One beautiful spooky night at the Scare B&b, one excitable little vampire had a whole bunch of different board games laid out in the living room. On this very night, Vampirina Hauntley had been preparing for another game night with her friends, Poppy and Bridget. Due to family circumstances, Poppy was unable to join, which she texted Vee about earlier in the day, but it seemed like Bridget was up for it. After 20 minutes of sitting on the couch in wait, however, Vee saw no sign of Bridget.
"Hey, girls, I have some snacks ready for you in case you get hungry." Boris said as he came into the room, coming across a lone Vee. "Is Bridget not here yet, my little spider?"
"No, and I'm starting to get worried." Vee replied. "What could be going on for her to still not be here yet?"
"I know, right? I've been waiting centuries for this game night to start!" a floating Demi moaned.
"Yeah, it's definitely been that long, the longest we've ever waited for anything, even." Gregoria sarcastically replied to Demi.
"Exactly! I think I'll fade from boredom!"
Gregoria groaned in irritation.
"Alright, I think this is long enough for me to go see what's holding her." Vee said as she lifted herself off the couch and grabbed two of the snacks Boris was holding. "And thanks for the snacks, Papa." The speedy fanger then dashed out of the house and into the backyard. While she headed towards Bridget's house, she was thinking about what could be keeping her. Maybe she's just not feeling up to it. I can just give her these snacks and schedule the game night for another time. Oh no! What if something bad happened to her? Like coming down with a sickness? Leg injury? Or maybe she felt traumatised by a spooky memory she had?! Okay, now I know I gotta check on her!
Arriving at Bridget's house, Vee was about to knock on her house door, only to notice her curled up in the very right corner. "Bridget, what's up?" she asked as she walked over to the scared ginger.
"Hi, Vee." Bridget softly replied. "I... I don't know if I want to talk about it. Besides, Poppy's still there for the game night, isn't she?"
"Poppy said she couldn't make it, and even if she was there, it still wouldn't shake off the concern I have for you right now."
"Still, considering how much time we've spent since you moved here, what I have to say would sound absolutely pathetic to you."
"Wouldn't it be better to just get if off your chest?"
"Fair point."
Vee came closer to Bridget and sat down with her. "Okay, tell me what's going on that's making you feel like a dragon who can't breathe fire."
Bridget took a deep breath. "I just don't feel comfortable coming over right now."
"Really? Okay. I understand. I'll tell the others to reschedule for another..."
"It's not just that!" Bridget said as she clutched on Vee's hand. "A voice in my head keeps telling me that something really scary will happen during the game night. I know I shouldn't still be having these thoughts after experiencing a lot of scary stuff involving you, but I am and I hate it! I know I could just overcome my fears and doubts and enjoy myself, but at this point, I shouldn't have to! It makes me look pathetic after all these years. You've even been toning things down for my sake recently. What's wrong with me?!"
"Bridget.." Vee softly responded as she shuffled up closer to Bridget for comfort. "I think that sounds more like shame than fear."
"It does?"
Vee nodded.
Bridget started to feel tears generating from her eyes upon realising this. She couldn't accept this newfound shame that was seemingly holding her and her friends back, and just wanted to scream in agony. "Well, in that case... I'M TOTALLY ASHAMED OF WHO I AM RIGHT NOW!" she anguishly shouted before fully breaking down. "Why am I still like this? Why can't I be like Poppy and just get over my fears already? This came to me months after the creepover we had, and I thought, hey, maybe I'll get over it soon, but I haven't at all! I hate it, I hate it, I REALLY hate it!"
Vee was absolutely distraught seeing one of her closest friends feeling horrible to the point of tears. She's seen Bridget be terrified, loud screams and all, but never to a point where she ended up being reduced to tears. She's been keeping that in all this time? No wonder those feelings eventually got to her this much after bottling it for so long.
Glancing at Vee, Bridget desperately tried wiping away her tears. "Sorry about that. I shouldn't really be venting at a time like this, shou..." Before she could finish, she felt two arms wrapped around her in a hug.
"Don't be." Vee gently replied. "Nothing you said is anything to be sorry about. I get it. You're still not fully used to the ways I do things. And I think that's perfectly fine."
"I-it is?"
"Yeah. You shouldn't force yourself to feel less scared than you actually are. Besides, you are becoming braver by the day. I've engrained every little thing you've managed to overcome into my head, and each passing day, I can see that you're actively pushing yourself to become less scared, and I find that spooktacularly admirable. It's a slow progression, sure, but every little step forward counts. Also, if there's anything I would have been scared of, it's you holding your emotions in until a spooky disaster happened. So I'd say this is the perfect time to talk about this."
"I... I..."
Vee hugged Bridget tighter. "It's fine. You don't have to say anything right now if you don't feel like you can. All I want you to know is that you have nothing to be ashamed of, and in pitch black times like this, there are so many people here who care about you. Me, Poppy, Edgar, Demi, Gregoria, Mama and Papa... We're all here for you for when you need us."
With more tears coming from her eyes, Bridget returned the hug before faintly saying, "T-thank you." and contiinuing to bawl some more.
The two girls held each other for a few minutes until Bridget's crying started to lessen. Eventually, they separated as they held each other's hands.
"Feeling better?" Vee asked.
"Y-yeah." Bridget replied, sniffling.
"Alright. So what do you personally feel like doing tonight?"
"I... don't know, really. I guess I just want to spend the rest of the night with you." Bridget smiled.
"I'll be right back." Vee got up and bolted back to her house.
"So, Vee, how did things go? Is the game night still on?" Demi asked.
"I checked up on Bridget, and it seems like she can't make it either" Vee replied.
"Aw, that's too bad." Oxana said as she came from upstairs. "I was curious to see how humans would handle the other games we planned to play."
"Hey, Mama, is it okay if I sleep over at Bridget's for tonight?"
"Of course, batkins. I hope you two have a spooktastic night over there."
"Aw man, no game night?" Demi whined.
"Now who said game night was cancelled, exactly?" Gregoria asked.
"Well, since neither Vee and Bridget are here to play, what can we do?!"
"Come on Demi, let's see how good of a Skelly Run player you still are against me."
"Oh, you're asking for it!"
"Count me on this too!" Boris responded as he came from the kitchen.
While Boris, Demi and Gregoria hurried over to set up Skelly Run, Vee giggled before proceeding to rush back over to Bridget's house.
"I'm back." Vee said to Bridget, who was still curled up on the floor.
"Vee, when you said that I was becoming braver by the day, where exactly did you notice it?" Bridget asked.
"When we first met, you were too scared to even step foot in my home. Now you're willing to come almost every day with Poppy so we can enjoy time together. And that's only scratching the surface. You've gained up the courage to play music in large monster crowds, go to a hiding place that even I was too scared to go into without any hesitation during a game of Hide and Shriek, build up a lot of excitement whenever we visit Transylvania and keep a werewolf pack in line to save Edgar. And you definitely showed a lot of bravery when you stood up for yourself at the creepover."
Hearing this made Bridget smile.
Vee reached her hand out to Bridget "Come on, let's go inside. It's just you and me tonight."
"Gladly." Bridget replied as she took hold of Vee's hand, with the exciteable vampire pulling her up.
The night that Vee and Bridget spent at the latter's house wasn't the most eventful, but they both liked how relaxing it was. Between reading some of Bridget's favourite books, hearing her mother go on about her recent skydiving endeavours, and just chilling wherever they could, it proved to be a fun night for both of top of that, having Vee just be with her that night made Bridget feel a lot better about herself. The night felt like it went by quickly, as it wasn't long until the girls were in bed, not yet asleep, however.
"Hey, Vee." Bridget said.
"Yeah?" Vee responded.
"Thank you... for sticking with me."
"No problem. I don't think we've ever managed to make time for just the two of us. So this is definitely a spooktacular day to cherish.
"A spook-free sleepover with one of my best friends. Would never give this up for anything else."
Vee giggled.
"Say, I'm kinda interested in doing another game night soon. Think you could make room for one?"
"Whenever you're ready." Vee winked.
"Alright. Good night, Vee."
"Good night, Bridget."
When Bridget shut her eyes, Vee went over to her and kissed her on the forehead before dozing off herself.
THE END