I don’t talk much about what I have been through, but what I saw was terrifying. It all started when me and my friends were going on a camping trip, all five of us including me. We were going to set up camp near the road, but one of my friends, Ashley, wanted to stay by the river. And Zane, on the other hand, thought it was a good idea because he wanted to go fishing. But he didn’t know what was coming for him.
That night, I heard a scream. A very shrill scream. I got out of my tent and I quickly looked for the source of the scream. It was pretty far from camp, but I wasn’t too worried. You see, when I was young, I was very curious and I would do anything just to find out about something. And so, I found the source of the scream and that’s when I saw him. The man in the woods. He had a wooden mask, but I could see he had one foot on top of Zane. He was struggling. I was behind a bush and so I wanted to help, but I was too late. There was a gunshot. I uncovered my hands from my face and saw Zane’s body… lifeless. I ran back to camp and woke up my friends. Of course they didn’t believe me, so that night I cried myself to sleep.
The next morning, I went to go talk to Elizabeth, the girl that I like. She was picking flowers for her mother’s grave when we go back home. And so, I try to explain what I saw last night. All she told me was, “Don’t be foolish. He might have gone home. You know how his mother is,” she laughed. So I did think, ‘What if it was a dream? What if he really did go home?’ But I was wrong. I then woke up to a gunshot, a scream, and then another gunshot. I went to wake up my friends and realized that Elizabeth was missing. I figured it was yet another dream, who knows? She might be heard tomorrow morning.
The next day, I was awoken by Isaac and Ashley. They both wanted to show me something. It was a bit far from camp, but we came across a human sized grave. They told that these flowers were just planted and that we’re not alone. They said while throwing a candy wrapper on the ground. I yet realized that those were the flowers Elizabeth was picking yesterday, so I tried to tell them about Elizabeth and those flowers and their connection, but they didn’t believe me. They told me that she might’ve gone home to her pet cat, but I still knew something was wrong about this forest.
That night, I heard two gunshots and this time I’m alone. I went to go find out were it was coming from. So I got there, I hid behind a tree, and saw the same man… the man in a wooden mask. I looked closer and saw him go to his knees and say, “WELCOME TO THE FAMILY,” and he cut open Ashley I think, and started eating her raw. I soon started to feel dizzy and ran as fast as I could. I found myself in the middle of the road. I looked around and then I saw something bright… I woke up in the hospital. My father told me I was hit by a car.
Two years past and I got me a girlfriend. I remember going to the library and coming across a book called The History of KenPine Woods. I opened it up and saw the picture looks exactly like the forest me and my friends stayed at. I kept looking and saw that long ago there was a forest fire killing three people. The survivor was a man named James Kenki. His wife and kids died in the fire. He planted trees to remember them. His wife: a Birch Tree, his son: an Apple Tree, and his other son: a Peach Tree. Soon those trees got cut down by a group of lumberjacks. James was pissed off. He took the remaining wood of the trees and made a mask out of them and killed the lumberjacks with a shotgun. I just realized, what if that man in the woods was James Kanki? I was surprised and my heart started pumping faster. I came across a murderer who could have killed me too. I’m James Anakna and this story was indeed NOT a dream.