The Thing In the Woods

My little sister, Mary, and I hang in the backyard of our house. I sit on the uneven grass, facing toward the woods that lead to unknown places. My mom always told us not to go into the woods, and asking her why only made her snap at us. Instead of trying to find the reason, I decided to obey and forget about it. I saw Mary giggling as she spun around in her short, dark blue dress with her redheaded princess doll with a matching dress.

My mom came out looking more nervous than usual. She wasn't particularly looking at me or Mary, but mostly out at the woods. Her eyebrows furrowed down like she was lost in thought. Whatever it was, she knew something that we didn't, and she intended to keep it that way for sure. My mind flooding with curiosity, I managed to hold back from wanting answers. Then again... Don't I deserve to know?

"I'll be back. Going to get groceries, so I won't be gone for long. Don't linger out here all day." she ordered.

Mary stopped spinning around to say "Yes ma'am!" in that cheery tone of hers. I just gave her a nod and mom gave up one last look before walking back inside. After five minutes passed, we heard a car leaving the house and down the road. My sister dropped her doll and replaced her smile with a evil, childish grin as she made her way towards me. "Thomas! Let's go!"

I looked at her confused. "Go where?"

She pointed out into the woods. "There. I'm bored. Let's go out there, please?"

I wanted to tell her how mom warned us not to go into the woods. We won't know what type of wild animals were out there. From what mom has told us, there could be a deer, a snake, or even a bear. On the other hand, there wasn't much to do in this backyard. There was a tiny slide that was once a bright summer red, but faded to a winter pink. We have a tree, ten feet tall, and loosing leaves as we're close to the winter. I realized that there isn't gonna be much to explore around here and soon enough we'll want more areas to explore. I also couldn't help myself to wonder why it was such big deal for us to put a couple of feet between us and the woods. Curiosity overtook me in a heartbeat and just shrugged. "Okay. We'll go."

Mary smiled wide as she grabbed my wrist, rushing me to get up off the ground and go into the woods. The whole time, I was guilty for disobeying my mom. I was also feeling nervous, worried that my mom will somehow find out that we went into the woods. Another part of me, however, felt exhilarated to find all types of things I've never seen before. It was a beautiful sight ahead of me. I would look up at the sky and it'll be a fresh baby blue with cotton ball clouds. Until we got to the middle of nowhere, we came to a stop and Mary turned to me.

"Let's play hide and seek!"

Again, I wanted to disagree. We've already gotten so far ahead of ourselves, coming into these woods. We didn't need to split up and get lost. Instead of saying what I needed to say, I said "Sure." She ran off to a direction as I leaned against a tree and began to count. "One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten!" I moved away from the trees and started making my way to where she could've gone.

Twenty minutes passed and I still couldn't find Mary. It didn't worry me all that much, because our hide and seek would usually take an hour. That's only because I'm not so good at finding people.

"Thomas!" I heard Mary yell and it sparked adrenaline in me as I made my way to her voice. As I ran, It didn't take me long to realize we weren't in the brightest part of the woods anymore. It was dark and dreary, and the fog blinded the distance from afar. I saw my sister standing there in a pile of broken branches and leaves on the ground, looking up at something. "What is that?"

I walked up next to her, and she stood behind me. Whatever she saw, it was making her uneasy. "See what?" I asked her. She informed that it was in the tree in front of us, and I brought my hand up to point at the tree. "In this one?"

She tugged on my sleeve rather roughly and scolded me. "Don't point!" I put my hand down quickly and asked "Why?"

"Because I did that and it growled at me."

Her answer sent a chill down my spine, but it left the moment it came. I chuckled nervously, turning to face her and look down at her. "It's probably just an animal, Mary. We really shouldn't be here anyways, so let's go home before mom comes to find out we're not there." She looked like she was about to relax and agree, but her eyes widened. Her face grew as pale as snow while she looked at whatever was in that tree. I frowned at the sudden fear obvious on her face but never to be shown that much on her before. Especially when she whimpered and a streak of yellow liquid leaking down her leg caught my eye. She peed on herself, I thought to myself. "What's wrong with you, Mary? It's just a-"

She interrupted me when she backed away from me, constantly shaking her head. It seemed hard for her to talk, but she managed three words barely above a whisper.

"It's behind you..."

It didn't take too long to process what she meant, especially when something croaked with agony behind me. As if it was in pain. I slowly turned around and was met with skinny, rotting legs that were six feet long. I tilted my head up and saw nothing but a torso and a head, but no arms. Its milky eyes met my horrified brown ones and I couldn't muster a word until It got in my face, croaking some more. Ten seconds of silence went by and then it's mouth opens; razor sharp teeth from one side to the other. It shrieks, piercing my eardrums as well as Mary's as she's screaming, too. Her scream snapped something in me, the adrenaline returning, and I move my feet to grab her hand before running in one direction to hopefully get us back home.

From how fast we must've been running, it actually took us sooner than we thought to get back. I remembered us taking a few turns to get where we are, but that didn't bother me. I brought her into the house, locking the backdoor behind us. I sighed in relief that we were safe, but Mary's face still looked petrified. "Thomas, w-we gotta call mom!!"

I didn't wait for her to tell me twice as I ran to the phone on the wall, getting ready to call, but suddenly the back door opens and mom walks in with nothing in her hands. She looks at both of us inquisitively. "You guys okay?" she asked as I looked at her confused. Why did she come in from the back? Didn't she say she was going to the grocery store? Those questions were in my head for a minute, but they went away once Mary ran up to her and gave her a big hug. My mom stood there shocked as she cried, "Mom, I'm so glad you're here! We went into the woods and I knew we should've listened! I'm so sorry mom!" She tried to speak in between huffs and sniffles. Mom just looked down at her. Nothing else mattered as long as mom was here to protect us from whatever that thing was.

I was beginning to put a smile on the face until the phone rang, forgetting I was still right next to it. I grabbed the phone and answered. "Hello?"

"I'm on the way, Thomas," Mom's voice, sounding tired, came on the phone. "Make sure you tell Mary, and prepare to take baths when I get there."

I felt my blood run cold and my heart thump so hard that it was audible. All I could think was... If this is mom, who's holding Mary? I slowly looked and that thing was looking at me now with its familiar milky eyes, still in the form of my mother.

"It'll be okay" The thing that was suppose to be my mom, began to speak with a distorted voice. It was my turn to whimper in absolute fear as Mary no longer spoke. I blinked and everything changed. I was in another part of the dark woods, maybe even darker, but Mary was on the ground dead. The thing was back to its original form, looking at me with its bloody, malicious smile.

"It'll all be okay."