Into The Woods
By Kiera DeFoort
What started as a normal day for five friends would change their lives forever. Nick, Bethany, David, Peter, and Sarah were five close friends on the cusp of adolescence. Bethany was strong and would never allow people to walk over her friends, and was starkly different from shy David who liked to hide in the back of the group, many assumed he never spoke. Nick was the troublemaker, the bad boy, and always doing wrong. Contrasting to Nick was Peter, a quiet artist, shy, and extremely overly cautious of his friend’s shenanigans. And last but not least, there was Sarah. Sarah was the perfect blend of her group; she could be shy and introspective, a real stick in the mud, or, when it suits her, a troublemaker.
The group was running around playing on the brink of the woods when Nick began to brew a devious plan. Grabbing Bethany and Sarah, he pulled them into the depth of the wood.
“Come on guys, let’s explore. There is supposed to be an old shack here, let’s try and find it.” Nick said, trudging deeper into the woods.
“Nick, I don’t think this is a good idea. We could get lost or fall down and get hurt. This seems like a disaster waiting to happen”, complained Peter.
But his breath was wasted, as the rest of the group was already following Nick into the woods. Trailing Nick, the group soon found themselves standing under a bellowing ancient oak tree.
“Let’s keep going guys, I wanna find the shack.” urged Nick.
“NOPE! We are leaving right now. Some of us have to be home for dinner, and it will be dark soon.” Sarah said sternly.
The group recognized this as her “don’t mess with me I am not in the mood” voice. Sarah fiercely spun and began back to the trail, her friends immediately following suit. After some wandering, the five friends came to a gut-wrenching realization: the path that they came in on was gone.
“What do we do, how do we leave?” Screamed Bethany, breaking her usual strong, calm demeanor.
Nick, who never seemed concerned despite the trouble he caused now showed signs of worry.
“Nick, what is the matter?” Questioned David (who the group had almost forgotten was there).
“Nothing,” Nick responded.
But with one quick stare down from Sarah he was spilling everything he knew.
“Our situation kind of reminds me of an old song my Grandmother used to sing about these woods. It goes like this”:
There is a little shack in the woods
Don’t go there unless you wear a hood
Careful where you step,
And hold your head high
Most importantly, don’t forget to hide
They are always watching you
The path will disappear
Friends will be near
But careful what you say
Or one may not make it to the end of today
Look high look low for they are everywhere
Don’t forget to hide
Find the shed you’ll safely stay,
Once you say this our game you play
Into the woods, you go
In these woods, you’ll die
“This is all I know. There was a piece of paper with this written in her attic and she’d often sing it to me, but whenever I asked who wrote it or what it meant she always just would zone out and stare blankly at me.” Nick said.
“Why didn’t you tell us about this, why did you bring us into these woods,” Peter said.
“Ok let’s focus, apparently we need to find a shack to survive. That seems to be easy enough. Nick, where is the shack?”, asked Sarah.
But all Nick could do was shake his head; he did not know where the shack was or what any of this meant. The group roamed the woods hoping to find the shack.
“Wait, let’s think about the song. Don”t go there unless you have a hood. Sarah, you have a hood, put it up.” said David.
When Sarah put up her hood she disappeared.
The group looked for Sarah but she was gone. Sarah came to in a little shack somewhere in the woods. She had no idea of how she got there but if she
felt strangely safe in the shack. She sat up and looked at the wall. Inscribed was another song it said to sing, to leave the woods.
You found the shack
You want to live
Leave by dawn
Or stay forever
You want to leave, You want to live.
Sarah tried the song but then she realized that she needed her friends in order for the chant to work.
“Sarah is gone, there is no point in looking for her, we need to find a way out,” Nick said.
“Ok, the next line says to be careful where you step.” Said, David.
“Look, the rocks over there are glowing!” Nick said before running and jumping across them.
“Wait” yelled Bethany but it was too late. Nick was running across the rocks when he hit the final rock he disappeared and the rocks suddenly became normal.
Nick woke up in the same cabin as Sarah. He looked in the corner and saw her crying.
“Sarah,” said Nick.
She looked up but went back to crying.
“He’s gone,” said Peter.
“Hold your head up high is the next line so let’s look to the sky, everything else has worked so far,” said Bethany.
The group looked to the sky but there was nothing there, or so they thought. Peter whispered these words to himself before he disappeared.
“I look high now, don’t look down unless you want to die.”
“Peter, Peter, Peter where are you?” Said, David.
“He’s gone, maybe we should stop flowing the line in the song and walk around again to try and find the cabin,” said Bethany.
“No, we should finish the song” responded David, in a tone Bethany had never heard before.
“Fine, they are always watching you is the next line.” Said Bethany. “Who is always watching us?”
Meanwhile, in the cabin Nick, Sarah and Peter stare at their friends through the window, but no matter how much they call for Bethany and David they never turn to look.
“I can’t remember the rest of the song David, what about you?” said Bethany.
“Don’t forget to hide is the next line,” said David.
“ Where do we hide David?” replied Bethany in a worried tone as the sun had set and the moon was not out.
Bethany and David were in complete darkness. The two friends took off to the old oak tree that was hollowed out and they jumped inside at the same time. When they came to, they were in the shack.
The group quickly said their hellos before saying the leaving song as dawn would soon approach.
“We found the shack
We want to live
Leave by dawn
Or stay forever
We want to leave, we want to live.”
Said the five friends in hope of living. Suddenly, a flash of blinding light poured into the shack, and the next thing they knew they were standing back in the field.
The five friends told their story to the police but nobody believed them. But one thing was for sure, things changed while they were in the woods. What seemed to be just a few hours was actually five whole months.
