The Monster in the Black Woods

My friends and I had snuck off to the Black Woods after nightfall. We’ve heard myths and legends of a monster in the woods, and ofcourse, us being teenagers were stupid enough to wander inside. The monster is said to be a large creature with antlers like a deer, to be as swift as a cheetah and fur darker than the woods, it runs on all fours and stands on its hind legs to intimidate those who don’t know better. Its head is supposed to look like a deer skull, but they’re stories that say it killed the biggest deer in the forest, leaving the decapitated body in the town square late at night, and left the head on a stick just outside of the forest so no one knew to come near. It wasn’t removed until there was only bone left.

Even with this knowledge we wondered on in. We had sleeping bags and lighters ready to start being put to use. I had a feeling of dread before I left, so I packed my trusty revolver with plenty of ammo around my waist. It wasn't enough to prepare us for what was coming. The forest was thick and dark, darker than what we expected, darker than the sky on a night with no stars or moon to admire, but we trekked on and on till we found a small clearing. The grass was long and pressed down in the middle like a bed. I saw it as a warning, they saw it as a deer bed, nothing special. They pulled at the grass making a dirt patch for our fire. When we got our fire going and we were sitting on our sleeping bags we talked. 

“Don’t yall think it's weird how quiet it is? Even crickets aren't that loud…”

“ oh c'mon! Stop being a scaredy cat! We’ve been here an our and nothin’ is happening. Lighten up, don’t tell me you actually believe all those myths?”

“Im just sayin! Even town ain’t this quiet at night, almost asif the creatures are scared of what would happen to em’. Does it seriously not throw you off?”

Everyone was quiet for the first time that night, thinking about what i said. 

A large snapping sound start to our right made us look over. I quickly put the fire out with my water, scared that we would be seen as threats and killed.

“Get down!” i whispered to them, they followed along.

We heard loud snapping sounds getting closer, whatever it was was huge. Even in the darkness i could see its figure clearly. My breath hitched and tears started to well in my eyes. I didnt want to be killed, i wanted to be home in my bed with my annoying little sister who would sometimes sleep with me when she had a nightmare, i wanted to be under my warm heavy sheets dreaming of my crush, waiting to be woken when my alarm rang and i had to go to school. I would do anything to be in that moment right now. Anything. Apparently my friends did too because when i looked at them i could see the fear on their faces, the tears ready to fall.

The beast got closer, we coud here its heavy breathing now. It seemed to pause, now in our clearing, it stood to twice its size, smelling the air for something. I saw a reflection of the moon on giant antlers and skull shining bright. It dropped back down and approached us slowly, its eyes red. Jessie, the oldest, started shifting around, drawing the creatures attention to him.

…………………

We all started screaming and crying when he was picked up and thrown away easily. I felt horrible for running away. We saw Jessie thrown and hit a tree knocking him out. The monster only went after him till he was missing an arm with blood everywhere. Me and the other two still alive, Gray and John, were running back the way we came when we heard the thundering footsteps approaching, branches breaking, birds quickly leaving scared of results. I've always been the fastest, so naturally I was leaving them behind. I heard John cry for help before hearing a thump and loud horrible cracking of bones breaking. My sight blurred and my breathing became heavy. ‘I don't want to die’ the thought raced through my head as I ran.

In seconds I was on the ground. I started to give up, the screams of my friends echoing in my head. Gray grabbed my arm and hauled me up helping me get back on track. ‘I don’t want to die.’ I could hear the constant cracking of bones and branches, sure we got farther and farther away, but I could still hear them so clearly. I remembered my revolver stuck to my side. I didn't want to take it off, scared of the animals. Soon the screaming was gone and those thundering steps were back, gaining on us quickly. I felt adrenaline flush through me and i started full on sprinting, stumbling here and there but recovering quickly. Gray was keeping up with me, but the monster followed along as well running at as with unimaginable speeds. ‘I DON’T WANT TO DIE!!’ 

…………

Light..lights from streetlights poking and prodding their way through the leaves and trunks of trees. Gray noticed too and was right beside me as our speed increased. We were free….. We got to the gate we had to climb to enter, I paused on the top realising I could no longer hear the terrorising footsteps. When I looked back I saw the beast staring at me, chills ran throughout my body when I saw all the animals around the beast, I saw birds lining the trees watching. Gray looked at me wondering why I had frozen. He climbed back up to look with me. The animals and the beast scared me, but then two deer stepped forward with John and Jessie and set them down outside of the tree line. I scaled down the fence and ran towards the two boys. The animals stayed where they were not flinching at all when I crouched down by the boys with Gray soon joining me. I leaned down to look for a pulse on John. His eyes were closed but nothing was missing. 

I started to cry as I picked him up. Jessie was for sure gone, but John was hardly there.

“Gray, pick up Jessie, he's gone but Johns still alive. We have to hurry.”

He nodded at me, unable to speak. The beast stepped forward and I pulled out my revolver, pointing it at its head. I was shaking uncontrollably with all three of my friends behind me. It walked past me and broke the gate easily. The animals were rushing us out. They were only protecting what they have.

Wrote this for my sister as an English project. She got an 100 for it. I'm proud. Dont count on anything else like this on here unless I write her another story. She's in high-school, I'm in middle school.