Garroth looked around the house for his assigned room. Fortunately, Felicity was there to lead him the way and showed him the way to his room door. Before she left him be, she said to him, "Here you go! Feel free to make yourself at home, Garroth. Just make sure to join us later at the campfire outside, okay?" He gave her a slight nod, and entered his cabin room.
There was a lot of free space in his new room. There were several window frames, along with a small miniature table with two dark grey plush chairs next to it. A small, round, steel chandelier hung from the ceiling. The bed was very large, neatly organized, too, with a variety of several pillows, too. Dante, you certainly picked the right cabin for this trip. I'm gonna enjoy staying in this room. He put his bag down beside his bed and landed right into it. It felt very warm and soft, too. I'll certainly feel fine sleeping in here tonight.
Several thoughts went through his head as he laid down on the bed. He was thinking about his school life, and how his family would've reacted if they found out that he had nearly been kicked from cross country. There was an incident the week before with one of the guys on his team, Ian, but that guy was one of the biggest douchebags in the school to date. One day, at practice, he got on Garroth's nerves just a little too much, and eventually, it broke out into a full-blown fight between the two. They didn't get very far without getting stopped, though. Thankfully, neither of them did any significant damage to each other, so the school decided to just give them a little suspension from cross country for a while.
I've been trying to keep this hidden from my parents for the past week already. I don't think they've found out yet, so that's at least fortunate. Although I'm pretty sure my dad is gonna be hella pissed off if he finds out about it. He was also thinking about Felicity, too. Ever since she became closer to him in middle school, and the fact that she also helped him with trying to be more extroverted, he's started to have some slight feelings for her. I can't really say that I don't want us to be more than friends, but I'm also not sure if I'm ready for that kind of relationship, either.
He also wasn't sure if she felt the same way about him, either. She never really told him whether or not she was interested in him. Garroth was trying to gain the courage to go and tell her how he felt, but for some reason, something was always holding him back from it. It was very complicated to explain.
About a couple hours later, after Garroth decided to check more of the cabin out, it was getting dark. He was in the living room now, trying to read a book next to the indoor fireplace when Dante rushed over to him and gave him the news. "Hey, Garroth, come outside. We need you to help set up the campfire," he told Garroth. "What exactly do you need me for?", he told Dante. Dante replied, "Kylie and Hank are getting the firewood ready, Felicity's getting the chocolate bars and graham crackers, and YOU are in charge of roasting the marshmallows."
Alright, what's the worst that could happen? "Okay, I'll help you roast the marshmallows. But what are you going to do, Dante?", Garroth asked. "Oh, I'll be helping set up the campfire. That way we can tell each other horror stories around the campfire. Now, come go outside. We're going now," Dante replied. They proceeded to leave the luxurious cabin and headed outside, where they headed to the back to meet up with the others.
Garroth was surprised to see that the campfire area they were setting up was very well-built. There was a well-structured, round, stone brick fire ring, where Kylie and Hank were carefully placing the firewood into it. Felicity pulled out a lighter, and after a few tries, successfully lit the fire. It took quite a few minutes for the flames to grow and kindle, but eventually, Garroth could feel the heat coming from the large, dark orange flames of the fire. It was relaxing, perfect for November weather, and for the dark, too.
Dante brought out a portable chair for everyone in the group, and each took a chair and placed it near the fireplace. Once everyone gathered around the fire, Felicity started speaking. "Okay, I have the chocolate and the graham cracks ready. Garroth, please hand out the marshmallows to everyone, please," she said. I was given the bag of marshmallows, and I gave two each to everyone for starters. Hank handed out the marshmallow roasting sticks to everyone, and the group started roasting their marshmallows.
After waiting for their treats to finish roasting, Felicity passed out the chocolate and graham crackers for everyone to eat. When Garroth made his s'more and took a bite out of it, he could instantly tell that he slightly burnt it. Still, the gooey, tasty sensation was enjoyable, though. I really need to learn not to let it roast for too long, though. While everyone was enjoying their s'mores, Dante decided to start talking. "Anyone down for a horror story? I've got a good one, if anyone's interested in it." The others figured it wouldn't mean any harm, so they agreed to it. "Only if it's an actually good horror story," Hank said, "because I've heard plenty of shit horror stories from you before."
That was partially true, Garroth admitted. Dante wasn't exactly known for being the best story teller among us, so he didn't really have too high of hopes for this story. Felicity seemed more than willing to give Dante a try, though. "Go ahead! Tell us," she said, muffled as she was still eating her s'more. Kylie just sighed, clearly not expecting too much from Dante. But Garroth was willing to give his friend a shot before judging his story. "Fire away. I hope it's a good one," he told Dante. Then, Dante cleared his throat and began to tell his story.
"It was around twenty years ago when this little story happened, right here in Hurricane. Of course, many claim it was real, while others said it was mass-hysteria, but I beg to differ. Something really terrifying happened here all those years ago. Let me tell you about, 'The Twisted Ones'. Now, before we begin there, let me ask you this: have you ever heard of a place called Freddy Fazbear's Pizza?"
Everybody else just groaned and cringed at the mention of this. Garroth wasn't exactly too familiar with it, but there was an incident several years ago involving the kidnapping and murder of at least eight children at two Freddy Fazbear pizzeria locations: one in Cannon Falls, the other in Hurricane. Out of those eight, only one was confirmed to be murdered because the police found the child's dead body outside of the pizzeria in the alleyway. The rest were never seen nor heard from again, and many rumors came afterwards about what happened to them. They searched for the killer, but rumor has it that the murderer was never found, either. Just gone.
Even years after, some of the families of the victims had trouble moving on from those terrible events. Nowadays, the company that owned the brand, Fazbear Entertainment, was more focused on making video games and establishing marketable animatronics now. There were still some pizzeria locations, but there hasn't been a reopening of a Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria in either Hurricane or Cannon Falls in years. Not after the children incident. Or at least that's what he heard of.
Sure, it wasn't something to joke about, but other than the child deaths, none of the others really anything else about the brand seriously. No one except Dante, that is. "Seriously? You think we're gonna be scared of a robot furry horror story, Dante? I know you're better than this," Garroth told him mockingly. But Dante wasn't laughing at all. In fact, he was dead serious. Felicity wasn't laughing anymore, either, for that matter. "Oh, there's so much more you don't know," Dante said with a menacing smile. "I promise you, this story is much more serious than you probably think it is."
"Sometime in the mid 90s, I think, there were stories about strange reports of people seeing sick versions of the animatronics at Freddy's. Doesn't sound too scary at first, right? It probably doesn't...until you get into the details. Whatever these robots were, they were anything but the loveable mascots of Freddy's that everyone was familiar with. These versions were practically a far cry from those designs. They were like something you would only see in your worst nightmares. Think of those mascots, but with much larger, wider jaws, filled with five sharks worth of teeth; sharp, large, and deadly enough to easily tear through human flesh and bone, with long hook-like claws that would put Freddy Kreuger to shame; sometimes, even appearing frighteningly flesh-like. Most of them looked like nightmarish versions of the original mascots, but there was one in particular that was very different from the others." Dante made a dramatic pause before continuing.
"Some people said there was even a wolf among them, too. It was apparently mistaken for a werewolf at first, if you can believe it. From what I've heard, it didn't even look robotic. It apparently looked life-like, like a real werewolf. I don't know too much about that one, though, sorry guys."
Garroth had a very hard time believing a word of what Dante said. Sure, the murdered children incident was downright dark, but compared to that, it seemed like Dante was making his story up. This isn't exactly a very believable story, you know, Garroth thought. "And how exactly do you know all of this?", Felicity asked Dante. "Seems very strange that you know so much about this so-called story."
"I don't know the whole story, you guys. My little brother just did a project for his class about this, and he asked for my help on it. I remember a lot of his research that he told me about," Dante told them. "Now, there have been a few strange deaths that were believed to have been caused by these guys. A few of the bodies that were found were really messed up. They were viciously scarred and mauled, with all sorts of deep, bloody, brutal claw marks and cuts all over them. That's about all I know. Other than that, there's no other physical proof that these things exist. They just...disappeared after that, for all I know."
Kylie was yawning, already bored of Dante's story, but Garroth for some reason was looking back at the forest behind them, nervously. He wasn't exactly moved by Dante's story, but it did make him a bit more cautious of the woods. The darkness made him worried that something was around, lurking in the shadows, stalking him, waiting for the right moment to attack its unsuspecting prey. Just to be sure.
Felicity spoke up now. "Well, Dante, that was actually a huge improvement for you, so thanks for the story. If anyone else would like to tell a horror story, now is the time." The group didn't feel like telling any more stories, though, so for the rest of the bonfire they mainly talked about each other, except for Garroth, who was still acting kind of paranoid, anxiously checking his surroundings.
