Six friends, One scream

Ch1.

It was around 7 o’clock when we reached the campsite. Everyone was tired from the hike, but that's what we signed up for. Setting up our tents was chaotic, no one knew how to do this, let alone had ever done it before. But hey, you can’t expect responsibility from a bunch of teenagers ready to get eaten by wolves just so they can have fun together can you? That's the type of people we are. Me, Kayla, Ryan, Jules, Topper, and Chase. “Holy crap I’m so freaking hungry” Kayla said. “OMG, POPPY DID YOU BRING THE SANDWICHES” “Yea I gave them to Topper and he said he put them in his bag” We all turned to Topper's face, red as a strawberry. “Oh right- uhm, so you see, the thing is…” “Topper, come on! You always do this!” I had anticipated this happening. I walked over to my bag and pulled out marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate. “S’mores for dinner, anyone?”

Ch.2

We sat around the campfire, knees touching. “If I’m being honest, these S’mores are a better dinner than those sandwiches would have been,” Ryan said. “I second that,” Jules exclaimed. She was quick to add a “No shade, Poppy.” “Thanks guys-” I start “Saying no shade after insulting someone totally makes everything better” I said, sarcastic. There was a minute of silence. “Well what now? It's way too early to sleep, but way too dark to explore” Chase asked. “Why don’t we tell scary stories?” Jules replied. “Oh my gosh, I’ve been waiting for someone to say that-” Kayla started “I brought flashlights!” she squealed as she pulled them out of her bag. She had always been dramatic. She was always the main character, and I was just the supporting best friend. I remember she didn’t talk to me for a week because I made “eye contact” with her “boyfriend” who didn’t even know they were dating. But oh well, she’s my best friend. She always will be.

Ch.3

We were 3 scary stories, and a million screams in when it was finally my turn to start telling a story. Everyone was under the assumption that mine wouldn’t be so scary. They knew I had always been more of a romcom girl than a horror one.

It was the seventh grade if I remember correctly. I was at a sleepover and we had just had dinner and ran upstairs.

“Ok! It's time for the scary storiesss!” Kayla said “Poppy, you go first.” I hesitated, “No I’m ok, I don’t really have any ideas” “Do it! Do it! Do it” Kayla started chanting. Then the others joined in. “Do it! Do it! Do it!” They all chanted in unison. I didn’t know what scary stories were like, I didn’t care for them. I told a story about two ghosts confessing feelings for each other. When I was done, they all laughed and teased me. That was single handedly the worst, most scariest moment of my entire middle school experience.

“Ok I got one!” I said. “Once upon a-” A very loud scream cut right through my sentence. “Relax Chase, she didn’t even start yet.” Chase looked confused. “What? No guys, that wasn’t me, I don’t scream like that”

Ch 4.

For a second, none of us moved. “Okay… if it wasn’t Chase,” Ryan said slowly, “then who was it?”Another scream, shorter this time, but definitely not from any one of them echoed from deeper in the woods. Jules practically flew off the log. “NOPE. Nope nope nope. I’m not dying out here. I didn’t even finish my S’more,” she said. Topper stood up way too fast. “Guys, we should… like… check it out, right?” Kayla stared at him. “Topper. Sweetie. You forgot sandwiches. You think you’re gonna remember how to fight off whatever that was?” He sat back down. Chase grabbed a stick from the ground and held it like a sword. “We can’t just ignore it. What if someone’s hurt?” My stomach twisted. He wasn’t wrong. But also, this is exactly how every horror movie starts. The group splits up, someone goes missing, and the audience yells at the screen because the characters are idiots. “Okay,” I said, surprising myself. “We go together. No wandering off. And if anything moves, we run.” Kayla blinked. “Since when are you the brave one?” “I’m not,” I said. “I’m the one who doesn’t want to be haunted by guilt when we find out it was a Girl Scout who fell into a thorny bush.” “Do you guys hear that?” Jules whispered. At first, I thought it was the wind. But then it grew louder. It was definitely not human. Ryan’s voice cracked. “Uh… Poppy?” Before I could answer, something dashed between the trees. Fast. Kayla screamed. Chase screamed louder. Topper screamed the loudest. “RUN!” I yelled. We ran back toward the campsite, branches scratching our arms. No one dared to look back. The fire was still burning when we got back. Our tents were still there. Everything looked normal. Except for one thing. Right in the center of our circle of logs, was a single S’more, Perfectly intact.

Ch 5.

We all stared at the S’more like it was a bomb, about to explode. “Ok seriously. It's not funny. Who did that?” Topper shook his head. “I think we’re mature enough not to go this low. Plus, I can’t even make a S’more that clean.” He had a point. Topper’s S’mores always looked like he stepped on them right after he made them. Chase crouched down and hovered his hand over the S’more. “It’s warm…like freshly made warm.” Jules backed up until she hit a tree. “Nope, Nope, I’m not doing this. Someone call my mom” Ryan sighed “There’s no service.” I swallowed. “Okay, okay, let's think, could someone else maybe be camping nearby?” Kayla shook her head “Then why would they scream like they’re being murdered?” Good point. The fire crackled. We sat back down onto our logs. “Look,” Chase started, “whoever” “or whatever” Jules quickly interrupted. “Yes, or whatever,” Chase continued “made this S’more was here, like literally right here.” “Maybe we should go into our tents?” Ryan said. “OR MAYBE, JUST MAYBE, WE SHOULD GO THE HELL HOME!” Jules shouted. Smart. “Yea? Why didn’t we think of that?” Chase asked. “Ok everyone, pack your stuff. Topper, start the van.” “Uhm guys, I don’t know if you remembered, but we came here by hike. The van is down the trail and it's way too dark to go now.” We sighed in unison. “Ok, we'll stay here and figure it out together,” Ryan said. “Whatever it is,” he continued, “it already found us.”

Ch 6.

15 minutes later, we came to the conclusion that Ryan and Chase would take circles around the campsite- which wasn’t that big, and keep watch. “Ok, let’s list all the possibilities. Animal? Human? Ghost? Demon?” Topper said. Jules threw her hands up “Why is demon on the list before prankster?” “Because pranksters don’t make perfect S'mores,” he replied. Kayla murmured, “This is why you're failing biology.” Suddenly, a twig snapped behind us. We all spun around, our flashlights turned. “Chase! Ryan! Get over here!” I called. They came running. There was nothing. Then, another snap. Closer this time. Ryan stepped forward, squinting into the darkness. “Hello?” Jules slapped his arm. “WHY WOULD YOU SAY HELLO? HAVE YOU NEVER SEEN A HORROR MOVIE?” He shrugged. The noise grew louder. “Show yourself!” Chase screamed. And then- a small figure came out. It wasn’t a ghost, nor a demon. It was a kid. Around eight years old. Covered in dirt. He looked at us, terror in his eyes. “Please,” he whispered, his voice cracking, “you have to help me. It's still out there.”

Ch 7.

For a moment, none of us said anything. The kid stood there, shaking. Kayla knelt down. “Hey, hey, it's okay, don’t cry. What’s your name?” “Eli.” the kid replied. I knelt down too. “Eli, what’s out there?” “I-I don’t know, but it followed me, and it likes the fire.” “Where are your parents?” I asked, “I don’t know, I was with my brother, when we heard the scream, he ran. I felt so guilty, we had been joking and screaming about sandwiches while this kid was out here all alone. “Okay. We’re going to help you. Stay together, no splitting up.” I said. I liked how it felt to take charge. I had always been the supporting character. Never the leader. “Yes ma'am,” Chase said. “Unless the monster likes big groups, more prey to feast on” Topper rudely added. “TOPPER” we shouted in unison. We all walked in the directions Eli pointed us toward. He had great memory for an eight-ish year old boy. I held his hand. After a while, he tugged on my sleeve. “Stop” he said. I looked at him. “This is where I last heard it.” We heard a rustle. Then a growl. And then we saw movement. Kayla grabbed my hand so hard I think my blood stopped circulating for a hot minute. “ELI!” A figure jumped out of the shadows. It was a boy, 13 or 14 ish. The boy jumped toward Eli and hugged him tight. It was then that we realized this was the poor boy's brother. The boy looked at us. “Oh…Uh, hi” the boy said. “Theres something out there, I heard it” he said to us, squeezing Eli. “Well did you see it?” Jules asked rudely. “No, but I saw footprints” “Well that's just great, that's gonna do us SOOOO much help.” she replied, sarcastic. “No, Jules, shut up, I think it might actually do us some good” I said. “I knelt down and held the boy’s hands. “Were they human footprints?” “Bigger.” He replied “Sooo much bigger.” “Can we go home now?” Eli asked him, tears in his eyes. “Yea let's go, the camp ranger isn’t far from here.” They were off. “Hey guyyys,” Jules started in a sing-songy voice. Here we go again. “You hear that? There's a camp ranger. Maybe we would’ve found him already if you idiots weren’t helping a child play hide and seek with his brother.” “Jules.” I started. “Do you hear yourself? No way a camp ranger is gonna believe there's a monster going around his camp, especially if a bunch of teenagers tell him.” “Let’s go back. It's been an hour and we haven’t heard any screams or anything suspicious, it's getting brighter so we can get a few hours of sleep and head home first thing tomorrow morning.” I said, taking initiative once again. Kayla looked pissed, for once in her life, she wasn’t the center of attention. We headed back to the campsite and went to sleep. I swear I saw something on the way back, but I wasn’t trying to start a new adventure. Either way, we stuck together the rest of the night. None of us EVER forgot the scream that started it all.