"Man, I can't believe I'm doing this." Jeremy said to himself. He pushed open the old, gray rusted gate and stepped carefully inside.
His friends had decided to date him to enter the abandoned woods, with a bet of fifty bucks. He was not sure if it was worth the trouble. The place really creeped him out.
Also, many people who even went near the demented woods seem to disappear. The dark woods themselves gave off a demented aura, and the police seem to avoid it like the plague.
He sighed, deciding that fifty bucks was worth the trouble, seeing that he had his eyes on a present for his mother. Her birthday was coming up, and he did not want to disappoint her again like last year.
His feet crunched against the dry ground of the forest. It has rained to night before, but it seemed like the rain could not reach this strange place.
No birds sang in the trees, and the woods were still. He figured that he had to walk to the other end of the forest, which was two miles away. Jeremy checked the bright screen of his phone, figuring that he would be in here for about an hour.
He started forward, wary of the still darkness ahead. It felt as though something was watching him, amused that he had decided dumbly to wander into it's realm. The feeling was almost overpowering.
The sky overhead was clear of stars. The rainclouds from the night before still cast the sky in a gown of gray, yet still did not want to waste the water it contained on the land below. The air smelled dry, with an underlying scent of something Jeremy could not place. The cold bark of the trees seemed to recoil at his touch, unwilling to feel the warmth of his skin. Jeremy assumed that it was his imagination, and continued to plough forward.
After about five minutes, the wind began to pick up. With it came a very, very small sound, akin to a whisper in the dark. Jeremy could only make out part of it. "Rin.. ..ar....... ...t.... ...ros....." It sounded as if children were playing, singing a nursery rhyme that he could not place.
The back of his neck began to itch furiously. He scratched and scratched, but was unable to get rid of the feeling. He continued on, still itching his neck.
A little while later, the wind free faster. And again, like before, Jeremy heard that strange noise. Only, this time, it was louder. "Pockets......of....pos... " he heard again in the same childlike time. It was clearer, but he could still not remember what it was.
As he continued to scratch, as he has been for the past ten minutes, he felt strange sores rise where his fingernails clawed at his skin. He felt extreme pain, and pulled wet fingertips away. The smell was similar to the stench of stomach acid, and his fingers were dyed a greenish-red. The itching began to spread down his back and across his shoulders. He felt the most powerful urge to itch, but resisted the temptation.
His vision became blurry as the wind picked up to become even faster. This time, the child voices were completely clear. "Ashes, Ashes" Jeremy heard them chant over and over in that sing-song voice. The boils all over his body began to spilt and gush painful pus, burning the untouched skin. He collapsed, his brain unable to handle the pain that was being sent through his nerves.
The wind was buffeting him now, and it seemed to tear at his skin. The voices, spoke again. "We all, fall, down." The voices were no longer only the voices of children, but also of adults and the elderly.
He saw all of them around him, touching him with boil-covered hands, coughing in between verses of the demented song. He then saw a black figure parting the crowd to reach him. Before Jeremy gave into the pain, he saw a pair of white, milky eyes staring into his own. He felt the satisfaction that was around it, the satisfaction that it had another to add to it's disgusting, diseases collection of followers.
The clouds above the woods released the rain that they were holding back as Sara drove up to the gates. She sighed, debating whether it was really worth being accepted by the cheerleaders to enter this place. Sara sighed again, realizing that it was defiantly worth it.
