An idea stuck in my head for a really long time. R&R. Constructive criticism is always appreciated.
The whole party was resting in a certain unnamed forest. It was night time and they're all gathered around the fire they created. It was awkwardly quiet. And Frederic attempted to break this silence.
"So… this is quite a beautiful night. The moon is shining, crickets are making noises in the background, a warm fire in front of us, and it's a nice night to tell stories, don't everyone think so?" said Frederic.
"Hmm… Good idea, we often do that when I was a kid, and always end up scaring each other" said Jazz.
"Then, let me start!" said Viola.
"Viola you always warm things up, but how about we let the silent ones like Polka have their chance. Come on, Polka, tell your story" said Jazz.
"Um… Okay, uh… Let's see… Well, when I was a little girl, I notice my mom talking to herself and she sometimes laughs for no reason. At first I thought it was normal. But when I think about it, it's kind of creepy, actually, quite creepy" said Polka.
There was another awkward silence.
"Okay, Viola, take it away!" said Jazz.
"All right, this happened when I was still a little girl and living with my childhood friends in my previous village. Me and my friends were playing hide and seek and I was it. I found them all except for one. My friends and I looked hard for him, and we found him by the time the sun was set. We found him hiding inside a large pot, but he's dead by the time. He has bite marks all over his body and some of his flesh seems to be bitten off. This news alarmed the whole village. Our village elder said that it's probably the monster living in the pot. My friend hid inside it thinking it's just a normal pot. And ever since that day, we threw out all our pots, hoping the same accident will never happen again" said Viola.
"Wow. That's quite… disturbing. Hahaha…" said Allegretto, laughing nervously.
"Oh? What's with the nervous laughter, Allegretto?" said Viola.
"Let's just say that it's something I really don't want to talk about, per se. It's actually a traumatic experience when I was a kid" replied the boy.
"Ooh, another story!"
"Ahem, were you not listening? I said that it's something I really don't want to talk about."
"Oh come on, maybe talking about can get it off your chest."
"All right, okay. This happened when I was six years old. Once, there was a little girl. She's really silent and often shunned by the other kids because of her awkwardness. I was the first person she approached because she noticed I was always alone. Because of that meeting, we became friends. A year later, she got sick and died. After her funeral, my back started to hurt. I told this to my dad and he brought me to a doctor. He checked my weight and he noticed I weigh more than normal, even though I'm pretty small for my age. He assumed that the weight scale is broken. And when he checked my back, he saw nothing wrong. On the following days, my back still hurt, and I was practically bedridden. I became bored as the hours passed by, so I grabbed a camera and took some random pictures. Then, I faced the mirror and took a picture. When the picture was printed out, I dropped my camera. I saw the spirit of my dead friend, clinging on my back. I looked at the mirror and I saw her again. Despite my aching back, I ran out of my room. And on the next day, I visited her grave and prayed for her. And ever since, my back didn't hurt anymore" said Allegretto.
"So… back at Mandolin church and you refused to go inside because you said you're really scared of ghosts, was that true?" asked Beat.
"Yes, Beat. I only said it in a playful tone so it wouldn't be obvious."
"So, who got more stories?"
"I do" said Frederic. "Fifteen years ago, me and my lover George…"
"You have a boyfriend?"
"She's a lady writer and that's her pseudonym, okay? God, why do I keep saying that instead of her real name?" grumbled Frederic. "Anyway, we're taking a stroll in a beach somewhere in France. It was night time and I saw something shining in the water. She told a story about that. She said that if you saw something shining in the water, don't look at it twice. Because if you did, before you know it, you'll be waist deep in water. You'll find it tedious to walk back to shore because it feels like there is something pulling you down. If you'll try to lift your leg out of water, you'll find several pale hands holding it. Once you do that, they'll pull you into deeper waters, drowning you" narrated Frederic.
"Wait, Frederic, are you trying to scare me?" said Allegretto with a slight hint of nervousness.
"Maybe…" said Frederic, smirking.
"Damn you…" mumbled Allegretto. Frederic chuckled at his reaction.
"If we're still sticking to scary a story, which has one?" said Jazz.
"Um… I do?" said Falsetto.
"Okay, let's hear it."
"It's not exactly scary, though. I don't even know if it's just a coincidence or an actual curse… But one day, I went to a fortune teller and she told me I'll have very bad luck concerning my soccer career."
"You're a soccer player?"
"Yes, I was the best player on the team. Then on the preliminary round of the soccer tournament, we won, but I got a very serious injury." Falsetto reached into her pocket, which produced a picture. "I even got a picture of it."
"Holy crap!" said Allegretto, who saw the picture. It was a picture of Falsetto, still a young teenager, lying on the ground, clutching her leg and her ankle was twisted in a grotesque way.
"After that, I spent a few days at the hospital, but the food really sucks. Then we went to a cabin in the woods to train for our next game. And while picking some fruits, I saw a bear and it chased me around the forest. On the following night of our training camp, I went outside then a bat suddenly attacked my hair. It won't come off, so I had to sleep with it. After our training camp, I had a new pet. And when we were commuting to the next tournament by boat, my friend wanted to take a picture of us. I stepped back too far and I fell into the water. Only one friend of mine noticed and when she was about to get help, she slipped, hit her head and lost consciousness. I waited at least thirty minutes before the boat turned and helped me. On the next game, there was a thunderstorm. We're about to cancel it, and suddenly, lightning struck me. I miraculously survived with only a few burns. Nothing seriously bad happened after that, until our final tournament. We won the championship and I scored the winning goal. My coach was so happy; she ran to the field and gave me a bear hug. She was professional wrestler when she was younger, and her hug was so tight, I dislocated my shoulder."
"Now that's what I call a series of unfortunate events."
"So, what happened to your pet bat?" asked Polka.
"He's dead" replied Falsetto.
"Oh."
"Who still got scary stories? What about you kids?"
"Nah, our story telling abilities are terrible" said Salsa.
"I agree" said March.
"Well, I don't have a story, but I got interesting photos of Retto when he was a kid" said Beat reaching into his pocket.
"BEAT, NOOOOOO!" exclaimed Allegretto.
And too late, Beat already distributed Allegretto's pictures.
"Aw, he's so cute!" said Polka
"I can't believe it's not a girl" said Viola
"Allegretto, why are you wearing a dress?" asked Jazz.
"My parents wanted a daughter, okay?" said Allegretto who's now red as a tomato.
"Okay, if we're done with scary stories, I have a story!" said Serenade who's unusually energetic.
"You're unusually energetic…"
"Anyway, this happened ten years ago. I planned on proposing to Prince Crescendo…"
"Wait, you're the one who's doing the proposing?" asked Jazz.
"Yes. Prince is the type of man who's weak against women" said Serenade, smiling.
"Serenade…" said Crescendo, blushing.
"Also, it doesn't take much to make him blush" said Serenade. "Prince is so cute."
"Serenade, your story" said Crescendo trying to change the subject.
"Oh yeah, when I decided to propose to Prince Crescendo, I invited him to dinner. I put the ring in the milk shake since it's so thick and frothy. When we started eating, Prince Crescendo likes putting Tabasco in his food, but accidentally poured too much, and he ate it anyway. Once he grabbed a bite, it was too spicy, so he immediately grabbed the milk shake and chugged it down. He drank all of it in exactly five seconds. He didn't look like he felt something while drinking the beverage. Worried, I looked into his glass and the ring wasn't there. I immediately brought him to the hospital and had an x-ray session. After the session, I showed him the x-ray, and proposed to him. Fortunately, he accepted."
"How did you get the ring out of him?"
"Caesarian operation" replied Crescendo. "Since anesthetics didn't exist in that time, they had to put me to sleep the old fashioned way."
"How?"
"Hitting me in the head" said Crescendo. "However, it wasn't enough. I woke up during the operation."
Everybody flinched when he said the last sentence. Just imagine waking up, having your stomach cut open while some strangers have their scalpels inside you while fondling with your internal organs.
"Yeah, I could still remember the horror in his eyes when he woke up on that operation" said Serenade.
"Wait, why were you inside the operating room?" asked Jazz.
"No reason" replied Serenade.
"Okay…" said Jazz, having a new impression on the princess. "Anyway, I still haven't told my story yet. Its a little life lesson, actually. Whenever you're making something out of hot peppers, wash your hands before you rub your eyes."
"Ouch!"
"What kind of peppers were you using?" asked Viola.
"Any pepper that can temporarily blind your right eye once it makes direct contact" replied Jazz.
"Habanero, got it" said Viola. (Note: Habanero is one of the spiciest peppers in the world!)
"Black Habanero to be precise" said Jazz. "Crescendo, your turn, you haven't told a story yet."
"Okay… This happened not so long ago, when I rescued Frederic, Polka, Beat and Salsa, and I was leisurely walking around the halls of my ship."
Flashback:
"Crescendo…"
Crescendo felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and saw Frederic, who's not looking too funky and has his hand over his mouth.
"What is it, Frederic? You don't look so good" said Crescendo.
"I'm seasick... Where's the bathroom? I don't feel like throwing up in the river…" said Frederic, gagging as he tries to hold back his bile.
"Wait, hold that bile a little longer, I'll lead you there" said Crescendo dragging Frederic to the lavatory.
-A few minutes later…-
"Crescendo…-gag- I can't hold it back much longer…-gag-"
"Whoa, hold on… We're almost there." Crescendo hastened his pace. And somehow their legs got tangled, they tripped, and Frederic ended up on top of Crescendo. Frederic's gagging got worse. Crescendo noticed this. He tried to crawl away, but too late.
"Bleeeaaaargh!"
"Aaaaargh!"
After that, Crescendo spent an hour and a half in the shower. When he came out, he saw Frederic prostrating, constantly saying "I'm sorry."
End of Flashback
Everybody, except Crescendo and Frederic, started laughing.
"He threw upon you? Man, that's classic!" said Jazz while laughing.
"I'm really, really sorry" said Frederic.
"I know" replied Crescendo.
I'm sorry, I'm horrible with endings. So, whose story is the scariest, funniest, or most disturbing?
I was about to write Jazz seeing a honey badger and Crescendo warns him don't get close to it, it's a dangerous animal. Then Jazz comments "Honey badger? That's probably the least dangerous sounding animal name I've ever heard of.