Just like jerry had thought his garage was haunted, Shaun thought these woods were haunted. Had thought so for quite some time.
Something rustled in the trees above him.
Oh no, he thought, please let it be the wind making the leaves do that.
Shaun stopped, looked up. Nothing there. Just the tree branches.
And a dangling arm.
He had lowered his eyes and now he shot them back up to the branches. No, there was nothing there.
Stupid imagination, Shaun thought, leave me alone.
Something rustled in the trees above him once more.
He looked straight back up. Still, nothing there.
Damn it, why did I ever have to play stupid dares?
Suddenly, Shaun wanted to be back in his house, under his warm blankets, with his mum and dad in the next room.
Mum and dad.
He wished that they were both out here with him, camping with him in their tent. But instead, they were inside the house back there, most likely asleep in their own warm bed, his dad snoring away. They thought he was over a friend's house, because he'd lied and told them that so he could do the dare. The other kids in the group did this often. They were never caught.
Shaun wished he would get caught. That maybe his mum would get up and look out the back window and see him walking into the woods.
No such luck.
He looked up and was grabbed by a branch. The branches end had curved twigs - fingers- and he was being thrown into a giant gaping mouth in the tree's trunk, and being swallowed whole.
Never go into the woods alone.
