Eternal Love
The Most Suspicious of Muffins
♔ Champion ♔
Jack, Stacy, David, and Emma hiked through the forest. It was a cold October night and even though the trees had just begun to change color the forest the college students were walking through was completely dead. It had always been that way, nothing seemed to want to grow there. All four of them were bored and decided to drive up to where the dead forest was located. They had always seen it from afar and had always been curious of the dilapidated old manor that sat on a hill in the center of the forest.
"They say that Death lives in that house." Jack said as he lead the group forward.
"Who is they?" Asked Stacy.
"I don't know. The town's people I guess?"
"My grandpa said that when he was a kid, he and his friends dared some kid to hike up to the house and he never came back." David chimed in.
"Oh, come on you guys, it's just an old house! You're just getting caught up in superstition." Emma exclaimed, rolling her eyes.
"Remind me again why were hiking up here?" David asked, looking around the dead foggy forest and feeling uneasy.
"Because it'll be cool!" Jack responded. "It's October after all. We should be doing Halloween stuff."
"Why can't we, like, go to a party or something instead?" Stacy grumbled.
"You can party any time of the year. Going to a spooky house is way better."
The group found themselves unable to argue with Jack's logic so they didn't and just continued hiking up the hill. As they continued forward, the air began to get colder and foggier and somehow, the house didn't seem to be getting any closer to them like it should have been. They had been hiking for at least an hour, if not more but all that seemed to change was the temperature and the amount of fog.
"I'm getting cold! Can we turn back?" Stacy complained, shivering.
"Yeah, it's getting hard to see through this thick fog." Emma agreed.
"Why don't we come back during the day?" Asked David.
"No! It's not as creepy during the day. We'll get there soon. We have to be getting closer." Jack insisted.
His friends looked at each other anxiously. The house still didn't look like it was getting any closer but they still kept going.
After a while, Stacy began to lag behind everyone else. She'd begun to feel dizzy and disoriented. "Hhhey, guyysss... Lllike, wait uppp." Stacy's speech slurred when she spoke and thus her friends didn't seem to hear her. They were so far ahead of her now and it was becoming difficult to walk. It felt like she'd gotten wasted but she hadn't had a single thing to drink that night. The blonde slowed down even more, stopping to lean against a tree as it became hard to walk in a straight line let alone up hill. When she looked up again, her friends were gone, having disappeared into the darkness and fog. She was alone now and as much as she wanted to stop she had to find her friends so she started walking forward again despite how difficult it was. She didn't have to walk for very long before she saw something in the fog, a pair of lights. Headlights?? How had a car gotten all the way up here? Maybe there was a road they hadn't seen. Stacy walked toward the lights. Maybe whoever was in the car could give her a ride home. However, as she got closer she heard the engine rev which made her stop in her tracks. The next thing she knew, the car started toward her. She screamed and tried to get out of the way but failed, colliding with the front end of the speeding car as it reached her, dragging her off into the darkness.
Up ahead, David stopped in his tracks, looking behind him to see that Stacy wasn't there anymore. "Hey, where did Stacy go?" He called but recieved no answer. He looked back to where Emma and Jack had been only to see empty darkness and fog. "Guys?!" He called again without getting an answer. Grumbling to himself, he started forward again, hoping to catch up to his friends so he could make them go back to look for Stacy. After a while, he had to stop, leaning against a tree to catch his breath. While doing so, he looked up at the branches. They seemed sturdy enough, maybe he could climb up and see his friends hiking somewhere below. With that in mind, the athlete began to climb the tree. He climbed higher and higher, glancing down every so often to see if he could spot his friends but to no avail. He climbed a bit higher and stopped once more to survey the area. Suddenly, David became blinded by red and green lights. Startled, he lost his grip and his balance, falling backwards off the limb he'd been perched on. He tumbled through a couple branches before his scarf caught on one of them. Snap! Movement in the tree ceased as David hung there, lynched by his own scarf, alone in the darkness.
The snapping of a twig caused Emma to stop in her tracks, not noticing that Jack continued to hike on. She turned to find the source of the sound but found nothing and when she looked back to ask Jack if he had heard anything, she saw that he was gone. There was only darkness and fog around her. Where had her friends gone? "Guys? Guys?! Quit trying to scare me, it isn't funny!" She called out, recieving silence in return. Another twig snapping caught her attention. It was behind her and close. The brunette whirled around to find herself face to face with a stag. The deer stood there, eeriely still, not at all how a deer would normally behave. She stared back at it as it regarded her with deadened eyes. Fear crept up her spine but she didn't get the chance to run. Bang! Pain bloomed in her stomach and she looked down, seeing blood staining her shirt. Emma crumbled to her knees and bled out there on the forest floor, in the darkness.
After what had felt like decades, Jack finally reached the house in the center of the forest. He stepped up on the porch, feeling proud of himself. "Guys! We made it!" He cried, not looking behind him. He did, however, notice how weird his voice sounded. It was deeper, worn down... Old. He brushed it off and reached for the door knob, only to recoil his hand from it in horror when he looked down to see the wrinkled hand of an old man. Panicked, he looked at both his hands, rolling up his sleeves to see more weathered skin. He moved, struggling to do so with how feeble his body felt, and looked at his reflection in a window beside the front door of the house. An old man wearing his clothes looked back at him and a horrifying revelation donned on him. He was old! He'd aged dramatically somehow.
Concern for his friends hit him next and he turned around only to see empty darkness. As he did so, memories flashed before his eyes. Stacy had died young, in a drunk driving accident after a college party. David had died some years later, having accidentally hanging himself while hanging Christmas lights on the house he and his wife shared. And Emma died in a hunting accident with her family a while after that, having been shot after being mistaken for a deer in the thicket. Tears filled Jack's eyes as the memories consumed him. In his grief and anguish he failed to notice the door of the house opening behind him until a pair of cold hands covered his mouth. A muffled scream escaped his throat as he was dragged off into darkness, just as his friends had been.
"They say that Death lives in that house." Jack said as he lead the group forward.
"Who is they?" Asked Stacy.
"I don't know. The town's people I guess?"
"My grandpa said that when he was a kid, he and his friends dared some kid to hike up to the house and he never came back." David chimed in.
"Oh, come on you guys, it's just an old house! You're just getting caught up in superstition." Emma exclaimed, rolling her eyes.
"Remind me again why were hiking up here?" David asked, looking around the dead foggy forest and feeling uneasy.
"Because it'll be cool!" Jack responded. "It's October after all. We should be doing Halloween stuff."
"Why can't we, like, go to a party or something instead?" Stacy grumbled.
"You can party any time of the year. Going to a spooky house is way better."
The group found themselves unable to argue with Jack's logic so they didn't and just continued hiking up the hill. As they continued forward, the air began to get colder and foggier and somehow, the house didn't seem to be getting any closer to them like it should have been. They had been hiking for at least an hour, if not more but all that seemed to change was the temperature and the amount of fog.
"I'm getting cold! Can we turn back?" Stacy complained, shivering.
"Yeah, it's getting hard to see through this thick fog." Emma agreed.
"Why don't we come back during the day?" Asked David.
"No! It's not as creepy during the day. We'll get there soon. We have to be getting closer." Jack insisted.
His friends looked at each other anxiously. The house still didn't look like it was getting any closer but they still kept going.
After a while, Stacy began to lag behind everyone else. She'd begun to feel dizzy and disoriented. "Hhhey, guyysss... Lllike, wait uppp." Stacy's speech slurred when she spoke and thus her friends didn't seem to hear her. They were so far ahead of her now and it was becoming difficult to walk. It felt like she'd gotten wasted but she hadn't had a single thing to drink that night. The blonde slowed down even more, stopping to lean against a tree as it became hard to walk in a straight line let alone up hill. When she looked up again, her friends were gone, having disappeared into the darkness and fog. She was alone now and as much as she wanted to stop she had to find her friends so she started walking forward again despite how difficult it was. She didn't have to walk for very long before she saw something in the fog, a pair of lights. Headlights?? How had a car gotten all the way up here? Maybe there was a road they hadn't seen. Stacy walked toward the lights. Maybe whoever was in the car could give her a ride home. However, as she got closer she heard the engine rev which made her stop in her tracks. The next thing she knew, the car started toward her. She screamed and tried to get out of the way but failed, colliding with the front end of the speeding car as it reached her, dragging her off into the darkness.
Up ahead, David stopped in his tracks, looking behind him to see that Stacy wasn't there anymore. "Hey, where did Stacy go?" He called but recieved no answer. He looked back to where Emma and Jack had been only to see empty darkness and fog. "Guys?!" He called again without getting an answer. Grumbling to himself, he started forward again, hoping to catch up to his friends so he could make them go back to look for Stacy. After a while, he had to stop, leaning against a tree to catch his breath. While doing so, he looked up at the branches. They seemed sturdy enough, maybe he could climb up and see his friends hiking somewhere below. With that in mind, the athlete began to climb the tree. He climbed higher and higher, glancing down every so often to see if he could spot his friends but to no avail. He climbed a bit higher and stopped once more to survey the area. Suddenly, David became blinded by red and green lights. Startled, he lost his grip and his balance, falling backwards off the limb he'd been perched on. He tumbled through a couple branches before his scarf caught on one of them. Snap! Movement in the tree ceased as David hung there, lynched by his own scarf, alone in the darkness.
The snapping of a twig caused Emma to stop in her tracks, not noticing that Jack continued to hike on. She turned to find the source of the sound but found nothing and when she looked back to ask Jack if he had heard anything, she saw that he was gone. There was only darkness and fog around her. Where had her friends gone? "Guys? Guys?! Quit trying to scare me, it isn't funny!" She called out, recieving silence in return. Another twig snapping caught her attention. It was behind her and close. The brunette whirled around to find herself face to face with a stag. The deer stood there, eeriely still, not at all how a deer would normally behave. She stared back at it as it regarded her with deadened eyes. Fear crept up her spine but she didn't get the chance to run. Bang! Pain bloomed in her stomach and she looked down, seeing blood staining her shirt. Emma crumbled to her knees and bled out there on the forest floor, in the darkness.
After what had felt like decades, Jack finally reached the house in the center of the forest. He stepped up on the porch, feeling proud of himself. "Guys! We made it!" He cried, not looking behind him. He did, however, notice how weird his voice sounded. It was deeper, worn down... Old. He brushed it off and reached for the door knob, only to recoil his hand from it in horror when he looked down to see the wrinkled hand of an old man. Panicked, he looked at both his hands, rolling up his sleeves to see more weathered skin. He moved, struggling to do so with how feeble his body felt, and looked at his reflection in a window beside the front door of the house. An old man wearing his clothes looked back at him and a horrifying revelation donned on him. He was old! He'd aged dramatically somehow.
Concern for his friends hit him next and he turned around only to see empty darkness. As he did so, memories flashed before his eyes. Stacy had died young, in a drunk driving accident after a college party. David had died some years later, having accidentally hanging himself while hanging Christmas lights on the house he and his wife shared. And Emma died in a hunting accident with her family a while after that, having been shot after being mistaken for a deer in the thicket. Tears filled Jack's eyes as the memories consumed him. In his grief and anguish he failed to notice the door of the house opening behind him until a pair of cold hands covered his mouth. A muffled scream escaped his throat as he was dragged off into darkness, just as his friends had been.