LKHFF SHORT STORIES JOHNNY'S SLEEPWALK

LKHFF SHORT STORIES

"JOHNNY'S SLEEPWALK"

It was another silent at the LKHFF studio, and everyone was sleeping the night away. All throughout the building, not a creature was stirring. In fact, not even a little quiet mouse. Rae was sleeping silently in her bedroom, with a pink sleeper over her eyes. She was quietly making some Z’s while dreaming, when her beauty sleep was suddenly disturbed by some sounds. She sleepily wakes up and removes the sleeper off her eyes. Her eyes then scan around the room, wondering where the sound is coming, until her eyes rest on her open window. She looks at her alarm clock and it read “1:03” in the morning. She yawns as she gets up and walks over to the window, thinking that the wind blowing into her room was the source of the sound. But after she closes it, she hears it again. But this time, it was actually coming from the kitchen downstairs. This sent shivers down her spine. “An intruder! In our studio!” Rae thought to herself. She looks around for a weapon to use to defend herself with, until she spots her cactus that she named “Jim”. Without thinking anything else, she grabs the cactus and proceeds downstairs. As she heads downstairs, still  wearing her pajamas, the noises in the kitchen were louder than before and she spots a light coming from there. She quietly tiptoes over and peeks around the next corner. She sees their refrigerator door open and sees someone she cannot describe raiding it. She quietly gasps and ducks her head back around the corner. “Oh my, he’s raiding our food!” Rae thought to herself. But then, a theory came into her mind and she quietly growls. “Wait, it’s probably Heath Lynx again! Trying to take our food like he did last time! But not if I have anything to say about it!” Rae thought to herself. When she steps into the kitchen, armed with a cactus, the mysterious intruder has vanished. This left Rae confused. Where did he go? Cautiously looking around for the intruder, she walks over to the fridge and looks in it, seeing what was missing. Then all the sudden, the kitchen’s window bursts open. “I’ve got a cactus! Uh…” said Rae, raising her cactus as a weapon, but she finds nobody there. Shrugging it off, she turns to the fridge and closes it. But when she turns around, she was startled to see someone in front of her, who appeared out of nowhere. “AHH!” shrieked Rae. But quickly enough, it was revealed to be Johnny, eating a string of sausages with his arms full of food. “Johnny? Oh, thank goodness, it’s just you” said Rae, feeling relieved. Then she remembers something else. “Johnny, do you have any idea what time it is?” asked Rae. But Johnny did not answer back. He just continues to eat the string of sausages by slurping it down. Then Johnny reaches into a jar of pickles and plucks one out. He then proceeds to drink the whole jar, abandoning his selected pickle. “Um, Johnny?” asked Rae. But Johnny remains silent. “Johnny?” asked Rae as she waves her hand in front of his face, but there is still no reply. Then Rae finally notices something about him. When she looks closer at his face, she sees that his eyes are closed. As if he was actually eating and sleeping at the same time. That’s when she came to a conclusion. “Wait. Johnny, are you….sleepwalking?” asked Rae. Then Johnny opens his mouth and takes a bite of her cactus she’s holding, leaving her shocked. “You ate Jim!” said Rae, horrified. Then she stops and stares at Johnny. He grabs everything out of the fridge and starts heading towards the open kitchen window. “Johnny! Stop! Where are you going with all our food? Johnny, they'll spoil!” said Rae. Then Johnny comes back real quick and takes her cactus “Jim”, from her hands. He then proceeds to climb out the kitchen window with his supplies. “Johnny, come back here!” said Rae. But Johnny, completely oblivious, walks on. “Johnny!” said Rae. Then she quickly came up with a course of action. “I need to wake Benny and the others” said Rae. But then she realizes that she still has her pajamas on. “Oh, but first things first” said Rae, and ran upstairs to change.

After a quick change of clothes, Rae ran back downstairs and rushes towards the alarm levers. But there are three, each for a different situation. One is for “In Case of Fire”. The second is for “In Case of Heath Lynx”. And the final third is “In Case of Sudden Emergencies”. Rae pulled down the third lever, and the alarm starts blaring loudly. Then right on cue, Rae hears the tumble and scrambling of feet of her friends upstairs. Then she sees them running downstairs, with some of them losing their balance and tumbled downstairs. Even the Cubs were woken up by the alarm. They sleepily came downstairs and stood beside their parents. Even Lion and Rafiki showed up. “Wh-What’s going on here?!” stammered Leo.
“What’s the big idea?!” asked Panthy, who isn’t very happy when she woke up by the alarm.
“Rae! What’s going on?” asked Benny.
“My ears are completely ringing from the alarms!” exclaimed Rafiki.
“Who turned off the sun?” asked Dagnino sleepily.
“Sorry to wake you guys up, but we have a problem! It’s Johnny! He was raiding our food. Not that it's different from every other day. But, well, it was late, y'see. And I usually like to get eight hours of sleep. But Johnny was eating. HAS eaten. HAS taken all our food! I asked him. Talked to him. But no reaction! He just kept eating. Do you hear me guys? Johnny…IS…SLEEPWALKING!” said Rae, who seems freaked out by all this. She waited for a reply, but couple of them only yawned, as if they don’t care. “THAT’S what you woke us up for?” asked Lion.
“Uh, what’s sleepwalking?” asked Rafiki, who is puzzled. Apparently, Rafiki was never seen or heard anyone ever sleepwalking before. “So what? People usually sleepwalk every now and then” said Teresa.
“But THIS one is different! I swear!” said Rae. Then they a clatter sound from outside the studio. “Huh?” said everyone in unison. They looked out through the window and they see someone coming out of a nearby house. Upon closer inspection, it was revealed to be Johnny, carrying various foods in his arms, and his belly was more bigger than before. “What the? Is Johnny sleepwalking with food in his arms?” asked Leo.
“See? I told you” said Rae.
“Hey, all the food is gone!” exclaimed Xiro when he looks into the empty fridge.
“Exactly! He ate every meat, fruit, and vegetables in there!” said Rae. Then the Cub’s eyes were widened with happiness when they heard what they heard. “Did she say all the veggies are gone?” asked Lightning, who is Dagnino & Teresa’s son.
“No more veggies?” asked Danny, who is Leo’s son.  
“YAY!!!” cheered the Cubs.
“So what is Johnny is doing with all the food?” asked Benny.
“I think Johnny is becoming like a swarm of locusts ready to purge the neighborhood and all it's good people of all their food!” said Rae. There was a moment of pause as they stared at Rae after what she said. Then Bruma spoke. “Y'know, sometimes you spook us when you talk like that” said Bruma.
“Am I missing something here?” asked Lion, feeling confused.
“Come on. Let’s go see what Johnny's up to!” said Benny.

Later on, in someone’s house, a woman is sleeping soundly. On her face she has skin cream and she has cucumbers over her eyes. As we watch, Johnny walks in and grabs one of the cucumbers. On his way out, he drops an egg and an apple.

Outside her house, the Fantasy Team and the El Arca Six were peeking out from the side of the house, waiting for Johnny to come out. While waiting, Xiro thought of something. “Y’know, why can’t we just wake him up? It’s very simple and easy” said Xiro.
“That’s a very bad idea” said Benny.
“It’s true. Never, EVER, wake up a sleepwalker” said Rae.
“Why not?” asked Lion.
“Because he might panic and hurt someone, including himself” explained Rae. Then they all heard a crashing sound. They looked to see Johnny making his exit by ramming a fridge through the back door and guzzling its contents. It was a strange mystery how Johnny managed to lift a 5-ton refrigerator with his bare hands. He then walks through the fence, which he ACTUALLY  crashed through! The fence did not even stop him. “Goodness! I’ve seen many lions eat, but NEVER have I seen one eat THIS much!” said Rafiki, shocked and amazed by what he saw.
“Well, once you seen one, you’ve seen them all” said Lion. Xiro, however, began to feel entertained as he watched Johnny eat all that food from the fridge. “Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo! Man, tell me I wasn't dreaming. He scarfed the whole fridge!” said Xiro and laughs.
“SHH!!” shushed the team, reminding him that people are sleeping.
“Come on. He’s heading towards Heath’s studio” said Kairel.

Minutes later, Johnny was inside Heath’s kitchen in the studio, sleepwalking towards his fridge. He opens it up and with his eyes closed, he looks around. He takes out a blueberry pie and shoves it down his gigantic mouth. Then he washes it down with a large carton of milk. Outside the studio, the others watched him from the kitchen window as Xiro enjoys watching Johnny eat. And they were already worried, except Xiro. “Oh, I hope he doesn't wake Heath. This is not good” said Benny.
“Not to mention that he’ll get arrested for breaking and entering someone’s property” added Dagnino.
“We can only hope” said Kairel.
“Relax guys. Have a seat, front row center to the greatest show on earth!” said Xiro. And then he mysteriously pulled out a bag of Jolly Ranchers and the team continues to watch Johnny’s sleep-eating. Johnny grabs a whole melon and ingests it. But this is nothing compared to what he does next, however; he eats a whole armful of food. He then uses a piece of bread to wipe his face. Then Johnny stood still for a moment to prepare for something. Then, he tosses the bread in the air and catches it with his mouth. The others were surprised, but impressed by what they saw. “That was very good!” said Rae.
“I can't figure out where he's putting it all!” said Xiro looking at them. Then, they heard a loud clatter sound. When they looked back, they see the fridge toppled over with all the food on the floor. And Johnny has mysteriously vanished. “Huh? Where'd he go?” wondered Leo.

In Heath’s bedroom, Heath Lynx was snoring like a chainsaw as his sleeper was placed on his eyes. But then, his sleep was disturbed when he heard a board creak in his room and wakes up. “Huh?” mumbled Heath as he wakes up. He lifts the sleeper off one eye and sees someone in front of him as the shadow looms over him. “What the?” muttered Heath.

Back in the kitchen, everyone was now inside Heath’s studio, wondering where Johnny went. “Do you think Johnny swallowed himself?” asked Bruma.
“Okay, first off: That’s impossible. And second of all: There’s no way he can do it THAT fast” said Panthy. Then they suddenly heard Heath’s cries of help, indicating that Johnny is in his room. They rush upstairs and followed the source of the sound. They approached one door, and when they opened it, they were shocked to see Johnny sleep-eating Heath! Heath’s head was in Johnny’s mouth as Johnny tries to swallow him like an anaconda eating its prey. Unknown to the team, Rae was actually enjoying this! Her worst enemy is now being eaten by Johnny. She chuckles as she pulls out a bucket of popcorn and watches the show with pleasure. “Ah, this is just TOO sweet” muttered Rae.
“HELP ME! PLEASE! HELP! HELP!” muffled Heath, his head still inside Johnny’s mouth. The team quickly closed the door, and stared at each other with shocked and disturbed looks on their faces. “I heard of man-eating lions, but I never thought Johnny would be hungry enough to eat a person” said Dagnino.
“Now I’m spooked beyond my nature” said Lion, now spooked by what he saw.
“Well, that’s something you don’t see on the National Geographic Channel” said Leo.
“So? I’m starting to enjoy this show already!” said Rae. And Teresa also appears to be enjoying the show too. Watching Heath get eaten makes her smile. “You gonna share that popcorn?” asked Teresa. When Benny starts to open the door, Kairel covers her eyes. “Oh no! I don’t want to see this again!” said Kairel, covering her eyes. But when they opened the door, Johnny has mysteriously disappeared again. They only see Heath standing in a puddle of saliva, shaking with fear. And he looks like he was on the verge of wetting his pants. “Hey, Johnny spit Heath back out!” said Leo. The team were relieved that Johnny didn’t eat him, but Rae wasn’t happy. She was disappointed. “Aww! I thought I was done with Heath!” groaned Rae.
“Let’s go! We have to go after Johnny!” said Benny.

After a while, they have lost track of him. But they did discover a trail of food and containers that he has left behind, making it easier for them. They have followed the mess all the way into an alleyway. “Look at all this! Johnny must have bilked the whole neighborhood of its food!” said Rae.
“They’re everywhere!” exclaimed Rafiki.
“Messy, messy,” muttered Teresa and she picks up a milk bottle. “Sleepwalking and eating everyone's food is one thing. But….LITTERING?!”
“Check it out! Whoo! Johnny ate a whole box of bran muffins!” said Xiro holding an empty box of bran muffins.
“Johnny is eating everyone’s food here in the neighborhood. This might be very bad…” said Rafiki.
“Come on! This mess should lead us right to him!” said Leo.

After following the trail, they discovered that it has led them back to their studio, which would mean that Johnny has come home. That’s when they noticed a string of sausages being pulled into their basement window. “Gotcha!” said Xiro and grabs the string of sausages. But Johnny yanks back on the sausages, sending Xiro inside. He boomerangs off a table beneath the window onto the ceiling and falls into a chair. The others quickly made their way through the window. “You okay?” asked Kairel.
“Yeah, I’m fine. But Johnny sure can pull hard” said Xiro, brushing himself off.
“Um, guys?” said Benny and points to what he’s talking about.
“What?” asked Leo. Then they look in the direction Benny indicates. And what they saw next, caused them to snicker and giggle. They see Johnny lying bloated on the food, with his belly in massive size. Then some of them started laughing the way Johnny looks now. “Look at the size of that belly” snickered Lion.
“Johnny seems quite content with all that food in his stomach” said Rafiki.
“Yeah, like a beached whale” said Dagnino. Then Xiro climbs on top of Johnny to wake him up, and spoke in a sing-songy voice. “Johnny? Johnny? Oh, Johnny?” said Xiro in a sing-songy voice. Then he grabs Johnny's pajamas and shakes him rapidly. “Wake up, Goldilocks!” said Xiro, speaking in a normal voice. Then Johnny suddenly wakes up. He looks around and sees everyone gathered around him. “Oh, hey guys. What are ya’ll doing in my room?” asked Johnny. But when he looked around again, he sees that he’s not in his bedroom at all. “Wait. Why am I in the basement?” asked Johnny. Then he notices the size of his gut. “And why is my belly all big?” asked Johnny.
“Johnny, do you know that you walk in your sleep? And that you have consumed all the food in a thirty-block radius of this studio?” asked Benny. Johnny then tries to stand up. “Huh? What are you guys talking about?” asked Johnny, feeling confused.
“Do you remember taking a bite out of “Jim”?” asked Rae, showing him the bitten cactus that she discovers nearby. But Johnny was still confused. “Whoa, I did that?” asked Johnny.
“Don't you remember anything, Johnny?!?” asked Rae.
“It’s true! You ate everything, including Heath!” said Xiro. Then the buttons on Johnny's pajama top burst off, and his belly flops out. Johnny immediately panics, when Xiro mentioned that he ate Heath, which he actually hadn’t. “OH NO! I ATE SOMEONE! I’M A MAN-EATER! GUYS, HELP ME!” cried Johnny, panicking.
“Whoa! Whoa! You didn’t actually eat him! You spit him out!” said Benny. Johnny then feels relieved. “Whew! That’s a relief!” said Johnny, feeling relieved. Then a thought comes to him. “But if I AM eating everyone’s food while sleepwalking, what are we going to do?” asked Johnny.
“Don't worry! We're gonna sleep here, so we can keep an eye on you. Besides, you look too big to even get up the stairs” said Leo.
“Then is there any extra blankets in here?” asked Xiro as he opens one of the basement doors.
“WAIT! DON’T OPEN--” warned Benny. But it was too late. Xiro opens the door to reveal it was stocked with studio props. And it all falls out in an avalanche which buried Xiro beneath them. “—that one” said Benny, finishing the sentence.
“We got to rid of some stuff” said Bruma, indicating the pile of studio props. Xiro then pops his head out of the pile and shows them the blankets. “Found ‘em!” said Xiro.

Two hours later, everyone was fast asleep. Johnny was snoozing on his bed. But this time, ropes were strapped around him to prevent him from leaving in case he sleepwalks. Then, Johnny gets up and starts sleepwalking again. But with the bed secured to him, Johnny just basically walks with his bed strapped to his back. The team heard a crash of something breaking and they immediately wake up. Rae was the first to see Johnny leaving. “Guys! Johnny’s walking in his sleep again!” said Rae. Johnny then tries to walk out of a door. But his bed, to which he is still tied, gets caught on the doorframe. But he breaks the ropes and continues on. “After him!” said Benny. They ran out the basement and up the stairs. But when they got upstairs, Johnny has once again vanished. “He’s gone again!” said Lion.
“How can he be so big and quick?” wondered Panthy.
“He's hopping the fence, guys!” said Leo, looking at the window. They went outside to the back and they see Johnny balancing on a fence. “Johnny!” said Bruma. Johnny then hops over and perches himself on a pole attached to a clothesline, where their laundry are hung. As we watch, he plucks an apple from a tree with his teeth. “Thataboy, Johnny!” laughed Xiro, obviously enjoying it. Johnny steps onto the clothesline, bending it. As he slides towards the middle, a pair of underwear come loose. When he reaches the middle, the clothesline acts as a slingshot, shooting him into the sky. As he leaves earth, he grabs the underwear in his teeth. Once his descent begins, the underwear open and act as a parachute. Then he flies away on them, far away from the studio. “Great! How are we gonna get him back?” said Dagnino.
“Oh, that big lug's cracking me up” chuckled Xiro.
“Hold on a minute! I think I know how to lure him back!” said Leo, getting an idea, with a snap of a finger.

Now, Johnny is in someone's kitchen, raiding their fridge, when an odor prods him in the nostrils. He sniffs, and then takes a deeper whiff. When we look again, we can now see that the odor is coming from a pair of his shoes, being hung on a long stick, being held by someone. The shoes start moving off, being pulled away by someone, and Johnny drops the food in his arms and follow the odor. Back at the studio, in the basement, we now see that the person holding the stick, which Johnny’s smelly shoes are tied to, was Leo. Leo has managed to lure the sleepwalking Johnny back to their place, towards the basement, using the odor of his shoes. Now Leo is in the basement along with the others, waiting for Johnny to show. “Are you sure this will work?” asked Bruma.
“Positively. The familiar scent of one's personal belongings always makes one long for their natural environment!” said Leo, with a clothespin on his nose.
“But does it have to be Johnny’s shoes? Ugh, his shoes SMELL!” said Rae, holding her nose.
“I agree with Rae. When’s the last time Johnny washed his own shoes?” asked Kairel, holding her nose too. Johnny follows the scent around the corner of the studio. He comes up to the window but does not bend down to get in; rather, he walks straight into the wall. He stumbles backwards. “I got him I got him!” said Xiro and grabs him by the ankles and drags him partway inside. Once this has been done, he and Leo both take a leg and pull, trying to force him through the window. “My, Johnny's grown!” said Rafiki. From an outside view we can see that Johnny is much too fat to fit through the window. Inside, (for a bit of cartoon references) Xiro and Leo are now at the other end of the basement, with Johnny’s legs stretched out all the way across. Xiro, feeling his hands sore from pulling, accidentally lets go of Johnny’s leg. Johnny's left leg snaps back at the same time as his right one, the one that Leo’s pulling on, slams Leo face-first against the wall. After seeing how much Johnny can only go through the window, Dagnino groans. “Great, he’s stuck. Now how are we gonna get him out?” groaned Dagnino.
“Look at the bright side, Dag. At least Johnny isn't going anywhere this time” said Leo.
“We got him right where we want him” said Benny. Outside, Johnny is now sleeping soundly, half in and half out of the LKHFF studio.

Morning finally dawns in Heath’s studio. But when we go into his bedroom, we see that Heath in no longer in his bed. But soon enough, we see him crawling out from underneath the bed, obviously still scared out of his wits after what happened to him last night. He takes another look around for his “hungry” intruder before relaxing. “Alright, that’s it. No more nature channels on TV before bed” said Heath to himself. Then he makes his way towards the kitchen, but he was shocked to find a mess in there, including the toppled-over fridge. “Holy mackerel! What happened to my food?” said Heath. Then he spots an open box of cookies and grabs it. “Ooooh! Cookies!” said Heath. He shakes the box into his hand, but only a few small crumbs appear. “Huh?” muttered Heath, with a disappointed look. Then his stomach moans and growls with intense hunger. “Ohhh….I need food!” groaned Heath. Then he hears Benny yelling outside his studio. “Fresh food! No prices! Get your meals at Fantasy Mart!” yelled Benny’s voice. Heath then exits his studio and finds a crowd of hungry people heading towards where he heard Benny yelling. Heath then joins the crowd, and heads where the Fantasy Team is selling food. When the crowd arrives at the LKHFF studio, there was a stand already built up and the Fantasy Team waiting to give away food. “We've got all your favorite food at Fantasy mart! Get it while it's hot, folks!” yelled Leo.
“It won’t cost you a penny or dime! All your favorite food here, at Fantasy mart!” yelled Rae. Heath then pushes his way through the hungry crowd and staggers up to the stand. “Well, well, well. Look who just showed up” said Benny with a smirk.
“Please! I’ll give you five bucks to get me a breakfast meal! Please!” begged Heath, holding up a five-dollar bill. Benny and Leo gave a sly look at Rae, and she gives them a wink. Then Benny and Leo turns back at Heath. “Alright, fair deal. What do you want?” asked Benny.
“Just some Reese’s Puffs?” asked Heath.
“Sure, just give me a moment” said Leo and walked off. He went to the back of the studio, where Johnny has been waiting since he woke up.  They have learned that not all the food Johnny ate during the night has digested. A lot more were still intact. And they have to get Johnny unstuck since they tried to pull him through the window, which he got stuck. “Hey, Leo” said Johnny.
“Hey, Johnny. Open your mouth” said Leo. Johnny opens his mouth widely as Leo puts on a pair of plastic gloves. Then he sticks them in his mouth and digs around the stomach for what he was looking for. Then his arm was almost fully inside Johnny’s throat as he digs around the stomach. “Reese’s Puffs, Reese’s Puffs, Reese’s Puffs...Nope. That ain't it. Ah ha! Here we go” said Leo. He pulls out a box of Reese’s Puffs cereal out from his mouth and went back to the others. He approaches Heath and hands him the cereal. “Here you go, Heath” said Leo.
“I love Reese’s Puffs” said Heath, feeling relieved that he’s got food to eat.
“Would you like milk with that? Can't eat cereal without milk” said Leo. Heath nodded and Leo went back to get the milk. Now feeling disgusted, Rae points at her mouth and makes gagging noises, indicating throwing up.