saladlove | The Woods

This is just a random thing i wrote a while back ~~if there are any spelling or grammar errors its Caps fault :P~~

Let me take you too a little forest outside of an ordinary town. It looks normal enough, just your average forest. Many people love to go there to camp. Its the perfect place for sleeping under the stars or to roast some s'mores over a fire or even sit down and tell a scary story made only for camping around a campfire. As ordinary as these woods may seem, there is an evil within them. Missing people and dead bodies are an extremely common thing within those trees, but somehow people seem not to notice.

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“This is it?” I asked as I dropped my bags on the leaf covered ground. A few of my friends and I had been walking for about an hour in the forest near our school trying to find the famous clearing. I don’t know what I was expecting, but for “the best camping spot” it was just a small clearing. I didn't see what was so special about it. Even though it was a warm autumn afternoon, I felt a chill go down my spine, and for a split second, I could of sworn I saw the clearing covered in bodies all murdered in different ways and dark figures just out of sight lying in wait in the woods. It was just my imagination getting the best of me, I guess, as everything seemed normal.
“Yep, this is it. We probably want to get a fire ready before night fall. Wouldn't want the monsters in the dark to get us would we?” my ‘friend’ Dana said while playfully punching me in the shoulder. Ever since I had confessed about my fear of the dark she had been making fun of it. Any chance she could, she would bring it up. I didn't mind it and started working on the fire. My friend Scarlet walked up to give me a hand with it. She wasn't much for words, mostly said nothing, and hung on the side lines in all of our conversations. If you ever talked to her one on one she would mostly listen. By the time we had our camp set up, the sun was already behind the trees. We all sat around the fire getting ready to start roasting the marshmallows and hotdogs.
“Who’s gonna tell one? It can't be me. I did it last time.” Dana asked.
“I’ll do it if no one else wants to go.” Dana’s boyfriend, Leo, responded. Leo was the only reason I put up with Dana. We had been friends since we were kids, and he was the exact opposite of Dana meaning most of his time lately was spent cleaning up her messes. I hated to see him be dragged down, but it wasn't my place to say something. We had agreed long ago not to talk about our dating lives.
“Im going to take you guys silence as a go for it,” Leo said while looking around the fire to make sure everyone was in agreement. Dana, Scarlet, Ginny and I all nodded in agreement when he looked at each of us.
“This story takes place in a forest much like this one. A group of four girls and a guy went camping. It was said that in those woods lay a ruthless killer. He lived off his victims meat and slept in the trees, waiting for the next campers to stop for the night. This group of people had settled down for the night; sitting around the fire, talking, not noticing the man standing just feet away from them who was half hidden by the trees.” as Leo said the words, I could have sworn I heard a twig snap, and when I looked up, I thought I saw a figure of a man that disappeared a split second after I saw it. A shiver went down my spine as I stared at where I thought the man had stood, but it had to just be my head messing with me. It’s just a story.
“The man waited in the shadows for someone to leave the group, or for them all to fall asleep. He studied his targets from afar figuring out who to eat first, and who he might let go. The man almost laughed at the thought of letting someone go. He would never do that. Every kill counts.”

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“In a woods much like these, there lived a teenage girl. She seemed normal enough except for the fact that she was a murderer with a whip,” said a mysterious voice that came from nowhere. I felt something in my hand, and it felt right at home. I don't remember much, but I was surrounded by trees. I had a bullwhip in my hand, and I felt a grin come to my face as I thought about killing. I began walking. I didn't know if there would be any people in the direction I was headed, but I had a feeling that I should go this way. I felt at home surrounded by the trees that comforted me. As I walked through the trees, I saw some figures for a moment, but I wasn't scared. I didn't know them, but they felt like they were friends.
“It was said she roamed the woods looking for people stupid enough to enter, and when she finds them, it’s said she repeats the past” I could hear something coming from up ahead. It sounded kind of like a teenage girl, but all I heard was the next one to die for the woods. Suddenly it hit me, I remembered everything.
My name is Amy. I had a pretty normal life until we came into these woods. If some people knew its secret, they would call it a curse, and for most people it is, but not for me. For me, the woods were a blessing, a home. It takes the lives of most who enter, but in trade it gives only a few a home, friends, and a happy life. It had been two years since I left my old life. My friend was telling an innocent scary story when the impossible happened: it came to life. They had all settled down to sleep, but not me. I was too busy watching the stars and enjoying nature. I would like to say it happened so fast I couldn't do anything, but I really could have. I just didn't want to. I wanted to watch.
The killer jumped from the trees, knife in hand. He was silent, but i saw it. He headed straight for Scarlet, and before she could even feel it what once was in her stomach laid on the grass. Hearing the noise, the others woke up. For a split second, they were too shocked to do anything. That costed Ginny her life. Leo jumped up as the man went for Dana. Sam I remembered, the man's name is Sam. He and I didn't know each other that well, but he was a nice guy. Of course, everyone the wood takes in is. Leo tried to grab the knife but he was stabbed in the stomach. Still, he continued to fight once again trying for the knife just to be gutted like a fish. With only Dana left there, he wasn't so quick to kill. We walked over slowly to where she laid frozen in fear, and I felt a grin spread across my face as the knife came down, ending her life. Then, Sam led me into the forest. I didn't question it; I just followed along happily. The woods explained things, and for the last two months everything was great, but now it was my turn to kill.
I looked over the group. There were two couples, and one guy off to the side, an obvious fifth wheel. It was easy enough to see which ones would meet death today, and which one would join the woods. I let the whip fall by my side and looked at the calm before the storm one last time before running in and causing chaos. First, I went for one of the girls, wrapping the whip around her neck, tightening it until she fell down never to get back up. The last three had me surrounded by the time I was done. I laughed. They were making this a little too easy. Almost not trying, I swung the whip towards one of the guys. He caught it easily, but thats exactly what I wanted. Once he got a good grip on it, I pulled it towards me as hard as I possibly could. As he was dragged forward, I slammed my knee into his head. Then, before he could fall, I twisted his neck around. The last two both decided it was time to attack me, running at me from opposite sides. I jumped up, making the two instead run into each other, landing on the guys head and making it go an odd angle. The girl looked at me with pure terror, and if it was possible my grin got wider. Just like the first girl, I pulled the whip around her neck until she fell.
“Follow me,” was all I said to the boy as I walked back into the tree line. He followed, not saying a word as if in a trance. All my friends were waiting at the tree line to greet our new friend. I turned so we all were facing him and also staring at the the open clearing. For one single minute, one wonderful minute, all of the people, the victims, that had ever died in the woods appeared in the clearing. It was almost like my first view of the place, except this time I understood what was happening, and I wasn't scared. This time I was on the other side with people I was lucky enough to call my friends beside me, and I didn't have a thought of ever leaving.

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For many years before and many years after, people joined the woods. They all thought it a blessing, when really they were worse off than the souls it consumed. The ones it kept were twisted and given thoughts that were not theirs. The woods would convince you that you loved it, that it was helping you, that you had a better life now, that you have a home and friends, and it did, but it also took all that away first, and it used you to feed.
May you never find these woods because they will draw you in, and no matter who you are, you will never get out.