After Dark

“THIS AREA IS NOT SAFE AFTER DARK. TURN AROUND - KEEP OUT”

It was a warm but chilly night in Syracuse, New York. The sun was beaming, birds chirping. At Syracuse University was one of the biggest football games against their rival team, the Philly Birds. That day the entire college went to this game, usually after a win Syracuse celebrates with a week long party. Of course, only if their star quarterback Sebastian is attending. Sebastian is six foot four, curly brown hair (typical jock) he is one of those guys you meet in college that you either love or hate.

Speaking of love, one person who loves him the most is Viola. They've been together for almost 2 years (if you don’t count the 10 times they’ve broken up). Viola is a petite little cheerleader for Syracuse University, long brown hair that touches her back, piercing bright blue eyes and the prettiest smile that matches her personality. Of course, the top cheerleader and the best football player would be together.

After the win against the philly birds, Sebastian and Viola decide they want to go on a hike later that day. They invite their friends Jean, Kia, Henry and Katie. This was their clique. Usually, they’d party after but Viola wanted to do something more productive, then go party at night. They would often go to do adventurous things together. This time they decided to hike a trail that no one really hikes. They saw it on tiktok, there weren't many videos on this trail but it did mention an abandoned house deep in the woods to find along the trail.

Sebastian and Viola went back to their dorm and washed up. Viola put on her purple matching shorts and crop top set with her white Nike sneakers. Sebastian wore his white tee shirt and a pair of purple Nike jogging pants to match Viola. They went to go meet Henry and Katie at the dining hall, along with Jean who brought some beers for them to celebrate their win. Kia decided to tag along even though she hates doing anything athletic herself.

Sebastian drove to the hiking trail. They arrived around 3:00pm. The trail would be about two hours so that gave them enough time to go party. They parked in the small gravel lot, so small that no other cars were there. “Yea nice place Viola” Kia joked sarcastically. Viola ignored her and grabbed her belongings.

The entrance to the trail was just beyond the small gravel parking lot. Sebastian walked ahead of everyone since he was the tallest. Everyone was laughing and having a great time when Sebastian came to a sudden stop. “Why are you stopping?” Viola asked. He points to the sign hidden between the two giant trees with a smirk on his face, but his worried eyebrows said otherwise.

The sign was crooked, almost to the point of falling off. The wood looked wet to the point where it was rotting. The wood was cracked so it was hard to read. It looked like it was almost cracked purposely, as if someone had done that to the sign themselves. It had huge red painted letters on it, the paint had dripped under the sign.

THIS AREA IS NOT SAFE AFTER DARK.

Viola stepped closer to this sign. She inspected it for about twenty seconds and then pointed at the bottom of the sign. TURN AROUND - KEEP OUT was scratched on the sign, those words were not painted in red. It almost looked like it was scratched or engraved into the sign, as if someone had done it with a knife or a sharp rock. “We’ll be fine,” Sebastian says, while Viola feels her heart sinking. Jean laughed as he cracked open another beer, “it’s only three o'clock, we'll be back before it gets dark.”

Sebastian leads the way, he’s sweating. Profusely. It’s odd because though it's sunny, it's only 53 degrees out. He looks like he just got drenched from a swimming pool. Viola is right next to him, she still has a bad gut feeling. She didn’t think it would be as creepy as the video’s made it seem. Jean is drunk, laughing, he’s really the only one speaking. Kia is too busy taking selfies and worrying about her hair. Henry and Katie are in their own little love world, like always. It’s about 4:00 when they reach halfway through the trail.

Viola checks her phone No Service, “Of course” Viola mumbles. “What?” Sebastian asks, “Nothing, I have no service… maybe we should turn around.” Kia checks her phone “no service either.” Everyone ignored Viola’s suggestion to turn back around, they continued walking. As they keep walking, a branch crunches underneath their feet. Katie looks down, “um guys? Where the hell is the trail?” They looked down, the further they walked, that bright beige trail started to narrow down into just dirt and grass. Sebastian pulls out his phone to look at the screenshot of the map, “We’re on the right track, the abandoned house is a little further.” Jean gets quiet for the first time since starting this hike. The trees seem to be taller than before, covering the sunlight they were getting.

“You still want to find this house?” Viola asked. “Isn’t this the reason we came here?” Sebastian responded snarkily. Viola feels a breeze, not a normal 53 degree weather chilly breeze, but a breeze that would send chills up her spine, goosebumps down her arms and neck. Sebastian is still dripping sweat, even worse than before.

Jean drops his beer, face pale as a ghost. Whiter than paint. “What? What is wrong with you?” Henry says. “Shhh” Everyone drops what they’re doing. Everyone is silent for the first time. The whole world stops around them. No leaves rustling in the distance. No birds chirping. No branches cracking. “So what are we even listening for?” Kia asks. Jean’s face still pale as a ghost. Almost green at this point. “I thought I heard someone.” Kia rolls her eyes “not funny.” “Im not joking.” A branch snaps behind, louder than any sounds in this hike. Everyone turns around at the same time. Viola feels her stomach drop. Sebastian has bullets of sweat dripping down faster and faster.

“Maybe it’s a fox,” Katie says, laughing nervously. Scratching sounds come from the right of them. They all get chills running down their spine. “Who’s there?” Sebastian asks, “why the fuck are you saying that? Viola responds. Humming comes from behind them now. “Maybe it’s another hiker,” Henry says with a brave face. Sebastian convinces everyone to keep walking to the house. Viola keeps hearing this humming, they don’t. She hears it closer and closer to her. As if the humming is following her. Every part of her body starts to feel numb, her heart is racing a thousand beats per minute. She decides to stay back for a few seconds.

As she starts to run towards them, she notices something. Her heart sank down all the way to the tip of her toes. She stops again - DO NOT FOLLOW HIM carved into the bark of the tree directly in front of her. She blinks, wipes her eyes making sure this is real. It’s still there. She yells for everyone to stop walking but she screams as no one hears her. She used every bit of breath to scream and yell, nothing, no voice came out.

She was shrinking as others were growing further and further. She should have listened. Turn around - keep out.