[Gift] 1.8 Scary Stories Around the Campfire - Anya and Razz

As Anya sat back down in her spot she made herself comfortable. “Alright everybody, we got time for one last session of stories. So how about everyone telling their favorite scary story while the fire’s still crackling?”

Marcus chuckled. “I’ll go first this time. So you all know our farm borders the woods we’re in of course. That means we do occasionally have some issues with wild animals. For the most part we keep them off the main farm area but it’s pretty easy for the smaller ones to sneak in especially at night. Well after we managed to get our newest additions, Cardamom and her beautiful colt, I was running out to the barn to check on them. You all have met our dog Lacey right? She’s pretty big and fluffy, well I thought she had snuck out of the house with me and I just hadn’t happened to notice. She didn’t come into the barn with me but I clearly remembered petting her on the way over. The horses were fine so I made my way back to the house. However, when I called for her she came bounding up to me from inside.”

“Oh I remember that night.” Anya snorted. “He comes over to me while I’m on the couch, so confused looking.” She glances up at her husband, sharing a knowing smile with him. “And he’s like ‘Honey, how did Lacey get inside?’ and of course I’m like ‘What are you talking about? She’s been in here with me this whole time.’ The way this man’s face went so pale.” She laughs and he playfully pushes her.

“I still don’t know to this day what the hell was out there with me, I didn’t bother taking a flashlight out between the house and barn. I think it was either someone’s loose dog or maybe a coyote? Hopefully the former but we checked, no one in the area was missing any dogs.” Marcus shook his head and rested it on a hand propped on his knee.

“Scary stories huh? Well I guess I have one that might count…” Kennedy started, staring at the dancing fire. “I had been riding King in the indoor arena to give him some exercise. We had been having horrible weather all month and it had finally cleared and was just overcast that day. Well I decided to try doing some specific movements with him to help stretch him out. However just as we got started on that I heard this sudden downpour against the roof. King spooked a bit but we were fine and I got him calmed down pretty quickly. However what spooked me was the fact the lights flicked and went out for a moment. That was actually terrifying because we had everything closed off due to all the storms. I ended up dismounting immediately and had to carefully walk back towards the exit. Thankfully I was able to call Macy to get the power back on and some help getting out.” They shook their head. “I knew it was a bad day to ride but it was so hard finding a clear enough day. Just glad I decided to stay inside.”

“Oh that sounds awful, glad neither of you were hurt in the chaos.” Angelo sat back in his spot trying to decide on which story he wanted to tell. “Hmmm, it’s not particularly spooky but one of the scariest rides I had was in broad daylight.” He chuckled nervously. “I was at the Clover Country Carnival when my friend…” he gritted his teeth at the word and rolled his eyes. “Decided to swap spots and made ME ride the barrel portion of the event. I focus in english eventing so I’ve done show jumping, dressage, even a bit of cross country. I’ve never done western for more than a mere fling before that. So barrels were out of the question but it was too late to get our names swapped back.” He huffed and crossed his arms. “Cole was kind enough to at least explain how to do the pattern but the mare I got saddled with was ridiculous. On top of all of it, I ended up getting horrible performance anxiety and completely froze. That idiot gave my mare a smack on the butt and it sent her bolting forward. She practically ran away with me around the barrels.” Angelo rubbed at his face, seeming a bit stressed just bringing the memories back. “She got us through the event and by some miracle I stayed on but I was an absolute mess afterwards.” He sighed and let his head fall back for a moment. “He apologized later so I forgave him and we ended up going to the carnival and having a pretty good night despite it.”

“Oh wow that’s wild.” Anya whispered, hand over her mouth. “I’m glad you got out of it okay though, did you end up winning or anything?”

“To be honest, I can’t even remember. It was years ago now and the actual run stuck with me more than anything else.” Angelo chuckled tiredly. “The rest of the event was pretty good though, they had excellent cotton candy actually.”

The rest of the group went through various “scary” stories, some short, some long and engaging. Finally at the end of it everyone shuffled out on their horses one by one, either to put them away in the stalls or to finally take them back home after a long but fun day. Anya and Marcus put the fire out and cleaned up the site before making their own ride back to the barn to call it a night. Razz was ready for a long night of sleep as he plodded alongside Umbra. He let out several yawns on the ride back, making Anya giggle at how much he stretched his neck out.