Havi of the Earth Kingdom

Chapter 55: The Puppetmaster

HEY WHO HERE WATCHES AOT/SNK??? I need to know... do u like or hate Gabi..?

Havi's pov

A few days after being chased around by sparky sparky boom guy, our little group settled down to a campsite out in the forest. Someone thought it would just be a great idea to tell scary stories.

I hate scary stories.

This was mostly because I actually believe in spirits and ghosts but the stuff Sokka was telling us didn't exactly freak me out, "Suddenly, they heard something down the hall, in the dark. OoOOoOooh. It came into the torchlight, and they knew the blade of wing-fun was haunted!"

Even with the special effects he made, it wasn't exactly top tier. "I think I liked 'the man with a sword for a hand' better," Aang comments.

Toph adds, "water tribe slumber parties must stink."

"No, wait, I've got one," Katara says as Sokka takes his seat next to me, immediately wrapping a hand around my waist. After our little confession the other day he's been extra clingy but I don't mind. "And this is a true southern water tribe story."

"Is this one of those, a friend of my cousin knew some guy that this happened to, stories?" He questions.

"No. It happened to mom," This catches all of our attention so she starts explaining, "one winter, when mom was a girl, a snow storm buried the whole village for weeks. A month later, mom realized she hadn't seen her friend, Nini, since the storm. So, mom and some others went to check on Nini' s family. When they got there, no one was home. Just a fire flickering in the fire place. While the men went out to search, mom stayed in the house. When she was alone, she heard a voice. 'It's so cold and I can't get warm." Slowly, I bury myself further into Sokka's side while goosebumps made the hair on my arms stand. "Mom turned and saw Nini standing by the fire. She was blue like she was frozen. Mom ran outside for help but when everyone came back, Nini was gone."

"Where'd she go?" I dared to ask.

"No one knows. Nini's house stands empty to this day. But sometimes, people see smoke coming up from the chimney. Like, little Nini is still trying to get warm."

Toph gasps, "Wait! Guys, did you hear that?" Katara and Aang join my little huddle against Sokka in fear, "I hear people under the mountain, and they're screaming."

"Pff, nice try," Sokka blows off.

"No, I'm serious. I hear something."

I dreadfully try to find an excuse, "You're probably just jumpy from the ghost stories."

"It just stopped," Toph tells us.

"Alright," Aang quakes, "now I'm getting scared."

"Hello, children," We all scream and run to the other side of the fire as an unknown voice joins us. An old lady walks forward, "Sorry to frighten you. My name is Hama. You children shouldn't be out in the forest by yourselves at night. I have an inn nearby, why don't you come back there for some spiced tea and warm beds."

"Yes, please," Sokka quickly gives in to the offer of food and shelter but for me, something still feels off. Maybe it's just me being shook up but this old lady seems weird.

Sokka holds my hand as we walk into town. Once we reach her inn, Hama pours some tea for us. "Thanks for letting us stay here tonight, you have a lovely inn," Katara sucked up.

"Aren't you sweet," Hama takes a seat at her table with us, "you know, you should be careful. People have been disappearing in those woods you were camping in."