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“Harry, that man killed Caleb’s brother and his father killed the rest. That has nothing to do with the woods. It’s not like the trees got them.” Sean said and laughed and Jeremy laughed with him.
“Yeah but it happened in the woods!” Harry almost screamed. Sean recoiled a little bit at the sound of Harry’s exuberant shout. On reflex he quickly looked around to make sure no one heard and then remembered where he was. Harry was always embarrassing him and he constantly had to be on the lookout that no one was making fun of him because of his stupid disgusting friend.
“Caleb’s brother might have been killed in the woods but him and his friends died in their homes. It had nothing to do with the woods.” Sean said.
“Yeah. Not every bad thing that happens can be blamed on this place.” Jeremy added.
“But…but…” Harry started but he actually couldn’t think of what to say. A part of him wondered why he was arguing. Did he actually want the woods to be blamed? Did he want the place to be dark and evil and just waiting to kill them?
‘I just want to get out of here.’ He thought. But he knew that wasn’t going to happen any time soon. Sean seemed satisfied in ending the conversation and was back to plugging forward through the woods. The three of them walked for quite a while, much longer then they had originally planned but something just seemed to compel them to keep walking even Harry who was terrified.
Finally Jeremy stopped walking and spoke up.
“Whoa guy’s it’s gotten really dark out.”
Sean and Harry both stopped at the sound of his words, something seemed to click and they both looked around noticing the dark for the first time just like Jeremy had done.
“How long have we been walking?” Sean asked. Harry was beginning to shake.
“We need to get out of here.” Harry said.
“How did this happen? How did we not notice that it was getting dark? Does it feel like we’ve been out here for a while?” Jeremy asked.
“I don’t remember. I don’t even remember what we’ve done.” Sean replied.
“I told you! It’s the woods! It’s trying to get us lost or lead us somewhere. It wants us to disappear!” Harry screamed. Sean had a strong urge to slap him. He started to stop himself and then realized there was no reason to so he smacked him hard across the face.
“Ow! Why did you do that?” Harry cried, tears welling up in his eyes.
“Because I’m sick of this haunted woods bullshit. Stop being a child. We just lost track of time, there’s nothing out here.”
That’s when they heard it. It wasn’t much, just a rustling of bushes and snapping of branches. It started out quietly but the closer it got the louder and more ferocious it became.
“What is that?” Jeremy asked starting to shake himself.
“Hide!” Harry yelled and took off running. His two friends watched him jump behind a log and lay himself flat until he was hidden from sight. It was actually quite dark in the woods now and he was actually carefully hidden. Sean and Jeremy shared a look between each other and then back at the sound of the approaching whatever it was.
“Probably just a deer or something.” Sean said.
“Yeah…a deer.” Jeremy replied but just like always his imagination was running away from him. He looked back at Sean and realized that he wasn’t the only one. Sean looked just as scared as him. Quickly without saying another word they both took off running in separate directions. Sean slid behind a large boulder and Jeremy lied down in a ditch. The noises got louder and now there were new noises being added to it.
Besides the bushes and branches, a low growl accompanied the sounds as well as a loud stomping of feet. It was so thick and heavy it nearly shook the ground. Sean was closest to the creature and was the only one of the group not lying prone on the ground and he thought that if the stomping continued he would be thrown from his hiding spot.
But then suddenly the stomping stopped as did the sounds of the wildlife being moved and broken. The low growl remained and a sudden snort accompanied it as well. It was a disgusting wet sound that made Sean want to barf. Next he heard a heavy sniffing sound like a dog trying to find food or its prey.
‘It’s trying to sniff us out!’ Sean thought with horror. He braced himself up against the rock trying as hard as he could not to cry out and alert the beast of his presence.
The stomping returned and got louder and closer to him. The monster was coming straight for him. Sean started to shake and felt like he was going to cry and pee himself at the same time. Somehow he held back on both fronts. The monster was right behind the boulder now; he could feel it standing there. Suddenly a gigantic hand collapsed on top of the boulder. The things long hairy fingers were inches from Sean’s face.
Sean almost screamed when the hand clamped down on the rock but was once again able to control himself. He had to slap a hand over his mouth to hide his whimpering but he kept his wits about him and didn’t scream or go running in fear. But he didn’t know how long that was going to help him. The hand gripped tighter around the rock and the beast began to lean in over the boulder.
‘It’s going to find me!’ Sean squealed inside his head. Closer and closer the monster got but just before it was about to find the young boy, it suddenly shot it’s head up and looked to it’s left.
The exact direction Harry was hiding.
***********CONTINUED ON NEXT POST******************
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