 Welcome to Microtarrers. Scary stories for kids. It's the Halloween season. Time for chills, thrills, and spine-tingling spooks. Microtarrers are family-friendly frights for those ages 8 and up. And while our stories are for younger years, we are still talking about things that go bump in the night. And some children may not be able to handle what others can. For rental consent, he is recommended. Now, for tonight's Microtarrer. Scary Cat. From the window at the front of his house, Jamie watched the trick-or-treaters walk, gallop and hop by his house. He was sitting on his knees, his chin rested in the palms of his hands, and his elbows propped up on the windowsill. He breathed in deep and let out a loud, irritated and jealous sigh. Grounded. That is what had led to him sitting inside as the spooky night unfolded outside. That is what led to him having to stay home alone while his parents took his little brother Tommy around the block. Jamie was upset at his parents' decision, but he was mostly upset with himself. He was the one who failed the math test. He was the one who chose to stay up late playing Fortnite when he should have been studying. He had no one else to blame but himself. He felt sorry for himself, sulking most of the day, hoping his parents would change their minds. But that didn't happen. They stuck to the punishment. Thinking about how they could have let him off the hook, he didn't cause bitterness to swell in Jamie. He scoffed at the princesses and ghosts bouncing excitedly past his house and turned away from the window. He stormed through his house, ripped the fridge open, and pulled out the last bottle of bubbly wild berry water. His dad made it perfectly clear that it was his bottle of bubbly. He'd be the one to drink it since the supply always got wasted by Jamie and his little brother. He appreciates the fizz like me, his dad would say. Jamie's bitterness continued to rise and before he could realize what he was doing, the cap on the bottle was spun off, letting out a satisfying hiss of carbonation. Jamie took a big sip straight from the bottle. His nose tingled and his eyes burned upon its fizzy impact. He cringed and then dumped the rest of the bottle out into the sink. As he watched the bubbling water spin around in the sink and disappeared on the drain, Jamie smiled an evil, satisfactory grin. It was revenge, plain and simple. Take something from me, I'll take something from you, Jamie thought. Mom was next on the chopping block. Jamie scoured the kitchen looking for something his mom cherished as much as his dad longed for that wild berry bubbly water. After that, he'd break one of Tommy's toys. No one was safe from Jamie's wrath. The wind outside picked up, slapping the shutters against the house and lifting the siding that his dad hadn't fixed since the windstorm loosened them back in the spring. A sudden, hard assault of the wind made Jamie jump. For a moment, he felt scared. Being home alone, even at ten years old, was unnerving, regardless of how angry he tried to be with his family. Plus, Halloween night added an extra layer of fear. He felt a cold breeze against the skin of his arms coming into the kitchen from the living room. Jamie walked back through the house and saw the front window open, the same one that was closed moments earlier when he was fretting at the trick-or-treaters. That's odd, Jamie thought. I know that window was closed a minute ago. Jamie walked to the window and was blasted by another gust of cold wind from outside. The curtains fluttered wildly around him, but he was able to fight through it to get both hands on the sash. But before he could shut it, he heard something outside in the flowerbed. It was a small noise, but still loud enough to hear over the howling wind. Jamie grabbed the curtains with his hands to stop them from fluttering and remained silent and still, listening for the small noise again. Everything seemed quiet now. Even the wind calmed to a gentle breeze. Jamie leaned his head out the window and looked down into the dark flowerbed. Everything was quiet. Nothing moved. But then... A black cat exploded up from the shadows. Its claws extended outward and its mouth wide open, displaying its many tiny teeth. Jamie screamed, falling back into his living room. He landed on his butt and scurried backwards like a frantic crab until he bumped into the wall. The cat stood a few yards away from him, still near the front window. Took a couple of steps towards him and then stopped. Jamie took a deep breath and then laughed at himself. He's just a cat, he said, embarrassed by how scared he was. How am I going to get this thing out of here? Jamie thought. Dad hates cats. Mom won't even look at them and Tommy calls them meow dogs. This cat is definitely not welcome here. And then, just like that, the cat ran out of the room. Jamie stood to his feet, so glad no one was home to see how he flew halfway across the room due to a classic cat jump scare. He couldn't help but remember every scary movie he had ever seen. Someone was always investigating a strange noise only to be spooked out of their gourd by an airborne cat flying to the window. However, when the random cat would run off, that's when the real danger would begin. Just to be on the safe side, Jamie closed the window, locked it and then checked the front door to make sure it was locked as well. When he felt safe enough and because this wasn't a scary movie, he picked up Tommy's toy sword that was laying under the coffee table and went to look for the intrusive feline. The house seemed darker than usual, more quiet and creepy. Since he was alone on Halloween night, any sort of lingering fears he felt were only escalated by the spooky holiday. Jamie drew his sword and crept through the living room, eventually crossing the large threshold into the playroom. That's where he had seen the cat run off to. He flipped on the light switch and the bulbs that hung from the ceiling fan flickered to life. The room was a mess from a full day of play. The shadows littered the floor. G.I. Joe's stood on a shelf, frozen in time from a battle they had fought earlier in the day with dinosaurs and Mike Wozowski. The cat, however, wasn't there or at least not that Jamie could see. He held the plastic sword with the curled cross guard out in front of him and slowly scanned to the room. Cat! Jamie called out, his voice breaking the silence, I saw you scamper in here! Come out with your paws in the air! The threat made Jamie smirk. Even though the first contact with the cat scared him and he knew he had to get it out of the house before his parents and Tommy came home, he found this kind of fun. He felt like a knight or a hero from one of his video games taking on the final cat boss. A space helmet missing the visor and covered in smiley face stickers caught his eye. He grabbed it from the shelf and placed it on his head. Space samurai! Jamie said to himself in an epic voice, ridding the world of cat invaders. Coming soon to a theater near you. Something moved in the corner. Jamie stopped creeping through the room. He focused his attention on the far corner, jam-packed with stuffed animals. They were moving, almost breathing, puffing up and then down. Jamie smirked, knowing the cat was in hiding. He slowly crept toward the pile of plush stopping when they were at his feet. The pile stopped breathing. Jamie raised his sword above his head. I'll teach you to invade the house of the space samurai! Jamie started to say, but was interrupted when the cat exploded from the pile of plush, screeching as a sword over his head landing on the shelf where the heroic G.I. Joe stood. The cat spun around, knocking the remaining Joe's off the shelf with its wriggling tail. Jamie imagined the Joe's screaming as they plummeted to their doom, landing hard on the scattered legos. Mike Wazowski and the dinosaurs seemed to smirk victoriously. Jamie dashed across the playroom, swinging his sword wildly at the cat. The cat jumped, barely escaping the plastic sword attack. It dug its claws into the wall, meowing loudly. It scurried up the wall and across the ceiling like Spider-Man. Jamie was astonished. He had never seen a cat move like this before. He was laughing at the black cat, but he was far too short to reach. The cat laughed. Laugh at me, will you cat? Jamie exclaimed, frustration growing inside of him. Jamie looked around for something else to use. The sword wasn't going to work here. Leading against the wall was an arsenal of weapons, a bow and arrow, a wooden spear and a pair of laser-tag guns. But based on what some gossip from the neighborhood kids said off of the space alien last Halloween, the laser-tag guns were useless. The spear would be too wobbly trying to reach the ceiling, so the bow and arrow was going to be the way to go. A couple of minutes later with the cat still stuck to the ceiling with his claws, Jamie had swapped out his space helmet for a bandana. He ducked behind an open storage bin of Legos and loaded up a nerf arrow. He pulled it back against the force of the string and settled his aim on Spider-Cat. Jamie closed one eye and steadyed his breathing. Gatch yet, he said, letting go of the nerf arrow. It flung through the air, zipping through the cat at high speed. But just before it made contact, the cat disappeared, fading from view like a ghost. The arrow hit the naked ceiling and bounced away, landing on the floor. A ghost, Jamie said, standing to his feet. A soft, innocent meow sounded off behind him. He turned around, watching the cat fade back in, standing in the kitchen. Scared, Jamie threw the bow at the cat. But just like with the nerf arrow, the cat disappeared again and the bow bounced across the kitchen floor. For the next half an hour, the ghost cat kept appearing and disappearing wherever Jamie was. Jamie hid in his bedroom but the cat appeared at the foot of his bed. Jamie locked himself in the bathroom but the cat appeared in the tub. Jamie stood by the front door with all the lights on but when the lights started to flicker the cat walked across the floor normal when the lights were shining but glowing bright green against the darkness when the lights were off. Jamie recognized this cat now. He remembered seeing its picture plastered to telephone poles throughout the neighborhood only a few months ago. Bones was the cat's name if Jamie had remembered correctly. Bones had gone missing after running off into the woods never to return but now on Halloween he was back. Whatever had happened to Bones and the woods resulted in him coming back as a ghost. He had heard spooky stories about those woods located behind a creepy old house at the edge of the neighborhood. The stories throughout the year were scary enough but thinking about them on Halloween made them seem even worse. There was a knock at the front door. Jamie peered out the window trying to see who it was because it was too dark. If it was his mom and dad they would have just opened the door. It was their house and they had a key. There was another knock more urgent this time. Jamie looked back at Bones but he was gone again completely vanished. Jamie opened the door. A small boy's voice screamed from the other side of the door. Tommy, Jamie said recognizing the voice he unlocked the door and opened it. When he was there with his clown costume on his parents weren't with him. Where's mom and dad? Tommy just stood there. I don't know. We were trick-or-treating one minute and the next they were gone. Where did you see them last? Jamie asked. We were near that creepy old house. You know the one by the creepy woods? Jamie nodded. Yeah, I know where you're talking about. Jamie stopped. The woods where Bones disappeared. We need to call for help Tommy. Jamie said starting to panic and then something moved behind Tommy. Jamie looked around him to see Bones strutting across the front yard an eerie green glow coming from him. Look Jamie said pointing to the cat. Tommy turned around and saw Bones in the yard. He laughed. How does he glow like that? He's a ghost. Jamie yelled. That's Bones Tommy. The cat then disappeared in those creepy woods over the summer. Tommy turned back to his older brother. I know who it is. He said, like Key and Bones were old friends or something. I just don't know how he turned screen like that. Maybe that's something I'll learn soon too. What are you talking about? Jamie asked. Right before his eyes Tommy faded away. Completely disappearing. Bones was nowhere to be seen either. Jamie rubbed his eyes not believing what he had just seen. Tommy Jamie stuttered. Right here Tommy's small voice said with an innocent chuckle. Jamie spun around watching Tommy slowly appear in the living room. Bones was sitting by his side. Jamie just stared. Behind his little brother two more people faded into view. It was his mom and dad. How did this happen? Jamie asked. Tommy chuckled again, as he was echoing through the room. I guess you should just be lucky you were grounded tonight. Thank you for listening to Mike Rowe Terrors. Join us each Saturday in October for another scary story. For more fun we also have Halloween themed games that you can print out and play like a wicked word search a mysterious maze and more. We've placed links to these free printouts in this episode's description along with a link to our Facebook page and information about our author Scott Donnelly who has other horrors for both young and old. I hope you'll join us again soon for Mike Rowe Terrors. Scary stories for kids.