The Legend of "He"

One Halloween night changed the lives of a group of best friends forever when they came into contact with a murder that they thought could only exist in nightmares.

The tall mansion stood right in front of me. The house was built in 1953, but had been renovated multiple times over the years. I loved coming to this house where my friend Melissa lived. It really was a beautiful house. The only problem with today was that it was Halloween night and the death of old man Bob Weed had left all of us living in this small town called Orbit, extremely frightened. I probably would have felt better if the killer had been caught, but he was still out there. It also would have made me feel better if more than five people were at this party, but no Melissa had only invited four people. I didn’t like the fact that no adults would be at the house tonight, either. Melissa was supposed to be staying at a friend’s house, but her parents were out of town and her house was the perfect place for a party in her mind. She was always coming up with some new crazy idea.

I walked up the walkway to the old creaky house. I could hear laughter and music from inside. I raised my left hand to knock on the door, but before I could, the door opened and I was dragged inside, prompting a scream before I realized it was only Melissa.

Before long, all my worries disappeared. But this night was going to be nothing like what I had thought it would be. Melissa had planned well for the party. She always did. There were plenty of snacks and the music she had playing was awesome. It was a mixture of each of our favorite songs. Before long though, everyone wanted to play a game. It was a tradition of ours to play truth or dare every time one of us had a party. We always discovered something new about one of us that we didn’t know before, even though we had all been friends for years. I had been friends with Liz, Jewel, Melissa, and Tasha for seven years.

“Agreed,” Melissa said.

“Let’s do it,” Jewel whispered.

Liz, Tasha, and I shook our heads in agreement. We all gathered in the living room and the game began. As always, it started out slow until finally someone asked for a dare. Of course it was Melissa. Tasha dared her. I don’t believe Tasha thought Melissa would actually do the dare. She was highly mistaken though. Melissa’s challenge was to go outside and go into the forest behind her house for five minutes. We all made our way outside with Melissa in the lead.

The trees were tall and reached up to the sky. It was always pitch black in the woods, even in the daylight. Now that it was dark, it was even more frightening, There was a story about something that had happened in the woods long ago. It was said that a group of teenagers went into the woods one night to get drunk and to party but something happened and they were found, murdered, all of them, except for one sole survivor who managed to escape... Many say it is just a myth, but others swear that it really happened.

I had never been a fan of the dark so I always avoided the dense woods. Plus, even though we all would say we didn’t believe in the story, none of us ever ventured into the woods. Melissa on many occasions had tried to convince us to but even she didn’t want to actually go. I know because she can be really persuasive, but when it came to going into the woods she never truly tried to convince us. It was always just a joke. Whenever we camped in Melissa’s backyard we would avoid the woods and camp as far away from it as we could.

We all stopped several feet away from the line of trees marking the start of the woods. Melissa took a deep breath and in her usual self turned around flashed her usual smile and headed into the woods. Within seconds she was engulfed in darkness, our flashlights no longer able to show where she was.

It was practically silent except for the sound of the wind through the trees and the occasional animal. When I heard the creeks from behind us of the old house and what sounded like the door opening and closing I figured it was just the wind. None of us spoke as Tasha watched the time as the five minutes past as slow as it could.  

All was deadly quite until we heard a new voice. A man’s voice saying, “Come out, come out wherever you are.” His voice was deep, and he sounded slightly crazy.

We all whipped around to see a tall man about 6 feet tall. His skin was deathly white and his hair was pitch black. You could see his eyes from several feet away, a hollow black color, the longer you looked into them, the more consumed with darkness you felt. The scariest feature of him was his smile. It spread across his whole face and he showed no teeth. It made him look more sinister then he already did.

We all stood frozen in place, unsure of what to do for several long moments it felt like. It was probably more like a few seconds. Then he came walking towards us. Very slowly, like a cat stalking his pray. Every step he took toward us, we took a step back.

He kept tilting his head as he headed toward us. My mouth was completely dry. I felt like I couldn’t even speak. I was shaking as I took each step away from the man in front of us. I couldn’t take my eyes off him in fear of what might happen when I finally did.

I could see out of the corner of my eye that I wasn’t the only one who was slowly backing up. I had a real bad feeling that we were in huge danger, I began to realize I was being consumed by darkness. I was entering the woods. We all looked at each other and then at him. We had only one real choice really if we wished to get away and that was to turn and run. And that’s what we did.

I ran faster than I had ever run before. I couldn’t tell if he was running after us or not, but I wasn’t going to risk looking back to find out.

It couldn’t have been long before I ran straight into someone else and we fell tumbling to the ground, I screamed and got away from whoever it was. The other person was screaming also.

I looked at who I had run into. It was only Melissa.

I let out a sigh of relief and she ran toward me and hugged me really tight and I hugged her. I could hear the crunch of branches and leaves as other people made their way through the woods. They were getting farther and farther away. We ran in the opposite direction. We didn’t want to take the chance that whoever we ran into next wouldn’t be friendly.

I don’t know how long we ran for but eventually we decided to climb up a tree and we just sat there. We didn’t speak. We just waited. What we were waiting for? I have no idea.

The tree we had chosen to climb was quite tall and had low branches that we were able to easily reach. We were hungry and tired but too scared to sleep or leave our hiding spot. We were near a valley type area and could see trees for miles.

We had climbed pretty far. Even though we were positive we would never be found where we were, we both had an uneasy feeling like we were being watched.

We probably would have stayed up there forever if it wasn’t for Liz. We saw her running across the valley area. I don’t know how long we had been sitting in the tree but we both agreed we should go find her.

Racing through both our minds was she was alive. She was okay. We didn’t know if he had gotten anyone. We were praying he hadn’t but this proved that at least one more of us was okay. But what about the others? I couldn’t think about that right now. I just couldn’t.

We made our way down the tree and toward the valley to find her. When we reached the edge of the trees we saw Liz still running across. We had to make a decision and quick rather to yell or run after her or something else.

Liz was not headed toward us but she would enter the woods not far from where we were. One glance between Melissa and I and we knew what we had to do. We started shouting for her running through the trees in order to avoid the open space. Liz didn't even look toward us.

We ran and ran in order to catch up with her. We couldn't tell where she was headed yet alone if she was headed anywhere. I was afraid we were going to lose her because she was speeding up. No doubt because she could hear the crunch of leaves and branches from Melissa and I chasing after her. In one last attempt to catch up to her I gave it all I had left and pushed myself somehow to run even faster then I already was and then I leaped knocking Liz to the ground.

I didn't know what else to do. I had to let her know it was us. I had to show her that she wasn't being chased by him. Plus I didn't know how much longer we could have kept up with her.

She screamed when I knocked her over but I was shouting at her over her screams, "Liz! Liz! Liz! It's just me. Please calm down."  

Liz finally looked up and then stopped screaming and engulfed me in the tightest hug she could manage. I hugged her back like it'd been years since we had seen each other not just hours.

Melissa got down on the ground with us and hugged Liz. We sat for a few minutes just trying to catch our breaths. We were all completely exhausted. We knew we couldn't just sit out like we were though so as soon as are breathing became slightly more normal we all got up and began to walk.

We had no idea where we were headed but we knew we had to get somewhere. We needed to find someone to help us and we needed to find Tasha and Jewel.

I remember when I first met them all. Each and every one of them. It was seven years ago. We were all in third grade and it was the first day of school. My school had burned down due to unknown causes. Tasha had gone there but we hadn't ever met. She had just moved there a few months before the school had burned down. Jewel had just moved here from California and then there was Melissa who had attended the school we all were moved to.

Our class had open seats and we all just happened to sit at the same table. Before long we were inseparable. I don't know how but we all just clicked. We all contributed to our little group in their own unique way.

We have been friends ever since that day. We've fought and our group has almost split up a few times but we always resolve our issues. I don't think we could ever split up. We are pretty much sisters.

We eventually heard someone shout our names. We recognized the voice and looked around frantically trying to find her. Finally she appeared running toward us until we were knocked over. It was Tasha. She wasn't alone either. Jewel was right behind her and we all hugged each other ecstatic to see everyone was okay. Now we just had to find help because he was still out there somewhere. Who knew where.

We all didn't waste much time and soon we began to walk. It seamed like forever but finally we saw something familiar up ahead. Melissa's house was coming into view. We began to pick up our pace until we reached the edge of the woods and then we all stopped hidden behind some tree branches.

"We should go in and get a phone. Then we can call the police," Tasha said looking at the house.

"What if he is still there?" I asked.

"Elena is right. We could go up toward the road and go to Mrs. Helen's house," Melissa replied looking up the driveway to the road.

"Agreed, so to the road we go?" Liz asked. We all shook our heads in agreement and began to leave the woods sneaking toward the road. We got almost to the road way and I began to believe this was actually going to work. He could have been anywhere. We were 3/4 of the way up her drive way when he stepped out. From where I'm not sure. He just seemed to appear out of no where.

We all froze and staggered back away from him. Everything began to happen within seconds. We began to run back toward the house. If we could get there first we could lock ourselves in and call the police. Hopefully they would get here before he got to us. We sprinted even though we were all exhausted. The sun was beginning to rise now.

We flew inside of the house and I slammed the door shut behind Jewel, the last of us to run in. Everyone was already running away from the door. Melissa ran to the back door in order to make sure it was locked. Liz, Jewel, and I checked all the windows and Tasha looked for a phone to call for help.

Everything was happening so fast. Within what seemed like only a few seconds we had secured the house. All the doors and windows were locked and he was on the outside. We were sure of it because we could hear him attempting to get into the house. Tasha had succeeded in finding a phone and was dialing 911.

It was to our horror when we heard him speak, “You really think you could get away from me? You can never escape me. If I don’t kill you now I’ll just kill you later on in life. Trust me when I say it won’t matter what you do no one can escape me forever.”

He wasn’t outside even though seconds before he had been. He was now standing in the archway that led from the hallway to the living room where all were in. Jewel was closest to him. She was sitting on the couch. She jumped up but she couldn’t move fast enough. None of us could.

He stabbed her once through her chest. He stabbed her right in the heart. We all saw the life leave her eyes. She hadn’t even had time to scream yet alone say anything. Tasha had the phone in her hand with the operator on the phone.

Everything that happened next happened quite quickly. He began to run at Liz. Liz was more prepared for his attack but still not nearly enough. That creepy smile was on his face. He ran right past me and I tried to tackle him. I tried to stop him. I did hit him but even though I had hit him with the all the force I could he didn’t even react except to suddenly stop and turn toward me.

He grabbed me by the neck and began to lift me up. I couldn’t breathe. He was strangling me. I kicked and tried to scream but nothing came out. I tried to pry his hands off my neck but it didn't work. Liz and Melissa began to throw things at him. I could hear them screaming and Tasha yelling to the operator that he was killing me.

Everything was beginning to become blurry. I could barely hear their screams anymore. Liz charged him but she didn't even make it half the distance before he threw me at her and we both fell to the ground.

I coughed finding the ability to breathe again and began to try to get up. Liz was trying to help me. “Let her go. Let her get up by herself,” he ordered Liz but Liz ignored him and continued to help me up. I tried to refuse her help. I didn’t want to upset him but I had no strength to push her off or tell her no. He didn’t waste a second after she ignored him and he pulled his gun out and shot her.

The next ten seconds I don’t believe I will ever forget. In fact I don’t believe I will ever forget the whole event.

One Second: He laughed his wicked laugh at our screams as Liz fell to the ground, dead.

Two Seconds: He began to slowly walk toward Melissa and Tasha. Like a lion stalking his pray.

Three Seconds: I stood up and staggered toward them.

Four Seconds: Melissa and Tasha began to retreat away from him.

Five seconds: I took the knife out of Jewel’s dead body.

Six Seconds: He looked back at me with those pitch black eyes and that wicked smile.

Seven Seconds: I was still staggering toward them.

Eight Seconds: Melissa and Tasha were up against the wall.

Nine Seconds: They all stopped as he raised his gun toward Melissa’s forehead.

Ten Seconds: I stabbed him with all the strength I could muster and he fell to the ground. Dead.

He didn’t move. Melissa went and checked his pulse seeing if he was alive. She looked up at Tasha and I shaking her head no and we began to cry tears of  joy. We could now hear sirens racing toward us.

We began to walk away from his body but we were to afraid to turn our backs to him even though he was dead. We did though in order to look at our dead friends. That was a mistake.

Something told me to turn around and so I did. He wasn’t there anymore. Instead all that was left was a note that read, “You aren’t safe yet, nor will you ever be.” I looked around frantically for him but he wasn’t there.

The police were now charging into the house breaking down the locked front door and rushing in to find the horrifying scene they did. Liz and Jewel dead and three exhausted and terrified teenage girls.

_________________________________________________________________

“This is what happened,” I said to the police officers, now getting more and more frightened in this interrogation room. The officers looked at me with sorrow in their eyes, but they had no idea how I was feeling. I hope everyone listens to my warnings because he is out there and he will find you. Bob Weed was lucky to be a survivor like me, but as you can tell he found Bob one day and so I warn you all once more to not let him kill you like he tried to do to all my friends and I. He got two of them and that was more than enough. We were only 15 years old.

Good luck to you all and remember he will come for you, he will kill your friends (he will try), don’t let anyone else die.

  

To the reader: The author of this story was killed 1 year ago and I never could forget the story she had wrote. I did the research and the recording found with Bob had the same voice speaking as in with the recording found with her. I hope you all take her warning seriously because she can do no more for us than warning you. Good luck as she said and I truly hope you don’t die.

Reviews

[maria ( rose)]

awesome story! enjoyed it very much Ashley :)

[Ashley Lytle]

Thank you! ☺️

[maria ( rose)]

you're welcome:)