Growing Around - April Ghoul's Day

Growing Around:

April Ghoul’s Day


[The episode begins with a shot of Timmy sleeping in bed contently. We see him sleeping for a few seconds, before we suddenly cut to a P.O.V. shot. Someone is walking through the house, wearing a mask that obstructs most of their vision. Their breathing is also very audible and heavy. When this moment begins, loud, suspenseful music begins playing. We then cut back to Timmy, who’s still sleeping. The suspenseful music quiets down a bit. We cut back to the P.O.V. shot suddenly, and the music gets loud and startling again. The mask-wearer is now walking up the stairs to get to the second floor. We cut to Timmy again. He’s still sleeping, oblivious to what’s coming. The music gets quiet again. We cut to the P.O.V shot once again, accompanied by the louder music. The mask-wearer is approaching the Master Bedroom. They enter the room, and head towards the bunk bed. They climb into Timmy’s bunk, and crawl up to him, getting right into his face. The suspenseful music is now reaching its climax. Timmy slowly begins to wake up, and sees the mask-wearer. We suddenly cut to the living room. Robert and Linda are there, watching some early morning news and eating cereal. We see them sitting there for a second, before we hear a loud, high-pitched scream that causes Robert and Linda to jump in surprise. We hear running, and Timmy suddenly rushing into the living room in a panic. He jumps into Linda’s lap and hugs her, a terrified look on his face. Linda looks down at him, surprised.]

Linda: (concerned) What’s wrong, Timmy?

Timmy: [He points offscreen with a shaky finger.] (Scaredly) Th-th-there’s a monster in our room!

[The “monster”, who is now revealed to be Sally wearing a monster mask, enters the living room. She gets closer to Timmy. Timmy squeaks and hides his face in Linda’s chest.]

Sally: [She makes claws with her hands.] Rawr! Rawr!

[When Sally passes Robert, the man pulls the mask off her head, revealing Sally.]

Robert: That’s no monster, Timmy; that’s your sister.

Timmy: (muffled) Same difference.

Sally: [She laughs.] April Ghouls!

Robert: “April Ghouls”? What’s that?

Sally: It’s the same as April Fools but (in a spooky voice) spookier!

[Timmy glares at Sally.]

Timmy: You’re a jerk.

Sally: (defensively) Hey, be nice.  [She then smirks.] Or I won’t show you any mercy.

[Sally walks out of the living room, chuckling to herself. We cut to a nervous Timmy.]

Timmy: [He gulps.] Oh boy…

[We cut to a short montage of Sally pulling scary pranks on Timmy. First, we see Timmy playing with his toys in the Master Bedroom. Suddenly, a fake spider attached to some thread appears from offscreen and dangles next to his head. Timmy looks to the side, and sees the spider. He then screams and rushes out of the room in a panic. Sally appears from behind the bunk bed, holding the other end of the thread and snickering into her hand.]

[We then cut to Sally, who’s at the dinner table with her laptop. She sets up a game on the laptop, before getting up, and walking off. Timmy enters the room a second later, and looks at the laptop curiously. He sits down at the table and begins to play the game. However, when he progresses to a certain point, a scary face pops up on the screen, accompanied by a loud scream. Timmy screams and falls back in the chair. He and the chair land on the ground with a thud.]

Timmy: (offscreen) Ow…

[Next, we see the stairs. We see the photos that are hanging up on the wall. One of them is a picture of Sally. We hear footsteps, and we see Timmy walking upstairs. Suddenly, the eyes of the painting move, and follow Timmy. Timmy continues up the stairs, and offscreen. He’s gone for a second, before he rushes back downstairs and looks at the Sally painting. The eyes continue to stare at him.]

Sally: (from behind the painting) Boo.

[Timmy screams and runs upstairs. The painting is removed from the wall, and we see that Sally was hiding inside the wall. She laughs.]

[We cut to the final prank of the montage. We see Timmy walking through the house, when he runs into Sally, who’s holding something behind her back. Timmy’s on edge, expecting her to do something scary, but Sally only pulls out a rather large slushy. Timmy looks at it suspiciously, and slowly takes it. He takes a test sip, and finds it good. Sally walks away with a devious smile on her face. We cut to a clock. The arms on the clock go around a few times, signifying the passage of time. We cut back to Timmy, who’s just finished the drink. Suddenly, he bites his lip and squeezes his legs together. He rushes out of the kitchen and to the nearest bathroom. He rushes in, goes to the toilet and lifts up the seat, only to reveal a toilet monster gag that was set up in the toilet by Sally. We cut to outside the bathroom. We hear Timmy scream. We then hear a trickling sound, followed by Timmy groaning in frustration. Sally passes the bathroom, laughing to herself.]

[We cut to the next scene. We see a closet. A whimpering noise is coming from it. We fade to inside the closet, and we see Timmy huddled in a corner, shivering in fear and whimpering softly to himself. Suddenly, we hear the closet’s doorknob being turned. Timmy looks up in terror.]

Timmy: (scared) Oh no!

[The closet door is opened and a shadow falls on Timmy, who’s now cowering.]

Timmy: Please! Have mercy!

Robert: (offscreen) Relax, Timmy. It’s just me.

[Timmy uncovers his eyes, and sighs in relief when he sees that it is, indeed, Robert. Robert kneels down in front of his son.]

Robert: Hiding from Sally, huh?

Timmy: Yeah. She’s been playing spooky pranks on me all day. Its freaking me out.

Robert: [He scoffs.] You think you’re the only one getting pranked? [He pulls out a rubber snake.] I found this in the medicine cabinet. Everyone’s getting the April Ghoul’s Day treatment.

Timmy: [He gasps.] Even Gumdrops?

[We hear Gumdrops’ terrified whinny coming from offscreen, implying that she just got pranked.]

Robert: Even Gumdrops.

Timmy: We should totally get back at Sally, all of us.

Robert: Sounds decent enough. But what should we do?

[Timmy pauses to think, but then gets an idea. He smirks.]

Timmy: I’ve got an idea…

[We cut to Sally, who’s walking around the house, searching for her next victim.]

Sally: Hmm...where is everyone? I haven’t reached my pranking quota yet.

[We suddenly hear a noise coming from upstairs. Sally glances up at the ceiling with a mischievous smirk on her face.]

Sally: (mischievously) There you are…

[Sally rushes upstairs. She turns the corner, and we get a scare chord as we see Robert and Linda standing at the other end of the corridor. They’re wearing fancy outfits that are similar in color and design, and have creepy smiles on their faces.]

Robert and Linda: (creepily) Hello, Sally.

[We cut to Sally, who stares at them in confusion.]

Sally: Robert? Linda? What are you doing? And why are you dressed like that?

[We cut to Robert and Linda.]

Robert and Linda: [They simultaneously reach out and beckon at Sally.] (Creepily) Come and prank us…

[We cut to Sally.]

Sally: Huh?

[We cut back to Robert and Linda.]

Robert and Linda: (creepily) Come and prank us, Sally. Forever…

[The lights go out suddenly, and turn back on. Robert and Linda have gotten closer to the camera. We cut back to Sally, who jumps in alarm. We cut back to Robert and Linda.]

Robert and Linda: (creepily) …and ever… [The lights flicker again and they get closer.] …and ever… [The lights flicker again and they get closer.] …and ever…

[We cut to Sally, who looks pretty scared. She runs back downstairs, but we can still hear Robert and Linda’s mantra. Sally rushes out to the backyard, and closes the patio door behind her, silencing the mantra. Sally sighs in relief.]

Sally: Well, that was freaky…

[Sally goes to the playground that’s in the backyard, and sits on one of the swings.]

Sally: Meh...I’ll get them later. For now, though, I’ll just take a little break.

[Sally begins swinging on the swings. It isn’t long before her fear goes away, and she’s having fun. Sally’s pony topiaries are in the background. One of them appears to be moving. We get a closer shot of the topiaries, and we see that one of them actually is moving. The living topiary slowly moves from its place in the garden, and slowly walks up behind Sally. Sally doesn’t realize the topiary is behind her until she bumps into it as she swings backwards.]

Sally: [She slows to a stop.] Huh?

[Sally looks behind her, and sees the topiary pony glaring down at her. Sally gasps and gets up the swing, back away from the topiary.]

Sally: (scared) Oh my gosh…the topiary’s haunted! [She pauses.] (Normally) Actually, that might not be so bad...

[The topiary pony paws at the ground and snorts, preparing to charge. Sally gulps.]

Sally: (scared) I take it back. It’s bad. It’s really bad!

[Sally runs back inside in a panic while the topiary pony chases her. Sally goes inside, only to run into Robert and Linda again, who are still doing their mantra. Sally squeaks in fear and flees to the kitchen. The kitchen is empty. On the table are a stack of papers, all of them written on with crayon. Sally looks through all the papers and sees the same message written on every page: ALL PLAY AND NO WORK MAKES TIMMY A HAPPY BOY. As Sally reads this, Timmy walks up behind her carrying an axe and smiling.]

Timmy: Like it?

[Sally screams, and drops the papers all over the floor. Timmy looks as if he’s going to say something else, but Sally runs past him.]

Sally: [She blocks her ears with her hands.] Nope! Nope! Nope! I’m not listening! You’re all crazy!

[Sally goes to the bathroom from earlier and locks herself in. She leans against the wall, her arms crossed. She then notices the toilet monster, who’s been sitting in the toilet all day.]

Sally: (bitterly) What are you looking at?

[There’s a knock at the door, causing Sally to jump.]

Timmy: (offscreen) Little pig, little pig, let me come in.

Sally: No! Not by the hair of my chinny-chin chin! I can quote fairy tales too, you know!

[We cut to outside the bathroom, where Timmy, Robert, and Linda are standing. Timmy struggles to lift the axe.]

Timmy: Sally, if you don’t open this door, I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll--

Robert: [He takes the axe.] (Quietly) That’s...probably a bad idea. Here, let me try something. (Louder) Oh my gosh! The lead singer from Eternity Forever is in our house!

[A second later, the bathroom door opens, and an excited Sally rushes out.]

Sally: [She looks around.] (Excitedly) Where!? Where!? [She then realizes the mistake she made.] Oh, poo.

[The others surround her, all of them wearing creepy smiles. Sally shivers.]

Sally: (scared) Wh-What are you gonna do to me?

Timmy: We just wanted to tell you…

[The others get closer. Sally covers her face with her hands in fear.]

Timmy,Robert, and Linda: April Ghoul’s!

[The family all laugh at their prank. Sally peeks out from between her fingers.]

Sally: Huh?

Timmy: It was all a prank, Sally. To get you back for all the pranks you played on us. [He turns to Robert and Linda.] You two did a great job, by the way.

Robert and Linda: [They smile.] Thank you, Timmy.

Sally: S-So...you guys didn’t go crazy?

Timmy: [He laughs.] Of course not, Sally.

[Sally sighs in relief.]

Sally: (relieved) Oh, thank Santa Claus...You guys really got me good.

[Just then, there’s a shrill-sounding neigh that causes the family to jump. We cut to the topiary pony, who’s managed to get in the house. It walks towards them menacingly. Sally hides behind Timmy.]

Sally: (fearfully) The haunted topiary! It’s come to haunt me!

[Robert approaches the topiary pony and pulls off it’s “head”. It’s reveal that the topiary pony is actually Gumdrops in a leafy, pony-shaped costume. Robert gives Gumdrops a stern look and Gumdrops lets out a sheepish whinny. Robert then chuckles and pets Gumdrops’ head.]

Robert: That’ll do, pony. That’ll do.

[We iris out to black, and the episode ends.]