Finding a dead body is traumatizing.

“She was found at the bottom of the lake.”

More than one is even more so.

“Hanging from a tree; with a noose around his neck.”

Some are more gruesome than others.

“She had been stuffed down the chimney, with no head.”

And some were undeserved.

“He was a kind and brave boy with no enemies, but the knife in his heart says otherwise.”

Four of their group already dead, still more to come.

Dairn sat with the remnants of the youth group to give them the news.

“She’s dead.”

The group didn’t seem to fully grasp his words.

“Dead?” Jayce echoed, not daring to believe it.

Dairn nodded. “When we woke up this morning, we found her floating in the lake, a rope around her neck.”

“Let me guess,” Elaine said, in mock thoughtfulness, “the rope had a tag that read COURTESY OF MAFIA across it?”

He nodded for a second time. The group was quiet for a few moments.

“DARN IT!” Jayce yelled with a ‘hmph’ of annoyance. “I was so ready to accuse Louis Senior!” She gave Stephanie a pointed look, and the girl immediately raised her hand.

“The dead don’t speak,” Louis Senior said, and Jayce let out another annoyed huff, getting up to go get some food.

Mafia is a game of killing, which is why they played it in an isolated cabin in the middle of the woods by Chilliwack Lake every Halloween. The cabin has no electricity, indoor plumbing, or any neighbours around for miles, making it even scarier when they play at midnight, with only one lamp to light up their circle of couches and armchairs they sit in. Nobody really dies, but the stories give them all chills in the right atmosphere. The youth leaders loved to try and scare the teens with many games of Mafia and scary stories. Speaking of scary stories, the game was nearly over (Jayce’s suspicions about Louis Senior being a Mafia were correct; when Stephanie accused him the citizens would most likely win) and Dairn had a new idea about how to scare the group.

“Alright, everyone grab some food and then gather around,” Dairn called the group at large. “I have a story for you.”

“It’s not about the prison, right?” Louis Junior asked. “We’ve heard that one.”

“No, it’s a new one,” Dairn promised, watching as the various teenagers grabbed chips and chocolates, taking seats on the couches and armchairs around him. It was a smaller group than usual. The four Asian girls were there, Stephanie, Stella, Elaine, and Jennifer, the brothers, David and Louis, whom they had dubbed Louis Junior, as they had another older boy also named Louis, thus dubbed Louis Senior, who was also in the group. Then, of course, his daughter, Jayce, and the two female youth leaders, Lily and Mary. He didn’t know where the last youth leader, Chris, had gone off to, but he was positive that he would be back soon.

“Have I ever told you the story of Carl?” Dairn asked, looking around. There were many excited and confused faces in the crowd as they shook their heads.

“Who’s Carl? Do I know him?” Jayce asked. It was a legitimate question, considering she had grown up in the church and knew practically everyone.

“No, it was before you were born,” Dairn replied, before beginning his tale. “It was on a night, much like tonight. We were at this very cabin with the youth group. Now, one of the girls, I forget her name, brought her friend, Carl. Now, I use the term friend very loosely, as she didn’t seem to know anything about him or, at least, she wouldn’t tell us anything. But Chris and I welcomed him, as we do with everyone.

“I must admit, there was something off about him. He never spoke, not even to his friend. He kept to himself and didn’t seem very into the games we played. It was normal for a newcomer to be shy, but this wasn’t shy. It was more . . . Secretive.”

Dairn paused for a moment to gauge everyone’s reactions. Mary and Lily, who had heard the story multiple times before, were smiling. Louis Senior seemed bored, but the other boys, Louis Junior and David, were listening to every word. Now, they might’ve been playing it up, as they sometimes did, but nevertheless Dairn was pleased. Elaine was looking slightly devilish, smirking far too much, but then again, she watched far too much Anime. Jayce and Jennifer were looking equally excited and slightly scared, but they were the scaredy-cats of the group. Stephanie was merely excited for a story, and Stella seemed distracted by her sketchbook, but listening nonetheless.

“Now, one night, I think it was the second night, like tonight,” Dairn continued, trying to sound spooky. “Chris and I went outside to collect some firewood and Carl volunteered to join us. That was the first thing that struck us as strange. He usually never spoke, as I said earlier, so this was a surprise in itself.

“Once outside, we saw another strange and slightly creepy sight. There were car headlights heading up the road towards the gate. Now, as you know, the gate is a little ways away from the cabin, so we couldn’t properly see the car. Then Carl, once again, volunteered himself to go check it out, and, despite our better judgment, we let him.”

“You let him?!” Jennifer shrieked.

“Yes, can I continue?” When Jennifer said nothing more, Dairn continued his tale. “We watched as he walked up to the gate and talked with whoever was in the car. We knew for sure that he was talking to them, because we could hear their voices. We couldn’t make out what they were saying unfortunately.

“Then we watched as Carl began to walk back towards us and the car drove off, in the opposite direction of the highway. Another thing to add to the list of strange things. Of course, we had begun to put distance between ourselves, because then if he did turn out to be a murderer or something, he couldn’t possibly go after both of us.”

“Smart move,” Mary agreed.

“’So who was it?’ I had asked him. But Carl refused to acknowledge that he saw anybody. ‘No one was there,’ he had said. ‘Well, of course someone was there,’ Chris said, ‘we saw the car.’ ‘Nobody was there,’ Carl kept insisting, even as we reminded him that we saw him talking with someone. Then he just went inside calmly and went to sleep. The next day we left the cabin and nothing more happened. We never saw him again after that.”

There were a few moments of silence before Jayce burst out, “OH MY GOSH WHAT IF HE WAS A MURDERER? WHAT IF THAT WAS HIS GANG AND THEY WERE LOOKING FOR A HIDEOUT? HE COULD’VE BEEN A SMUGGLER!”

Dairn chuckled at his daughter’s overactive imagination, but he didn’t deny that Carl had been very strange. Perhaps Jayce was correct in suspecting him of criminal activity.

A noise from outside made the whole group stop.

“What was that?” Stephanie asked, looking around with slight fear.

Something was flung against the window, making a few of the girls scream. Dairn thought it looked like a bird, but it was nearly pitch black outside, making it nearly impossible to tell for sure. A noise like someone walking towards the cabin door could be heard and nearly everyone was feeling the horror-movie-like atmosphere.

The door was openly slowly, with a creaking noise, and a dark figure entered. “I’m back.”

Bonus Ending:

Screams ripped through the cabin.

Chris looked confused at the group of teenagers who were all looking terrified, many of them trying to hide behind chairs and some of them brandishing various items as weapons. He held up a bundle of wood.

“I brought the firewood?”

Bonus Bonus Ending:

The next morning at breakfast, they were discussing Carl. “I bet he was a smuggler,” Jayce said, before putting a spoonful of cereal in her mouth.

“You play too much Nancy Drew,” Elaine said.

“You watched too much Anime!” Jayce retorted.

“There is no such thing as too much Anime!” Elaine screamed.

“Girls, girls, calm down,” Mary said, with a laugh.

“But really, what if Carl was just a normal teenager,” Lily mused. “What if that was his mom driving up. ‘Oh, Carl, you forgot your My Little Pony underwear-‘ ‘Moooom!’”