Chapter Text
“Are we there yet?” Dennis asked eagerly, bouncing in his seat, seeing palm trees line the road sparsely and the slightly marshy plains surrounding them.
“Not yet, Denisovich,” Drac said from the driver’s seat, “But we’re close!” As they continued to drive, Johnny was in the passenger’s seat, watching something on his phone, what looked like extreme skateboarding. Mavis was in the middle with Dennis, trying to keep him in his seat, and Ericka was in the back watching a movie on her ipad. Dennis thought he heard something rustle in one of the suitcases, but didn’t think too much of it because they had finally arrived. They pulled into the parking lot of the hotel they would be staying at, the Aventura Hotel. A relatively new place in the area. They all got out of the car to admire the place, all of them except Ericka. “Ericka, we’re here!” Drac called to her from outside of the car, she didn’t respond. He hopped into the car and peered into the very back seat and saw that she had tucked her legs up to her chest and snuggled into her pillow; fast asleep. His slightly worried gaze relaxed and he reached out to poke her shoulder. She reacted to his touch and squirmed away. “It’s time to get up!” He exclaimed softly to her, slightly shaking her shoulder. She blinked open her eyes and saw Drac hunched over her,
“Are we there?” She asked, yawning and sitting up slightly. He nodded and helped her out of the car, it’s taller than I thought. She thought, looking up at the massive building. They started to unload their bags from the trunk, and when Dennis went to grab his bag, he felt that it was heavier than he initially thought it was. He set it down on the pavement and unzipped it, only to see Winnie spring out of it and leap onto his face to lick him.
“WINNIE?!” He exclaimed, smiling at the pleasant surprise and trying to stop her from licking his face.
“You didn’t think I would miss my zings birthday did you?” She asked, allowing him to stand back up.
“I didn’t think you’d hide in my suitcase!” He replied, trying to dry his slobbery face. By now all of the adults noticed Winnie spawning out of thin air and talking to Dennis.
“WINNIE?!” They all said, “What are you doing here?!”
“I came to celebrate Dennis’s birthday with you guys!” Winnie explained, “I mean, what kind of friend wouldn't?”
“Not about that…” Mavis said back, leading them inside, “does your mom know that you stowed away?”
“She knows that I came with you,” Winnie admitted, “I told her that you guys were letting me come with you!” Mavis didn’t know what to say about that.
“So we got a stowaway, huh?” Ericka popped into the conversation, walking over to them with a slight sway in her step, “and we didn’t even know that she was in the car.”
“That’s the problem!” Mavis snapped, “she could of suffocated!”
“But she didn’t,” Ericka replied, bending down to be on the same level as Winnie, since they still had a pretty significant height difference, “and that’s the important thing.” Mavis seemed a bit annoyed, but Ericka continued to talk to Winnie, “You're pretty sneaky, and I respect that,” She fist bumped Winnie, making Winnie seem to smile a little bit, “you’d make a pretty good spy…”
“Ok! Winnie, how about you go and help Dennis bring some stuff inside for a bit.” Mavis butted back into the conversation, allowing Winnie to go back outside and for her to drag Ericka over to a corner, “What do you think you're doing?!” Mavis demanded.
“Just telling her that she’d make a good spy,” Ericka replied, trying to keep her cool, “do...you have a problem with that?”
“Your INFLUENCING bad BEHAVIOR!” Mavis retorted, making Ericka scoff,
“No I’m NOT!” Ericka responded, “I’m just SAYING that she’d make a good spy, not FORCING her to rob the president or anything!”
“But you COMPLIMENTED her for RISKING her life to come with us!” Mavis retorted, trying to act more intimidating, but failing.
“NO I’M NOT!!” Ericka yelled, “KEEP YOUR OPINIONS TO YOURSELF!!” She stomped away and back outside to see if she could carry something inside. Drac noticed how aggravated she looked and wanted to find out what was bothering her,
“Are...You ok?” He asked, trying not to anger her with too many questions.
“OH. I DON’T KNOW,” She replied roughly, “WHY NOT ASK YOUR KNOW-IT-ALL DAUGHTER! WHO APPARENTLY KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT PARENTING!” He was surprised by her outburst, but not as much as he should have been. He saw Mavis side-eying Ericka as she carried her suitcase inside the building. Drac just stood on the pavement, not really sure how to comprehend what just happened, he wanted to confront her, but at the same time didn’t want to. But he didn’t want to seem like a pushover either. By now everybody has gotten their luggage from the car and Johnny was driving it over to a parking spot.
When he came back, they decided to check in at the front desk and Dennis got a birthday pin to wear around the parks. They took their luggage up to their room on the elevator and walked to their room. It was pretty small, but it had enough room for them and their luggage. They saw a small iPad on the coffee table and figured out that it controlled the temperature, the lights, and even the tv. “That’s so cool!” Dennis giggled, grabbing the tablet out of Drac’s hands and starting to tap random buttons on it, making random lights go on and off. Winnie wanted to get on it too, but Johnny intervened,
“Maybe...you shouldn’t do that…” Johnny said to Dennis as he was clicking away on the tablet.
“But it’s fun!” Dennis retorted, handing the iPad to Winnie to click on it.
“But it’s not safe,” Mavis popped in, holding her hand out for Winnie to give her the tablet. Winnie eventually did, but she wasn’t happy about it. “You could have blown a fuse.”
“Since when are you an electrician?” Johnny asked as Mavis put the tablet back on it’s charging port. As they continued to chat, Ericka shifted her attention over to the tv that was turned on by Winnie. It was on it’s idle screen and there were posters for something called “Halloween Horror Nights 2019”, and they were going on that night.
“Hey Drac?” She asked, sounding a lot more calm than she did before.
“Yeah?” He asked from behind on their bed.
“Have you heard of ‘Halloween Horror Nights’?” She asked again, sitting down on the bed, not looking away from the tv.
“What’s that?” He asked, scooting closer to her.
“It looks like a special event being held at the parks during the Halloween season.” She described.
“Sounds interesting…” He replied, suddenly wrapping his arms around her waist and yanking her backwards onto the bed with him. She did a small yelp as she was yanked back, but quieted back down as she was tucked into his side.
“I...think we should take a little nap before we head to the park…” Ericka mumbled to everybody else. They all thought it was a good idea and decided to take a nap as well, as they were resting up for one of the most chaotic nights of their lives.