Shadow Of The Woodlands

CHAPTER 1

I was at my house, chilling in my room with the AC on. Then I got a message from my friends saying, “We are going on a trip. You want to come?” I said yes, but “Where are we going?” I asked. They said, “Woodlands.”
“But is it not dangerous?”
“No, of course not.”
Okay, it had all just started. I did not know what was going to happen.

Next, the other day, I started packing my bag and was very scared of it. I got ready and called an Uber, but it canceled and said, “Don’t ever go there.”
Yet we went there. I lost my bag and all the food because of Mark.

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CHAPTER 2

I checked my phone for help because first of all, we were lost and second, we were starving for hours. So I checked, but it said no signal. We stayed there the whole day, starving and shouting for help.

At night, I started feeling scared because I heard stories about people getting kidnapped in the forest at night. And some people also said that there is a weird creature.

So we went farther inside the Woodlands. Our matchbox was in our bag, so we did not have any light source with us.
That is when…

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CHAPTER 3

As we went, I saw fog in front of me. It got closer and closer as we went. Then we were in the fog and suddenly, a smoke came. I found myself closing my eyes and everything went black, and I fainted.

And when I woke up, everyone was asleep. But I could not find Mark. I looked everywhere, but he was nowhere to be found.

I was trying to remember last night’s incident. That is when I remembered the fog and smoke thing. And also remembered—while I had fainted—I opened my eyes a little and saw a shadow of something strange pulling Mark away.
When I tried…

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CHAPTER 4

I tried to wake my friends up. That is when I heard a helicopter’s noise. It was a rescue helicopter. It came to help us get out of here.

After I got home, I started having nightmares of him trying to kill me. So one day, I finally made up my mind to go back to Woodlands—with my friends, of course. I’m not going alone.

So we went there—to Woodlands—where Mark was kidnapped by the shadow.
I saw many giant footsteps, even though there lived no animal.
My friends and I started following the footsteps and then…

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CHAPTER 5

We were just simply following the footsteps. That’s when one of our friends started acting weird as farther as we went into the forest. She started screaming and shouting for help.

We were so terrified because it was like she was getting tortured from the inside. Her face went pale and she was looking at someone—even though there was no one.

We went back the way we came from, following the footsteps.
But then one of my friends started screaming too because…

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CHAPTER 6

The friend that was tortured—her name was Tana. She started screaming so much that blood started falling from her nose.

We were so terrified. We wanted to run away by following the footsteps, but the footsteps we followed disappeared.

It was getting dark and late.
Tana’s eyes started glowing and she started smiling creepily like she was happy that it was about to be sunset.

We waited for help, like we thought we would be rescued—but no one came.

I asked Milly, “Hey Milly, I told you to tell your mom to send help if we don’t come home late or not on time,” but she forgot.

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CHAPTER 7

So we were lost again.
And Tana crouched and sat under a tree and it looked like she was waiting for midnight.

I told everyone to sleep before midnight because it looked like Tana would do something. So we all fell asleep.

At night, when I opened my eyes a little, I saw Tana with a shadow talking. I closed my eyes as fast as I could.

Then I got thirsty, so I woke up.
So I searched for a nearby lake or other source of water…

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CHAPTER 8

I finally found a little pond with clear, beautiful water.

While I was drinking water, I felt someone tap me on the shoulder.
It was Mark.

He smiled and said in a deep and dark voice, “You want to know where Velvo took me?”

I asked him, “Who is Velvo?”
He said, “Your killer.”

That’s when I started running. That’s when he threw a knife at my shoulder.
It was all blood. That’s when…

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CHAPTER 9

I woke up.
Milly asked me what had happened. I answered, “Nothing happened.”

She said, “Tana had been dancing in circles around you, singing a lullaby.”

I was just thinking about the dream. That’s when Tana comes and says her first word after getting possessed.
She said, “The dream you had last night will happen in real life.”

What does she mean? I started getting scared.
We were only four people left…

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CHAPTER 10

Before, we were six people. And now we are only four people left.
And we only have food for three people because Tana ate one of our lunches.

So now, one of us (which will be me) will have to starve.

While we were thinking how to get out of here, that’s when we fell asleep. And when we woke up, we found ourselves waking up at sunset.

Then we fell asleep again. At midnight, I heard noises, so I woke up.
It was Milly. I asked her…

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CHAPTER 11

“What are you doing up this late?”
“I’m thirsty,” she answered.

So I didn’t think much of it and went back to sleep.

While I was asleep, I heard shouting. I thought it was someone else and fell asleep again.

The next morning, I did not find Milly anywhere. So I thought to ask Tana because I figured that she is mostly awake at night.
So I asked her…

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CHAPTER 12

“Tana, where is Milly?”

She said in a very dark voice, “In her grave.”

“What nonsense!”

She said, “You know the Mark incident dream came true with Milly.”

I was terrified—because was the shouting Milly?!

What does she mean? I ran as fast as I could.
Is Milly dead because of me?
It cannot be.

This is false.
Or is it true?
It really haunts me…

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CHAPTER 13

Before, we were six. Then we were four.
Now we are three.
All because of me.

Mark died.
Milly died.
Tana got possessed.

And now, I think someone else is next.
Simon, Vase, and me—only we are left.

Yeah, Tana is still left. But you know, she is a demon or some other thing.

Tana came up to me and said:
“Whatever dream you have comes to life. After everyone dies, you die.”

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TO BE CONTINUED

By Paridhi Mod with Dheevan Gadhavi

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