Chapter Text
Snow dusted the concrete beneath Annie’s feet. It crunched as her boot made contact with it. It was far too cold for the end of March. Annie sighed, and sunk into one of the benches that littered the front door of her old middle school. Her brother, Mike, was supposed to have been out ten minutes ago. Normally she would have taken the bus home, but it was Mike’s birthday, so she wanted to spend as much time with him as possible. The middle school was right next to their house, so normally he would just walk home. Annie took note of her surroundings. Young children ran amuck in the playground. A group of highschoolers were kicking the younger kids off the swingset. Her brother was nowhere to be found. She assumed he was just hanging out with his girlfriend.
Ah yes, the girlfriend. Jamie Arnys-Garns was an enigma, in Annie’s opinion. She had randomly appeared in the town six years prior, along with her older brother. She had formed a quick bond with Mike, and they had started dating in the fall. If Annie was being honest, she didn’t really understand why Jamie had chosen her brother. She could do so much better. However, Annie was happy for the two. Mike hadn’t been happy in a while, and Jamie had really been breaking him out of his shell.
After what had felt like forever, Mike eventually exited the school. As suspected, Jamie was in tow behind him. They said their goodbyes, Jamie planting a kiss on his cheek. Annie thought her brother was going to combust just from that quick action. It made her smile seeing Mike happy. The kid deserved it.
He spotted his sister, and smiled, jogging over to reach her.
“Didn’t know you were coming over. Wouldn't have kept you waiting.”
“No problem kiddo. I don’t mind the wait.”
“Annie, I am fourteen years old. Do not call me kiddo.”
“Going to do it more now just to piss you off.”
“I hate you.”
Annie snickered, and started the walk back to their house. Mike followed silently, looking down at his phone. Every couple minutes Annie caught a faint smile creasing his face or his fingers speeding across the keyboard.
“You know, you could have invited Jamie over if you want. Or the guys from the basketball team. I’m sure you don’t want to spend all your birthday time with your decrepit sister.”
“An, you’re 16. Not ancient. But anyways, my social battery’s kind of drained for right now. I just wanna go and get my homework done.”
“Homework can wait, dude. It’s your birthday. That means Mario Kart and takeout.” Mike paused for a moment.
“I suppose I can dabble in the art of go-kart racing. As long as you’re ok with losing.” Annie grabbed the hood of his sweatshirt and pulled it over his head. Laughing, the two siblings continued down the street to their small house.
The kids eventually arrived at their empty home. And it wasn’t empty because there wasn’t a lot of furniture, quite the contrary actually. There was stuff galore. It was empty because as usual, the kids mother, Sara, was not home. What a surprise.
“I’ll go grab the Nintendo,” said Annie, putting her jacket down on the coat rack and taking off her boots. “You go grab some sodas.” Mike nodded and went to the kitchen. Annie left for the living room, passing family photos on the wall. She had honestly forgotten it was there. How does one forget an item that they passed on the daily? Annie didn’t quite know. She made her way into the living room, disconnected the N64 from the living room TV from the couch, and ran up the stairs.
Mike made his way into the bedroom, and saw Annie struggling to connect their nintendo to the TV. He stole it from her, connected it in about five seconds, then threw a Root Beer bottle at her.
Annie and Mike had been playing for about an hour and a half before they stopped to go eat some leftover food, much to Annie’s protest. But she loved food almost as much as gaming and watching her brother suffer, so it wasn’t that upsetting.
“How about we go for a walk before it gets too dark? We could use some fresh air.” Annie offered, stuffing her face with chicken. Mike nodded, putting down his fork and going to grab his sweatshirt. Mike stopped Annie just as she began to walk out the door.
“Can we go walk around in the woods like we used to do with dad?” asked Mike. Annie froze for a second, processing the request, but she eventually nodded. She walked to the door and grabbed her jacket, pulling the key to their house out of the pocket. The siblings both walked out of the house, and Annie locked the door.
“Let’s go. Not for too long though, we have school tomorrow, and we both have homework that needs to get done.” Mike nodded, and the two grabbed their bikes.
After riding for about ten minutes, they made it to the entrance to the woods. It was heavily discouraged to enter, because of how big they were, and someone could easily get lost.
Neither of the siblings ever acknowledged that warning, as they would always hang out there when they were younger. Camping with their parents and other extended family used to be common until their lives got too cluttered with school. They propped their bikes up against the fence, and started walking, careful to stay on the path. Even if they knew the woods well, they didn't want to risk getting off track.
“Why’d you want to come here?” Annie asked, breaking the silence.
“I needed to clear my mind. Today kinda sucked.” Annie gave him a confused expression. “I don’t wanna talk about it.” She didn’t pester him again after that. She looked around. The place hadn’t changed much, despite it being over five years since the last time she’d been there. Flowers still grew in bushes around the path. Trees still held tall, acting as a canopy. Fog still glittered around them. It was peaceful.
After walking for a while, Mike couldn't shake the feeling he was being watched, but he shook it off as paranoia from not being in the woods in years. His stress levels were also at an all time high with state testing, which didn’t help at all. Why did school have to be so stressful?
He took off his glasses and cleaned them with his hoodie. Once he put them back on, he continued walking to keep up with his sister. Was the fog getting thicker? He couldn’t tell. Leaves crunched around them as they walked. Sometimes he thought he heard them from behind him, whenever he turned around he always saw another animal that called this place home. He turned back, keeping his eyes on his sister.
“Hey dumbass, stop being paranoid. We’re almost at the turn that leads to the back of my school.” Annie’s face turned white as she turned around to face her brother. Mike didn’t understand why. She bullied him on the daily, but he didn’t think his face was that repulsive. Annie looked like she’d seen a ghost. Her ivory colored skin had lost the little color it already had. Behind them, Mike heard the crunching of dead leaves and twigs get louder.
Mike had never really been scared of anything. Even when his dad got into that accident. Even when his mom was never home. Even when he was constantly feeling alone at school, even with having a decent amount of friends. But at that very moment, when Mike looked back at what was trailing behind them, he nearly screamed.
It was tall. Maybe 6’? Mike couldn’t tell. But it was staring at them. Sharp, black claws decorated its hands. Its skin looked like a grey bark. But the smile was the scariest part. Sickening. Just staring at them. Its eyes were this piercing blue. Creepy. Cold. Dead.
Mike didn’t have time to process anything else. His eyes may have been fast, but Annie’s legs were faster. She was one of the top five kids on the track team, after all. She grabbed him by the arm and started sprinting deeper into the forest they were surrounded by, the path long forgotten.