Woods of Horror

It was a beautiful warm day, the air was crisp, and the sky was as blue as the ocean in the Bahamas. It was the summer of 97' me and my best friend Stephanie just graduated from Nashua High. We were on the cheerleading squad and the ski club. This summer was suppose to be the beginning of our new lives. Stephanie was going to go to The University of Ohio and I would leave for Tennessee at the end of the summer.

We had been planning a camping trip up in Mt. Leites since the ninth grade. It was supposes to be the best time of our lives. We decided to bring Stephanie's boyfriend Jared, which she has been with for two years and his best friend Billy. Jared and Billy were in a grade ahead of me and Stephanie. Jared was the captain of the football team and Billy was, well at least he was in college. I was in my bedroom packing for the camping trip when I heard a car pull up. I looked out the window to see Stephanie, Jared, and Billy.

BEEP...BEEP...

"Come on lets go Amanda."

Stephanie was always rushing me she said," I always took a long time to do anything." I grabbed all my stuff and went to give my mom a kiss goodbye when she handed me a cell phone.

"What is this for?" I asked

"In case of an emergency and it has GPS tracking on It." my mom said.

I looked at my mom and smiled, she was always over protective of me. Then I said bye and ran out the door.

"It is about time." said Billy.

I jumped in the car and we were off. Mt. Leites was about three hours away in the middle of nowhere. It was said to be the quietest place in America, well so Stephanie said. No one ever went up there we could party all night. We were about half way there when Billy said he needed to use the restroom.

"Pull over please, please; please I'm going to piss my pants."

We saw a sign for a rest area it said there was one coming up with in three miles.

"Ok hold your horses we will get to the rest area in a few minutes." Jared said looking back at Billy.

We pulled over at the rest area Billy jumped out of the car and ran to the bathroom. Me and Stephanie went in the store they had at the rest area to get some snacks. Stephanie was a junk food junky all she ate was chocolate and more chocolate. When we got back in to the car the boys were already waiting for us.

We were off again; we only had about an hour to go. It was silent for the first twenty minutes until Jared turned the radio up as loud as it would go in his 1989 Blazer.

"What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!" Our favorite song came on the radio.

"OH Shit ya'll" Stephanie yelled while dancing in her seat.

"What is it good for? Absolutely nothing... HUH, good god ya'll!"

For the next hour we sang and danced in our seats. Finally we were there. We pulled in to some trails that lead us close to the white waters. We found a great place to set up camp. I was never good at pitching a tent I remember when I was a little girl my father tried to teach me, but my hands could never get it. We left the tent pitching to the boys. While Stephanie and I took off in the woods to look for some wood to start a fire.

As we walked around we looked at all the beautiful scenery. The trees were so big as tall as sky scrappers and we could see all the little squirrels gathering nuts to bring home probably to there little ones. When we got back to the campsite the boys were finishing the tent pitching.

"Looking good boys" I said laughing, the tent was leaning to the left and the chairs had rocks under them to keep them level.

"HAHAHA what you think you could do better?" Billy said with a smirk on his face.

"So what is for dinner tonight boys?" Stephanie asked even though she already new the answer to that question, hamburgers.

"Well, oh course we are having the finest beef on the softest bread that, well oh course I will make all by myself." Jared said jokingly.

We got out the barbeque pit and the hamburger meat and flamed broiled the best tasting hamburgers we had ever eaten. After we ate we all sat around the campfire and talked. We talked about the fun we had in high school and the people we liked and the people we hated. It was a real fun night until Billy suggested we tell scary stories. I always hated scary stories. I would have nightmares for months with just the thought of a scary story.

"Oh I have one." Jared said eagerly.

"Ok Jared if you must." said Stephanie while sitting on Jared's lap. They always were the cuddling type. You would always see them together they were a real cute couple. We all got some soda and chips and sat back down to hear Jared's story.

"Have you ever heard of the man named Charlie Leites?" Jared asked.

"NO, who is that?" we all asked.

"You never heard of him, he is an axe murderer who lived in these woods. ' It all started about five years ago when a couple went camping up here on Mt. Leites they were found a week later hacked to death by an axe and hanging from a tree. Every person that goes camping here is found dead, mutilated their insides just sitting next to them. I guess Charlie Leites use to live here in a cabin by the river with his wife Sue. One day Charlie's wife went missing and when they found her she was chopped up by an axe. This made Charlie Leites crazy and now he kills every camper the same way his wife was murdered."

"Ok that's enough I can take anymore of this story it is too scary for me." I said.

"Scaredy cat, it is just a story." Billy said with smile on his face.

We all got up and put sand on the fire. Billy put the food in the storage bin so the bears would not smell it and we all went in to the tent. It was a big tent, big enough to fit six if we wanted. I made Stephanie sleep next to me, I was a little scared.

The next morning we woke up to a warm breeze coming in from the tent door.

"Hey, who left the tent door open?" Stephanie asked with a confused look on her face.

"Wait where is Jared?" I asked.

"He must have gone for a walk or a swim; he will probably be back in a while." Billy said.

"Do you think we should go look for him? What if he is hurt." said Stephanie.

"No he is probably fine he will be back soon, watch." Billy said.

We decided to get up and make some breakfast Billy started a fire so we could cook some eggs. They were the nastiest eggs I ever had Billy could not cook that great, but it was better then nothing I guess. We decided to go down to the water to take a swim and maybe Jared would be down there waiting for us, I was getting really worried. If he was not down at the water I will probably go look for him, I thought to myself.

When we got down to the water Jared was not there, but I seemed not to care that much at this point it was really hot outside and the water looked so refreshing. The only thing I could think of was jumping in.

"Watch out below!" Stephanie yelled while swinging from a flimsy swing hanging from a tree.

She plopped in the water and made the biggest splash I have ever seen. We had alot of fun swimming that we all had forgotten about Jared. It was starting to get late in the day and we were all getting hungry again.

"Hey you girls ready for lunch yet?" asked Billy with his hand rubbing his stomach.

Stephanie and I got out of the water and put our towels on. We started to walk back to the campsite when I heard a noise coming from the trees behind us.

"Is that you Jared?" I called out, but nothing it was silent.

"Come on Amanda you are always so slow, let's go." Stephanie said.

When we got back to the campsite Jared was not there. Stephanie was starting to look worried and had decided to go look for him; maybe he took a walk I thought to myself.

"Do you want me to go with you?" I asked her.

"No it is ok I will go by myself I will be back in a few ok guys." Stephanie said as she was walking into the woods.

Billy and I sat at the campsite talking about school he was asking me question like how I liked high school and was I going to miss it. I told him that I thought high school was fun, but how I could not wait to get to Tennessee. Then Billy ran into the woods of course he had to pee he could never hold it in.

Meanwhile Stephanie was walking threw the woods calling Jared's name, but she heard nothing. It seemed to be getting dark and she was afraid she would get lost in the woods. She though she would start to head back towards the campsite when she heard a noise come from behind her. When she turned around she saw a dark figure standing next to a tree.

"Who's there?" Stephanie said with a shaky voice. There was no answer from the figure. She noticed that the figure was walking towards her.

"Jared is that you?" She yelled out.

Then she noticed that it was not Jared it was a tall man with something in his hand. It was an axe. Stephanie screamed and started to run, but the man was running after her she tried to run in all directions. She thought she would loose him if she made alot of lefts and rights cutting threw the bushes, but she could feel him behind her. She saw a big tree and went behind it she leaned up against it to take a breath when she felt something dripping on her head. She put her hand on her head and when she looked at it she realized it was blood. She was shacking so badly and did not want to look up, but something inside her told her to. She slowly looked up and screamed.

"JARED!"

His bloody body was dangling from the tree his insides just hung down beside him. Stephanie went to run, but felt weak and feel to the ground. Then she felt a hand on her leg when she turned her head she saw him, Charlie Leites. She screamed and tried to get away, but it was too late he had her. He started to drag her threw the woods by her ankle. Stephanie was kicking and screaming, but no one could hear her. The axe murderer dragged her to his cabin.

"You damn campers. You think I would let you get away with what you did?" said Charlie he had a dark look in his eyes there was blood all over his clothes. Stephanie kept trying to scream, but he had his hand over her mouth. The axe murderer raised his hand with the axe in it looked right in Stephanie's eyes which were filled with fear and chopped her head off, but he did not stop there he cut all her limbs off. When the axe murderer was finally finished he went in the kitchen and grabbed a trash bag. He put all the body parts in the bag and took them back in to the wood. He found a tree and hung every body part from the branches.

Back at the campsite Billy and I were getting things ready for dinner. It had been awhile since Stephanie had left and I was starting to get worried.

"Should we go look for Stephanie and Jared?" I asked

"No they probably found each other and just want to be alone." Billy said

He was probably right they always liked to be alone when ever they could. Billy was getting all the meat out of the storage bin and I was getting the barbeque pit out. It was starting to get alittle chilly out as the night came so I decided to go in the tent to grab my sweeter.

"Hey I will be right back I need my sweeter." I told Billy

When I was in the tent I heard Billy say something, but I did not understand so I figured that maybe he was talking to Stephanie and Jared. They should be back by now I thought. When I walked out of the tent I saw someone holding Billy by the throat.

"Oh my god." I said shockingly

The man looked back at me he had an axe in his hand. Billy took this as an opportunity and kicked the man in the balls. The man fell to the ground and Billy and I ran into the woods as fast as we could.

"Is he behind us?" I asked

"I do not know just keep running." Billy told me. We were so scared and did not know where to go. It was getting really dark now and the fear felt like it was rising in us. We found a cabin and decided to see if anyone was home. We knocked on the door but there was no answer. We opened the door slowly.

"Hello is anyone here?" Billy asked. There was no answer still we walked inside and searched for a phone, but we could not find one.

"What do we do?" I asked I was still terrified and confused with what had happened.

"Was that who I think it was?" I asked Billy

"Charlie Leites you mean, I think it was." Billy said.

We looked around the cabin for anything that we could use to protect ourselves. We looked everywhere but the cabin was empty as if no one had been there in years. I saw a table in the corner and when I walked up to it was covered in something I could not figure out what it was it was to dark in the cabin. I called Billy over to take a look. He picked it up and screamed. It was a finger at that point we realized we were standing in a puddle of blood.

"Oh my god we have to get out of here." I yelled, but it was to late the door swung open and there he stood. Billy and I ran in to the other room and shut the door. Billy put a chair up against the door to hold it shut. There was a window, but as we got closer to it we could see there were thin bars on the window.

"What do we do?" I asked

Then there was banging on the door. He was trying to get in. We ran around the room looking for something to pry the bars off. The man was hitting the door with his axe. The fear was running threw us and I could stop shaking I started to feel weak in my legs I just wanted to give up I wanted this to be over. Then Billy yelled "I found something."

He had a wrench in his hand. He ran up to the window and started to unscrew the screws as soon as he got enough off so that we could fit through the door was in pieces and the man was in.

"Go, get out of here!" Billy yelled

I did not want to leave him, but he kept telling me to go. I started to go out the window when I looked back and saw the man take his axe and slit Billy's throat. I looked up at the man I was screaming and screaming, but no one could hear me there was no one to help. The man started to walk towards me. I did not know what to do I just fell back. I felt my body hit the ground and I looked up he was in the window just staring at me. Then he just turned around and walked away. I got up on my feet and ran I was so scared that I kept tripping on everything I did not know if he was behind me or not.

When I got back to the campsite I ran in to the tent to grab the cell phone my mother had given me before I left. I started to dial 911, but as soon as I hit the send button I felt someone behind me. When I looked back it was him. He threw me out of the tent and when he did the cell phone went flying out of my hands and down the hill that was next to our site. My body went paralyzed I could not move. I tried to fight with all I had, but I was just too scared. Then I noticed out of the corner of my eye his axe it was just laying there on the tree stump. I knew I had to get it. I started to fight back, biting, hitting, kicking anything I could do to get away, even if only for a moment. I started to feel the ground with my hands to find a rock or a big enough stick. Then I felt it, a rock, I picked it up and hit the man over the head he fell to the side a little dazed.

I jumped up and ran for the axe, but he grabbed me and I fell forward. I tried to crawl I was kicking the man as hard as I could. I starched my arms as far as they would go, but I could not reach the axe. I looked to my side and noticed a stick so I grabbed it. The man was pulling me further away from the axe, but I needed to get it. I took the stick and reached for it. Finally I knocked the axe off the tree stump. I grabbed it and swung, I could not stop myself I just kept swinging the axe until I heard,

"Freeze!"

I stopped and looked up, it was a police man I dropped the axe and looked down he was dead there was blood everywhere. The police took the man off of me and said, "You should be thinking who ever gave you that cell phone with GPS."

An ambulance came on the site and wrapped a blanket around me. It was over, but still all I could do was cry.