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As soon as Ravi walks onto the premise of the 118 firehouse, he is alert and suspicious of anything and everything. Ever since the scare war began, he has become the target of his fellow firefighters as Buck was the first to uncover how easily it is to scare Ravi. It started with Buck scaring him in the shower with a remote controlled snake, which he nearly dislocated his shoulder from as it caused him to slip and fall. After that there was a “no scare zone” established by Hen - our referee - for the showers and bunk beds as she didn’t want to see any injuries occurring. I remember her telling the team about the “new rule” and stating that “she’ll be damned if she has to treat one of us for our stupid ass scares”.
I’m greeted like normal by the B shift crew members who are leaving for the day, but I immediately spot Buck near the ambulance. He is slyly leaning against the hood of the vehicle and trying his best to be interested in something on his phone. I decided to call him out on his terrible acting skills.
“Hey Buck, you aren’t fooling me with your cool guy act” I say whilst walking to the locker room.
“Oh hi Ravi, I didn’t even see you come in. What are you talking about? I’m just texting this guy I met at the bar the other night” he says casually and follows me into the locker room.
“Hmmmm hmmm sure you are. You just happen to be distracted yet able to have a great view point from the ambulance, almost as if waiting for something to happen” I respond with a raised brow.
“What, no! I’m just chilling is all” he replies with a shrug.
“Yeah right-” I begin to say but am unexpectedly met with a pop up ghost as soon as I completely open my locker door, which causes me to slightly jump aback due to reflexes.
Buck begins to giggle as he sees my reaction go from startled to annoyed. “Ha we got ya!” he says with finger guns pointed towards me but quickly runs away to avoid any casualties as I’ve been known to throw things at his head.
“Yeah you better run from me Buckley! Also I knew you were up to something so jokes on you!” I yell back at him.
I look back to my locker to see a silly faced ghost still bobbing around. “Stupid thing” I mutter before yanking it out and placing my things inside.
Once I change into my uniform, I go upstairs to place my snacks in the fridge but overhear buck retelling the scare.
“He was mid-sentence when the thing popped out. You should have seen his face, it was hilarious.” Buck finishes with a knee slap.
“So how many points does Buck get for his pathetic scare?” I ask the others who are sitting in the lounge area.
“Pathetic scare!?! I’ll have you know that it was not Buckley's scare but mine and if he wasn’t an idiot about it and loitering around my scare zone, your reaction would have been decent” Chimney pipes up.
“You were supposed to keep watch where Rav couldn’t see you nitwit! And now you cost me some points. If I wasn’t confident about your stupidity, I’d say you were trying to sabotage me” Chimney says as he pokes Buck in the sternum.
“Heyyyy! To be fair, I thought I was being casual okay and it’s not my fault that your little scare was predictable. Besides, I am not threatened by your scare abilities as I’m in the lead after that fantastic reaction from Ravi in the showers” Buck retorts.
“Why you little-” Chimney begins to say before getting cut off by Hen.
“Okay children, as the designated referee of this idiotic scare war, I will give Chimney 3 points and deduct 2 points from Buck for poorly executed instructions and potential inference. Does that sound reasonable?”
“What! That’s not fair Hen! I didn’t ‘intentionally’ interfere with Chimney's scare on Ravi!” Buck bitterly says.
“I am a fair referee Buck but if you continue to complain I will deduct more points from you” Hen replies sternly.
Buck immediately shuts his mouth and grumpily stomps to Eddie’s side where he places his head on the middle of his chest - making Eddie rub his back in response.
******
The week leading up to Halloween is filled with failed scare attempts as all of us are on high alert for something to go bump in the night. The biggest failed attempt was chimney trying to scare Eddie.
On Thursday, the day before Halloween, we are all in the loft eating a very late lunch together in silence as we have had non-stop calls, which Josh would say is due to it being the full moon. Chimney breaks the silence with low groans of pain coming from the couch where he is in the fetal position.
After a few seconds, chimney calls over Eddie “ughhh - Eddie can you bring me the trash can I think I’m going to puke.”
Eddie springs into action and grabs a little throw up bin that we have laying around from Maddie’s pregnancy visits to the station and hands it to Chimney who is clutching his stomach.
“You don’t look so good, what kind of pain are you experiencing right now?” Eddie asks with a concerned look on his face.
“Ah — like a stabbing pain coming from my stomach with a lot of pressure” Chimney replies in between moans.
“I’m just going to do a quick stomach exam on you, okay? So let me open up your jacket” Eddie says with authority.
As Eddie begins to unzip Chimney’s grey LFAD jacket, Chimney starts to yell in pain quickening Eddie’s movements. As soon as Eddie completely opens the jacket, an ugly looking alien pops out and squirts blood all over Eddie’s face. Eddie - completely unamused - gets up with a loud sigh and goes to wipe off his face in the kitchen sink.
Chimney stands up with his hands on his hips looking slightly annoyed. “I just gave the performance of my life and I didn’t even get a flinch from you Eddie!” He proclaims.
“Chim, I was a military medic in the field and seen much worse than that. A pop up scare and some blood wasn’t going to do it. Besides, what even was that thing that came at me? It is ugly as hell” Eddie finishes.
“Are you serious Eddie!! How could you not know one of the best horror movie franchise creatures ever made!!” Chimney exclaims with a bewildered look.
Chimney looks from Eddie to the rest of us as if hoping someone would back him up. Chimney’s eyes rested on me to which I tell him “Don’t look at me, I have no idea what that horrid creature is” with my hands raised in defense.
“You guys are absolutely illiterate when it comes to movies! Honestly, does this generation watch any of the classics!?” Chimney says while storming away from us.
As he walks down the stairs he yells back “AND FOR YOUR INFORMATION, THE CREATURE IS FROM ALIEN THE MOVIE!”
******
After our shift, Chimney demands that I come back to his place so he can ‘properly educate today’s youth on cinematic masterpieces’ aka the Alien movie. We are ¾ through the movie and I’m watching through my fingers that are covering my face as things are getting both suspenseful and very spooky.
“Chimney while I value our friendship, if the alien eats the cat I am storming out of here and renouncing our friendship” I say half jokingly.
“Rav, you wouldn’t end our friendship. You are too nice to do that and besides who else except your boyfriend will watch Wipe Out and Survivor on the regular with you?” Chimney says with a smile.
I roll my eyes at him and throw a pillow at him in response instead - getting a chuckle from Maddie in the kitchen who’s overhearing our conversation.
“FYI I dislike scary movies and I thought it wouldn’t be scary due to its old age” I say when the main protagonist hides from the alien.
“HA! Don’t be ridiculous Ravi. Some of the classics are the most horrifying because of the practical effects used. Never underestimate a classic” Chimney says while shoveling popcorn into his mouth.
“Well I won’t make that mistake twice. If only your alien today was as scary as the one in this movie” I say with another bite of Sour Patch kids.
“I know, that means Buckley will win the scare competition tomorrow as I believe no one has anything planned and unfortunately he got the biggest points from scaring you” Chimney replies with a shake of his head in disapproval.
Suddenly Ravi has a wicked idea and a smirk begins to creep along his face. “He won’t win unless we pull off the greatest scare ever tomorrow” replies Ravi.
“I knew I liked you Ravi. What’s the plan” Chimney asks as the movie credits begin to roll.
********
It’s Halloween night and the 118 firehouse is brimming with children trick or treating at the station. This year, the 118 not only has a spookier haunted house being run by the 118 families, but they have a pumpkin carving contest and bobbing for apples. I’m in charge of handing out candy with Buck as Eddie and Hen are manning the pumpkin station and Chimney is overseeing the apple section. Buck keeps whining about how unfair Chimney is for not allowing him to swap with Hen at the pumpkin station.
“I don’t get why Chimney won’t let me be with Eddie and Hen come work with you. The work would still get done” Buck says while randomly dumping candy into a child’s outstretched arms.
“He probably did it because whenever you and Eddie are together, you constantly make heart eyes at Eddie and y’all end us whispering to each other like schoolgirls” I finish saying with a smile at a trick or treater wearing a firefighter costume.
His comment gets a scowl from Buck which I brush off as Buck can act like a whining toddler seeking attention. I soon find it easy to tune out Buck and just focus on the kids coming in and out of the station for Halloween candy. The hours whizz by as I make friendly conversation with kids and secretly think about my fun couple’s costume awaiting for me at home for tonight’s Halloween party. Before I know it, Chimney is telling me to help Buck and Eddie clean up at the pumpkin station as our shift is almost over.
“Finally, I can go talk to Eddie!” Buck says enthusiastically and practically sprints over to the pumpkin carving table.
“Can you two clean all this pumpkin up while I clean the carving tools” Eddie instructs us before heading up to the loft with an armfull of supplies.
“No problem!” Buck says too eagerly and grabs a nearby trash bag to dump all the pumpkin guts inside it.
Whilst I really don’t feel like touching a textural nightmare, I help Buck out so I can finish up my shift as quickly as possible. However, just as I’m bending over to pick up a clump of pumpkin guts, I notice a child walk to the opposite side of our fire engine and disappear around the back of it.
“I’ll be right back” I say to Buck before quickly walking over to where I last saw the child.
“Hey, you need to help me here!” I hear Buck hollers from behind me.
As I approach around the back of the fire engine, I notice that one of the engine’s compartments is open and a boy around 10 years old is hunched over looking at something.
“Hi there. What are you doing?” I say in a soft, pleasant voice.
The kid bolts upright in surprise and slowly backs away from the truck - revealing one of our emergency chainsaws in his hands.
“I was just looking for something” the child responds, still slowly walking backwards to the side door of the station - where I’m guessing he entered from.
“Well what you found is very dangerous and you could injure someone with that, including yourself. Could you kindly put it back? I ask while closing the gap between us with three long strides.
“Hmmm I don’t think so. I need it” the kid says and seemingly clutches it tighter.
“What do you need it for? Maybe I can help you or possibly your parents?” I calmly state.
“You wouldn’t understand…no one does…I need it for protection-” he sternly responds with a clenched jaw.
“What do you need protecting from? Is someone trying to hurt you?” I ask as an unsettling feeling creeps into my gut.
Before the child can answer me, we both get spooked by Buck who just seemingly appeared out of nowhere behind the kid.
“What’s going on here!? Is this little man lost?” Buck says with a pleasant smile not yet realizing the chainsaw that the boy has.
“Uh no, actually this kid is in need of our help” I say to Buck, hoping that maybe the boy will give us back the chainsaw without us taking drastic measures.
Now that Buck is behind the boy, his face changes from cheerful to serious when he sees the chainsaw. “Woah there, I’m going to need to take that off of your hands there pal as we wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself” Buck asserts and confidently grabs the handle of the chainsaw.
“NO!!! I NEED IT!” The boy starts to scream loudly as a tug of war ensues between Buck and the child.
I try to defuse the situation by telling Buck to let go but the chainsaw suddenly roars to life, just as Buck yanks it from the child’s grasp - creating a domino effect. The boy falls backwards and lands on his butt while Buck loses his balance causing him to propel forward towards me. Neither of us can react quick enough and both of us watch horror stricken as the blade connects to my abdomen slicing deeply. Screams fill my ears as we watch the blood pool through my LAFD shirt.
Snapping into action, Buck turns off the chainsaw and yells for help as he rushes to my aid.
I’m somehow laying on the ground - despite having no memory of falling - when the other 118 members arrive next to Buck who is crying.
“Hang on Rav, we are going to get you all patched up and this will be nothing but a bad dream” Buck sniffs besides me holding my head in his lap.
“I don’t feel so good” I say weakly as Hen, Eddie, and Chimney are frantically placing gauze and medical equipment on me.
I know people are asking me questions based on their mouths moving but the only thing I hear is Buck saying “Rav you have to stay awake okay!” before being swallowed whole by darkness.
*******
“Buck you have to let him go, he’s gone” Hen says through a stream of tears.
“No, no! He isn’t dead, he can’t be!” Buck says while shaking Ravi’s lifeless body.
“He is Buck. He doesn’t have a pulse anymore-” Eddie chokes.
“It’s all my fault–if I hadn’t come off so aggressively, Ravi would still be alive…why…why wasn’t I more careful-” Buck mumbles.
Eddie tries to comfort Buck with a hug but Buck shrugs him off and runs to the bathroom instead. In the bathroom, Buck begins to violently scrub off the blood from his hands as if trying to erase everything that just happened. After a long time of scrubbing, Buck shuts off the faucet and looks up at his reflection but instead of just seeing his own, he sees a ghostly Ravi in bloody clothes standing behind him.
“OH MY GOD!!!” Buck screams as he whips around too quickly and falls to the ground.
“Please don’t haunt me” Buck stutters to the ghostly Ravi inching closer to him with his hands outstretched for cover.
Buck cowards on the floor with his eyes closed, hoping that ghost Ravi will disappear. Instead, he is met with a bellowing laughter and the ghost saying “I can’t, I’m going to piss myself”.
Buck slowly opens one eye to see Ravi with his hands clutching his stomach as if unable to breathe from pure laughter. “What’s going on–” Buck confusingly asks, unsure what is real.
The others open the bathroom door and yell out “HAPPY HALLOWEEN” with smiles on their faces and a phone in Chimney’s hand.
Buck looks from his friends to Ravi and back to his friends in bewilderment. “But, you were dead. We all saw you–I don’t understand-” Buck rambles, still very much confused.
After catching my breath, I say with tears in my eyes “I’m not dead doofus. I just gave you the fright of the century instead. Come upstairs and I’ll explain to you how I did it.”
With suspicion still in his eyes, I assist Buck off the floor and we all go into the loft where I screen mirror my phone onto the tv to play a video of me and the 118 helping me prank Buck.
“Revenge is a dish best served cold” Chimney says into the camera with a menacing smile before turning it around to show me practicing my ghost makeup in the mirror.
“Any last words to the viewers before you pull off the greatest scare in 118 history?” Chimney asks me in the video.
“Uhhh, yes actually. I’d like to dedicate this to Buck who completely deserves this” I say to the camera with a wink before the video ends.
I stop the video and look over at Buck who is in complete astonishment.
“Earth to Buckley” Chimney says to Buck while he waves his hand in front of his face.
Buck finally snaps back to reality and says “I don’t know if I should applaud you for your brilliant work or fear your evil brain Ravi”
“Maybe both?” I say with a laugh.
“Okay, I do have some questions though. Like how did you not actually get injured by that chainsaw and who was that boy we were talking too beforehand-” Buck spit fire questions at me.
“Ah well me not getting injured is thanks to Karen’s brilliant mind and her rigging up our actual chainsaw with a fake blade like the ones you see at haunted houses. Chimney was my horror expert who came up with the blood pouch that was configured to burst with a remote control. Eddie helped me get the consistency of the blood just right so you wouldn’t suspect anything. Hen was in charge of ensuring you went to investigate my disappearance and swapped out me with a dummy replica when you were rehashing the events to Chimney and Eddie. The boy who we were interacting with is named Leo. He wanted to be here for the big reveal but sadly a 10 year old has a curfew but I promised him we would all grab burgers and shakes with him over the weekend. I met Leo through a big brother program at the cancer hospital that I volunteer at. He recently went into remission and as he has a passion for acting, I asked him if he’d help me scare you today. He was all too eager with my plan” Ravi finishes with a little laugh.
“Wow, that's all really impressive. How did you get to the bathroom door without making a sound?” Buck asks.
“Once Hen and I swapped me for the dummy, I hid underneath the truck and shimmied my way through until I was on the other side. Then I tiptoed to the bathroom door and waited to open it until I heard Hen loudly say “clear” which was my cue to go inside and change into my ghostly outfit. Then I just waited for you to come in and didn’t scare you until the perfect timing” I say proudly.
“Okay, but what if I didn’t go to the bathroom?” Buck skeptically asks.
“I had that planned out as well. Someone would have suggested that you should wash your hands before taking my body to the hospital. I always come prepared” I reply with a smirk.
“Jesus Rav…..I think it’s going to take a week before my heart rate comes down. I mean look at me” Buck states while putting his hand out to show it still trembling from adrenaline and fear.
“Well consider this your lesson as to why not to scare me again” I conclude with a head nod.
“Yeah I promise to never scare you again” Buck exclaims with him crossing his heart with his finger.
“As promised, I’d like to bestow Ravi - Halloween Scare Master - his spooktacular prize!” Hen happily says while handing me a glow in the dark backpack filled with surprises.
“All of this just to prove me a point” Buck says begrudgingly.
“Yes, I did want the bragging rights and to happily enjoy my spoils with my boyfriend tonight” I say while skipping away to collect my belongings.
The others burst out in laughter at a combination of Buck making a face at the back of my head and Eddie saying "I guess that makes Buck both the scaredy cat and the scream queen".
“This is certainly a Halloween I’ll never forget” I think to myself.