Scary night.

"What are we doing tonight?" Ashen asked his group of friends.

"How about we just take it an hour at a time" Responded Sharin.

"So, who will be here this afternoon" asked Ashen.

"So far it's just the two of us, but I know that Carlos, Joanie, Tushie, and papie are coming" answered Sharin.

"What about, Julianah and Isaiah, they both said that they will come" said Ashen.

"You never know with those two" answered Sharin.

"They are always doing things that are very interesting to me" Ashen said to no one in particular.

"Well you know how sibling are, they live and do things in their own little world" was Sharin's answer to Ashen's comment.

At that very same moment Carlos came in with another girl that neither Ashen nor Sharin knew.

"Hello" greeted Carlos.

"Hey Carlos" both Sharin and Ashen answered in unison. They both looked at each other and laugh out loud. This brought Carlos laughter out and also the new girl started laughing.

Carlos was the type of child who laughs at everything, including things that were not funny at all.

After a couple of minutes, all four finally managed to stop laughing.

"This is Connie" Carlos introduced his new friend to Sharin and Ashen.

"Hi, my name is Ashen and this is Sharin" Ashen said approaching Connie and extending his hand to shake hers.

Connie was shy and back away a couple of steps before Carlos tap her back reassuring her that it was ok.

She extended her hand and shook Ashens extended hand. Ashen smiled and everyone could see that Ashen liked Connie very much.

Sharin liked Ashen and therefore did not shake hands with Connie, she simply nodded her head and said "Hi, I am Sharin, nice to meet you". She proceeded to walk towards the back of the school.

Connie answered but no one really heard her. She spoke so softly that the wind muffled her words.

Ashen looked at Sharin walking to the back of the school and he asked her "I thought we were meeting here, not in the back of the building".

"Everyone knows were we meet, if they can't see us here, they will assumed we are in the back. Come on" She yelled back as she was rounding the corner.

"Should we" Said Ashen.

"Si" answered both Carlos and Connie at the same time.

Ashen was not surprised to hear Connie speaking spanish. She looked similar to Carlos and he assumed that she spoke spanish just like Carlos did. He came close to Connie and walked as close to her as he could. When Carlos walked in front of them he asked her, "How do you know Carlos".

"My dad knows his dad and they are really good friends. I know him since we were very little and occasionally our families get together and we play". Connie answered, but again she spoke very soft. Ashen had a hard time hearing her but he knew what she was saying.

"Oh" was his only reply.

As they rounded the corner, they saw Sharin standing in the middle of the field with everyone else there.

"How did she get all the way over there so quickly" Asked Carlos.

"I don't know" answered Ashen. "Some times she does things that I can't explain" Added Ashen.

Joanie, Tushie, and papie were there as were about 4 others whom Ashen recognized.

All three of them started to run towards the group.

"Hey everyone" greeted Ashen as he approached the group.

"Hey Ashen" Everyone answered.

After the introductions were made, small chit chat stopped and greetings ended, Ashen asked. "What are we doing tonight and how many more are expecting to have".

"I don't know the answer to both of your question" answered a new voice coming from a few feet down the field.

Everyone turned to see Ruby walking toward the group.

"So there are 10 of us now with your arrival, anyone knows if anyone else is coming" Said Sharin.

Ruby looked around and said "Both Isaiah and Julianah are working on something in school, but they said that they will meet us later".

"How are they going to know where we will be" asked Ling.

"Ling, you know that it does not matter to them where we go, somehow they always find us. You and Isaiah play together and have classes together, you know he always finds his way" answered Ruby.

"Yeah, I admit sometimes I think he has a six sense. It's like a tracking sense" commented Ling.

"I don't know about that. I don't know what to think about Isaiah, but I do know that when Julianah and him are together they do some amazing things". Said Tushie.

Everyone agreed that and so they dropped that issue and proceeded to agree to go to the park about a mile down the street. In this park there were a lot of trees, grass, some slides, swings, and some bucket seats that kept you spinning around and around if you wanted to.

Everyone finally started walking towards the park. No one really spoke about what they would do there. Carlos was talking to Connie in Spanish, Ling and Tushie had their own language as well, Ashen and Sharin were discussing their school project, Joanie and Tate were the athletic ones and therefore they were talking about the upcoming sporting events. Ruby was the leader of the group and she was walking ahead of everyone keeping her thoughts to herself.

After 25 minutes of walking they finally arrived at the park. Everyone ran to different areas of the park to play.

It was around 5 pm.

After 20 minutes of playing, Ruby asked everyone to huddle up.

"We are going to sit down in a big circle and tell stories" Ashen suggested.

"We can do that" answered Ruby.

"We can also play games" Carlos said. "I brought some playing cards" he added.

"Yey, I love playing cards" said Joanie.

"Ok. we can also do that" said Ruby.

"So let's sit down" Added Sharin.

Everyone sat down in a big circle and as close to each other as they could. They started telling each other stories about their ancestors and family members. One by one told their stories and the time flew by. Before anyone noticed, the lights in the park were on and night had fallen. Ruby, was the last one to tell her story.

"My parents once told me that back were they came from, there were a lot of legends of ghost and monsters" she started.

"My dad told me that he had a brother who would drink too much every night and my dad had to help him get home. One night he went to pick him up when he heard a loud moan coming from the tree line"

At that moment a loud moan came from the tree line behind them. Everyone jumped with fear and looked at Ruby.

"Did you planned that?" Asked Sharin.

"No" answered Ruby with fear in her voice.

Everyone looked at each other but no one could explain what had just happened. They waited a few moments, listening and looking into the woods. Nothing happened.

"What should we do" asked Connie and this time everyone could hear her.

"I think we should sit down and continue the story" answered Ling.

Everyone sat down and carefully, very carefully, Ruby continued.

"Where was I, oh yeah the moaning. My dad got really scared but the weight of his brother did not let him run. He froze in place a few moments.

"Just like we did" interrupted Ashen

"Ashen" said Sharin. "Let Ruby continue her story, no one interrupted you when you told your story" she added.

"My story was not scary and it did not make us get up and look around or hear things" he said.

"Enough" Ruby said. "Do you want me to continue or not" She added.

"Yes" was the answer from the whole group.

"Ok" she continued.

"He waited until he gather his wits to start walking again. He told his brother that he needed to loose wait because he was getting too heavy."

Most of the group laugh a bit at that. Ruby did not stop and just continued on.

"my dad walked with his brother's arm around his neck for a long time. They did not have lighting there and so it was very dark and he had to cross a section of the forest to get to their house. My dad was scared and he did not want to do it but he did not have a choice. If he wasn't helping his brother he would have run all the way trough but he couldn't because of his brother. He started crossing it, at the beginning everything seem to be normal but 10 minutes into the forest and he started hearing noises from the forest. It sounded as if a big animal was walking parallel to them and was hitting trees and bushes as he walked. The noise was getting closer and closer to them and my dad was full with fear.

Ruby stopped and everyone heard the noise then. It was similar to the noise that Ruby had just explained. Everyone turned their eyes to the tree line but no one made any other moves. The noise was there and it was clear that it was the same. Everyone froze waiting for something to come out of the tree line but after a few minutes it sounded as if the noise was moving away from them. In unison, all of them sigh.

"What do we do now" asked Tushie.

"I think we need to go home" said Connie.

"I am scared but I don't think I can moved" said Carlos.

Everyone tried to move but they found out that they could not move. Everyone tried to scream but again, they could not. All 10 of them sat there in silence looking at each other.

"You might as well finish your story" said a new voice.

Outside the circle sat both Julianah and Isaiah.

"Julianah" said Ruby, "when did you guys get here?" she asked.

"A few minutes ago" answered Isaiah. "You guys were looking at the trees and the look in your eyes was very frightful" Isaiah finished.

"Did you guys hear the noises" asked Carlos.

"What noises" Asked the siblings in unison.

"Never mind" said Ruby.

Both Julianah and Isaiah stood up and came closer to the circle. No one had moved yet both Julianah and Isaiah were sitting in between Ruby and Ashen.

"How did you?" started Sharin but she did not finish.

"What" asked Julianah.

"Aw, never mind" said Sharin. "Please Ruby can you continue"

"OK" said Ruby, not too sure about the suggestion.



Ray and Nile were two friends who worked together to scare others. They were also known by everyone in the school for doing such things. Tonight, they came to the park to find out who was there and how they could scare them. They did not expect to find so many kids there.

"What do you think they are doing?" Asked Nile whispering so they would not be heard.

"I don't know, but I bet it will be fun to scare them and see their faces" Answered Ray.

"What are we going to do?" asked Nile.

"Let me think a bit, you know me, I always come up with something" answered Ray with a big grin on his face.



Both of them walked form the side of the park into the woods. They were moving quietly and slowly to avoid been heard. They also heard the conversation between the kids sitting around in a big circle. One of them had asked when two of them had gotten there and they also heard that one of them was telling the others a story.

Ray's face lit up with delight, he was already thinking how he was going to scare the group. Nile was also thinking along the same line. To the both of them, things could not be more perfect.



"Are we all sure about continuing this story?" Ruby asked.

She was hoping all of them to say no. She was feeling a bit scared about the things and noises that happened when she was telling her story. She did not think that it was a coincidence and she was a bit scared.

All the other times when she had told this story, there were no noises.

"Yes, please do so" Ashen and Sharin said together.

"Yes" everyone else followed.

"On we go" said Ruby.



"Get ready for some scary stuff" Nile whispered to Ray.

"You bet I am" Ray answered in the same hushed voice.



"My dad was frozen with fear, just like we were a while ago." Continued Ruby.

"Please don't say that or I am going to leave" Sid Sharin.

"Don't tell me that you are going to walk by yourself?" Asked Carlos.

"Yeah because we are staying until the story is over" added Ling.

"Besides, we came together and together we will have to go back to the school or some one else's house. I think that after the story is over, we will be too scared to walk alone." Said Connie.

"Don't be afraid, I will walk with you if everyone leaves. I will not leave you to walk by yourself" Said Ashen.

"Ok, enough, let Ruby finish her story" said Isaiah. And everyone sat back down to wait for Ruby to continue.



Ruby picked up her story where she had left off.

"My dad stopped in the middle of the small road. He could not see ahead of him or behind him that well. All he saw was the darkness of the night and shadows all around casted by the moon's glow. He could only see a few inches around him. After a few minutes, both my dad and his brother continued on. For a while, there was nothing else but the sound of both my dad's and his brother's breathing and their footsteps."

As Ruby finished her sentence, all the kids could hear labor breathing and footsteps coming out of the woods. All of them looked at each other and did not say a word to each other. They did get closer to each other however and focus their eyes and ears on Ruby.

Ruby also heard the noises and a chill ran down her spine. She thought that she had imagine the noise but after seen everyone else get closer to each other, she knew that everyone had hear the noises. She had no choice but to continue.

"At first the noise in the woods was very subtle and hard to hear, but as the time went by and without my dad noticing it much, the sound grew stronger. Suddenly my dad heard it almost besides them. The sounds of broken branches and footsteps on top of dried up leaves was very clear."

In the woods behind the group, Ray and Nile were so busy making their own noises and listening to the continuation of the story to know and hear the noises coming all around them. To the group sitting a good distance from the woods, the noises were pretty hard to ignore. It sounded as if a pack of elephants was trashing the woods. Everyone within the circle was frozen with fear, even Ruby found herself looking over her shoulders to the woods but she felt that if she stopped, the fear that had built up would be too much for all her friends. She chose to continue on.



Isaiah had hear this story before and knew what was coming next. He whispered to Julianah in between Ruby's words. He was a very observant person and together with Julianah there was nothing that they could not solve.

"I have hear this story before" He told her.

"Me too" she answered.

"All those noises are pretty real to me" He told her.

"I wondered how Ruby is doing it" She said.

"I don't think she is doing it" He said.

"She has to be doing it" She said.

"There is an explanation for this but I don't know what it is and I don't think Ruby knows what is going on" He told her.

"Should we be scared?" She asked him.

"I must admit that this is a little different and abnormal to me" He said.

"Well I am not scared yet, but I can tell everyone else here is" she said.

"I bet if we leave, they will not even know it" Isaiah told her.

"Should we?" Julianah asked.

"You know that they already think that we are odd" He told his sister.

"I know. How do you think this will end?" She asked.

"Tonight?"

"Yes"

"Ummmm, I don't know but I will tell you on the way home. Want to leave?"

"Sure, let's go"

Slowly, Julianah and Isaiah started to lean back and move up slowly. As they moved no one really paid attention to their movements. After a few minutes, both were standing and walking away from the group, the woods, and the park altogether. Before long they were lost among the shadows of the neighboring trees.

They arrived home 30 minutes later to their house where their mother was waiting by the steps.

"Where have you two been?" She asked them.

"We went to the park to meet our friends there. Remember, we told you that we would be late today." Julianaha answered.

"Oh, yes I had forgotten about that" She answered.

"Sorry we came back a lot later than expected" said Isaiah.

"We were discussing possible scenarios to the outcome of tonight's story time related by Ruby, which by the way was full of special effects." Said Julianah.

"Which story was Ruby telling tonight?" Asked their mother.

"I don't know the name, but dad used to tell us that story when we were little" answered Isaiah.

"He used to tell you so many, which one is it?" She asked them.

"I think he called it the dreamkisser" Julianah answered.

Their mothers eyes grew in size to this. She became very agitated and words would not come to her. Finally she rushed inside, grabbed her Jacket and her cell phone and grab both Julianah and Isaiah's arms and ran to the car.

"Hey, what's going on" Isaiah asked.

"I hope Ruby is smart enough to stop the story and not continue. All your friends are in great danger" She answered.

"Uh oh" the siblings said together.

Their mother ran into the car and dialed a number. She waited until someone picked up on the other side, then she said.

"What happens when the dreamkisser comes for you?" She asked.

There was a stream of words which seemed to be spoken at a panic pace and then they stopped.

"The park" Was all their mother said before she hang up the phone.

"Let's hope we get there in time" She said and started driving towards the park.