(Name) was by no means an idiot, she knew that walking alone at night wasn’t the safest thing to do, especially when she had to pass a haunted forest, well, a supposedly haunted forest where over seven people had, in fact, gone missing in.
Suppressing a shudder as she passed under a tree branch that seemed to reach over the forest’s chain-link fence to grab at whoever dared walk past it, (Name) stared into the darkened forest, swearing she saw a shadow deep in move. A cold breeze made (Name) pull her light sweater closer to her, and relax a little when colorful autumn leaves flew past her, but the relief was brief when (Name) realized that someone was walking behind her.
Turning her music down to silent, (Name) held her breath and listened, at least two people were behind her. She could barely hear what they were saying, but she could easily tell they were male by the sound of their hushed voices, that fact alone made her heart rush with fear. Was that rude? To assume that two men walking behind her in the middle of the night might have bad intentions, (Name) didn’t really care.
“ Dude, she won’t hear us if we come up behind her.” The one with the deep voice said.
“ We can ditch her in the woods when we’re done.” The higher pitched one said, and (Name) felt her heart drop to her stomach.
She could take off in a run, maybe even lose them, but (Name) never really had good stamina, or, and this was the worst possible choice, she could change her route and go through the forest, it would cut down her time on getting home, and she might lose the two men following her but she might also get lost, or they would just go in after her and then her body would never be found.
When the large metal gate connected to the fence came into view, (Name) made her choice, a very stupid one but a choice none the less.
" Shit.“ (Name) heard one shout as she bolted into the dark woods, she could feel the large thorny bushes snag at her clothes, and the two men cursed loudly as the same happened to them.
“ This bitch!” The deeper voiced male growled out, and at the split second (Name) glanced back to see how far behind her her two pursuers were, she tripped.
With a startled yelp, (Name) went down, and with a speed she wasn’t aware she was able to go, rolled onto her back and crawled backwards. The two men, who she had almost lost, seemed to pick up speed when they spotted her downed figure. Their matching sinister grins made (Name’s) poor heart sink until she could feel it pounding in her ankles. She knew she couldn’t outrun them now, her only hope was to crawl backward until maybe, maybe someone came to help her.
The feeling of someone’s pant leg meeting her back, made (Name) freeze, a terrifying and imaginative thought of a killer living in the woods just half a block away from her house inserting itself into her mind causing her already pounding heart to speed up once more. The two men froze as they stood a few yards away from her, both looking a little too high up with wide frightened eyes to the unseen horror (Name) had her back against, which did little to help (Name’s) pounding heart.
“And if it is a killer?” Her mind calmly asked as white noise played in the back of her head.
“ I’d rather die at the hands of a murderer than let these two men do what they want to me.” (Name) answered truthfully, the leg her back was pressed against shifted, the two men staring at whatever owned it paled, and her voice, though (Name) now knew it wasn’t her using it, chuckled darkly in the back of her mind.
“ Go little one, I will… Deal with these nuisances.” It wasn’t her voice she heard talking to her in the back of her mind this time, but a deep male voice that seemed intertwined with the ever-growing static, a voice that seemed to reach into her core and make (Name) nod her head numbly, scrambling to stand and stumble towards the path she knew would lead her home. (Name) started to run when she heard the men start screaming, the strong smell of salty iron making her head spin, or was it the deep chuckling and static that was doing that?
(Name) couldn’t really tell.
With one last glance back at the darkened forest, (Name) could barely make out a pale white, blank face watching her, and, though there were no eyes or mouth, as (Name) clumsily made her way down the road to her home, she couldn’t help but feel it was amused by her.
This forest had a history. An old, evil history and it clung to the trees like moss. The moment you crossed the treeline, you felt it settle on your skin like a cold blanket.
This was stupid. Reckless. Mad.
But you wanted to prove everyone wrong. The creature in these woods may be something evil, but surely it wanted more than death and chaos. You followed the path that winded through the trees. The light from your torch gave little guidance. It was like the forest was consuming the brightness from your torch. Continuing you down, you finally came across a page. The sketch was just like you saw in the history books, the websites too. They always warned people not to take them down. And those that did, usually ended up joining the memorial by the forest entrance. You reached out and, instead of ripping it from the tree, you merely stroked the page. Careful of the fragile paper, damaged by the wind and recent rain.
Toad's Cave 