There were three men who existed in a small neighborhood. One of their names was Mike. They decided to go to the woods, only four miles out of their neighborhood. There had been ghost stories of people going mad or missing in the place, but that was all dispelled by the rangers who worked there, day - and night.
Mike had gotten his Hummer, which was pretty cool at the time, and packed it with his friend's tents, sleeping bags, and a few flashlights.
Halfway through driving there, Mike seemed to start having headaches.
"If you need me to take the wheel, I'll do it," John, the person who was sitting in shotgun, said.
"No, I'm fine," Mike said, experiencing these kinds of headaches before.
As they drove up to their desired campsite, they started getting firewood. Eventually, they were cooking marshmallows over the fire. However, Mike's got so burned, it melted off the stick.
"Crap," Mike cursed. He then went to the car to get more marshmallows, and to grab the gram crackers and some chocolate bars.
However, when he got there, he saw, for a glimpse, a faceless man. Mike rubbed his eyes, but eventually dismissed the thought. When he got in the car, he found the gram crackers and the chocolate bars, but evidently, all the marshmallows were gone.
Scratching his head, he went back to the campsite. When he got there, though, one of his friends was missing. He also noticed the other three had their pupils dilated.
"Hey, where's Phil?" Mike asked, motioning to where Phil was.
"I thought he didn't come with us," John said, shaking his head and his eyes returning to normal.
"Alright, but I could have sworn I packed four tents," Mike said.
"You did; one for me, one for John, one for Chris, and one for you," Kevin, who was on the farthest left, said.
Left scratching his head, Mike started to wonder if he had actually brought Phil with him. He eventually concluded he didn't, so he went back to making his marshmallow-less S'more.
Eventually, they were all sitting on logs, completely forgetting about Phil's disappearance, telling each other scary stories. Mike sucked at them, for he was scared easily.
"-and then he saw, he saw the light!" Mike said. When he saw his friends, he could only blush as they were all laughing, rolling over because of how ridiculous his story was.
"Alright, alright, I think that's enough stories for today," John said, fighting back his laughter, "Let's all get our tents and set up."
Mike and Kevin started unloading the Hummer, giving out the respective tents to the respective people.
As Mike started putting down the steaks for his house, he noticed a figure behind his tent. It had no face, and two, very bloody, ears, and seemed to be smiling. When Mike ran over there, the figure seemed to vanish behind the corner.
Completely forgetting that he had a steak to put in, Mike was then buried in his yellow tent.
"Dang it!" He shouted. His friends laughed at his expense. John then presumed to help him put the tent back up.
When got in the tent, he remembered he had forgotten his sleeping bag. He hastily got out to the hummer, and then went back to the campsite. However, what he saw slightly freaked him out.
One of his friends was gone again, and his entire tent was gone as well. His remaining friends had their eyes dilated and their pupils red.
Mike hastily snapped in front of their faces, seeming to break their trance.
"Where's Chris?" Mike asked, scared.
"Chris stayed back in town, remember?" Kevin said.
"But I thought he came with us!" Mike almost shrieked.
"Look, if you are freaking out, we can just pack up and go home, you got that?" John said, staring at Mike.
In all honesty, Mike was terrified. Two of his friends had gone missing, and he really didn't want himself or his other two friends to disappear.
"Mike, I want to stay at least until daylight of tomorrow," Kevin said, clearly pained to the thought of leaving now.
Mike seemed to tense up at Kevin's words, the blow striking him hard.
"Alright, but we leave, first thing tomorrow," Mike said, visibly shaking and uncomfortable with the idea.
However, John and Kevin nodded, going to their tents, and soon the sound of snoring followed.
Mike cautiously got into his own sleeping bag. However, the peaceful chirping of the crickets and the owl hoots soon sent him into a sleep.
It wasn't a very good dream, though.
He had a dream.
He had a nightmare.
He was being chased by a faceless figure; it had two bloody ears, a smiling mouth, and had a perfect white glove on its right hand, and a wicked, twisted, elongated claw for a hand on his left.
It was smiling, smiling a unnatural sharp toothy grin.
It lunged for him.
Mike woke up with a gasp, his heartbeat sending him into a very bad panic. It was morning.
Finally morning.
And he had survived.
He went outside.
He only found one tent. He then started to worry.
"John, wake up!" Mike shouted in the tent, consumed with worry.
John lazily got out of the tent, his hair sticking up in places.
"I know we said to get up at the first crack of dawn, but this is ridiculous," John muttered as he dusted off his clothes.
"Kevin is gone!" Mike yelled, pacing around.
"He's in the town," John said calmly.
Mike grabbed the sides of John's face.
"These bloody woods have been brainwashing us! First we came here with five people. Then we ended up dwindling down to only us two! We need to leave!" Mike warily yelled.
"Alright!" John yelled back," We'll go back. But if Phil, Chris, and Kevin are there, I'm going to personally kill you."
"Grab your stuff. I'll meet you at the Hummer," Mike said, adrenaline pumping through his veins. Mike dashed off, finding the Hummer. He waited there, in the car, for fifteen minutes, his stuff already packed.
He started to worry about John when he wouldn't show up. When he looked to his hood, he saw the same monster he had seen in his dreams. Except this time, it was "looking" right at him.
The monster let out a savage roar, his circular mouth expanding and showing what could only be said as a shark having mated with a worm.
Mike tried starting up the car.
Five times he revved it up.
Five times it failed to start.
Mike quickly got out of the car, running for his life.
When he looked back, he saw the monster standing behind him.
Only he had four other identical monsters surrounding him. Their gloves were all different colors, the only distinguishing feature. The one on the far left had a golden glove. The one on the far right had a purple glove. The ones beside him both had black gloves.
Mike ran for his life, eventually finding a small cave and hiding in it. After waiting for what seemed to be eternity, he left the cave. He slowly walked back to where he thought the hummer was.
It was gone.
The only thing that was left was the lighter, which was used to light the fire.
Mike could only stare in shock.
After waiting for a while, Mike eventually got to the road, running into one of the rangers.
"Sir, I saw some kind of monster in the forest! It had no face, a circular mouth, a very nice suit, a perfectly white glove, and its left hand was twisted and demented!" Mike gushed, clearly afraid.
"Son, while I don't believe in ghost stories, you're making this mighty horrifying. There are no other wildlife there but wolves, owls, deer, and the occasional Jabberwock," The ranger said, sighing.
"What's a Jabberwock?" Mike asked, scared.
"It's supposed to be a dragon-like creature, but my associates say otherwise. They often say they are a man's worst fear, and while they are solitary creatures, they will hunt in groups. I've also seen people run out of these woods complaining about a man with a white glove on one hand," The ranger said.
"Alright, so the thing that 'killed' my friends is just an animal?" Mike said, less terrified.
"No, Jabberwocks don't pick on humans. I think you encountered a new species then," The ranger said.
"Can we get? I really want to get out of here," Mike said, anxious.
"Follow me," The ranger beckoned with his left hand.
They got into his car, going to the cabin they lived in.
Oh if only Mike had seen what trouble he was getting into.
If only he had seen the white glove on the ranger's right hand.