Powdered Creamer Campfires:
An Are You Afraid of the Dark Fan Fiction Short Story
She doesn’t understand anything that has happened in the last 24 hours. Meghan was in Florida when the day started. But now in the late hours of the night, she is tied up and blindfolded somewhere in the great white north. For what seemed to be hours of walking, she was asked to sit down. Terrified, she began to blindly feel for the ground and came across a bolder or some sort of stone by the feel on her finger tips. The mysterious strangers helped her to her seat.
While she rested in the dark, the smell of pine trees surrounded her along with whistling of the wind. She had a gut feeling that she was somewhere deep in the wilderness . “Why me ?” She kept asking herself. “I never meant harm to anyone.” While Meghan was trying to find answers to why she is in the middle of no where , her kid nappers were prepping for a bond fire.
She could here the snapping of sticks and the striking of matches. As the flames begin to grow and the heat began to intensify, Meghan began to panic and beg. “Oh my god! They are going to burn me alive! Please don’t kill me!!”
Her plea had defused the tension in the Cool Canadian air. Within seconds, the blindfold was taken off. “Relax! Not planning on it.” Meghan couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Writers from across the country sitting around a bond fire. It took a moment to recognize most of them, but as her eyes adjusted to the dark, she realized she knew all culprits in her taking. She’s at least read one published piece of work from everyone in her visual. They were all casually dressed and sitting on stone made benches and thrones. Except one. “Is this some kind of joke? None of you live in this country. What are you doing here? What am I doing here?” Meghan questioned the group surrounding her. “We were chosen. You were chosen.” A man’s voice answered from behind her seat.
“Chosen for what?” As he made his way to the empty stoned throne across from her, she couldn’t help but to recognize his voice.
He stopped at his seat. Still facing away from her as he answered “ Chosen to give others nightmares unlike any they ever had.” He turned towards her with a smile. Meghan’s heart skipped a beat due to the shock of knowing who the ring leader was of the night. It was Chris Garrett. “Welcome to the club, Mrs. Hyden.”
“You’re in for quite a night.” At this point she was speechless. Instead of asking anymore questions, she was curious to see if Chris was going to volunteer the answers as if he already knew what she was going to ask. “This group is famous for being infamous. For years, former members find others to take their place to tell tales of horror and suspense . Tonight, we carry the tradition.” Chris sat down and put his hands over the fire. “Tonight’s tale is about sacrificing everything for what you love.”
He looked around to catch a glimpse of everyone’s reaction. Especially Meghan’s for this was so new to her. He reached into a pouch beside him and scooped up a hand full of powdered creamer. “Submitted for the approval of the midnight society, I call this story…” Before he finished his sentence he launched the powder into the fire causing an uprising in the flames. “The Tale Of The Restless Rockstar.”
“I got in! I got in!” Patrick pushed himself away from his laptop and and crawled onto his bed. He got in the face of his best friend Jack. “I got the job!” Jack still swiping through his phone, never took his eyes off the screen. “Great, what job?” Now Patrick was on all two feet jumping on the bed breaking Jack’s concentration. “You know what job!” “What? The roadie thing?”
For years, Patrick followed his idol. The internationally known recording artist, Drago. He was obsessed. Only a few were selected to be his stage hands. Rumors were that Drago’s stage hands were payed very well and given the rockstar treatment like himself. After months of waiting, the good news had arrived. He would be working for Drago.
A few weeks later, The guys went to Drago’s show in town. This was Patrick’s first show on the tour. Jack wasn’t sure what he would do without his best friend but he was happy for him.
“Look at this place” Patrick was in awe as he approached the stage. The show was not supposed to start for a few hours but the front was set up early so the concert would go on at the time planed. ”You haven’t seen nothing yet!” Drago’s tour manager chimed in. “Hey Chad! It’s a pleasure to finally meet you. This is my best friend, Jack.” Chad smiled and shook his hand. “Hello.” Chad stepped back to speak. “So, here’s the plan, I got you guys 2 all access tour passes. We’ll party a little then we got to get some rest before we hit the next town.” “Sounds like a plan.” “And Jack, Patrick can give you a good recommendation if you’re interested in joining the team. We can have you ready to roll with us by the end of the night.”
Jack took a second to think about his offer. But he was a home body. Patrick loved adventuring and traveling. He just didn’t feel the same. ”I’m good, but thank you for the offer and the passes for tonight.” “Hey! It’s no problem at all. You guys enjoy the show. Patrick, I’ll find you when we’re ready to go.” As the boys roamed around back stage. Patrick found it odd that there was only a handful of backstage crew members present.. maybe everyone is resting up for tonight.They passed a tour bus with all the windows covered up by duct tape and cardboard. The bus was rocking from left to right. “Looks like someone is having fun.” Jack joked.
The boys had a great night watching Drago on stage. His face was covered in black and white paint and has been for years. He looked exactly the same as he did in 1986. He had no shirt on, but only some black denim jeans and an old pair of boots from what they could make out. Drago’s music was so mesmerizing. As if he was the pied piper of metal. Jack had a gut feeling that Drago was more than a musician.
After that night, they went their separate ways. Patrick promised his best friend that he will stay in touch. But Jack had lost almost all contact with him. His social media post went from daily to monthly, to nothing. He would frequent Drago’s social media groups in hopes to find post from Patrick or at least about him. It Seemed like a dead end. Until one day someone replied to a post.
Rick Steady: Hey man! I was in a band that toured with Drago back in the 90’s.
Rick Steady: We need to talk.
Jack pulled up to a beautiful 3 story house. Surrounded by an iron gate. When he knocked on the door, a man in his mid forties had answered. He was medium height chubby gentleman, he was wearing a blue Bandanna on his head and a plethora of necklaces around his neck which dangled around his Iron Maiden tank top that could barely fit him.
Jack looked at him with curiosity. “ Rick?” “Rickey! Who’s at the door?” Rick leaned back to yell. “Don’t worry about it, Mom!. It’s just a friend!” Then he re directed his focus back to his guest. “Are you Jack?” “Um….. yeah.” He responded . “Great, let’s walk.” Jack had shut the door behind Rick and followed as he charged out of the house and into the back yard.
“So, Long story short, Your best friends boss is a 200 year old vampire that uses the rock n roll life style as a front for his identity and feeding time.” Still following behind, Jack tries to make sense of what he just heard. “Wow, how long have you been sitting on that one. “Since people stopped believing my story. I literally saw the guy drain the life out of my band mates.”” How did you escape?”” I agreed to do his bidding for a few years. I became his familiar.” Rick busted open the door to his garage. A combination of Heavy Metal band merch and hunting weapons hung on the wall and covered counter tops.
“What’s a familiar?” “A familiar is a human servant he works for the vamps during the day while they sleep. For example, you’re pal Pat could possibly be one.” “Ok, so what do we do. How can we save him?” Jack asked as he stared at Rick from across his work desk.
Rick begins pulling out tools of the trade for a vampire hunter. He lays out crucifixes, sharp wooden stakes ,etc. Jack inspects the items. “Where did you get all of this?” These tools and relics have been handed down by my family from generation to generation.” Jack was not amused . “Ok! Ok! Some of it came from Amazon and the rest was from EBay. But my point here is that we are going to have to kill Drago.”That’s your great plan?” Rick crossed his arms and nodded.”Great!! Not only is Patrick going to die, we are too!”
For weeks, the two would meet at Rick’s house to plan the slaying of Drago. They studied and practiced using the tools of the trade. They planned a trip to catch an upcoming show. Jack was nervous, but was willing to do anything to save his best friend.
After a four hour drive and a good nights sleep, they arrived at the Toriadora Amphitheater at the peak of the afternoon. With different variations of garlic on their clothing , holy water and crucifixes by their side, they began their search for Drago.
They made their way through the parking lot and into the stage area. They were not prepared for what they were walking into. Rick got in a fighting stance. “It looks like someone beat us here.” The two made their way to stage that was covered with dead bodies of crew members. Some on the stage floor and others hung on the props in the air like puppets on strings. The floor was showered with blood from above. Jack went to the stage in search of Patrick while Rick stood guard with a wooden stake in hand. His heart raced while searching for his best friend but slowed down when he realized that he was no where to be found.
“Help me.” Jack and Rick heard someone in the amphitheater standing room floor. They took the stage staircase down to find Drago’s manager on the floor propped up against the stage.
They rushed to his aid. “What happed here, Chad?” He leaned over to spit up some blood. “ I don’t know, but we got to find Patrick and the others. Can you guys help me up?” Before Rick and Jack helped him to his feet, Chad pulled out two syringes from each pocket. While the men helped him along with an arm wrapped around each of his , Chad injected them with Midazolem . The guys moved quickly from Chad, holding their necks. But not quick enough for they had lost their balance and hit the cement . “Oh come on guys! We knew you were coming”.
Jack had awakened face up in a pitch black room with the sound of paranormal winds howling around him. In the corner of his left eye, he noticed light. He turned his head to find a low wattage lamp with no shade. The soft glow was enough to show a few feet off its surroundings.
What was once some soft scattering and thumping in the room, became louder as he came to his senses, Jack was terrified of what he saw. A few feet above the the lamp, was a body. He watched in horror as the person’s legs would kick and tense up as if they were trying to kick out of submission in mid air.
He quickly began frisking his pockets for protection but soon realized Chad had dis armed him while he was unconscious. He scurried across the floor to grab the lamp. Not knowing his next move, he raised the lamp to get a glance of what he was up against.
Rick Steady’s upper torso was pinned against the ceiling by something or someone. Their legs were wrapped around his waste. Rick looked at Jack with lifeless eyes. As the creature was jerking and pulling at his neck. He could hear the consuming and digesting of meat. Every time Rick would gain consciousness he would begin kicking fiercely, trying to break free. The beast like being with its webbed hands would grab Rick’s head and firmly smash into the ceiling and kept feeding. It was obvious that Rick was not leaving this room alive.
Aggravated by the lamp light, the creature pulled away from his meal. It was Drago, his face covered in blood and faded white paint. He gave Jack an ice cold look. “Eat!” he yelled. “Eat!” Confused and scared, Jack began looking for a way out. But before he could turn around he felt something sharp and cold in his back. He was stabbed.
Someone whispered to him from behind as the knife went deeper into his mid spine area and then shifted towards his upper body. “I’m sorry dude.” Jack hit the ground. Still breathing but could not move, he was paralyzed.
Face down, Jack was able to move his head from a face forwarding position to the side . He saw someone coming from around the corner but couldn’t see a face. “I loved you like a brother. But understand, this is I wanted and I’m great full for all your support now and in the afterlife.” A wild Hyena like laugh came from the person staring down at him. It was his best friend Patrick , but not the Patrick he grew up with. His face was ghoulish grey, his eyes were black and yellow, and his teeth were sharp like a wolf. He got on his knees and began to pat his best friends back.
“I tried my best to disappear, I ignored your calls, stopped all communication. But you just couldn’t leave it alone. And for that I will always appreciate you.” Patrick’s eyes grew wide and he began to foam at the mouth. “ But you have to understand, it’s hard to eat well on the road.” He grabbed Jack by the hair and violently sunk his teeth into the lifeless body of his best friend.
The End
Chris looked up from the fire to catch everyone’s reactions. “In the end Patrick lost everything normal about his life, and Jack lost his life to better his best friend. And if asked, I’m sure he would voluntarily do it again.
Everyone nodded and applauded. Meghan gave a standing ovation. “That was fantastic!” “I’m so glad we brought you here.” Chris went in to continue. “We haven’t had a late night snack in a while.” Meghan was confused. As she began to question Chris’s statement another writer had slit her throat. They grabbed a wine glass and held close to her slit neck blood poured out, and began filling it. Like fine wine, he took a sip, swished it around his mouth and spit it out.
He looked at Meghan as she bled out on twigs and dirt. “Well guys, order up!” He and the other writers retracted their fangs and began to feast upon Mrs Hyden like a vampire all you can eat buffet.
He smiled at his group as he put the fire out. “Meeting adjourned .”
Meghan's House of Books 