The Skull in the Woods

A short story by MG

Yeeted by Phil repeatedly

I don't dare go out to the backyard.

Not since what happened that summer.

The summer I tripped and fell.

The summer I found out who I really am.

…

The house was quiet as I tip-toed down the stairs in the middle of the night.

They made a gentle creaking sound as I lightly stepped on them, but thankfully it wasn't loud enough to wake my parents up, who were sleeping in the room across from mine.

I reach the final step with one last creak.

I really shouldn't be doing this, but here I am anyway.

I brush my blue fringe out of my face. I really should have worn a beanie or something to tuck it in, but it's too late to go back.

I catch myself in the mirror that hangs in our living room.

I have a guilty look on my pale face. My sky blue pajamas look silly with the flannel I hastily put on, and my blue undercut is messy. I grin a guilty smile into the mirror and I can see my chipped front tooth.

Now that I think about it, it would have been better to wear something black, like those jeans I own. Or a black beanie.

Hey, you didn't prepare in advance, this is what you get, I tell myself.

At least I prepared enough to remember to leave my boots by the front door. Don't want to be stepping on those sharp rocks in my bare feet.

As I tie the laces of my Doc Martens, I think about how stupid this is, and how I'm going to get caught, but I (attempt to) push those worries aside.

Laces tied, I stand up, ready to head off into the night. I silently tell my parents goodbye in my mind.

With the door now open, I take a deep breath and step onto our doormat, about to cross the boundry between the light and the shadows.

…

It started the day before.

I was outside with Kenneth, by best friend, who prefers to be called Kenny.

My mom had basically kicked me out of my room and told me to go play outside. I was forced onto my front porch against my will. To make sure I couldn't sneak back in, she locked the door.

Thank goodness Kenny lived close by. I went over to his place and I stayed in his room for a little until his mom wanted us outdoors, too.

We hung out on the blistering sidewalk until we couldn't stand the heat anymore.

We moved to my backyard and climbed up the rope ladder that led to the treehouse we built two years ago.

There was nothing to do in there either. We both felt like we were a little too old for treehouses.

Then, Kenny looked out the square-shaped hole in the wall that was supposed to serve as a window.

“Hey,” he started. “I double-dog-dare you to go to The Woods and walk around there for an hour.”

I held my breath.

Next to my backyard -well, basically part of my backyard- was what everyone called “The Woods.”

There were rumors going around that someone died in there. It was most likely that an adult came up with that to keep kids out, but it didn't matter. We were all terrified of The Woods.

Some say a kid was murdered in The Woods and their skeleton is still there. Others say there's evil spirits who roam The Woods, looking for poor souls who wander in lost so they can inhabit their bodies.

There's one story that combines both those stories. Apparently a girl got lost in there and was possessed by demons. When she told a shaman, she was brought back to The Woods and killed by the spirits. They say her ghost roams The Woods, now an evil demon herself, and she's looking for a body to take over.

When I moved here, I wasn't exactly thrilled to learn that my backyard was full of little children ghosts, but Kenny found it fascinating.

“What's the matter?” he said. “You chicken?”

He can also be a pain sometimes.

“No, I'm not chicken,” I told him. “Just not super into the idea of getting possessed.”

He laughs. “Well, which one is it? Are you afraid of ghosts or intrigued by them?”

“There's a gray area,” I tell him. “I can be both.”

Kenny's smile goes serious. “There's no real difference, is there?”

I shake my head and look at The Woods.

After a minute of staring at The Woods, Kenny finally says something.

“You don't have to take my dare, y'know.” He doesn't turn to look at me. He's still looking out the window. “I wasn't serious.”

“No, you can't back out on a double-dog-dare,” I said. “I'll do it.”

Shut up, me! I think to myself.

That's the problem with me. Even if I'm terrified, I won't back out of a dare.

Kenny looks back at me. He sighs. “Well, you can if you want to. I'll go come. It's the least I can do.”

Kenny's the opposite of me. No matter how brave he pretends to be, he's a coward at heart. And I'm saying this as a friend.

I stand up. “You want to go now?”

He shrugs.

I climb down the rope ladder and he follows suit.

We stand before The Woods. I look over my shoulder to make sure Mom's not watching. She would have a cow if she knew what I was about to do.

Kenny's lucky. His parents don't care.

Most people tend not to care out here.

I took a deep breath, and entered The Woods, trusted friend at my side.

…

I step on the dead grass in my front yard. Dad's been meaning to do something about it. He says he's going to rip up the grass and put in a fresh lawn.

I'm really hoping he does that soon. It would be nice if I had something nice to look at when I look out my bedroom window.

Sorry I sound ungrateful. I don't mean to be rude to my parents or anything for moving here.

I actually like it here. The heat is annoying, but everything else is fine.

I walk around the house, and end up in the backyard.

It would have made more sense to use the back door instead of the front, but the floor's noisier in the kitchen for some reason. It would be too risky.

I pass the treehouse, which has turned into a towering silhouette, and walk through the open picket fence bordering our house. One of the only things that stands in the way of the night.

I walk into The Woods, being careful to avoid large tree roots that stick up in the ground.

It's pitch dark inside, but luckily I'm not that much of a nincompoop to forget to bring a flashlight. I turn on my pocket flashlight and a thin beam of light shoots out and lands on a snake.

I jump, nearly dropping my flashlight.

The snake ignores me, and continues to slither on the ground. It disappears into the shadows, leaving me behind.

I breath slowly, trying to get my courage back. It was only a garter snake, I tell myself. Calm down.

I grip my flashlight harder and, like the snake, continue on my midnight journey in the woods.

I walk for a little longer, carefully stepping over a fallen tree and ducking a couple of low-hanging branches.

The tree reminds me of something my cousin said once.

“If a tree falls in the forest, and no one's around to hear it, does it make a sound?”

I remember rolling my eyes at her and calling her a hippie.

But now I'm starting to think about that. I guess it really doesn't make a sound.

No, focus! I scold myself. You have to be careful! A giant spider could come out of the woods and eat you, and you wouldn't notice because you were busy wondering if a tree makes a sound!

Huh. You're right, I reply to myself.

I keep walking in the dark.

The Woods are quiet. And I don't mean just right now, in the middle of the night, I mean always. Doesn't care what time it is. It's as silent as death.

That comparison makes me shudder.

Let's not say that word ever again.

Agreed.

I'm thinking about turning back when I hear a distant laugh come from the left.

My heart jumps, and I wave my flashlight in the general direction of the laugh. There's nothing except trees and the darkness beyond them.

There's nothing there, I assure myself. It was probably just a wolf or something.

Wait, that's not assuring at all!

Wolves? Are there wolves in this part of the state?

And could a wolf laugh like that?

I try to forget the creepy sound and walk further on into the night.

I'm starting to regret my decision to return here when I feel the tip of my boot hit something.

I look down, slowly pointing the flashlight at my boot.

It's something a dusty white color, something round, but kind of lumpy.

Ah, here it is.

It's a human skull.

…

“Know that I think about it, this is completely stupid. You sure you don't wanna turn back?”

I shook my head.

Kenny sighed. “Alright then.”

We were in The Woods, only just started our little trek.

Even though it was the middle of the day, it was still pretty dark due to the shadows of the tree branches that hung above us.

“So, we just walk around for an hour and maybe try to find a ghost? It's your dare,” I reminded Kenny.

“Well, I don't know, I guess so. Yeah.”

He sounded nervous about this, but I didn't tell him.

We kept walking, and I almost tripped on a tree root.

“Watch out for snakes!” Kenny said, laughing.

“It's 'Look out', not 'Watch out', moron.” I told him, laughing as well.

We walked in silence for a minute or two. I broke it.

“Do you really think that there could be snakes out here?”

“Yeah, I saw a couple already just 20 minutes ago.”

I jump. “What?!” I shout. “How come you didn't tell me?!”

He smirks. “I was afraid you would start shouting, like you are now.”

“If you see anymore, tell me.” I pick a stick off the ground and hold it close. “I'll smash it with this stick.”

Kenny laughed at me. I was being serious.

Even though I was a bit afraid of running into a snake, I kept on going.

Then, I tripped.

“Whoah!” I yelled as I fell forward onto the ground.

I covered my face before it hit a rock, and my nose was spared. However, my arms weren't that lucky. Nor was my knee.

I groaned.

Kenny was more interested in whatever I tripped on then me being injured.

I cleared my throat loudly. That got his attention.

“Hm? Oh, sorry.” He didn't sound that sorry. His eyes flickered back to the white thing I tripped on.

I get up myself without any help from him. “What is it you're so interested in?” I asked snarkily.

“It seems to be a white rock.”

“So?”

“So, it looks interesting.”

“So?”

“I could use it.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Help me dig it up?” he asked.

Despite the fact I'm miffed that we're stopping what we're doing so he can get a rock, I helped dig it up.

We didn't bring any shovels or whatever, so we used our hands.

“Huh,” Kenny said after digging for half a minute. “This rock is in deep.”

I grumbled something about wasting time.

The rock was bigger than we thought. And rounder.

We kept digging and digging, when Kenny gasped.

“Uh, you might want to stop now.”

I stopped and watched as he pulled the rock out of the ground.

I gasped too.

“A skull?!” I shouted. “What the flip?! What- what-” I couldn't finish a sentence. I was too freaked out.

“Calm down,” Kenny set down the skull on a rock to get a better look at it.

As much as I was shocked, disgusted, and frightened, I was also curious. How had this skull got here? Does this mean the rumors were true? Whose skull was this? Was the skeleton nearby?

Kenny rubbed off some of the dirt with his sleeve. He looked at me. “I'm tempted to make a 'He's dead, Jim' joke but I'm getting the feeling this is not the right time.”

“No kidding.” I look closely at it. Part of me wanted to touch it, but I didn't. I felt like I would regret it if I did.

Kenny set the skull down and put it back where we found it. Then he looked me in the eyes. “I think we should turn back.”

“I agree.”

Together, we backtracked the way we came and didn't speak of the skull.

We parted ways when we reached my backyard, and promised each other we would never go back to The Woods.

So, here I am.

…

I made a promise to Kenny not to go back, and I broke it.

I couldn't help it. I was both scared of the skull and fascinated by it.

I bend down and set my flashlight on a rock so I can pick up the skull.

I don't, though. I leave it where Kenny set it down yesterday, and look at it.

I probably stare at it for an hour or two, when I feel a chill down my spine.

I look behind me at the dark.

“Is there anybody there?” I ask.

It's probably just me, but the trees look like they're moving in closer.

As soon as I convince myself that no one's there, and that it's just me, a twig snaps from not that far away.

I hold my breath, afraid to exhale.

I wait, but there's no more sounds from the surrounding trees.

I slightly relax, and turn to the skull. Its grinning at me with its toothy smile. It's unnerving.

I feel like this place is sucking out my soul.

I get up, and once again hear the laughter from before.

I grab my flashlight and wave it around madly.

“Who's there?!” I shout. I can't help it. I'm terrified.

The laughter comes again, this time closer and louder. And it doesn't fade away. It keeps on going.

I don't like this at all. I decide to make a run for it.

Holding on to my flashlight, I run back down the path, one thing on my mind: To get away from the laughter, which is getting louder and louder until it feels like someone's standing next to me.

I'm running when I trip for the third time in less than a week.

It's the fallen tree.

Everything starts to get darker as I lay there on the ground, looking up at the sky, covered up by the trees.

Then everything turns blacker...

…

I'm back again. I can't help it.

I'm staring at the skull, looking into its hollow sockets as if they could tell me the secrets of the world.

The skull stares back at me.

At least, I think it is. It's hard to tell when it doesn't have eyes.

A gust of wind blows my hair into my face. I brush it out of the way and notice something in the corner of my eye.

It's something white.

I tense up. Another skeleton?

I walk over and try to pull it out of the ground.

It's another skull. I pick it up and hold it in my hands.

I inhale sharply when I see the skull's teeth.

Then suddenly, everything comes back to me.

I set the skull down, no longer afraid.

I walk back to the edge of The Woods, and lean against a tree, and look at my house.

It sits there, empty and dilapidated. The grass is deader than it was when my family moved out. They left a while ago, that's right.

The treehouse I built with Kenny is old and rotting. The rope bridge is worn out.

I turn back into The Woods, looking one last time at my old home before walking into the forest.

Oh well, I think. It was nice while it lasted.

I forget that I'm dead sometimes. Sometimes I get flashbacks and live my old life.

I go back to that one summer I found the first skull. The summer I died.

I have mixed feelings about it. It's always disappointing when the enchantment ends and I face reality, but it's nice returning to my new home. I walk through the fallen tree. I'll never trip over that again.

I return to the original skull, the first one I found.

“Hey,” I greet it.

I don't know if it can talk back. I've been talking to it for years. I'm still not completely sure why it's here.

I walk over to the skull I left on the ground and pick it up, propping it on a tree stump.

This is the only thing that can snap me out of my enchantment. Sooner or later, I always find it.

If I ever forget what I really am, all I have to do is look at the skull's teeth.

I look at its chipped tooth.

And I know it's mine.

…

So. Now you know why I don't go to my backyard.

Not The Woods. I live in The Woods.

I mean my former backyard, the one with the treehouse. Whenever I step one foot into it, I live flashbacks.

I don't like it. It gives me hope.

It makes me sad. It makes me wish.

Wish that I still had a body.

As I said, I'm hopeful.

I'm hoping that some poor soul will wander in The Woods, so I can possess them and have a body again.

I can wait.

I have all the time in the world.

…

I love being dead.

I hate being dead.

My friend Kenny would ask me “Well, which one is it?”

But there's a gray area. I can be both.