October 2013 [The Skid and Pump Fanfiction]

Chapter 1 - Pump's Secret

[A/N: This fanfiction was made out of spite. I apologize.]

With a beep from my clock, I realized what that meant...it was January now. Spooky Christmas is over! And it was a new year. Having to wait for the next Spooky Month always sucked. The rest of the year was so boring! Having to do this, do that, go to school, blegh. At least I had a few days of winter break left! And what better way to spend that time than with my bestest friend in the world?
That best friend being Pump, of course. At least that's what I called him! He was the same age as me, and we had known each other ever since we were really little. Before we even knew how great Spooky Month WAS little! But i'd never been to his house before. He said it wasn't as fun as mine.
I pulled out my phone, quickly dialing my friends basic number of "CALLMYFRIEND" into it. After a few moments of ringing, I finally got a response.
"Hello! Is it-a spooky month?" He asked.
"No..."
"Oh."
"But...it's the day after spooky christmas!"
"Yay!" He cheered. "But that day's still a little boring."
"I know. Want to go do stuff to make it a little less boring?"
"Yeah!"
I exited the call, and within moments I heard a knock at the door. I always wondered how Pump got to my place so fast. But I guess that was just another spooky thing about him! He's just that cool. I fumbled down the stairs, my mom surely asleep at this hour, and answered the door.
"Pump!" I said.
"Skid!" He said. We hugged each other like all good buddies did.
"What do you want to do?" I asked him. He thought for a moment. We knew a lot of things we could do on Spooky Month; we could play spooky games, watch spooky movies, and even summon a demon to prank call him! But it wasn't Spooky Month. So we were at a loss. Pump shrugged.
"Hm...I scratched my head, thinking for a moment. "Want to go to that weird abandoned house down the street?" I recommended. He smiled, nodding. We both ran off like the wind, when I felt something...off, in the air. It wasn't a spooky sort of off, but a *scary* sort of off. But I'm sure that was just my head making me worry again! Mom always said I could be a bit of a jitterbug when things were scary. She never really understood why I liked Spooky Month out of all the other months.
We arrived at the weird abandoned house down the street, and it was definitely abandoned! The walls had cracks in them, the color was faded, and it was pretty dark from what we could see of the inside. I smiled, fearless, and took Pump's hand as I began to skip inside. But then....he stopped.
"Huh?" I turned around, only to see Pump looking nervous for some reason. This wasn't like him...sure he was easier to scare than me (I think), but it was only an unnerving house!
"I don't want to go in this one." He told me. "Can we find another weird abandoned house?"
"But this is the only abandoned house around here! Besides the other one where the universe lives at. And we've already explored it!"
"But-"
"Please?"
"...Okay."
"Yay!" I jumped a bit, and we went inside anyway.
The inside of the house was mostly barren. There wasn't even a nice floor, just dirt! The bathroom was stinky (like my mom says I am when I don't take a bath), but it wasn't too spooky. Until we came into one of the bigger rooms in the house, where I found...a box, with some drawings, a bag of chex-mix, and a blanket. "Oh!" I exclaimed, walking over to it in curiosity. Pump simply watched me, though.
"Does a doggy live here?" I asked, looking inside of the box. Nothing was in there. I looked around. "Hello? Doggy? Or maybe...a kitty? Helloooo!" I called out. Nothing still! And then...Pump walked up to me.
"Skid," He began. "This is MY house."
"W...Huh?" I tilted my head. People don't live in boxes! They lived with their mommies and daddies! "This isn't silly month, Pump! That's April!"
"I'm not being silly though! See? That's a drawing of a pumpkin."
I looked down at my feet, and within some of the drawings I saw a pumpkin, a drawing of me and Pump, even a drawing of our favorite candy store. Was he not being silly? How could he live in a place like this? I didn't know how to feel, but whatever I was feeling in that moment was bad. I looked back at him with a frown. "Why here?"
"It looked the safest." He replied.
"But...what about your mommy and daddy?" I asked. He at least needed to have a mommy, right? I don't have a daddy, at least not anymore, but he *needed* to have more than...this.
"I don't have any of those. I don't know where they went!" He said, walking over and sitting down in his box.
I didn't know what to say. My bestest friend lived in a box? Was that why I saw him working with that Candy Dealer a lot? So he could get money to get some stuff? I couldn't comprehend it, and I didn't really want to. My eyes felt wet as I sat down next to him. This wasn't spooky or fun. It was *sad*.
"You shouldn't be here, though!" I protested. "You're...you're my bestest friend ever Pump!"
Pump simply looked at me. "Where else would I go?"
We both sat in silence for a moment. He didn't have a mommy or daddy to take care of him, and my mommy is already working really hard to take care of me. Sometimes she even cries or drinks some funny juice from stress...would she be willing to take care of Pump too? I didn't think so.
"Well...I'll take care of you!" I said without even thinking. He perked up at me.
"Huh? But you're a kid. Can kids take care of kids?"
"I have no idea!" I replied. "But you deserve better. I'll make you a better house, and, and-"
"Please don't."
"Huh?" I stopped. "Why not?"
"Because I don't need that much!" He huffed. "I'm fine the way I am. I don't-" He paused, and I could see his hands shake a bit. Why were they shaking? "I don't need a mommy or daddy, or anything! I have you as my friend, and we do a lot of spooky stuff together. That's all I really need to be happy."
It did make sense what he was saying, but...something didn't feel right. I don't know if he was wrong, or if I was being a "jitterbug" again. But I got up.
"I need to go now, Pump."
"Huh?" He tilted his head up at me. "Why? What did I do?" He asked.
"Nothing! It's just late. And if my mom wakes up and i'm not home, she'll be worried."
"Oh." He said in a quiet voice. "Then...bye-bye."
"Bye-Bye..."
As I left the house, I couldn't help but feel sad that I had lied to him. I didn't care about the time. The night was my favorite time to be out! I just couldn't stand seeing him in that box anymore. This was wrong. I was eight and I knew it was wrong! And yet I felt like I couldn't do anything...

But there had to be *something* I could do for my only friend.