Wish We Listened

Chapter One

     "Edna watched, her dreary eyes searching for her companion. Her eyes started to close, but she held them open for a little longer. She breathed in deep, held it for a few seconds and shook out a shaky breath. No one came for hours upon hours. Not a soul." Mr. Bernard told his class in an eerie tone.
     He acted like his job was to scare children. That was really all he did. Gasps filled the woods. He had a camp he took care of. It held fifteen kids. Six female and nine male. All fifteen were on the campsite, some lurking and some sitting wanting to be seen around the flaming campfire.
     Like in all the movies, the campfire in the woods was the best place to read a scary story. Mr. Bernard claimed this really happened, but none of the kids believed him. The kids from age eleven to sixteen all said they were too old for ghost stories, but they still enjoyed hearing them. Even when the kids confronted Mr. Bernard about him making up silly stories, he still said that they were true  with wide eyes.
     He just liked to scare them, they thought. "Then finally, at long last, Edna saw riders escape the sorrowful place where many, many souls had laid there to rest. Two riders came to a stop and jumped off the saddle. Edna knew who they were; Bobby and Carter. They rode off with her husband when they had a 'mission.'" Mr. Bernard knew this story like the back of his hand, it had seemed. Valoria, a fourteen year old stared at Mr. Bernard, gasping and wide-eyed. She kept shaking her head when something bad would happen as if the shake of the head would make the events turn better. "They told her the news of her husbands disappearance." He laughed.
     "She was in disbelief. She knew he had not just disappeared, for it was a small area. An enclosed area that could only hold so many at a time. She called them liars and asked what really happened. She didn't know if her reality was crossing into the realm of fantasy or fantasy crossing the line into the field of reality. She went for her drawer and pulled out a pistol. Edna aimed for Carter's head and he put his hands up. Finally they told her that they ate her husband up."
     "Ate?" One of the kids, Larson cried out. "That's not possible in such little time." His statement sounded more like a question, as if asking if it was possible. He could of also been asking for people to backup his statement, but no other voice broke the silence except Bernards. He laughed.
     "Cannibals." He simply explained.
     "So, there were no remains?" Larson asked. He seemed grossed out.
     "No, there was. You see, cannibals don't eat every part of the body. Like the bones and muscles are too tough for their teeth to bite into. They eat the flesh, of course, heart though that part is also tough, and their guts." The eleven year olds sounded like they were gonna puke but it didn't faze anyone else as if they heard what cannibals eat all the time. He searched, peering at all their faces. "Monica, would you like to be the dummy?"
     "No!" She shrieked and hid behind a sixteen year old. He just laughed and held her hand for comfort, of which she didn't pull away. Her hand felt freezing cold compared to his and he shivered. It wasn't even cold to Kyle, nor was the story scary until now. It was like her fear had rubbed off onto him, like a disease no one wanted to catch. Instead of pulling away, like every kid did when they finally realize they're a disease, as if that would help it go away, he stayed there. His hand resting in hers relaxed her, and made Kyle more anxious. Monica was fifteen, but she was naive. Bernard laughed, as if mocking her. Then Monica blushed, pulled away from his hand of which Kyle didn't want to happen and sat back down.
     "As I wa-"
     "Guys, time for dinner then its off to bed!" A man called out from a tent. Some kids huffed, some smiled, some didn't care and some didn't want to leave.
     "Mr. Bernard, could you please tell us the end of the story tomorrow night?" One fourteen year old pleaded.
     "If you guys believe, then yes." He waited for a response. "Guess I'm not saying the rest of it." He warned.
     "No, please Mr. Bernard. I believe." The same kid called out to him. His name was Franklin.
     Mr. Bernard laughed, put a hand around his back and ushered him along the path to get dinner. Even though his was old as the hills, he moved quickly when eager. "It's fine, Franklin. It wasn't that good of a story anyways."
     "Was it true? What you said?"
     "Yes. It's true. Some say its an old wives tale, but I saw it." He stared at Franklin, practically daring him to tell him that he was lying just to make him feel better, but Mr. Bernard knew the truth.
     The truth that no one else could seem to hold. If they did, they'd go insane. They'd hold too much power, something no one could do. Finally, Franklin left the premises and walked to the tent that held the next meeting ground, with Mr. Bernard following after.