The prompt for this chapter was provided by PunkyStarshine, after I threatened to drop her in a tank full of hungry alligators. She also told me the story that Jade tells. I had never heard it before.
Cat had been very excited for her sleep over with Jade; not only was she going to spend the night at the girl's house, but they were going to camp out in the backyard. But now, as she stared up at the dark, starry night, she felt a knot in her stomach.
Jade wanted to go in the tent and tell scary stories by flashlight. Cat wasn't fond of the idea. "Come on Cat, it'll be fun," the dark-haired girl said enthusiastically.
Maybe for her, Cat thought. Scary stories were not her thing. However, when she looked over at Jade and saw a big smile plastered on her pale face, Cat couldn't say no. With a tiny smile, she reluctantly nodded and started to get up.
After Jade had gone inside to ask her parents to turn off the back porch light, it was much darker in the tent than it had previously been. Cat curled up inside her sleeping bag, while Jade let it lay loosely around her. She turned on the flashlight and held it underneath her chin, giving her a sinister look. She smiled wickedly. If this hadn't been Jade, Cat would have been scared of the girl in front of her.
Jade opened her mouth, then closed it, thinking better of making up a story that took place in her house. Instead, she recounted a story she remembered being told long ago. She started with a low voice, setting the mood. "Once upon a time, there was a little girl, about seven years old, who was left home alone."
Cat gripped the sleeping bag tighter around herself, squirming to submerged herself into it as much as possible. Jade looked at a cocooned Cat for a second, before continuing. "Her thoughtless parents left her with only her dog to keep her company." Jade kept speaking in her low voice, drawling out her words, making sure to build the suspense. "She decided to go to sleep, so she wouldn't feel the emptiness of her house."
Despite the knot that only seemed to be increasing in size, in the pit of her stomach, Cat hung onto every word that came out of Jade's mouth. "She went to bed and stuck her hand under the bed."
Cat braced herself, expecting some kind of monster to take hold of the girl's hand. Jade paused for a couple of seconds, just long enough for the tension in the air to grow. "And...her dog licked it, like he did every night, to let her know everything was safe."
Cat let out a breath. "A while later, she was woken up by a faint noise. drip. drip. drip."
Cat's muscled tensed again. "She got up and went to check the sink in the restroom. After making sure it was closed, she went back to bed and stuck her hand under the bed, to make sure nothing had gotten in during her trip. Her dog licked her hand again, so she went back to sleep.
A while later, the sound came again." Jade leaned in a fraction, her words precise, intoned.
"Drip. drip. drip. She went to the kitchen and checked that sink. After making sure that one was closed too, she went back to bed, and again stuck her hand under the bed. Her dog licked her hand again, so she went back to sleep. As she was falling asleep, she heard it again...drip. drip. drip."
Jade leaned in another fraction. "This time she perked up her ear. The noise sounded like it was coming from inside her room. So she turned on the light to see what it was."
Jade leaned in again. Cat's hands clutched the sleeping bag tighter. "When the light came on...she screamed!" Jade raised her voice on the last word, and let out a short cry, while simultaneously smacking her hand on the floor of the tent, emphasizing the effect.
Cat jumped, startled, and let out a scream of her own. Jade smirked. But she wasn't done. She leaned in and continued in her hushed tone, even though Cat couldn't see her as she had shut her eyes. "Her dog was hanging from the ceiling fan, driiiiiiping on the floor. On the wall, written with blood, it said..."-Cat hunched and wished she couldn't hear what Jade was about to reveal-"'Murderers can lick hands, too.'"
Jade, with a quick hand, reached out to grab one of Cat's hands, successfully making the girl jump and yell again. This time Jade couldn't hold it in, and laughed at the redhead's reaction. "That's not funny, Jade!" Cat exclaimed with a pout on her face.
Jade calmed her laughter at seeing the scared looked on Cat's face. But an amused smile remained on her face. The shorter girl looked like she might jump out of her skin at any moment. Even in the darkness of the tent, Jade could see her tanned skin had paled. "It's just a story, Cat," Jade said lightly.
"It's still scary," Cat said, in a small, scared tone.
"Come on, now you get to tell one."
"No," Cat said. She didn't want scary, gruesome words to be coming out of her mouth. "I don't know any, anyway."
Jade sighed. She figured that was the end of scary story time. Cat didn't know any and if she told any more the girl wouldn't sleep. "Okay. Let's go to sleep then," Jade said.
Cat was hesitant. She wasn't sure she could sleep, and she didn't want to just lay there, prey for whatever may come. But if she fell asleep she wouldn't be scared anymore. So reluctantly, she agreed and laid next to Jade. She wished the sleeping bags weren't in the way so she could cuddle up next to Jade.
After a few minutes of not being able to fall asleep, she said, "Jade, I can't sleep."
Jade, who had been starting to doze off, mumbled, "Mmm. Nothing's going to happen."
"But I'm scared," Cat said, burying half her face in the sleeping bag.
"I'm here," Jade said. "And monsters don't like me. You'll be okay."
Cat thought about that for a second, and felt herself relax a little. But then she heard some faint noise outside. "What was that?" she whispered.
"What?" Jade asked, not having heard anything.
Cat listened to the silence outside. She heard it again. It sounded like...dripping. "Jade," Cat said, elongating the first syllable, tears filling her eyes.
"What?" Jade asked gently, more awake now, aware of Cat's terrified tone.
Suddenly, something fell on top of the tent, like a hundred little somethings, and they were surrounded by the sound of the falling things. The girls let out a startled yelp in unison, and scrambled to get up. As Jade was rushing to get out of the trap that her sleeping bag had become, it registered in her brain that the noise outside, and the things falling on the tent, was rain. "Cat, wait," she said and reached for the girl's wrist.
Cat turned back to look at Jade when the girl had hold of her wrist; she was already out of her sleeping bag and ready to bolt out. Jade felt sympathy for the girl when she saw the most horrified look she had ever seen on Cat's face. She smiled gently at Cat and said, in a comforting voice, "It's just rain."
It took a second for the words to click, but when they did, Cat listened and visibly relaxed when her ears confirmed it. She breathed out, relieved. Just then, the back door opened and the girls heard Jade's mom calling out to them. "Girls, you should come inside, don't want to get sick. You can camp out in the living room."
Cat looked at Jade and asked, "Can we sleep in your room?"
Cat always felt safe in Jade's bed, with the girl sleeping soundly next to her. Jade smiled and nodded her head. She would make sure to stay extra close to the girl.