Hi, everyone. I'm sorry I've been so MIA lately. It's been a few months since I've updated or uploaded anything, and I'm really sorry. I won't go into details, but things have been really hard the past few months, because of school and because of other personal reasons.
In my last update of Broken Wings, Shattered Heart, I said I would update Heart Stopping Comeback really soon, and I know I haven't yet. For those of you who are waiting on an update from that story, I'm working on it. Slowly, but I am. I can't tell you all when it will be up, with how things are right now, but hopefully soon-ish. I'm going to try my best.
Anyway, I started this story for the Halloween Challenge from the BTR Writers' Support and Plot Adoption Forum. More stories have been uploaded for it, and I'd appreciate it if you all went and checked them out! Mine isn't finished, but I hope it's okay, regardless. I'm sorry if it sounds rushed.
"For the past three days, there have been reports of a woman with long, black hair, wearing a white gown throughout the Angeles National Forest. As of now, nobody has been able to identify this woman or even gotten the chance to look at her face. Some people have claimed that they've heard her wail, but apart from that—"
James rolled his eyes, grabbed the remote from where it was sitting on Carlos' lap, and switched the channel.
"Hey! I was watching that!"
"Not anymore you're not."
"James, come on, give me the remote." Carlos frowned as he tried reaching over James to grab the remote from his hand, but James held it away from him.
"What do you want it for? You know it's probably not true, right?"
"You don't know that."
"Please, it's probably just someone trying to scare people, especially with Halloween being so close by."'
"But it sounded exactly like La Llorona!"
"La Llorona?" James gave him a quizzical look. "What is that?"
"La Llorona," Carlos said, grabbing the remote from him now that he had put it down, "is a folktale about a woman who drowned her kids after her husband had an affair behind her back, and then roamed the earth, crying out for them."
"Seriously?" James arched an eyebrow at him. "That can't be true."
Carlos shrugged and changed the channel back to the news, but the story about the mystery woman had already passed. "Many people believe it's true. In fact, many people claim they have heard her, wailing for her kids at night."
"That sounds so made up," James said, but he slumped further into the couch cushions, hugging his arms around himself. The atmosphere around him all of a sudden felt colder.
"I'm just telling you what I've heard," Carlos said as he rose from the couch. "Anyway, I'm gonna make myself a sandwich. You want one?"
"No, I'm okay. Thanks."
Carlos nodded and headed for the kitchen. He was barely grabbing the loaf of bread when Kendall and Logan walked in the door. Both of them had bags of groceries in their arms, which they started to place on the island when they approached it.
"Well, we got Halloween candy—"
Before Logan could finish his sentence, Carlos launched for the bag Logan still had in his arms, but he was quick to snatch it away.
"Carlos!"
"What?"
"It's not for you! It's for the trick-or-treaters."
"But I just wanted one candy," Carlos said, sticking his bottom lip out in a pout.
"One candy?" Logan shook his head. "Knowing you, 'one candy' will turn into all of the candy being gone by the time tomorrow comes around."
Carlos frowned, crossed his arms over his chest, and walked back to where he had left the loaf of bread on the counter. "You're no fun, you know that?"
Instead of answering him, Logan just ignored him and started to take out everything they had brought from the store.
"Did you guys hear the story about the creepy woman at Angeles National Forest?" James asked from where he sat on the couch, watching them.
"What creepy woman?" Kendall asked as he turned over the paper bag with all of the candy bags inside it. Carlos tried to grab one of them, but Logan sent a glare in his direction, causing him to take a step back.
"You're not that scary."
Logan rolled his eyes, but opened one of the bags, tossing a Jolly Rancher in Carlos' direction. "Just one."
"There was this woman on the news. People have spotted her around the forest for the past three days, I think."
"Okay…" Kendall's eyebrows knitted tightly together. "Why is she creepy?"
"Apparently people have heard her wailing, and nobody knows who she is," James said, joining them at the island. "Carlos thinks it's La Llorona."
"La Llorona?" Logan turned over to face Carlos. "Have you been watching scary movies again?"
"No." Carlos scowled, but when Logan gave him a knowing look, he stammered out, "M-maybe…"
"I told you to stop watching scary movies."
"It was just one!"
"Sure it was." Logan rolled his eyes. Then, he turned to James. "It was probably just someone trying to scare people."
"That's what I told Carlos, but he refuses to listen."
"I have an idea!" Kendall said, moving to stand in front of them. "What if we went there and found out for ourselves?"
"Found out what?" James asked.
"If the 'woman,'" he said, using air quotes, "is really La Llorona or something else entirely."
"You-You want us to go? By ourselves?" Logan stammered out.
"Yes."
"But…"
"Weren't you just saying it wasn't real?" Kendall said, arching an eyebrow. He turned to look at James, who looked visibly paler. "Come on, guys. It'll be fine. What's the worst that could happen?"
"We die?" Carlos said, causing all three boys to turn in his direction. "What? I'm just being realistic."
Logan shook his head. "Your mom would never let us go. Not once she finds out why we're going."
"She doesn't have to know."
"So you want us to lie to her?" Logan asked, taking a step towards Kendall.
"Pshhht. It's not lying. It's… not being very detailed."
"Which is lying."
"Aww, come on. It'll be an adventure!" Carlos said, jumping on the balls of his feet. "We'll be like Scooby-Doo!"
"Like Scooby-Doo?" James asked.
"Yes, going after the mystery, catching the bad guys… possibly. Unless it is La Llorona, that is."
James and Logan looked hesitant, but they begrudgingly agreed.
"Wait, if we're not gonna be here for Halloween, does that mean I get to have more candy?" Carlos asked, looking hopeful.
"No," Logan told him with a frown. "Mama Knight and Katie will be here. They can give it out."
Carlos sent a glare in Logan's direction as he crossed his arms over his chest. "You never let me have any candy."
"That's because if we let you have a little bit, you'd eat the whole bag, and then you'd be jumping around the apartment like a kangaroo." James chuckled, ruffling Carlos' hair.
"I would not."
"Would too," Kendall said, as he grabbed the bags of candies and stuffed them back into the grocery bag. "I am going to go hide these."
"But, Kendall—"
Before Carlos could run after Kendall, he felt a hand grab at his own. He looked down, confused, only to realize that the hand belonged to James.
"What are you—"
James pressed a finger to his lips and pried Carlos' hand open.
Carlos felt something tickle the inside of his palm, and he looked down to see what it was. His face lit up when he realized it was another Jolly Rancher.
"What are you smiling about?" Logan asked, having turned around in time to see Carlos' face break out into a grin.
"Uh, nothing!"
Arching an eyebrow in confusion, Logan turned away from him. Grinning, Carlos gave James a thumbs up with the hand that wasn't holding the candy.
"Huh. I have to admit, I didn't think your mom would actually let us come," James said as he exited the BTR mobile. He directed the comment towards Kendall, who was following closely behind him.
"I'm kind of surprised, too," Kendall told him, his eyes scanning the area they were currently in. Logan had parked the car close to a hiking trail, claiming that it'd be a good idea to do so, in case anyone happened to get lost. The possibility of that happening seemed pretty slim, though, seeing as there weren't a lot of trees in that part of the forest.
"So, I was thinking we could set up our tents over here," Logan said, motioning to an area that was about twenty feet away from the hiking trail.
"Isn't that a bit too close to the trail?" Kendall asked. He walked to where James and Carlos were, trying to bring everything down from the trunk. "Here, let me help," he said as he pulled out a duffel bag, his face scrunching up in surprise. "What is in this bag? Rocks?"
"Sorry, that's mine." James grinned and took it from him.
"What do you even have in there?"
"Clothes, my lucky comb… stuff."
"Stuff?"
"Personal stuff."
"James, I swear, if you brought your Baracuda collection with you, I will—"
"You never know when it could come in handy!"
"We are here for one night, James!" Logan chimed in.
"Exactly!"
"One long and unpredictably night!"
"What are you gonna do? Spray La Llorona with your Baracuda man-spray?" Carlos asked, chuckling.
"...Maybe."
"You have to be kidding me." Logan smacked himself on the forehead.
"I thought you didn't believe she was real," Kendall said.
"I don't," James responded hesitantly. "But I like to be prepared in case the need arises. What if we get attacked by a mob of skunks?"
"A mob of skunks?" Even Carlos couldn't hide the grin from his face.
"Yes. You know, a group of skunks."
"That seems very unlikely to happen."
"Considering skunks tend not to travel in packs," Logan said, from where he was trying to pull out a tent from the trunk. Noticing that he was struggling, Kendall went over to help him.
"Some skunks might," James said quietly.
Noticing the solemn expression on his face, Carlos looped an arm over his shoulder. "Come on, we should set up a campfire. I brought stuff to make s'mores!"
Smiling slightly, James nodded his head, and together, the two of them began to collect rocks, while Logan and Kendall worked on getting the two tents set up.
I hope you all liked that so far. Thank you for reading.
~ BigTimeRush-BTR :)