Tales From Twistwood

I Hear Them Whisper

 "Are you sure it's a good idea to go camping this close to Halloween?" Jillian shivered. "Haven't you heard what people say?"

Harper rolled their eyes. "Really, Jillian? I thought this would be fun, and here you are, already being a superstitious scaredy-cat. Nothing's going to get us out here."

Jillian ducked under a low-hanging branch. "But... Haven't you heard about... You know..." she lowered her voice to almost a whisper. "The murders?"

"Oooh, scary!" Hayden threw his hands up in the air. "Harper's right. You are being a scaredy-cat."

"And for the record, there was only one murder." Harper corrected.

"Two!" Jillian exclaimed. "And multiple kidnappings."

Harper sighed and pushed a strand of red hair from their face. "Okay, okay, maybe it was a mistake to go camping. But it was either go tonight or not at all. Besides, it's not like my parents would care if I got murdered in the woods."

"I care if I get murdered in the woods!" Jillian stomped ahead of her two friends, hands in her hoodie pockets. Why wouldn't they understand this was a bad idea?

Suddenly, she froze. "Did you guys see that?"

Hayden crossed his arms. "Here we go again."

"I promise I'm not being paranoid. Like, I swear I saw something move."

Harper gave her a skeptical look. "It was most likely an owl or possum. Can you stop being so jumpy for just a second? At least give us time to get to camp."

Jillian bit her lip. Maybe they were right. She should lighten up a bit.

But she was sure she'd seen something move in the woods. She was positive. And that wasn't just her being jumpy, either.

When they finally got to the clearing they planned to camp in, they were all shivering. It was especially cold that night. So cold their breath clouded in front of their faces.

Jillian was on edge. She knew she was seeing something in the woods, and it was hard to reassure herself that it was just an animal or a falling leaf. Looking into the woods, it was like she could see the trees themselves moving. It was like they had faces, twisted and horrifying, staring at her with eyes wide open and mouths ready to swallow her whole. The clearing wasn't large enough for her. The trees were too close for comfort.

They started setting up camp, and the whole time Jillian kept her eyes on the trees. Every time she looked away, she thought she would see one move out of the corner of her eye. However, when she turned to it nothing happened. After they finally finished, and Harper had gotten the fire alight, she was just about ready to throw up.

"You okay, Jill?" Hayden asked.

Jillian grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders tightly. "Guys, I swear to God there's something in the woods."

Harper bit a chunk out of a protein bar. "Well, I happen to be an atheist so..."

"You know what I mean, Harper!"

"Okay, okay. Chill out. Are you seeing anything specific."

She sighed and shifted her eyes to her shoes. "You wouldn't believe me."

"Try me." Harper took another bite from their protein bar.

"It... It looks like the trees are moving."

Hayden snickered. "The trees? You really are paranoid."

"I'm not kidding, Hayden! I wouldn't lie, okay!"