Why I Can't Sleep at Night.

The Tall Man in the Woods: Day 1

Day 1
    It was elementary school, we were somewhat into 4th grade. Sitting at the thanksgiving dinner that we have every year at school my friends and our parents. Some with their fathers some with their mothers. The lucky ones who have both. Embarrassingly I'm the kid sitting and crying because I don't want to eat the disgusting turkey dressing but am forcing myself to so I can stay the night with my friend Kurt.
"See it's not that bad is it? " My mother asks as I begrudgingly shake my head. To this day I'll never understand why she was so forceful for me to eat certain foods. Beside me is another friend, Jay and his mother. "Can Jay stay the night too." Kurt eagerly asked " I don't see why not." both parents agreed. However he seemed silent to being invited in sort of a world of his own. "I thought I couldn't go anywhere because my room isn't clean." He asked his mom. She looked at him with confusion written all over her face. "Jay you cleaned it last night." "Oh you are right. I have weekend homework anyway I really shouldn't go." They went back and forth her trying to get him to go and him not wanting to.
"Well we are going to go get Grim's stuff and head right over." My Mom interrupted. I left with my mom to go get my clothes and and the usual stuff that you take to a sleep over. We were on our way Kurt's place only being 7 or 8 minutes away down a road the shape and texture of a snake that's been beaten. I don't know what it was but I always stared out the window wherever we went. The trees danced by the window every now and then I'd see hills and drop offs big enough to do damage if we veered off the road. That's when I first spotted it. It was only a glimpse but I couldn't deny that there was a tall pitch black figure in the light of day. I brushed it off maybe it was someone just hunting, on a walk, or just my imagination.
We pull into the driveway I tell my mother I love her and walk up to the door. I am greeted by Kurt who is practically bouncing off the walls with excitement and Jay who has a smile on his face but I can tell it's forced. "Grim  is here! We are going to go play outside!" Kurt yells to his parents as he pulls my arm with him. I barely drop my bag inside, some of my belongings like my tooth brush and some Pokémon cards fell out. We head to the back yard to throw ball. We got bored pretty quickly so we started doing "trick shot throws" Kurt decided to see how high he could throw it in my direction but it soared over my head and into the forest.
    Of course it had to go into the dense part and not on the trail. We searched for a solid 10 or 20 minutes before giving up. Instead we decided to go into the woods "Can't we go play the Xbox or something?" Jay asked I could sense a sort of resentment or fear and annoyance in his voice. "We have to show Grim the secret base." Kurt objected obviously not giving up. We started down the path I noticed Jay was sweating even though it wasn't hot out. "Are you feeling okay?" I asked. And then he proceeded to throw up behind a bush.
    Needless to say we were now one man down Jay's Mom came and took him home so we decided to check out the base with just the two of us. Walking the pathway was easy but I kept getting cold chills like I was being watched. Every branch we stepped on made me jump every leaf crunch made me turn my head.
    We arrived at the base which wasn't too deep in the woods. Honestly it look like just a pile of sticks. "Welcome to my humble abode" Kurt said with a prideful tone. "Emphasis on humble." I chuckle Kurt looks at me with mild annoyance. "Well I'd like to see you do better." He challenges me. "You have until the sky turns orange to make a better base." "But I have nothing to cut the trees with." "Whelp tuff luck."
    It was already around 4:00pm so that means I have roughly an hour and a half to find a level spot, collect sticks, and then set them up. I found I gigantic tree on the dirt path with roots bigger than my leg. The roots shot up out of the ground and hung over a ledge creating almost a make shift foundation. Scouting around I found a couple of fairly sizable sticks and some small ones. I realized I had nothing to really keep the sticks on the roots. So instead I shoved them into the ground creating a wall in the roots gaps. The dirt in this part of the trail was muddier than the rest which is good for now but I know if it rains all my hard work will go to waste one day. I payed some sticks on top trying to make a roof but most of them kept rolling off. I have an idea but the sky is already turning somewhat of a warm blue now almost purply. I take off my socks and rip them into shreds luckily these were pretty long. Tying the last stick to the roof I hear "TIIIMEEES UPPP!!"
    I go back the way I came but can't find Kurt. Finally arriving at his base I can see he made some progress he even made a little leaf pile bed thing. "KURT WHERE ARE YOU?" I yelled . Silence is all I hear no birds chirping no wind rustling just silence. My mood immediately changes. What do I do? Do I look for Kurt? Do I go back to the house? I walk a little further down the path "KURT THIS ISNT FUNNY WHERE ARE YOU?"
It's nearing sun down and I still haven't found Kurt. Finally in the distance I see Kurt. "Kurt what the heck dude I've been looking for you." As I approach him he says nothing but continues to look in the distance almost in a daze I place my hand on his shoulder and he comes too. "Huh? What? What happened?." "Well you yelled times up and then I couldn't find you for a whole hour." He just stares at me "Oh yeah that's right! We'll have to look at your fort tomorrow mom said dinner is ready." We manage to find our way back despite the sun being completely engulfed by the mountains.