I used to work third shift as a janitor at the nearby market. “Well that’s just great. Cleaning toilets again!” I murmured under my breath, in a sarcastic tone. Unfortunately, I was fed up with my job. “I think I might quit today.” I contemplated, as I scoured the toilet bowl. “I can’t do this for any longer!” I was anticipating leaving soon, since I was exhausted and I didn’t profit as a janitor. I had better things to do than scrub toilets all day. What a waste of time.
Speaking of which, there is another explanation for why I quit my job. An event that I could not bear to ponder. Something so terrible, it makes my skin crawl to even speak of. All the horrifying events that occurred on that day will forever keep me up at night.
It was 3 am, and my manager ordered me to get back to work. I just had 4 more hours left, and afterward I could at long last go home. I was instructed to take the trash out again. “Ew! It smells awful!” I shouted, whilst grasping the garbage bag. I strolled towards the dumpster in the back, and opened the lid. To my surprise, I had stumbled upon a series of casette tapes in a plastic bag. The bag was labeled “redcry.avi,” and it was written in red marker. “What a strange name.” I thought to myself. “Who knows what it could be about?”
Out of curiousity, I removed the pack from the dumpster and placed it in my back pocket. That is to say, it wasn’t technically stealing since they were in the garbage. No one cares about the tapes in any case. I wasn’t thinking about the consequences of my actions. I simply needed to discover what was on the tapes.
I was planning on watching the tapes when my work was finished, since I still had my old VCR at home. Since it was getting darker and darker outside, I chose to check my watch. It was 5 o’clock. “I just have 2 more hours of work left!” I yelled enthusiastically.
I shut the lid to the dumpster and returned inside. As I walked a few doors down, my manager said I could have an hour long break. I thanked him as I strolled into the restroom to wash up. I closed the door and thoroughly cleaned my hands, since they had become extremely messy. As I washed my hands, I couldn’t stop thinking about the tapes I had found. “Why is it called redcry.avi?” “Who put them in the dumpster?” “Does anyone else know about this?” I had numerous questions, however no answers so far. I checked my watch once more, and it was 5:30. I just had 30 minutes left to return to work, so I immediately dried my hands and exited the washroom.
Around a hour later, my work was done. I was exhausted and ready to get off work. It was Friday, so I could stay home for the next two days. “At last, time to go home!” I said excitedly, as I walked into the parking area. I got into my car and drove off.
When I arrived at my house, I took the plastic bag out of my pocket and opened it. I carefully removed the casette tapes from the bag, starting with the tape labeled number one. I put the tape into the VCR and hit play.
The video that played was distorted, and it appeared that the tape was extremely old. There was static playing in the background for the whole video.
In the opening scene, there was a photo of a young lady with short dark hair, and a dim dress on. She had no mouth, and she had two big black holes for eyes. She was crying blood, hence the name “redcry.avi.” I finally understood why it was called that. I heard the sound of a squeaking door in the background, and she was in the forest.
A couple of moments later, she vanished out of the blue, and the sound of a woman screaming in reverse was being played over it. The screen cut to black. Thereafter, there was a photo of a woman which I assumed to be her mother, and her two children, crying at the girl’s funeral. There was the sound of a lady sobbing being played in the background. They all had the same black holes for eyes. I don’t know why their eyes looked that way. It was very strange to me. At that point the woman began to grin and burst out laughing, and soon after, her two children vanished.
At the following part, I saw kids on a ferris wheel in a field. The faint sound of children crying was being played. But the audio was heavily distorted. A while later, the same lady from before walked up to the ferris wheel, and she began to shoot at it. The ferris wheel bursts into flames, and she passes away in the explosion.
Then, the screen cuts to a photo of the same girl from the beginning. This time, she’s in a dark room. Her right eye is bruised, and she has a small crack down her forehead. A nasty amount of blood is coming out of her eyes like a waterfall. Her mouth is taped shut, and the words “help us” is written in blood over the piece of tape. This goes on for about 30 seconds, until the video ends.
The video made me sick to my stomach. I had to take a break from watching it, and then I decided to watch the second tape. I took the first tape out of the VCR, and replaced it with the second one.
The first few seconds of the video is a static screen. Then, it shows a video of the girl’s brother crying in his bed. The audio is in reverse, and the video is distorted. In this scene, the screen keeps turning red. Each time it gets more and more red and distorted.
The next scene is just a photo of the girl from the first tape’s decapitated head floating. It turns out her name is Carla. Carla has no face, and weird distorted text is around her. She appears to be in a forest, and the sound of a power drill is being played in the background. Later on in this scene, a woman’s voice is saying “Come visit the Dark Forest and play with the spirits. It gets lonely in here. We need some friends.”
It returns to the scene where Carla’s brother is crying, yet this time it’s considerably louder. His doorbell rings, and he gets out of bed. He walks towards the door and opens it. Carla’s brother receives an envelope in the mail. He opens it, only to find this poem inside:
The Dark Forest is where the spirits lie,
You can run, but you cannot hide.
You may or may not become one with them,
One step in, and you’re stuck with em.
If you visit this place you will forever be,
a trapped spirit stuck for all eternity.
So take my advice and do what I say,
Never, ever, ever, go to the forest to play.
Carla’s brother recognizes the Dark Forest as where his sister was murdered, so he chooses to visit that place. He needs to see her once more. The screen turns to static for a couple of moments. Thereafter, a photo of Carla’s brother shows up onscreen, but he’s crying blood and his mouth is taped shut. He is in the forest. From that point onward, the video closes.
I only had one more tape to watch, and then I would be done with them. So I removed the second tape from the VCR and replaced it with the third one.
This video started off with a red static screen for a few seconds. Then, a picture of Carla’s brother in a hospital bed appears onscreen. A few beeps can be heard in the background. An even longer beep fades out, and Carla’s brother kicks the bucket.
At that point my television set went back to the blue screen. Except this time, it said “RIP EUGENE” on it. I checked to see if this was just the video, but it wasn’t. I was anxious about the possibility that that my television would be broken forever.
After that, my TV went back to normal. The video started playing again.
Apparently, Carla’s brother’s name is Eugene, and he has a twin brother named Peter.
In the next scene, Peter is crying at Eugene’s funeral. The screen is red for some reason, and there is static in the background. In the next part of the tape, Eugene is crying blood, and his mouth is taped shut. There is a black background.
Eugene screams, and then I heard a man’s voice say “Hello, no one is available to take your call. Please leave a message after the tone.” Eugene screams again.
Later, Peter got a strange letter in the mail. Here is what it said:
“Please come and play with us. I am very lonely in here it gets cold and dark. My name is Monica and i’m three years old. We need friends please play with us. Me and the lost souls are alone. They dragged me here a few years ago. We are stuck. Help us please. I want some people to visit the Dark Forest and play with us. It has some really pretty trees and it’s really fun there. The Dark Forest is on 4444 Ash Boulevard I hope you go to the forest!”
-Monica
May 30th, 1967
I did some research, and it turns out that 4444 Ash Boulevard is a real place. Even creepier, I live there. Apparently, there actually is a “Dark Forest” located on 4444 Ash Boulevard. I also Googled if their was a Monica, Carla, or Eugene that died in this specific location, and they are all real people.
“In 1965, 1 year old Monica Vittadini was dragged into a forest located on 4444 Ash Boulevard, also known as “The Dark Forest.” She was stabbed to death.”
“In 1995, 10 year old Carla Murillo was kidnapped while sleeping, dragged into a forest located on 4444 Ash Boulevard, and stabbed multiple times until her death. A few months later, her brother Eugene Murillo was walking through the same forest, and he was also stabbed to death a few minutes later.”
It terrifies me to think of why this happened to me. I live on 4444 Ash Boulevard, and now I live in the Dark Forest. I know it gets lonely in here, but don’t ever come and play with us. I really shouldn’t have watched those tapes. Just please be careful, or else you’ll end up like me – a lost spirit.