𝕍𝕖𝕟𝕦𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕂𝕪𝕠𝕤𝕙𝕚 𝕎𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕚𝕠𝕣: 𝕊𝕠𝕜𝕜𝕒 𝕩 𝕆𝕔

Chapter 41- Water Tribe Stories

The waxing gibbous moon is glowing in the night sky. At a field of fire lilies, and a mountain in the distance. Near a forested area, the gang and I were camping out among the trees. The darkness of the night gave the landscape an ominous feeling.

Sokka was telling a ghost story. "Suddenly, they heard something down the hall in the dark. Oooh... It came into the torchlight...and they knew the blade of Wing Fung was haunted!" Sokka draws his sword, standing up and pointing it towards the fire; yelling dramatically. "Ooh-aaah!"

The entire group was sitting around the campfire. Aang is lying down, Katara is hunched over in a sitting position, Toph sits casually and I was spaced out memorized by how beautiful the moon is.

Unimpressed, Aang says. "I think I like "the man with a sword for a hand" better."

"Water Tribe slumber parties must stink." Toph says.

As I was still staring at the moon, I spoke. "I had one with Princess Yue back in the North Pole. It didn't suck."

"No, wait! I've got one!" Katara sharply inhaled. "And this is a true Southern Water Tribe story."

Sitting, back down, Sokka asks. "Is this one of those "a friend of my cousin knew some guy that this happened to" stories?"

"No, it happened to Mom."

Upon hearing this, Sokka stiffens. Aang, sits up to listen intently.

I noticed Sokka's reaction and he gestured me to come over to him, which I did. I melted my body into him as he wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

Katara began her story. "One winter when Mom was a girl, a snowstorm buried the whole village for weeks. A month later, Mom noticed she hadn't seen her friend Nini since the storm. So Mom and some others went to check on Nini's family. When they got there, no one was home. Just a fire flickering in the fireplace. While the men went out to search, Mom stayed in the house. When she was alone, she heard a voice." In a creepy tone, Katara says, "It's so cold and I can't get warm!" I could feel Sokka stiffen in fear. "Mom turned and saw Nini standing by the fire. She was blue like she was frozen. Mom ran outside for help, but when everyone came back, Nini was gone."

Aang uses Momo's ears to cover his face in fear.

Sokka's grasp on me got tighter, he was scared shitlessly and so was I. "Where'd she go?" He asks Katara.

"No one knows. Nini's house stands empty to this day, but sometimes, people see smoke coming up from the chimney, like little Nini is still trying to get warm."

Suddenly, Toph straightens up and places her hands on the ground. She gasps. "Wait! Guys, did you hear that?" Aang, Katara, Sokka and I clutch each other tightly, too stiff to move, with Toph standing alertly. "I hear people under the mountain. And they're screaming."

Sokka, assuming Toph is joking, relaxes. "Pfft! Nice try."

"No, I'm serious. I hear something."

"You're probably just jumpy from the ghost stories..." Katara suggested.

"It just...stopped." Toph said.

I look up at Sokka who wasn't bothered by Toph's horrifying assumptions anymore.

Aang and Katara are still hugging. "All right, now I'm getting scared."

I held onto Sokka. He covered me with his arms to protect me. "It's okay, I'm here."

"Hello, children."

Everyone screams in terror upon hearing a strange woman's voice and we scramble from the ground. An elderly woman emerges from the shadows.