• “Come on Jesse, don’t wimp out on us.”
    “Yeah, you said you were going to do it this time.”
    “But guys… Its dark in there. Billy said there were monsters too!” the little blonde boy whimpered in response to his friend’s urging.
    “Don’t be a sissy! We all know your just too chicken. Isn’t that right guys?” There was a resounding murmur of agreement among the group of fifth graders. Jesse gulp hard before stepping tenderly forward. He took one step, and then another. It was just as he was approaching the first bush that suddenly, an earsplitting screech echoed around the forest.
    Jesse stopped dead in his tracks. He was frozen for about a minute, shaking lightly. He glanced back at his friends and they gave him reassuring nods. He continued forward after a slight pause. Making it all the way to the first tree before the scream came again. He was so freaked out by that point that he was shaking. All of a sudden, a black shadow leaped from around the tree, roared, and grabbed at his ankles. He shrieked just like a little girl and he and his friends turned tail and sprinted as fast as their little legs would carry them.
    “Run!!! Its going to eat us!” screamed the leader of the group as he ran wildly, his arms flailing around in circles. The group of fifth graders were in a panic. They were screaming and running in every direction. A couple of them even crashed into each other. Jesse had been so scared that he had peed his pants and was now running like his life depended on it. He was at the front of the stampeding herd of crazed boys by that point. One sentence kept coming out of his mouth in a jumbled scream:
    “Billy was right, the black cake monster really does exist!!!”
    After the tornado of flailing arms retreated to around the corner of the road, the black shadow fell over. It was laughing hysterically as it banged its hands on the ground. It rolled around at the base of the tree gasping and it eventually tore part of its cloak’s hood on the tree bark. Leah’s very flushed face emerged as she cracked up about the whole incident.
    “Man, I am good,” she managed to get out before she fell back into hysterics.