Smithfield Woods

It was a common sight around town: the four boys riding their bikes together. That was because there wasn’t much else to do in such a small place. Where everybody knows everybody and if you do something wrong it will get back to your mother by dinnertime. The boys mostly rode around to pass the time to move on to the next day, next month, next year.

“What do you guys want to do today?” Jamie asked the other boys. All four slowly came to a stop on their bikes.

“What is there to do around here?” Tom responded rather irritated. Although he wasn’t wrong.

“We could go down to the high school and shoot some hoops,” David offered.

“We don’t have a basketball,” Tom responded.

“We could go see a movie,” said Mark. Tom just snorted.

“There’s nothing out that I want to see,” Tom laid his bike down and sat in the grass.

“Fine. Do you have any suggestions, Mr. Helpful?” Jamie retorted.

“I do. Why don’t we go explore the old Smithfield Woods?” Tom replied. The three other boys just stared at him.

“You’re joking, right? You know we can’t do that,” Jamie responded in surprise. “Why would you even suggest that?”

“Why not? You know it’s just a b.s. story,” Tom answered.

 *** 

The Smithfield Woods were 7 acres of untouched land directly outside of town. It was surrounded by an 8 foot tall chain link fence with barbed wire rolling along the top. There were “no trespassing” and “private property” signs every few yards along the fence. No one was ever tempted to violate this warning.

I suppose every small town has some sort of urban legend affecting it, whether it be the hook man or the lady in white. This small town was no different.

There is a small pond located in the middle of Smithfield Woods. The water is always 100 degrees, thanks to a geothermal pocket buried nearby. The story is that years ago a group of boys (the number varies per storyteller, as is common with urban legends) who often played together. There was one boy among them that didn’t quite fit in: he was smaller than the others, slower than the others and was generally a bit of an outsider. In fact, the only reason the small boy was even invited along was because his mother was best friends with the ringleader of the group’s mother.

On this day, the weather had just started turning from summer to fall. There was a bit of a cold breeze blowing in from the north. The boys decided that the weather was perfect for a dip in the Smithfield Woods’ pond. They put on their swim trunks, grabbed their bikes and headed for the woods.

The smaller boy trailed behind, as usual. In fact, he got so far behind that he couldn’t see the rest of the boys. He wasn’t too concerned, though, because he knew where they were going. He pedaled to the pond and dropped his bike.

There was no one there.

While the boys should be splashing and playing, the water was eerily calm. The small boy looked around in confusion. Suddenly, there was a burst of activity in the trees; the boy froze in fear. In unison, all the boys rushed out of the woods and towards the small boy.

“Dunk time!” one shouted, and they all hollered in agreement. The continued running towards the small boy, yelling at the top of their lungs as they did. The small boy knew he couldn’t outrun the boys, so he tried to make himself as small as possible. Needless to say, it did not work. The boys grabbed him under each armpit and threw the small boy in the pond. The rest of the boys jumped in after him and took turns dunking him under the water. The small boy fought back as hard as he could, but he was no match against so many of them. The boys kept egging each other on with shouts of “more” and “hold him deeper” as the mob mentality grasped them. The boy thrashed and coughed.

It was some time before the boys realized that the small boy had stopped thrashing. In fact, he was lying facedown in the water and not moving at all. He was, instead, floating face down with his arms extended. One of the bigger boys poked him. Nothing happened. It was then that they all started freaking out.

They realized what had happened and all tried to blame someone else. Finally, they realized that it didn’t matter whose fault it was (because let’s be honest, it was everyone’s fault) and determined they had to clean up the mess.

Fortunately, one of the boy’s father was a contractor. A couple boys biked to his house and grabbed a couple shovels. The ride back to the pond was arduous but they finally made it back just before dark. They took turns digging until they had a hole a few feet deep. They tossed the body of the small boy in, threw the dirt on top and left. The poor boy’s mother never learned what happened to her son.

Now comes the urban legend part of the story: Every few years, a young boy from the town will disappear without a trace. Some blame the occasional drifter who floats through town. Some say it is a local cult recruiting the children. The most logical response is that the boys grew sick of the small town and ran off to the big city, disappearing into the crowds of people.

*** 

Whatever the truth behind the urban legend, David, Mark and Jamie all refused to go with Tom into the woods.

“Why risk it?” asked Jamie. “It’s just a stupid pond.”

“Yeah, well, there’s nothing else to do around here so I’m going. You sissies can go play basketball at the high school,” Tom answered. He turned his bike around and headed towards the woods. Just outside of town, he ran into the chain link fence. He tossed his bike into the grass and hiked towards it. Fortunately, the fence had been up for so long that parts of it were so rusted it could easily be broken by hand. Tom found a sizable rust spot and crawled through.

Despite the fact that he had never been into the woods in his life, the urban legend was so rampant that Tom knew just where to head. A dark cloud covered the moon, making it difficult to see but the woods were not too dense. After a few minutes, he could make out the shimmer of water in the distance.

That’s when he heard it.

There was a rustle of branches off to Tom’s right. While his initial reaction was fear, he laughed at himself. “It’s just some sort of animal,” he said to himself. “I am in the woods, after all.” He continued his trek towards the water.

Tom was just a few feet from the pond. He could see the fog floating over the pond. What was wrong with those boys? There was nothing wrong with this place.

There was another rustle to Tom’s right, this time more intense and it sounded closer. Tom stopped and turned.

That’s when he saw the most frightening sight in his life.

 *** 

Jamie couldn’t help it; he was curious if Tom had really gone to the pond last night. He wasn’t that stupid, was he? He biked over to Tom’s house but his mom said he wasn’t there. He must have spent the night at someone’s house and forgotten to call—that was not uncommon with Tom.

Jamie hopped back on his bike and headed over to David’s house. Although to get to David’s from Tom’s house he would be close to the Smithfield Woods. He could just check and see if he saw anything.

Jamie pulled up and rode slowly along the edge of the road, straining to see anything or anyone inside the fence. He almost rode right over Tom’s bike. It was lying in the grass, sprinkled with dew, and had clearly been here all night. But where was Tom?

“Tom? Tom?” Jamie ran along the fence and yelled. He noticed a darker spot and went over to investigate. There was a smallish hole punched out in the fence. Jamie put his hand on it, considered it for a split second, and turned back around.

He reported what he found to Tom’s mom. She immediately called the police and rushed to the woods. The squad car and Tom’s mother arrived at Smithfield Woods at the same time. They found Tom’s bike just where Jamie had said it would be. The cop grabbed some bolt cutters out of his trunk and cut a hole for himself and Tom’s mom to crawl through.

The two walked slowly through the woods, shouting for Tom every few feet. There was no reply, causing Tom’s mom to grow more and more urgent. They eventually made their way to the pond. The two were still scanning the woods hoping to see Tom walking towards them. That is why it took almost a minute for Tom’s mom to notice Tom’s body. In the water. Floating face down. Just like the small boy had allegedly all those years ago.