Mindless Whispers

"The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window," said LeiLei, dawning the most mischievous grin you've seen as she lit the campfire that illuminated four other faces surrounding her.

"Oh come on Lei, not one of your outlandish ghost stories again." chimed Lex, rolling their eyes before their best friend of nine years was about to get ready to tell one of her famous made up, yet mind-boggling tales that it was common for some folks not wanting to hear any of them since they would like to get a good nights' rest.

"Another interesting fact I didn't know about you Lei. Feels like discovering a new every day, problem-solving hack," stated MK, laughing at their statement; they were the new addition to their small friend group.

"Woah, hold on. I wanna hear this. I'm always interested in a good story or two," said Brianna in an intriguing manner, who was the 2nd new addition to the friend circle, grinning whilst her chin rested in the palm of her left hand while leaning forward on the log.

"Is it about the haunted rocking chair story where the supposed lumberjack sat after slaughtering the Crysalis family and only leaving their pets alive to showcase his humanity?" questioned Cleo by tapping their pointer finger against their chin, the last member to join.

"Why thank you, Brianna, glad to see someone interested in my out-of-the-box stories," LeiLei thanked whilst smiling softly, then smugly looked over to Lex, who had once again rolled their rolled eyes but if you were to look closely, they had a faint smile. "And no, it's not that Cleo. This particular story is more of a local urban myth. Does anyone know the story of the Woodheart?" She asked, dark-brown eyes scanning the faces of each individual, three of which shaking their head. Upon asking the question, Lex had a contemplating look on their face, as if the name rang any bells but dismissed it.

"Well, rumor has it that Woodheart was this young South Floridian girl that had an obsession with the fairy character. Everywhere they went you'd catch them wearing Woodheart-themed clothing from head to toe, and it's even said that some little boy even got a sneak of their room while she was out. Their room is chock-full of memorabilia." explained LeiLei, recalling some of the gossip she's been hearing around town. If anything was outlandish then it was what these people were saying.

"Awe, poor girl must've been bullied so harshly for her love of the character. She probably didn't even know people were talking behind her back" commented MK, a saddened look on their face when hearing Lei talking about the Woodheart girl.

"Right. I know some people have weird obsessions about certain things but honestly sounds harmless. It's just a fairy character, nothing to be bullied over." Brianna added with their eyebrows furrowed, trying to comprehend why anyone would care what this girl likes. "Though, I have one thing to ask.

"What does this have to do with your story?" questioned Cleo and Lex at the same time, pausing for a second as they realized what they did before a smile broke out onto their lips, fist-bumping each other.

"I'm getting to it. Don't worry, we have all n-" LeiLei was saying as she tried to ease her anxious friends from wanting to know what the point was to this story, that was until she noticed this glimmer of light in the distance, and because she stopped mid-sentence everyone was now looking in the same direction.

"What is that?"

"I thought we were the only ones up?"

"Is someone having a late-night cigarette break?"

"Someone must've had a nightmare?"

One question after the other, everyone (except Lei) was trying to come up with reasonable solutions as to what to make of the light in the distance. Guess there was only one way to find out.

"You guys stay here, I'll go check it out. Probably just Mike trying to mess with us." LeiLei stated scoffing and before anyone could stop her, She walked out of their makeshift circle surrounding their campfire and followed the light. Not a moment later, the bloodcurdling scream coming from the same direction LeiLei just went in alerted the whole group.

"LEI!!" Lex desperately screamed out, being the first one to stand to their feet when hearing the cries of their best friend. They were about to sprint where they heard the screams coming from but ended up being stopped by MK.

"What are you doing!? You can't go out there! It's best we go back and call the authorities!"

"Yeah. From what we know, it could just be Lei and Mike trying to pull on us or something!" Brianna whispered yelled, trying to convince herself that it wasn't some kind of monster out in these woods and that it was just their friends messing with them.

"I second this. Let's not encourage them to think that they're actually scaring us. Come on, we should head back anyway before the sun comes up." Cleo stated, attempting their luck of convincing everyone to head back to their cabin.

"If I know my best friend then I know she wouldn't ever dare to pull off this type of prank. Lei hates to even be called on like there's an emergency when there really isn't, so if yall want to stay here and run back to camp, then so be it, but I'm going out there to rescue my best friend." With that being said, Lex ran off to go help LeiLei.

The remaining patrons watched as Lex's figure grew smaller and smaller, glancing at one another as they had a silent conversation amongst themselves; they debated if they should head back and call the authorities like Cleo suggested or go after Lex, even though they've only all knew each other for two months. Sighing, Brianna implied that they hurry up and see what the problem was and if they couldn't find either LeiLei or Lex they go back and call it a night. Once everyone agreed, the three remaining friends also went in the same direction as their two other friends.

++++++++++

The next night, the counselors of a young adult camp called, Camp Secret Woods reported the missing individuals when they all didn't show up for attendance or any of the camp activities. They would've left it alone seeing as they were all grown adults but became suspicious of their disappearance when one of the counselors came back from an area in the woods that's strictly off-limits, saying that there a was campfire out there and that it was lukewarm.

The local police had finally arrived and immediately strategized a search party, even bringing out the canine unit to help by doing a thorough search. Eventually, the authorities found the missing campers, or dare I say, a camper that was outside the abandoned arcade center named, 'Gemcade Arcade'.

"T-This wasn't...ss-supposed to..happen," said LeiLei, stuttering over her words as she had a distant look in her eyes, essentially glossed over with their hands up. You may also be wondering why a few of the cops' eyes were widened or the frantic calling over the radio of the other few that were inside. Well, Lei decided to trick Brianna, Cleo, and MK to accompany her in the restricted section of the camp as part of a "midnight challenge", it was just a coincidence that they all ended up going to the same camp for the same. However, Lex was also there and wanted in on joining Lei and their friends in the woods, not wanting to risk her cover being blown, Lei allowed it.

The reason behind what she did was because that Brianna, Cleo, and MK were responsible for her little sister's passing, better known as the "Woodheart" girl. Mia, which was Lei's little sister's real name, was known all over town for her obsession with the Woodheart character she saw in a movie and fell in love with it ever since. Lei of course had to defend her sister from any rude people that would make fun of her for liking a children's movie as well as a character from it, She thought if this kept up then her sister would never have friends who would like her for who she is, well that's where the three said individual's come in. Lei made the mistake of trusting these strangers so easily, but if see your loved one not only gaining one friend but three that make them happy, which you haven't seen them be in a while, would you question it?

Turns out the four of them ended up going to Gemcade Arcade, an entertainment center that was in the progress of being built, and it would never see the grand opening of a new spot for all ages alike. Mia ended up being coursed to go up to the third floor, where he was told that it was perfectly safe to be. WRONG! Just as she was about to take another step, the floor gave way from under her, last words being that she called out for Lei to help her. What did the three other individuals do? You guessed it, they ran away and didn't even report the incident, just like what they were about to do with Lei and Lex thinking that those two were goners.

It was the anniversary of Mia's passing and Lei wanted revenge, but it didn't involve in the passing of her best friend. The upside? Lex wasn't taken out the way the other three were, wires wrapped around their waist and suspended in the air, "wings" on their backs while a heart symbol was formed in the middle of their spine. Want to know the icing on the top? Locals were signing a petition to stop the development of the Secret Woods Camp as a way to respect the burial ground for Mia since it would be across from where she passed. The donors of this said camp should've listened.