"Let's talk about something. If we stay this quiet, I'm really going to fall asleep." After a brief silence, Hu Jie spoke.
"What should we talk about? Tell jokes?" Tong Ranran didn't seem very enthusiastic.
"How about a ghost story?" Li Peng suddenly suggested.
He shifted his body, as if sitting up straight, and raised the camcorder in his hands.
"No, I'm scared!" Tong Ranran immediately objected.
"It's just a ghost story. What's there to be scared of?" Hong Xiaoai said.
Tong Ranran kept shaking her head.
Wu Xue said, "Has anyone here ever seen a ghost?"
Tong Ranran grabbed Wu Xue. Her face had gone a little pale. "Don't say that!"
"I've never seen one," Hong Xiaoai answered first.
The two boys chimed in right after her, both saying they'd never seen one either.
"See? It's all made up." Wu Xue patted Tong Ranran on the thigh. "We're just telling ghost stories. It'll wake us up."
"I'll go first, I'll go first!" Li Peng said excitedly.
Tong Ranran let out a little squeal and clung even tighter to Wu Xue's arm, burying her head in the hollow of Wu Xue's shoulder.
Hong Xiaoai laughed. "Then you can be the first to tell one."
"Ahem." Li Peng cleared his throat. "This story was told to me by my grandpa. He used to be in the army and fought in the war. One time, his unit was marching at night. It was pitch-black, and they couldn't see a thing. His unit was pretty small, maybe a squad. They were scouts or something. Anyway, there were about ten of them, traveling together through the night. As they walked, they suddenly heard the wind... whoosh... blowing so hard that the little trees beside them started swaying."
The sound of the car engine and