A/N: So, awkward story time! I was talking to IamDeadGhost and for some reason I got it into my head that they were a girl. Turns out they're a guy…
I am really sorry about that IamDeadGhost. Really sorry…
Also, I'm getting some assistance from IamDeadGhost on writing this thing. He's been a huge help with getting my facts straight.
Ah well, on to the story! Enjoy!
Bean
Bean peered around the door frame nervously. This would never be her first choice when her friends decide to go on a vacation together. The old musty smell that always emanated from the large wood cabin's depths caused her to wrinkle her nose in distaste. As she cautiously stepped over the threshold a cloud of dust blew up from the rug.
"Come on Bean!" Her best friend, Spectra pushed her over the doorstep and walked in past her. "It's just a house, it's not like it's gonna bite or something." Bean stared at her purple eyed friend in surprise. It wasn't often that she didn't act like a kicked puppy. The change was a nice one.
"That's rich, coming from a mouse like you." That bawdy voice belonged to Emily. Bean had never quite understood why her friends put up with Emily; all she knew was that she wished they wouldn't bother. The girl was unbearable.
Bristling in defense of her friend Bean snarled, "Shut up Em, nobody wants to listen to you."
Emily sneered but shut up anyway, probably figuring Bean wasn't worth the fight. Swishing her black hair out of her eyes, she walked over to the staircase and started up it. "Fine then!" She called, "I'm going to decide what room I'm staying in. We should also figure out who we're rooming with." Of course there was no point to the exercise. Bean's friends always roomed with the same people and slept in the same rooms.
To distract herself from her dismal prospects, Bean slowly walked over to Spectra, who tossed her stuff down onto the couch before collapsing onto it herself. Tossing her long blue hair over her shoulder Spectra muttered something that sounded vaguely apologetic before mumbling, "You know I can deal with Emily on my own, right?" The determined look in those purple eyes was almost too much to bear. Thankfully, Bean had experience with her timid little lion of a friend.
With a shrug Bean softly said. "Yeah, but I also know you won't do anything. Isn't it better for me to stick up for you rather than have Em walk all over you?"
With a sad look Spectra examined her small delicate hands. "I used to stand up for myself. I've got to learn to do it again somehow."
Bean pondered that for a moment. For the years that she'd known Spectra, all she'd ever seen was a mouse of a girl. It was hard to believe that she'd ever been something else.
As though to break the sad silence that had descended over the room, a bright happy face coated with about five pounds of makeup bounced through the open door. "Spectra, Bean!" Mackenzie exclaimed as she ran over to the two girls. Arms outstretched she attempted bestow upon Spectra a big sloppy hug.
Shrinking away from the oncoming hug as though it were poisonous, Spectra curled up and said with severely limited enthusiasm, "Hey Kenzie…"
Bean felt a smile tug on her lips as she folded herself into an armchair by an unlit fireplace. Looking up she stared absently at the behemoth of a chandelier that hung from the ceiling. It swung in an almost hypnotic way.
At last her trance was broken by the sounds of more arrivals. Turning her head, she caught sight of two girls with identical deadpan looks coming through the door.
"Is there internet and where the fuck is the TV?" Ellie asked with unmasked disgust.
"Just tell me where to put my computer…" Sophia muttered as she looked around the room with a wrinkled nose.
"Why don't you guys set your stuff up in an empty bedroom upstairs?" Mackenzie said with unfailing enthusiasm. "Because I'm sure there'll be plenty of room for all you neat little gadgets and gizmos!"
"This is specialized gaming equipment we're carrying you dolt." Ellie shot back. "Come on Soph, let's leave this idiot to stew in her own stupidity." She flipped her long dirty blond hair out of her eyes and stalked up the stairs as if she was looking to kill someone.
With one last glare at Mackenzie, Sophia followed.
Both of the girls were relatively new to the group and weren't quite ready to fit in under Mackenzie's rules. Bean was pretty sure that the only reason Ellie and Sophia were kept around was that Mackenzie saw them as a little pet project, a chance to help the poor nerds of college.
"This dump again." Taylor walked in through the door and looked around, her nose in the air. Catherine's cheerful face followed ladened by her bags and Taylors. The eager way she carried herself only served to make her look like an obedient dog. Sadly, this wasn't far from the truth. "I wish you would clean the place up Kenzie, it smells like shit."
"I know." Mackenzie bobbed her head and her boobs jiggled in time with it. Disgusted, Bean looked away. If there's one thing she hated more than Emily, it would have to be Mackenzie's cleavage.
Catherine moved past Taylor and hurried to the staircase. "Where should I put your stuff Tay?"
Taylor gave her a dismissive wave of a manicured hand. "The master bedroom of course, I'm sharing it with Kenzie."
Bean stared up at the plump girl as she hurried off. "You should really treat her better." She found herself saying to the stern face of Taylor.
"Why bother." She sniffed. "Ren does whatever I tell her to no matter how I treat her." The statement was sad because of the truth behind it. The wonderful girl was tied to Taylor with bonds no one could possibly understand.
"Where are we sleeping?" Bean asked as she listened to the banging sounds coming from above.
As always, Mackenzie screwed her face up into something that resembled pity and said, "Sorry, there are only three bedrooms upstairs. I hope you two don't mind sleeping downstairs." Bean sighed softly and nodded. Every time she came here with her 'friends' she ended up the odd one out.
"Come on Bean, we should probably put our stuff away." Spectra's soft voice reminded her that she wouldn't be quite alone. Getting stuck with her best friend wasn't all that bad but it still irked her that the other girls were so quick to isolate her.
Quickly she picked her stuff up and followed Spectra through the long dark hall to an equally uninviting bedroom. It consisted of twin beds on opposite walls of the room. With a sigh Spectra tossed her stuff onto the left bed and sunk to the floor next to it.
"Looks like you're stuck with me." Spectra joked, sticking her tongue out then curling in on herself as if regretting the momentary lapse of timidity. "The weird one."
Bean sighed and collapsed on her own bed. In truth, she was the weird one. Sure Spectra had a lot on her plate but as far as Bean could tell, she led a fairly normal life. On the other hand, Bean had never experienced normal and wouldn't know it even if it bit her.
Both of them sat in silence for a while, unable to think of something to say and unwilling to break the quiet without a good reason. Shattering glass from somewhere in the house brought their heads up. Unwillingly, both of them got to their feet and slowly crept out of their bedroom.
It didn't take long to discover the source of the commotion.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to!" Catherine danced around the broken plate with a look of distress plain on her round face.
Emily scoffed, "It doesn't matter what you meant to happen. What matters is what did happen."
From the couch Ellie looked up from whatever game Sophia was playing on her laptop and said sympathetically, "We're not upset with you Ren."
Sophia schooled her face into a similar expression. "Yeah, it's not your fault you can't see your toes." Bean cringed for Catherine, who clearly hadn't gotten the insult.
"Wait, what does that mean?" Catherine asked in a warble, clearly on the verge of tears.
With a groan Emily shot, "She means you're fat, idiot."
Pathetic whimpers came from Catherine as she broke down crying. At once Taylor was at her side, pulling her from the glass fragments and wiping her eyes. "My god Emily," She growled in anger. "Sometimes you really need to keep your mouth shut."
"Yeah." chorused Sophia and Ellie from the couch.
Taylor glared sharply at the two. "I'm talking to you too." With kind shushing sounds she carefully moved Catherine to the cozy arm chair and sat her down. Glancing up, her eyes found Bean and Spectra. "Clean that mess up." She ordered.
Unwilling to go against Taylor, Spectra hurried over to the closet and searched for a broom. Bean just stood there, unsure if it would be wise to get involved. Her mind was made up for her by Mackenzie stepping around all the mayhem and grabbing her arm, pulling into the main room with a laugh.
"Come on, are you really gonna just stand there? We aren't going to bite." Sometimes Mackenzie couldn't read social cues to save her life. She looked over at the couch at Emily and muttered, just for Bean's benefit. "Well, she might."
Bean laughed uncomfortably as she followed her friend into the room. Sometimes, she thought as she surveyed the room once more, she wondered how she'd managed to get saddled with these idiots. Then she remembered how crappy her life would have been without them and stopped wondering.
She wouldn't be able to live without them.
Mackenzie
Mackenzie scooted closer to the fire and shivered from the chill. Despite the fact that it was the middle of winter and they were in the north, she wore only a short dress and a decorative cardigan. As cute as the outfit may have been, Mackenzie wasn't getting any points for practicality. Her ridiculous clothing choice was not born out of a lack of experience; rather, she was loath to looking ugly in exchange for warmth. Her friends were more sensible in their choice of attire but not by much. Only Spectra looked like she knew what she was doing courtesy of her thick down jacket.
The eight girls had elected to erect a fire pit out in the middle of the woods to enhance the camping feel of the trip. Mackenzie would have much rather sat inside at the foot of the gas fire in the foyer but as the leader of the group, she had to make sacrifices. To be honest, this wasn't the worst idea in the world. She actually liked the forest at night!
Everything about the tall trees reminded Mackenzie of her childhood and of sweet innocence. She adored the way the trunks seemed to bend around her as though to embrace each other. Thanks to her frequent visits throughout her life, the dark ominous forest had become a place of adventure as opposed to one of fear.
Not that Mackenzie's friends would agree with her. From across the fire pit, Spectra jumped at every little snap of twigs and crackle of leaves. Emily kept tossing her head around as though waiting for someone to jump out at her and even Taylor seemed a little off put, despite the fact that she had been here before.
Surprisingly enough, Ellie and Sophia, the new additions to the group were completely at ease with their surroundings. Both were hunched over Sophia's iPhone, squinting at the tiny screen and occasionally muttering snide comments under their breath.
"What time is it?" Bean's voice clattered at the end as her teeth knocked together in a violent shiver.
Catherine, the only warm one among them, looked at her phone and with a smile replied, "11:40!"
"M-maybe we should g-get back to the house." Spectra forced out through numb lips. Despite how much Mackenzie loved to stay outside she could tell her friends were getting rather tired. It's her job to notice things like that.
Forgetting that she too was shivering Emily sneered. "Why, are you scared of something? You've been jumping at every little noise." Mackenzie rolled her eyes. Emily had been no better than Spectra on that count
"I'm not scared!" Spectra shot back with more fierceness than Mackenzie had ever seen in her before. Going back to her normal timid self she bit her lip and muttered, "There's no such thing as monsters."
Ellie and Sophia, who had been lost to the world up to that point, looked up. Sophia looked at Ellie as though asking a silent question then said, "If you want to believe that, that's your prerogative. I prefer to put my faith in the facts."
Catherine bounced up and down on her tree stump with excitement. "Ooh! Are we going to tell scary stories? I love scary stories! Can I tell one first?" Mackenzie looked at her plump friend and smiled, she had an infectious smile that affected all that surrounded her.
Ellie rolled her eyes, an action she was quite skilled at, before muttering, "Very well, although I doubt you know something I haven't heard, unless of course you have an update from the monsters in my closet."
Unaffected by Ellie's sarcasm, Catherine lowered her voice and said, "His name is Hookman."
"Ooh I'm so scared." Sophia mutters. "While you're at it why don't you talk about the creepy cat lady that lives on campus? I'm sure she'd practically provoke screams."
Taylor, who had been silent up to that point suddenly snapped at the two girls. "Will you two just shut up? I want to hear her story even if it isn't that scary."
Ellie and Sophie looked at each other, shrugged, and went back to staring at Sophia's phone.
Clearly affected by the arguing Catherine began once more, rather shakily. "Well, the story goes that these two teenagers were together in a car on a lonely road listening to music on the radio. Things get heated and the guy gets a little frisky."
Mackenzie snorted. "Tell me about it." She'd been there more times than she cared to name. For some reason boys just assumed because she was large chested, she was a slut. Often times she had to rely on Bean or Emily to bail her out of the resulting awkward situation.
Catherine nodded even though it was common knowledge she'd only ever had one boyfriend. "Anyway, the girl's okay with it for a while until the music cuts out and there's an announcement over the radio. Apparently this crazy psycho had escaped from a mental institution. The police warned people to contact the authorities if they saw anyone with a hook for a hand." She paused for dramatic effect. Mackenzie found herself enjoying the stupid story despite herself. It wasn't like she wasn't safe here. Heck, she could walk around here in the middle of the night and nothing would happen.
Catherine looked to the faces of her audience and, once she was positive she had their attentions, she continued. "The girl decides she wants to go home. The guy protests but eventually he gives in and drives her home."
"Good for him." muttered Bean sarcastically.
Completely ignoring her, Catherine finished her story. "The girl gets out at her house and goes to the door. The guy is about to leave when he hears an ear-piercing scream. He races to her side to find her staring at her door. On the handle is a bloodied steel hook."
She waits for a minute and then giggles, a sound not quite fitting a girl of her size. "I love that story."
Emily rolled her eyes but smiled anyway. "Oh my god, that story was so totally lame."
Spectra shot the group worried looks. "But stuff like that does happen."
Sophia reached over and patted Spectra's arm. "Look sweetie, it's not our fault you're afraid of your own shadow." She turned her cold dark eyes on Mackenzie and said, "Besides, the stories only get more real."
Ellie stretched her long arms above her head and flashed an evil lopsided grin. "I've got a good story for you and it centers on a place a couple dozen miles from where we go to college."
Sophia nodded. "It's a true story." Mackenzie couldn't help but raise her eyebrows. These girls were always spinning things to fit their purposes. Because the word was ugly, Mackenzie would never have called them liars but she wouldn't have been above saying they only ever told some of the truth.
Ellie plucked Sophia's phone from the smaller girl's fingers and scrolled through something before asking with a smirk, "I hope no one here has anything against cannibals."
Spectra stiffened, probably from fear and muttered, "Can you please not tell a story about that kind of stuff?" From the way her lower lip trembled and her eyes lit up with fear you would have thought she had personal –And bad- experiences with man eaters.
Mackenzie pitied the poor girl but in the end her own curiosity won out. "Shush Spectra, don't be such a mouse." The girl shot Mackenzie a look full of hurt but didn't say anything more.
Ellie stared back at the phone for a second before handing it back to her friend. "The incident happened almost a couple decades back. It started with a certain investigator named Harry Miller."
Sophia tilted her phone so the glare left the audience blinded and cast her face into deep shadows. "He was doing some digging into the mysterious disappearances of eight people. It took a while but eventually he got a good lead that took him to a cabin in the woods, kind of like the one we're staying in."
Emily snorted. "This isn't very scary." Her bold proclamations were betrayed by the way her eyes watched the two girls' faces intently, hanging off their every word. They all were.
Ellie rolled her eyes again. "Trust me, when this happened everyone was terrified, and rightly so." Her voice dropped to a low tenor. "The house belonged to a cannibal."
Mackenzie felt chills run down her spine. Despite being very in tune with what happened around where ever she was she had never heard about this story.
With a serious look in her eyes, Sophia whispered, "The officer found the cannibal too. The guy was sitting at his dining room table eating an arm like it was a drumstick. As soon as he saw the officer the guy took off but the investigator shot him twice before he managed to get away."
Everyone at the fire pit sat absolutely still, save for Spectra who was fidgeting nervously with the sleeves of her coat. Ellie at last moved and searched each of the frightened faces before whispering. "The officer chased the guy down to a nearby creek and managed to shoot him four more times."
With a smirk Sophia said, "He died of course."
A collective breath came from the other girls. Mackenzie hadn't even realized she was holding her breath.
Spectra let out a nervous laugh. "Good story guys, really. But can we please stop talking about this?"
Sophia and Ellie exchanged glances and shrugged. "I guess we've told you everything you wimps can handle." Ellie said with a derisive snort.
Sophia nodded and looked back at her phone. "I don't want you guys to have nightmares or anything."
Taylor groaned and said with a superior tone, "I know you're going to tell us so why don't you just get over with it." Catching eyes with Ellie, Taylor stared unblinking, clearly waiting for Ellie to look away. Sarcastic blue clashed with cold grey until Catherine cleared her throat uncomfortably, breaking both girls concentration.
"Well if you must know…" Sophia said with a sigh. "The truly terrifying thing was what the officer found in the dead cannibals house."
Mackenzie had half a dozen guesses about what had been found, ranging from a corpse to kidnapped people but she held her tongue knowing she would know in a second. Ellie took a breath, regarded the girls then hissed, "He found a child."
Sophia grinned as she whispered, "He found the five year old child of the cannibal. Being the nice officer he was, he adopted the small boy and raised him as his own with no intention of ever mentioning the boy's relation to his cannibalistic father."
Bean raised a finger and asked, with a perplexed expression, "Why is that scary?"
Ellie shrugged. "It wasn't scary until at age eighteen the boy found out the truth about his father. The story's a bit unclear here but rumor is it was due to some mysterious circumstances involving an older brother he had never known existed. After almost dying at the hands of said brother he discovered what happened to his father and was, well, angry."
As she tapped something on her phone screen Sophia muttered, "How would you feel if your entire life was a lie and the person who had constructed that lie was the one responsible for destroying your previous life?" With another flick of her finger she added, "It probably didn't help that he was locked up in a mental hospital because of his brother."
"Outraged, the boy swore to continue what his father had started, you know, after he broke out of the mental hospital. The first person he killed was his adoptive father." Ellie whispered maliciously.
"The kid ate the guy's still beating heart." Sophia muttered disinterestedly. "It was a really grizzly affair, especially because the boy killed his entire adoptive family in the same way."
"What happened to the boy?" Catherine squeaked. "Was he caught?"
With a toss of her hair Ellie shrugged. "He's still out there. No one's caught him yet but people have definitely found the remains of his meals." Making a show of counting on her fingers Ellie added, "He would be about our age now."
"Okay, that's enough about cannibals!" announced Spectra in a tremulous voice. "I really don't want to hear any more stories tonight."
Getting to her feet Ellie gave another lazy shrug. "Fine by me. Hey Soph," The short brunette looked at her friend. "You wanna go back to the house? We have to finish watching Until Dawn."
"Eh, why the fuck not." muttered Sophia before getting to her feet as well.
"C-can I come with you?" asked Spectra with a shiver.
With a deadpan expression Sophia shrugged. "Sure, if anyone wants too, they can come as well. After all, it's almost midnight."
Bean got up with Spectra. "I'm coming to."
Letting out a long sigh Taylor gracefully got to her feet and announced, "I'm coming as well. Catherine, get up, you're coming too."
With an obedient nod Catherine heaved herself to her feet and stood at Taylor's elbow. Turning to Mackenzie and Emily she asked, "Are you guys coming too?"
Emily rolled her eyes but got to her feet anyway. "Yeah, I'm coming."
Everyone turned to look at Mackenzie, waiting for her decision. With a wave and a smile Mackenzie shook her head. "I've got to put the fire out and then I'm going on a walk. You guys can go on without me."
"Suit yourself." Without waiting for anyone else Ellie started down the path, Sophia trailing behind her.
Taylor shot Mackenzie an exasperated look. "Fine, just down wake me up when you come into our room. Unlike you, I value my sanity and my sleep." With a toss of her hair she walked away, the other girls hurrying to follow.
Mackenzie watched them go with a quickly fading smile. Despite the chilling story Ellie and Sophia had told she felt safe in her childhood forest. Nothing bad could possibly happen to her here. After dousing the sputtering coals of the campfire Mackenzie wandered off into the night, completely at ease.
The darkness swallowed her form whole as it disappeared into the trees.
A/N: I'm going to be completely honest; having so much support so early in a story is rather nerve wracking. Don't get me wrong I'm honored that so many people like my story but at the same time, pressure! I just hope I can meet everyone's expectations…
