Scratches| A SFWX001 Story

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Warning! This chapter contains a mild portion of gore.

Clara awoke with a start, panting, and in a cold sweat. She felt strange, as if someone had been watching her sleep all night. That's ridiculous Clara, your in a safe cabin. Clara shook her head and looked around the cabin room, noticing that Vickie was no longer in her bed. She sighed and dragged herself to her feet, bending down to scoop up her clothes off the floor.

"Well, your up a little late," Jack said to Clara as she came down the narrow staircase.

Clara squinted up at clock, noting that it was seven-thirty. She shrugged her shoulders and slid into her seat beside Vickie, who had already finished her meal. Vickie muffled a 'good morning' through her mouthful of toast before getting up and placing her plate in the little sink. Clara blinked gratefully at Levi as he placed a glass plate in front of her with a piece of toast with butter spread on it. "Hurry up and eat Clair, I have a whole bunch of things planned today," Levi briskly said as he made his way into the bathroom.

Clara nodded and quickly started to wolf down the toast, bread crumbs falling onto the circular plate below. "Hey Levi! I think we should do a quick check around the back before we go," Jack stated from the couch.

Before anyone could respond, Vickie jumped up from the couch beside Jack. "I'll go check it out," she responded as she shot out the cabin door.

Clara shoved the last remaining piece of bread in her mouth. She was just about to place her plate inside the sink when Vickie's high pitched scream sounded from the back of the cabin, causing Clara to drop her plate roughly into the sink. The door swung open as Jack darted outside, closely followed by Toby, Levi, and Clara. Vickie's face was white as if she had seen a ghost. She stood, shaking, staring at the back wall in shear terror. The rest of the group froze when they spotted what Vickie had screamed at. The banging from last night were wild animals alright, wild animals being torn apart. Clara had to take a step back from the grisly sight. All around them laid scattered chunks of flesh of small animals. Several mice had clean cuts from their throat down to their tails, entrails spilling out of their tiny bodies. Chunks of raccoon limps were scattered everywhere with cleaned bones jutting out of the ground. Freshly dug holes littered the forest floor, animal flesh piled in some of them. There were squirrels and chipmunks savagely nailed to the wooden wall, one unfortunate squirrel still twitching, signaling that it was still alive. "Woah," Jack breathed, "That's pretty messed up."

The friends looked at each other, exchanging uneasy glances, all except for Toby who had the same smug grin from the night before. "Don't you dare," Levi muttered, slightly elbowing Toby's arm.

"Slender man~ Oh he comin' for you~."

Vickie didn't respond like she usually did, instead she looked as if she took him seriously for once. "I wanna go back," Vickie whimpered, her eyes glazed in terror.

"But we just got here, plus all the stuff we brought, like the beers." Levi pointed out defensively. "If my dad found out about those, he'd skin me alive!"

Clara and Vickie looked at each other nervously, unsure about his idea. "And if something like this happens again tonight, we'll pack up and leave," Toby assured his nervous friends.

Vickie and Clara lightened up a little, giving the rest of the group a slight nod of agreement. "OK, enough talking then, let's go back inside and finish up," Levi said hastily, jogging back to the cabin's entrance.

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The day was full of activities like Levi had promised, from hiking in the beautiful autumn forest, to splashing in the icy blue lake. The group of friends were fascinated by the colorful wild life around them, quickly forgetting the incident earlier that day. By the end of the day, they chatted loudly and carelessly as they walked on the dirt path, innominate of the figure watching their every move.

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Clara Mitchel was just about to doze off when an earsplitting knock jolted her awake. Toby turned his head to the door from the TV in confusion before looking down at Vickie who's eyes were wide open with alert. Clara groggily looked up at the lock, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. The clock read eleven fifty-three p.m. That's weird, she thought to herself. No one should be out here at this hour. Levi was just about slide open the deadbolt to the door when Vickie tugged at his arm, preventing him from going any further. Vickie shook her head solemnly, pulling the taller boy back down to the rug beside her. Levi was about to object when the door handle started to shake violently, causing all of of the teenagers to perk up in alarm. "Come outside guys, I just want to play a game with you~," a voice cooed softly outside the door.

Jack stood up in alarm and quickly went over to the kitchen cabinet, producing a frying pan from inside the cupboard. Clara shot Toby a glance, only to see that he seemed unbothered by the situation. "Probably some kid playing a prank," Toby shrugged, focusing his gaze back on the TV.

Vickie on the other hand looked disturbed and upset, cursing at Levi that they should have just left when they got a chance. Levi brushed it off, as Toby made another stupid joke about Slender man. The knocking continued on for another three minutes before banging and scuffling noises started up at the left wall. "Aye! Cut it out!" Levi yelled aggravated.

What Levi had said was an obvious mistake because it only angered the creature. It started to snarl and growl, scratching at the curtained windows in rage. "You shouldn't be here," the creature snarled, "You shouldn't be in these woods!"

"OK, this has gotten out of hand," Levi breathed, "Everyone follow me up stairs."

No one objected as he rounded everyone up and lead the way up to the room across from Clara and Vickie's room. Levi quietly pushed everyone inside before shutting off the single, bright light that illuminated the entire cabin. Quickly and quietly, he closed the door, retrieving the pan from Jack. Clara and the others wordlessly pushed one of the small bed frames, huddling beneath the large window. Vickie was a pale as a ghost while Toby and Jack exchanged a fearful look. Levi pressed his back up against the side of the door frame, shaking, but ready to swing if needed. Clara held her hand up to her mouth, now fully awake with tears forming in her eyes. The sound of something bashing the glass window from downstairs echoed through the wooden house. "Hey guys? You did lock the doors and windows...right?"

Vickie's panicked voice was barley heard over the loud screaming and pounding from outside. Then, as quickly as the racket started, it completely stopped. Everything was silent, not even crickets sang outside in the dark forest. Nobody moved. No one made a sound. Not even the crunch of frosty leaves could be heard. Several minutes went by, still, nothing. The silence was deafening, pressing against Clara's head as she tried not to cry.

Several more minutes went by in dead silence. Clara was about to let out a breath of relief when the spine-chilling sound of breaking glass shattered the loud silence, followed by an inhuman screech of triumph.