As the girls entered the building they saw another little elf behind the counter. The clerk asked if he could help them. Jennie and Lori said that they had to go through the valley and they needed some bells to protect them from the Nicren. The clerk pointed to a shelf on the far side of the store. The girls went over and picked up two small tinker bells. As they came back to the counter they asked the clerk how the bells would protect them. The elf clerk said that the bells would only protect them from the Grizzle Nicren, but had no effect on the Grazzle. In order to get protection from the Grazzle they needed a special colored ribbon that was available next to the counter. The girls were about to buy two tinkle bells and two ribbons when the clerk said, “You know that the tinkle bell and the ribbon cancel each other out so a person could only carry one item in order for it to work.” Lori decided to get the ribbon and Jennie bought the tinkle bell.
Lori asked the clerk how they would know if there were any Nicren around as they moved through the woods.
The clerk said, “You can tell by their fresh droppings”
The girls asked if there was a way to tell the difference between Grazzle droppings and Grizzle droppings.
“Sure,” said the clerk. “Grazzle droppings have tinker bells in them and the Grizzle droppings have a special color ribbon in them.”
The girls thanked the clerk, packed up their things and started the long walk through the valley woods.
The tall trees blocked a lot of sunlight reaching the forest floor so the woods took on a gloomy appearance. It was not long before the girls started seeing the remains of other animals that had fallen prey to the Nicren. As the sun set, the girls drew closer together as they tried to be as quiet as a mouse traveling through the darkening forest.
Soon they started seeing Nicren droppings. Some droppings had tinker bells and some with ribbons. As they walked on there were more and more of the droppings.
Suddenly, the girls heard the bushes moving, but there was no wind. It was too dark now to see far so the girls just hugged each other and remained silent. Soon the bushes were moving on all sides of them.
In the shadowy darkness the creatures moved in a circle around the frightened girls. They did not think they were going to survive the ordeal, so the only thing they could do was huddle together and hope that the tinkle bell and ribbon would somehow protect them.
(Now the Grizzles and the Grazzles were foul looking creatures. They stood 12 feet tall covered in very wiry, dirty hair with huge feet. The most remarkable feature about them was that they only had one eye. The Grazzle’s eye was in the front of their head and the Grizzle’s eye was located in the back of their head. They moved in pairs with a Grazzle walking in the front and a Grizzle walking behind the Grazzle. They never saw eye to eye and always seemed to argue.)
A howling growl broke the temporary silence. One part of the circle of creatures opened and through the dark mist there appeared a two headed monster larger than the others with hair that hung down to the ground. This beast had long blood stained claws and globs of goo rolling out from one corner of its fanged mouth.
The other creatures seemed to bow at the presence of this horrific beast. It walked up halfway between the other monsters and the girls. It looked at the girls with fiery red eyes for a full minute then suddenly spoke in a very rough voice, “What are you?”
The girls, in shock, responded, “Human”
“Pleased to eat you,” the monster said. “What are you doing here?”
“Just passing through your woods to get home.” Jennie said.
“Where is home?” The creature asked.
“We come from another dimension, a place called earth.” Lori responded.
“I see you have two heads and four eyes and do not have a lot of meat on you. Are there more of your type?” (Apparently, since the girls were huttled together, they appeared as one.) The girls thought for a minute then an idea popped into their heads, they whispered in each others ears. They had a plan.
While the girls were planning their next move, the creatures in the circle started to argue about how they were going to eat this trespasser into their woods. They had never encountered a creature that could repel both a Grizzle and a Grazzle.
All of a sudden Jennie and Lori yelled at the top of their lungs. The yell startled the creatures into silence. Jennie then said, “We are skinny because we have not eaten in such a long time. Where we come from all the best food has been eaten and we have come to look for more. We have two heads because two heads are better than one and we have four eyes so we can see what we are eating and watch what will be eaten next.” As they said this, the girls stared at the creatures as hard and mean looking as possible.
The two headed Nicren looked bewildered at the girls and then asked, “What is this best food of yours?”
The girls turned their heads and body in unison so as to look at every creature encircling them. Then Jennie in a loud voice said, “Our favorite food is Grizzle and Grazzle feet.” As Jennie said this they looked down at the creatures’ feet and started to drool.
You could have cut the silence with a knife. The Grizzle tried to look at the Grazzle while they slowly started to back up. The two headed Nicren sheepishly said, “You know that the feet of the one headed Nicren tastes a lot better than the feet of the two headed Nicren,” as he too began to back up.
Suddenly, the girls yelled loudly and sprang together toward the two headed Nicren. You would not believe how fast that long haired, big footed creature could turn and run as it let out a terrified scream. At the site of this, the rest of the Nicren turned and ran into the dark mist just as fast as their big feet would allow.
The two girls snickered and gave each other a high five and continued on their journey through the woods, never seeing another Nicren.
Jennie and Lori found the passageway home the next day and they always went together whenever they went into the woods again.
*****
Chapter 25 - The Old Lady
Frank’s house sat across the street from the park. Frank, who was retired, liked to sit on his front porch and watch all the people in the park. Day after day he saw an old lady sitting on the same park bench reading a book.
As the days rolled by, Frank became more and more interested in the old lady and what she was reading. Whatever it was, it must be very interesting.
Frank liked to read and, not being a spring chicken himself, he thought that maybe he could relieve some boredom and make a friend.
He worked up the courage and got up off his porch swing, walked across the road into the park and sat down on the bench next to the old lady. She didn’t look up, but just kept reading that interesting looking book.
After a few minutes, Frank asked the old lady, “What are you reading?” Without looking up, the old lady said that it was a book of ghost stories. Frank paused for a minute, but wanting to continue the conversation said, “I wish I could believe in ghosts.” The old lady looked up from her book and stared at Frank with sunken pale eyes and said, “Oh really? You don’t believe in ghosts?” Suddenly, the old lady vanished in front of Frank’s eyes leaving nothing behind except for the book on ghosts. NOW YOU HAVE IT.
Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it!
*****
Chapter 26 - A few parting thoughts
If your campfire story telling session needs some tension relief at the end, especially for the younger listener, than I have found that a few ghost jokes do the trick. The following jokes are a few of my favorites. Use them and have your scary story session end with a laugh or two.
Why are ghosts bad at telling lies?
Because you can see right through them!
Why was the ghost afraid to cross the road?
Because he had no guts!
Why don’t ghosts ever go out on the town?
Because they have no body to go out with!
What kind of mistakes do ghosts make?
Boo Boos
What does a child ghost call its parents?
Mummy and Deadly
Who did the ghost invite to his party?
Anybody he could dig up!
What do you call a ghost that gets too close to a
campfire?
A toasty ghosty
What do ghosts do when they get into a car?
They bookel their sheetbelts!
What is a ghost’s favorite party game?
Hide and go shriek
What do you call a ghost with a broken leg?
A hobbling goblin!
How do you make a witch scratch?
Just take away the w
Do zombies eat popcorn with their fingers?
No they eat the fingers separate!
Why was the ghost such a messy eater?
Because he was always a goblin!
#####
About the Author
John Bradshaw is a graduate of Furman University, former United States Army Officer, former State of South Carolina SITCON member, licensed private pilot, Black Belt in Karate and business owner.
He is married and has three sons.
Website; www.eaglewingsbradshaw.com
John’s other published works;
Fun Campfire Stories
Fun Campfire Stories Anthology
A Conversation with Thos and Diabolos
Fun Campfire Ghost Stories Page 6
