“The Shack Of Disappointment” 

The pungent smell of garlic, flour, and yeast hit my nostrils, as I grab the cold, smooth, silver handle and open the glass door of the world-famous Pizza Palace in Western South Dakota. Pizza Palace has the best garlic knots that make me drool at the sight of them. My ocean blue eyes levitate to the brown-eyed fifteen-year-old female with brown hair and pearly white teeth, wearing, in my opinion, the most basic white and red Rolling Stones tee. She wears her signature royal blue headband that ties to her coffee-stained skin. I continue to stroll toward, Jane. ¨Hi, where is Martha? I am starving,¨ I announced, as I yank the tall red seated chair that was brand new twenty years ago.

Martha states, ¨ She is driving here, but you know her, she drives at 5 miles per hour no matter what.¨ 

¨ Let's order the usual, pineapple pizza with salty Canadian bacon and of course the most garlic knots,” I vocalize to her, as I turn my head to the short, blonde-haired guy in the red and black Pizza Palace uniform, which includes a hat, a shirt, black jeans, and a name tag, in this case, reading Brad. Brad looks at me, a girl, who is five feet six inches black wavy-haired like moana, and named Ruthy. I am wearing my red leggings, a black-light-weight zip-up sweatshirt, and my black Nike shoes. Brad approaches us slowly with his notepad. 

¨Let me guess ladies, pineapple pizza with Canadian bacon and the fifteen pieces of garlic knots?” He says unenthusiastically, with little to no emotion.

¨Thank you, please give us the garlic knots as soon as possible. I´m hungry.¨  I say respectfully, as Brad walks away with no response. I hear the bell ring and turn towards the door. I see a short figure wearing an orange shirt with black leggings and the same black Nike shoes. Ugh, I hate her. 

¨Hi, it is about time that you got here with your grandma driving, you gotta pick up the speed,¨ I mention sarcastically. 

¨Ok, ok, you don't have to be mean, that is not how you are, also, did you order?¨She exclaims quietly. 

¨ Yes, are you doing anything after we get some grub?¨ Jane beings to pitch in, as the pineapple pizza and garlic swiftly made their presence to us. Suddenly, I look up and started to drool. As he places the pizza down, my long fingers with acrylics make their way to a fresh slice and garlic knots, waiting to be devoured. 

¨We should go to the Black Hills National Forest on the east end! Do you know how haunted it is? It will be so much fun, and we should also take some insta pics the leaves are falling so it will be so pretty,¨ I respond, as I grab my phone from my navy blue backpack from the local Target. I glance at my blue phone. Before I can do anything more, something suddenly snatches my attention. 

Jane mentioned, ¨I don't know Ruthy.  If you want to go you can, you know I don't like scary things and spiders.¨

¨Come on. It's nothing. You worry too much. I know I am petrified of eight-legged hairy small monsters, but, hopefully, we won't see any. Plus, what's the worst thing that can happen? What do you think Martha? It will be fun,¨ I say, trying to convince them as the warm crunchy pizza hits my tongue. I thought to myself I have nothing better to do. My hand is still holding onto my greasy and slimy phone from the pizza. 

¨It will be fun, let's do it,¨ Martha speaks, as she was swallowing her pizza and the rest of her garlic knot.

¨Ok, let's see if our parents are ok with it. We should go now so we have enough time.¨ I quickly press on the white text bubble icon and then on the mom. Next, I click on mom and begin to type. Hi, Can Martha, Jane, and I go to the Black Hills National Forest?

Martha begins to vocalize, ¨I can..¨

Jane interrupts, ¨Go.¨ My hand began to buzz and I glanced down to see a new text message from my mom at 2:36 pm. I begin to scan the message, remember you NEED to watch your brother no ifs, ands, or buts about it. 

I look up and utter a little nervously, ¨I should be good to go, but I should take my brother, Peter, with me. As long as we are back at 7:45, we should be okay.¨ 

Martha announces ¨Ok I don´t care, call your brother and tell him to go outside and wait for us. We need to go this second and put the pizza in a bag.¨ I set down my phone, I think to myself that it will be fine, you bring your brother and he will have fun. Plus, it is being responsible, I could have just left him at home. Mom is going to thank me. I dig in my bag and reach for the bags. I quickly find them and hand them over to Martha. She picks up the 2 pieces of pizza and shoves them into the bag. Then she tops off the bag with the remaining garlic knots. Lastly, she zips up the bag and hands it to me. I grab the plastic bag and throw it in my bag.

 I begin to jump off the chair and make my way to Martha´s car. I halt at the Red Honda Civic that she got for her sweet sixteen. I hopped in the passenger seat. Marsha and Jane hop into the car as well, fourteen minutes flash by and we pull up to my grayish, lavender house and watch us as we pull up. My only sibling, my little twelve-year-old brother, who is five feet four inches with blond hair, is standing at the drive. He hops in and is the sitting car in the back seat by Jane. Peter mentions¨So do you have pizza or...¨ 

I interrupt sliding the bag of pizza to him, ¨Peter! We are going to the woods.¨ twenty minutes later we arrive in a small old parking lot with very tall, wide-looking trees surrounding us with no cars or people on site. We all hop out of the car.

¨I have never been here before,¨ Jane claims quietly 

¨I have only been here once, but we only walked the trail half a mile. Everything looked kinda dead,¨ Martha quietly tells me. 

I announce, ¨ Ok that’s weird, never mind. Let's get moving! Peter, please stick with us. I promise to protect every one of you.¨ I say, just as my phone hums once again. I look down and it is from mom. Hesitantly, I click on the message. It says Ruthy, Ok? I try to respond but the internet connection is not working. My hands begin to sweat.

¨ Thank you,¨ Jane speaks, As I enter the woods. ¨It is a great relief.¨ Jane, Peter, and Martha are following me. My phone buzzes once again. I am looking down at my phone screen, as I continue to walk. It is mom again, Ruthy you better answer me! How are you and Peter? I turn off my phone knowing it is hopeless and slip my phone into my pocket. 

¨No problem Jane. It is nothing to worry about,” and just as I am announcing that I realize that 35 minutes passed by. Slowly when I feel a cold wet feeling that touches my pale skin. Another droplet hits my skin and another one. We move over a large dry oak tree branch. We have just passed the 2-mile mark.

Martha verbalizes, ¨It is about to pour.¨ Emotions began to grow, rising from my feet to my heart. The stress begins to crease my heart.

¨I have a bad feeling about this,¨ I blurt out. Ten minutes later we approached a path that began to disappear. At the end of the path, I see an abandoned-looking shack that still holds its shape. ¨We need to go to the shack, It is not good to be in the rain, in the woods.¨ I bolt towards the shack.

¨I do not know about this,¨ All three of them replayed at once.

¨Remember trust me! I got you into this and I will get you out of this,¨ I reminded them. I opened up the green-painted door that is chipped. I open up the door and let all of them in. The shack is covered in dust and contains one room with an old wood bed frame. In addition to the old bed frame, there is also a bookshelf with no books and a single window in the shack. I close the door and then turn on the lights. The thunder begins to roar, the light starts to flicker, and then out of nowhere, the shack begins to shake. I can see out of the window a brown, tall, lengthy tree crash to the ground. 

¨Ahhh,¨ Jane is yelling.

¨What is happening?¨ Peter screams.

¨Why?¨ Martha is yelling. I am speechless and shaking! I question, what did I bring them into? Mom is going to be so mad and so will Dad!  I don't want to make them angry. I am walking in what feels like slow motion. I am looking out the window and I notice the most horrific thing in my life. Tears are beginning to trickle down my face. 

¨ The t-t-tree is blocking the door!¨ I nervously announce. My heart feels like it is stopping. I tried my best to make the door open but it won´t budge.

Jane falls to the ground and begins to sob and exclaim, ¨We are stuck in the scary woods in a shack, and a reminder that we are in the middle of nowhere when it is storming.¨  I regret everything.  I feel so bad for Jane, Peter, and Martha. I turn towards Martha and see her tugging on the door. Peter is pulling on the window, but the tree is blocking the window. I begin to look at my phone and see six missed calls and six unread messages. 

I saw a bright flashing light that flashed out of nowhere before I can open up the messages. The remaining people that are standing up are falling down and I am doing the same. My phone hits the bed frame shattering everywhere. The light is flashing. Peter is beneath me. Martha and Jane are now on the other side of me and Peter, in this crowded and tiny shack. I smell a strong smell of smoke and a large amount of ash filters my nose. I immediately pull my feet out from underneath Peter and stand up. The red and orange flame emerges from the tree branches and I can feel the warmth surrounding the shack. I can also hear the crackling from the burning wood. Peter, Marsha, and Jane slowly get up, speechless. They are now encircling me. 

Marsha breaks the silence, ¨We need to find a way out before we die.¨ I feel a sense of hopelessness.

Peter continues, ¨I might not know much but I know that we need to find a way to get out of the back wall.¨

Jane announces, ¨Pat down the back wall. There might be rotten wood.¨ I run to the back wall and they all pat down the back wall as well. 

¨Here,¨ Peter yells. We all dash to him. We start to push the wood. The wood falls to the ground. 

We are running and never look back and then we see a bright shiny light out of nowhere. I suddenly gasp.