A Walk in the Woods

By Angela Moran

“T

hen, the black cat with the one green eye came prowling around and hissed his deathly hiss at little, helpless Johnny,” recited Carl. He was the “cool kid” at my school. Me and my best friend, Ashley, were listening in disgust as Carl repeated the well know story in our town of Jackson, Mississippi.

A group of girls were huddle around the picnic table that he stood on.

“Poor Johnny was never seen again.” He finished. A few girls screamed. Uhhg, I thought as Ashley and I (my best friend) exchanged disgusted glances. All the girls there had heard the story many times. Parents always told it to their kids to keep them out of the forest, the setting of the ‘horror’ story.

“Are you serious?” I almost gagged. The girls were just reacting to get Carl’s attention. “You all know that that is a made-up story that people tell you to scare you. You all know that it is not true!” I stepped onto the table.

“Yah!” said Ashley, backing me up as she stood on the table, her brown hair shimmering in the sunlight. The girls were glaring at us and Carl looked as if he just chugged ten gallons of red pepper juice.

“Prove it, dumb blonde!” replied Carl. I started to steam as he repeated my nick-name.

My blonde hair always seemed to cause me trouble. My whole family was brunets and I was stuck being the ‘dumb blonde’. I don’t know when my name came about, but once it did, none of the boys called me Eliza, my name, for a year. “I dare you to walk into the forest, take a picture of the old mans house (he was the owner of the cat) and come back, alive.” Some girls shuddered and others smirked.

“There is no house to take a picture of!” I screamed. “And you know it!”

“Well, then that means you’re just chicken,” He started to cluck and flap his elbows.

Immature freak, I thought. Ashley nodded to tell me that she would come with me.

“Fine, Ashley and I will leave after school today,” I agreed with a shrug, knowing this would all be over in about a week.

“G

et ready to go and meet me by my house,” I said to Ashley as we stepped off the bus. “Oh, and get your camera!” I yelled as she ran away.

I walked home, shuffling through the leaves with my feet, passing all the houses on our block. They all looked the same, blue door, two garages on the left, and a fading brown roof. I walked into the kitchen and smelled garlic and onions.

“Mmm, smells GREAT!” I said, rubbing my stomach. I started to tell my mom what Ashley and I were going to be doing.

“I don’t like it,” she said in a sing-song voice. “I guess I don’t really have a choice, knowing you.”

“Thanks, luv ya.” I kissed her and ran up to my room. I switched out of my school clothes and put on grass stained capris and a shirt that looked as if it had been dipped in twelve different paint cans. I threw a first-aid kit, and a few power bars into a shoulder bag and ran outside. Ashley was already there. “Ready?” I asked. She gave me a thumbs-up. Her face was pale with fright.

We started to walk out of the neighborhood. The never-traveled trail to the man’s house started just down the hill.

“Let’s do it,” Ashley gulped, shifting the pack on her back.

“Uh-huh” I replied. My hands were sweating. I didn’t think it would be this nerve racking. We grabbed each others hands and stepped into the forest. It was like standing in a room with nothing bad happening and walking into a place that you could die in.

We walked for what seemed to be hours but were only a few minutes. Suddenly we heard a of a stick snap behind us. We jumped two feet off the grounded and spun to see what was there. Ashley let out a blood curdling cry. She pointed to the ground and I saw a dead mouse lying on the ground. In the old story, it is said that if you are met by a dead animal, you are to have the same fate.

“It’s just a coincidence,” I told Ashley with a shrug. She was staring unblinkingly at the dead carcass. “An owl probably dropped it. Speaking of which, did you bring a flashlight? It’s getting dark.”

“Oh, uh, ya,” She started to dig through her bag. She dropped the camo print back-pack and everything came spilling out. We grabbed the flashlights and packed everything back in the bag. After another half hour of walking, it was so dark it was as if a black blanket had been thrown over our head. If we didn’t have the flashlights, we would have been wandering forever.

“Watch the log,” Ashley warned me as she pointed to a log with her flashlight. I slipped on it as she was talking and she caught me by my arm.

“Wow, your light just got a LOT brighter!” I exclaimed.

“That wasn’t me,” Ashley said nervously. “Look ahead.” A house started to emerge through the trees. It was a one story log cabin. It looked as if it was made over 100 years ago. Moss grew on the roof and weeds sprouted all around it. I could tell the house was lit by candles because the light coming through the windows danced.

“Ok, ta-ta-take a picture and let’s get-get out ’a here.” I stuttered. She put down her bag and started to dig through it.

“It’s gone!”

“Impossible, here give it to me,” I replied. I pulled one thing out of the bag until nothing was left. “Did you even pack it?” I accused.

“Ya, what do you think I am! The only reason were in this horrid place is to get that stupid picture! Don’t start accusing me!” She was getting angry.

“Looking for this?” someone said behind us. I sucked in my breath. Turning, we saw an old man wearing a plaid shirt and patched overalls. He was twirling the camera by the strap.

“RUN!!!” I screamed. We started to scurry away. The old man just cackled. I tripped on the log and Ashley toppled over me. He grabbed us by our shirt collars and pulled us up with incredible strength. I saw Ashley faint next to me.

We were carried into the old man’s house. I was choking from having so much pressure on my throat. When we walked in, a black cat with one green eye greeted us with a hiss.

“Eat,” said the man, throwing us onto a couch. Dust rose as we landed with a thump on the forest pattern. Suitable, for were he lives. Ashley woke with a jolt. I started to look around the house. There was an open door that lead to a bedroom. In one corner a teapot steamed on a wood stove. There was a water pump that emptied into a sink right next to it. In front of us was an old wood coffee table that was crooked because of a partially broken leg. On it was two plates of grilled cheese and three bowls of tomato soup. Uhhg, no bathroom.

“I told you to eat,” said the old man. He sat down and started to slurp down his soup.

“Uh, I don’t mean to be rude but,” Ashley quivered “Are you going to, um, feed us to your cat or something?”

“Ash-ley,” I whispered harshly to her.

“Mmm hmm,” Groaned the old man. “First names and then stories. I am Tom. You are...?”

“I am Eliza, and this is Ashley,” I answered quickly. “We better get going though. My mom’ll worry.” I started to get up.

“Sit back down, missy,” Tom harshly ordered. “You have forgotten story time,” he ended sweetly. Looking at Ashley, I slowly sat back down. “That’s better; now were to start, oh yes. When I was your age, I was the weird kid at my school. Everyone teased me. After school every day, I would walk through these forests. I had an idea to build a fort. So I bought a hammer and some nails and started. It turned out to be this.” He said gesturing to the house. “But that is getting ahead of myself. I went to college and wanted to get a degree in carpentry. Well, my teacher was a witch and flunked me two years in a row. I asked her what was wrong with my work. She said that I wasn’t building the ‘style’. I tried to change, but I couldn’t. I dropped out of College. People started to think I was a giant reject looking for trouble. I was glared at. In this town, at that time, it was like a crime to drop out of school. But if you didn’t go, that was fine.” There was a pause. He continued. “I got a job at the hardware store, pretty much for the discounts. I saved enough to get the supplies to build this house. Know one comes and visits me and I blame myself for that. I just wish the stories would die down and more people would come and visit.” I coughed and looked at Ashley. “Now, it is time for your story.”

We told him all about the dare and about Carl and the girls. When we got to the rat falling from the sky he laughed. “Mela always leaves ‘gifts’ for people coming into the woods. I guess she is thanking them for coming to visit me.”

“Uh, who is Mela?” I asked nervously.

“She’s my cat, of course. Poor thing got into a fight with a raccoon and it cost her her eye. She is the killer of the story I am guessing, Since you asked if I was going to feed you to her?” He laughed. “She wouldn’t hurt anything bigger than a rat!”

“Uh, we really should be going, but we can come visit you tomorrow if you like?” Ashley said. “And we will try to change the stories about you. But one thing, can we take a picture of you and your house?”

“Well, sure, but why?”

“We want to prove to people that you are nice.” Ashley said.

“And that was kinda part of the dared to.” I finished. We took a picture of Tom in front of his house. When we looked at the playback of the picture on the screen, we could see Mela standing on the roof.

As we walked away I told Ashley, “We were proven wrong, I mean, the stories weren’t true of the kid eating cat and all, but the man does live here. I am glad we came though.”

“Ya, oh hey there girly,” Ashley replied looking at her leg. The black cat was rubbing herself against Ashley’s jeans. She purred and looked up at us with one thankful green eye.