom." I whispered to him. "Yea... looks like some lights from star trek." Pete was trying to get full visual of what is in the bedroom. "Are aliens coming to take her away?" I asked curiously. "Naa man. I know sometimes she acts strange, but it is too early to tell if she is alien" Pete by now was in his bedroom, while I was behind him with a baseball glove. "What the hell JD. Are you planing to hit alien with that glove?"

"You never know. He might want to play baseball." I said with curiosity. "Besides, there was no bat over there."

"Yeah, it will be like that and you know why, JD? Because it is at your place."

"Ahhh. I see" By this time, we both were standing in Pete's bedroom.
"AHHHHHHH....." shouted Patricia. Seeing her, we shouted too, "AHHHHHH, AHHHHHH, AHHHHHHH" - and kept looking at each other. "What are you guys up to, with that.... that baseball glove and .... what is that Pete you are holding.... a frying pan!"

"Jessus, you guys. What is going on?"

I said, "We saw mysterious lights in bedroom, so we came in to check."

"Guys that is my aroma dispatcher. It blinks couple of times and oozes out different smells."

Tina's voice broke my concentration. "It's a mouse, there is white mouse in my office." - she said with all the energy she could get. "A what?" - Pete turned towards Tina, while still holding cabin door and then looked at me, who was already in center of her cabin. I could see evilness in Pete eyes and in a split second I could see what Pete is thinking. "No Pete, don't do that. Pleasee..."

SLAM! The door got shut and locked. He trapped me in with that mouse. "Nooooo Pete, help me out of here. I beg of you. Let me goooo." My voice and my banging were barely making it through the sound proof glass. It was like an adrenaline rush to me filled with scary thoughts. I was jumping from one chair to another, to the table; trying to stay off the ground as much as I can. Pete, Alice, Tina and all other colleagues were out there watching my Spiderman jumps behind the glass. Each time I jumped they will clap as if I was like a monkey doing tricks.

"What's going on?" - said Boss. The sound of clapping had brought him out of his office. "Nothing Sir. Just watching some monkey tricks." - said Pete. "Ha ha ha. I am loving it." said Boss who by now was all seated with an imaginary bag of popcorn's in his hand. "I must admit Pete, you made him do tricks more times than I have. Ha ha ha ha."

I looked from the glass and I could see my boss saying something and everybody bust out laughing. I cursed Pete and blamed myself to be in such a mess. "Hey, is there really a mouse there?"

"Yes boss. It is a tiny white pet rat of Susane." said Alice. "She brought it to open her account for halloween."

"Ahh, I see. Smart Susane. You know I am very scared of rats too. When they crawl on my body, that tinkling sensation makes me feel scared. Like the one I am having right now." said Boss with a smile. "Pete, take off that coat of yours. It is giving me tinkling sensation." said Boss without looking back. "Sir, I am not wearing coat." as Pete leaned to say more, "Sirrrrr, a rat!..."

"where" - boss jumped right from his seat and started turning round and round

"your back sir! A WHITE RAT. It is there!...." Pete was shouting at top of his voice.

"where?"

"There..... there..... still there!......"

I was doing my jumps from one island to another, and I could see boss doing his rounds (literally) like chopper blades. "Take it off, take it off me.... " - said Boss with troubled voice. By this time, everyone around was moving away from boss.

I missed one of my jumps and fell on floor. When I saw white rat jumping from boss's back and landing straight in front of me. Now between me and white rat was the cabin glass. He looked me into eyes and I (with my scared look) was looking at his. In a split second, the rat made his way under the desk. "AHHHHH, he is here....." - our manager almost made a high jump from his chair. "It is SHEEEEE.... not he..." - said Alice, who by now was already on her table, looking around.

"AHHHHH, does it matter? It is here..." - said Boss who was trying to get some space on Pete's table. And Pete was not letting him on his island. I grabbed a chair and sat comfortably in Tina's cabin, eating an apple and watching the show. Susane, was all worried looking around for her rat. Around half an hour later, she managed to get hold of her pet and everybody, who by now were looking like "Lost" survivors started returning back to their desk.

I saw Pete walking like a zombie next to Tina's cabin. I knocked on glass with a big smile. He saw me with sad eyes and unlocked the cabin door with a heavy heart. "It's okay Pete. Getting fooled twice in 2 days. Not your fault." - I said with a huge smile on my face. I saw Susane writing on board, her score for today. "28!" - I said in disbelief. "Yes, and that includes you too." said Pete in disbelief. "She managed to get the whole office."

"Hey, I was not fooled by her rat. There was not rat in Tina's office." I said with curiosity and disbelief.

"Exactly JD. There is no rat." - Pete was now acting like Oracle from Matrix. "She got you too, ha ha ha ha."

With angry look at my face, I went down to my desk. Picked up a piece of paper and started writing names of people whom I need to scare. Susane was on top of list now.

"Psst.. JD" - that was Alice peeping into my cubicle. "Did you finish the report?"

"No Alice, I haven't." I said with an angry voice. "And please get your long hair's away from my shoulder. It is tickling."

"That's okay JD. You can say that to the rat who is on your left shoulder now." - she said with an evil tone.

"NOOOOOOO GET OFF ME..... GET HIM OFF MEEEE..... " - I jumped from my seat and ran into the corridor.

"Hey JD... while you are going that way, can you please give rat to Susane..... And say Alice said Thanks..... I am heading for scoreboard to make few updates...."

While I ran down the hall, I could hear Alice's evil laugh.