The Legend

Submitted into Contest #94 in response to: Start your story with someone accepting a dare.... view prompt

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Fantasy Horror

Finally the summer holidays were here and my friends and I had amazing plans for the summer. As my family owns a summer house, which is located the mountains with a large lake a few miles away and a deep, dark forest in the backyard. We went to the summer house as soon our exams ended and our holidays were announced. We were excited as it was the first time me and my friends were going the summer house all alone for the first time with our family maid to take care of us.

“It is going to be the best trip”, Sarah said when we met at my house to start our trip.

After a 3 hour ride we reached our destination. We were exhausted so we decided to rest for a while and then to have fun later. After a few hours, me and my other two friends, Sarah and Mary, met in the living room after having dinner. It started raining so we couldn’t go outside for a hike, so we decided to play truth and dare.

We started playing, laughing, and having the time of our life. It was my turn to pick either truth or dare; so I choose dare.

 “Okay, let’s see. Oh yes! Alex you have to go into the forest all by yourself at midnight as the storm is over.” Mary said.

Sarah agreed with her. So I took up the challenge and took a flashlight, my mobile phone and bottle of water with me.

There was rumor that somewhere in the forest there is an old abandoned well which is haunted. Legend says that a long time there was cruel king who had a young son. They ruled over the entire country and used to come to the mountains for the summer. One such summer when they come to the mountains for the summer, the young prince saw a young beautiful maiden working in the field. He immediately fell in love with her, and decided to send her a letter telling her about his feelings and asking her to meet him in the forest near the well. They meet that night and talked and talked for a long time and they both fell in love. Over the days, the love between them grew more and more and the prince proposed her and she agreed.

The next day the prince took her to the king to talk about their marriage preparation but the king disapproved of her. So the prince decided to marry her in secret but the king learned about this. After they got married they went the place where they meet for the first time. The prince was unaware that the king was there ready to assassinate the lady. When they arrived there a poison arrow came out of nowhere and hit the lady and she fell into the well. The prince was shocked and later he went crazy. The royal family did not come back to mountains after that incident. Now it is said that at night around midnight the sound of a woman screaming is heard from the well and a floating around the well waiting to her revenge.

I didn’t know about it until I went into the forest. Unaware about the legend I went outside all ready to go on my scary journey. The wind was blowing. The moon was playing hide and seek with the clouds. The grass was wet due to the rain and the weather was getting colder. I gathered my courage and went into the forest. “Go further” Mary screamed, so I went further down. After a while I spotted an injured bunny so I decided to help it. After I wrapped its paw with a piece of cloth, it hopped out of my arms and hopped away. I was glad that it felt better so I decided to go back home but I realized that I was nowhere close to the forest opening. I tried to call my friends but there were no signals as I had gone too far. I did not know what to I do, so I sat on the tree stump and being crying.

At home Mary and Sarah were worried that I had not returned back. They tried calling me but couldn’t reach me. They were getting more anxious as it was getting gloomier and late. They waited and waited but the time went by like magic and they went to sleep on the couch.

The weather was getting worst and my water in my bottle finished. So I got up and started going to the opposite direction. After walking for a while I saw a well and went near it. I drank some water and filled my water bottle. I rested for a while but it felt as someone was watching me but when I looked around no one was there. After a while I saw an old woman coming towards me. I got a little scared but I stayed where I was.

She was coming towards the well and started taking some water out of it. She noticed me and asked, “Who are you and what are you doing here?” I told her that I was lost. She said that she will help me go back home because it was not safe to stay here alone at night with bad weather conditions.

We started going towards the house, we didn’t talk much. I listened to the rustling and the wind howling. In a few minutes we had reached our last stop, my home. I turned around to thank the woman but she was gone.

I went inside and sat on the sofa to relax for a moment but I went sleep as soon as I sat upon it. The next morning, at the table while breakfast I told my friends about my journey and they were quite surprised. However the maid overheard my story and said, “You shouldn’t have gone into the forest so late.” When we asked her why, she told us about the legend. We were scared at first but we were glad that I was fine.

That night as we were packing to go back, I saw the old lady standing in front of the forest waving at me. I waved back at her but she disappeared into the thin air again…

May 21, 2021 14:20

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