Haunted Forest

I didn't mind the dressing up part, but my brother would use Halloween as an excuse to find ways to scare me. He would jump out at me with a monster mask, put fake spiders in my cereal, or trick me into watching a scary movie.

And now my supposed friends were doing the same thing to me. They somehow talked me into going to this new "haunted forest." I thought I would be done with all this when I went away to college.

"Oh, it will probably be lame anyway," said Bridget, my roommate who is a little too determined to make me try new things. "But if it is fun, you wouldn't want to miss it, would you, Chellsie?"

"I wouldn't mind missing it," I said, crossing my arms across my chest and staring out the window. "I told you that I don't like scary things. I still have nightmares about that haunted house I was dragged to a few years ago."

Bridget just rolled her eyes as she pulled into the gravel parking lot.

"And you can always grab onto Todd if you get scared," Bridget said with a smirk.

A couple of guys from the floor below us, Todd and Aaron, were meeting us here. While I might have liked the idea of a date with Todd, this wasn't what I had in mind.

We got out of the car and found Todd and Aaron waiting for us by the entrance. At least the line didn't look that long. The sooner I get this over with, the better.

"Ready to see some guys dressed up as monsters?" Todd asked.

"Sure," I said, trying to sound cheerful.

Once we paid what I'm sure was too much money to get in, we walked through a black curtain into total darkness.

I tried to feel my way around. "Bridget? Todd? Aaron?" I called out but heard no response. "Have you found a way out of here?"

Just then, I came out onto a path. I looked around me, but there was nothing there but trees. There were no curtains behind me or jack o' lanterns or fake severed heads in front of me. I didn't see my friends or any of the other people who had entered. And surely a vampire or somebody wearing a hockey mask should be jumping out by now.

"Guys, this isn't funny," I practically shouted. All I could hear in response was the sound of crickets.

I shivered a little. It was getting cooler out, and I wished I had worn a warmer jacket. I could see my breath in front of me. I suppose that wasn't not the only reason I was shivering, though. Somehow ending up alone in a dark forest seems like something that should only happen in scary movies.

I turned around and attempted to walk back the way I at least thought I had come. I could hear the leaves crunching under my feet, but I couldn't hear anybody. Surely I should hear some talking or some shrieking if this haunted forest was truly scary. It was already succeeding in scaring me, though.

I kept walking though the darkness, following the rough path. Shouldn't I be seeing something by now? Where was the parking lot? Finally, I thought I could see some sort of clearing up ahead.

There was an elderly woman standing there, her back turned to me. I could see her white hair with the little bit of moonlight shining though the trees. As I came up to her, I could see that she was wearing a long flowered dress.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" I said a little tentatively. The woman slowly turned around, and I gasped.

My grandmother was standing there in front of me, looking just the way she did before she died ten years ago. I just stood there in shock for a few minutes, and my grandmother stared back at me.

"Grandma?" I finally whispered.

She then turned around and started walking. I stood where I was for a few moments, but I soon followed. It was then that I looked around and realized that I was in a cemetery. Grandma stopped in front of a tombstone and then looked at me sadly. It reminded me of the look she had on her face at my grandfather's funeral.

I wondered then if we were somehow in the cemetery my grandpa is buried in. I didn't know how that was possible, since that cemetery is a couple hundred miles away. Still, I started walking toward the stone.

I started to turn toward it, but then I realized that grandma had vanished. I looked around the cemetery, but there was no one else there.

Finally, I looked back down at the gravestone. I once more gasped when I saw the name on it. It was my own, and the date was one year from today.

I stared at the gravestone in disbelief for a few moments, and then I ran. I didn't know where I was going, but it seemed like I had to be dreaming. Surely I would wake up soon.

I tried to run along the path, but eventually I tripped over something. I landed on my knees, and I found myself just staring at the ground, shaking.

Eventually I managed to get up, still feeling sore. Then I realized that I could see something up ahead. I walked down the path, and I had arrived back at the parking lot.

I walked up to Bridget's car, feeling confused. What had just happened? Had I somehow fallen and hit my head? My head didn't hurt, though; my knees still did.

"Hey, there you are!" Bridget's voice called from across the parking lot. Todd and Aaron were walking behind her.

"Did you get so scared you had to come back here?" Todd laughed. Then they got close enough to see my face, which I'm sure was completely white.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, you don't look too good," Bridget said.

"I don't feel great," I said. "Can we just go back to the dorms?"

Bridget nodded, and Todd and Aaron said goodbye.

"What happened to you?" Bridget asked as she turned onto the highway. "One minute you were there, and then you weren't."

I wished I could answer that question. Was it just a dream? Was it some sort of warning from my grandmother? One thing was certain. I was already dreading next Halloween.