The Sleepover
It was a quiet Saturday night. At this hour, most of the families on the block had settled in to sleep, while only a few houses were still up and active. This included the Moore family's house, who's eldest daughter was hosting a sleepover with a few of her friends. It had continued into midnight, and the group showed no signs of tucking into their sleeping bags. The quintet of friends sat huddled around the phone. Four of them listened in closely to their fifth member, who was in possession of the phone.

"H-Hello? Mr.Bullock?" Tegan Moore, a female goat dressed in a black onesie, stuttered into the phone. "Is your refrigerator running?" She said, her three other friends holding back their laughter.

"Who is this?" A male voice answered on the other line. But before he could get a response, Tegan hung up. She immediately buried her face into her hands and giggled loudly. "I can't believe I just did that! Ohmygosh!"

"I wish I could of saw the look on his face!" Paige Sutton, a melanistic fawn dressed in pastel purple pajamas, giggles out loud.

"Is your refrigerator running? What are you, five?" Evie Guthrie, an opossum dressed in blue pajamas, teased her caprine friend with a smirk on her face.

"W-Wasn't that a little risky..?" Courtnie Beakerson, a sun glow red fox kit dressed in light orange pajamas asked nervously, fidgeting with her hands. "What if he recognizes us at school tomorrow?"

"Don't be such a fraidey-fox, Courtnie." Scoffed Brooke Gardener, a blonde-furred dachshund dressed in pastel green pajamas. She rolled her eyes to purposely fluster her easily-scared friend.

Tegan eventually stopped laughing and came to her senses with a sigh. "Even if he does recognize me, what's he gonna do? Give me more homework?" The goat asked rhetorically, which was rewarded with a snicker from Paige. The friends all sat in a circle, contemplating what they'd do next for their sleepover. It was already way past their bed times, but that wasn't stopping them from engaging in their pranks and pillow fights. "What should we do now?" Tegan asked to her group.

"We could tell ghost stories? I got a few spooky ones!" Paige suggested enthusiastically as she reached for her bookbag; Courtnie whimpered. "No, I got something even better!" Brooke interjected and went to her bookbag and quickly unzipped it. Paige watched with a raised eyebrow as the blonde canine reached into her bookbag and pulled out a folded sheet of paper.

"What's that?" The fawn inquired as Brooke sat back down in the circle. She unfolded it as she looked over to her deer friend. "It's a poem..I got it from a friend, and he said it's cursed!" She said. Paige scoffed.

"Cursed? Do you really still believe on those myths, Brooke?" The skeptical opossum asked rhetorically. Brooke only pouted at her. "My friend said he read it out loud and the next day, he hit his head and had to get stitches! I'm pretty sure it's cursed."

"Is not."

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Guys, guys!" Tegan interjected, and the two arguing fursons both looked over to her. "Let's not fight over this..I dare Evie to read it!" The goat challenged. "You're on!" Evie declared confidently and snatched the poem from Brooke. Without hesitation she unfolded the piece of paper and eyed the poem; her friends leaned in curiously. Evie's eyebrows furrowed and she nervously looked up at Brooke.

"Well?" The dachshund said impatiently. "Are you gonna read it or not?" She put her hands on her hips. "I am, I am!" Evie responded, but looked visibly nervous. 

"She's so scared.." Brooke whispered to Courtnie, who nodded in agreement. Evie only rolled her eyes and looked over the poem again before taking a deep breath. All four of the other furs watched anxiously. Courtnie bit her nails while Paige watched with wide and excited eyes.

"L-Little wolf, little wolf..d-d-down in a well.." Evie stuttered out. She paused for a good three seconds before reluctantly continuing. "Little w-w-wolf, left in this hell..."

"Isn't hell a bad word?" Courtnie whispered, but was quickly shushed by Brooke.

"L-Little...hh..l-little wolf would not be freed..f-for little wolf had been..naughty.." Evie continued, but as she pressed on she looked more distressed as the seconds went on. Her forehead looked damp with sweat and the opossum was starting to breathe more heavily than before. She wiped her forehead before continuing with a huff. "D-daddy wolf...tied him to the bed...d-daddy w-w-wolf beat him in the head.." Her voice wavered. There was visible concern on Courtnie's face.

"E-Evie, are you okay? You look ready to pass out.." She asked, perturbed by her friend's distress. Evie huffed as if she were out of breath. "I-I'm fine, Courtnie..just let me...just let me finish.." She panted, and cleared her throat. 

"Little wolf, little..wolf..cut up and-hhh...cut up and bruised..." Evie's voice sounded more and more hoarse with each line she read, sounding as if her throat was gunked up with mucus all of the sudden. "Little..wolf..little wolf...dressed...in..blue.." Her eyes blinked more often than usual and her fur looked even more wet with cold sweat. The others started to whisper to themselves, but Brooke kept her unamused expression.

"We all know you're faking it, Evie. Stop being such a drama queen." She scoffed snootily. Evie only whimpered in response as her thinking slowed.

"L...L-Little wolf...hh..mnn..little wolf....down in a well..." Evie breathed. "Little w-wolf..little wolf..left in his hell.." She murmured quietly, before her head slumped and she fell to the floor.

"E-Evie!" Courtnie yipped in surprise and scooted over to her collapsed friend. She pushed Evie onto her back and felt for a pulse. The opossum's pulse was very faint but it was still there. Her chest rose slowly and fell quickly as if every breath was too heavy to take in. Her eyes looked off into space and her tongue was more blue in color. The other three friends huddled around their friend, but instead of showing concern or fear for her, they were all unusually excited. Their eyes were wide and hungry with interest and curiosity.

"I've never watched someone die before.." Paige commented.

"I think she's choking.." Tegan observed as Evie gurgled and wheezed softly.

"She's faking it. Attention whore." Brooke belittled her so-called friend.

Evie's eyes darted around to every single one of them, her weak heart filled with betrayal. Her eyesight started to blur and everything seemed to dim. She grabbed weakly at her throat as she wheezed and mouthed breathlessly at the air. Courtnie watched, frozen in fear but curious just like the rest of her friends. Suddenly, Evie rolled over to her side and supported herself with her arms. She panted and huffed, staring down at the floor with wide and foggy eyes.

"Hh! Ggrglg! Hhrk!" She choked and pulled at the skin of her neck, snorting on her own snot and tears. She stared into the ever increasing darkness on the floor, squeezing at her throat and tearing her fur out as she tried to pry off the invisible vice around her windpipe. She could hear her friends speaking amongst themselves, commenting on her situation and not doing a thing. Her ears ringed and the voices started to quiet. The darkness consumed Evie's vision and she could no longer see. In her friends' eyes, they could see their friend staring off into space as she weakly patted her collarbone, her pink marsupial paw traveling down to her chest, lost and unsure of where to go. Suddenly, she collapsed onto the floor and the soft wheezing stopped. Her dead eyes stared off into the void, and a trickle of blood oozed out of her nostrils.

"Is she dead?" Tegan asked as she poked the already cold Evie. She felt for a pulse and ended up answering her own question. Her friend was dead as a doornail and drooling all over the carpet. Courtnie stared in silent horror at the body that was once her friend, her little heart pounding furiously in her ribcage. "O-Oh god..oh god..dad's going to be so mad!" She cried out and bawled into her hands. Brooke stood up, only to sit down next to Courtnie and pat her on the back.

"He's not going to find out. My mom works at a butcher's shop. We'll just deliver her corpse to her shop and get her chopped up. No biggie!" She reassured her sobbing fox friend. Paige and Tegan nodded in the background.

"Seems like a good idea. Fursons are always dying and getting chopped up, this isn't any different. We'll just say she choked on some popcorn or something." Tegan suggested.

"Yeah! We just couldn't get to her in time." Paige added.

Brooke nodded. "Yeah. We'll tell Tegan's mommy and daddy tomorrow and have them drive her to the butcher's." She affirmed to Courtnie. The fox kit slowly lifted her head from her paws, and tucked her knees into her chest and sniffled.

She had a bad feeling that this was only the beginning.