h Chapter Nine g
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Warily, Alaysia and Izayah stepped up to the Oogie. Alaysia held the bracelet in her left palm, and Izayah took the other bracelet in his. The bracelet was so huge in their hands that it made the kids hands look miniature in size. Alaysia and Izayah looked at each other. Izayah nodded to his sister, letting her know that he was ready. Grasping the knob with the fingers of her right- Alaysia turned the knob. Izayah followed his sisters lead, turning the knob to unlock the bracelet that he held in his hand. As quickly as they turned the knobs, both Alaysia and Izayah stepped away from the Oogie- neither child knowing exactly what to expect now that the Oogie would be free of its chains.
But nothing happened. Everything just seemed so calm and still. The children were all holding their breaths. Each and every one of them, even the Oogie itself, just kept staring at the bracelets that were still wrapped around the Oogie’s hairy wrists. It seemed that the Oogie had been wrong, that it was mistaken that the children could release it from its bonds.
“Oh Noooooo- Alaysia cried out in exasperation.” “It didn’t work- The knob didn’t open the bracelets.” “What are we gonna do now? she asked, stamping her feet into the cellars hard, dirt packed floor.” “What about the Ogre, she asked?”
At that very moment, with all eyes wide and watching- long tendrils of smoke began emitting from the bracelets. Thick wisps of black, yellow, white, red, and blue colored smoke arose from each bracelet- spiraling up into the air. The smoke moved as though it were actually alive- turning, twisting, seemingly tying and knotting itself up into a giant mixture of spinning, colorful dots. While the smoke billowed up into the air, they could all see the bracelets begin to fade, to disappear into nowhere. When the bracelets totally vanished from the Oogie’s arms, there was suddenly a huge, very loud pop. The sound was so loud that everyone had to quickly cover their ears. With everyone watching- the colorful dots exploded- blasted away in every direction. It was as if the colorful dots were bullets that had been shot from thousands and thousands of guns all at the same instant. Then it was gone. Everything went perfectly still. There was nothing but utter silence. All four of the children just stared at the Oogie. The Oogie was free.
“Ahhhhhhhh- the Oogie breathed aloud.” “Finally, after all this time- free at last.”
The children just stood there, unmoving- still in awe of what they had just seen- of what they were seeing now. They were all so frightened, not knowing what would happen next, each of them wondering if the Oogie would keep its promise, or if they were about to find out that they had made a terrible, terrible mistake. The whole world, for them, seemed to have stopped turning, was at a complete stand still as they watched and waited.
The Oogie extended its arms, turning them over, carefully inspecting where the steel bracelets that had bound him had once been. It rubbed its huge hands up and down its arms, its fingers running through the thick mass of hair. It lifted one leg, and then the other- stamping its feet onto the dirt floor. When the Oogie took it’s head into both its hands and twisted it in both directions- the children’s mouths dropped open when the vertebra in the Oogie’s neck began cracking and popping, sounding as if it was breaking. The Oogie put its hands on its hips, twisted its body left, then right, and then leaned all the way backwards, its spine making crunching sounds that echoed throughout the room. Then, the Oogie shook and twisted its entire body back and forth (as the children had seen dogs do to dry themselves when they were wet.)- its long, glowing hair was swinging through the air like strings of thousands of Christmas lights, nearly swatting the children with the ends of it, and probably would have if the kids hadn’t moved out of the way. Once it seemed to the children at least) that the Oogie had broken every single bone in its body- the Oogie began to pace, to walk back and forth, in circles, causing the children to move out of its way when they blocked its path. Then suddenly, the Oogie stopped. With its arms behind its back, it just stopped and stood directly in front of the children, the lights of the Oogie’s hair twinkling and glowing and sparkling.
“Well now, the Oogie spoke to them- What will it be?”
Alaysia’s mouth moved, trying to say something- but she just couldn’t seem to get any sound to come from it.
Surprisingly, Micaiah was the first one of the kids that was able to speak.
“What do you mean, “What will it be?” she asked the Oogie.”
The Oogie moved directly in front of Micaiah, bent itself down so that its nose touched the tip of hers, its eyes looking right into hers. Micaiah didn’t say a word, just kept blinking her lashes as she stared back, her body trembling a little.
“What I mean, grumbled the Oogie- What I mean is; in order for me to keep my promise- What can I do for you children that you would really like?” “I promised that I would do something nice, for each of you- remember?” it said, as it stood up and once again began to pace back and forth in front of the children. “So- What would you like?” the Oogie asked again.