The Lake in the Woods
I used to like to go exploring in the woods. Not anymore. My name is Jake Somersville. My mom and dad both have advanced degrees in agricultural sciences, whatever that means. They would survey land, crops, sometimes even the local wildlife. I wasn’t sure what exactly it was they did, but I knew it was why we moved around a lot. I didn’t mind though, after all, I liked exploring, sometimes pretending I was Indiana Jones searching for some lost, ancient civilization. Sure, I’ve had my fair share of close calls, but nothing serious ever happened to me… at least, not until we moved to a small town in Missouri. I don’t remember the name of it due to the mental trauma I experienced, or so my psychiatrist says, but I do remember Zach Mayes. Zach was nine years old that summer; the same age as me. He was into a lot of the same things I was, especially exploring. I met him when my parents moved into this farmhouse. It wasn’t big or fancy or neat like the usual houses we rented, but it had a sort of rustic charm to it. Zach’s parents owned the land the house was on and the property next door, where they lived. They were friendly enough, even offering to help my parents get settled in. As they were handing the house keys to my parents, Zach came around the corner, held out his hand, and announced who he was. I was never the one to make friends, what with the constant moving around and what not, but something about Zach just clicked. We had moved at the start of summer break, so Zach and I had plenty of time to play. We’d mostly go exploring, capturing small animals and releasing them back into the wild. We had all of four acres to ourselves, except for the area near the edge of the property line; that was the start of the woods. Naturally, both of our parents forbade us from going in there, but we did anyways. We’d clear our own trails, pretending we were in a lush jungle. One time, Zach swore he saw a copperhead, but we never did find it. At first, we’d stay relatively close to the edge, but as time went on, we became more relaxed. Before long, we were trekking deep into the woods, able to find our way back with “markers” we’d given names to. One day, at the edge of the property line, we came across a patch of woods that were different somehow, darker… Thorn bushes were common in the woods, but this place was completely covered in them. In fact, it was so thick, we couldn’t hope to gain entry. We walked around it for what seemed like hours, but never did find a way past those thorns. As time passed, we forgot about that place in the woods, after all, there was so much left to explore. To my delight, my parents told me that we were going to be here for awhile, something to do with anomalies in the surrounding forest. Zach and I ended up in the same classes, and before we knew it, we were fast approaching Halloween. The forest, which was once green and beautiful, so full of life, had transitioned into a graveyard of fallen leaves and claws reaching despairingly into the sky. It was like they were begging the sky to return the leaves to them. On October thirtieth, Zach was staying over at my place for the night. It was just the two of us in the middle of nowhere. Our parents had gone to some boring adult dance party where kids weren’t allowed. We were sitting on the floor in front of the TV, watching horror movies, when out of nowhere Zach elbowed me in the side. Scowling, I asked him what the big deal was, and his face lit up. “Do you remember that thorny part of the forest?” he asked. “Yeah,” I replied. “Why?” “Let’s go in there! Everything’s dried up! We can cut through those thorns easily now.” I was hesitant first; something about that idea seemed off… seemed wrong. But I didn’t want Zach to think I was a chicken, so reluctantly, I agreed. We grabbed our backpacks, stuffing them with supplies for our adventure. Zach placed a pair of garden shears and a spare flashlight in his, while I grabbed a map of the area, some batteries, and an extra flashlight for mine. We then grabbed our jackets and a pair of flashlights, then headed out the door towards the woods. The moon was blood red and full that night, bathing everything in that eerie hue. It was almost as if the very earth itself were stained with blood. It had been awhile since either of us had been in the woods, what with school and all, but we found our landmarks with ease. I didn’t know it at the time, but those landmarks would save my life. Before long, we were at the edge of the property line, staring at that part of the forest which we’ve never been able to enter before. “Look, they’re gone!” exclaimed Zach. Sure enough, the thorn bushes had vanished. It was almost as if the forest itself wanted us to enter. There was something foreboding about this part of the forest. While the surrounding trees stretched their branches outwards in all directions, the trees in front of us grew closely together, their branches reaching inwards into the darkness. I felt a chill run down my spine, and suddenly I didn’t want to go in there anymore. Zach must have felt it too, because he shivered for a moment. We flipped on our lights and peered into the darkness. Upon closer inspection, the thorns were still present, they just were cleared to form a path into the woods. Zach knelt down, a puzzled look on his face. “I don’t see any tracks, human or animal, going into the forest.” Zach said. We concluded that someone, or something, must have cleared that path some time ago. Whatever had, it didn’t look like it was still around, or had been back in quite a long time. I didn’t like it. The way the trees were so unnaturally bent made me feel as if the forest were waiting to swallow us whole. As ghastly as that sounded, that wasn’t the most disturbing part. What was disturbing was I felt compelled to go into those woods. Zach and I looked at one another before moving on. We walked in-between the thick trees, our flashlights providing the only source of light in the otherwise pitch black woods. The night was silent, spare for the sound the leaves made as we walked on top of them. I couldn’t help thinking they sounded like bones crunching beneath our feet. Occasionally, the trees would part, allowing the moon’s red hue to trickle down them like blood. I was relieved when we at last emerged from the forest into a clearing. The trees opened up to a flat field that had to be at least an acre, maybe more. The ground was barren, spare for a few trees here and there. In the middle was what appeared to be a lake. I had grabbed a map earlier, and pulled it out of my bag. I had our property drawn on it with the woods circled. There were no bodies of water anywhere near our property on the map. I handed the map to Zach, trying to shake the feeling that something was off. “We couldn’t have walked for more than five minutes.” I said. Zach looked as confused as I was. We tried to locate ourselves on the map, but aside from the lake, there were no other defining features. At that moment, my gut was telling me to go back, to get the hell out of there, but then Zach started walking towards the lake, so I followed. He reached it before I did and let out a gasp. “Dude, come look at this!” He said, in almost a whisper. “It’s… it’s not right.” Those words would haunt me for the rest of my life. It almost felt as though my legs had a mind of their own, moving on their own accord. Before long, I was standing next to Zach at the edge of the water. It didn’t take me long to see what he meant. Our reflections weren’t in the water, but everything else was, only… different. A few trees grew along the shoreline, but what was reflected back was, well, I don’t know what to call it. The trees, instead of being barren, were covered in what looked like flesh. It was then that I noticed we weren’t the only things not reflected on the water’s surface. The sky, blood moon and all, was also absent. In its place was a seemingly endless black void. “That’s so weird…” Zach mumbled. Zach’s voice freed me from my trance. He walked along the bank until he found what he was looking for: a stick. “I don’t think we should be here.” I said to Zach, but he just ignored me. It was as if something was making him pick up that stick. As Zach approached the surface, I saw the water move as if there was something just beneath the surface. I tried to call out his name, but no sound came out of my mouth. I just stood there, frozen to the spot, as he knelt down, prodding the surface of the water with the stick. He did this a few times then stood up and looked at me. “It’s just water.” he said, taking a step forward. It was then he lost his balance and fell backwards into the water, a look of surprise on his face. I expected him to break the surface once the splash had subsided, but he never did. At first I thought he was fooling around, but seconds turned to minutes, and I realized… he wasn’t pranking me. I ran towards the spot where he had fallen into the lake, slowing as I approached the edge, not wanting to touch the surface. I shone my light into the murky depths, scanning for any sign of my friend. As I was about to give up, I saw it: Zach’s flashlight was on, except it was near the entrance into the forest that was reflected in the water. I looked back at where we had entered, seeing no flashlight, but when I returned my gaze to the lake, there it was. It never crossed my mind to run back and call the police, and even if it had, what would I tell them? That my friend fell into a lake and was transported to some alternate, nightmarish reality? Yeah right, like they would believe me. I wouldn’t have believed me if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. I began to shiver uncontrollably. It wasn’t that it was particularly cold that night, it was the thought of what I had to do. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and placed it on the ground a few feet from the bank before taking my bag off. I unzipped it and stuck my hand inside the opening, and pulled out the spare flashlight. I turned it on, and laid it next to my phone, its beam pouring into the water. I didn’t have a signal here, but I could get one near the barn, and I wanted it ready because, well, I had a very unsettling feeling. I slowly approached the water’s edge, not knowing what to expect. I inhaled deeply and jumped in, feet first. What I felt next is hard to describe. It was cold, very cold, as if I had jumped into ice water, and I felt as though my insides were being torn inside-out. It was like vertigo, but not quite the same. It was as if I had lost all my senses, including direction. When I emerged from the lake, I took a huge breath of stale, dry air. I climbed out of the water and looked around. I was there, in the nightmare forest. Up ahead, I could see Zach’s flashlight abandoned on the ground next to his backpack. I was about to call out his name when I saw them: the garden shears he brought lay broken in two on the ground, and each blade was coated in thick blood. I picked them up, not wanting to be out here defenseless. The forest was unlike anything I’d ever seen. The trees were covered in tendrils of flesh, wet and pulsing, as if alive. The world was dimly lit, but I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. I looked up at the sky, but saw only darkness; no moon, no stars, just pitch black darkness. I felt as though if I were to jump, I would be consumed by that darkness, and again the feeling of being sw1allowed whole rushed over me. As I walked, the forest floor made a mix of a squishing sound followed by a dull thud, as though there was metal beneath the flesh. I followed the path into the woods, headed back towards my house. Here and there were pieces of Zach’s clothing stuck to the trees; it looked as if he was running from something. I made it out of the thicker forest, back into familiar territory, if you could call it that. All of our landmarks were there, albeit somewhat hard to make out due to the flesh. I was almost to the edge when I heard a bloodcurdling scream; it was Zach. I ran faster than I thought I ever could, the foul air burning my lungs as I took short breaths. I slowed as I reached the clearing, unable to breathe. Parts of Zach’s pants lay in tatters on the ground, with a large amount of blood leading towards the barn. The barn was a stark contrast to the forest. It was comprised not of wood, but of rusted metal, and though the tendrils climbed up the perimeter, they didn’t extend more than maybe three feet. I approached the doors cautiously, holding a blade in each hand, and pushed them open. What I saw next, I’d never forget. Zach’s body was hung on a meat hook, its jagged edge protruding through his right upper chest. His shirt was soaked in blood, which traveled down his legs. His pants were shredded, and where his feet used to be were mangled lumps of meat with bits of bone sticking out at odd angles. It looked like something had chewed them off, and I shuddered at the thought of what did this to him. Beneath him was a steadily growing puddle of blood. I would have thought him dead, had he not looked up at me. Slowly, he reached his left hand into his pocket and pulled out his phone, holding it out to me. As his arm stretched, he mouthed the words get out, though all that came out his mouth was a gurgling sound followed by blood. I put the blades down and took it, then watched as my friend took his last breath. I looked at his phone and saw he had taken a picture of what had attacked him. It was human-like, but distorted. It’s legs and arms were long and lanky, skin stretched thinly over bone. It had a small tail, like what you would see on a tadpole. It’s feet and hands both ended in four digits, each complete with long, sharp claws. It’s spine protruded from it’s back and looked as if it would tear right though at any moment. It had a neck twice as long as a normal human, with a round head at the end. It was facing downwards in the picture, so I couldn’t see what it’s face looked like. I looked up and noticed that Zach wasn’t the only one hanging in the barn. There were several bodies, each in varying stages of decomposition, hanging from hooks. Some were bones picked clean of flesh, while others looked as though they had been hanging there for months. At that point I doubled over and threw up, and when I raised my head, I saw it: the creature. Its face was something straight out of a nightmare. Where its face should have been was a mouth full of razor sharp teeth, sunken into the head. It kind of reminded me of the giant maw of the Kraken as it devoured one of Odysseus’ ships. On either side were two small, beady black eyes, eyes as dark as the night sky. As it lunged at me I fell backwards, my thumb hitting the camera button. A bright light flashed from the phone, and the creature stumbled backwards, emitting a horrible screeching noise that sounded like a dozen birds going through a meat grinder. I got to my feet and I ran, bolting from the barn into the woods, the creature still screeching madly. I heard multiple screeches echo from within the woods as I ran. Just how many of those things were out there, I didn’t want to know. My body moved on autopilot, following the markers that Zach and I had followed so many times before. At one point I saw one running at me on all fours from my right side. Instinctively I took it’s picture, glad to see it stumble and fall. I ran into the thicket of trees that lead to the lake, sprinting as quickly as I could without falling over. As I made it into the clearing, I fell and felt a searing pain shoot down from my left leg into my foot; one of the creatures had dug it’s claws into me and was dragging me back into the woods. Zach’s phone had fallen a few feet from me and I couldn’t reach it. To my right was his bag with a spare flashlight sticking out from the top. I grabbed it. I never prayed so hard in my life like I did that night in the woods. “Please God let it work! Please God let it work!” I muttered as I pointed it towards the creature and flipped the switch on. Immediately, a beam of light shone from the flashlight directly into the creature’s face. It released me, retreating back into the darkness, howling in pain. I half ran, half limped to the water’s edge, all the while the screeches of the creatures grew in volume behind me. Reflected in it was my world; trees without flesh, a sky alight with stars, and a forest devoid of those… things. I didn’t hesitate; I jumped into the water, not caring about the return of that vertigo feeling. I emerged from the surface and took in a deep breath of air that didn’t taste like death. I pulled myself onto the shore and collapsed, panting. I laid there, listening for those creatures to break the surface, but they never did. I turned off the flashlight by my phone, put them in my bag, and began limping into the forest. As I made my way through the dark thicket, I heard the screeching of one of those creatures. I turned around, fumbling with the flashlight, and dropped it, causing the bulb to shatter. I turned and ran, not noticing the pain in my leg, and not stopping until I had reached the barn. With the adrenaline fading, I collapsed beneath the light above the doors. For a second, I could have sworn that I saw one of those things lurking in the woods. I wasted no time. I pulled my phone from out of my pocket and called the police, telling them my friend had been killed. I don’t know how long I sat there; it felt like an eternity. I was beyond happy to hear the sirens as they approached. I don’t remember much else of that night. I know my parents were there, pale as ghosts when they saw my leg as I sat in the ambulance. I saw Zach’s parents there as well. His mother was on her knees, face buried in her hands, crying. His father just stood there, one arm on his crying wife, his face devoid of any emotion. At that point it all became a blur. I awoke the next morning in the hospital, my parents asleep in the bed next to mine. Apparently I had lost a lot of blood from my wound, and had passed out. I remember feeling uneasy at the thought of having someone else’s blood inside of me. The police questioned me and I told them everything. I told them about the forest, about the lake, the nightmarish worlds, and the creatures. I even told them how to find it. They didn’t believe me, of course, and I had left Zach’s phone back by the lake. They surmised that Zach and I were attacked by an animal, and after seeing it maul my friend to death , my mind, influenced by the Halloween movies, created that world to cope with the trauma. Nonetheless, the police formed a search party and went into the woods, searching for what remained of Zach’s body. They never did find it, nor did they find that patch of woods that lead to the lake. It was as if that part of the forest simply disappeared. I had to take physical therapy as well as talk to a shrink regularly. My leg recovered, but I never stopped having nightmares from that night, even though it’s been years since it happened. My parents didn’t stay in that town long after that and I was glad. I hated the looks the other kids at school would give me, or how they would keep asking what really happened out there, in the woods. Now, whenever my parents have work, they make sure to rent a house in town, far from any nearby woods. Sometimes though, late at night, I can hear that creature in the distant woods, screeching in a mix of anger and hunger. Hunger… for me. Credit: Shawn Badolian Facebook Copyright Statement: Unless explicitly stated, all stories published on Creepypasta.com are the property of (and under copyright to) their respective authors, and may not be narrated or performed under any circumstance.