Speaker 1: The following is a special presentation of the micro Terror's
original novella Skinless, written by Scott Donnelly. This is part three.
If you've not listened to the first two parts, I
would suggest you do that first before getting into this
week's story.
Speaker 2: Welcome to micro Terrors, scary stories for kids where it's
always the spooky season, full of chills, thrills, and spine
tingling spooks. Micro Terrors are family friendly frights for those
ages eight and up, and while our stories are for
younger years, we are still talking about things that go
bump in the night, and some children may not be
able to handle what others can. Parental consent is recommended now.
Sports of Knights micro Terror Skinless, Part three. There were
three hours before lunch would be served. I told Nell
about the small cabin in the woods and my theory
that someone was inside of it. He thought it was
a kidnapper and that they had Riff and Mallory held
hostage in there, maybe even for a large sum of cash.
He suggested a high stakes rescue mission using bows and
arrows from the archery range, warpaint and a stealthy approach.
I told him no, and that if there was a kidnapper,
he or she certainly wouldn't be staying on the campgrounds.
They'd want to get as far away as possible. As
the campers relaxed, some remained in their cabins, and some
decided to explore, but stayed nearby. The bone discovery, even
though proven to be just deer bones, had rattled everyone.
I overheard a couple of kids say they were headed
down to the lake to look for frogs and snakes.
A couple said they were going ahead to the wreck
hall for games. Meanwhile, Noll and I slipped through the
trees and onto the girl's side. At the camp we
found Gemma sitting outside in a lawn chair reading a book,
but it didn't really seem like it had her full concentration.
Maybe it was a boring book, but my money was
on her being concerned and bothered by the disappearances. I
whispered from the bushes. She popped her head up from
the book and looked around, finally spotting us shifting around
in the brush. She sat the book down on the
chair and made her way over to us, making sure
no one else was looking. What are you guys creeping
around in the woods for Jemma asked. When the deer
bones were discovered, I saw another cabin hidden in the trees.
It was smaller, so I don't think it was meant
for campers. There was something in there, though, someone acting
all shifty like Jemma scrunched her face, so she asked
they might have been something. I said, it's we're a shot, right.
Jemma took a deep breath and let it back out slowly.
Speaker 1: She shrugged. If we get in trouble, I'm telling them
you guys forced me into this, Dale Nol said. The
three of us then hurried off to the trail. Mallory
doesn't exist, Jemma said, as the three of us walked
the dirt trail that cut through the woods. That's what
Arena said, That's what Max said. Supposedly, there is no
one named Mallory Killings registered here at Camp Noul, and
I couldn't believe it. They'd spun the same ridiculous story
for her too. They told us the same thing about Riff,
I said, do they think we're stupid? I don't know
what they think, Jemma said, but I'm starting to think
there's a huge cover up going on here, and if
there are two kids missing already, who's to say that
there won't be more. I hadn't thought of that. What
if more of us went missing? Who would be next?
Where would we have gone missing, and most importantly, who
would have been taking us? Do you think this has
anything to do with the skinless guts? I asked Jemma.
She stopped in the middle of the trail. The ghost story.
She thought for a moment, and then shrugged. I don't
know enough about it, Just what the girls have been
chatting about. Well, what have they been saying, I asked,
I guess there's a story about the former camp chef
who died here tragically. Somehow his ghost has had to
haunt the campgrounds. They say he's dead, but still wanders
the woods in unrest, looking for revenge. Revenge on what
on who? I asked, I had to know? Jemma shrugged.
Null smirked again. See it's all just a macee mash,
ghost stories, ghosts, revenge, haunting camps. There's too much of
the generic ingredients here for it to be real. Then
how do you explain the missing kids? I asked. Noel
didn't have an answer for that. He did open his
mouth to say something, but nothing came out except for
a week. Sorry, excuse of a burp. Is that the cabin,
Jemma said, tapping me on the shoulder. She pointed up
through the trees, and we all looked through the sea
of thick pine and spruce trees the small, dark colored
wood cabin sat. That's it, I said, let's go. The
three of us swiftly made our way through the trees
and bushes and finally came to the small cabin. The
wood wasn't just dark, it was old and damp. There
was a fine coating of moss covering a good portion
of the dwelling. The glass windows were dirty and stained,
and the front door was unlocked. Would this be a
crime if we went in, Jemma asked, understandably, Edgy, I
didn't think it would. It's not like it was someone's house.
It was a cabin at the camp we attended. Didn't
that give us a free pass we go to this camp?
Nel said, free pass? He had completely read my mind.
He took it upon himself to turn the knob and
push the door open. My breath caught in my throat
right away when I realized that whoever was in the
cabin earlier might have still been there. I reached out
to stop Null from entering, but it was useless. He
charged right in. Jemma followed him, and after I took
a deep, trembling breath, I followed her. The cabin was
indeed small. It was about a third of the size
of the ones we were assigned to. There was an
unmade bed against the wall, a fireplace across the room
from it, and the card table. In the center of
the room. At the foot of the bed was a
chest similar to the ones in our cabin, but older.
The metal hinges on it were rusted and chipped, and
its wooden body was splintered. Noll made his way to
the card table first. It was covered from one end
to the other with random things, papers, books, small trinkets.
It was a hoarder's table. Jemma checked out the fireplace,
which had been recently used. The cabin still smelled a
little like burning wood. Hanging on a nail. Next to
the fireplace was a yellow raincoat, which Jemma started to inspect.
I think it's safe to assume there are no hostages here.
Nel said, there's nothing here.
Speaker 2: He was right.
Speaker 1: Maybe this was a complete waste of our time. I
checked out some of the things on the table. There
were old brochures from when Camp resting Stone first opened
in two thousand and two. I opened one of them
and began to read the introduction out loud. Welcome to
Camp resting Stone, your summertime destination for rest, relaxation, adventure
and learning. Owned by the Cunningham Estate. Camp resting Stone
strives to make every child summer one to remember and
be a place they want to come back to each
year to relive. Over and Henningham, Jenna interrupted. I put
down the brochure and looked across the room at her.
She held the rain coat it up so Nolan I
could see. On the breast pocket was the Camp resting
Stone logo, right above a name Auto Cunningham Auto, I
questioned the chef. Then I looked back down at the
brochure and re read a portion of the sentence that
I had just read out loud. Owned by the Cunningham Estate.
Otto owns this place, Noel asked. I shrugged. I don't know.
If he doesn't, then his family certainly does. I looked
around the cabin. This is Auto's cabin, This is where
he stays. Just then, something in the air changed. The
air became cooler, damp. It smelled musty and sour, like
something rotting out in the woods had wafted in our direction.
Jenna plugged her nose. Ah, which one of you did that?
I panicked because I knew it wasn't me. Nell just laughed.
That wasn't me. He could barely get out. No human
could flagulate something of that caliber. No way, no how.
Then it's coming from outside. Jemma gagged as she went
back to the open door. As she stood in the
wooden frame of the entrance, I noticed the wispy fog
outside the cabin. It was curious and unexpected. The sun
had been out for a while and the air was warmer.
There should have been no reason for fog to be there.
I joined her at the door and then stepped outside.
The woods were filled with a white, misty fog. It
slithered between the trees like a trickling stream, moving around rocks.
The smell that accompanied it was awful. No, Jemmy and
myself all stood outside Otto's small cabin, watching the mystical
fog move so gracefully. Then something else caught our attention.
Not far away, A shadow moved in the fog. As
it got closer. It took the shape of a person,
but much thinner. It was carrying something behind it, dragging something, no,
dragging two things. I squinted as the fog waved around
the eerie figure, just enough for me to make out
its disturbing appearance. I had to be dreaming. It wasn't
a person, it was a skeleton. It was nothing but
bones behind it. The skeleton was dragging two kids, a
boy and a girl. I could hear Nel's teeth chattering
as he fearfully spoke as that were riffmm the Mallory.
I squinted. The girl I only recognized from the dining
hall and didn't know her name. The boy, however, was
not Riff. It was Arnie Crumb. Those were two more
kids being taken from the camp right before our eyes,
and by a skeleton. We watched silently and shock as
the skeleton dragged Arnie and the girl through the trees
and eventually disappeared out of sight. Once they were gone,
the fog lifted and the awful smell in the air
went away. I was terrified, no speechless. Jemma fainted. I
frantically tried to wake her up, and when her eyes
finally fluttered back to life, the image of the skeleton
must have immediately crawled back into her thoughts. She sat
straight up and screamed. I quickly hushed her, looking around
the woods behind me to make sure that thing wasn't
coming back. Null had lazily collapsed to his knees and
placed his back against the outside of the cabin. For
the first time, he looked genuinely scared. This has to
be be a prank, he mumbled quietly to himself. Jemma
finally calmed herself down, but was still palpitating in fear.
I helped her to her feet, and we both looked
to the area of woods where the skeleton had disappeared
into a darker region, further away from the camp than
even Otto's cabin was. She turned to me, Skinless Scuts,
she asked, afraid my stomach sank. At least now we
knew why they called him skinless guts. Were they dead?
Jemma trembled. Arnie and Autumn Autumn must have been the
girl that Skinless Guts was dragging behind him, along with
Arny Crumb dead. I wasn't so sure about. I'd certainly
hoped not. If nothing else, they were at least knocked
out or under some sort of hes. They looked limp
as the skeleton dragged them over the terrain like long
bags of sand. I don't know, I answered Jemma, But
we need to go get help. I looked down at
Null and extended my hand to help him to his feet.
Come on, we need to get back to the camp.
He slowly let his eyes rise and meet mine. It's real,
he said in a haunting whisper. He had tried so
hard to cast shade on the camp ghost story that now,
after seeing it with his own eyes, he was truly terrified.
But I was also thinking about the kids that were
in danger, Riff, Mallory, Arnie and Autumn. And as much
as I didn't trust Max and his henchmen, they were
still technically the only adults at the camp and the
only ones we could go to for help. In the
front office cabin, I sat with Null and Gemma on
either side of me. Max sat at his desk in
a small office behind the front check in area. His
hands were cuffed together in front of him, and he
wore an arrogant smile across his face. Please, Max said,
looking at each of us, tell me your story again. Why,
I said, we literally just told you, because I want
you all to listen to your own words again, and
here exactly how crazy they sound. Max said, I crossed
my arms, refusing to repeat the story again. Null remained silent,
and Jemma shared my frustration. Okay, Max began, I'll repeat
it myself. Then a skeleton, something that is just bones,
by the way, is walking through the woods stealing kids
from camp. I wasn't sure what he wanted us to
say in response, that was exactly what we were telling him,
and it wasn't crazy, It was the truth. We think
it was skinless guts. Jemma said, we know you guys
are lying your socks off about that. Max laughed. He
lifted his feet onto the desk and crossed his legs,
exposing his dirty, sandal clad feet. I don't even wear socks,
he said. And you have a lot of nerve calling
me and my counselor's liars when you're the ones who've
been lying this whole time. What are you talking about,
I asked. My patience with Max was running thin. You've
been making up kids for the past two days. Max exclaimed, Riff, Mallory,
they don't even exist. And now, what did you tell
Brody and Arena these new names were? Jemma stood up.
They're not new, Autumn Roth and Arnie Crumb. Max rolled
his eyes and pulled a stack of papers across his desk.
He leafed through them and pulled out one particular. Here's
the Camp roster. It's been the same since day one.
He slid it across the desk in front of us.
I snatched it up and scanned the names. They were
in alphabetical order. There was no Arnie Crumb, no Mallory Killins,
no Autumn Roth, no Riff THERESI there had to be
a mistake. I flipped the page over, but it was blank.
I slammed it down on the desk. What is this,
I shouted. This isn't right. You're hiding something. These kids
were all here. You even kept getting annoyed by Arnie.
You called him a reporter. Max shrugged. I don't know
what you're talking about. Jay, I've never met anyone named
Arnie Crumb or Riff or Mallory or Nephew Tarednl stood up,
finally breaking free from his petrified state. Everyone in the
room went silent, including Max. Null stared down the head
counselor you clearly altered that roster before we came in here,
after Waffle Boy, Gang Bad Girl told you what we
had to say. We're not stupid, we know what we saw,
and as far as we're concerned, everyone here is in danger. Now.
You can either get your gross saddle feet off the
desk and try to help us, or we could just
take matters into our own hands. It took a moment
for the shock of Nell's explosive outbursts to wear off,
but when it did, Max made his decision, and it
was exactly what a Max decision would be. He only
leaned further back into his chair and put his arms
behind his head. He couldn't care less. Come on, guys,
Neel said, gritting his teeth together. I guess we're on
our own. This camp clearly wants to fail again. Noll
stormed out of the office. Gemma followed. I was the
last to leave, but before I had completely gone, I
shot one last glance at Max. He was still lounged
back in his seat, but his arrogant scowl was gone
and now replaced by a worried one outside the office. Null,
Gemma and I converged, So what's the plan, I asked.
We're clearly not getting anywhere with the adults around here.
Well not all the adults, Jemma said Nola, and I
waited for her to continue. If this place is owned
by the Cunningham estate, auto might have the answers we're
looking for. I agreed. Yeah, and he's old enough that
he might have even been around for the camp opening
all those years ago. Maybe he even knew Emery Gut.
He might actually know what's going on here. Nol looked
at his watch. It's almost lunchtime anyway, he said, wait
and catch him at the dining hall. Well, let's go,
I said. The dining hall was bustling for lunch. The
kids were rowdy and seemed extra hungry. All they were
talking about were the deer bones and the missing kids.
So there proof that we weren't crazy after all, and
that Max and his hedgemen were the ones lying and
covering up the disappearances. But again I wondered why and
how were they going to explain these disappearances to the
parents when they came to pick up their kids in
only a matter of days. Outo, wrapped in a food
stained apron, walked around from table to table, serving lunch,
hot sandwiches, creakly fries, and apple slices. When he arrived
at our table, he sat a plate down in front
of each of us. I cleared my throat to get
his attention, and he made eye contact with me. But
then I froze up. I didn't know what to say.
No nudged me, but all I was able to get
out was a week squeak. Auto went about his business
and started to move on to the next table. Thankfully,
Jemma stood up Otto, she said, he stopped and turned
coming back to us. There's something wrong with your food.
Speaker 2: He asked.
Speaker 1: Jemma shook her head. Now, actually, we were hoping to
talk to you privately. Otto's face scrunched up. Privately, he wondered.
Jemma nodded. Otto looked at Nola and I and we
both nodded as well.
Speaker 2: Is everything okay?
Speaker 1: He asked, a hint of suspicion in his voice. After
trying to think of what to say next, Jemma said
the obvious, Well no, Otto glanced up with his eyes
and spotted Max walking into the dining hall, His gaze
lingered for a moment before he then looked back down
at us. Where's a good place to talk, he asked quietly,
Finally someone who wanted to actually hear us out. You
can come to our cabin after lunch. I said, it's
the one with the owl sculpture. Otto nodded and then
went on his way. The three of us exhaled a
sigh of relief, and then after lunch we made sure
to head straight back to our cabin. Jemma, Nol and
I sat around the cabin anxiously awaiting Auto's arrival. Noel
kept looking out the windows, trying to see if he
was on his way or not. But the thick summer
shrubbery was too much to penetrate with the naked eye
or even see around anything. I asked, Not that I
can tell, Noel said, but who knows he can be
behind any of these trees as we speak? I can't
see anything. Really. I stood up from the bed and
wandered around, thinking back to our exchange with Auto at
the dining hall. Did you guys see him give Max
the stink guy when he was talking to us, I asked.
Noel laughed, Yeah, I saw that he's definitely suspicious of
that dude too. Or Jemma spoke up, he's in on
it also. Okay, Gemma had gotten our attention with that comment.
Noel turned away from the window to face her, and
I took a step in her direction. What do you mean,
I asked. Maybe it wasn't the stink guy, as you
so elegantly put it. Maybe it was a look of
fellowship conspiracy. She said, way, wait, wait, Noel waved his
arms around like he was clearing out a stink in
the room. You can't be serious. You really think that
another one of camp resting Stones chefs has turned to
the dark side? I mean, what are the chances of that?
Speaker 2: Huh?
Speaker 1: Jemma shrugged. Do you trust any of the adults here? Nol, Max,
Brody and Arena barely qualify his adults. They're college kids kids.
She's right, Nul, I said, I want to trust him too,
But you gotta admit he was really quick to shut
down all the skinless guts talk at the campfire last night.
Nolls scrunched his forehead and thought, yeah, and it was
creepy how he just seemed to materialize in the darkness.
Nul snapped his fingers with a fresh idea. What if
Otto is skinless guts Jima groaned and rolled her eyes.
I shook my head last I checked Auto had skin
and is alive, I said Noel then turned back to
the window, looking out into the trees, similarly to how
Riz TERERESI had on the first day of camp. Well,
Noel spoke softly, if he's not the skeleton monster, that
means he's in danger of being taken to the cabin
fell silent as the three of us pondered. Knowles realization
he was right. Any one could go missing next, even
the adults, for all we knew where is he. Gemma
was growing anxious. Then on cue, there was a soft
knocking on the cabin door. We all stopped and faced it.
My heart rate picked up and I could only assume
Gemma and Knowles had as well. I swallowed hard. Who
is it is, Honor? Can I come in? Hearing his
voice spade us all relaxed, but then immediately feel nervous
at the same time. Once inside, Otto pulled up one
of the wooden chests and sat down on it. Jemma no,
and I all stood around him. He looked up at us.
He was still in his apron and appeared to be
a little out of breath. I don't have much time
before Max realizes I've snuck away, He said, what's wrong, guys,
what's going on? There was something in his voice that
didn't seem to ask the questions sincerely. It was almost
like he may have already known what was wrong, or
at least had an idea. Kids are going missing, and
Max's claiming they never existed in the first place, Jemma said,
cutting straight to the point, and we know that's a lie.
Plus Nel said, we saw a skeleton dragging away poor
Arnie Crumb and Autumn Roth. Earlier today, when we broke
into your cabin, Otto's eyes widened. You stood up, huffing
an angry breath. You broke into my cabin, Nolan. Jemma
backed up a step in response to Otto's outrage. I, however,
stood my ground. We did, I said, and it was
my idea to break in. I saw your cabin earlier
this morning, when the deer bones were discovered. I thought
I saw someone in there and figured whoever it was
might have some kind of idea as to what's going
on around here. We didn't know it was your cabin
until after we broke in. Otto sighed again. It seemed
to be filled with a mix of defeat and nerves.
He sat back down on the chest and then looked
up at us. Nolan Jemma stepped in closer again. You
actually the Skinless I mean Emery, he asked us. We
all nodded, confirming something for him. Then it's actually happening again,
he said. His words sent shivers down our spines. Thank
you for listening to part three of Skinless, a micro
Terrors original novella. Be sure to stop buy micro terrors
dot com for your chance to win the Skinless prize pack,
which includes an autographed copy of Skinless, an autographed copy
of Where It's Always Spooky Season, a micro Terror's book mark,
and penn as well as a one year free membership
to the micro Terrors Fan Club. You have until August
thirtieth to sign up. The winner will be announced on
September first in the micro Terrors monthly newsletter. Tune in
next week for part four of Skinless.
Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to micro Join us each Saturday
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micro Terrors scary stories for kids