The Woods After Midnight

"My dad said no one should go into the woods after midnight," Andy said with a devilish grin on his face. 

"Why not?" Mike asked. 

"He said the last kid to go into the woods after midnight never came back," Andy replied.

"What happened to him?" Ned wondered aloud.

"No one knows," said Andy.  "The whole neighborhood searched the woods for two weeks and found nothing.  They even searched the old broken-down house at the center of the woods and found nothing."

"What broken down house?" Mike inquired. 

"The one that we've seen from your backyard?" asked Ned. 

"Yep.  The cabin," Andy responded. 

Andy, age 12, lived in the rustic town of West Greenacre.  His two cousins, Mike and Ned, ages 13 and 12, respectively, were brothers from the nearby city of Portsmouth.  Andy's cousins were spending Halloween Eve at his house, which they often did on weekends.  But this night wasn't going to be like any other.

"Do you guys want to sneak out at midnight and check out the old cabin?" Andy asked his cousins with a fearless smirk. 

"Uh, we better not," the cautious Mike replied.  "Who knows what could happen in the woods after dark?"

"Let's do it!" Ned enthusiastically rejoindered.  "There are three of us.  We'll fight anything that tries to get us."

Andy nodded.  It was decided.  The boys snuck out of Andy's house just after midnight while his parents were asleep and approached the outskirt of the murky woods that penetrated West Greenacre's innermost depths. 

"Speak now or forever hold your peace," Andy somberly murmured to his cousins. 

Mike swallowed a thick knot in his throat and remained silent.  He didn't want to look like a chicken. 

"Okay, guys," Andy said.  "There's no going back now."

The boys started walking through the leaf-riddled, tree-strewn grounds of the infinite woods before them.  Halloween had officially started at the stroke of midnight.  There was no knowing what fate would befall the intrepid young explorers. 

"Does anyone live in that old house anymore?" Ned asked as the boys approached the shack. 

"No.  My dad said it's been empty for at least fifty years.  Rumor has it that an elderly couple last lived there and died mysteriously.  People have reportedly seen ghosts of the couple standing behind the windows of the house," Andy replied.

Mike felt increasingly creeped out as the young men approached the dilapidated old structure located in the heart of the woods.  He imagined the ghosts waiting inside for the boys, ready to do all sorts of horrible things to them.

"Okay, guys," Mike interjected.  "We've gone far enough.  Let's go back.  I'm tired and..." 

"No!" Ned interrupted.  "Let's go inside.  I wanna see what's in there."

"Me too," Andy joined.  "We can't turn back now.  Come on.  There's probably nothing in there."

The boys tip-toed up the front steps of the dark house.  No lights were on inside.  All the boys had to guide them through the pitch black night were the flashlights that each one held.  Andy reached for the front doorknob and turned it.  The door opened and the boys entered.  Just as Andy guessed, the small one-room cabin was empty. 

"See?  There's nothing here," Ned taunted Mike. 

"Let's check out the basement," Andy blurted as he approached the cellar door at the rear of the house. 

The door opened easily, so the boys cautiously sauntered down the stairs into the concrete hole of a basement.  Once again, nothing. 

"Great.  Nothing to see.  Let's go!" Mike insisted. 

"Wait a second," Andy wondered aloud.  "What's that?"

Andy turned his flashlight to what appeared to be the house's old coal furnace.  It was a man-sized black box that had a small glass window on the front door.  Suddenly, a withered whispering voice arose from within the dark furnace. 

"If you want to know what happened to the others, open this door!"

Andy, Mike, and Ned screamed and then bolted up the basement stairs.  They tore down the cabin's short hallway to the front door and reached for the knob.  It wouldn't open. 

"Break the windows!" Andy shouted.  The boys smashed the glass windows with their feet and jumped out onto the dark ground below.  Ned lost his flashlight in the process. 

"Run!" Mike commanded. 

The boys ran as fast as they could away from the old house through the foreboding, majestic woods.  Fortunately, the path to his house from the house in the woods was linear, but the old cabin stood only about a mile north of Andy's home. 

As the boys ran, Andy looked back for a moment to see if anyone was chasing them.  He saw no one.  However, as Andy glanced at the old house that was now far behind them, he thought he could see a faded glowing figure behind the left front window, glaring out at him from the deep darkness that separated them.