This Halloween, a local library was hosting a scary short story competition, so of course, I decided to enter. And I am one of the winners! I get a $50 Amazon gift card and my story published on the KCLS website. I figured I might as well favor you with the winning entry.
Halloween
Ruth stood at the edge of the woods, somehow still smiling. Her flashlight beam hit the trees and cast dark shadows everywhere, making the woods look even scarier, if possible. I stood a few feet behind her, biting my lip nervously.
“You still sure you want to do this?” I checked. It was Halloween, and my best friend Ruth had decided that, instead of trick-or-treating like our parents thought we were, we should explore the infamously frightening woods.
“Of course, Skylar!” Ruth was bouncing on the balls of her feet, positively excited now.
I drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Then let’s go.” I shook my head at our stupidity and followed her as she dashed into the woods.
We paused a few steps in, glancing around nervously. The tall, stiff trees reached out with menacing arms, sharp fingernails reaching to claw us. The forest was eerily silent, no noise except for the occasional hoot of an owl and the sharp crunch of leaves under our feet whenever we took a step. I usually liked the sound, but in these dark, creepy woods, it seemed out of place. Plus it probably revealed our presence to every living thing in the vicinity. “Let’s keep going,” Ruth whispered.
I sighed at her stubbornness. At least the spookiness of the forest had gotten to her enough that she was whispering.
We continued creeping forward slowly, creating a random course through the trees. Suddenly, without warning, Ruth’s flashlight flickered and died. It was now pitch black. “Dang it,” she cursed. I heard her begin to rummage one-handed in the bag slung across her shoulder. “I have extra batteries in here,” she explained.
She continued her search for several minutes. “Did you put an Undetectable extension charm on that thing?” I joked.
“Well, you aren’t helping,” she replied, slightly annoyed.
“I’ll hold the flashlight,” I offered.
“Thanks.” She handed it to me and restarted her search through the bag. She was now searching more effectively with two hands but still hadn’t found the batteries. I tossed the flashlight back and forth between my hands, wishing wholeheartedly that we hadn’t taken this excursion. Lost in thought, I missed a catch with the flashlight and it fell to the forest floor. I bent down to pick it up, but all I could feel was dry leaves. I must’ve tossed it farther than I thought.
“Holy crap,” I said aloud. The flashlight could be anywhere.
Ruth paused in her search. “What?”
I sighed. “I dropped the flashlight, and now I can’t find it.”
“Holy crap is right.” I heard leaves crackling as Ruth bent down and began digging through the leaves with her hands. I followed and did the same. We searched for a good five minutes until our frozen fingers scrabbled uselessly against the ground and we gave up.
“Can we go back now?” I asked. Ruth and I were still squatted on the forest floor, not wanting to move.
“Fine,” she agreed reluctantly. At this point, even ever-optimistic Ruth had to realize that we could easily become lost or hurt.
“Alright.” I stood up, stretching my cold, cramped muscles. And promptly realized that I had no idea which way we had come from.
“Oh…” I began, unwilling to swear.
Ruth finished my sentence with a word I knew her parents would never let her say.
“So what do we do?” I asked.
Ruth sighed. “I don’t know.”
I sighed too. “I guess we’ll just have to stay here and wait for someone to find us,” I choked, trying not to cry. It would probably be half an hour before anyone thought to look for us, a while before they thought to check the woods, and even longer before they ran into us.
“Here, I’ll put down my cape so we have something to sit on,” Ruth offered. My eyes had adjusted enough to the darkness to see her dim form bend over and set something down on the ground. I sat down. The earth was still cold through the thin cape, but at least my rear wasn’t getting dirty.
I almost wished we had kept going, because walking at least felt like you were going somewhere, doing something to improve your situation. Plus it was distracting, it gave you something else to focus on. Sitting here on the cold, hard earth, I couldn’t help but think about the reality of our situation. We’re going to be in here for at least another hour, maybe two, maybe all night, I thought. Who knows what could happen in that time? I shivered, thinking of the coyotes in here. And the creepy people. And the myths, the legends, things people swear they’ve seen.
With these thoughts in my head, I saw life everywhere I looked. The shadow of an old stump looked like a witch stooping over her cauldron. One decrepit tree was a werewolf, reaching out with his claws to grab me. I heard things too. I could’ve sworn the witch cackled. I shivered again, rubbing my arms to keep out the chill. No wonder people came up with stories about this place.
I turned my head, looking forward. Two pinpricks of light glittered in the distance. Eyes. I blinked my eyes and shook my head, but they didn’t go away. I stiffened, trying not to scream. It was a coyote.
The smallest sound or movement could give us away. I reached out slowly to tug on Ruth’s arm and alert her to the danger, but before I could act, another pair of eyes appeared. And another. And another. A pack.
And then I heard it. A hair-raising howl. This time I knew it wasn’t my imagination. I grabbed Ruth’s arm and whispered one word.
“Run.”
We tore away from the scene as fast as we possibly could, not even knowing what direction we were traveling in. I knew that if the coyotes decided to chase us, we were dead. Coyotes didn’t normally hunt humans, but the giant, bloodthirsty King Coyote and his pack that apparently inhabited these woods was an exception to that rule. I couldn’t hear anything to denote a coyote pack following, only the mismatched thuds of Ruth’s and my own feet, as well as my heart pounding in my ears. But I couldn’t be sure. We ran with all we had, strengthened by the fear propelling us forward. Finally, as I both our terror and energy subsided, Ruth and I slowed to a walk.
I glanced at the trees surrounding me, hoping to see something familiar. Nothing. I no more recognized this part of the woods than I did the part we had in stopped earlier. I had no idea if we had just run deeper into the woods or nearer to the edge.
“So we just…sit down again? I guess?” Ruth suggested.
“I suppose,” I replied.
I plopped unceremoniously onto the ground. We had left Ruth’s cape on the ground back by the coyotes, so my bottom was going to get even more frozen.
Ruth flopped down next to me. Now that the sheer terror from the coyotes had left me, the subtle spookiness of the woods was getting to me again. I trembled. If possible, it was now even darker than before. Anything could creep up on me, and I wouldn’t be able to notice. Worries began to assault my mind. What if the coyotes catch up to us again? What if they were King Coyote and his pack? I shuddered. What if the ghost roams this part of the forest? I imagined I could hear the blood-chilling wail that so many others had described. I shook again. I need to get out of this place, I thought.
All of a sudden, I heard a crunching noise. It was the same crunching that our feet had made when we first crept cautiously through the woods. Ruth took my hand, so I knew it wasn’t my imagination. Someone - or something - was coming.
Suddenly, the ground ahead of us was illuminated. Only our dark shadows stood out, appearing against the ground. Someone was shining a light behind us.
Ruth and I turned cautiously around, blinking in the light that was so unfamiliar to our eyes after our time in darkness. Suddenly, the beam of light moved. The person, we could see now, had dropped his flashlight-holding arm to his side. His shoulders fell. “Ruth,” we heard him softly sigh. “Ruth!”
Ruth’s hand ripped out of mine as she dashed toward the figure. “Daddy!” she screamed.
I sighed in relief and pulled myself up off the ground. We were being saved. I walked up to Mr. King and Ruth, who were embracing. They let go of each other, and Mr. King pulled out his phone.
“I’ll call your mother,” he said in his deep voice.
“Thanks,” I replied gratefully. Of course, staying in the woods forever might be preferable to my mom’s consequence, I reflected. This was going to be interesting.
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