It was a dark and spooky night... Milo (Patreon)

a/n: I'd advise you to read part one first before Milo's totally spooky and real story. :)

The moon hung full and crimson in the night sky, casting the woods in shades of orange and black. Gnarled roots braided across the ground, dipping to form small hovels where death rotted beneath in a mockery of peace. Bones and sinewy flesh peeked out from behind the moss laden wood, saying hello before continuing their eternal rest. These were the woods that no one came to. These were the woods where only death roamed.

The young man had entered the forest on a dare, stupid as it was. Most dares, especially involving young men, often were. But that was how the best stories were made. He tromped through the woods, kicking up leaves with thick booted feet, walking the narrow path with his hands tucked away. He was not afraid of whatever lurked in these woods. He was brave and strong and totally able to face the horrors that challenged him.

“Oh, so it’s going to be one of those stories,” Malcolm muttered.

“Fuck off. I’m telling it.”

This young man, who was so incredibly attractive that even flowers blushed when looking upon him, was aware of the monsters who lived in such a desolate place. He had watched life after life be taken while others had been dragged down into the murky depths of nothingness. The dare had been the catalyst to bring him out here, but it certainly was not what made him stay.

Years ago, his sister had gone missing. She was a bright and vibrant child who wove clovers in her hair and sewed acorns on her shoes. She had followed the lights into the woods one afternoon. The brother, while paying attention to her as good brothers often do, had looked away for a moment…

“That doesn’t sound like a good brother,” Belladonna said. “Leaving his young sister to play near the edge of these incredibly dangerous woods.”

He turned away for a moment because there was a baby bird that had fallen from its nest and broke its wings and was crying for its mother. So the brother was helping it. Anyway, he turned away for a moment and BAM! His sister was gone. He raced to the edge of the woods, looking for her but the corpse of trees was so dense that he could not see even what was in front of his face.

“Sister! Sister,” he cried. But there was no answer. The brother knew however, that he could not leave her in the woods like this. He would be a terrible, good for nothing, scoundrel if he did. So, with a deep breath, he stepped inside. Only to be immediately rebuked, shoved away from the treeline. He fell backwards, hitting his head on a rock, feeling the tacky trickle of blood coating his nearly perfect hair.  The brother was frantic though, needing desperately to find his sister. For years they had only had each other. He couldn’t bear to go home that night without her and the thought of her, alone and crying in the woods brought him to his knees.

“Wasn’t he lying on his back?” Malcolm laughed.

He got up and then he thought about his sister and it brought him to his knees.

For days, he wandered the edge of the woods, begging the trees, the plants, the creatures within. “Please, please give me back my sister. I’ll do anything. Please send her back to me.” But no one answered.

Then, one night, while he was out with his friends. Okay, shut up. He has needs. Anyway, when he was out with his friends, years and years later, they began talking of the woods. Dead animals had begun to gather at the edge of the treeline, their bones forming a small fence around the cursed place. There was something sinister about that forest. Light did not touch it. Laughter did not emit from its depths. No one who had gone in had ever been seen again.

“That’s simply not true!” said the brother, not wanting to give up hope on his young sister.

“Then do it,” his friend said. “Go in and come back out.”

“Fine,” the brother said, not altogether certain that he would be able to follow through on such a thing. The forest had yet to let him in. But, he had to try. For his sister, and to show the asshole at the bar that he was better than him. “I’ll go into the deepest part of the forest,” he told the man. “I’ll go in and bring out a mushroom that only grows under a curtain of lichen. And when I do, you will forfeit your life.”

“Deal,” said the man. And they drank on it.

So, the brother went to the woods

“Wait. How?” Gabriel interrupted. “I thought the woods would not let him in.”

“They let him in because he was dared to. A dare overrules the rules of the forest.”

“That seems highly illogical.”

“Yeah. Well, you’re illogical.”

The brother entered the forest. HIs feet came down, crunching across bone and dry twigs, a skull snapped under his foot. His eyes dilated to adjust to the dark, looking for the girl he had not seen in years. He would do this. He would not waste his one opportunity. He would find his sister or else he would never return.

He walked for hours, deeper and deeper into the forest.. He grew ravenous, his fingers reaching for sustenance. He saw ripe hanging fruit from a nearby tree and plucked the soft, supple fruit from the branch. Only, as he bit into it, blood spurted from his lips, dripping down his chin. Pulling the fruit away he saw a shriveled skull of a raccoon, the muscle dripping from the sockets of its eyes. Quickly, he tossed it aside, screaming into the dark.

“Give me back my sister,” he yelled wildly, just as he had done so many times before. Only this time, someone answered.

“Who?” Hazel gasped, at the edge of her seat.

There was a creaking sound deep within the forest. The sound of it broke through the silence. The brother listened, hearing nothing, not even an owl. With careful steps, he walked further, following the whispered sound, hearing it get louder and louder, matching the firm beats of his heart. Sweat dappled his brow and his lungs felt heavy in his chest. The silence was screaming around him, pressing in on him and squeezing him tight.  And then, he heard it. Just a small, faint voice at first.

“Brother?”

He rushed through the woods, screaming. She was alive, his sister was alive. He would find her, hold her, bring her home and never let her play near the edge of the woods again.

“Call out to me,” he cried. “Let me know where you are.”

“Brother, help me. Please!”

He was carried through the dense forest by the sound of her voice. His legs burned with the effort as he tripped and slid over the floor. He wasn’t going to stop until she was safe once more.

And then, he saw her. He stuttered to a stop, boots skidding against the loamy floor. There was his sister, the same as ever, but she was not alone. A black mass was crouched next to her, coarse fur standing on edge. Its eyes glowed a sickly green in the darkness as its lips curled back with a terrible snarl. The brother knew then that it was him, versus this creature. If he did not succeed, his sister would not see the next morning.

But as he stepped forward, the creature bounded towards him. Its massive paws slashed through the air, barely missing his chest as it snarled. Rancid breath filled the void around them, the creature continuing to advance until the brother fell backwards. It did not stop its pursuit, however. Slowly, its heavy paws came down one by one, lopping its way through the woods until it pinned the brother to the ground. 

It was then that he knew. He knew that this thing had been the one to take his sister that day, and if she were to return home, it would need to take him in her place.

“Run!” he yelled to his sister.

She was crying, clutching her stuffed animal close. “Not without you.”

Spit dripped from the furred beasts mouth, soaking through the front of the brothers shirt. “I love you,” he cried. “Now run!” And she did. Streaking off into the night to return home to safety. It was a comfort that was provided in those final moments. The knowledge that he had done it. She was safe.

As the beast's claws ripped into him, blood and skin shredding and tossed about, he leaned back and looked up at the trees. The beast dipped its cold snout down to lick at his now exposed heart, but he felt only joy.

His sister was safe. That was all that mattered.

The years went by and the sister made it home. She got married, had children (consensually and because she wanted to of course) and talked of her brother fondly. She went to the guy that dared him to go into the woods in the first place and punched him and broke his nose. That man went off crying and was never seen again.

To this day, the sister still lays flowers at the edge of the wood line, looking for her brother. The beast that killed him is older now, its muzzle still stained with blood. She knows he’s dead, but sometimes, as she looks into the beast's eyes, she swears she sees love shining back at her. She swears her brother still lives. And she vows that one day, she will slit open the beast's chest and bring him back to her. If it’s the last thing she does.

~~~

The group was silent, the only sound the crackling of the fire and Hazel’s faint sniffles as she wiped at her eyes. “That’s so sad,” she said after a moment, breaking the hold that the story had on everyone. Milo crossed his legs at his ankles, smiling a bit. He would take that as a compliment.

Belladonna, however, didn’t have quite the same praise. “Was that a fucking bear?” It was rare that Belladonna cursed. She saved those words for time of true shock and disbelief.

“No,” Milo protested, sitting up. “It was a terrifying beast that lived in the woods.”

“It was a bear,” Malcolm said. “All his scary stories are about bears.”

Belladonna began cackling. “I love how we tell you to share a spooky story and you go for small, cuddly creatures in the woods.”

“They are not cuddly.”

Even Hazel was smiling now, her tears drying on her cheeks.. “Milo. It was literally a cub.”

“With fangs!”

Milo was pouting. Malcolm leaned back against his knee, patting his shin comfortingly. “I’m sure that tiny baby that absolutely existed was really scary. Traumatizing even.”

Milo shoved him. “Yeah? You think you could do any better?”

“I know I could."

“Then tell it, asshole. Let’s see.”

Malcolm grinned. “Alright then…”