Short horror stories: Urban Legend edition

Wendigo

I looked around the room of the basement, examining the old newspapers involving the different incidents that have happened here in the woods.
"Boo!" My friend Clayton, rushed into the room and yelled causing me to spin around and hit my head on the cabinet.
I groaned, massaging the area. "Really? You guys are cruel to put up with." I say as my other friend, Blaire follows from behind him shortly. Clayton sits down at the table that sat in the middle of the room, marking his map with a red pen.
"I'm sorry about him, he just never seems to know when to stop." Blaire apologizes for Clayton's childish behavior.
I cock my head to the side at her with raised eyebrows.
"You two have always been the same though, well," I paused for a moment, "ever since I met you guys at sixteen."
"Hey, I've gotten better though right?" Blaire frowns upon my comment. Before I could respond, Clayton's tall body stands from the table with the map in his hands.
"I got it, it should be about... er...It's a five mile hike through the woods." He smiled innocently between the two of us. Blaire yanks the map from his hands and examines it before nodding her head, her auburn hair falling from her sloppily made ponytail.
"Yeah, that's about right. So, you ready for this Aurora?" She questions me and the two of them stare, waiting for an answer.
"Um, well..." I paused, looking back at all the newspapers Clayton had taped up on the walls.
"That's a yes, she's saying yes! Alright, let's get gone then!" His deep voice booms throughout the room and he rushes back up the stairs to get his stuff. I sigh and walk alongside Blaire up the stairs.
"Hey, you can say no, it's okay." Blaire suggests through her soft voice.
"I'll be fine. Besides, I can't pass up quality time with my two best friends." I reassure her and she smiles.
"Wow, I'm flattered. I don't think you've ever called us that." She says and adds on more, "I'm sorry though, really. I know we were always playing pranks on you the day since we met, but I love being your friend."
"I know, it's okay. I've adapted." I replied with a nod of my head.

We drove to the designated woods while Clayton told us stories of the history.
"So my uncle and his brothers used to live near here. Growing up, I'd often come here to stay and we'd hear and see all kinds of things. One night in particular, we were up late and having a blast. Until suddenly, the room had gone quiet." He pauses and adds on, "the whole house in fact, completely dead silent. No more chuckling or even a smile. That's when we heard what sounded like an ear piercing cry, kinda like a howl, coming from the woods."
"Was it like a mountain lion? Coyote?" I questioned him, leaning into the front seat from the back.
He lets out a scoff with a short smile. "Heh, that's what we told ourselves that night but we all had the same expression on our face, we knew it was something unusual. Not of our kind." He vaguely replies. The car was silent before he hands me an old newspaper, dated back to 1999.
"This happened when I was three." He says. I look down and begin reading what they titled,

The Rune-Ville Incident
The Bridges family recently experienced a scare when their three year old son, Clayton, got lost in the local woods. Once he was finally discovered, he spoke of something or someone that tried luring him in which sounded exactly like his very own mother.

"Wait, you never told me about that." Blaire snatches the newspaper from my hands and reads it quickly.
"I barely remember it, I found it back at the house." He shrugs his broad shoulders.
"Why would you want to go back to the woods after this?" I asked him. The truck started slowing down and we had found ourselves on the side of the road, surrounded by nothing but tall trees and insects on the particularly gloomy day.
"Like I said, I hardly have any recollection of it. So, why should I be afraid of something I can't recall?" He replies and hops out of the truck. We all do the same and grab our own backpacks and follow Clayton through the woods.

About an hour later, we were still walking and I pulled my flip phone out to see it was already seven o'clock.
"Hey, shouldn't we have already made it to the cave by now, Clayton?" I asked while walking behind both him and Blaire who were strung together.
"Just about fourteen minutes and we should find it, R!" He hollered back.
"Can we take a break please? My calves are starting to ache." I say, stopping for a moment and massaging them. The two of them turn around and watched me with a sigh.
"Alright, alright." Clayton sighs and takes a seat on the ground that piled with colorful leaves.
Blaire squealed excitedly and sat down beside him. "Hey, you could tell us a bit more about this legend! Maybe even give Aurora here a spook." I froze for a moment at the suggestion of Blaire's. Maybe she hadn't changed after all these years.
Clayton smirks mischievously. "The cave is where everything began. My old man told me that lots of history happened in this town. Back in the 1800's, a wealthy family came here and killed many people. People of which they found...useless. Until one day, the people here finally snapped. They got together and took revenge on the family. They thought to kill them all and even after they were dead, they had cannibalized upon them. Feasted for months on the family. The people were convincing others to also become cannibals and if they refused, they would feast upon them too as for their hunger was just never satisfied." He finishes the story with a look of dread across his face now.
Blaire and I exchanged faces of disgust and horror, widened eyes and parted lips.
"Okay, I think we should get back on track." Blaire stands but Clayton stays still.
"No, we should camp here for now. I'm tired. We'll search in the morning." He stated it as an order.
"Are you sure? I don't hurt anymore." I reply.
Clayton stands, getting out the tent he had packed. "I'm sure. I'm just tired." He insisted. Blaire sighs heavily, clearly annoyed but stuck to be silent instead of arguing with Clayton.

The sky above us was black and I was staying in my tent while Blaire and Clayton slept together in their own across from me. The campfire we had built hours ago was now died down to only a few crackles of fire, illuminating very little light and warmth. My eyes became heavy but what made my body flinch was the sound of rustling. Not steps rustling through sticks, but like somebody was rolling around in their tent.
"G-guys?" I breathed out, not sure if I should speak up or not. The rustling continued so I decided to peek out of my tent. Inside their tent was a rapid movement and I rolled my eyes. That was until I finally heard Blaire scream.
"He's bitten me!" She screamed and it echoed throughout the woods for nobody else to hear except for me. I froze in fear, watching blood splatter onto the inside of the tent.

Being frozen in fear, I realized that this was all a trap. Clayton wasn't taking us to an urban legend of a wendigo, he was the wendigo.