A Collection of Short Stories

The Woods

There are rules to those woods swelling outside the abandoned outskirts of town in which an ominous barrier, made of rusted metal, separates the two. The rules were never written, never imprinted on sheets with black blood but their stories were. They were never spoken. For some odd reason, those twenty-six letters of endless combinations could never roll off tongues to leave their lips with a cold glaze, not when they were about those woods. Those rules just manifested into existence. But perhaps this introduction is far ahead of its time. This story should start from the beginning, the first case: Elleine Sanders. 

Her story was printed on coffee-stained sheets of which would cling to curious fingertips with the aroma of stale java under the headline "Disappearance". Although the date had been forgotten with the many sunsets obscured by those trees, the events that had befallen her were never once mitigated. During those days, those woods were just there - a decoration to combat the advancement of a more modern society. And so, she ventured in, despite the empty, whined protests of her friends, after they played tag and ran along the fence, to chase a tiny rabbit she claimed she saw disappear between the leaves that littered the floor. She never came back out. According to her friends, she was the cautious type, always the most paranoid of them and naive too. Even before she disappeared between the same brush as the bunny she looked behind her to glance back at them, perhaps to make sure they were still going to be there waiting for her. They were, even when she never emerged when night fell. It had been years after when a follow-up story was published on the  absurd basis of one of their sightings. Danny Hobb, one of her friends from the incident reported what he saw from the window of his house which stood perfectly facing the woods. In the same striped- covered dress he saw her walking along the fence, her hand running along the diamond shapes, Elleine Sanders who had not gained any years of age but she changed. He had to squint to see it. He said her body turned so her face, which lay loosely upon her shoulders 180 degrees from where it should have been, would stare at him. She had no eyes. Her face haunted him. Rule one: Never turn around to check behind you. 

The media claimed under the same headline, "Disappearance", that guilt from the incident consumed him then, causing him to see such things, causing him to venture out there to become the next case. Ever since his first sighting of her, his parents would claim to hear him mumbling her name along with "please stop calling me" and seldom saw him away from his open window. They became scared of him and left him to the blowing winds. He walked out of the house during dinner saying, "She's calling me again." And like Elleine, he never returned. Rule two: You will hear the woods calling for you. Don't answer. Never answer. 

Years had passed until case three occurred. A group of teens, whether it had been to tackle the mystery in the name of juvenile courage  or blissful ignorance, had decided to live stream their trek within those woods. The camera was immediately cut but the audio was ever present and, even knowing so, they continued with the preconceived safety that one of their friends who had decided not to go was listening

There's nothing here. Let's just go home.

Yeah.

Eh, which way is home... 

Not a half hour later did she hear the ephemeral laughter of Greyson who was cut off by Cheryl's scream. She reported hearing heavy breathing, the crunching of leaves, echoed thumping, and a grotesque squishing noise. They never came back and she was the only one who heard it. Rule three: Make sure you remember the way home. 

[I'm still debating on whether I should edit this but I'll leave it untouched for now, shout out to not my president who saved a pin on pinterest of something thanatosjr posted which inspired this short story.]