I jolt awake when I hear Eve shrieking in complete terror. I lift my head and look over to see a figure standing in the darkness above her. Our fire in a small flame, and flickers in the sudden wind. Candy and Daniel wake up and also start screaming. I'm too terrified to make a sound. We watch as the figure raises something that glints in the moonlight above her head. Eve's knife! No! I start to struggle in my cocoon.
"NO!" I yell. Out of all the screaming, this is what the figure hears. Instantly it drops the knife and disappears. Only to appear right above me. Her black hair cascaded over her face, covering it. All around her, there were sounds. Whispering, quiet screeching, feelings. It was all overwhelming. And yet, I still could not scream. Instead, I slowly unzipped my sleeping bag and wiggled out of it, all the while, her head following me. I rolled and, pausing for a moment, lurched up and ran, dragging Candy and Daniel with me, and Eve close behind.
We can hear her behind us. We could all tell what she wanted: death. And she wanted it painful. I kept wanting to think it was one of our friends playing a trick on us, but at this point, the four of us knew better than that. Suddenly, I heard a thump, followed by an ear-splitting scream. I turned my head to see that Eve had fallen, and the thing standing above her, once again brandishing a knife. I silently screamed as it dropped, dropped, dropped, as if in slow motion. I nearly fainted when the knife connected with my best friend. She screamed even louder, this from both terror and pain. Her head turned to me, tears filling both our eyes. She mouthed the words "Goodbye" and her eyes closed.
"NO! EVE! PLEASE!" I screamed. It was a mistake. The ghost's head lifted to look at us. The wind blew and her hair flew back, exposing the horrifying face beneath. The eye sockets were empty, half her lip sewn shut, the face itself white as a new piece of paper. Her black dress was torn in places, her long black hair a straightened mess. She ran at us, full speed. I felt a hand grab mine and turned to see Daniel. He tugged and we sprinted through the trees, going the opposite way of our bikes. Candy was a few feet ahead of us, leading with her flashlight, since she was the only one to have grabbed one. I had my knife, and Daniel had his marshmallow stick.
We all struggled to not trip and give our pursuer her next victim. My mind was whirling, tears were streaming down my cheeks. I tried to wipe them away, but more and more replaced them. Suddenly, I felt myself pulled down. I jerked my head around to see that Daniel had fallen. The ghost started getting closer. He tried to get up, but his leg gave out at an awkward angle. It was broken, that much was clear. Candy had kept running, not realizing what had happened.
"GO!" Daniel yelled when I plopped beside him.
"I won't leave you hear to get murdered!" I sob.
"Hush, love. Go. Go tell my story about how I was a douche and handsome, witty and charismatic. GO!" He pushes me away. The ghost was only a few yards away, coming slower, assessing her prey. Finally, I give in. I lean down, kiss Daniel, and then get up and sprint away. I hear his scream when the ghost comes upon him. Forcing myself not to look back, I push my legs harder only to stumble into Candy, who had stopped to rest. I grab her wrist and tug her along with me.
She refuses. "You go. I can't anymore. I'll distract it while you double back through this path," she points to a path I hadn't seen, "and get the hell out of here." Realizing that I can't dissuade her, I pull her into a tight hug, kiss her cheek, and say, "If you somehow live, I definitely owe you a large pizza and slushies." She laughs at that, and squeezes me one more time. I don't understand why she would want me to live so badly, but I will, if only so she can still live on within me.
I hear the screeching of the murderer ghost and, with one last meaningful look from Candy, run down the path. I run and run and run. My legs and sides hurt, but I don't dare stop. After a good five minutes, I hear the first scream. I take a sharp right and head into the trees in the direction of the edge of the forest. I hear another scream, this one from the ghost. I silently applaud Candy, assuming she fought back and got a hit in.
As the last scream reaches my shaking ears, I reach our clearing. I grab my backpack which has my phone and stuff in it, and I follow our path out to the bikes. I breath a sigh of relief and jump on Daniel's bike, knowing his is the fastest. I'm speeding away when I turn my head to see the ghost woman just standing there, staring at my disappearing figure. I'm tempted to stop and stare back. To scream at her what a horrid thing she is, killing my best friends. But I don't. Instead, I pedal faster and when I get home, I run inside and lock all the doors.
YOU ARE READING
Lost {A Short Story}
Teen Fiction[COMPLETED] Two girls and one boy go out to the forest. Alone. They have to make it from nine at night to dawn. They've been dared to stay a whole night there, and come back acting as if nothing happened. But how can one act as if nothing happened...
