Short Stories

A Terrifying Encounter (The Squad's Adventures)

A scream came across the sky; a scream of agony.

Meri looked towards the source of the sound, stopping in her tracks. Had she not been walking home from school, she would not have gone to investigate it. However, since she was with friends and felt safe in their company, she felt more inclined to find out who had produced such an ear splitting sound.

"What do you think that was?" She asked them.

Her two friends, Cyra and Mira, turned to face her. Mira shook her head, "If you two are even thinking about going towards it-"

Cyra raised an eyebrow. "Mira, you know us too well. We are absolutely going to go find out who screamed."

"If we die, I'm blaming it on you guys. It was never my idea to go towards the scream of pain," Mira said firmly.

"Fair enough," Meri shrugged. "We should hurry though. If we have a chance to save whoever screamed, then we've got to try."

Her two friends nodded, following Meri as she made her way through the brush and into the forest. As they moved deeper into the woods, an unsettling feeling formed in the pit of Meri's stomach, twisting itself into a knot that made her want to turn back. The brush was thicker towards the center of the forest, and the trees had grown closer together here, too. Another scream resonated from farther in, but they were definitely closer than before.

Mira glanced at Cyra, then at Meri. "I really don't like this. We should turn back."

Meri slowly nodded in agreement. "I'm starting to think that this was a bad idea."

"You're just now realizing that?" Mira exclaimed. "Jeez, at least you haven't had any of the common teenage ideas... like drinking, drugs, vandalism... ya know."

"Well that's because I don't break the rules. Going to investigate a scream in the middle of the woods isn't against the law, but it's definitely a bad idea," Meri replied.

Cyra was about to say something when another scream interrupted her. However, this time, the scream was cut short.

"That does not sound good- not good at all," Cyra stated.

"Agreed," Mira said. "We need to run!"

The three turned on their heels and sprinted faster than they had ever run in their lives. It was a matter of life or death, and they all understood that perfectly well. Despite the fact that the three had a very large head-start, the sound of pounding footsteps from behind them started to become audible as they grew closer to the edge of the forest.

Just as they thought it was the end of the line for them all, they broke through the treeline, staggering onto the sidewalk. The footsteps stopped, and as Meri turned around to look at who had been chasing them, there was nothing there- just the sound of wind rustling the leaves of the trees.