So umm, tomorrow I go back to school and I have a whole new school to figure out. I just had a panic attack being at a giant golf coarse so I have no idea how I'm gonna (more than) survive. So updates may be slower (maybe bc I do rly like writing) but just a heads up there
So have this chapter thanks to all the scary stories my family told me last night. Idk if any of you believe in ghosts, but I 100% do. If you want the full experience of this, then I recommend reading this at night. But then again, it doesn't rly matter.
John - Shit man, that was hilarious!
Lafayette - Hell yeah it was! That's what he gets for giving me that D the other day.
Alex - How- how is that his fault?
John - It's a joke Alexander.
Alex - Oh, right haha.
Aaron - Well it's getting pretty dark out, you guys know what this means!
Lafayette John Hercules - CAMPFIRE!!!
Hercules - I'll get the fire equipment!
Lafayette - I'll get the wood!
John - I'll get the marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers!
Alex - We're making s'mores?
John - Well what campfire would it be without it?
I laughed at the playfulness in Johns voice. He strolled over to the refrigerator, and even as I turned to follow Hercules and Lafayette outside. I could still feel Aaron's eyes on the back of my neck. I turned around, and he didn't even try to look away. He just stared at me, not as if he was checking me out, or if he scowling and thinking about how to murder me in my sleep. It was like he was studying me with his eyes.
Alex - Anything you need?
Aaron - Nothing, just....thinking.
Ever since I met the four boys. Aaron always seemed like the oddball in the group. The different one. The one who didn't belong. The other boys were so open, so full of energy. And sometimes, Aaron kept it all inside, like he was in his own little world and didn't share the same energy that the others had. But maybe I'm the oddball now, am I even part of this group? What is this group?
If I kept thinking, I knew I was gonna have some existential crisis or some shit sooner or later. I opened the door and let the cool breeze of the night flow through me. The smell of burning wood reached my nostrils. The fire was growing larger by the second. It looked like Aaron had logs that we could sit on, wow, he really went all in on the camping theme. Then I looked closer, and saw that the was a large hole in the log where someone could sit. It was a perfect, squared whole. I set my hand on the log, and felt that it was indeed a very hard plastic. It still looked pretty realistic, so the fact that it was fake didn't ruin my camping vibe.
John - Dude, why'd you get the multi coloured marsh mellows? I can see they're different shades.
Lafayette - I don't know. Maybe cause you're gay.
John - Shut up!!
John laughed and threw the marshmallow bag at Lafayettes head. If I would've said something like that, I was sure that I would've been beaten to a pulp. I shook the thought off my head. When you're with your best friends and you see something rainbow coloured, you're bound to make a gay joke. And I was a hundred percent sure that Lafayette was just joking.
Hercules - So umm...again, we're only used to having four people Alex. So you could sit with John or something.
Alex - Huh? Oh no, I'm fine on the ground.
Hercules - I said....sit, with, John.
Alex - Okay okay!
John - What the fuck Hercules? I'm not moving.
Alex - You don't have to, I'm just gonna sit on the log part.
John - Ugh, fine.
I sat down on the log, making sure to keep my distance from John. Lafayette tossed me the marshmallow bag from across the fire. I found a pink, blue, and purple one, since atleast I could have a marshmallow that described me. Aaron had the metal marshmallow holders that could hold two marshmallows instead of sticks. I was about to stick my holder in the fire, when a hand placed another marshmallow on the other point of the holder. I knew that it was Johns hand, I glanced over at him and he sent me a smirk.
John - What? There's two points for a reason.
Alex - Heh.
Hercules - So guys, you know the whole point of fires. To make s'mores, and tell scary stories!
Lafayette - YEAAAAHHHH!!! John always tells the best scary stories!
Hercules - What about me?
Aaron - The scariest your stories have gotten were that time that your grandma put a scary mask in the refrigerator door when you went to get something to eat. Or when your cousin drew a fake spider on the toilet paper with sharpie and it scared the living shit out of you.
Hercules - Well...I mean....I don't wanna scare myself.
Lafayette - Then John can do it for you! Cmon John! You must have a scary story for us tonight!
John - Of coarse I do.
Hercules - Alexander, listen, Johns stories are always the best because there always true!
Alex - Oh really?
John - Okay, I admit. I've lied a little bit on a FEW stories. But this one, is one hundred percent true!
Alex - Well then let's hear it.
John - Okay, so it was a night just like this....
Aaron - Lame.
Lafayette - Shut up Aaron! He hasn't even gotten to the story yet!
John - Okay...so I was at a family reunion at the lake. I was seven years old and I had spent the whole day playing with my cousins and the kids. Soon, the night came, and everybody was turning in for sleep. Some people slept in tents, some people slept in the houses beds, some people slept in couches or chairs or even motor homes! My uncle blew up the air mattress and told me that I would have to sleep with my cousin Anthony. So that night, Anthony was sleeping soundly on the right side of the bed, while the door was on the left side on the room. I just couldn't go to sleep for the life of me. I kept yawning, but I couldn't seem to go to sleep. I didn't know what time it was, but I knew it was still dark out from the blackness I could see out of the window. Suddenly, I looked towards the door and saw the thing that would scar me for the rest of my life. I saw a grim reaper looking figure. With cold, dead eyes that looked straight through me soul. It held a skull in its one hand, and I giant axe in the other hand. Now, there was an uneven floor board in that room, and whenever you stepped on it, it would creak. When the ghost floated over that spot, the floorboard creaked. It made its way to the open closet and disappeared. So as I would, I got out of the bed and ran through the door, not caring what Anthony would think in the morning. I ran down the hall and went into the first room I was. Anthony's brother Phillipa, who we called Pippa, was sleeping on an air mattress by herself. I crawled under her blanket and relaxed from what I had just seen. Careful not to wake Pippa up. I had closed the door when I had ran in, but because of how scared I was, I didn't feel like taking the extra time to close the door all the way. So there was still a small crack that I could see through. That was a big mistake, because when I looked through the crack. I saw a horrifying demon. It was green and red with horns and something that looked like a knife in its hand. I screamed at full volume. A scream that everyone should've heard. No matter where they were in the house. Even people outside should've heard it. You'd think that Pippa wouldn't sleep through something that loud. But she did, she didn't even move a muscle. No one came to get me, and I was alone. The demon was gone, both of them, but I knew that those creatures were around there somewhere. I asked my mom about it in the morning, she had said that my great great grandmother had been murdered in that home. And to avoid getting caught, her killer had killed himself. And I never went to another family reunion there again. The end.
Lafayette - Well fuck me gently with a chainsaw!
Hercules - Damnit John! Now I'm gonna be scared to sleep the whole night!
John - What can I say? I'm the master!
Aaron - Well it's my turn now!
Lafayette - Ugh Fine.
Aaron - Hey! What's so bad about mine?
Lafayette - Nothing, their just not as good as Johns.
Aaron - Can I just tell my story already?!
John - Go ahead Aaron.
Aaron - Okay, so when I was young, I had a bunk bed with my sister. She was older than me, so she slept on the bottom. She was out with her boyfriend that night, so I thought that I wouldn't see her until the morning. So I said goodnight to my parents and walked into my bed room. I climbed up the ladder and I was about to go to sleep, when I heard a creaking sound. I glanced down to the bottom bunk and saw a head of hair that I recognised as my sister. My sister wasn't there though. Suddenly, my sister walked through the door. She said that her plans had gotten canceled. I looked to the bottom bunk, and the hair was gone!
Lafayette - Eh, it's still pretty lame.
Aaron - Whatever! It was real and I was scared!
Lafayette went on to tell a story about him finding an old lady ghost in his bed. Hercules said that once he had slept in front of a mirror, and while we sleeping. He was suddenly awaken and sat up straight in bed to see the face of a demon staring back at him from the bed. I listen closely to each story while I stuffed my face with marshmallows and s'mores. With each story, I continued to get more and more scared. Especially with Johns story.
John - So Alex...you got a story?
Alex - I- I don't know.
Hercules - Aww come on! You've gotta atleast have one!
Alex - Okay..I have one. It's been passed down through generations in my family. So don't blame me that it's kind of stupid.
Lafayette - TELL US TELL US!!
Alex - Okay okay. Smudgy was a pillow case. He belonged to a boy named Tommy. Now little Tommy never washed his face, so that's how his pillow case became so dirty. One night, Tommy was ready to tuck in. He got into bed and laid his head down on the pillow. Suddenly, he was grabbed by something. He stared into the eyes of wha had grabbed him and saw that it was a horrifying goblin. The goblin snatched him and took him into the bathroom, were he slowly began to clean his face. His claws scratching a Tommys skin as his face became more and more clean. Then Tommy woke up, he was back in his room. There was no goblin around him, just him and his possessions sitting quietly in his room. Then Tommy touched his face, and he could still feel the claw marks that the goblin had left behind.
John - Holy fuck! That was amazing Alex!
Alex - R-really?
Aaron - Definitely! I love those types of endings where you have no idea if it was real or not! It has just the right amount of terror, that was perfect!
Hercules - If you guys will excuse me, I've gotta go wash my face so Smudgy doesn't get me!
Lafayette - Smudgy was the pillow case, not the goblin!
Hercules - WHATEVER!!
All of us said goodnight to each other as we put out the fire, cleaned up the area, and hurried back inside. We were all able to have our own room, which I was thankful for. Aaron let me borrow an oversized spare t-shirt he had to use as pyjamas. When we were all settled, Lafayette poked his head out of his room and turned off the hallways light, leaving me alone in the dark.
Now, I wasn't a five year old, but scary stories have always scared me as a kid. Like once my aunt told me the story of a creature called the Windigo. A half wolf, half human creature. I was sleeping over, and her and my four other cousins who were staying there agreed that it would be fun to play nighttime hide and seek. We partnered up, so I went with my cousin Lin. Renee and Jazzy went together. And my aunt partnered with Jonathan who I liked to call "Groffsauce." Lin was pretty stupid, so he had us hiding in the middle of a field, I know, great idea. When my aunt found us, she was wearing a wolf mask and let's just say my pants were dirty that night. I've believe in ghosts and monsters since. And every time I heard a scary story, I would get more and more terrified. I don't know why I even volunteered to tell Smudgy and to remind myself of that story.
There was a closet in the room, a partly open door, the lights were off. I couldn't take it anymore. I got up and scurried my way as fast as possible and made my way to the room across the hall. I knocked hard on the door, scared of what could grab my shoulders from the darkness. When the door opened, I was greeted with the sleepy face of John Laurens.
John - Alexander? What the hell do you want?
Alex - I'm scared.
John - Awwww. Lemme guess, you wanna come sleep with me?
Alex - Ummm....yes.
John - Okay, okay. Get in here before a demon grabs you.
I nodded and followed John into the room. He climbed back into his bed like nothing had ever happened. Fuck, I just realized what I was doing. I slowly walked towards the bed and slipped under the covers, ready to feel John push me off and laugh at me. But he didn't, instead he trunks around and wrapped his arms around my waist, his eyes not opening an inch. I could feel my cheeks heat up as if they were burning. Then I just started crying.
John - Oh my god, Alex! What's wrong? Did I do something wrong I-
Alex - No, it's just I'm scared!
John - Is it the scary stories?
Alex - Yeah, they scared me but...did I ever tell you why I came to your school?
John - No.
Alex - To be short, I lived on a small island in the Caribbean. Then a hurricane came, it killed everyone I was close to. My father and I moved here and...well...he's the source of all the others bruises on my body an-
I felt two arms wrap around me in an embrace. I gripped on top John tight, not wanting to let go. I let my tears spill out onto his shirt. We just sat there, hugging as I cried into him. We stayed like that until I had calmed down a little. John released me and looked me straight in the eye. Even in the darkest night, I could still see the beautiful color's of Johns eyes.
Alex - It's just...Im scared when I get close to people. I just feel like they're gonna be taken away from me! It's really stupid.
John - No, it's not. Don't be scared, I'm not going anywhere.
Alex - Promise?
John - I promise.
I did as John had done before, and wrapped my arms around him. Laying my head on his stomach as he laid down. One arm was wrapped around me and the other was draped to the side. I didn't have time to think about demons, goblins, monsters, or ghosts.
Because I fell asleep in Johns arms.