The cold night air sent shivers down my spine even as I brought my body closer to the fire. In the background music played from Jason’s boombox, the same one he had been bragging about his father getting him as a present for the recent track meet we had just won a week ago. I didn’t recognize the song, some new pop music that had probably been released not too long ago. The music stood out with the chilling night around them as my teammates drank, talked, or danced.

  My eyes darted to the surrounding trees as the shadows flickered around us, creating vaguely terrifying blurs of darkness that unsettled me. I did my best not to show it; I had a reputation as the star of the female track team to keep up. But that didn’t stop my paranoia as the party continued in the woods.

  It had been a last-minute thing. Rebecca had recently turned 21 and had spent a bunch of money on some beer and had invited the entire college track team to a campsite in a nearby campground in a national park. The spoiled girl had said it was to celebrate their recent win, but I knew that it was an excuse to party and let loose. Then, as if by fate or some other bullshit like that, said girl appeared by my side with a wide grin and a bottle of beer in her hand.

  “Hey, Lily! What are you doing just sitting by the fire girl!? Grab a beer and come chat a bit with everyone. You know I’ve seen Ben eyeing you all night. I bet you and him could have a fun night together.” Rebebeca spoke with a slight slur as I gave her my usual easy-going grin, while the blond took a moment to steady herself.

  “Come on Beca, you know I hate being called Lily. Way too girlish.” My words caused the tipsy blond to roll her eyes as she took another chug of her beer.

  “Right…Li don’t think I didn’t noticed you trying to tiptoe around the Ben thing. I know you and Frank just broke up but-” That was about as far as she got before Beca stopped talking; she had probably noticed the glare I was giving her.

  She held up her hands in a mock surrender as she slowly backed up while speaking. “Ok, Ok, like I got the message. I’ll leave you to brood.”

  And with that, the annoying blond turned and walked off. I looked at her for a few more seconds, she had gone to talk to another group, before turning back to warm myself by the fire. Anger still lingered in my mind at her words. She had no right to mention what happened between me and Frank. I know for a fact that she was the one to tell Frank about….

  With a shake of my head, I tried my best to forget about what I had just been thinking and went back to fire gazing.

  An hour or two seemed to pass as I either stared at the orange flames, the dancing shadows along the treetops, or even just my tanned arms and hands. The noise made by the others almost drowned out the sounds of nature around them. The chirping of crickets that sing their little songs. The occasional hoots of owls up in the trees. The wind drifted through the branches and shook leaves. It reminds me a lot of when my dad and I went out camping in the woods behind our house.

  Thinking of Dad brought a pit to my stomach. The track meet about a week ago was the first one I had without him. I knew why he couldn’t show up, but the why only made it worse. It made the music and chatter that surrounded me start to suffocate. My fingers started to dig into the log I was using as a chair and my teeth started to clench. I usually loved being with other people, but there were times when I just had an almost overwhelming desire to be alone.

  And this moment was one of those.

  Before I could even really think about it, I was on my feet. Just as I started walking towards the trail we had taken to get here when a tall brown hair guy I recognized as Jason got in front. I took a step back as he got a little bit too close to me. I could practically smell the alcohol on his breath. He blinked a few times and took a second to stabilize himself before he spoke.

  “Heyyyy Liiiii, where ya going? You can’t just leave dude. The party is just getting started.” As he spoke, I saw him reach into his college jacket and pull out a plastic baggie with some kind of plant in it. While I wasn’t sure what it was, I knew I wanted nothing to do with it, so I plastered a confident grin on my face and stood casually as I waved my hand and spoke.

  “Just need some fresh air J-man. Maybe do a little running while I'm at it. You know that coach isn’t going to let up just because of one little victory.” He paused at my words as his face soured a little when I had said coach. I knew I had messed up when I saw his frown, reading people or even just knowing what to say was never my strong suit, but I powered ahead and moved past him with another wave of my hand.

  “I’ll be back in a few dudes. Save some for me?” I didn’t wait for a response as I jogged away and into the dark woods.

  Soon the music and laughter faded into the background as I slowly jogged along the trail. It was a full moon tonight, which meant that I could see decently for the most part and didn’t feel the need to pull out the flashlight I had in my old jeans’ pockets. The cold night air flowed over me and I moved, cooling me off just as much as I was heating up my body with the light exercise. It was a pleasant feeling and before long, as I took a break to catch my breath, I felt much better than I had been back at the campsite.

  As I took a deep breath before slowly letting it out, I once more took a moment to look around. The moon hung high in the sky, casting an eerie glow onto the world below. Old oak trees filled my vision with centuries of nature built up on them from moss to vines and other such plants. Leaves littering the ground having fallen recently, with the fall soon turning to winter. It was both scary and beautiful at the same time. But as I took everything in, I realized something odd.

  The forest was silent.

  For a second, silence filled the air and I felt a coldness drift down my body before the snap of a twig jolted me back to reality. With a swift turn of my body and snap of my hand, I grabbed the flashlight in my pocket and shone it towards where I heard the noise. I was met with an annoyed sound and the sight of Ben. The tall man held a hand in front of his face to block the light, but I could make out a grimace on his drunk-looking face and the messy light brown hair that came down to his neck.

  “Li dude, stop shining the light in my eyes!” At his words, I quickly lowered the flashlight, and he gave out a sigh of relief. I also noticed that he seemed to be breathing rather hard and realized that he had probably been trying to keep up with me as I jogged. A look of uncertainty fell over my face for a second before I replaced it with a grin and started to lean against a nearby tree before speaking.

  “Benny, what are you doing here dude? Were you chasing me through the woods or something? Is this where you pull out a knife and stab me for some occult ritual or some other dumb shit like that?” My words caused a slightly slurred chuckle to leave his lips as he seemed to blink the blindness away from his eyes.

  “Naaaa, if I was going to kill someone on this team for fame or some money, you’d be like the last one I would kill. I’ve been wanting to talk to you all night Li, but I just wasn't sure how to. Then I saw you jog off and I thought it was now or never.” His words brought some relief to my paranoia, but also caused me to tense up a little as I thought about Rebeca’s words about trying to get Ben and me together for the night.

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  “Look dude, can whatever you have to say wait? Things have been crazy lately with everything going on and I-” I stopped mid-sentence as Ben stumbled a little and almost fell to the ground. All the beer he had been drinking was really getting to him and I instinctively went to help him before he caught himself and turned to look at me once more.

  “Li, I know things have been off with you because of Frank but I've got to take my shot. You're like a really cool person, and I love hanging out with you. You’re the best girl on the team, and you’ve pushed me to be better just to keep up with you. All I'm asking is for a single date. You can pick when and where, and we can have a fun time. Afterward, if you want to keep going, we can but if not then I’m fine with that. Just a single date Li. What do you say?” Ben steadied himself as he finished his little speech. Make sure to look right into my eyes as he finished and gave me the best earnest face he seemed to be able to give while somewhat drunk.

  I froze as he did all this. Unsure of what to do. On one hand, I did like Ben; he was a cool guy to hang out with, and a single date wasn't the most unreasonable request. But at the same time, my mind flashed over to Frank. A pit once more formed in my stomach as I thought about how he had used me and then bragged about it to his friends. He had seemed cool too, but at the end of the day, I was just some conquest for him.

  Did I want to give Ben a chance?

  Silence echoed around the two of us as Ben waited for my reply. There was a hopeful look on his face that I couldn't tell if I hated or liked. The seconds lasted for hours as I thought over my decision. During that time, I felt annoyed at both Ben and myself. Ben for springing this all up on me like this, and myself for not getting my ass in gear and making a decision. What the hell did I want to do?

  In the end, I found the answer.

  I opened my mouth and started to speak when I froze.

  Something was behind Ben.

  At first, I could barely make out the figure, other than a vaguely tall humanoid. But the world seemed to have a flair for the dramatic as a cloud that had been partly covering the full moon finally moved on, and more moonlight bathed the forest and letting me see this being. I wished it hadn’t.

  It was tall, probably at least seven feet, and incredibly thin like a stick man figure. Torn rags that looked like they used to be clothes clung to its body, and its skin looked like jagged bark from a tree. It had long arms with claw-like fingers and in his right hand was an old and bloody axe. Its face also looked like the bark from a tree with two black hollow holes for eyes and nothing else but a wide smile that looked like it had been carved around where its mouth should have been.

  My body refuses to move, fear having locked me in place. My terrified expression must have confused Ben, who looked at me with a worried face before he started to speak as he turned around to look behind him. “What’s wrong Li? Is something behind-”

  Ben never finished his sentence as the thing moved faster than I would have ever thought possible. Just as Ben had laid eyes on it, the thing's arm moved like lightning as it brought the axe upwards then swiftly downwards. I found myself blinking as a warm liquid splashed on my face, and I numbly put my hand on my face, only to pull it away to see blood all over my hand.

  I blinked again as I saw something stop rolling by my feet. When I looked down, I saw Ben's terrified face staring lifelessly back at me, his head having been cut clean from his body. I froze once more as I saw the long bark-skinned arm reach down and grab the head by its hair and pull it up. My gaze followed, and I saw the creature pull the face to its own and look it over. After a second, it seemed satisfied with what it saw before turning to once more look at me before tilting its head in an almost playful manner.

  Finally, control seemed to be returned to me as I took a step back and started to do what I did best.

  Running.

  My legs moved on instinct; years of track and parkour had drilled my running technique flawlessly into my muscle memory. The surrounding forest and darkness turned into a blur as I moved. I was probably moving faster than I had ever done on the track field and would have been proud of myself had I not been scared shitless at the moment. Running for one’s life did that to you I suppose.

  The light of my flashlight beamed forward, trying its best to light up my way. But the movement of my body caused the light to sway way too much to be reliable. The only reason I had fallen and broken my ankle or something like that was because there was just another moonlight to give me a vague idea of my surroundings.

  I could hear in the distance booming music getting louder and felt my hopes start to flare up. The more rational part of me whispered that my classmates would probably be useless to me, but the animal part of my mind screamed for safety in numbers. Ignoring both of these thoughts, I felt a smile start to creep up on my panting lips.

  Until I heard a horrible laughing noise right behind me.

  It wasn’t human-sounding at all and only barely sounded like laughter. It was like two pieces of bark were being rubbed and banged together to mimic laughter. The sound sent a cold feeling down my spine and through my body which caused me, just for a second, to falter in my run.

  Sadly, that second was all that was needed as my foot landed on the ground the wrong way and my entire body fell into a tumble. I tried my best to regain my balance but it was already too late as my feet found no purchase. The speed that had carried me so far now turned against me as I crashed into the ground.

  Dirt and rocks assaulted my body as I felt the sharp corners of some stones leave their marks on me while my body rolled. But just as my journey on the ground began, it quickly ended with my body smashing into a tree trunk and knocking the wind out of my body. The world spun for a moment as my body screamed at me in pain.

  After a couple of seconds, which felt like an eternity to my pain-addled mind, my vision finally settled. Despite the pain, I pushed myself to a sitting position. My breathing was frantic as my lungs tried to get some desperately needed air in them. My mind was running a thousand miles per hour as I finally got into a comfortable position.

  I took in a deep breath and tried my best to calm down. Even went as far as to close my eyes and focus on the fast beating of my heart. Once my mind calmed, I opened my eyes and started to try to get up. Only to pause as I heard a sound right in front of me.

  A horrid mimicry of a laugh.

  My head snapped up to see the terrifying source of the noise. Its hollow eyes looked down at me as the smile carved into its bark-like face somehow seemed to widen. It towered over me as it tilted its head with an amused tone to its movement, like an owner looking at its dumb dog doing something stupid. Its axe swung idly from its long right arm, fresh blood falling off of it in drips.

  My breath quickly became panicked once more as I pushed myself against the tree I had crashed into. That only amused the monster more as I heard that skin-peeling laughter come from its bark-like face. It started to lift its bloody and rusted axe up, ready to strike down on the top of my skull.

  “Please-e…”

  I hated how small I sounded, but my lips moved without thought as I spoke. The monster paused at my words and tilted its head once more at me, this time in a more questioning manner. Fear and panic held total control over my mind and I started speaking without any thought to what I was saying.

  “Please don’t kill me! Please, I’ll do anything-g! Anything you want! Just don’t kill me…”

  I felt like an idiot as I spoke. Trying to reason with a monster like it was a human. If I was going to die, then I should die with some pride and dignity dammit! But the animalist part of my mind had full control and the last thing it wanted was to stop existing.

  The creature tilted its head further like it was complicating my words. The sight motion caused me to pause in my franticness in disbelief. I had to be imagining things right? There was no way this thing was-.

  It nodded its head.

  My eyes widened as it lowered its axe and instead offered its free hand to me. Like it was offering to help me to my feet. The action continued to throw my already disorganized brain into further chaos. There was no way this was happening. More than that, there was no way I was going to take that THING’s hand!

  It once more tilted its head and slightly raised its axe.

  My mind once more froze.

  What little courage I had built up fled.

  I reached and took its hand.

  And immediately wished I hadn’t.

  Touching its hand felt wrong. Like I was touching some kind of solid oil that somehow burned and froze my nerves at the same time. I quickly tried to jerk my hand away, only for the monster to refuse to let me go. Everything went quiet as all I could do was look and stare into the thing's grinning face.

  Then my world became pain.

  That feeling I felt for it seemed to flood into me. Travelling along my arm and into the rest of my body. A part of me I didn’t realize was there, right under my flesh and bones, twisted and ripped. A pain so much worse than anything I had ever felt overtook my mind and tore into it like a hungry wolf before fallen prey.

  As that unknown part of me started to thrash, to tear itself out of my body, everything seemed to go numb. My vision started to fade as darkness started creeping along its edges and inching over reality. I felt no pain; I felt nothing at this moment. Soon, the void overtook me and my world ended.

  The last thing I saw was the bark-like face of the monster, its smile threatening to cut its face in half.

  Over the course of a month police, forest rangers, and hundreds of volunteers would search Houndsmith National Park.

  All of them trying desperately to find two missing college students.

  Benson Fetters and Lily Marshal.

  Despite their best efforts, no trace of the two young adults was found and the search had to be called off.

  The news covered the entire thing, from beginning to end, but as the search ended people moved on.

  Soon, Benson and Lily were forgotten.

  Their fates remained a mystery.

  Until almost twenty years later.