I leapt over the dark abyss barely grabbing the ledge on the other side. The sharp rock split my palms, nearly causing me to let go. Slowly, I pulled myself up then looked at my hands, each palm had a deep cut going from one side to the other, warm blood running down my skin. I took off my shoes then wrapped my hands with my socks, it wasn’t the most sanitary, but it stopped the bleeding. I continued walking, and before I realized it, I was outside, standing in the dark night.
I thought I was going crazy at first when I saw the trees and sky appear in front of me. I took a long breath of fresh air, and started walking through the forest. It wasn’t long before I bumped into an officer. He took me home and we sat down with my mother.
“Where were you? I was worried sick, what did you do to your hands?” Mother asked pulling my hands over and taking off the blood soaked socks.
“I was in a cave, in the forest. I was pulled down it by a monster, and I cut them on a sharp ledge before I got out,” I said. My mother shook her head.
“Kyle, I told you to stay out of those caves, they’re dangerous, and now that you’ve gone in one you’re going to lie to me?” She asked looking at me with disbelief. Before I could tell her that I wasn’t lying, the officer spoke.
“Kyle, could you please explain what happened?” He asked calmly and waited for me to answer.
“Well, Noah, Parker, and I were going camping so we went into the forest to find a good place to set up,” I said recalling the previous events.
I walked through the forest following my friends, looking for a place to camp. Noah’s the leader of our group, he makes all the important decisions, and keeps Parker out of trouble. Parker’s the daredevil, he’s always taking risks without a care in the world. Now, I’m none of those things, I would rather be at home cleaning my room, than being out in the creepy forest overnight. We stopped walking when Parker spotted a cave through a small gap in the trees. Parker immediately ran over to it, Noah and me following so he wouldn’t get lost.
“Parker you shouldn’t just run off when you see something cool,” Noah said stopping, then looking at the large cave in front of us.
“Can we please camp here Noah? It would be so cool to camp by a cave!” Parker said trying to convince Noah to let us stay.
“Fine, but no one goes in the cave,” Noah said putting his bag down at his feet. I set up my tent as far away from the cave as I could, in fear that something would grab me in my sleep. After a while, we went to bed. I left my flashlight on as I drifted off to sleep.
I was grabbed while I was asleep. I didn’t feel the cold, formless hands wrap themselves around my ankles. The dark mass slowly pulled me out from the safety of my tent into the darkness of the night. I woke up when I felt the cold forest floor moving underneath me. I grabbed at the ground trying to get away from the thing that was dragging me, but as I panicked I never got a good hold.
I tried to yell and wake up Noah or Parker, but nothing came out. As I was pulled closer to the cave I started to wiggle hoping to get out of its grip, but once I was pulled onto the sharp rock in the cave I stopped struggling. Suddenly I stopped moving, I went to stand up, but as I was about to push myself up I got pulled down into the cave.
I hit the bottom of the cave, surprisingly, I was unharmed from the fall. I looked up to find that the hole I fell down was too high up for me to reach. I stood there in the darkness wondering how I would get out. I wasn’t good at making decisions like Noah was, and I definitely wasn’t brave like Parker. I knew standing there wouldn’t get me out any faster so, warily, I started walking deeper into the darkness. As I walked I heard the sound of water dripping echoing throughout the cavern.
Not being able to see very well I put my hand on the wall so I could try to follow it, but that didn’t last long as a a large bug crawled over my hand, causing me to pull it away from the wall. I stepped away from the wall and fell into a large water filled area. I quickly pulled myself out of the water, soaked from head to toe.
After wandering around, and being in the cave for what felt like hours, my eyes started adjusting to the darkness around me. As I was looking around at my surroundings, I nearly fell into a giant gap that was between me and the otherside of the cave. I stumbled away from the edge, I looked across, seeing the other side. There was no other way to go, but forward. I walked a fair distance away from the edge, then I ran back. I jumped and squeezed my eyes shut, hoping to reach the other side.
“Did you happen to see what dragged you into the cave?” The officer asked leaning towards me.
“No Sir, I didn’t see it, but I felt it. Whatever it was, it was as cold as ice,” I said remembering how the cold pierced through my ankles.
“We’ll look into it, but for now, you should keep your son away from the forest,” He said to my mother.
“Alright, have a good day officer,” Mother said as the officer left. Once the door closed behind him she turned to me and said, “I don’t know how you got that officer to believe you, but I sure don’t.”
“I told him the truth, that’s what happened,” I said wishing she would just believe me.
“That’s enough of your lies, go to your room,” She said staring straight into my eyes. I went to my room without another word, being followed by nothing but my shadow.
Short Stories
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I like how you started with the action. It really hooked me into the story and made me want to keep reading! Nice work!