The Forest
Short Story : The Forest.
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark ( Horror Story)
By Prabir Rai Chaudhuri . All Copyright Reserved 2018
My name is Sofia and together with my three friends, Paula, Lucia and Martina, we share a great fascination for magic and Santeria. We loved to investigate and experiment with different spells, always looking for new ways to obtain more powerful results. But as we advanced in our search, we began to take more and more risks and sometimes we realized that we had crossed dangerous lines.
One day, Paula came to the group with an intriguing story she had heard from an acquaintance of hers. According to this story, in a nearby forest there was a place where a lonely witch had lived for decades. It was said that the witch had filled the forest with hundreds of dolls that hung from the trees around her home. And although the witch had died years ago, it was said that the dolls were still there, and that their number increased every time someone visited the place.
We found the story creepy, but at the same time it made us morbidly curious . So we decided to lie to our parents about where we would be spending the night, which was quite common among us, our parents were so used to our sleepovers that we only had to mention the word to get our respective parents' permission.
We arrived at the forest and we mainly explored and played with the vegetation between us. To be honest, the atmosphere in the place was quite pleasant, or at least that was until we reached the exact place where the famous dolls of the forest were. As soon as we entered the place, we felt a strange feeling of uneasiness, as if we were being watched by something or someone.
Even with that feeling, we didn't want it to stop us. We had experienced this kind of thing before, most of it was just nerves about what we were about to do, so we decided to take out the Ouija board we had brought, looking for some sign from beyond.
At first we didn't get much of a result. We did a few other types of rituals that had the same result, but as time went on and the clock got closer to midnight, strange things started happening around us. We heard laughter and whispering in the darkness and saw shadows that seemed to move through the trees.
Suddenly, we heard a noise that made us jump. It was the sound of something dragging itself along the ground, getting closer and closer to us. Looking up, we could see the dolls that surrounded the forest coming to life. They moved slowly, with rigid and disturbing gestures, and they followed us wherever we went.
We screamed and ran, but it seemed like the dolls were everywhere. They scratched us and hit us with their stiff arms, knocking us to the ground. But the worst of all happened when we looked directly at some trees and could see the face of the witch, who was looking at us with empty eyes and a mocking smile.
We were completely terrified. The dolls were chasing us relentlessly, it seemed like they would never give us a break. Every time we tried to run away, more and more dolls appeared, blocking our way and cornering us in a corner of the forest. I was sure I would not survive the night.
That's when I saw the witch. She was there, in the darkness, watching us with a macabre smile on her face. I couldn't believe that the legend was true, that a woman had lived in that forest for decades, accompanied only by hundreds of dolls. But there she was, or at least her spirit, she was living proof that that place was cursed.
The witch came down agilely between the branches of the trees, looking like a horrible and enormous spider approaching us. Finally, she stretched out one of her hands and pulled my friend Jaqueline. I tried to grab her by the arm, but my attempts were useless as the dolls began to attack me and pile up around me until finally I had no choice but to let go.
As the witch walked away with our friend, who was struggling and begging for her to let go, the atmosphere in the forest began to improve a little. The dolls, which had come to life, began to become completely still again.
After our friend disappeared, the group was in a state of shock. We didn't know what to do or how to act. We had lost one of our own and we didn't know if we would ever see her again. At that moment, tears welled up in our eyes, and we felt a deep pain in our hearts. The feeling of helplessness invaded us, and we didn't know what to do to find her.
Even though we were completely terrified, we all decided that we couldn't just leave Jacqueline there. We kept walking through the woods trying to find some sign of our friend. But every time we thought we had found something, we realized that we were wrong. After several hours of searching fruitlessly, we decided that the best thing to do was to go home and tell our parents everything that had happened, so that they could call the police and begin a better search for our friend.
Shortly after we emerged from the woods, my two friends were on the verge of tears. Neither of us cared about the huge trouble we would get into with our parents, we were only concerned about Jacqueline at that moment. We wondered what that horrible cursed witch was doing to her.
When we suddenly saw our friend emerge from the trees, we ran towards her and hugged her, feeling relieved to see that she was safe. However, she was not feeling well at all, her skin was completely white, and her eyes had an expression of deep terror. Despite all this, my friends felt so grateful that she had managed to get out of the forest.
But something wasn't right. We noticed that something had changed about her. She didn't talk much and she avoided looking us in the eye. And when we asked her how she managed to escape from the witch, she would just ramble on or say she couldn't remember anything, since all she remembers is that she ran through the woods until she found the exit. Something about the way she spoke made me think that Jacqueline was acting strange, but I decided that maybe we were all just too upset about what had happened, so I decided to let it go.
As the days went by, we noticed that our friend was not the same. Her actions and behavior were strange. She went from being a calm person, who always wanted to solve things by talking, to throwing the first punch at the slightest provocation.
Her parents also began to notice that something was wrong with her. I remember how her father questioned me on more than one occasion if I even knew what was wrong with her. But what really shocked us was when, during a casual conversation, she had been trying to do something similar for days. Trying to sound as casual as possible, I asked her if she remembered the vacation we had spent together two years ago. She answered me immediately, but in reality, we didn't even know each other back then.
That's when I knew that whatever had come out of the woods that day wasn't our friend. We knew our friend wasn't alone, that something or someone had possessed her. And the only explanation we could find was the witch in the woods. We knew we had to go back to the place where our friend had disappeared to find answers.
At first, we were hesitant to go back into the forest. After all, it was almost a miracle that we had made it out alive last time. However, we couldn't just leave Jacqueline there, and we knew that no one would believe us if we told the truth.
We used the same excuse with our parents and left that same night. When we reached the forest and found the place where the dolls were, we discovered something terrifying: a doll that looked exactly like our friend. Upon closer inspection, we realized that it was an exact duplicate of her, with the same hair, the same clothes, and the same facial features.
Then everything became clear: the doll we had found in the woods was not just a coincidence, but was an object of control used by the witch to keep our friend under her influence. We knew we had to go back into the woods and find the witch to put an end to her curse once and for all.
Suddenly, we began to hear mocking laughter echoing throughout the forest, and the dolls around us began to move again. The witch had achieved her goal and had caught us.
Despite the fear we felt, our desire to help our friend was stronger. We had prepared everything we could find for our fight against the witch, even if it was just protective amulets and such.
At first, we could only hear the witch's laughter, and the laughter stopped for a moment. We didn't know what to think until we suddenly heard her again, this time closer than ever. We looked in all directions, trying to find her, but suddenly a gust of strange power ran through our entire bodies, breaking all our amulets instantly.
At that moment, the dolls pounced on us again. We had no choice but to run back towards the exit of the forest. We ran as fast as we could, and just when we thought we had made it, the witch appeared out of nowhere, blocking our way. She looked at us with her evil, glowing eyes, and started laughing again, a laugh so chilling that we almost lost control. It was a tiring journey, but we were finally able to escape.
As we made it out of the forest, we realized that we were still holding the doll that resembled our friend. We managed to take her to a priest, who did everything he could to free our friend from the witch's curse. But, despite all his efforts, our friend was never the same again. She began to act strangely, as if she was possessed by something evil and sinister. Even her parents noticed that something was wrong and asked us if we knew something they didn't.
After our friend left, the mood in our group changed dramatically. We no longer had the same desire to experiment with magic and Santeria. There was a palpable fear in the air, and each of us blamed herself for what had happened to our friend.
However, one day we received a letter from her. We didn’t know how she had found our addresses, but that didn’t matter. What did matter was the content of the letter: our friend asked us to meet her at a specific place in the nearby forest. The place she had directed us to was known for its macabre history: it was said that a lonely woman who practiced witchcraft had lived there, surrounded by hundreds of dolls hanging from the trees. Everyone in the area avoided that place, but our friend seemed to have found something there that she wanted to share with us.
We met up that night and went into the woods together. The atmosphere was tense and silent, and the shadows of the trees made us feel smaller and smaller. Finally, we arrived at the place our friend had told us about. What we found there took our breath away: a doll exactly like our friend was hanging from a tree, along with hundreds of other dolls. Suddenly, we heard a creepy laugh and saw a figure in the distance that seemed to be the witch we had heard about.
We began to shiver and feel a chill run down our spines. We knew we had to do something before it was too late. We decided to seek the help of an expert in dark magic, someone who could help us break the spell that had been cast on us.
Finally, we found an old man who had studied the secrets of magic for decades. We told him our story and showed him the doll we had found in the garden. He carefully examined the doll and told us that it was imbued with a malevolent energy that needed to be neutralized.
She explained to us that the only way to destroy the curse was to burn the doll in a special ritual. We were willing to do anything to get rid of this nightmare, so we agreed to follow her instructions.
That night, in the woods, with the full moon overhead, we performed the ritual. After hours of incantations and lighting a large bonfire, we threw the doll into the fire.
As the doll burned, we felt an indescribable relief. We knew that we had finally broken the spell, that we had freed our friend and ourselves from the witch's curse. From that moment on, we returned to our normal lives, although we never forgot the terrible experience we had lived through.
We decided to confront her once and for all. We went into the woods with all the dolls we had found and burned them, hoping that would be enough to free us from her influence.
But when we were in the forest, the witch appeared before us. She was a dark, twisted figure, with empty eyes and a mocking smile. She told us that we could not escape her, that she had chosen us as her playthings and that she would always be with us.
At that moment, a frantic and desperate fight began between us and the witch. Each of us used everything we had learned about magic and Santeria to try to defeat her. But the witch was powerful and seemed invincible. We were exhausted and wounded, and it seemed like we were going to lose.
Just when we thought all was lost, our missing friend appeared. She was unrecognizable, with an evil smile on her face and a doll in her hand. She told us that she had been chosen by the witch, that she was now her ally, and that she would never leave us alone.
The situation became even more terrifying when the witch and our friend teamed up to attack us. But just when it seemed that all was lost, a bright light appeared in the forest, like a star in the night. The witch and our friend disappeared, and we were left in the forest, exhausted and trembling.
As we walked further, we realized that the forest was getting darker and quieter. The air became heavier as we went deeper into it, as if we were walking into the very heart of darkness. The wind blew hard, moving the branches of the trees and making the leaves crunch under our feet. Everything seemed calm, but something in the air warned us that something was about to happen.
Suddenly, we heard a strange noise, as if someone was dragging something along the ground. We stopped dead in our tracks and tried to listen better. That's when we saw it. Just a few feet away from us, there was a dark, deformed figure, slowly crawling towards us. Its appearance was terrifying, with skin hanging from its body, sunken eyes, and limbs twisted in unnatural directions. It was the witch, and she seemed to have been waiting for us.
We tried to run away, but she pursued us relentlessly. The witch's laughter echoed in our ears, making us feel as if we were trapped in an endless nightmare. The dolls in the trees seemed to be alive, with their bloodshot eyes and twisted limbs. The trees themselves seemed to move and shake, as if they were trying to impede our escape.
Finally, we made it to the road and got away as fast as we could from that cursed place. We reached the city and hid in one of the girls' houses, shaking in fear and trying to process everything that had happened. But the nightmare wasn't over.
One of our friends started acting strange, as if she was possessed by some evil force. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she started speaking in a guttural, menacing voice. We tried to help her, but to no avail. In the end, she died in a freak accident, and we never knew the truth behind her death.
Our friend's death left us all in a state of shock. We couldn't believe what had happened. At first, we thought it was an accident, but after reflecting on everything that had happened, we began to suspect that there was something more behind her death.
We began to investigate and search for answers. We visited santeros and shamans, who told us that we were in danger and that we should stay away from everything related to the witch. But we couldn't ignore what had happened and we were determined to find out the truth.
It was then that we discovered an ancient spell book in the attic of one of the girls' house. The book was written in a language we couldn't understand, but it contained illustrations of the witch and her dolls. With the help of a translator, we discovered that the book contained a spell to destroy the witch.
We decided to give it a try. We gathered at the house of the girl who had found the book and started preparing for the spell. We recited the words and lit candles for protection. Suddenly, the wind started blowing hard and the candles went out.
At that moment, we knew the witch was nearby. We gathered our courage and went out into the street to confront her. The witch was there, with her mocking smile and twisted wrists. But this time, we were prepared.
A fierce fight began between us and the witch. We recited the words of the spell and threw magic powders around her. The witch screamed and writhed her body, but eventually she began to disintegrate.
When it was all over, we looked at each other, exhausted and trembling. We had managed to destroy the witch and free ourselves from her influence. From that moment on, we promised never to play with dangerous things again and to stay away from the dark, cursed woods.
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