A Scary Story for Those Who Hate Being Scared

Just a Story

"Hey El! You gonna stand there all day?" Gavin calls to me.

I smile "sorry just wondering how I ended up with such weird friends" I giggle as I walk over

"Oh you wouldn't want us any other way" Anne smiles and scoots over for me as I sit down.

"We ordered your favorite, rocky road drowning in hot fudge" Gavin smiles and takes a bite of his pistachio ice cream.

"You know me so well" I smile and lean against Anne.

"So what are we gonna do today gang? Solve a couple mysteries? Be a bunch of meddling kids?" Anne smiles and brushes a stray hair out of her face.

Michael laughs, just a moderate laugh, not his full blown hyaena Elmo laugh. He only saved that for things that really made him laugh. Gavin, Anne, and I share in his laugh as the waiter brings my ice cream.

"I've got an idea!" Gavin pipes up "I found this super cool old book shop! It's just a ways from here" he smiles brightly.

I look at him with a mouthful of ice cream, my interest peeked.

"That got her attention" Michael smiles.

Gavin chuckles "there's old books, new books, cheap books, expensive books, collectors books! Books galore!" he continues "they even have some old antique journals that were never written in!"

"No way!" I say excitedly.

I always prefer to handwrite my books because it meant I couldn't rush through. When I tried writing on a computer I lost so much detail and my planned full length book turned into a moderately long, short story. Ever since that happened, I've been using up journals to write my stories.

"Hey you know what you should write in an old antique looking journal?" Anne bounces her eyebrows and shares a look with the others.

"Oh gosh.. not this again.." I murmur and take another bite of ice cream.

"A horror story!" my friends all chime together.

Before I can say no, they all start quickly coming up with reasons why it'd be amazing.

"Old books are ghostly in themselves!" Gavin, sitting up.

"Don't you want to get us off your back?!" Anne, grabbing my arm.

"Just a thriller or suspense it doesn't have to be gory!" Michael, with a small shudder.

"You've been looking for a new story too!" Gavin, with that dashing smile.

"What better way to prove your skills as an author than to take on a challenge!!" Anne, shaking my arm a bit as I try to take another bite of ice cream, causing it to drop on the table.

"And you'd make us so happy.." Michael with less enthusiasm as he tries not to focus on the spilled ice cream.

"What if we promised to stop bugging you if you do this?" Gavin, calmly, causing the others to stop and look at him.

I look up too, "you have my attention" I raise an eyebrow.

"You write the scariest story you can possibly imagine and we'll stop bugging you about not liking scary stuff" Gavin smiles.

"I can agree to that" Michael nods as he wipes up the ice cream.

"Awe guys, but that's fun" Anne laughs.

"I'll only agree if Anne agrees" I nod, knowing Anne loves scaring me the most and wouldn't give it up.

"Fine" Anne says reluctantly and I look at her in surprise, shaking my head a bit with wide eyes.

"Ooooh!" Michael and Gavin high five.

"No, come on guys!" I try "I didn't think she'd actually agree!"

"Come on El, it's not that bad" Gavin smiles reassuringly

"Yeah, you're always wanting to get out of your comfort zone!" Anne smiles and squeezes my arm "it's just a story, that's why I agreed! Friends are supposed to push each other out of their comfort zone to grow! This is me nudging you out, it's not like it's a haunted forest or real life haunted insane asylum, it's a story you create!" she smiles.

I sigh, knowing there's no way out now, "fine" I grumble. The others all celebrate with 'yays' and high fives.

"You're all a bunch of jerks though" I smile

"True" Anne pokes my nose with ice cream.

"Hey!" I laugh and smear some on hers

"I want in!" Gavin reaches over and smears some across my cheek.

"Guys! Guys!" Michael tries to stop us but it doesn't get real until we accidentally get some on him. We all freeze and look at him, hoping he won't get mad.

He holds his breath for a minute and closes his eyes like he's about to pass out.

We all stay quiet before Michael goes full on hyaena Elmo, causing all of us to laugh.

"You should see your guys faces!" Michael says through cackles.

"We never know when you're going to be mad or laugh it off man!" Gavin shoves him playfully.

I laugh with them but quiet down as I get lost in thoughts. A scary story. My least favorite genre. I bite my lip, unsure why exactly it is, after all... they're just stories.