Black Forest

Chapter 1
         By the side of the river, there was a scarlet red envelope, unaddressed. I crouched down, broke the seal, and peeked inside; there was a small piece of paper inside,which I picked up and read, now curious. It said:
         To whom it may concern:
         Consider yourself warned; Black Forest is as dark as its name. When the last shadow fades into night, hide your keys once all your doors have been locked. And remember-- you can not only be locked in, but you can also be locked out.
         I looked up from the note to look around me for a sign of anyone having been here. There was nothing but trees and the rushing river beside me, a distant noise to my confusion. Then I noticed a rather small... clue? It was a black ribbon tied neatly around the tree nearest me.
         I got closer to the tree and touched the ribbon. A chill ran down my spine and a cold sweat sprung on the back of my neck. A hazy vision flooded my mind. I could barely make out a skeleton hand but nothing else. Before I could try to make out the blurred background, it disappeared and my hand on the silk ribbon came back into view again.
         My heart sank with disappointment. I didn't know if I'd find another black ribbon just like that one again to give me another clue so I could figure out what the letter and the ribbon were trying to tell me. I decided to untie the ribbon from the rough bark of the tree and take it with me, just in case I needed it again.
         I wrapped it around my wrist, just like a bracelet, and set off towards the tent my friend, Melissa, had just set up.
         Every year, five days before Halloween, Melissa and I set up camp at Black Forest and stay until the day after Halloween, hoping something frightening might happen. Everyone we know, young or old, has a scary story to tell about Black Forest: some say there's a dead ghost girl flying through the whistling branches of the trees each night, others say that countless murders have happened, filling the river with ruby red blood until it turned black, hence the name "Black Forest."
         Melissa and I just laugh whenever someone tries to scare us with their stories, even though we do hear a strange little girl's voice high in the treetops sometimes, and the river is a strange black with a dark red tint to it. But each time we come to visit, we return home alive, doubting the silly tales we heard.
         Melissa smiled when she saw me trudging towards the lopsided tent she was trying to fix. "Can you help me out a little?" she asked, laughing at the poor job she'd done.
         I rolled my eyes and started to help her. Melissa had never been good at putting up tents, but every year she pursues to get it right.
         After a while, the black and blue tent was upright and ready to climb into. "Wait!" Melissa shouted. She turned to her bag and dug in it until she found what she was looking for. She held up two lanterns and handed one to me. That's when she noticed the black ribbon tied around my wrist.
         "Hey, where did you get that?" she asked. Her eyes sparkled a little at the sight of the silk ribbon.
         "I just found it over there," I told her and pointed to the tree that was looming over the glinting black river.
         "Oh," she replied, and then spotted the letter that was still in my hand. "And that?"
         "Same place."
         She nodded. Then her face took on a sly smile and she grabbed the letter from my hand. She read it and she laughed a little once she was done. "Are you really buying this?"
         "No, of course not!" I lied. "I just thought you'd want to see it, since it's so ridiculous."
         Melissa scoffed. "Yeah, this is obviously somebody's little trick. But I mean... we don't even have keys! We're in a tent!" She ripped it up and threw it on the ground. "Well enough of that. Let's get inside the tent!" She said enthusiastically.
         I looked back at the ripped up bits of the letter and watched them flutter in the wind before I climbed into the tent and watched them float softly into the air and into the crowds of trees, disappearing from view.
{TO BE CONTINUED}