The Hole and Other Horror Stories

The Hole

 The forest is dark and uninviting. Wind howls through the trees, sounding like a haunted spirit, and the frigid cold nibbles at my fingers. Leaves crinkle as if someone - or something - is walking on them in the distance. I tense. Something is out there, and I don't like it one bit.

"Did you hear that?" I ask Nick, shoving my hand into my coat pocket.

"Probably just a mouse," Nick answers, his voice wavering, "at least I hope that's all it is."

"You know, maybe it's not a bad idea to turn around." I say. I have a really bad feeling about this. I really do.

"No. We're not wimping out of this now." Nick counters, "I told Martin and Jake we'd find the real reason all of our animals keep dying, and we're not leaving until we do." I shiver, remembering the real reason we came into the woods today. 

"I mean, what if it kills us?" I ask.

"I told you, it's nothing. They were just trying to trick us, a prank, you know."

"They didn't sound like they were lying to me."

"Ok fine. They saw some animal, maybe a wolf or something, got all freaked out, and thought they saw something haunted. All I'm saying is there's nothing supernatural out there. That stuff just doesn't exist." His voice quivers. I can tell he's starting to doubt his own theory.

We walk in silence for a while. It must late at night because I can see all of the stars and the moon shining brightly above the ground. I've always loved constellations. I can see Orion, Ursa Major, Scorpius, the Big -"

"What the hell?" Nick yells in surprise.

"What is it?" I ask frantically.

"What the hell is that -thing?" Nick yells and points to the ground. I look over to where he is pointing and leap back. A giant hole about a yard in diameter is in the ground. But it's not really a hole, more like a void of nothingness.

"I-i don't know" I stutter.

Without speaking, Nick reaches down for a rock, and chucks it in to hole. It disappears, and for a few seconds, nothing happens. Then the hole grows by about inch.

"What's happening?" I ask frantically.

"Sh" Nick silences me. I hear the same footsteps I heard earlier and freeze. I knew they were something horrible I-

"Look" Nick whispers and points a small dormouse. I breathe a sigh of relief, but keep watching it. The mouse walks towards the hole and then pauses for a second. I think it senses it or something. It's about to turn around, when suddenly something changes. The mouse looks straight at the hole and then slowly begins marching to its death. It steps into the void, and then it's gone.

"What just happened?" I repeat.

"I don't know. Wait, look at the edge of the hole." He pauses and I glance at it, but I don't see anything.

"There's a bunch of bugs walking into it."

"So?" I ask, "It's a forest. There are lots of bugs here."

"No. It's like they're swarming around it or something. I think it is luring them in. That must be what happened to the mouse too."

"Wait," I pause and think, "this must be what's been eating all of the animals. My god, Martin and Jake were right."

"You were right, we should go" Nick suddenly blurts. "I don't know what that thing is, but I don't have a good feeling about this."

"No" I respond strongly, surprising myself.

"What?!"

"We can't leave now. I mean, it's only eaten animals and stuff so far, but what if a person is trapped. What if it just keeps growing and eats up the whole entire town."

"Well then we'll tell someone-"

"You think they're going to believe us?" I yell, "you didn't even believe Martin and Jake. We've gotta stay and get some solid evidence of this thing."

"Fine. One of us can stay here and watch it, and the other person can go and get the police or something. Just one condition: I'm not walking alone in the woods."

"O.k" I agree, turning around, "See you later. I hope" As I leave, I can't help but feel like something bad is going to happen. Something very, very bad.

Every sound feels like a murderer is on my heels. Every dark area looks like another void. I speed up, trying to get out as fast as possible and wonder how Nick is. The stars start to fade, it brightens a little. It must be 4 or 5 in the morning. I check my compass again, feeling like I'm walking in circles. I look up at where the sun is starting to rise and check my compass. It says I'm going North. The void must be screwing with the magnetic force or something. I must have been walking in circles for hours.

Suddenly I get a pit in my stomach feeling. Something's happening to Nick, I can just tell. I turn around and start walking the other direction. The way back takes a lot less time only 10 minutes or so.

"Aaah" I here Nick scream and start running.

"Nick, are you ok?" I yell back, but he doesn't respond.

When I see him, he's staring at the hole and trembling. I tap him on the shoulder, but he doesn't respond.

"Nick!" I yell again, but he doesn't respond. He steps closer to the hole. I grab him and try to pull him back, but he resists.

"Don't to it!" I yell, "Nick, leave!" He takes another step, closer. Now he's just a couple of inches from the hole. I try to hold onto him, but it's no use. He leans forward and then falls to his death. The hole swallows him, and then doubles in size.

"Nick!" I yell out loud one last time and then break into tears. My best friend just jumped into a hole. He's dead.

I feel a pulse start to spread through my whole body and start shaking. The pulse gets stronger. I can make out words, "Go! Go! Go! Go!" With every pulse the words get louder. Now I can see my parents, my brother, and my Martin and Jake. Other people surround me until all I can see is faces, thousands and thousands of them, all yelling "GO!" with every pulse. And then I see Nick, and he's yelling at me too.

"Come on," he says, "I'm waiting for you!" But it's not really Nick. There's something off about him. He's missing something.

"He's not real," I tell myself, "None of them are. It's all in your head." The pulse is so strong that I'm shaking.

"I promise I'll be there," the fake Nick tells me. I can't help but stepping towards the hole.

"There you go, keep going," he en me, "you're doing great."

I start to walk forward. I can't help it. I try to think, but I can't. All I hear is the pulse and fake Nick's encouraging words. I take one step forward and-

"Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!"