The Spirit of Shady Grove

A terrible, spine chilling scream echoed across West Wood’s campers, sleeping peacefully under the canopy of Shady Grove. Several of the campers, still in underwear and tee-shirts, ran into the humid and dark night. As soon as the gallant campers crossed the threshold of the blood spilt cabin, more screams zoomed around the forest. There were crashes and booms, cracks, yells, and a final, thundering whack! All was silent. No sound was heard from the cabin, only soft pitter patters of rodents scurrying on the forest floor.

“I can’t believe it,” Phillip gasped. “First the teachers, and now this. When will it be enough?” He was sitting alone at the oldest table. It was little splinters were flaking all around and a sizable chunk was missing from the table. All of the remaining students huddled around picnic tables, far from the scene. In the dewy daylight, you could see every detail. Every drop of blood, each claw mark of an escaping vitim, and every dent of the killer’s fist. Phillip turned away from the scene and blinked back a few tears. He rested his head against the tabletop and stared at the squishy soil below him. He heard the soft swish of grass, and brought his forehead away from the wood. A long lilac haired girl with black nails and PJ’s was staring at him.

“Hello philip,” Phillip stared at her in confusion and curiosity. He opened his mouth to speak, but she was more nimble. “I’m Cora and you’re a loser,” Phillip huffed, rolled his eyes, and got up to leave, but Cora quickly recovered, “So am I. I know that you are scared, afraid you’re gonna die. I’m not a pawn in fear’s game, but I know many others are. So I want to,” She coughed and hacked for second, and then resumed. “H-Help the others. I’m pretty skilled and intelligent in the field of the mysterious and supernatural, so I know what’s going on.” Phillip gazed at her, studying her dark style and asked, “Wait, why me?”

“Excuse me?” she responded with her eyebrow raised.

“Like why me? Why do you pick me, of all people, to tell that you want to,” He imitated Cora. “H-Help the others” She raised her hand and lifted her finger. Then she pulled out a thick, dirty looking book. The binding seemed as though is was about to break and it had black inked pictures of unknown monsters, witches, spells, and magic signs. She threw it onto the table with a hard thud.  She opened the book and dust flew over the table. She turned its pages as she said, “You’re the only person who’ll believe me."

“And why is that?” Phillip asked, crossing his arms.

“I’ve seen your search history. It’s mainly about true supernatural stories.” Cora said flatly. Phillip looked taken aback by this stalker’s knowledge. Cora crossed her arms, pursed her lips, and furrowed her brows. “Look, you can stare at me all you want, but it’s not gonna stop the murders.” Cora leaned in and whispered, “I’m fine with dying a slow and painful death. How about you?” Cora stared at Phillip. Her golden, yellow irises ensnared him in a mysterious trap. His bambi eyes wavered to-and-from, but in the end could not escape. Cora eased back into her chair and released him. Phillip gulped and said shakely, “Ok, I’ll help. What do we gotta do?”

“First, we gotta know what we’re dealing with. To be precise, a category 7 spirit. It’s a demonic spirit whose main power is possession. Judging by the fact that there’s no weapon being used to kill the campers, the spirit is possessing a victim and using them to kill their cabin mates.” She paused for a moment, staring at Phillip’s raised eyebrow. “Once the first murder happened, I conducted a spiritual gathering. I waited for spirits to answer my call. I was about to leave when I heard the most deafening, horrible scream and wail you’ve ever heard. This spirit is pissed about us being here and wants us to leave, but we can’t. We either kill the possessed human and stop the spirit, or we all die.” She closed the book and raised her eyes to Phillip’s. He shook himself and said, “Let’s do this.”

The two informed the campers of their explanation and plan. They were going to convert the mess hall into a giant cabin. Every camper would stay there the whole night. No going out, no coming in. Cora and Phillip would stay up the whole night and patrol the bunks. If there ever was a spiritual disturbance, they would be there to stop it. After giving their speech, all the students went into their cabins and grabbed bunks, blankets, sheets, toiletries, and any other supplies they would need. After many quarls, breakdowns, and fights, the whole senior class was gathered in the mess hall. Night finally fell over the forest, and its spell was cast over the hall. One by one, the students drifted asleep. Phillip even dozed off once or twice. Cora, however kept a sharp eye the whole night.

It was about 2:30 in the morning when Phillip felt a sudden nudge against his shoulder. Cora’s blazing yellow eyes seemed to glow in the darkness as she whispered, “Psst, wake up!” She jumped out of bed and motioned Phillip over. Phillip hobbled from his bed and tip-toed over to Cora’s position. The erie glow of her eyes were the only thing preventing him from losing her in the cool black night. Feet, legs, arms, and heads were bumped as Cora and Phillip winded through the narrow maze of bunks. Cora halted, her gaze was set on a baby-faced senior. His eyes fluttered from open to shut, his breath was fast and animal like, and he gasped, sputtered, or moaned every second.

“I can’t believe we caught it!” Phillip thought. His breathing became fast as his heart, pumped from exhilaration. “This nightmare of weekend is gonna be over soon. Everyone is gonna be secure in their parents arms, far away from this mess.” Cora grabbed a chef’s knife and raised it.  “This was too easy.” Her hands were shaking as her eyes glowed with hatred and spite. Phillip’s came back to his senses, and grabbed Cora’s thrusting arm. “This isn’t it!” he whispered. Cora shook Phillip’s grasp and raised the knife once more. This time, Phillip grabbed Cora’s waist and knocked her to the ground. “This isn’t it! It’s-” It was too late. A horrible howl came from the far west side of hall. Many heads popped up from their soft pillowy slumber. A giant thud was heard from the howl’s birthplace. There were screams of pure horror as a small cheerleader transformed into a towering, monstrous animal. Cora glanced at Phillip, tears in her eyes and ran toward the heinous creature. Phillip bellowed a warning to the students, “Get away from the possessed! Hide in the bunks away from the monster! Get down!” Campers scurried like mice, and scrambled desperately under bunks. Phillip ran in Cora’s direction with a large club he had forged before the lock in.

He felt Cora’s soft, lavender hair swoosh past his eyes. Her face was covered in blood, dirt, and bruises. Her PJ’s were torn at the leg and blood seeped through the cloth. She had tied a small book bag along her waist. It was torn too, but from age. She reached into the satchel and pulled out assorted colors of luminescent power. She flung the dust into the fowl beast’s eyes and it roared with anger as the glowing power stained its eyeballs. Cora turned her head and locked eyes with Phillip. Her once montone and dull face seemed to melt away into a delicate and gorgeous feature. Phillip’s heart throbbed in his chest. Still staring at each other in full contemptment, a heavy tear ran down Cora’s cheek. Before she could mutter out the words, the monster’s burley hand dug into Cora’s chest and knocked her through the window and out of sight. Phillip’s pulse dropped as the beast glared it huge slitted eyes at him. The beast howled and ran toward him. Phillip raised his club, but the beast’s capacious mouth clamped down on it and threw it aside. He tried to run, but he tripped over his own legs. He stumbled to the floor and the animal’s roar splattered saliva onto his face. The beast dragged its claws on the tile floor, slowly advancing toward him. He could feel and smell its rancid breath against his skin. Philip tried to crawl away from his demise, but the creature’s legs were atop his, locking him in place. He could see every spindle of hair on the beast’s arms and body. Its muscular arms were digging into his shoulder as it beared it razor teeth. Its drool dripped onto his sweat drenched face. He closed his eyes and awaited for the arrival of its nasty teeth to sink into his chest. He waited, and felt the creature slowly climb up his body. Phillip opened his eyes as he watched its ugly head retract and lunge like an opened jack-in-the-box. He expected its hot breath to fill his veins, but it never came. He opened his eyes and saw a deflated cheerleader dead in front of him. Out of its back, a long silver rod stuck out. He moved his gaze upward and saw Cora. Her arm was severely injured, along with the rest of her body. Their eyes met and she rushed toward him and embraced him in a weak, but powerful hug. The two sat there squeezing ever so slightly as other camp members watched in amazement. A sliver of light peeked through the broken window as if to say, “You are free. You are free from all evil. Rejoice!”