Errand Group Ten: Tricks, Treats and Tales PV | Group

Word Count: 320/200

The Treats Stuffed Medjool Dates Open for Interactions

The Costume Costume - The Little Tramp @Kim Sato @Simon Kincaid @Linda Ramirez @Mahlioz Evethisawe @Emma Wynn @Ava Winchect @Reyna Evergreen

30 Oct. 2024

As she sat back down in her chosen spot next to the campfire, she took a few moments to relax and listen to the people around her. Linda had come to life with Reyna's appearance, and AngelFyre could definitely understand that. Not exactly a social butterfly herself, being around people, no matter how much she liked them, always drained her social battery. The only person that law of her nature did not seem to apply to was Simon. She could not fathom a time of ever not wishing to be in his presence.

Linda picked up her mention of ghost stories, and Reyna echoed it. AngelFyre had already thought before leaving her dorm room what story she would like to tell tonight, and since no one seemed to be particularly eager to go first, she decided she would be happy to do so. She was most especially pleased when the Werewolf of Scotland reached to his side and offered his treats. He said only two words, but those two words were enough.

Well, hello Kim! she thought to herself. He seems more lively than last year, that is for sure. And because she now knew it was him, there was no way she was going to miss getting one of his delectable offerings. When she saw them, she was charmed immediately. "Ohhhh!. These look almost too adorable to eat... but I will anyway since they are chocolate. Thank you so much! I am sure it will be delicious," and she tipped her hat in his direction before taking her seat once again.

As everyone got settled, she happily ate her mouse cake and it was as delicious as it had been cute. Licking her fingers as inconspicuously as the Little Tramp could, which was not very, she took a handkerchief from her pocket and then wiped her fingertips before concentrating on the corners of her mouth. She was replacing it back into her pocket when she cleared her throat and offered, "I will start the story-telling off if everyone is okay with that?" She heard no complaints, so she began.

"It was a dark and stormy night...." and she snickered as that was how her mother started every ghost story. The woman loved Snoopy. AngelFyre quickly looked at everyone who probably did not get her inside joke, but that was okay, she did, and that was enough in the moment. "Kidding! Kidding! It was a beautiful night actually, and it also happened to be the occasion of Graham’s 13th birthday party," and AngelFyre dropped her voice a bit and leaned forward into her tale.
______________
Now, while Graham had mostly enjoyed it, his mother had had the idea that after the party ended and the girls had all gone home, any of the boys who wished to could stay the night for a sleepover. The problem with that, from Graham’s perspective, was that his mother insisted on inviting everyone from his class, and there was one boy, Flagg, who was nothing but a bully. Graham despised him. While not all of his friends chose to stay the night, Flagg, of course, did.

His father had put up quite a large tent for the boys in the backyard, and had made certain there was plenty of wood for the firepit. There were trays of drinks and supplies to make s’mores. There were pointed dowels to roast marshmallows or wieners. His father stayed out with them for a while, telling ghost stories and Dad jokes, but after an hour or so, he stood and said he was calling it a night. He admonished them all to behave, not to poke each other’s eyes out, and to keep it quiet for the neighbors. At the mention of “neighbors” he just laughed heartily and left the boys to their devices, winking at Graham on his way inside. Graham chuckled at his father’s little joke. The only neighbors they had were taking permanent dirt naps in the Our Lady of Prompt Succor Cemetery and Memorial Garden which bordered their property on three sides.

As Graham figured would be the case when his father left the scene, Flagg went into high gear on the bully scale. He could not be bothered himself to toast his own marshmallows or make his own s’mores, so by threatening physical harm to the other “campers”, he essentially took from them at his own leisure, especially from the birthday boy, because that was just more fun. It was a dominance thing and Graham was happy to leave that particular field of battle to Flagg.

After stuffing their faces and tiring of stories, Flagg suggested a game of Truth or Dare. It was actually less a suggestion and more of a directive, and he had made one minor change to the rules. Truth was not an option. Graham was surprisingly okay with this because he saw his opportunity to knock Flagg down a couple of pegs. In a rare display of what he thought to be gracious behavior, Flagg said he would permit Graham to go first, meaning Graham could choose anyone he wished to dare. Graham rubbed his hands together in glee and said, “I choose you, Flagg.” This bold move drew a lot of whispered oooohs and ahhhhs from the other boys, and Flagg looked utterly surprised. “Nah. You can’t dare me. That wasn’t part of the rules,” he gruffed. Graham looked at the other boys and pushed Flagg with, “What’s the matter? Afraid you’ll be dared to do something you can’t do?” Graham was smiling at Flagg, but it was not a friendly smile.

Flagg sat up, clenching his fists, but by this time, the other boys were already taunting him. Some even made sounds like chickens as “bwaaak” “bwaaaaak” could be heard in the background. “Okay, Birthday Boy,” Flagg said as he looked threateningly at the others and waved his hand to silence the chicken choir. “Give me your best shot, and you better make it good because I promise when I am done with my dare, it will be your turn and I will be the one daring you. Got it, runt?”

“Fair enough,” said Graham with a smirk. “So, I dare you to go into the cemetery next door and find the grave of Will E. Bebak. Here, this is how it is spelled,” and Graham took a napkin and one of the pointed dowels that had been used to roast a weiner. He rubbed it into the sooty ashes and spelled out the name on the napkin for Flagg and handed both it, and the dowel, over to the bully. “When you find the grave, use this dowel and plunge it through that napkin with the name on it and onto the grave as proof that you completed the dare. I know exactly where the grave is, so once you get back, it will take me only a few minutes to verify whether you did it or not.” Then Graham got up quickly and grabbed his father‘s flashlight for Flagg. “Here. You might need this, too. You can get into the cemetery through our back gate, right over there,” and Graham turned on the flashlight and pointed it towards the back gate. Then he handed it to a slack-jawed Flagg.

Flagg furiously knocked the flashlight to the ground and sneered, “I have my wand. I don’t need that.” He grabbed the napkin and the dowel in silence but Graham noticed his hand was shaking. Moreover, Flagg did not move to the gate. “What’s the matter, Flagg? Scared? I mean, if you don’t want to do it, just say so. This game was your idea after all.” And with that, Flagg punched Graham hard in the shoulder as he pushed past him and said, “Shut up, runt. This is gonna be a piece of cake.” And off he went after grunting “Lumos!” and waving his wand in a tight loop. The tip of his wand immediately lit up in a bright, white light. Flagg was moving slowly, but he was moving.

When Flagg finally walked through the gate and into the cemetery, Graham fell down next to his friends and started to laugh quietly. They were all looking at each other a little nervously, some of them laughing a bit as well but not knowing why. When Graham finally regained control, he told them the joke was on Flagg; there was no such grave in the cemetery! Then all of them really laughed at that. “Good one, Graham!” someone snickered. “That is an awesome dare!” said another. And then one voice of reason piped up with, “He is going to kill you when he finds out.”

Graham had already considered that possibility, but he didn’t think Flagg would turn to violence. For one, he was going to have to wander in the cemetery for a good long while looking for something that wasn’t there. His obstinance would keep him out there. Graham doubted he would check every grave, but he might. If he did, he would be out there most of the rest of the night, which was just fine by Graham. He knew Flagg well enough to know that his tough guy bravado was not going to let him give up too quickly as he would then be a laughingstock in front of so many witnesses. There was even the slim possibility that he would come back crying like a little girl which would also work in Graham’s favor, but he doubted it would go that way. As for taking it up with Graham at some later date - at a time and place more conducive to his bullying ways - Graham figured Flagg might do just that - but the phrase, “Worth it!” kept playing through his brain.

The boys, with Flagg gone, could relax and enjoy themselves. They spent an hour rough housing, and talking about the latest super hero movie that was about to hit theaters. They even had a contest on who could make the most realistic fart sounds with their mouths. They would occasionally jump up on the trampoline to see if they could pinpoint where Flagg was by the light from his wand. Basically, a good time was being had by all when suddenly, their blood ran cold as they heard an ear piercing shriek coming from the cemetery. It definitely sounded like Flagg. Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing and saying and got very still and quiet. After a few seconds, Graham jumped back up on the trampoline to look for the light from Flagg’s wand.

Nothing. Complete darkness.

He jumped back down and was met with a barrage of questions. “Is he ok?” “Did you see his light?” “Is he heading back here?” “Should we go wake your Dad and get some help?” Graham was confused and reported to them that no, he had not seen Flagg’s wand light. He was about to run into the house to get his father when they all heard Flagg call out to Graham. Flagg was beckoning Graham in his taunting, sing-songy, all is well but I am about to smash you like a bug voice to come and confirm that he had completed his dare. Everyone just looked at each other, and then they started to relax figuring that this was going to be how Flagg was going to get his payback on Graham. “Come onnnnnnnn, Graham. I did it. Now I dare you to come and check it out, unless you are chicken. bwaaak! bwaaa-aaaak! bwaaak!”

Graham and some of the boys climbed back onto the trampoline to look for the wand light. They saw a white, silvery kind of light not too far away. Then Flagg barked out, “I am by the Silverthorne Mausoleum, but then, you already knew that, right, Graham?” Graham hopped down and someone asked him, “What are you going to do, man? You aren’t going out there are you? He is going to kill you.” Graham knew it was a ploy. He knew there was no such grave, but he was over being bullied by Flagg. He figured the best thing to do would be to go out there and meet him face to face and see what Flagg’s move was going to be. Flagg knew there were seven witnesses, so how bad could it be?

“Yeah. I’m going out there. Anyone want to come with me?” he asked. He laughed somewhat timidly, knowing full well none of them were going to follow him into a graveyard a few minutes before midnight to confront an angry bully, but it couldn’t hurt to ask. As predicted, no one volunteered to join him on his suicide mission. “Alrighty then. I’m off! If you hear me yell or if I’m not back in 10 minutes, go get my Dad. I’m not going to light my wand, so you guys won’t be able to see where I’m at, but neither will Flagg and that is the point. If you have to get my father, tell him I’m heading for the Silverthorne Mausoleum.” And then Graham turned and headed off to his back gate and into the cemetery.

*******

Three minutes later, Graham had made his way to the Silverthorne Mausoleum. It was the largest structure in the cemetery, so even in the dark it was easy to find. As he approached, he saw the light from Flagg’s wand on the far side of the building. When he rounded the corner, he stopped cold in his tracks. There, floating above what looked like Flagg’s body on a grave was what looked like Flagg’s ghost. It was circling the body in a smooth, gliding manner, and the thing that most caught Graham’s attention was how transparent but shimmery it looked at the same time. As Graham’s eyes turned to Flagg’s body, the ghost stopped and pointed a finger at Graham. “This is your fault,” Flagg’s ghost said in an accusatory tone. “Just look at what you’ve done!” and he then pointed that same shimmery finger down towards the body.

“Wh--, wh-- ,” Graham cleared his throat and tried again, taking a few steps forward. He was more curious than scared. “What happened?”

Flagg’s ghost looked at Graham for a few seconds and began to answer him. It told Graham how Flagg had wandered all over the cemetery and had not seen a grave with the name Will E. Bebak. Figuring he had either missed it or you had pulled a fast one on him, he decided to stake the napkin here, on this grave. Graham moved yet closer and was able to read the headstone in the ghostly glow. The engraved name was Will Lee Burbank, and the inscription read: ‘If there is a way to come back, I will, but in the meantime, Woe to any who tread on me!’ Graham had to admit that the name was pretty close to his made up one. Flagg’s ghost continued, “As Flagg was staking the napkin to the grave, he accidentally and unknowingly staked his baggy shirt and jeans to the grave as well. As he got up to leave, he felt the resistance and panicked thinking that a hand from beyond had reached up to grab him and keep him there. He screamed and then just dropped dead from fright on top of the grave. When he did, I appeared.”

Graham scanned the whole scene and asked, “But why are you here?”

At that question, the ghost glided across the grave and hovered in front of Graham, smiling eerily. “Why, I’m here for you, Graham. I’m here for you.” And as quickly as he could, Graham turned and started running back towards home, hearing the ghost of Flagg laughing and making bwaaak bwaak sounds which followed him all the way.

When AngelFyre had finished, she discovered that she had leaned quite a bit forward from her starting posture. The group had been polite and if she had to guess, they looked as if hey had moved in a little as well, so before she sat back up, she shouted out a “Boo!!” just for good measure, and laughed delightedly.

“That was fun. Who is next?” and she quickly grabbed a marshmallow and started toasting it for her s’more as she settled in to listen to the next person’s story. If it was a good one, she had been known to forget about her marshmallow and scorch them.

Banner was made by the awesome Aly Salinger

october 30 2024 | evening

⫘⫘⫘ 415 words ⫘⫘⫘

English | French | Thoughts

@Kim Sato @AngelFyre McCubbin @Emma Wynn @Linda Ramirez @Reyna Evergreen @Ava Winchect