Horror at Medusa Falls: A Short Halloween Story.

I didn't want to do it. Let's be clear on that. I wish everyone was here so I could tell them "I told you so." But they're not.

Halloween falls on Tuesday this year. Of all the lousy days of the week.

I'm doing my homework after school and Avalon calls. Everyone is going on a hike. My heart flips. Everyone? Yes. Everyone. Where is the hike? It doesn't matter which hike and by the way, they're leaving right now. And can I bring my car?

I tell her I have homework.

"Sam, for one night in a year. Just pretend that you know how to have fun. Harrison can drive and you can study."

I grab my work and head over. They don't say hi, just pile into my car. Harrison, Avalon, Olivia, and Oliver.

Avalon wants to sit next to Harrison. They tell me to sit in the back with Olivia and Oliver. I push my glasses up my nose and get back to work, swallowing nausea as we drive. Harrison is not a good driver.

They pass out water bottles when we get there. There's not enough for me. Olivia's giant charm bracelet clinks as she gives me hers. She and Oliver share everything.

I leave my phone behind. There isn't reception here.

Trees tower high, swaying in the breeze. The smell of moist earth and crisp plants engulfs me. There is no trail head for. Harrison's brother told him about the hike. Medusa Falls. Isn't it illegal to go there? Some say it's cursed.

"Oh, c'mon Sam. It's Halloween. Grow up for a night." Harrison pulls a tool from his pocket and snips the barbed wire.

"You don't have to come." Avalon's ponytail flounces as she walks ahead. Harrison hands me the keys in case I want to stay. I take them, but follow everyone through the woods anyway.

"Hey, what d'ya know? There is a path," Harrison announces. It's barely a path.

Oliver and Olivia walk like they are one person.

I sigh. We continue and the path widens. I examine a willowy tree entwined in itself. It's branches are slender and draped in moss. It looks like it was frozen mid-dance.

One of the trees has a thick, rusty sign nailed to it. It's a hundred years old. "Do not pass at night," It says.  Everyone else has already passed it.

The sun is setting. The greenery around begins to turn gray. Does anyone have a flashlight?

"We only brought two." Avalon sighs. I annoy her.

I turn to go back to the car. I have one in my glove compartment.

"We'll wait for you," Olivia promises. Oliver tickles the palm of her hand with his willowy finger. He is very tall.

Harrison groans. He pulls on his hoodie and leans against a tree.

I race down the path. It narrows, but nothing obscures it.

With the flashlight, my hands are full and clumsy. I chug the water and leave the bottle.

The sun has set, what light is left serves to exaggerate the shadows. Watching my clumsy feet, I make it back to the path and hit my head on a branch.

It wasn't there before. This is probably the wrong path.

"What's holding you up?" Harrison's voice somehow echoes through the moss-padded woods.

It's the right way after all. I duck under the branch and get my bearings. Dozens of limbs are in my way now. I frown as I dodge them.

The group already started without me. I struggle to keep up and stop to examine something. Maybe a tree, maybe a stump, tiny leaves curl unnaturally. Stiff limbs make it look like a tall girl is covering her face with the green hair. Like a wood nymph playing hide-and-go seek.

I shine my light forward. Everyone else is almost out of sight. Wind hisses past my ear, but I feel no breeze.

"Leeave" it whispers.

My heart races in my chest. I swallow hard and run forward, stumbling a little before regaining balance. I fix my tilted glasses and shine my flashlight on the ground. The path is smooth and well-worn. Only a fool would stumble over themselves.

I almost run into everyone as they stand in a shadowy clump.

I think we should go.

"Like I said earlier, stay in the car if you can't handle it," Harrison says. I blink and notice the splintering sign they are huddled around.

"Beware! Do not touch the falls."

"Ooooo! Freaky!" Avalon mumbles. They press on.

The words are chiseled into the rotting wood. Ancient wood. The trees shudder. No one else notices.

My stomach churns. I inform them again. We should go home.

Avalon rolls her eyes, hand on her hip. "You're such a scaredy-cat. I'm almost sorry we invited you."

Her hair flips as she turns around and heads back up the trail. She passes words etched in the trunk of a tree. "Turn back," they read.

My hand trembles as the words darken under my light.

I glance behind. My beam flashes the curly-haired wood nymph. I swallow and turn to join my friends. The wood moans. I stumble into something rigid and tall. A tree? No, my flashlight illuminates the nymph that was just behind me. She stands ominous. The moss parts, revealing knotted wood in the shape of a hideous smile.

 Too scared to scream, I stumble around the haunted wood and trip and scratch my knee. I cry for help. My friends are laughing. I can hear the waterfall.

I pant and whimper, scrambling to stand.

Branches creak around me. The wood is alive.

I dodge branches that sway and creak into my path. I jump over roots and side-step stumps. I yell. I have to warn my friends not to touch the water. They're all at the waterfall when I reach them. Breathless, I plead. This place is haunted.

Harrison and Oliver are already drenched. They say the water is sweet and warm. They dare the girls to join. I grab Olivia and beg her not too. She takes off her jacket, offering it to me before she wades into the shallow creek to the falls. The charms of her bracelet clink.

I shake my head in nervous twitches as my light shines up Medusa Falls. Behind the thin sheet of water, dark rocks form a menacing grin. I back up. The creek overflows, sending tiny tendrils my direction.

I will go home.

The water begins to pour fast and hard. I turn. The water floods in a single river toward me.

Everyone screams and scrambles, barely evading falling rocks.

I am sprinting. No branches are in my way. No roots jut out. Nothing in the path.

I stumble anyway. My glasses fly off my face. I hear them land ahead. I cry for help. Everyone stampedes past me. A deafening crash rumbles around me. I grope and whimper. I call again. This time, silence. My fingers graze the plastic frames. I snatch them and stumble to my feet. My legs have never gone so fast and I reach the car. But no one else is there.

I lock the door, turn on the headlights, and wait. After my homework is complete, I wait. After the moon has gone down, I still wait. When the sun is up, I drive to the main road and recognize it. I call the police. After getting lost, they eventually find me.

I answer their questions. I don't tell them the falls are haunted. They say I can come with them to find everyone.

We walk down the path, I feel like I know it well. I see the nymph, where she had been the first time. But next to her is something new. A mess of tangled branches, and leaves positioned in a flouncy ponytail.

Two trees intertwine. The taller one pulls at the other. Both are dressed in flowing moss. A limb is reaching toward the falls, a curious bracelet clinks in the breeze. It is Olivia's, but the tree has grown over it, wedging half of the charms into the wood.I look back when we pass them.

I don't see Harrison until we are at the waterfall. His form barely recognizable in a row of oddly shaped boulders. He is reaching out, but trapped by an invisible force.

The water isn't flowing anymore.

Copyright © J. E. Burgoyne