Friday the Thirteenth

It was kind of chilly out for late Spring, and the wind blew lightly all around us, but as the four of us pulled our sweatshirts on we continued to laugh and make our way to “the spot”. Theresa, Liz, Nate, and I had been going to “the spot” since we discovered it on one of our exploration expeditions when we were eight years old. It was this really neat tree in the forest behind central park, really easy to climb, and perfect to sit in and hang out. It seemed like there was a curtain of leaves surrounding us, from the top of the tree to the forest floor. We almost always waited until after dark, or close to it, to go on the arduous hike to our special tree, mostly because that’s what made it special. The leaf curtains seemed to shut out anything that could be lurking in the dark.
“Oh c’mon, Carmen, you can’t be serious! You know we won’t make fun of you!” Liz said, trying to get me to do the dance that I had learned a couple of days ago in gym class.
“No, no way! You guys will totally make fun of me! You always do!” I laughed, this was our usual group banter, laughing about one thing or another.
“Oh my goodness! Do you guys remember the dance from that party at the beach last Summer?” Theresa asked us all.
“Oh yeah! Carmen, there is no possible way that you could look any more ridiculous doing this dance than you did dancing at that party!” Nate pointed out.
“Ugh! Don’t remind me. How in the world did you guys let me do that! It was horrible.” Even though I was trying to sound angry, the words came out between bursts of laughter as my mind recalled the horrid dance that I had done. I was in that phase where I thought that I could make anything I did look great. It’s too bad that I realized that that wasn’t possible about three days after that party.
We finally reached “the spot,” and Nate held the branches out of the way as we climbed underneath and into our refuge of eight years. It was pretty late out, around eleven thirty or midnight. Since it was a Friday night we had all been hanging out with people, but the four of us had decided that we’d go to “the spot” afterwards anyway. Our parents weren’t always happy when we made these decisions, but since we were sixteen they had all allowed us to do pretty much what we wanted when we wanted, so long as the four of us were together. Through the years everyone’s parents began to trust us all, and they all liked each of us a lot.
Theresa began nimbly climbing the tree, to the highest sitting spot that we figured we could reach and still be safe; I followed, sitting on the rather large branch just below where Theresa was perched. Liz sat beside me, since the branch was so big, and Nate, being the daredevil that he was, decided that he was going to try something new. He climbed a couple of feet about Theresa, and made himself comfortable.
“Nate…” I warned, ever the cautious one.
“Chill, Carmen, you know I’ll be fine.”
“Well, yeah.” I had no choice but to agree. Nate had never fallen from any of the trees we climbed. Never.
“You better be careful, though, bud. It is Friday the thirteenth.” Theresa joked.
We sat in the tree for an hour or so, laughing and having a good time. We reminisced our best memories, our biggest mistakes, and we realized that now it all seemed so funny with the perspective of a few years.
“Wait. Guys. Shh….” I said after a particularly loud bout of laughter.
“What?” Liz asked.
“I heard something,” Everybody grew silent, “There! Did you hear it? There it is again!” It was a kind of popping sound that I was hearing; it reminded me of the fireworks on the Fourth of July. Or, as I thought about it, it sounded a whole lot like the noise of a gunshot. It didn’t come from nearby, and it was probably nothing to worry about, but I grew anxious and restless anyway.
“Oh that’s nothing! Relax. It’s probably just some of the seniors playing late night basketball again.” Theresa said after a moment.
“I don’t know…maybe we better head back to the park,” I suggested. Everybody seemed kind of reluctant, but as the noise started again, this time seeming closer than before, I began to rush everybody. “Please, let’s go. Now.” I quickly climbed off of the tree, jumping a little higher than I usually would in order to speed up the process. I looked back into the tree. My friends hadn’t moved.
“Carmen, seriously, it’s fine, don’t get too keyed up,” Nate said. I wasn’t a very superstitious person, but I had kind of been a little bit creeped out since Theresa pointed out that it was Friday the thirteenth earlier.
“No, please,” I begged, “Please, before I have an anxiety attack and pass out.” My worrywart side was beginning to show, and I began to breathe heavily and unevenly. “Guys,”
“Alright, alright, relax.” Theresa said, and she began to climb down, Liz following closely. “C’mon, Nate, Carmen is really freaking out.”
“I would, but, well, I’m stuck.” I groaned, and began to repeat “It’s alright” over and over under my breath as Theresa and Liz guided Nate down.
“Okay, let’s go!” I said the minute Nate jumped out of the tree. I wanted to get out of there as fast as possible, but I didn’t want to go first. Theresa led the way, and we left “the spot” and walked back into the forest. “Oh my goodness, Oh my goodness,” I muttered, trying to keep myself semi-calm.
I felt a tap on my right shoulder and screamed. When I whipped my head around to see what had just tapped me, nothing was there. Whimpering, I turned back to face my friends, only to find Nate laughing hysterically. “Was that you?!” I slapped his arm, “That wasn’t funny!”
“Sorry, Carmen,” He said, still laughing.
We continued through the forest, and I began to think that maybe it was a bad idea to come here so late. It was far enough away from anybody else that even if we screamed out during the day for help it would be difficult to hear us, but at night with everyone asleep it was all but impossible. I heard a rustle in the bushes and jumped, but my common sense told me that it was just a bird or rabbit or something. Well, that is, until it was accompanied by a loud growl.
I screeched and grabbed Liz’s arm, but she began to laugh, along with Nate and Theresa. The three of them exchanged high fives. “I hate you guys!” I was kind of laughing, kind of hyperventilating, but they knew that I didn’t seriously hate them. I picked up speed, and the other three soon followed suit.
After about three or four minutes, there was another tap on my shoulder. “Nate, that isn’t funny anymore!”
“What are you talking about?”
“You tapped my shoulder!”
“That wasn’t me…” He said, and the four of us stopped dead in our tracks.
“Then what was it?” Theresa asked, her voice quavering. We all turned around, there was nothing but the darkness of the forest surrounding us, or so we thought.
Something, or someone, was running towards us, we could hear the twigs and dead leaves being stepped on. Theresa, Liz, Nate, and I began to sprint, completely terrified. Whatever was chasing us, though, was much faster, and after a few minutes we could hear it right on our tracks. None of us wanted to turn around to see exactly what we were running from, because it would slow us down.
It turned out that it didn’t matter though, there were a few moments when our attacker stopped running, and then suddenly there was a huge impact that sent the four of us flying towards the ground. It was a wolf-like thing, but about three times bigger, with claws longer than my forearms. Werewolf, was the first thought that came to mind.
The werewolf charged back at us, attacking me, and clawing at my skin. It tore my flesh open, and I could see blood pouring from my body. Liz, Theresa, and Nate recovered as quickly as possible and tried to pull the thing off of me, quite a courageous thing to do. I kind of wished that they would just run, because as scared as I was for my own life, I was terrified for theirs. The werewolf merely snarled at them and went back to attacking me, though. Liz began searching around, for what, I did not know.
She finally came back with a rather large tree branch in her hand, and smacked the werewolf right on its head. It didn’t appear to be super hurt, but boy was it angry. The wolf charged Liz and knocked her to the ground. I tried to stand up, but I couldn’t, I actually felt kind of dizzy. Nate ran over to me, saying that everything was going to be alright, telling me not to move, but in all honesty, I was more worried about Liz. Theresa was trying to distract the werewolf, but it was to no avail.
Shortly after the creature had turned on Liz, I began to hear those gun-like popping noises from before. I whimpered, not willing to take anymore adventure, though it isn’t like I really had a choice. Then, all of a sudden, the werewolf was gone. It had just disappeared, poof!
“What the heck?” Nate muttered.
“Are you kids okay?” A voice said from just beyond where we could see.
“Errr…not really.” Theresa replied. Then there was a middle aged man carrying a gun who came through the trees. He had salt and pepper hair, and laugh lines on his face.
“Holy…” The man said when he saw me and Liz. Liz though hurt did not seem to be in as bad a condition as I was. She was standing up, and it didn’t look like the werewolf had hit her in that many places.
“Please, call 911, or anything. Please do something!” Nate pleaded with the man, glancing down at me.
“Right, okay,” He flipped open a cell phone and dialed 911, “We need an ambulance at central park, now. I’m not quite sure, but please hurry!” He clicked the phone shut and turned to look at the four of us again. “Who are you kids anyway, and what are you doing here so late?”
“Who are you?” Liz replied, defensively.
“I’m George Willowberg. I live a mile or so in that direction.”
“Did you, shoot that thing?” I managed to say.
“Yes, I did. It comes around here every Friday the thirteenth, and each time I shoot it and it disappears until next time. Now, are you all going to answer my questions?”
“Oh, well, I’m Theresa, this is Liz, Nate, and Carmen. We hang out here a lot, and usually nothing happens, it’s just this time, well, you see,” She gestured to me. I was beginning to get blind spots in my vision, and I could still feel blood dripping from the many gashes in my skin. I moaned.
“We need to get her into the park, where the ambulance will be able to get to her.”
“How?” Nate asked helplessly.
“We’ll have to carry her. But we need to use the utmost caution, do you see how much blood she’s lost, it’s surprising that she hasn’t already passed out.” My three friends and George circled around me, trying to figure out how to transport me without causing any more damage. Somewhere between then and actually being put in the ambulance, I passed out.
Waking up in a hospital room surrounded by my family, Theresa, Nate, and Liz was kind of disorienting at first, but then the events that had occurred began to replay in my mind. Liz had her arm in a sling, but other than that looked okay. Everything came back to me, like a horror film.
“Oh my gosh.” I whispered before passing out again.