Secrets of The Forest

I don't think they're here to talk about my car's extended warranty.

Never go towards the strange noises, never. You probably would've thought that the copious amount of horror movie that I've watched would have taught me that, but nope, I'm an idiot and went towards the strange noises. After my encounter with Longhorse I tried to build up the courage to tell my friends but they'd probably think I'm insane and admit me into a mental hospital, which, granted, would make sense. I woke up the next day, sweating and still exhausted, I sat up and plugged my phone in, waiting for it to charge. It looked about noon, the rays of sunlight blinding me. Once my phone was charged I checked my text messages, none. I messaged Sam.
"Hey, can we meet up? Preferably today?"
Sure? Where? Are you alright?
"I'm fine, Sammy"
Mkay... you still didn't say where, or when
"What about.. uhhh- 3:30? At the Starbucks downtown?"
Bet, that works for me, Cya in a bit🏃💨
I put down my phone, took a quick shower and got changed before walking out of my tiny apartment. I got to the Starbucks first, it was a warm-ish fall day, leaves falling from the trees, perfect temperature, it was all around a pretty nice day. Sam walked in a few minutes later and, after ordering, sat down at the table across from me. "Hey, you doin' alright, dude?" They inquired, after probably seeing how tired I looked. "I'm fine— don't worry." I said, hoping he would stop asking. "Alright... well, did you just want to meet up for coffee or is there something you need to tell me?" He said as he took a sip of his coffee, his dark brown eyes almost shining in the sunlight. "...both, I guess. I wanted to see you but I also need to say something." I looked down at my untouched coffee cup. "Okay, what's up? You can tell me anything." Their piercing gaze felt like it was staring straight into my soul. "You remember that camping trip from like a week ago?" I said, trying to ease into the weirdness. "Yeah...? Don't tell me you're on about a big furry monster again—" He chuckled, probably thinking I'm insane. I managed to say "I know what I saw. And last night there— there was something else, it... visited me, I'm pretty sure it's called 'Longhorse'. I swear I'm not crazy, you have to believe me. This thing, Longhorse, it's like a prophet, it warns you of incoming danger or something like that." My voice, by the end, was shaky and unsteady. Sam grabbed my hand on the table, I may or may night have turned a very bright shade of red. "Hey, Jac, I don't think you're crazy. If you really did see that stuff then— then there's some weird stuff goin' on around here, and I'm not gonna let you go through that by yourself." They stood up, grabbing their coffee. "I might be able to find out some more stuff about this 'Longhorse' and white furry thing, my grandparents have a big stash of old creepy stories." He gave me a kiss on the forehead. "I can't let my idiot die just yet." I turned the shade of a tomato, not knowing what to say and barely managing. "ₒₖₐy." No, we weren't dating and he probably only meant it as a platonic gesture of affection but my gay brain didn't know how to take it. He gave me a quick hug then quickly shuffled out.
Tap, tap, tap.
That damned tapping noise again, I couldn't figure out what it was, maybe I was developing tinnitus but I couldn't tell. I got up, throwing my untouched coffee in the trash and starting to walk home.
When I got back to my apartment I say down on my bed, head in my hands. So many thoughts ran through my head, when will the next creepy thing try to kill me? Do I have a crush on Sam? Did I forget to buy soap? Why could I hear my mom from the kitchen? Wait, why could I hear my mom from the kitchen? "M-mom?" Silence. Eery, dead silence. I got up, walking closer to the kitchen then I suddenly stopped, I'd heard about something like this before, their names are bad luck so I'll just call them "flesh pedestrians". They lure you in with the voices of your (usually deceased) loved ones and then they— I don't even know, probably do something bad I guess. I went back into my room, locked the door and held my pocket knife tight in my hand, the cold metal almost feeling soothing. After a few hours of just sitting there, waiting helplessly, it was gone. I checked around the whole apartment, nothing. I opened my phone and texted Sam
"Dude, I think something else tried to kill me"
Seriously!? What now?-
"I think it was a 'flesh pedestrian'. You know what I mean, right? You're not supposed to say it's name"
Ohhh yeah- those things. Also! I found my grandparents stash of old books, coke on over to my house asap
Come*
"Gotcha"
I gathered up my stuff in my backpack and headed out. After a little while of walking I finally got to Sam's house, a generic medium sized brick house with his dog taking a nap on the porch. I walked up and pet the dog, Bean, then knocked on the door. "Jac?" Sam called from somewhere inside the house. "The one and only." I said, although my experience a few hours ago would probably like to argue otherwise. Sam rushed up and opened the door, he seemed glad to see me. I smiled, probably looking like a dumbass. "What took you so long?" They teased, ushering me inside. "So—" He pointed to a box overflowing with old, dusty and beat up books. "Those are all of them that I could find, shall we get to reading?" He sat down in an armchair, grabbing a random stack of books and starting to flip through them. "We shall." I did the same, sitting on the floor in front of him.
Hours later we had read basically all of them but a few, we were both exhausted, munching on cold hot pockets and Doritos. "I'm tireddddd." We both said in unison, although Sam added a few colorful adjectives to their "I'm tireddddd." I got up, laying down on the couch by Sam's chair, he looked over at me. "You going to sleep?" He said, their eyebags seeming deeper than usual. "Yeah, you?" I asked. "Definitely—" He got up, sitting down on the couch by my feet. "Mind if I...?" He made a gesture of laying down next to me. My ears turned red but I managed to say "um— yeah— uh— sure." He smiled and laid down next to me on the surprisingly big and surprisingly comfortable couch. Also for some reason he smelled like a mix of lavender and a campfire. I said something probably unintelligible and passed out, the faint sound of a siren blaring in the distance.