The Woods

The music was blasting from downstairs, I could hear the laughter from the others, they all sound happy, but that could also be from the booze they are drinking. I finish getting ready, the final touch being an oversized sweater that I had thrifted last week. “You got this,” I say to myself in the mirror. As I make my way out of the room, I can hear distant conversations from everyone in the cabin. Just one foot after the other, I tell myself as I make my way down the stairs. As people began to spot me, they began to quiet down and speak in a hushed tone, I could feel the hundreds of eyes staring at me.

It wasn’t always like this, I used to be the life of the party. These people, that I have known for years, wouldn’t hesitate to strike up a conversation with me.  But after the night of the accident, everything changed. This is the first party I’ve been reluctantly dragged to since that night. Over in the corner, I spot Jennifer and walk over to her. “There you are! I’ve been wondering if I was going to have to go rescue you or something,” she laughs. “I know, I’m sorry, but at least I came downstairs this time.” I look at her with a soft smile. “Well now that you are here, let’s drink!” She hands me a red solo cup filled with God knows what, “Cheers bitches!” She laughs as she clinks our drinks together. The music and laughter continue once again, and I take a deep breath.

After a few drinks, I am clearly intoxicated. I begin stumbling across the room like a newborn deer trying to figure out how to walk. Jennifer, where was she? I glance over to the kitchen, where she is sitting on top of the counting making out with some random guy. Fuck, I knew she would do this and just leave me for some random guy. I find myself walking towards the front door, fresh air is beginning to sound like a good idea.

I plop down on the front steps of the cabin, God this cabin is amazing. A 2 story, log cabin, in the forest by our hometown. We began renting the cabin every year, Jennifer, Sarah, and me, that is, before things changed. Last year was cruel to all of us, Sarah especially. Nobody believed Sarah when she told us she had a stalker, I mean what are the chances of that? She was believed to be so innocent, but the ones that really knew her knew that was not the case. She had gotten into some dark stuff, but that could never justify what happened to her.

Sarah told us about the incidents with the guy, where she constantly felt like somebody was watching her, leaving flowers on her car, tapping on her windows, etc. We all thought she was crazy; I wish that was how it was. On November 15^th, 2022, Sarah was brutally murdered in her bedroom. There were no signs of the killer, and the police never found him.  All that was left by the killer was a single rose, laid on top of her body. Jennifer and I told the police about the stalker, they said they would look more into it, but nothing ever came up again.

The night I got the call of her death was the most pain I have experienced. It had felt like my heart was ripped out of my chest entirely, I lost my best friend all because of some psychopath. That night, I remembered collapsing to the ground, passing out, my parents had to call 911, turns out I had an intense panic attack, solved by high dosage of anxiety medication, and tranquilizing medication until I could finally breathe again.

After that, I have not been the same anymore. I stopped responding to texts, I dropped out of college, and moved back home with my parents. I call it my dark year, but tonight it is different. Jennifer convinced me to come to the cabin again, telling me to do it for Sarah, so of course I had to. So here I am, sitting on the porch by myself, way too fucking drunk. The front door opens, “Oh shit…Sorry didn’t realize anyone was out here,” I turn to see who it was, and don’t recognize the guy, “You’re fine,” I say to him, slurring my words as I speak. “Mind if I join you?” He asks me as he sits down. I take a sip of my drink and manage to get out a noise that sounds like an mhm.

I take a glance at the man sitting next to me, it could be the many drinks talking, but he is a very attractive man. He catches me staring at him and lets out a low chuckle, “The names Ethan.” He says to me as he reaches out to shake my hand, “I’m Leslie.” His hands are huge, and I am weirdly turned on by the veins I see on his arms. Noticing that I am still holding his hand, I pull it back and weirdly laugh. His dark brown hair is in a man bun, not something I’m normally attracted to, but he pulls it off well. It is hard to tell in the light what he truly looks like, as it is almost pitch black. We sit in an awkward silence for a minute, until Ethan finally speaks up, “Are you from around here?” I look at him and nod, “About 20 minutes away actually, you?” He smiles and responds to my question, “No actually, I moved here last year.” “Nice,” is all I can manage to say.

I decided to finally get up off the porch, and as I am beginning to stand up, he grabs my hand, “Wait, don’t leave yet.” I sit back down on the porch, as he leans over, putting his hand on my face and kisses me. In absolute shock, I pull myself away from him, “What the fuck?” “I’m sorry, I just thought you were giving off some vibes that you would be down for that.” I stand up backing myself away from him, “Yeah, no thanks.” Fuming with anger, I walk towards the woods. I feel mad at myself for reacting that way, an attractive man wanted to kiss you and you got up and left? I know I’m drunk, but apparently not drunk enough for that. So, I continued my walk to clear my head.

As I walk further into the woods, struggling to even walk straight, I realize I don’t know where I am currently. “Fuck.” I say to myself, and whatever animals are around me. I grab my phone from my back pocket to try and pull up a map, but after repeatedly pressing the On button, which clearly isn’t working I realize the phone is dead.  Shit, okay, let me just try and walk back the way I came. After walking for what seems to be 20 minutes, I realize I am completely lost. The panic begins to set in, and I feel my chest tightening.

I hear a branch rustle from behind me and quickly turn around, it is almost pitch black, with not even the moon to provide light being covered by the trees. “Ethan?” I looked nervously, hoping that at least if that was someone, maybe they would know how to get back. There is no response, I can feel my heart racing, as another branch crunches. I notice a black shadow, of what looks to be like a person standing at least 15 feet away from me, “Ethan if that is you, this is not funny okay?” The shadow stands there, almost as if they are just watching me like prey. “Fuck this.” I turn around and begin walking fast in the other direction, hoping I’m close enough to the house.

I briefly glance in the direction of the shadow, but notice it is gone. I slam into a hard surface in front of me, due to my lack of attention. “What the fuck.” I look up to see a man, that I have never seen before wearing all black. I can’t make out details of his face, and I don’t even want to try, so I turn away from him and begin walking away quickly. He grabs my arms, and tries to drag me with him, I can’t breathe. With the liquid courage currently flowing through my system, I elbow him as hard as I can, allowing for one arm to be released from him, I take the opportunity to turn towards him and kick him as hard as I can in the shin. The strange man releases me, and I sprint. Not knowing where I am going, I run as fast as I can, struggling to fill my lungs with air. I can hear his footsteps from behind me, he’s going to catch up to me if I don’t do something now.

I continue running while trying to think of a plan, what the fuck am I supposed to do? I ask myself, as I hear him getting closer to me, I make a full stop, which confuses him enough that he continued running, so I run in the opposite direction hoping it bought myself enough time to get away. I stumble over as I did not notice the big ass rock in my path, and scramble to get up. The man is too quick, and grabs me by the hair, dragging me. “PLEASE STOP,” I scream, “LET ME GO,” I am fighting him with every power in my body currently. I am going to die.

“Leslie wake up,” I open my eyes, seeing Jennifer’s concerned look on her face, confused, I feel myself surrounded by a pool of sweat. I look around the room, and then back at Jennifer. The clock says 3 am, I am in the cabin, not in the woods, I can feel my heart pounding. “You were screaming so loud it woke me up, are you okay?” I look at her with a puzzled face, “I must’ve had a nightmare.” I told her. “Okay well, I am glad you are not dying. Do you want me to stay in here with you?” Jennifer asks me, “Yeah that would be nice.” She climbs into the bed with me, and after calming myself down, I fall back to sleep, with hopefully no more nightmares.