When I was a younger skeleton, I would go to summer camp between semesters. There, I bunked with my best friend Gummy, the toothless werewolf, in the cabin furthest from all the others.  Our cabin was nearest the local graveyard, which was actually quite pretty in the daylight. Still, it was unnerving with of all the rumors of ghouls making it their dining hall. Ghouls like to eat skeletons as well as humans, you see,  so you can understand why this might scare me. It would scare you, too, I’m sure.

            At night, the cabin got hot with the windows closed, but I was too scared to keep them open for fear of a ghoul slipping inside as I slept. The heat bothered my furry friend more than it did me, but he too was scared of ghouls. To combat the heat, Gummy lay on the floor between our bunks. He’s a nervous licker and would lick my hand to soothe himself; I didn’t mind as it soothed me, too. The rough patch of his tongue meant for cleaning fur scraped along my bones like a lullaby. It was the growl of his hungry stomach that was unsettling as I knew the ghouls’ stomachs were probably growling, as well.

            The hottest day of the year proved too much. Our discomfort beat out our fear of ghouls and we opened a window. I strung up a cord festooned with tin cans to serve as an alarm in the case of an intruder coming in through the window. With the wind, though, they served more as obnoxious wind chimes. Still, I managed to fall asleep to Gummy licking my bony hand. I awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of clanging tin cans, but it seemed it was due to a gust of wind and I went back to sleep to the sound of Gummy’s growling stomach. Perhaps an hour passed before I woke once more. This time to the sound of Gummy’s stomach growling very loudly. He licked at the hand I hung over the side of the bed. I thought I might pull my hand up, but I was too tired and quickly fell back to sleep. It wasn’t long after that I was woken once more, this time to a pain in my hand. I heard Gummy’s stomach growling and figured he was sleep biting. It hurt even though Gummy has no teeth. The pain tore the sleepiness from me and I stood to use the restroom. I thought I’d have to step over Gummy and felt around in the dark, but I didn’t feel him on the floor between our bunks. He wasn’t in his bunk either. I figured he must’ve slipped into the space beneath my bed and thought nothing more of it, as I felt my way to the restroom in the dark.

           There was a window just above the sink and, when I was washing my hands, I looked outside. In the moonlight I saw a figure and became very afraid. ‘A ghoul! A ghoul!’ I felt like screaming, but I didn’t want the ghoul to know I was in the cabin and it already seemed to be heading in my general direction.

            I ran to the open window and shut it. Just as I did, I heard a bang at the cabin door. The ghoul was trying to get in.

            I jumped into my bed and covered myself in my blanket. I felt for Gummy as I didn’t want to make a noise, yet I needed to wake him. Then I felt him licking at my hand. It was a comfort.  I wasn’t alone. Gummy heard the ghoul, too. He was prepared. More prepared than he would be fast asleep, at least.

            The door knob rattled. Gummy licked my hand with a quicker pace. Then the door opened. The shadowed figure in the doorway was huge and lumpy, like I was always told a ghoul was. I held my breath as Gummy licked my hand feverishly.

            Then the light in the cabin was suddenly turned on. After my eyes adjusted, I saw that it wasn’t a ghoul at the door at all, but rather Gummy holding a bunch of food he’d just raided from the cafeteria.

          His eyes went wide as he followed my arm bones down to my bony fingers and the thing licking them. Dropping his food, he howled in terror and the licking stopped. Something huge and lumpy darted out the open door. We both howled and screamed until the camp councilors came and we wouldn’t let them leave until morning. We got in trouble for stealing food from the cafeteria, but we were thankful not be food ourselves. My bones didn’t stop trembling for three days after that… I spent the remaining nights of summer camp drinking coffee to keep myself from sleeping just to keep watch for the ghouls that had a taste for my bones.