A Midnight Snack

When summer came along the heat came with it, and Jacob would go to camp where he could swim to cool down. There, he bunked with his best friend Chris, and a heavyset boy named Andrew, in the cabin furthest from all the others. Their cabin was nearest the local graveyard, which was actually quite pretty in the daylight with all the grass and old trees. Still, it was scary with all the rumors of ghouls making it their home. Ghouls like to eat little boys, you see, so you can understand why this might scare Jacob, Chris, and Andrew. It would scare you, too, if you had to sleep there.

At night the cabin got hot with the windows closed, but the boys were too scared to keep them open for fear of a ghoul slipping inside as they slept. The heat bothered Andrew even more than it did Jacob and Chris, for his mother only packed him sweaters to sleep in. No T-shirts, just lumpy, thick sweaters. To combat the heat, Andrew lay on the floor between the bunks. He was a nervous eater and would snack on jerky and fruit to soothe himself. Jacob didn’t mind the sound of lip smacking too much. Chris though would sometimes get so annoyed he’d go for a walk to get away from the sound.

The hottest day of the year proved too much. The boys’ discomfort beat out their fear of ghouls and they opened a window. Jacob strung up a cord strung with tin cans to serve as an alarm in the case of an intruder came in through the window. With the wind, though, they served more as wind chimes. Still, Jacob managed to fall asleep to Andrew licking his lips and eating jerky. He awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of clanging tin cans, but it seemed it was due to a gust of wind and he went back to sleep to the sound of Andrew’s growling stomach.

Perhaps an hour passed before Jacob woke once more. This time to the sound of Andrew’s stomach growling very loudly. Jacob thought he’d might tell Andrew to not eat too much, but he was too tired and quickly fell back to sleep. If Andrew got a stomach ache, it was his own fault.

It wasn’t long after that Jacob was woken once more, this time to the sound of a peach being eaten. Sounded like a peach, at least. Very wet and sloppy. Jacob heard Andrew’s stomach growling and knew he’d be eating for a while longer yet. He stood to use the restroom.

He thought he’d have to step over Andrew and felt around in the dark, but he didn’t feel him on the floor between the bunks. He wasn’t in his bunk either. Jacob figured he must’ve slipped into the space beneath the bed where it was cooler and thought nothing more of it. He felt his way to the restroom in the dark.

There was a window just above the sink and, when he was washing his hands, Jacob looked outside. In the moonlight he saw a figure and became very afraid. A ghoul! A ghoul! He felt like screaming, but he didn’t want the monster to know he was in the cabin and it already seemed to be heading in his direction. Jacob ran to the open window and shut it. Just as he did, he heard a bang at the cabin door. The ghoul was trying to get in!

Jacob jumped into his bed and covered himself in a blanket. He felt around for Andrew as he didn’t want to make a noise, yet he needed to wake him. Then he felt fingers. It was a comfort to hold Andrew’s hand thought he’d never normally do such a thing. He wasn’t alone. Andrew heard the ghoul, too. He was prepared. More prepared than he would be fast asleep, at least.

“Chris!” Jacob whispered to wake his friend. It was more of a hiss than anything resembling a name. “Chrissss!”

Chris stirred in his bed. Hearing the rattle of the door, he sat up. The door knob rattled. Then the door opened. The shadowed figure in the doorway was huge and lumpy, like the boys were always told a ghoul was. Jacob held his breath as Andrew held his hand, limply.

Then the light in the cabin suddenly turned switched on. After Jacob’s eyes adjusted, he saw that it wasn’t a ghoul at the door at all, but rather Andrew holding a bunch of food he’d just raided from the cafeteria, wearing his lumpy sweater.

Andrew’s eyes went wide as he followed Jacob’s arm down to the hand he was holding. If Andrew was at the door, then whose hand was he holding?

Looking down, Jacob saw why the hand he held felt so limp. It wasn’t attached to a body! Something huge and lumpy scrambled off Chris’ bed before Jacob could get a good look at it, but he knew it wasn’t his friend. It had to be a ghoul. A ghoul with a full stomach.

It left only Chris’ hand and a set bloody sheets behind.