Title: Goosebumps – The Brave Kid, a.k.a. “Tweetbumps”

Author: R.L. Stine

Summary: “The Brave Kid” doesn’t fear Friday the 13th. But he should. Read…if you dare!

Initial Thoughts

Well I feel at this point that whatever Goosebumps discoveries which are left to be found are down to the dregs in the pot. There’s still the recording of the Live On Stage show, the Lunchables prize story, and a couple of others, but I can’t imagine what else must be buried or where else to look.

Once again I made another discovery by accident. It looks like R.L. Stine put together a Goosebumps story on Twitter for The Hub (or as it’s currently known, Discovery Family) on April 13th 2012. This was no doubt to correspond with The Haunting Hour TV show.

“The Brave Kid” was transcribed on both The Mary Sue and on Buzzfeed for our reading pleasure.

Consider this a little thing for Valentine’s Day.

[Wing: Oh, I remember this one! I was absolutely charmed to see a Goosebumps story on Twitter, even though I’m not nearly as big a Goosebumps fan as a lot of you are.]

Recap

Michael’s a lucky lucky lucky lucky luck boy. Not only was he 13 years old, he was born on Friday the 13th and lived at 13 Endless Darkness Road. Which meant he wasn’t afraid of Friday the 13th like the rest of the plebes. [Wing: I’d cut a bitch to have that combination, Michael.]

Now on this Friday the 13th, Michael woke up and his mom wasn’t home so he left for school without having breakfast. Y’know, typical birthday stuff. Along the way a lot of kids were scared, whispering and murmuring about it being Friday the 13th. They were scared anything could happen. Buncha maroons.

Michael assured his friend Beth there was nothing to be scared of today. That didn’t change how people were still on edge. Some kids even rattled a teacher by making ghost noises in class. Michael wasn’t impressed. [Wing: Hey, if they’re enjoying Friday the 13th enough that they’re tormenting teachers, they’re clearly not all the way terrified. Cut them some slack, you judgmental child.]

The rest of the day was foreboding and bleak. A thunder storm freaked everyone out; some kids even hid underneath their desks when the lights shorted out. Throughout it all, Michael wasn’t scared.

Well, everyone has their breaking point because that very evening Michael felt strange. He tried to fall asleep but he felt itchy all over. Why was he so itchy? Maybe it’s because HE WAS COVERED IN WORMS!

Worms, worms everywhere, Wing! [Wing: NOPE.] Michael found them crawling over his legs, under the sheets. His body was practically slathered in worms. When Michael tried to scream, he began to choke. He started coughing up bugs out of his mouth.

Oh yeah, that’s when Michael remembered.

Remembered the accident.

Remembered 13 Endless Darkness Road wasn’t a house, but a cemetery.

Remembered he was actually dead.

THAT’S why he wasn’t scared of Friday the 13th.

Final Thoughts

I got nothing, Wing.

[Wing: I love a surprise-the-protagonist-is-dead story! And this is super cute. I know it was limited by it being a Twitter story, but I would have liked to see more of the creepy things at school, but for as short as it had to be, I think it’s fun. Judgmental dead boy, kids tormenting their teachers, worms crawl in, worms crawl out, it’s very Goosebumps in a much shorter amount of space. Well done.]