[ 𝚃𝚠𝚒𝚐𝚜 & 𝙳𝚒𝚛𝚝 ] ~ 𝙳𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗 𝙷𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚡 𝙾𝚌

XIII - Dart

"Woah." Lucy huffed, "What is it?"

"I don't know." He answered, picking the small creature up. He put it in his ghost trap, closing the contraption. "Come on." The curly haired boy nodded to his house, Lucy following close behind as he made his way toward the door.

They carefully made their way into his house, looking around for any sight of his mom before going further toward Dustin's bedroom. "Dusty!" His mom called from the couch, walking over to the two. "Oh! Lucy, how lovely to have you. Are you staying the night?"

"Yes, Mrs. Henderson, if that's alright with you."

"Oh, of course, dear." Ms. Henderson smiled, looking back to her son. "So, how was it?"

"How- How- How was what?" Dustin stammered.

A cat came over, rubbing against Ms. Henderson's leg before coming over and nuzzling at Lucy's foot. The brunette bent down, scratching the cats head with a coo. "'How was what?'" She chuckled, "The greatest night of the year, of course."

"Oh! Oh, yeah, it was- it was. . .uh- tubular." Lucy looked up at him, a 'what the fuck' expression glued to her face.

"What's wrong with you?" Dustin's mom asked.

"Nothing."

"Did something happen?"

"No. What? No." He shook his head.

"Are you constipated again?" Lucy scrunched up her face, focusing on the cat who was still nudging her.

Dustin looked to his mother with wide eyes, "No! Mom!"

"Okay, you're acting weird."

"I am not acting weird!" The ghost trap shook. Dustin laughed as Ms. Henderson backed up with a slight yelp. Lucy fell on her but when the cat started hissing. "Awesome, right? Yeah, I- I- I rigged the trap with, uh- a motor to make it look like I caught a ghost. Just like the movie. Lucy helped!"

The brunette nodded, pushing herself up with her hands. "Yeah- Yeah, I did."

His mom started laughing nervously, still scared by the box. "Oh. . .Dusty. . ."

"Yeah." They both laughed. "Funny. Look at that. Look at that." He pointed to the trap. He grabbed Lucy's hand and led her down the hallway to his room, still laughing. "Lucy's sleeping over!" He yelled down the hallway.

"Okay, Dusty!" Ms. Henderson's voice was still shaky.

Dustin slid his door shut and locked it. He held the trap up so he could talk to it, "I told you to keep quiet. All you had to do was stay still for one minute. One minute!"

He walked over to his tortoise cage, putting the ghost trap onto his bed. Lucy followed, watching as he pulled the grate off the top of the enclosure. "Sorry, Yertle. Temporary eviction, buddy" He grabbed the tortoise, handing him to Lucy who nearly dropped the rough creature.

"Ew! Ew! Ew! It's moving! Dust! It's moving!" She squealed, putting Yertle on the floor by Dustin's feet.

He looked at the girl, laughing. "It's supposed to move, Luce."

"Why!?" She jumped away from the reptile as it slowly walked in her direction.

"Have you never had pet before?" He asked, dumbfounded.

". . .No?"

Dustin shook his head with a smile, picking up the ghost trap and dumping their little slimy friend into the glass tank. The curly haired boy leaned closer to the glass, Lucy still watching the tortoise out of the corner of her eye. "What are you, little guy?" It pulled itself under the log and out from underneath the red light. "What were you doing in my trash?"