Dudley Froze

It was a quiet Tuesday night, and Dudley, as usual, had taken a few heavy pulls from his prized glass bong, a chunky piece he affectionately called “Big Bertha.” He kicked back on his old, creaky couch, letting the sweet haze settle around him like a fuzzy blanket. Outside, the street was silent. Inside, Dudley was starting to feel like a cloud drifting through the cosmos.

After a while, he got up to grab a snack, shuffling over to the kitchen in his mismatched socks. That’s when he saw it: a looming figure on the wall in the hallway, dark, strange, and way too close for comfort.

Dudley froze.

The shadow looked menacing. Was it holding...something? A knife, maybe? His heart jumped to his throat. He scrambled backward, nearly tripping over the rug, and ducked behind his couch, peeking out with one eye. The shadow didn’t move. It just stayed there, hulking and mysterious.

"Okay, Dudley," he whispered to himself, trying to steady his shaking hands. "Just…breathe. It’s probably, like, nothing.”

He peered again. The shadow was definitely still there, tall and unmoving. Dudley’s mind raced.

“Maybe it’s a ghost,” he muttered. “Or, or a serial killer! What if it’s an alien scout looking for Earthlings to…do experiments on?”

Dudley’s brain launched into overdrive, every horror movie he'd ever seen spinning in a wild loop. But as he took another peek, something started to look…oddly familiar. He squinted, leaning out from behind the couch to get a better view.

“Oh, no way…”

Dudley held up one hand, moving it from side to side. The shadow did the same. He raised both hands like a monster and wiggled his fingers. The shadow copied him perfectly.

He sighed, a slow realization dawning.

“It’s me. I got spooked…by my own shadow.” Aw Man 

He shook his head, chuckling in disbelief as his face flushed with embarrassment.

Deciding he deserved a reward (and perhaps some sympathy) after the scare, Dudley strolled back to the couch with a fresh handful of snacks, feeling a little wiser—or at least a little less jumpy.

And as he sank back into the couch, he couldn’t help but laugh at the shadow on the wall, his newest “roommate.” #BudleyBud #DudleyAdventure #Dudleymeme