Campfire ghost story

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. A frail woman in a white wedding dress, watched the lively flickering from the ground below.

"Jake, hurry up!" A young girl called for her friend, huddling close to the second girl of the group. The pair stood together beside the light coming from the candle.

"Miss me?" A young man asked, emerging from the dark hallway with a flashlight. He wrapped his arms around the girl's side. She shook her head, her friend groaning next to her.

"You know, it was your idea to come here at least go through with it."

"I am! I just thought I heard something downstairs-"

"Oh, shut up, Jake. You're just trying to scare us at this point." The second girl piped up, finally speaking out against this foul turn on her Friday night. If only she weren't so worried about her friend, Mary's new boyfriend and his "paranormal investigations" he brought her along on.

"I'm not! Honest to God it sounded like someone walking in the grass!" Jake defended himself. Mary shook, a shiver going down her spine. She looked to the window, her eyes scanning through the surrounding trees. While she did not see anything, she felt an uneasy feeling growing in her stomach. She turned to look at the boy hugging her.

"Hey, what happened to the 'no flashlights' rule?" She questioned, staring down at the white light flashing into her face.

"I just needed it to see where I was going, seen as you guys took the candle. Here I'll turn it off, besides, ruins the atmosphere..." He explained, clicking off the flashlight before tossing it to the floor. He sat down beside the candle, indifferent to the thick layer of dust beneath him.

Claire looked at Mary, her brows furrowedin concern. She whispered low enough for Jake not to hear, "are you sure about this? I have a bad feeling about this place."

Mary looked at her friend, "don't worry about it Claire, he knows what he's doing." She assured, swallowing down the lump in her throat as she walked to sit beside the boy in question.

"Do you know the story of the girl in the white dress?" Jake asked, the two girls shook their heads.

"Apparently, 15 years ago, when the cabin was a popular place for summer vacations, a couple decided to stay the night. The woman's father hated the man she was with though, and so he followed them close behind. Late that night, when the couple was lying together in bed, the man proposed to the woman. She cried and accepted his proposal. But! Just as the man was putting the ring on her finger, her father burst into the room with a rifle in hand! He screamed when he saw them, "get your hands off my daughter!" and pointed the gun at the man now holding his daughter close as she shrieked. She begged her father, "please daddy don't hurt him!" but despite her cries, BANG! her father shot him right in his heart." The boy told the story with his hands flailing to match the gestures, yelling his sentences for the added emphasis.

Mary and Claire huddled close to eachother, both girls sharing the same feeling of a growing pit in their stomachs.

"And then what?" Mary questioned, "that's it?"

"I don't know if I should tell you both the rest, it gets pretty... gruesome." Jake replied, a challenging tone lacing his words.

"Just tell us already so we can get out of here!" Claire pushed, holding onto her friend's arm.

"Alright, alright, if you insist. But don't come crying to me if you get nightmares." He teased before clearing his throat, ready to finish telling the local ghost story, "after her lover was killed, the woman, so full of fury, pounced on her father! She ripped the rifle away from him and shot him the exact same way he had just shot her fiance. Once they were both dead, the woman, now overcome with grief, lied down on the bed beside her lover. There, she died from heartbreak and starvation. Now, it is said you can see her wearing a wedding dress as she haunts the cabin and attacks any couples who dare venture inside, fueled by her own love being ripped away from her." The boy finished his story with a laugh, chuckling at the frightened expressions on both girls.

"What's wrong? Was my story that amazing?" He asked.

"You said she only attacks couples?" Mary asked, her heart beginning to beat faster than ever as her mind began to put the pieces together of why Jake wanted her to come with him so badly tonight.

Jake squinted at her for a moment, confused by the question, when he realized what she was hinting at, he scoffed at her, "oh please, that's what you're scared about? It's just a story, Mary."

As the tension rolled into the room, and a silence fell over the trio, a wedding ring rolled across the floor, stopping in front of the couple. From the doorway, a frail woman stood staring while wearing her mother's wedding dress, covered by the blood of her lover.