TWO KILLERS BY ALEXI Art by Lori Michelle Adams

“So, want to go camping with me in that cabin in the woods this weekend? It’s only the Foreign woods, it’s nearby,” said Jeffery as he and his friend, Mark, walked home from school.

Mark tightened his lips. “I don’t know. That place is known to be haunted,” said Mark. “But it’s not that I’m scared or anything,” he added quickly.

Jeffery giggled. “That’s the reason I want to go there, Mark,” he said. “That’ll be so cool! We could stay up all night, play game boys, tell ghost stories,” said Jeffery. “And best of all, we’ll be all by ourselves.”

‘Ourselves,’ made Mark shiver. Alone in an abandoned old haunted cabin, in the middle of the night, with no one around. That thought kept telling him to say no, but he didn’t want to act like a chicken in front of his best friend, so he hesitated. “Alright. I’ll ask my dad,” said Mark light-hearted.

“This is so cool!” shouted Jeffery, shooting his arms out and jumping in the air. “See you there tonight, try and not chicken out. You’ll have to walk there by yourself,” he said. Oh, great, thought Mark. I have to go through all that, when I can just say no?

“Goodbye,” said Jeffery as he sped up the driveway to his house.

Mark slowly walked the last two blocks to his house. Oh, bummer.


Mark took steady breaths before walking into the woods that he thought as “the forbidden zone.” He took his first step cracking onto a dead leaf, then another. Okay, he told himself. Be strong. He started walking normally, but still shakingly.

There was an old legend about the cabin. They say that two men were staying there one night, until they started going crazy. They even say that their faces looked different. They got so crazy; they ran off into the woods, hunting prey. Now they say that there are ghosts still a wait for them in the cabin, and in the woods. That’s how the forest became known as ‘haunted.’

Mark heard scampering feet which made him freeze. What was that? A pain of fear swept over his body, and he nearly started sweating. He slowly turned his head to the place where he heard it. He thought he saw a strange formation, like a shadow of a person. “Who are you?” asked Mark fearfully.

Just then, the thing jumped out of the shadows. “Ahhh!” it screamed. Mark thought he was going to die. To faint.

Mark fell back onto the ground and then heard loud hoarse laughter. “Jeffery?” asked Mark.

“You should’ve seen your face!” shouted Jeffery.

“Yeah, very funny,” said Mark angrily. “I thought I was going to die. Don’t do that!”

That just made Jeffery laugh wilder, throwing his head back and covering his mouth. “Come on, lets go to the cabin!” said Jeffery in a spooky voice.

“Let’s just go,” said Mark, who was still angry at Jeffery.

They haven’t said a word since they started walking through the dark woods, full of dead trees and dead leafs coating the ground. There were cold whisks of air flowing by everywhere. The full moon shown like a giant light bulb, reflecting on the trees and puddles of water.

This all reminded Mark of his past camping trips. The times that he fell in the freezing lake two miles from the RV, the time he spent a week during the winter when he forgot a jacket and sweater, the time he got bit by a deer, the time when he got lost. He hated camping.

Mark looked around, trying to focus on where they were going. “Where are we?” asked Mark.

“Um, don’t you know how far the cabin is?” asked Jeffery.

“No! I thought you knew where we were going!” shouted Mark.

“Pipe down, Mark. We’re here,” he said, pointing to an old rusty cabin.

Mark felt relieved. “I told you not to scare me!” said Mark as he searched for the door. “How do we get in?”

“We open the door,” said Jeffery.

“Where’s the door?”

“Right here,” said Jeffery. Mark went to the other side where Jeffery had opened the door.

“Ewe, are we sleeping here?” asked Mark as he peeked inside. It was almost impossible to see, but he could make out a fireplace, cob webs hanging from the ceiling, dust covering the ground, piles of logs leaning against one corner, and small holes on the walls from mice, perhaps. It was a wreck to Mark’s opinion.

Jeffery put his arms on his hips. “Yep,” he said. He walked to the pile of dead logs and picked one of them up.

“What are you doing?” asked Mark.

“Setting a fire,” said Jeffery.

“Isn’t that dangerous?”

“Not to me,” said Jeffery. “It’s not like the fire will burst and kill us all.” Jeffery tossed the log into the fireplace which sent a huge wave of ashes bursting out. Jeffery waved his hands in front of his face, but the ashes tensed even more. “I’ve learned my lesson.”

Mark grabbed another log and set it gently in the fireplace. “That’ll do for now. But only one thing: how will we start the fire?”

Jeffery smiled and pulled out a lighter from his jacket. “Let me handle this,” he said.

“Are you crazy? Did your dad let you bring that?” asked Mark worryingly. Jeffery just snapped the lighter on and put it under a log. “Did you take it?”

“Maybe,” said Jeffery with a smirk.

“That’s bad!” said Mark. Mark was not enjoying this.

“Relax,” said Jeffery. The flames slowly spread up the log. “That’ll do,” said Jeffery.

They watched the other log catch the flames and heat up. “Well, at least nothing went wrong,” said Mark. “So I’m going to get ready to sleep.” He didn’t pack any cloths, but only a thick sleeping bag and pillow. He got it out from his bag and dusted the floor. He started feeling better about the night. A fireplace, a sleeping bag, a friend.

Two killers.

“This is the life,” said Jeffery as he started unpacking his sleeping bag.

“Yep,” said Mark as he stretched his arms out and yawned.

Jeffery finished unpacking and lay down, too. “So, what do you want to talk about?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” said Mark.

Jeffery shot up his head. “I know! Let’s tell scary stories!”

Mark thought for a second. “Fine, okay. You go first.”

Alright,” said Jeffery. “Here we go: There was a lady driving home from work. She noticed she needed to stop to get some gas, so she pulled over at a nearby gas station. Once she went back to the car after paying, the store attendant yelled at her saying that she did not pay. She got out of the car to complain, but the attendant told her that he wanted her to come back because he saw a man with a knife crawl into the backseat of her car, and that he had called the police. Weird, huh?”

“That was pretty spooky,” said Mark. “I’m not really into urban legends, but I think I know one.”

“Lets hear it, then,” said Jeffery.

“Alright. A lady-”

“Always a lady, huh?” interrupted Jeffery.

“Wait. A lady went to Las Vegas for the first time and won a lot of money,” said Mark. “She decided to go back to her room, so she went into the elevator. Before the door closed, three black people went in. She doesn’t do good with them, so she held her bucket tight in her waist. One of them said ‘hit the floor, lady.’ She hit the floor and dropped her bucket and coins everywhere. They all started laughing and helped her collect her coins. They were still laughing when she walked out of the elevator. A couple days later, someone delivered her a bucket of roses and a hundred bill attached to each one. On the note, she read ‘thanks for giving me the best laugh in years! –Eddie Murphy.’ What he meant by hitting the floor is that for her to choose her level and he was Eddie Murphy. Get it?”

“Yeah, I understand,” said Jeffery. Suddenly they heard a bush shake right next to the cabin.

“What was that?” asked Mark in fear. He turned his head toward the window, even though it was already boarded up.

Jeffery smiled. “Ooo, the ghost of the cabin,” he said. “Nah, just the wind. Let’s go to bed. I’m pooped.” He rested his head on his pillow facing away from Mark.

Mark tried to get some sleep, but no sleep came. He just stared at the ceiling, scared of what other noises might make. He tried to close his eyes, but his eyes just slipped back open. His eyelids felt weak, heavy. But he just stayed, dozing and waking. Dozing, and waking. He heard a noise.

His head shot up in shock. He even thought he felt sweat on his neck. Then he heard scampering feet, from one side of the cabin to the other. I hope it’s not the ghosts, he thought.

He wanted to go take a look. Just to see what it is. He slipped on his shoes, trying to not wake Jeffery. The floor creaked as he slowly opened the rusty door. Mark stepped outside shivering. He became cold and scared. He zipped up his sweater and took two more unsteady steps. I should turn back, he thought. I’m too afraid to be out here.

Then he heard a shuffle noise. He gasped and froze. What was that? He heard a faint growl. Then footsteps, cracking on the twigs and weeds below its feet. Mark noticed that he heard breathing behind him, and that the thing was right next to him. He nearly fainted. Then he heard another growl, farther away. Then scampering feet heading to Mark’s direction. Two things. Two killers.

Mark slowly took a step, and then heard a louder growl. Is it going to kill me? He thought. Mark slowly turned around and nearly, what he calls it, ‘died.’ There he saw two human-like figures. They had dirty wrinkled hair from their heads down to the floor, nails that stuck out like claws, blood-shot eyes and hands that looked like they were slowly morphing into paws. The legend was true! He thought. They are real! I’ve got to leave. NOW.

Mark took a slow step back. Then another. The creatures kept surveillance on what Mark did. He took another step back and… ran.

He ran and took one look back. He saw that one was trying to break in to the cabin and the other was chasing him. He ran and ran, and kept running. He felt the creature at his heels. He looked back and saw that the thing was gone. Gone for good. But what about Jeffery! What’s happening to him? Is he dead?

Mark heard a scream. Mark thought his heart had skipped a beat. For one horrible second, he thought he would wet his pants. But the things were gone; nothing to worry about.

Mark ran and ran as fast as his legs could go. He started getting exhausted, but he knew that he was near his house. He approached his street. He paused to take breath, resting on his knees and started running up the street to his house. He looked to his side, counting the houses as they passed by. Then he became too exhausted. He paused for breath again.

As he panted, he heard scampering feet. It’s the creatures! He thought. He turned around and to his surprise, he saw Jeffery! But his cloths were torn; he had dust on his elbows and had some blood on his knee. “Jeffery!” Mark shouted.

“They’re coming! They’re coming!” cried Jeffery as he caught up with Mark. His eyes were wide opened and he ran recklessly. Mark had thought there were tears in his eyes. “No time to talk!”

Mark saw the two things jump out of the trees. “There they are!” shouted Mark, pointing. Mark started running. He finally reached my house and slammed against the door. “Locked!” he shouted, even though Jeffery was a few yards away. Mark ran around the house to the back. He slammed open the door. “Come on!” shouted Mark as Jeffery ran in. He immediately closed the door behind me.

Jeffery ran to a couch and fell down and started crying. Mark sat on the couch and quickly fell into a deep, dreamless slumber.

The Foreign Horror has just begun.