Druid Hill

Okay so basically, Druid Hill is a creature who lives in the lake in Druid Hill Park. He REALLY likes friends, but since he is gross with an abrasive personality, no one wants to go near him. He spends his time lurking around the park trying to make friends with all of the park goers and failing miserably at it. He carries a spell book that allows him to rearrange walkways and buildings so that people are eternally lost in the park and have to stay there to be his friends forever, eventually being brainwashed into not wanting to leave. He steals lollipops from children to give to unsuspecting people, trying to make friends, but the lollipops are half eaten already and soggy with lake water, causing people to be grossed out.

One day, two girls end up in the park, trying to go to the Maryland Zoo. Since Druid Hill likes collecting friends, he ends up trying to brainwash them. After getting lost several times, the girls resort to asking people for directions but to their horror, they find that all the people in the park are brainwashed and have no other motive than to make them stay there forever. They are frantically running around the park, but are pointed in the wrong direction over and over and over again. Finally after realizing that the girls weren't going to be brainwashed any time soon, Druid Hill decides to leap out from hiding and confront them. Druid tries to befriend the girls by shoving lollipops at them but they refuse to take any from him, causing him to become more and more frustrated and humiliated. After deciding that confrontation isn't going to make the girls want to be his friends, he throws down a huge cloud of pollen, blinding the girls with allergies and giving him the chance to scramble up a tree, back in hiding. The two girls eventually find the entrance to the zoo, but Druid leaps down from the trees and blocks their path, telling them that he wasn't going to let them get away from him without being friends. After some thought, the girls decide to pretend to be his friends. They defeat him with a hug, and while he is still fooled, they sneak into the zoo, and then back through the park which is much easier to navigate now that Druid isn't casting spells to try and get them lost. He eventually notices that they have been missing for quite some time and then realizes that they were running towards the park exit, trying to escape. He chases after them, using his magic to lift sidewalks and knock down tree branches to block their path. The girls keep on running regardless, and they just barely make it out of the park without being caught and dragged back in. Druid Hill stops at the gate, sad, and unable to leave the park because otherwise the magic would wear off and all of his "friends" would wake up and return to their homes. He turns around and goes back to swim around the lake, waiting for his next victim.

This story was inspired by the trip I took to Druid Hill Park with my friend. We were lost for hours, and no one knew how to get to the zoo, so we wandered around and ended up every place but the right place. The signs in that park are awful and always point down the middle of a fork in the road.