One wrong turn was all he had taken. One wrong turn sent his feet pounding on the wrong path. His shoes hit the ground with such a force that he flew like a beautiful bird, stretching its wings.
Everything that could have possibly gone wrong went wrong. If he had never opened the door, he wouldn't be here. He wouldn't be in the Death Woods.
These are the woods people never want to step foot in. There is a man in these woods. A man who will hunt you down and kill you. No one has ever made it out alive. And now he was in it.
The sudden crash of leaves and sticks behind me made my mind spin. Was he here? Already? Matthew would never survive. A gunshot rang through his ears. The sound startled him so bad that he glanced back and tripped over a root.
His foot caught and the top half of him plummeted to the ground. As his head hit the ground he heard more shots go off. This was it. The man had found Matthew. Or… maybe he was lucky.
Maybe there was someone else in these woods that was being chased. He pop up from the ground. Dust clings to him like his little sister does. He wonders what she is doing right now. Probably in tears about the divorce.
It was all his fault anyway.
*2 hours before*
The bus rattled along the dusty road that led to Matthew's house. He was sitting next to his best friend, Braxton. They could talk for hours about literally anything.
Everyday Braxton got off first and then ten minutes later, Matthew got off. Like everyday those ten minutes seem to be ten hours long. Right after Braxton got off, Matthew propped his legs up on the seat where Braxton had been sitting.
Usually he is able to get a minute or two of sleep. It's not much but it gives him some energy. Plus it can be more than he ever got at home.
With his parents yelling at each other twenty four seven and his little sister screaming, it's kinda hard to fall asleep. At the end of the night his sister, Elly, usually ends up in his room. She has always taken it hard when his parents yell at each other.
The bus stops and Matthew bolted up in his seat. His feet drag behind him as he walks the aisle to get off the bus. Every step brings a wave of fear through him. All the fear gives new horrid thoughts.
What if today was the day they left each other?
What if they hurt me?
What if they hurt Elly?
What if they hurt each other?
So much of him wants to turn around and stay on the bus. But then what would he say to his parents? "Oh yeah, Braxton invited me over and I forgot to tell you. Sorry." That would never work.
Matthew stumbles off the bus and walks up his driveway towards his house. The house wasn't anything special. Just a boring old brown house that looked like a typical poor family owned it. The only thing was that they were rich. His dad just refused to use the money.
Something about saving it for when they really need it. But if they kept living how they were, they might never use it.
Matthew reached the house and let himself in. Already, he could hear them yelling. Just like every single day. But there was something different about this. Something more serious. More real.
His parents were in their room. The sound of them echoes throughout the entire house. All around him, he can only hear them yelling.
The sound is suffocating. All of the walls seem to close in. HIs breath gets harder and heavier. Everything in him tenses up. His chest feels like it's about to explode.
That's when Matthew heard it. A loud smack. It came from him parents room. Not even a second later his mom runs out, in tears. A large red handprint is stained on her right cheek. Mascara runs down her face in streaks. Her whole face looks like she just got into a fight.
She runs out of the house and hops into her car, then drives away. His dad comes out next, looking like he could kill someone. And he probably could. His eyes met Matthew's and one thought runs through his head.
Run.
Run.
Run!
His legs can't move fast enough. It reminds him of when he had done my first track meet. The fear of him losing. Well, in this case the fear of him getting caught.
Matthew sprinted back down his driveway, the same one he had walked up on not even 3 minutes before.
"Get back here!!" A voice yelled.
His dad. He was running after him. Matthew could only think of one place that this dad would never go into.
The Death Woods.
But it was also a place that no one ever wanted to go into. Other than the fact that no one had come out alive, it was pretty cool. At least, it was till some kids pulled a prank.
About 5 years ago some middle schoolers had the brilliant idea of hopping in and out of the woods. They thought that it would be fun and that no one would get hurt.
When the first kid went in, he vanished. Then he never came back out. All the kids had stood there in terror as they heard screams and gunshots.
After that no one ever went near Death Woods. Cars went miles around to avoid it. Pretty much everyone was freaked out about it. But guess where Matthew was going; that exact place.
It was only because he knew that his dad would never go into Death Woods. Hopefully Matthew would not die. But it seemed that either way something bad would happen. So there he went. Into Death Woods.
*Pov Switch*
Content Warning *Suicide, self harm, mental abuse, and depression mentioned*
I wanted to die.
That was one of my only thoughts every single day. No one knew though. Not my parents, friends, teachers, anyone. It just seems so weird to talk about it. What do you even say?
"Oh yeah I'm depressed." Haha no. That would be the worst way ever. My thoughts have always controlled me. And how people see me.
I had just switched to a new school for the third time. This school was better than my last by far. At my old school I had been bullied for how I looked, acted, and dressed. It had been pure torture.
That was also the school where I got my first official boyfriend. His name was Jax and I had thought it was the best thing ever to be his girlfriend. I had a crush on him since Kindergarten which just made the whole dating thing ten times better.
What I hadn't realized at the time was that he mentally abused me. Every time I was confident about something he would just swoop in and say the exact opposite. He called me fat, then when I stopped eating he said I was too skinny. If I said one thing he didn't like, Jax wouldn't talk to me for a week.
I thought that the whole thing was normal. It was, after all, my first real relationship. I wanted it to work out.
Which means that when he broke up with me I was a mess. Not too long after I switched to the school that I'm at.
Everything is different here. My whole personality has changed. I went from being the smartest girl in the class to someone who thinks that Africa is under the USA. I was a bubbly idiot to say the least. And some people saw through my act, but not many.
I wouldn't say that I was bullied, but I sure got teased a lot. Whether it was being shoved into people or having Mountain Dew dumped on me, something always happened. It wasn't that big of a deal at all though.
You could say that in my 8th grade year I became really depressed. That was fun. No one noticed for about half of the year. Till I almost died. At that time I had to tell someone. I had to say something.
So I told one of my best friends. She was shocked for sure. I had always seemed so fun and carefree that no one realized how hard life was.
It got better for a little bit before everything got worse. This week has been horrible. Today alone a teacher even noticed. What sucked is that it was one of my favorite teachers.
Her name was Mrs. Lucky. Kind of an odd name but I loved it.
She pulled me aside in her class room because another teacher had asked if I was doing okay. Mrs. Lucky had also been concerned and wanted to know if I was alright.
"One of your teachers asked if you were okay." She started out, "He asked since you had an F in my class and you usually get As."
I nodded. I did have an F but that was just because I didn't have enough effort anymore.
"It's not that bad, I just had a missing assignment." I replied, trying not to break. So much of me wanted to tell her everything. But then she would say something to my parents. That would not happen.
"I said that I didn't really notice you since you are so quiet in my class. Not that that's a bad thing! But are you doing okay?"
"Yes, I've just been super tired. I don't really get any sleep at home."
She nods and I go back to my seat.
What would have happened if I had been completely honest? Maybe I could actually get help. Or not.
The bell rings and I scramble out of the class as fast as I can. All I can think about is a relaxing walk home. Just my feet walking and my mind wandering right along.
Every step felt different today. Like my feet were on auto control and I had no idea what was going on. Suddenly, I broke into a run. But I wasn't running home. For all I knew I would never go home again.
My feet had never ran this path before. I didn't stop until I reached them. Death Woods. As soon as I entered, my fate was sealed. I would die.
But that was what I wanted. My foot took one step forward. One more and it was over.
Glancing around, I took the step. There. I was in. I was dead.
Now all I had to do was wait.