4

The creature was not clawing at the back of his head.

It was Nick.

He was pulling a hideous mask off of his face. He was still laughing hysterically.

Marcus, Squire and Nick had scared the pants off of us with a few masks.

Nick and Marcus were both out of their masks now, but Squire seemed to be stuck in his.

Served him right, I thought vengefully.

“What possessed you creeps to do something so horrible?” Polly cried. “What were you thinking?”

Even in the dim light of the parking lot, I could see Polly’s face glowing red. She was furious.

“It was Nick’s idea,” Marcus admitted. “But, really, who could resist?”

“Yeah,” Squire chimed in, still tugging at his mask. Then it came off all at once. “The two of you came right into our hands.”

Polly drew back her fist, ready to strike Squire. I stopped her before she could swing, though.

“Let’s get this over with,” I commanded. “I want to get back home, before my parents know I'm gone.”

We followed Nick to the wood line. The woods were thick and dark.

I dug the flashlight out of my backpack and turned it on.

“Alright,” Nick began. “One of the headstones has a blue gem near the top. Bring back the gem, and we’ll know you went all the way.”

“You know we’re going to look back on this one day and say how stupid we all look,” Polly said.

“Maybe,” Nick agreed.

And with that, the two of us disappeared into the dark of the woods.

Polly followed closely behind me, as I aimed the flashlight ahead of us.

“I really hope we don’t come across any snakes,” she whispered.

“Why are you whispering?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she whispered back.

Looking up, we could barely see the moon for the tops of the trees.

After we were so far in we could no longer see the lights of the parking lot anymore, Polly began to shiver.

“I really don’t like this, Cameron,” she exclaimed. “Let’s just go back and be wimps.”

“No way,” I protested.

I was still leading the way with the flashlight.

The wind blew in the trees, letting the moon shine through, as the treetops swayed.

Dampness began to stir around us, there in the woods. A summer fog had settled on the ground. I aimed the flashlight at my feet, which stirred the fog as I walked.

Polly said she was breaking out in goose-flesh. She came up to walk beside me, in the comfort of the flashlight. The breeze picked up again and her blond hair blew back and forth across her shoulders.

“Is it just me, or is it colder in here?” Polly asked.

I had noticed a drop in the temperature a few minutes earlier. Now that she mentioned it, a chill ran up my back, and I shivered lightly.

“No,” I returned. “It’s really colder in here. I think that’s the case with all woods, though.”

I noticed Polly shivering, too, as she stared up at what moonlight was revealed by the swaying treetops.

“It would be nice if we were back out in the world now, so we could actually enjoy the full moon,” Polly said. “The view here sucks.”

The wind disturbed the ground fog. It swirled up in small puffs and whirls.

The wind became stronger again.

Polly and I stopped and I aimed the flashlight around us.

Fog was stirring in the wind behind her.

The fog started to collect around her.

I shivered at the sight of what was now growing around her.

It wasn’t just fog. It was an evil spirit that was clouding around her in the essence of fog.

The flashlight beam danced across her face, as the flashlight trembled in my hand.

“What’s going on, Cameron,” Polly asked, seeing the fear collected in my eyes.

To her it may have just seemed like fog, but I was seeing a terrible ghoul growing around her.

It wanted to suffocate her!

“Polly!” I cried. “Get away!