Woods

The kids spend the night during the school sleepover, determined to find details on the legend of Alan Crandall. First appearance of Tammy Harrington. Also, a few of the guys find an surprise

Chapter III
Woods

“These woods are super scary.” Liz held her flashlight as her and Tim wondered through the woods.

Here was the plan;

The friends broke into two groups. Steve, Veronica, Alan, Rod and Richie all left to go to the school while Tim and Liz stayed behind to investigate the mysterious shadow in the dark he had seen during the ride to Liz’s house.

“Why are we here anyways?” Liz badgered on again. “I just got my nails done for the lake house and Rod and I are going out to dinner Sunday so i have to get my new dress tomorrow morning before we go and on top of that-” Tim held up his finger.
“You are an annoying b***h, please shut the hell up.” Tim spoke softly as they both walked through the forest.

The trees seemed to touch the sky against the fading sky. Everything was calmer, softer at night.

“Well I don’t like you guys either. I’m just friends with you guys because of Rod.”
“Go back to your prissy rich friends. Me and everyone else are too much for you.”
“They are not!”
“They are too! You can’t do anything but complain and go on and on about how rich you are! If it wasn’t for your mothers chocolate truffles I wouldn't even go over to your house.”
“I can go back to hanging with Tammy and all them, even if I dislike her. They're my rich friends. I don’t have to hang out with you poor scum bags!” Her voice echoed through the forest as all got silent.

They had lost the trail and now they were stepping over branches.
“Can’t believe i said that.” Liz whispered, wiping a tear away.
“Why do you like Rod anyways? He’s wrong for you, everything about him is wrong.”
“I-” Tim interrupted.
“Is it because your parents want you to be with Stan? Is it because you want to go against their will?”
“But-” He interrupted again.
“And it’s not only because he looks like John Lennon, right? Minus the hair color and glasses.” Tim laughed and smiled at his statement.
"Screw off Tim, I f*****g love Rod! Stan talks about his wealth all the time and it gets annoying after a while. Rod is a great amazing guy and a perfect boyfriend." Liz crossed her arms.
They finally reached the edge of the forest. A small wooden house was surrounded by trees. The house was very small and looked like it was breaking down with the windows shattered and the paint chipping off horribly.

“What is that?” Liz shinned her flashlight on the house.
“Old custodian house. Back in the 50’s, custodians used to stay out here.”
“That’s horrifying.”
“It’s what poor scum bags do.” Tim chuckled and slowly walked towards the house.
“Why are we out here anyways?”
“To investigate the shadow. I guess add more mystery to the legend. Don’t expect to find anything valuable rich girl.” Tim touched the old door that was in the back. The wood stuck out and jabbed him in the finger.
“Ah!” Tim yelled, Liz ran over to him.
“What’s wrong?”
“Do you have a bandage anywhere?”
“Nope, sorry.”
Then the door creaked open. The smell of mildew filled the air.
“Did you open that to scare me? Nice.” Liz rolled her eyes.
“No. I didn’t.”
“You’re such a liar.” Liz laughed.
“Sure thing, rich girl.” Tim opened the door open further and walked in.
The inside of the old shack was dusty and had pieces of wood thrown everywhere. A smashed in half table was in the middle of the room and a very old box of donuts was on the left piece of the table.

“Hello?” Liz laughed as she sat down on the old creaky bed. “Hello?”
“Hello.” A quite polite voice said.
“Tim? Seriously, stop trying to scare me.”
“I’m seriously not!” Tim walked back in. “Stop saying that!”
“Hello. How are you?” The voice changed its tone to a higher pitch.
“See, told you.” Tim sat down next to Liz. “We should get going.”
“My legs hurt so badly.”
“Let me massage that for you.” The voice said.
“Who are you?” Liz asked.
“Don’t ask; let’s just get the hell out of here.” Tim grabbed Liz’s hand as they ran out the house.

Then as they ran shadows chased them. A guy with a knife imaged the body of the shadow as they ran. They didn’t know where they were going, but they knew that it would be safer than where they were. They ran back to the beginning of the forest and jumped into Liz’s white 1980 corvette parked in the car way.
“Start the car!” Liz screamed.
“Got it.” Then Tim hit the brakes as they drove off to the school.
Liz turned around and saw a guy waving to them, with a knife in his hands.

“What the hell was that!” Liz brushed her brown hair back.
“I have no clue.”
“Yeah its only just a f*****g legend.”
Those were the last words spoken as they drove off in silence to the school.

Tim and Liz parked the car in the student parking lot then ran to the front of the school where their friends were waiting.
“What took you guys so long?” Veronica grabbed Tim’s neck as they hugged tightly.
“There is a f*****g killer in that f*****g forest.” Liz ran towards Richie and Rod who caught her when she jumped on him.
Rod was wearing navy blue pajama bottoms, a yellow t shirt with a red fist on it and black house shoes. Richie was wearing black pajama bottoms with red diamonds on them and a plain white t-shirt with black slippers. Veronica was wearing purple lingerie with dark red slippers. Tim put on his t-shirt and grey sweatpants and boat shoes. Liz was wearing a silk green nightgown with white boots. Alan was wearing grey pajama bottoms with a red shirt that had a yin-yang on it and boat shoes.

“Steve left to pick up Tammy.” Richie said.
“I’m scared! There is a killer in that old custodian house!”
“You mean the one behind the school?” Rod asked.
“This school?” Tim finally spoke.
“Yeah. C’mon.” Veronica led them to the back of the school and into the beginning of the forest.
“There.” She pointed to the house where Tim and Liz once were.
“Oh my gosh! There’s a killer. That was Alan Crandall!” Liz screamed, her voice echoed again.
“Shut up!” Veronica grabbed Liz and everyone followed them back to the front of the school.
“We can’t stay here. We can’t go to the Lake house.” Tim said.
“Is Timmy scared?” Richie teased as he put his face in Tim’s.
“You didn’t see what was out there, though.” Tim pushed Richie away. “That mess was scary.”
“Timmy don’t cry.” Alan and Rod laughed.
“Seriously! It was scary!” Liz whined.
“Okay kids, come in.” The teacher unlocked the school doors and they were lead to the library.
The library was enormous and had a vast amount of books. The walls were grey and the carpet was dark blue. The kids stayed in the middle where a statue of Franklin Pierce, the 14th president, stood.
"I still don't understand why it's called a sleepover when we stay here for 3 hours." Alan laughed at his comment as the group and a few other kids walking into the library.
"Beats me." Richie said as he flopped on the ground.
They all sat in the back near the book case with the old articles.
“Well we would have had more time if you guys would have shown up on time!” Veronica looked at Liz and Tim. “Besides, we’re here all night. Not 3 hours Alan.”
“Crandall.” Richie sleazed. “I say we break up and go find out more about Alan Crandall.”
“No!” Liz screamed.
“Yes!” Alan yelled back.
“Guys c’mon, she’s obviously scared. Leave her alone.” Tim budged in.
“Your saying that because you’re scared too, Timmy.” Rod rolled his eyes. “Richie and Alan go out to the custodian house. Veronica and I can go to the boiler room and Tim, you and Liz can stay here and read articles. Not too scary?”
“Fine.” Liz pouted. “But I’m not going outside this library.”
“That’s why you’re in here, babe.” Rod stood up and kissed Liz on the cheek before him and Veronica walked out.
“Peace.” Richie and Alan walked out the library too.
“Let’s get reading!”
“Good.” Liz stood up and grabbed an old box of articles.
Tim grabbed one and scooted against the bookcase and read.
The doors opened and in came Steve and Tammy.
Steve was wearing a blue shirt and black pajama bottoms and boat shoes, while Tammy was wearing a Victoria secret laced pajama set- Tim’s mom got the same one.

“Tammy. Nice to meet you.” Tim invited Tammy and Steve to sit down next to him.
Tammy had blonde hair with brown highlights that went down to her chest, pale blue eyes and a seductive smile.
“I know who you are Tim.” She smiled. Liz rolled her eyes and moaned.
“Tammy gosh d****t you prissy rich girl. Just shut the f**k up!” Liz ran and sat next to Tim, on the other side of Steve.
“You’re just jealous that Clarissa and Lauren didn’t want you to hang out with them anymore.” Tammy snapped back.
“Go die!” Liz screamed!
“Tammy please.” Tim looked at Tammy. “Shut the hell up and leave Liz alone!”
“Hey!” Steve laughed. “Please, please, please. Now can’t we just all get along?”
“No!” Liz whined as she buried her face in Tim’s chest.
Steve looked at Tim. They were staring at each other, reading the facial expressions. Tim could tell Steve thought something was going on between him and Liz. Tim shook his head and parted his lips as Tammy broke the silence.
“Anyways, what are you guys doing?” Tammy asked.
“Looking at old articles.” Tim responded. “About Alan.”
“Alan James?” Tammy laughed
“Alan Crandall.” Liz picked her sneered. “You don’t know him.”
“Obviously, because I don’t hang out with ugly people and date John Lennon.”
“Shut up Tammy!” Tim shouted.
Tim looked at Liz as they smiled at each other.
“Okay you guys are acting freaky.” Steve said. “Don’t make me tell Rod.” He warned.
“Tell Rod what? C’mon, you know I love Veronica. I would never cheat on her.”
“Rod is my life.” Liz said blankly. “You’re just jealous that Tim and I can find someone to be with and your stuck with this s**t.” Liz pointed to Tammy.
“That’s it- Steve lets go.” Tammy stood up and grabbed Steve’s arms. Steve got up and rushed out with Tammy, leaving Liz and Tim alone staring at each other.
“We should get to work.” Tim looked back down at the article. Liz grabbed a yearbook.
“It says Alan Crandall- from the 1978 year book. We should know him then? He was here last year.”
“Impossible. No, that’s Alan James stupid.”
“Oh. They look alike.”
“They really do.” Tim looked at the yearbook in Liz’s hands. “Find 1940.”
Liz grabbed a striped red yearbook and blew dust off it. She opened it.
“I’ll just look through.”
“Okay.”
Moments of silence passed.
“I found something!” Tim grabbed Liz’s hand. “Look.” He pointed to an old article titled, ‘Missing child spotting's.’
“It says Alan Crandall was spotted in this school in the late 1950’s, 1960’s and 1970’s.” Liz whispered.
“That leaves the late 1980’s. Good think we will be graduated.”
“Thank gosh.”
“It also says the spotting's occurred around the winter formal,, which passed. The spotting's are said to be ‘strange’, friends of Crandall say that he never had a date to the winter formal and was going to ask Susan Stevens.” Tim’s smile dropped. “Thats Veronica's mother.”
“It says he planned to ask her but she rejected him in order to go with Robert Miller, Veronica’s father.”
“Oh snap. You don’t think Mrs. Miller was the reason he died?”
“I think that maybe it had to do with girls. Mr. Miller had a motive.”
“Keep reading!” Liz urged.
"Sorry to change subject but why do you hate Tammy?" Tim laughed.
"Because she's a f*****g w***e. I can't believe Steve would even go out with her. She's a nymphomaniac anyways."
"Sex lover huh." Tim and Liz smiled at each other.
"Yeah." Liz started laughing.
"I wonder what they are doing now?"
“You know what they are doing.”
“Eh, maybe. But why think about it?”
“Keep reading!”
“I hate Tammy too.” Then it was silent as they shared another brief moment of stares from one another.
“Never heard that before.” Liz whispered as she looked away.
“I would prefer you over her, you’re not as annoying as people see you to be.”
“Worse,” She forced a smile on her face. “Correction, I am worse.”
“Touché.”
“Keep reading!”
“It says that was the last day he was seen.”
“Is that it?”
‘Yep.” Tim shut the book and put in back in the box.
Moments of silence later.
“We should go check on Veronica...” Tim urged.
“You can go. I’ll be here.”
“Go join the group.”
Liz nodded and joined the group of kids in the center of the library.
Tim took five deep breaths and walked out the library. The halls were dark and all the posters seemed to jump out at him. He wasn't scared, but he was shaking. He began taking quiet slow steps down the hallway. He was debating on going back to the house in the woods, or the storage room. He spun around and ran out the school. The cold air stung his skin as he ran to the forest. He felt tears come to his eyes, as if he was running to his death. Now he was scared. He thought of every memory he had ever had, from the time of his 3rd birthday to now. Everything he would be giving up. He was sure there was a killer in that woods with a knife. And he was sure that going back in there was the stupidest thing in the world, but if his time to go then its his time; otherwise fate will find someway to keep him alive. He reached the house.
The ground beneath him was wet and muddy. The door was wide open, waiting for him to come in. He looked around him. It was a good place to be murdered. No one would ever come back here, maybe Veronica, other than that no one. He walked slowly into the house. It was empty- just like he expected.
“I’m dead.” He whispered. He felt a cold hand touch his back.
“Richie!” Alan yelled. “Oh. Hey Tim!”
Tim let a few sighs of relief come over him.
“Sorry I scared you, bro.” Richie laughed. “This house is creepy. But we found a few things that proves someone lives here.”
“Give it to him.” Alan said.
“The bed is very warm. I doubt you and Liz were sitting on it long enough for you to heat it up like that.” Richie raised an eyebrow. “There’ food in the fridge, fresh food. And there is fresh blood and a knife in the bathroom.”
“We should get out of here.” Tim urged.
“Oh Timmy calm down!” Alan laughed. “We’re not that stupid.”
“Lets go find Veronica.” Tim tried again.
“She is fine.” Richie insisted.
“I want to check on her!” Tim screamed. Then the door closed and the lights cut on.
“Who’s there?” Alan yelled.
“Why would you ask that? Are you expecting them to say ‘over here’?” Tim forced a laughed.
“Guys...” Richie pointed to the door.
And there it was. The first kill. Tim knew someone would die tonight, he figured that out on the way here. He knew something about this story was more than just a legend and it was his fault he tried to pressure learning more about it. She was hanging on the door with a knife in her neck. But how long had she been there? When Tim came the door was wide open he could see the front, then it closes and shes there.
“Tammy.” They all whispered.
“Then where is Steve!” Tim screamed to Alan.
“We need to leave.” Alan said back.
“Thats the knife that was in the bathroom.” Tim grabbed Richies hand as they kicked the door opened and ran.
“What if shes not dead!” Alan suggested as they ran through the forest. Tim felt his feet begin to sink in the wet soil.
“She has to be dead, a knife was in her neck!” Richie yelled.
“I don’t think she was dead!” Alan stopped running then turned around.
“Where are you going!” Tim and Richie stopped running and looked back. “Where are you going!” Tim screamed again.
“Back to get Tammy!” Then Alan disappeared in the forest shadows.
“Idiot.” Richie whispered. “Should we wait.”
“I- I don’t know.”
“He's an idiot.”
“I know.”
“He's dead meat!”
“I know.”
“We have to wait for him.”
“I know.” Tim whispered the last words as him and Richie stood in silence.