Swing With Me

Swing With Me

         “Oh my gosh! I have a really good idea,” Brooke proclaimed, while sitting on her lumpy, leather couch, surrounded by her three friends, Brent, Megan, and Ali.
         “What is it?” asked Brent, leaning against the wall, counting ceiling tiles as the time passed by. Brent was a lot of fun to be around, but he had to be doing something that wasn’t boring and he could do for long periods of time. His hair was golden brown and lightly combed, if it was combed at all. He wore a plain, black tee shirt and a pair of old, holey jeans, with DC tennis shoes, tied loosely on his feet.
         “Well, there is an old forest way behind my house that no one has been in for over twenty years,” Brooke exclaimed, excitedly, “if you feel like being scared, then we should totally go.” Brooke loves being scared. She was sitting on the edge of the couch, overly enjoying the idea she had just come up with for something to do. She always wore a tight, dark pair of jeans with a shirt showing her school pride, along with her black sweatshirt that she bought at a dance competition.
         “I don’t know. It might rain tonight and I think it would be better to just stay in,” Megan timidly spoke up. Megan was the shy one of the group, always wanting to do something fun, but quiet and controlled, like going to see a movie at the local theater. Her family had inherited a large fortune of money from her rich grandparents a few years back. She always wore expensive brands of clothing. Today, she was wearing 7 Jeans with a juicy zip-up sweatshirt. 
         “Oh come on. You know it’s not supposed to rain. You’re just too afraid to do anything outside of a house,” Ali said excitedly, “I’ve heard stories about that forest actually. Apparently, there’s this small house toward the end of forest where a family of four used to live. The father killed his wife and two children, a boy and a girl, with an axe and then he put a bullet through his head.” Ali pretended to be outgoing like Brooke whenever she was around Brent, but she is really more like Megan; quiet, keeps to herself when she can, and also has a crush on Brent. Trying to impress him, she wore a pair of tight jeans along with a pink tank top, covered with a zip-up sweatshirt that only covered the upper half of her torso.
         “I’m in,” replied Brent eagerly. He would agree to anything that Brooke suggested they do.
         “Good! Let’s do it,” Brooke answered, finally able to jump up from her seat and lead everyone out to her backyard. Megan groaned and moaned, but got up and followed everyone out anyway. As they walked toward the entrance to the forest, it began to grow darker as the sun descended upon the horizon; colors of red, orange, yellow, and blue shone down and around, deep within the forest. They walked right into it without hesitation.
         “This is going to be so awesome. Do you think the story is true you guys?” asked Brent.
         “Sure. Why wouldn’t it be? It sure is creepy enough and there has been no proof that it isn’t true,” Brooke was the first to speak up. Though she was thrilled they were all going to actually go through with this, she could begin to feel her heart beat faster and faster as they walked deeper and deeper into the forest. All of the trees were tall and wide, with moss wrapping itself around every inch of each tree. They all had so many branches that it was impossible to see any light peeking its way through the spaces between them. Leaves of every different color were spread out all along the pathway they were following. Megan thought she heard a rustling in the leaves and stopped suddenly.
         “Whoa you guys! I think I just saw something over –,“ she began to say just as an owl hooted just behind them, “Ahhhhhhh!” Megan ran out of the forest, back the way they came, screaming at the top of her lungs.
         “Well I guess Megan is not going to come back,” Ali blatantly said, “It was only an owl hooting. She must’ve been really scared.”
         “Yeah. I guess so,” Brooke replied and then quickly changed the subject, “So are we going to continue or are you all going to chicken out on me too?”
         “I’ll stay for as long as you want me to,” said Brent, his eyes focused on Brooke.
         “I’m staying too. I’m not even scared yet,” Ali said weakly, more to Brent than to Brook. They then continued to walk toward the deepest part of the forest. Up ahead was a small shack.
         “Is that the house where it all happened?” Brent was the first to notice and pointed in the direction of the small house.
         “It appears so. It is the only house around, it seems like,” Ali said with a little shake in her voice.
         “Well, do you want to go in? It might be kind of cool to check it out and see if there is any evidence that may make the story true,” Brooke said with a delight in her voice, moving her eyebrows up and down, appearing not in the least bit afraid of what could happen.
         “Well…I guess we might as well since we made it this far,” Brent said with skepticism in his voice, sounding unsure if he really wanted to go farther or not.
         “Come on. Let’s go then,” Ali said quickly, making the first step, attempting to hide that she had never been more frightened in her life. Brent followed, Brooke right behind him, slipping his fingers through Brooke’s. Their pace slowed as the house became closer and closer. Suddenly, Brooke heard a swing creak, looked in the direction of the eerie sound and stopped moving, her eyes blank and full of fright.
         “Look! There’s someone on the swing set! Do you see it? Do you?!” Brooke screamed without giving them a chance to answer. Ali and Brent both looked at the swing set and saw what Brooke had just seen. They moved ever so slowly now, truly afraid of where they were. They could see a silhouette of a small child, a girl, swinging without any joy, her head facing the ground. When they came up to the swing set, they stopped to look at the child. All of a sudden, she looked up at them, eyes fully opened, with a blank expression on her face, while still swinging.
         “Holy shit!” yelled Brent with enormous fear in his voice, eyes opening even wider.
         “Want to swing with me? Daddy is gone,” the girl asked eerily.
         “Ahhhhhhh! Let’s get out of here!” screamed Ali, obvious terror in her voice. They all ran to the front of the house as fast as they could. Not thinking of what they were doing or where they were going, they opened the door and ran inside, slamming the door shut.
         “What the hell was that?” asked Ali, gasping for air.
         “I guess it was one of the murdered children,” replied Brooke rather calmly.
         “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything more freaky in my life,” exclaimed Brent, “Shit! Now look where we are.” He said, finally noticing where their feet had carried them. They were now standing in the middle of what appeared to be the living room. A cluster of noise could be heard, coming from the next room.
         “Shhh. Do you hear that? It sounds like someone is cooking in the kitchen,” whispered Brooke. With Brent taking the lead, they all tiptoed toward the kitchen, carefully peeking in the small crevice between the door and the wall.
         “Oh come on you chickens,” said Brooke and pushed the door open, revealing a woman standing over the counter, cutting up carrots. She turned around and stared at them, a smile forming on her face.
         “Oh you must be the neighbors. We’ve been expecting you. Come on in and have a seat. I’m just about to finish making the salad,” the woman said cheerfully.
         “Run!!” shouted Ali, as they all ran back to the living room and out the back door.
         “Okay. That was really creepy. Did you guys see that too or was it just me?” asked Brent, not fully believing what he just saw.
         “Oh we sure saw it. I guess the story is true,” said Brook nervously. Just then, they all looked around at where they were now standing. There were piles of wood laying everywhere. Over by the left corner of the house were three different sizes of axes, hanging from a small, metal rack. The smell of blood hung heavily in the air.
         “This must’ve been where he killed his family. This place is beginning to give me the creeps,” Brooke finally said after examining the backyard for a few minutes.
         “It’s only just beginning to give you the creeps? I think it’s time for us to leave. Come on Brent,” Ali said just above a whisper and reached for Brent’s hand.
         “You’re right. I’m honestly freaked out right now,” replied Brent, no longer afraid to hide his fear of the forest. He grabbed Brooke’s hand again and together they began to walk around to the front of the house. Suddenly, a tall, dark figure stepped out in front of them, holding an axe horizontally.
         “Going somewhere?” the figure asked in a low, deep voice.
         “Holy hell! Run! Let’s get out of here! Quick!” shouted Brent, pulling the girls as he began to run around the other side of the house. Ali looked back and noticed the man was following them, taking long strides toward them.
         “Faster! Faster! He’s coming!” she cried. They ran as fast as they could, back to the front of the house, back down the driveway, and out the other end of the forest. Brooke looked back this time, noticing they were no longer being followed, and then began to slow her pace. All of a sudden, Megan pops out from behind a tree.
         “Oh my gosh! Megan? What are you doing here?” asked Ali with confusion. However, Megan didn’t reply. Brooke walked up to her and gave her a high-five.
         “Nice job. They totally bought it,” Brooke told Megan.
         “Wait…what? Are you saying you set us up?” asked Brent angrily.
         “Well…basically. It was my idea. I knew about this place and the story that goes along with it and so I decided it would be fun to get a good scare out of some of you. I didn’t have any resources to do it, though, so I asked Megan to hire a couple of people to scare you guys. They did a really good job,” Brooke exclaimed to Brent and Ali, “Awesome job Megan.” Brooke looked at their faces and waited to hear their reaction.
         “Are you crazy?” yelled Ali, “I was so scared back there!”
         “Good. Then it worked,” Megan finally spoke up.
         Brent looked from Megan to Brooke and then smiled. “That was pretty sweet actually. That little girl, the woman, and the man were so believable. How did you accomplish all of that?” he asked them.
         “Wait…There was a child?” asked Megan, now confused.
         “Yeah. She was on the swing set,” replied Brooke.
         “I didn’t hire a child,” Megan said, now looking scared. Brent, Brooke, Ali, and Megan, then, all looked back into the forest; stunned, realizing they had to go back through to the other side, to get back to Brooke’s house.