As a ten year old, as most can admit, I had an overactive imagination. Although I can’t prove what I saw those nights was real, this story shaped who I am today and the eagerness to share this story has sunk as deep as a National Geographic treasure hunter ship in the ocean, and seeing all you share your stories of disdain it makes me feel almost normal for experiencing that fateful night.
It was my 10th birthday. I had only a few friends at the time and to this day I can’t believe anyone showed up with the theme being Ben ten. There were four of us, those being me, Alex, Sarah, and Tom. Somehow we had all convinced the oblivious adults to allow us to explore the small patch of trees barely able to be called forest, but still big enough to get lost in. We walked out the door, leaving the terribly inflated green balloons and sideways hung tapestry’s behind. We waved goodbye and headed out behind the house.
“What if we see a serial killer,” Sarah called out to the rest of us boys who were so far ahead of her we could barely hear.
“Oh don’t worry dear princess, your chivalrous knight will defend you,” Tommy called back, making fake stab motions pretending to fight back monsters or whatever creatures where filling his young mind.
“Tommy you couldn’t even fight off Darrel at school a week ago,” me and Alex laughed as we stoped for the rest to catch up.
“Hey,” Tommy said sheepishly as his arms fell back in place, “he’s like, 7 feet tall.”
“Well I still thought it was brave,” Sarah said with a smile as she patted his shoulder, just reaching his place in the field.
“Come on guys,” I dragged out as I started walking slowly into the tree line so the rest could catch up. “They’re gonna expect us back soon and I wanna see something cool.”
Little did my ten year old mind know that I was gonna see something cool, at a price.
The woods, even though patchy, were still clogged with trees. Although some stories say that the sounds of the forest fill your ears the moment you step in. I can only remember now that it was eerily quiet that day. We were too busy being kids to feel the dense silence in the air.
“Hey stop that,” I swatted at Tommy as he slid behind me, pretending as if he wasn’t just pulling at my shoulder length hair for the past five minutes.
“I’m boredddddd,” Alex said sluggishly behind us.
“Well is the party behind us really any better?” I asked
“No,” he said quietly, his shoulders slouching a bit.
“Exactly.”
I noticed the the two boys drift off the path as Tommy spotted a squirrel, and the adventure began for the him and Alex.
I was left alone with Sarah.
I didn’t know her that well, she was Alex’s cousin, and we had only spoken a few times during school.
“So,” she said taking a few steps to my side, “you get anything cool for your birthday.”
I was too busy looking at her very long Auburn hair to hear her question as I hit her with a small “hmm?”
“Your presents,” she chuckled. Placing her hands behind her back.
“Oh yeah yeah, really cool stuff,” I tried remembering for a moment, but suddenly found myself an amnesia patient in the doctors office.
Her tone seemed to died down as she just began to follow me to a small log we both sat on. I kicked at the dirt a little and she joined me.
It was a nice moment in my mind, as i can remember it, my last normal moment.
“MIKEEEEE.” The loud scream ripping through the forest. My name.
I looked quickly at the direction it came from, and back to Sarah, her face white, a look of terror that still rings clear in my head.
I could imagine my face looked just as bad, as I quickly got up from the log, dirt spraying in front of me. I started running in the direction it came from. I knew it was Alex and I knew he was in trouble.
I lost sight of Sarah, and everything became a blur. I got lightheaded, and then another scream.
This wasn’t Alex.
And I was lost.
“ALEX,” I screamed through the blank green all around me, “TOMMY.”
The forest became a nightmare, I started moving in all different directions. After a while the dark started peering over the trees, the stars becoming eyes staring at me.
After about ten minutes of darkness I gave up, and sat myself on the dirt. I wanted to cry, how could I have been so stupid?
I got back up, determined to do something, to be able to able to get home. I couldn’t push the fear away though, and suddenly I became aware of the silence. Minutes went by and there were no birds, there were no squirrels, I couldn’t even find a single ant on the rough dirt floor.
It was as if something sucked all the life out of the planet, the only thing left, the creature making the screaming noise.
I took another step and tripped, a small root catching my feet. That was the last straw, I broke down crying.
After about two minutes of me feeling sorry for myself I heard something. Rustling in the bush. My eyes darted around me to the patch of open path right in front of me.
“Hello,” I called out into the night, and immediately realized how stupid that was.
“Hello”
I forgot about the injury as I started scrambling to get up. It was silent again but I didn’t stop to dwell, I just ran. I changed direction almost every five minutes, hoping to loose whoever replied.
About ten minutes later, I saw something that made me stop running.
It looked like a cave.
It might have been about the first grayish black thing I had seen yet, almost as dark as the night, but very reflective in the moon light. It had jagged etches, and looked as if an adult could only get through crawling on their knees, almost a perfect size for me.
I took a few steps closer to it, a faint whistling sound coming from deep inside, to this day I don’t know why I went inside, I can’t tell you what overcame me, what powerful force willed my small feet to move into that dark dark area.
But when I steppeda few feet inside, it wasn’t dark. I could see everything. Every outline of the cave wall, every rock and stone in the cave. It was as if I became nocturnal. I couldn’t comprehend it, I kept going. I came into a split into the middle of the cave, right, left.
I went right.
As my footsteps echoed through the small space, I started to creep slowly, afraid something would hear me. It was only a few minutes before the cave widened, I was able to go up on my toes, and not touch the ceiling. The elonged cave spread out, and I could see something in the distance. It was in a rectangular shape, and even in the bare light of the cave I could see every edge, every surface, every carved symbol.
I stepped closer, a stench rising from the area. I couldn’t tell what it was, but it was retched. I had to plug my nose as I creeped closer to the big box.
There was nothing in it.
I was confused, and my mind started running.
What was that smell, what was that smell, what was that smell.
I looked ahead of me, as I was previously oblivious to anything but the box.
I found the smell
Bodies, so many of them. Piled up to the roof of the cave, I couldn’t count all of them.
Where my friends In there?
Tommy?
Sarah?
Alex?
My feet wouldn’t move, I just stared. My eyes wouldn’t move, my feet stuck in cement.
I saw women, I saw men, I saw children.
“Hello”
I bolted, the silence broken and a maniacal laughter rang through the cave.
And as quickly as it came It was gone, and I was quickly to the edge of the cave. I ran, and I ran, and I ran. Me feet tore against the soles of my shoes until they where numb, I was cut by so many thorns on branches it looked as if a knife was taken to every inch of my skin. I didn’t stop running, I couldn’t.
And I was free.
The tree line broke and I was back outside, my backyard in view. I kept running and running till I got to the front. There where cop cars, and I could see all the parents talking to the police, Alex and Sarah huddled next to theirs. My mom saw me, and I collapsed into her arms.
We started crying, and neither of us said a word. The silence didn’t last long though
“Tommy?” I heard a woman cry out next to me.
“Where’s my boy” Tommy’s mom was now screaming frantically as her husband tried to contain her. Both their faces damp in the glow of the moon “MY BOY.”
“TOMMY”
Tommy never came home