Please don't die!

Day 1, Part 3

By the time Socie announced it was time to head back to Lockaria House for dinner, the sun had sunken low in the sky, staining the lake with brilliant hues of red, orange, and pink, swirling together like a watercolor painting in the water’s ripples. Many of the guests remarked on the beautiful sunset, before they turned and trudged along the pine-needle covered trail behind Socie. 

Dinner was (much to the guests’ excitement) tacos, and after finishing up, they all headed outside, where the sky had already become an endless dark ink splot. A bonfire had been constructed out on the lawn, and its spitting orange flames were surrounded by an army of Adirondack chairs. Silver Crystal noticed one stick was propped up against every chair, and a small table held a wide selection of graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate, as well as other unconventional s’mores ingredients such as candy, bacon (!?), and caramel sauce. 

“I’m gonna try a bacon s’more,” announced Darkling. Writing_in_the_Dark selected a pair of chocolate chip cookies to use on xyr s’more, as opposed to graham crackers. Reuby added some rainbow sprinkles atop her s’more, while Opal, on a dare from Avara, decided to see how many marshmallows she could fit into her mouth at once. 

Script lit his marshmallow on fire and paraded around the lawn, holding his stick aloft like it was some sort of torch, despite Aliza’s remarks that it was extremely dangerous behavior. Shining Star kept her marshmallow at a reasonable distance from the flames, evenly turning her stick until the marshmallow was a gooey, golden brown. A miscommunication between Peri and Tsuki resulted in the blending of “marshmallow” and “graham cracker” into the newly-created portmanteau “marshmacker” which all the guests decided to refer to marshmallows as for the rest of the night. 

Once they had eaten all of the chocolate and the last bag of marshmallows - pardon me, marshmackers - had been devoured, Jaybells spoke to Socie. “When we were down at Alaway Lake, I noticed an island out on the water.” 

“Oh, yes, that would be Starr’s Island,” responded the hostess, nodding. 

“Why’s it called that?” Sterling asked. 

“Well,” Socie cleared her throat, and the guests all leaned in. They had a feeling Socie was about to tell them a story. “It is said that in the days of yore, a star fell out of the night sky and landed in Alaway Lake. The Night Goddex formed the island with their dark magickal energy as a resting place for the fallen star. Even now, although the Goddex and star are long gone, Starr’s Island is full of memories and ghosts of the past. On moonless nights like this, when the stars above shine the brightest, you can supposedly still hear the Night Goddex softly singing their incantations.” 

Goosebumps raced down Darkvine’s arms, and she hugged herself tightly. The tale was probably made up. No, scratch that, it was definitely made up. But there was something about it that drew her in. Something she couldn’t quite put a finger on, not yet. Something about Socie’s voice, or the words “ghost” and “resting place” that hit way too close to home, or perhaps the allure of the flickering fire before her. Whatever it was, when an owl’s forlorn cry sent shivers down her spine, she knew she wasn’t the only one feeling the way she was about Socie’s story.

Circe gazed into the fire, watching the fire dance and the burnt, darkened logs pop. She kept thinking she saw shapes in the flames. A few times she thought she saw pangolin’s face, grinning at her. But then the mirage disappeared as quickly as it had come. She swallowed, looking up at her fellow guests. “Pangolin would want to be buried somewhere. I think Starr’s Island would be the perfect place. Beautiful, secluded, full of lore.” 

Smiling, Periwinkle laid a gentle hand on Circe’s arm. “Yeah. I think they would like that a lot.” 

Socie nodded solemnly. “Tomorrow, we’ll hold her funeral and burial. But for now, I think it’s time to head back inside and get some shut-eye, yeah? These mosquitoes are starting to get me.”

~~~ 

Dead: 1 (pangolin)

Alive: 16

~~~

You might've noticed I'm posting this on a Tuesday although I typically post on Wednesdays-- from now until the end of the school year I'm going to try and post twice a week to make up for the times I won't be able to post during the summer. So expect another segment this Thursday. :)

Hey everyone! I'm sorry for not getting a part out last Thursday, but I had to go to 2 birthday parties, and this final ELA project is really stressful. I try to prioritize real life over writing projects and the CB, so my ELA project will come first. It probably wasn't very wise of me to try and get two parts out every week, but I'll try to balance both. :)

~Socie Grishelm~

(aka pangolin) 

Day 2, Part 1

Gray clouds that had collected above the Osorthe Forest sometime in the night, and sunlight was making an attempt to peek through the edges; a literal silver lining, as Socie pointed out to the guests. “And a more figurative silver lining is that we have an entire day of activities planned!” 

The guests made a half-hearted attempt at enthusiasm, smiling and weakly cheering. Another day of activities might be the silver lining, but they also knew what the black cloud over their vacation was.

pangolin.

Her death had not disappeared from anyone’s thoughts, and although last night’s sleep had provided some escape from the harsh reality, many of them had been haunted by images of faceless, formless figures obscured in shadow, or flashes of knives and other weapons, and some had been visited by pangolin’s ghost, a twisted version of them appearing in their dreams. Circe had even screamed in her sleep, waking herself up with the noise. 

The murderer had awoken in the middle of the night, hyperventilating, tangled in their sheets, and drenched in a cold sweat. They had doubled over in their bed, choking out sobs that racked their body, as fragments of themselves before arriving at Lockaria House shone through their new identity, weakening them. But soon, whatever they’d become took over once more, and they flicked the tears off their cheeks with sharp, deliberate moves, their face hardened into an expressionless mask.

As they stood in the brightly lit entrance hall, the murderer’s eyes narrowed into knife cuts. They surveyed the guests around them, wondering who was going to be their unlucky victim. 

The rest of the guests walked into the dining room for breakfast, which was scones, or something, the murderer wasn’t listening; they couldn’t be bothered with cute little pasteries. Plastering a smile on their face, the murderer turned to their host. “Hi, Socie! What activity are we gonna do today?”

“I was planning on us doing some archery with the targets outside,” Socie said. “Why?” 

“Oh, no reason. Just...very excited,” the murderer responded cheerfully, before turning away and letting their grin fall off their face. Archery? This was gonna be fun.

~~~

Dead: 1 (pangolin)

Alive: 16

~~~

Kind of short :/