Earlier that day, Charlie had told me that he had something really weird to show me, and to come over as soon as possible. Being ten, that sounded kinda cool. So, the moment that I was done with my homework, I ran over to see what was going on.
A couple of blocks later, I arrived. I opened the door, briefly waved at his folks, and walked up the stairs to his room. I found him sitting on his bed. "Alright, I'm here." I said, "What was it that you wanted to show me?"
"You'll see," he said, "Just come with me." It was a slightly annoying response, but I didn't comment on it. I knew that he'd just roll his eyes at me, anyway. So, I followed him out the door.
We walked about a mile before we came to some random forest on the edge of town. I'd probably gone there about a thousand times before. Frankly, I saw nothing special about it, and I wondered why he had brought me there. So I asked him.
"This is what you wanted to show me‽" I yelled.
"Shut up for a second, will ya?" He asked me, giving me a playful shove. "You'll see it in a minute."
As We went deeper into the forest, I looked around. Despite the fact that it was mid spring, many of the trees were still barren of leaves, and it had snowed recently. That was a bit unusual, but it wasn't awe-inspiring. What could he possibly have had to show me?
I kept looking, but there was still nothing. I was beginning to want to go back, but I kept going, just in case Charlie wasn't just screwing with me. Just then, I head a rustling in the bushes. I didn't think much of it, at first, but it kept going; a persistent rattling noise. I felt my heart beating faster.
Then, something ran out from the shrubbery, and leapt in front of me. I barely had a chance to look at it, before I dived for the ground, shouting at full capacity. When I got up, I was breathing heavily. Charlie was laughing hysterically for some reason. "What?" I asked him.
When he finally recovered from his fit of snickers, he said, "Lyle, it was only a deer." I glared at him angrily, but that just added fuel to his mocking. "C'mon, Lyle," he exclaimed, "It was a damn deer. You're such a moron."
"Dude, shut your face." I said firmly.
"Hey, I'm just messing with you." He replied back, "But, seriously, you're scared of a deer. Hell, I'll bet that you probably covered your eyes when you watched Bambi. Hey, Lyle! Look, a little fawn is going to kill you."
Getting sick of his antics at this point, I punched him in the face. I didn't exactly want to (he was my best friend, after all), but he was getting a little too irritating. I was young, I was exhausted from school, and I was going on a wild goose chase for god-knew-what. And, adding the last stone to the pile of weight that had already been placed on me, I had lost my cool over a forest creature. If that wasn't enough, I was being ridiculed for it. Normally, his jokes wouldn't bother me, but I was under a lot of stress. So, in spite of myself, I snapped.
It turned out that it was an incredibly stupid move, and I knew that it would be. Charlie tended to get in these weird, manic trances when he fought. And, when that happened, there was no stopping him. He was in it until you lost. I referred to it as "being battle-drunk".
He punched me back, proceeding to laugh like a hyena as he did so. I hit him again, in response, but I immediately regretted it. Blood was dripping from his giant grin, as he clocked me in the stomach as hard as he could, knocking me to the ground. Then, an idea came to me. I acted like I had passed out.
Freaking out like a little girl, Charlie desperately reached down to see if I was okay. Seizing the opportunity, I kicked him in the balls. Down he went, squealing like one of of those dog toys that make little noises when you squeeze them. I slowly got up, cackling like a mad man as I watched my best friend roll on the ground in pain.
"Lyle..." I heard him say between screams, "We're here."
"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked him, still chuckling.
"The thing that I wanted to show you... It's here," he said, "Look."
Thinking that this was some stupid game, I played along, and glanced around. Then, I saw it. Before me was a large tree. On it was carved a large circle, with an 'X' in the middle. I stared at it, for a moment, in disbelief. Then, I turned to him. "So...?" I asked, "It was probably just some teenager being a smart-ass."
"That would make sense," Charlie said, getting up, "but this snow is two days old. Besides deer tracks, the only footprints are mine and yours. I came here, the other day ago, and this wasn't here. Yesterday, it was. That means that someone, or something came here, about an hour or two before I did, and carved that without leaving tracks. And animals don't carve like that."
"The only logical scenario, then, is that you did it to mess with me."
"Admittedly, That is something that I'd do. But would I do that?" He pointed to something a few feet back, in the bushes. Not knowing what he was talking about, I went over to investigate. I didn't see anything, at first, but after I walked a bit farther, I saw it. In the bushes was a little boy of about the age of five. His chest was ripped open, and he was covered with blood.
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