AN: Hey, hope any of you liked the first chapter/shot. Please read and review opinions!
#2 – Ghost Story
"No... That's a bad idea." Travis slurred. His boredom quite prominent as his hands barely kept his head up.
"Why's that?" Connor countered from beside him.
The two sat at a classic camp fire, one circled by rocks and neatly set up with wooden logs. The embers danced against the evening winds. The moon was high in the sky, perfectly mirrored in the lake. Percy, Annabeth, Silena, Beckendorf, Katie and a bunch of others all sat in lawn chairs surrounding the spot, perhaps awaiting stories to be shared, or simply enjoying the warmth the flames produced. Nevertheless, the sounds of conversation drowned out most of Travis' petty moans of complaint.
"You know what? Why not, go for it." Travis whispered as he leaned closer into his brother's ear.
Both their smirks grew in unison as the two boys stared fondly into the fire, the light reflecting into their crystal blue eyes.
"Ahem." Connor coughed as he stood up, "May I have your attention? It's awfully dark out, so why not share a perfect ghost story?" He asked after silencing the crowd of campers.
"Sounds like fun." Percy commented breaking the newly formed silence.
Receiving Percy's approval was more than enough. Connor already knew that the others would gladly listen and follow suit. Quickly hushing the stray murmurs, the narrator began in his most haunting voice possible. Which, in reality, was just him speaking in an octave deeper and rasping his voice to the point one would believe his throat was actual sand paper.
"This horrific tale starts when the moon is at its highest vantage point. Th-"
"Hades, are you going to speak like that throughout the whole story?" Katie interrupted, annoyance stuck to her words.
Forking his hand across his brown hair, combing it to the side Connor connected eyes with hers. Disapprovingly swaying his head like a pendulum, the Hermes born stared, shifting his weight onto one leg.
"Are you done?" Connor questioned feigning eagerness.
"..."
"As I was saying, the reason this story takes place during the moon's highest point is..." Connor froze, a quizzical expression on his face, the tell-tale sign of someone completely forgetting what they're doing.
"I'll take it from here." Travis said patting his brother's shoulder and subtly ushering him back onto a chair.
"Truth be told, it's actually just a legendary legend." Travis spoke, enthralling the crowd's attention.
The starry night sky enveloped the grounds in darkness. The sound of popping splinters and singing wildlife were the only things audible. The crowd was completely quiet, greatly awaiting the story to be told.
"You see, there once was a haunted camp. And... and it was haunted. But, there was a crazed lunatic who lived there, or sorta did. He wore a hockey mask to conceal his warped face and used two long dulled machetes to dismember others. And, ummm, a movie was made... well it was more like eight or nine movies actually, but that's not crucial to the plot, you see, the most impor-"
"Aren't you just summarizing Friday The 13th?" Beckendorf deadpanned raising an eyebrow in mild confusion.
"Are you going to tell the story?" Travis remarked.
"I'm starting to wish you won't." Annabeth coughed.
Percy snorted in response, in an attempt to suppress his laughter.
"Okay. Annabeth. Do you happen to know any ghost stories that don't involve spiders?" The Stoll asked impatiently.
"In a matter of fact, I do." The blonde replied wickedly.
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Travis never felt so scared in his life. His bladder demanded for him to leave, but his ruined state of mind completely disagreed. The washrooms were engulfed in shadows. That was simply a risk he was not willing to take.
"Who else needs to go to the washrooms?" Katie asked once the group of teens calmed.
Oblivious to who asked, Travis raised his hand.
"...great."
Line break
Despite the two having a passionate displeasure of being in the others company, both made an exception. The very thought of having to go alone full throttled their imagination into thinking up the most obscure and gruesome of deaths.
"So..." Travis ventured.
"Please don't talk to me." Katie sternly ordered.
"Well that's just mean."
"Should have thought of that before pouring water on me."
"You're still not over that?"
"Of course not!" Katie shouted, scurrying birds from their branches.
The two stopped in their tracks, ADHD and paranoia a devastating combination. After waiting a full minute and tentatively surveying their surroundings the two recommenced their hike.
"Quite the scary story huh." Travis brought up.
"I guess, I've heard scarier." Katie replied from in front of him, not bothering to look back.
"Is that so? Wait," Travis quickly came to a halt, refusing to move a single inch, "did you hear that?"
"What? What is it?" The latter whispered, her voice strained in an attempt to stay steady.
"It sounds like footsteps." The former whispered in response .
Katie was glued in place, her heart thumping madly. She quietly scanned the area looking for anything out of the ordinary since hearing wasn't going to be an option. Only then, did she realize what it was, two towering arms clamped against her shoulders. With a bloodcurdling scream Katie retaliated by swinging her arm and pinching her eyelids shut, a loud echoing clap boomed as she crunched the back of her hand against her assailant. After a minute of nothing but the cool night breeze blowing, Katie poked one of her eyes opened. Lying on the dirt trail curled up in fetal position, Travis had his nose cupped under his two hands, stifling pained groans.
"Bad...idea." He coldly mumbled from the ground.