The edge of the woods.... [Final Results Up!]

[Northstar.]

Ooooh, spooky!
Username: Northstar.
Link to roll call post: here
Link to previous form: here
Prompt response:

Bloodshot eyes stare into the darkened wood as that same annoying sound repeats again. Her fists clench. All Brynna wants is sleep, preferably straight through the night with no creepy noises to disturb her precious beauty rest. Is it really so much to ask for? She slams her face into her pillow roughly, hair an absolute mess, barely tamed by the glittery sleeping masked that's pushed upon it. The noise sounds again. Her teeth grit and she throws back her sleeping bag. Enough was enough!

Brynna glances around at the sleeping kampers, finding no others disturbed by this ominous noise. She snorts. Figures. With all the grace of a one-legged calf, she tumbles off the bunk and smacks the floor. Her head pops up. No camper has noticed. Small relief that was. Maybe I'm crazy? The noise sounds. Nope, not crazy. She grabs something from under the bed and sneaks out the door. As she stomps angrily towards the darkened wood, a wooden bat drags behind her. She's going to find whatever or whoever is making that god-awful sound, and she's going to make them be quiet.

[lonk]

Ooooh, spooky!
username: lonk
link to roll call post: roll call
link to previous form: previous
prompt response: [345 words]
cali rolled over in bed with a groan. waking up when the sky was still dark wasn't something she wanted to do, but here she was. and that noise- oh, god, it was terrible- was ringing in her ears. it wasn't loud by any means, but it was steady, a constant beating against the otherwise quiet campgrounds.
rubbing the sleep from her eyes, cali slowly sat up. it didn't look like any of her fellow cabin members were awake. good. she didn't want any extra dead weight when she went out to investigate. if she crashed into any other kampers investigating the sound while she was out there, then fine, but she didn't want to be dragged down by anyone too nervous to go alone.
she knew her thoughts were rude, of course, but she'd been waiting for a moment like this. for something weird to happen. kamp had felt rather tame and lonely for the girl so far, so what better could there be than chasing after a spooky noise?
but before leaving the cabin, she had to make sure she was prepared. being the worrywart she was, cali had anticipated she'd need to bring an extra emergency bag to kamp. her mother had instilled the process of being prepared in her mind, so she was sure that grabbing her bag and going through it would be a good idea.
she rummaged through the small shoulder bag, making sure everything was in place. flashlight? check. kamp map? check. water bottles and granola bars? got 'em. all of that combined with a small bottle of ibuprofen, a compass, and a crapload of bandaids with some gauze made for cali's entire list. to her, it was important to be prepared- so she prepared hard.
opening the door, and wincing as it creaked, cali stepped out into the warm night air. the sound was definitely coming from the woods, she was sure of it. straightening her shoulders, and closing the door behind her as gently as she could, cali made her way towards the kamp's forbidden forest.

[VoidRinkusu]

Ooooh, spooky!
Username: VoidRinkusu
Link to roll call post: Link
Link to previous form: Excuses, excuses
Prompt response:

No such things as ghosts
No such things as ghosts
No such things as ghosts
No such things as ghosts
...
Are there?

[lovage]

ooooh, spooky!
username: fernmoon
link to roll call post: xxx
link to previous form: xxx
prompt response: helena froze with her eyes wide open. she hasn't felt real fear in a while, but that noise was the definition of fear to her. the way it was sudden and late at night while always being mysterious like being right out of the scariest horror film.

she gulped realizing that how she acted, all brave and strong while being quite rude, when signing up for 'test of courage' was definitely not her right about now. she shuttered as she heard that haunting sound again. she started up her blankets and started to shake uncontrollably. she peeked out of the blankets just before the noise returned. it went straight back under them.

the noise kept on repeating itself. no matter what she did whether it was cover her ears, praying it might just stop, or closing her eyes right and saying it's just a dream didn't work one bit. she knew she could just be imaging things, but when she looked out into her cabin, others shifted about and groaned in an annoyed way when ever the noise returned. she finally just have up and waited until she would let sleep take her, but that wouldn't happen due to her jumping about an inch in the air each time it returned.

she grunted and crawled to the ladder. she hit her horns on the bunk bed as she turned around to see out of the window. "ow," she whispered. as silently as she could, she walked out out of the cabin with more noise then she hoped for. one of the kampers in the cabin sleepily say up and said, "who's there?" they opened their eyes a bit as they scanned the room. helena's heart was beating uncontrollably as she feared to be caught trying to sneak out. "surely, they can hear my heart beating that fast," she thought. the kamper shrugged then went back to bed. the sign of relief that left her was loud enough to wake two more kampers. she started out of the door before they could see who had made the noise.

the kamp was spooky at night as she stumbled in fear threw it. every noise made her jump and let out a shriek of terror. the noise returned about every minute, but she kept on jumping even though she knew it was coming. "am i nuts for doing this?!? probably! i can probably be kicked out of kamp for doing this," her worried thought filled her head that wasn't taken over by fear. those thoughts filled her and quickly became gained control over her. her legs became heavy, her breathe heavier, and sweat was pouring over her.

the noise grew louder as she approach it. a cabin's lights were still on, and the noise was coming from there. she quickened her pace even if it was nothing due to her heavy, shaky legs. she looked throw the window of the cabin to see kampers jumping about on beds and having a pillow right while the counselor who was with them was tied to a chair in a corner. "seriously, this is what was creeping me out. these kampers! i had enough of this for one lifetime," she thought to herself as the fear melted away. she made eye contact with the poor counselor who began to make muffled noises as an attempt to have her save them. she glared at them and signalled for them to stop making noises, but it was too late because the kampers looked over at her and one shouted, "it's a horned monster!" the room descended into madness from there with kampers running wild and screaming at the top of their lungs. the same poor counselor was letting out muffled screams as they were knocked over by the scared kampers. neighboring cabins' turned on their lights and sent over someone to see what the screaming was about. as soon as helena saw what trouble she would be in if she was caught, she made a mad dash to her cabin and three herself into her bed. she stayed awake, awaiting her possible punishment in the morning.


[688 words]

[Cloasiii]

Ooooh, spooky!
Username: Cloasiii
Link to roll call post:x
Link to previous form: x
Prompt response:

Agh... my brain or body must not be used to sleeping for so many hours in a row. My hallucinations are back.

Cultist peered out into the distant forest, searching for the source of their disturbance. This was honestly such a hassle; to think that they went out of their way to normalize their sleep schedule before coming to kamp -- just to fall back on old habits! How are they suppose to reliably observe the children's behaviors now?

... but what if it wasn't a halluciantion?

Cultist's annoyance fizzled out into a mellow optimism. They rose from their bedding, removed their gaze from the forest, and took a few minutes to think.

Their heart skips!

What's better than a hallucination than the real, true fright that an abstraction could only hope to replicate? Yes, Cultist inwardly remarks, the most terrifying horror games are based on true stories!

Brimming with adrenaline Cultist ripped their way out of the cabin, eagerly making their way towards the woods.
Within that forest is the next big title!

[kolyakun]

Ooooh, spooky!
Username: kolyakun
Link to roll call post: here!
Link to previous form: here!
Prompt response:
The moonbeams lift the blackness to almost deep blue, the silvery beams so brilliant against such a dark sky. Lukas watched the soft, ivory moon slowly ascend into the night sky through the parted curtains. Despite the beautiful sight, the night was unbearable. The air was thick and humid, making it impossible for Lukas to fall asleep. A small fan sat in the corner of the cabin Lukas was staying in, poorly circulating the thick air around the small room. The other Kalons in the cabin seemed to be sleeping soundly although Lukas couldn't quite seem to get comfortable. He kicked the blankets off, clothes damp with sweat and clinging to his body.
“Gross…” Lukas muttered to himself before sighing heavily. He gazed up at the ceiling, thoughts racing through his head.
“Am I really fit for this Test of Courage?” Lukas whispered to himself. Lifting his hand up to his face, he wiped away the beads of sweat.
“I'm not exactly...brave.” The eerie silence was broken by a slamming noise.
One of the wooden doors to the cabins had slammed shut. Lukas closed his eyes and flipped onto his side, pretending to be asleep in case one of the Kamp counsellors decided to pay a visit to his cabin.
As time passed he opened one eye and listened carefully. His heart was still pounding from fear that he’d be caught awake.
Footsteps circle the outside of the cabin, long and slow. Fear begins to set in. Could this not be a kamp counsellor?
Lukas perks his ears up to listen better, though he wishes he didn’t. Claws scrape against the edge of the cabin. The fear sits on him like a pillow over his mouth and nose. Enough air gets by it, allowing his body to keep functioning, but it's crippling all the same.
Lukas takes a deep breath and musters up enough courage to peek outside the window. He peels back the curtains and sees a dark silhouette stumbling into the edge of the forest.
“Shoot!” He whispers.
‘That’s definitely bigfoot!’ He internally panicked. He felt as though his heart was going to burst out of his chest it was beating so fast. He put it upon himself to become the hero tonight and grabbed as flashlight that occupied the bedside table. He tiptoed towards the cabin door, careful not to wake any of his cabin-mates. Lukas opened the wooden door and slipped outside and stepped down the creaky wooden steps. He pressed the button on the flashlight, feeling the reassuring clunk under his thumb as the beam powers into the night.
As he stepped into the dark woodlands surrounding the camp he felt more robbed of his sight than he already was, all his other senses felt heightened. The sense of smell was sensitized, the loam in the earth and the decomposing leaves made the atmosphere close and thick. The blackness nurtured a sense of claustrophobia inside him even though the woodland stretched unbroken what seemed like forever. The narrow path, which was made uneven by the knotted roots that crossed it, branched at intervals. Every sound he heard made him more and more anxious. What if he came face to face with this beast? Was he supposed to defeat it all by himself?
“This was such a stupid idea!” He muttered to himself.
Suddenly a branch snapped behind him, Lukas blindly shining his flashlight in the direction of the sound. A peach coloured Kalon could be seen pulling his pants back up and snapping the elastic to his pyjama pants. The peach kalon turned around to face the light source, revealing that it was Finnegan. Finnegan shielded his eyes from the intense light.
“Lukas? What’re you doing out here?” He asked in a groggy voice.
“I-I heard something outside…what are you doing up?” Lukas stuttered, visibly shaken.
“Had to take a leak but the washrooms were too far. Sorry if I woke you, I kinda stumbled around out there.”
Lukas’ jaw dropped open.
“It was you?” Lukas asked.
“Must’ve been.”
Lukas’ face turned red, so embarrassed at the fact he thought his friend was bigfoot. Boy was he glad that the darkness hid his face.

[700 words]

[Vanillasaur]

Ooooh, spooky!
Username: vanillasaur
Link to roll call post: owo
Link to previous form: owo
Prompt response:

"uhhhhh........ is this allowed????"

[neon.]

Ooooh, spooky!
Username: neondisaster
Link to roll call post:roll call
Link to previous form: sign up time
Prompt response: [WC 589]

Croissant had woken up before the rest of the heads- that meant, for once, he was the one in charge of moving the body. They usually left it to Gold- being in the middle meant he had the best field of vision. (Croissant couldn’t see anything to his right, it was all blocked off by fur). But very occasionally, they’d switch off. Not for very long though- and usually not that often. If they all fought for control, they’d never get anywhere.

This meant that when Croissant held the reins, so to speak, he was not very experienced. And in the face of such a spooky noise- well, nerves had never helped anybody, he was sure. “H-Hello?” he whispered, trying to peer over his sleeping selves heads. “Uhm, is someone there?” And there was the noise again. Deep and low, almost hollow sounding. “Keeen hmm, keeen hmm.”

Croissant moved them over towards the window. Step one, step two- no, wrong foot, there you go - Paw up, alright, thats the window.”Keeen hmmm. Keen hmmm.”

The noise was louder near the window. It almost sounded like words. “Come here, come here.” Croissant nudged Goldfinches face- or attempted to, instead succeeding only in swatting his brother’s nose a little. Goldfinch didn’t wake up.

Croissant wondered if he was caught in a spell- some dark entrapment, in Rhubarb’s words. He would rather not like to be. Come here, come here. They had to be words- it couldn’t just be his imagination. But what did he do? He didn’t want to go. Didn’t want to adventure, didn’t want to have some journey fraught with peril.


Come Here. Come here. Oh, but what if he didn’t go? And there was some terrible consequence? He looked around the cabin, but everyone else was asleep. Perhaps trapped in sleep. How had he escaped? Perhaps it wasn’t strong enough to take out three consciousnesses. He, Croissant. The last one standing.

He, Croissant : Exited the Cabin door.

The forest was alive with the sound of nightlife- crickets chirping, owls hooting. And yet, ever so often, he could pick out the other sound. Come here, Come here. Perhaps the wind would whisper his name next- ‘Croissant, how did you escape-’. The wind would sound haunting and chilly, he thought. It would be ready to eat him up. “I am not a delicious pastry,” he whispered to himself, taking another step. He was getting the hang of walking without thinking of where each footfall needed to go.

He was getting nearer to the source. It was louder now, and he could hear it more clearly. He could feel their heart pounding in their chest. Right behind this leaf-

“Croissant, what are you doing?”

He screamed, falling forward and landing in a tangle of limbs and heads. Gold was blinking at him tiredly. Rhubarb appeared to be in a constant state of exasperation. A frog jumped on their fallen mass. “Keeen hmm. Keen hmm.” It hopped off them.

“.... I was exploring,” he muttered finally, embarrassed. Gold’s voice had made him cry out- and the source of the sound was the frog. The frog! His mind was playing tricks on him again.

“Exploring is for the morning!” Gold sighed, walking them back to bed. “I’m glad you’re getting into the spirit Cross! But we also have to rest, y’know?”

Back into bed now, they nuzzled into their pillow. Asleep once again.

The wind whistled through the door, left open in their hurry. “Come here, come here.”

[f1owercrown]

Ooooh, spooky!
Username: f1owercrown
Link to roll call post: <3
Link to previous form: here!
Prompt response:

Dale saw how being a light sleeper caused many problems to him. On nights when he needed to rest well for tomorrow's exam, he found himself waking up to the odd habit of his roommate toasting bread at midnight, or the ringtone of his phone when he'd simply get a text. He was annoyed at this fact, and wished he was never born a light sleeper so he could get more hours of peaceful sleep. Ignorance is bliss, as they said, and most of the times he'd love to ignore all background noises. On the upside, however, his ears were sharp enough to detect the slightest sounds that seemed alarming to him, allowing him to take immediate action in case of emergencies.

The rustling of leaves on that night, for example, startled him awake.

Dale opened his eyes, groggy, as he glanced over to the window by his side. The winds that night were particularly stronger than predicted, and he disliked the fact that he was assigned the bunk near the window. Was he even going to get a good sleep, or would he stay awake for the rest of his hours? Dale decided to turn his back against the window and cover his head with the pillow to block out the noises from outside.

Rustle.

He heard that.

Rustle, rustle.

Maybe if he counted sheep, the noises from the trees wouldn't bother him anymore.

Rustle, rustle, rustle. Rustle, rustle, rustle, rustle, rustle.

... snap!

A snapping twig alarmed him that he sat right up from his bed. As he looked outside, he was certain that wasn't just the wind or the trees anymore. Squinting his half-closed eyes, he glanced at the window again and this time saw a shadow lurking very near their cabin. It seemed to be faced towards Dale.

"Huh, wha... What?" Dale muttered, rubbing his eyes to be sure it wasn't his eyesight that was the problem. Sure enough, the shadow was still standing there momentarily. Not for long, it reacted quickly, running away from the premises.

Realizing the scenario that unfolded before him, Dale shook himself awake and wrapped his scarf around his neck. Dale swore that he would protect Kampers who couldn't fend for themselves, and at this time of night everyone asleep was vulnerable to an outside attack if the predator was strong enough to barge in and ambush. In any case like this, Dale thankfully prepared himself days before by reading or touching on topics of survival in the wilderness. What he grabbed from his desk in the cabin were his Swiss knife, which he promptly hid in his scarf, and a lit oil lamp. He made his way towards the door before deciding that he should leave a message by the door.


Gone out to check something, will hopefully be back soon.
If I don't come back by dawn... search for me.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx- Dale

The rest of the night was a mystery, for even Dale wouldn't disclose afterwards the details of his journey. Of course, almost no one in the cabin found out he had left that early morning, since he came back soon and tore off the note. It was just that he returned to the cabin with scratches everywhere and a minor nose bleed, for which he said it was because he was fumbling around the cabin kitchens and caused an accident, hurting himself. He gritted his teeth at the thought of that night and what had happened. No matter, he was alive, and so were his campmates.

Ignorance is bliss, as they said, and it was better in the meantime if only Dale knew what was out there. If others had gotten ahold of information that crucial, no one would be brave enough to step foot outside the cabin walls of comfort. Besides, he was willing to sacrifice himself before whatever it was got to the rest of them.

[NightFlame22]

NightFlame22 ◌ Roll Call ◌ First Response

Alouette rubbed the sleep from her eyes, ears swiveling to detect the location of the sound that had disturbed her rest. It wasn’t loud, but it was persistent, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to sleep again until she had figured out what was causing such a ruckus. She tied her hair with her ribbons and grabbed her backpack, making sure to pull out her flashlight before heading out the door.

Switching the flashlight on, she shone the beam of light around the front of the cabin. Everything seemed relatively normal: crickets chirping, leaves rustling, flags flapping in the light breeze… she snuck around to the back of the cabin, but as soon as she rounded the corner, something toppled with a bang and a dark form made a mad dash for the woods. Alouette slowly scanned the back of the building, noticing that one of the trash cans had fallen over, its contents spilling onto the ground. Realizing that whatever had been rummaging through them was probably what had woken her up, and her curiosity not truly satisfied, she headed into the woods to follow the creature.

It was even darker in the woods, the trees blocking out what little moonlight was left to see by. The only clue she had to follow was the trail of trash bits and upturned earth that led deeper into the forest. Alouette picked up her pace as she went, but the tokens that guided her were becoming few and far between. It appeared her trail had gone cold.

She let out a deep sigh and shook her head, glancing around for any sign of the wandering creature. Just as she went to turn around and head back, something her light shone on caught her eye. It was a clump of russet-colored fur hanging off the end of a bush branch. Inspired by the new find, she turned around slowly, letting her flashlight illuminate the area around her. Finally, she found what she was looking for. A pair of yellow eyes stared back at her, not angry or threatening, but focused. Alouette recognized the long snout and pointy ears as that belonging to a fox. The creature crouched in its hiding place for a moment longer before dashing deeper into the woods.

Deciding she had found the answer she was looking for, Alouette headed back the way she came, so tuckered out from her little adventure that she fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow.

(415 words)