“They say that every so often campers will hear him outside their tents at night, still looking for his missing head!” Johnny exclaimed, holding the flashlight under his chin to cast eerie shadows across his face.

Five other boys sat around the fire. Tim and Dave snickered, having heard this story before. Darrel wasn’t paying attention. Alex finished toasting a marshmallow over the fire, and Kyle was biting his nails.

“W-Why would you say that?” Kyle stammered. “I’m not going to be able to sleep tonight...”

“Don’t worry, Kyle. It’s just a story!” Alex assured him. “Right, Darrel?”

“Hmm?” Darrel sighed, looking up from a stick he was whittling with a pocket knife.

“I think we have enough sticks to roast with, man. You can stop, make a somore, and pay attention to the stories,” Alex complained. “Kyle is worried, but none of these stories are real, right?”

“Yeah, ninety nine percent of them are just made up to scare people.”

“Ninety nine?” Kyle shrieked. “What about the other percent?”

“Darrel!” Alex grunted. “Come on, man! Kyle, he is just messing with you. None of these stories are real.”

Standing up from his seat on a fallen log to leave the roaring campfire, Darrel turned to face the pitch dark woods where their tents were set up. “W-where are you going?” Kyle asked.

“We are out of chocolate; I’m just going to grab some more for everyone,” Darrel explained.

“I’ll go with you,” Alex offered, also standing up. “Tim or Dave, did one of you have a story?”

“Oh, I do!” they shouted in unison.

“Well, each of you can tell one. Darrel and I will go when we get back.”

Alex and Darrel disappeared into the blackness with nothing but a small LED flashlight to illuminate to ground by their feet. Tim and Dave argued as the pinpoint of light faded into the night.

By the time Darrel returned, Dave was just finishing his story, “Then he heard a Clang! When he got home, a bloody hook was stuck in the door of his car. That was the last time anyone ever saw the hook-handed killer...”

“I-I don’t want to stay h-here all night...” Kyle stuttered.

“What? Why not?” Johnny questioned him.

“What if they hook-handed killer is h-here.”

“Jesus, Kyle, It’s a campfire story! I’ve heard that story like a hundred times, and no one has ever showed up with a hook instead of a hand.”

“Hey, Darrel is back!” Dave announced. Everyone jumped and turned to face the stocky kid emerging from the shadows. “Did you get the chocolate and gram crackers?”

“Just chocolate,” Darrell corrected Dave, holding up a two chocolate bars.

“What? We can’t make anything with just chocolate and marshmallows! By the way, where is Alex?”

Darrel shrugged. “Didn’t know we were out, and I think the hook-handed killer got him.”

“What?” Kyle cried.

“Okay, that was too far,” Johnny spat. “Stop freaking Kyle out: Where is Alex really?”

“He wasn’t feeling well and decided to stay back at the tents,” Darrel admitted. “I’ll go back and get the gram crackers.”

“I’ll come with you and check on Alex.”

“Come on, guys!” Tim complained. “It’s my turn to tell a campfire story!”

“Just tell it while we are gone,” Johnny ordered. “Kyle is the only one who hasn’t heard the lame axe-murderer story you tell every time.”

“This is Darrel’s first time camping with us too!”

“Darrel doesn’t seem to get scared or care.”

“Fine! So, Kyle, three friends were at a campground—like this one,” Tim started as Darrel and Johnny faded into blackness.

Darrel returned to the fire after Tim was finished frightening Kyle—alone. The three boys around the fire peered into the night as Darrel plopped into his seat on the opposite end of the fire.

“Hey, Umm... where is Johnny?” Kyle asked. His eyes darted from side to side scanning the edge of the ring of light provided by their fire.

“Axe-murder got him,” Darrel answered.

“Very funny,” Dave said. “Did you at least bring the gram crackers?”

“No.”

“What? Why not?”

“Isn’t it my turn to tell a campfire story?”

“I guess, but what does that have to do with the somores?”

“You will see,” Darrel chuckled, flipping open his pocket knife. “Tonight five boys went camping with a kid they barely know, and no one saw them ever again...”