Whose Woods These Are

In the dark of night, a car accident strands a group of travelers on a blizzarding mountaintop, but they soon realize the woods are not as empty as they seem.

This story came about as a result of a challenge to write a rhyming horror story in 500 words or less.

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Photo by Henrik L. on Unsplash

These darkened woods cascade with snow.

The headlight beams gleam bright as though

The world is swathed in black and white.

My father drives, attentive, slow.

…

The click of the cassette, and night

Emboldens innocent delight.

He sings of clouds, the month of May.

He grins at me, he winks, invites.

…

I flush in shame and in dismay

And stare outside at blizzard spray.

Then titters of my backseat friends

Are fractured by a thump and sway.

…

The car goes skidding round a bend.

The dark and ice, surreal, suspend

Each moment with a sick’ning dread.

A snap, a flip – the car upends.

…

A shattered windshield sprays my head;

My upthrown arms are sliced instead.

The jolt of engine crashed with tree –

Then flames erupt – fierce, burning red.

…

I yank my seatbelt loose from me

And scramble from the wreckage, free.

Then still-illumined headlights show

My dad, my stumbling friends, all three.

…

Although the whipped ice blinds me so,

In sudden, frozen fear I know:

We’re not alone within this wood.

Another presence haunts the snow.

…

I turn – the snow assaults my hood –

There’s no one where one friend once stood.

A sudden shriek; another’s gone,

Is swallowed up in this dark wood.

…

My dad, one friend, and I are on

This mountaintop when terror dawns.

Two figures, faces I once knew,

With icy skin and gaping maws.

…

My last remaining friend is too

Afraid to move as they pursue.

My dad and I, as we escape,

Hear snapping jaws. It’s just we two.

…

A creature, white as this snowscape,

Arises, human in his shape,

But pitiless and ravenous,

His jagged, icepick mouth agape.

…

Behind, three “friends” advance on us,

In front of us, this monster lusts

For blood, our membership into

His hive, his hunger cavernous.

…

My dad looks back at girls he knew

As shallow friends, as no-ones, who

Too late he sees as someone’s child.

He swears he will not fail me too.

…

A whispered “Run,” then with a smile,

He pushes me out toward the wild

And throws himself into the vile

Attacking horde of beings defiled.

…

I cannot cry; I fight the bile

That surges to my mouth, all while

I sprint for cover – anything.

But is there anything for miles?

…

The battered car, its fire shining

Through the dark, the blizzard blinding.

Distraction, yes, that’s what I need –

Crawl inside this husk for hiding.

…

I find the switch. Reverse. Release.

I hold the Pause and faintly plead

The flames won’t kill me ‘fore they do.

I hunker like a bobcat treed.

…

Five stalking figures then break through

The vortex swirling round my view.

White light glints off their frosted skin.

They’re patient, but I’m patient too.

…

I strip my sweatshirt, hold it in

Th’encroaching flames until therein

It flashes up in fire and heat.

I lift the Pause; the song begins.

…

My father, eyes a frosted sheet,

Then falters in his quest for meat –

“got sunshine on a cloudy day” –

I leap out swinging flame and heat.

…

The glacial moments spin away

As, turning monsters into prey,

I drive them to the steep cliffside.

They, gnashing, topple into grey.

…

It’s not until their thrashing dies

Upon the quiet mountainside

That I feel burning on my hand –

An icy, blackened wound split wide.

…

The wound in moments then expands;

A rav’ning hunger then demands.

I hesitate, then leap from land.

I hope my father understands.

…

The valley nears; the blizzard clears.

The rushing wind whips off my tears.

My cold veins hunger; ice commands.

I hope my father understands.

I hope my father understands.