It was a quiet, cold night in the cemetery. The gray clouds above the scene rolled by peacefully without causing much of a ruckus. Through the shadowed curtains, the crescent moon beamed down onto the graves and the house right next door, painting them both in an eerie light. The wind whistled quietly as it made the barren trees shudder from the cold. It was quiet, peaceful.
"Hey bitch! Watch where you're going!"
Well, almost peaceful.
Through the shaking shrubbery, two girls emerged, covered in brown leaves. Both of them were scowling at each other in annoyance.
"I'm not a bitch," the shorter one stated, glaring at her friend through her brown bangs. The elder snorted and smirked a bit.
"Everyone else disagrees."
"It's not like you're any better," the other shot back. The girl's smirk became wider and her eyes twinkled behind her red goggles.
"No way I'm bad as you. Right, Bear?" The girl glanced behind her and at another girl. Bear, otherwise known as Fearless Bear, combed the leaves out of her yellow scarf before glancing at the elder hesitantly.
"Um, right," she said in an unconvincing voice. She chuckled nervously. The elder sighed and rolled her eyes, grumbling under her breath. The girl next to her gave her a triumphant grin. The elder saw it and leered at her.
"Shut up Loner." The Loner (also known as Lone Icicle) waved her hand at the elder.
"I didn't say anything." Suddenly, a bullet shot out of the bushes, almost tackling both of the girls. The elder leaped back and let out a shriek while Lone Icicle almost hit the bullet in the head with a stick. The boy suddenly slowed down and stood there panting with his map gripped firmly in his hand. He gulped down air and looked at the three girls in fear.
"Guys, I think I saw someone in the woods." The elder snorted.
"There's no one in here. The only one who likes going in creepy woods are those Vampire Lovebirds. And Myron. Maybe he's here to haunt us now," she said, wiggling her gloved fingers.
"Or maybe he's here to stalk us again. I bet that creep would do that," The Loner contributed. "I bet he's a perv too." Fearless Bear gave her a stare that showed her disapproval.
"Not every single guy is perverted, sissy," she said. She gazed pointing at the boy. Lone Icicle rolled her eyes before looking around, looking impatiently.
"C'mon Lightning. Are we there yet or what?" Gentle Lightning, otherwise known as Noel, shook his head and stood upright, unfolding the map in his palm. Fearless Bear looked over his shoulder and frowned, glancing around.
"Yeah, it says that we're close," Lightning replied while smoothing out a crease in the paper. "We should be seeing gravestones by now." Bear furrowed her brow as her frown deepened.
"I don't see anything but rocks and trees," she said. The elder frowned as well before brightening. She smiled in an impish manner at the childish thought entered her mind.
"Ohh, a new adventure. Last one who finds a gravestones got to sleep on one!" She cooed before bounding into a forest like a maniac. The rest of the group stared as they heard crashing and thumping coming from the woods. Noel gaped at the girl's behavior.
"Is... is Bronze going to be okay?" He asked, looking at Fearless Bear hesitantly. She shrugged before walking onto the mashed up trail of broken branches Bronze (also known as Bronze Dragon) left behind. The two followed suit, just following the bulldozed trail, a bit thankful that there were now no more thorns or brambles to stick to their ankles and clothing. They heard screeching in the distance, but from the rather feminine tone it had, it was easy to understand who it was.
"Hey, I see a grave!" Noel exclaimed. He clambered over a rotten log before leaping next to a gravestone. It was withered, it was old, but, as far as the other three were concerned, it was made out of pure gold. Noel grinned in a childish manner, pulling a marker out of his pocket and scribbling notes down on his map. Lone Icicle kneeled down and looked at the grave stone, reading the words aloud.
"'Here lies Junie B. Twat, she always wore a metal hat, but one day she wore it during a storm, and now she lies here with the worms.' What the- who the hell writes this stuff? It sounds like something Bronze would write!" A faint 'hey!' could be heard in the background, but it was ignored by the group. Fearless Bear sighed and patted the scarf on her shoulders, twisting the end.
"At least we know we're close," she said. She gave her sister a grin. "I can't wait to see the mansion."
"Yeah, I bet there's some sort of treasure or some shit. I claim all of the gold crap that's in there. DO YOU HEAR ME BRONZE? AND NO STEALING LIKE LAST TIME!" The Loner yelled to the elder. She heard a faint 'no chance in hell!' and she rolled her eyes. Then, they all heard a loud thump and a slight screech.
"GUYS I FELL IN A HOLE!" Lone Icicle rolled her eyes again and huffed.
"I'll go get her," she said before walking down into the deep brush. Fearless Bear wandered a bit off, staring into the distance. The only thing she could spot were barren trees and rustling bushes. There were barely any rocks impaling the ground. A few shriveled brown leaves fluttered in the wind, dancing into the night sky. However, there was barely anything that resembled a gravestone. Bear tugged impatiently at the edge of her scarf. Could there have been only one?
Suddenly, Bear spotted a figure in the distance. It was small and lean and it stared calmly at her. Fearless Bear felt chills spike down her back as she stared at the figure in interest. It opened its mouth to say something, but nothing escaped. Thankfully, Noel managed to answer for her.
"WHAT THE FRICK IS THAT?!" He screeched, pointing wildly at the figure. The thing tilted its head and the wind purred around them. With a flick of its tail, it beckoned for them to step forward. However, it whipped its head around when it heard Bronze and Icicle crash through the bushes, shouting obscenities at each other once again. Fearless Bear whipped around to face them before glancing at the figure.
It was gone.
When The Loner and Bronze were finally subdued from the random fight that they were having, Bronze calmly explained why she had fell in a hole.
"I tripped."
Quite an agile person indeed.
"But I was tripped by a fucking ghost."
And the plot thins.
"I mean, it came out of nowhere. It was like a cat or something close to that. I was just running and then BOOM-" Bronze made a motion with her hands- "It just runs in front of me and trips me into this long ass pit. That was in front of a gravestone. That was in a graveyard." Lone Icicle gave her an impatient glance and elbowed her. "Ow. Long story short, we found the mansion." Noel's eyes glittered in wonder.
"Really?" He squeaked in excitement. "Where?"
Lone Icicle motioned for them to follow before walking into the trail. The rest followed, energy surging through them. Fearless Bear looked back and stared at the spot the figure was. Her eyes narrowed in thought before trudging toward the group.
The entire group paced forward several feet, pushing past the brush that accumulated closer and closer to the end. They kept on walking until they encountered a large hole and, in front of it, there lied a graveyard and a large, broken down mansion. The silvery light made the cracks in the gravestones and house wider and deeper. The only structure that seemed to be flawless was the large weeping cherub statue in the center. The four Poptropicans walked forward, scouring the place. Lone Icicle read the script on each of the grave stones aloud, remarking that each of the poems were terrible and that Bronze should stop writing on them. Bronze Dragon huffed at each remark as she inspected the mansion, testing the knobs and attempting to pry away loose boards. Noel was just wandering around, scratching notes on his map when he spotted something dart near him from the corner of his eye. He turned his head and saw a bat swooping left and right just above his head, clutching a crooked key in its claws. Gentle Lightning frowned, stuffing the map in his pocket and leaping up. He caught the bat by the tip of his wing, dragging it down and catching it. The bat struggled fiercely and bit into Lightning's hand, releasing the key and darting upward. Noel hissed and clutched at his hand, blood dripping down from his wound. Glaring at the laughing creature, Noel stooped down and grabbed the strange key. He gripped the key in his palm.
"Hey guys!" Noel called, motioning to his friends. "I think I found the key to the house!"
"Are you sure?" Fearless Bear asked, frowning as she approached him.
"Yeah. Well, there's only one lock here and this looks like an old key." They all glanced at each other before shrugging and nodding.
"Okay. But where's the lock?" The Loner asked, looking at the mansion quizzically. Bronze frowned and stared at the key.
"It doesn't look like it goes to the front or back door. It looks like it goes to the basement door," she said, inspecting the scratches on the key. Noel nodded, gripping the key tightly.
The entire group stalked toward the back, examining the stray tombstones along the way. Then they managed to get to the back, Gentle Lightning inserted the key into the lock and it unlocked, mildly surprising everyone. The doors swung open and a dark path was revealed to the group. Noel felt a little unnerved at the sheer darkness and stepped back slightly. He smiled nervously and chuckled.
"Anyone willing to go first?"
Everyone stayed silent.
Shhhhh I'm doing chapters for this thing. 2,000 words is enough for a chapter, and I can practically finish this in the next chapter. Why haven't I finished this in one shot? It's because A: I want Wolfie and Skyra to correct me on any personality traits I got wrong and B: I promised that I would submit at least one thing today. And, since my brother is being a bitch and refuses to stay up any longer, I have to shut down my computer soon.
So, review and tell me what you think!