My friend John and I have known each other since kindergarten. He was my only friend throughout pretty much my entire life. When he moved two towns over with his girlfriend, Amber, it was a big change for me. I’ve only met Amber once, she was wild and daring, the perfect girl for John.
During our childhood, John and I spent many days playing out in the woods. Barely in the woods, there was an old well, which supposedly is cursed. John wanted to find out just how real the curse was, but I was too scared and came up with thinly veiled excuses. He was always the brave hero, and I the shy sidekick.
Now, I guess I finally found the courage after all. Because when John came back to town for a visit, we made our way to the well. As we approached the well, we recanted the old stories we had heard so long ago. Some said a witch was drowned in the well, others said a serial killer dumped the bodies of his victims in it, yet other people said it had always been cursed, that something evil lives down there.
As we approached the well I noticed there was a big round wooden cover over it, and John had begun to lift it. “Wanna give me a hand here buddy?” He said. Dragging my feet I walked to the well and helped him lift the wooden cover.
“Is there really a monster down there?” John shouted down the well.
For a moment the forest had gone silent, no wind, birds, or insects to be heard.
Then what I had always feared happened.
“Monster? Isn’t that a bit harsh John?” an echoing voice replied.
the color drained from John’s face as we stared at each other, wide-eyed and shocked.
“And you’ve brought a friend I see. Yes, I do know you, little Davy, always so afraid of me. Let me tell you a little secret, Davy, you were right to be afraid.” said the thing inside the well.
I look at John with despair as he suddenly bursts out laughing.
“What the hell is your problem?!” I shouted at him, my face red with fury. John sat down on the edge of the well and after a good five minutes of all-out laughter, he calmed down a bit and produced a rope from behind his back.
“Amber and I came here together, before I went to pick you up I lowered her into the well with rope, this has all just been a prank. You’ve got to admit we got you.” John said, still snickering.
Just then, over half a dozen hands, blue and bloodied with broken fingernails, reached out from the well and grabbed onto John. Now the terror on his face was different from before, this was real. In the blink of an eye, the hands pulled John into the well and before I realized what had happened, I heard bones breaking and blood spattering.
I ran home, locked my door, and hid in my closet for hours. That was two weeks ago. John and Amber were not exactly the most predictable people, they haven’t been reported missing yet as far as I know.
I haven’t told anyone about this, people have been disappearing with increasing frequency. And it is only now that I realize, I never put the well cover back on it.