We Tell Stories Between the Trees

"The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window."

A chorus of jeers erupted before Josh could even finish the first sentence of his story.

"Boo!"Oh, Josh"This one sucks, too!"The cabin again?"Seriously?"

Josh could barely tell who said what, but he heard Cody's voice loud and clear.

"Oh, Josh..."

Cody sounded so disappointed as he said it. Josh was disappointed, too. This was their third attempt. His third attempt. Cody could have gotten in at the start, but Josh's stories weren't good enough for the Campfire Fellowship. They had three chances to get in, and Cody wanted them to do so together.

"Can we just say he's not getting in, yet?" Victor asked the group.

"Seriously. I'm tired of entertaining this middle school bullshit," Kelly added.

"Come one, y'all," Lucas said. "Give him a break. He's just not good at this."

"Then he's wasting all of our time," Terrence responded. "You know? That thing some of us actually value."

"Stop!" Cody shouted. "Just... just let me tell my story. Josh barely started his anyway. Let me tell mine and he can go after."

"Are you kidding me?!" Kelly shouted back. "No! He sucks, his stories suck, he's not getting in. That. Is. It."

"It's fine.," Josh sputtered out under his breath. "I'll go." No one seemed to notice. But Cody did.

"It isn't fine, Josh," Cody said placing a hand on his shoulder. "We did all the work just to get a shot at this together. We're finishing it together, too."

"Oh my... If he wants to leave then let him," Kelly said.

Lucas stood up on the other side of the campfire, "Shut up, Kelly! The kid is doing his best, and I'm tired of Cody being the only one sticking up for him. Cody is going to tell his story now, and then we'll go from there. If anyone has a problem with that, then they can keep it to themselves. Good?" He looked around at the group, scanning for any sign of dissent.

"Fine," Terrence muttered, catching a cutting glance from Lucas for his trouble.

Josh could only stare at the ground and hold back the tears that were welling up in the corners of his eyes. It was like being back at school all over again. It was what he had come to the Campfire Fellowship to escape in the first place.

"Good," Cody said. "Now, on with my story. Y'all better strap in, 'cause it's a screamer for sure..."

"...As he tore through the forest, he could hear the pursuing footsteps getting further away, but the voices that called after him only continued to get louder."

Cody's story was a screamer. Josh knew the others were rooting for him from the beginning, but as the tale unraveled he could see the excitement in their faces. The fear in their eyes. The electricity firing off from behind those glassy windows into the soul.

"The blood ran down from the ax wound in his shoulder. He leaned against a tree, hoping for just a moment to catch his breath. He closed his eyes, praying that he would wake up from the nightmare. But when he opened them, he was still in the woods, and the footsteps were getting closer once again."

All Josh could think about was how enthralled everyone else was, and how much of a letdown he had been. Joining the Campfire Fellowship was supposed to be like stepping into another world, and now his last shot was going to be overshadowed by Cody's ghost story.

"He could hardly keep his head up from the blood loss, let alone keep running. Something hit his shins hard as he pushed on, sending him tumbling to the ground. He looked up to find the remains of a campfire just barely smoldering. The footsteps were almost upon him."

Josh stared at the ground between his feet. The light danced off of the dirt and leaves that he dug his heels into in anticipation of the biggest disappointment of his life.

"Without warning the fire roared back to life, revealing the shadowy figures standing around him. He recoiled in horror and disgust at the sight of their charred and bloated and disfigured bodies. The ghosts all bore the scars of their gruesome deaths with a menacing glee."

Josh was proud of his friend. Cody deserved this.

"He pushed himself back up against the bench in a desperate attempt to escape his fate, but there would be no reprieve from his ultimate fa--a--"

Cody's voice cracking finally drew Josh's eyes away from the ground. It was then that he noticed they were the only two left sitting around the campfire.

"Cody?" Josh whispered.

"Aa--a--"

"CODY?!" Josh cried out. He could now see the way his friend's eyes had glazed over while telling his story. Josh could finally see the ax wound that had left Cody's harm attached by little more than a few loose strands of flesh.

"That was a good story, right?!" Kelly exclaimed as she emerged from the shadows. Her clothes were darker now. Burned. Bloodstained. Her body and face were warped and scarred. She looked just like the girl from Cody's story.

"It was pretty decent, I'll admit," said Terrence. He appeared from behind the trees, the two gaping holes in his chest filtering the light of the campfire into an infernal spectacle unlike anything Josh had ever imagined.

Josh spun in his seat to face the footsteps approaching from behind him.

"I liked it," said Lucas. Water fell from his distended face as he spoke, yet it didn't change the way his voice sounded.

"Aa--aa--a--" Cody continued.

"Yeah. Great story." Victor spoke quickly as he stepped back into the light of the campfire from beside Cody. He raised the bloody ax in his hands high above his head. "Time for it to end," he said while sinking the blade deep through Cody's other shoulder.

"Aa--aaaaAAAAAAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHH!!!!" Cody cried out as the ax bit into his flesh, crushing what bones it wasn't sharp enough to split.

Josh couldn't breathe. He couldn't move. He couldn't hear.

Cody crumpled to the ground, his torso mangled on either side. The blood that poured from his wounds ran towards the campfire in what appeared to be a conscious effort to fuel its flames.

Victor stood over Cody who lie broken and shaking in the dirt. His whole body lurched as Victor ripped the ax free from his torso. "Seriously, though," Victor said in almost a whisper. The light from the fire flickered across his own broken bones and shorn muscle that rippled grotesquely in bringing the ax up into the air, "Great story. Can't wait for the next one." He swung the ax down once more, this time into Cody's back. That was all it took for him to stop moving.

"Awesome," Kelly said cheerfully. Her demeanor soured as she turned her attention towards Josh, "Now what do we do about this loser?"

"Well, he's definitely not getting in," Terrence stated matter of factly.

"Shit no he isn't," Lucas replied.

"So what. Do. We. Do with him?" Kelly asked, her voice growing ever deeper with her continuously thinning patience.

Josh still couldn't move. Where would he run to if he could? His heart pounded in his chest. The pressure in his head felt like it was going to kill him right there.

"Look," Victor said. He paused, taking a moment to lock eyes with Josh. Victor could see that this was not what he had expected. "Let's just ask his buddy, right? I mean, Josh never actually told his third story, right?"

"Rr--right," Cody croaked out through a blood-filled mouth. He pushed himself up off the ground, his body somehow unfazed by the massive gashes running through his neck and arms and chest. "He never actually told his third story."

"Right," Victor replied.

"Okay," Kelly chimed in. "But what do we do with him?"

"He isn't joining us," Terrence said."

Lucas shouted back at him, "WE KNOW!" The two stared into each other's eyes, both visibly irritated by the situation at hand. "She's asking what we do, not whether he gets to be a member."

"Stop it, y'all," Cody said. His voice has back. He was standing straight. Josh was only barely beginning to understand. "Josh isn't joining the club, and he didn't tell his third story." Cody looked around at the others. Kelly, Lucas, and Terrence all looked back at him sheepishly. Cody turned to Josh. He looked at his best friend with pained eyes.

"What do you say, Cody?" Victor asked.

The entire forest seemed to go quiet in anticipation of an answer.

"Go home, Josh," Cody said with a sly smile. "Go home and write some stories for yourself for once. You don't have to worry about impressing a bunch of ghosts anymore."

John Dodge writes a whole lot about comic books and pop culture over at CBR. He also writes about a bunch of other stuff here on Vocal. You can find him on social media on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. He also runs some pages here, here, and here that you should go follow. For reasons.