If there was one thing children could benefit from, it was more time spent in the great outdoors. But with all of one's comforts being indoors [specifically internet], there was little to no reason for them to want to go outside. So, that's why I decided taking these three house hermits on a backyard camping trip would be beneficial.

Takeshi was the most against the idea; she had been in the middle of one of her bouts of yelling at fellow CoD players online and only agreed, rather begrudgingly, when I threatened to ban her from her favorite food for the day. With Nyoko, all I had to do was promise her marshmallows and she immediately ran outside to gather firewood. And finally with Kiyoshi, I only had to survive a few seconds of puppy dog eyes before he slumped his shoulders and left his half-finished clay sculpture in favor of trudging out of the room.

I snorted in amusement when Takeshi stomped over to Nyoko to help her gather branches, though noticed Kiyoshi was lingering by the doorway, squinting against the final rays of light before the sun slid behind the tree line. He was by far the most antisocial of the three and practically lived in his room, and most likely hadn't been outside in weeks. None of them had probably been outside in weeks, honestly. I blamed their parents.

After there was a decent sized pile of branches, I dragged out two collapsible tents and Takeshi made a face. "We have to sleep outside too?"

"Of course," I replied, dropping the tents near the branch pile. "That's what camping is."

"But Yael.." Nyoko whined. "There's bugs and gross stuff out here.."

I crossed my arms and shook my head. "Too bad. Now you can put up the tents. They're already in one piece, so you should be able to figure it out for yourselves."

I was right, and they had the tents unfolded and tethered to the ground in only a few minutes. By then, the sun had disappeared completely and the orange in the sky was fading to black.

So we lit the fire and I retrieved the promised marshmallows from the house, which were snatched from me by Nyoko before I even knew what had happened.

Takeshi on the other hand completely refused the sweets, instead pulling a mango out of her pocket to eat. I narrowed my eyes at her. She was just doing that to spite me, I was sure. She did share the attitude of her father, after all.

Once everyone had their fill, it was entirely dark out and the moon was on its way to its zenith.

I grinned. This is what I had been waiting for.

Leaning forward subtly, I said in the best mysterious voice I could manage, "You know... They say this neighborhood is haunted..."

Nyoko's eyes immediately went wide in fear. "It is..?" She squeaked. Kiyoshi glanced around nervously.

Takeshi just rolled her eyes and made a sound of disgust in the back of her throat the way only a preteen girl can do.

As I recited the carefully planned out ghost story I had made up, Nyoko and Kiyoshi looked increasingly paranoid and fearful, though Takeshi still looked incredibly bored, obviously knowing I wasn't being honest.

But that was fine. I knew how I could get to her.

When my story was drawing to an end, I had to struggle to keep the grin off my face as I noticed a figure approaching from the house, behind the three kids.

"And they were never found again.." I finished in a quiet tone, the key words the figure had been waiting for. The 'ghost' crept up behind them and let out a loud shriek.

Nyoko instantly shot to her feet and bolted, running straight into a tree and collapsing on the ground with a groan. Kiyoshi fainted and nearly landed face first in the fire.

And Takeshi stood, whirled around, and punched the figure straight in the nose. I paled.

Regis fell on his behind and clutched his nose, whimpering in pain.

Well that had certainly gone horribly wrong.

Maybe camping wasn't very beneficial for them after all...