Jarrod snorts. “C’mon, dude. We have all night. Let’s kill some time. It’ll be fun. Why don’t you tell me which legend about these woods has you the most freaked out? When you say it out loud, I bet it won’t even sound so scary.”
I clear my throat and take a swig of water. “Okay. I guess it could be fun.” I grab our battery-powered lantern and switch it on. It casts a wicked glow on Jarrod’s face, illuminating him from below and casting large shadows above his eyes. “Damn, now you look creepy.”
“Muhahaha.” Jarrod makes a mock Dracula laugh and wiggles his cheesy fingertips at me.
“Alright, enough, enough.” I take a seat on a tree stump and begin. “I think the creepiest story I’ve heard was about these two college students who camped out here one summer. During the night, this girl kept saying she heard this scratching sound on the outside of the tent. Her boyfriend said he didn’t hear anything, and they both went back to sleep. In the middle of the night, the boyfriend got up to go pee. The girl heard him leave their tent, but she fell asleep again and didn’t wake up again until morning. That’s when she realized he hadn’t returned to the tent. So she went outside to search for him. She found him slumped against a tree, dead. He’d been gutted with something. So she ran back to the tent and that’s when she saw these long rips across the fabric in the roof. It was like someone had been trying to cut their way inside. She ran to the highway and got help. Well it turns out—”
“A psychopath escaped from the local prison, or asylum, or whatever, and he had a hook for a hand,” Jarrod interrupts with a loud snicker.
I blink. “Yeah, that’s the one. Did you hear about it too?”
He shakes his head, and now his whole body is convulsing with giggles. “Ian, Ian... Dude, are you really that gullible?”
I feel myself frowning like a petulant child. “What do you mean?”
“Do you know how many versions of that story exist? A man with a hook escapes from some sort of institution. The girlfriend hears a scratching sound, the boyfriend gets shredded, and later someone finds marks along the car, or house, or in this case, the tent. It’s always the same legend, just a different setting.”
“Well it could have happened,” I insist.
“Are there any prisons within walking distance from here?”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. I’d have to look it up.”
“Spoiler alert: there aren’t. We’re thirty miles from town. Nobody built a prison or asylum out here in the middle of nowhere.”
I chew my lip, tossing the story around in my head and feeling frustrated that I can’t coax an explanation. It’s then that I realize my hands are clenched so tight into fists that my knuckles are turning white. “Fine. I guess there’s no way that could have happened.”
“Don’t be too hard on yourself, bud.” Jarrod pats my shoulder. “I’m sure lots of people believe it happened.”
I shrug his hand off me. “Your turn. Tell me a story you’ve heard.”
Jarrod straightens his back. “Now, this one actually did happen. It was a night in September, kinda like this one. There was this guy named Tom, his wife, Rebecca, and their son, Matty, who was like four or five. I think five. They were out here camping. It was Matty’s first time sleeping in the woods. He was really excited about it. They spent the day exploring, playing, whatever. That night, they’re all asleep in the tent. Matty wakes up and Tom’s not there. He wonders where his dad went, so he shuffles out of the tent and starts calling for him.”
“And his mom’s asleep through all of this?”
“Yes. It’s just Matty. He’s walking through the woods, and when he gets to the cave, he hears this horrible screaming sound. Like worse than he’s ever heard in his life. It sounds like his dad’s screaming bloody murder, and there’s this banging sound too, like a fight’s going on. Matty, being the brave little boy he is, runs into that cave to save his daddy. But he can’t find him. He hears the screams, loud and clear, but he can’t find where they’re coming from. So Matty runs back to the tent to get his mom.”
“I don’t remember reading this story about the cave.”
“It happened, okay? You can look it up when we get back home. Now stop interrupting me.”
“Sorry.”
Jarrod shoots me an annoyed glare but continues. “Rebecca grabs a flashlight and they take off toward the cave together. They both hear the screams. They’re looking around, all over that cave, but they can’t find Tom. They finally come to this super tight tunnel. It’s really narrow. A grown man could never fit through it. A child could, maybe, but even that would be a real challenge. And that’s where they hear the screams coming from. Clear as day. They try to see into the tunnel with the flashlight and there’s this thrashing sound. Then they hear something getting slammed against the rocks. There’s this thick, wet kind of gurgling sound. And the screams stop.”
Jarrod clears his throat, takes a swig of water. He’s trying to draw this out, really build the suspense. I hate the way his big, stupid lips purse when he thinks he’s being clever. He’s so self-assured, the dope. I’m dying to kiss him.
“Rebecca and Matty run to the highway searching for help. Thankfully a truck driver was passing by. They get the police out here, and there’s no sign of Tom anywhere. A crew comes out and has to chisel and break their way into the rock to open up that tunnel. Inside, they find Tom’s dead body. There’s blood everywhere, big gashes all over him. They can’t identify what did it. A bear, maybe, but the marks are way too big. And his throat has been sliced open. That’s what that gurgling sound was. Rebecca and Matty heard Tom taking his last breaths.”
“There was no other way into the tunnel?”
Jarrod shakes his head. “That tunnel had one way in and one way out. It led to a slightly larger area, but it was fully enclosed. The police figure somehow Tom crawled in and got cornered when an animal attacked. It’s the only explanation that makes sense. But some people say the cave is haunted now. Tom’s tortured soul lives there. And campers have sworn they heard Tom’s blood-curdling screams coming from the cave in the middle of the night.”
We sit in silence. The sun has disappeared and I can barely see the moon hidden above the dense cover of the trees. Darkness surrounds us.
“Well?” Jarrod finally asks, expecting some sort of reaction.
“That really happened out here?”