It was a Friday, October 31st Halloween night. Erin, who was a junior in high school, decided to go play a game with his friends in the woods behind his subdivision in Red Oak, Pennsylvania. The game consisted of one person going to hide, while the others stay back and then search for him after waiting for a few minutes. The group of guys gathered up on the edge of the woods and chose who would be the first to hide.
“Nose goes”, said Ryan, who was also a junior in high school and has been friends with Erin since the 6th grade. Everybody’s hand shot up towards their noses.
“Erin looks like you’re going first,” says Lucas.
Erin peered into the dark woods behind him, turned and said
“You’re never going to find me. I know exactly where I am going.”

It was about 200 yards into the woods next to a small creek that ran off the tall Appalachian Mountains. Erin had seen this spot when he was hiking up the mountain a week ago with his father. They were starting their hike and they needed to get some water from the creek. When they were jumping down the rocks to the water Erin had lost his balance and fell into the hole of an uprooted tree.

Erin began to walk closer to the woods.
“You have 2 minutes to hide, don’t get lost or the boogeyman’s going to eat you alive.” Ryan mumbled in a low pitched voice. Erin hesitantly walked into the dark woods, the little light of the moon disappeared from the tall trees. The loud snaps and cracks of twigs breaking under his feet echoed through the air and the voices of his friends slowly faded into the distance with each step. The ground of the woods was covered in thick black dirt and soft green moss. The cold air brushed against his face making his cheeks numb and rosy red. About 100 yards into the woods Erin could hear the small creek splashing against the large rocks of the mountain. The bank of the creek was surrounded by jagged rocks and boulders, but slowly Erin jumped down each one towards the old fallen tree lying across the water. The roots of the tree had been ripped out of the ground leaving a small gap in the ground; it was a perfect hiding place.

Ten minutes later Erin could hear his friend’s voices getting closer to the creek. Erin slowly crept back further into the small hole of the tree using the roots to cover the red color of his jacket. The sounds of their shoes clapped against the cold rocks as they hopped from one to another down to the creek. “I don’t think he came all the way out here, I bet he is hiding towards the entrance of the woods,” yelled Ryan.
“We should scare him,” said Lucas.
“Yeah, but we have to find him first,” replied Ryan. The boys turned around and raced back up the series of jumping stones towards the woods. The voices faded away, bringing back the pure silence of the dark woods. Erin gripped onto the roots of the tree to hoist him out of the small hole. He quietly wiped the dirt off of his jeans.
“They’ll never be able to prank me now,” Erin thought. He looked up to the sky to see the bright full moon. Suddenly the faint sound of a snapping twig echoed through the woods. Erin looked quickly in the direction of the sound, there was nothing there.” It’s probably just my mind tricking me,” he whispers. He walked down to the creek and washed the dirt off of his hands. Another snapping twig echoes. Erin slowly stands up, “Hello?” he mumbled. “Is someone there?” About 20 yards away there was a quiet shuffling of leaves. “Hello? Ryan, Lucas is that you?” Erin mumbles again. The quiet shuffling now became a loud frenzy of noises as something large sprinted across the woods. “Guys, is that you playing a prank on me? I know you guys were planning on doing something to scare me,” Erin yelled. There was no reply. “Come on guys, I know it is you. Nice try though.” Erin yelled out again. Still there was no reply. Erin began walking towards the sound, but as he took his first step a loud wolf howl pierced through the woods. The hair on the back of his neck came to a stand and the chills shot down his spine. The fear locked his body into a motionless stance. He knew now that it wasn’t his friends; none of them could make a howl like this one. More howls followed from different directions, they were everywhere around him. Erin darted to the downed tree and quickly sank back into the small hole. It became dead quiet; the only sound he could hear was the creek.

Five minutes past, the wolves had seemed to move on as they had not made any noises in a while. “I think it is ok to try and run back out of the woods,” Erin thought. “On the count of three I will run. One, two, three, go,” Erin ran up the set of large rocks to the woods like a gazelle running from a hungry lion. As he was about fifty yards into the woods, the howling began again. The wolves were hot on his tail, barking and howling as the hunt had begun. Erin’s heart was racing in his chest as he veered between trees and jumped over rocks running for his life. He ran into a large opening in the woods. In front of him out of the darkness appeared a large gray wolf, teeth showing and growling angrily. Erin turned around and saw three more file into position around the outer edge of the clearing. Their warm breath created large clouds of steam in front of their faces. The bright glowing green eyes peered across the clearing like a computer targeting system, no blinking just staring. The fear was overwhelming making his entire body shake uncontrollably. “Am I going to die?” Erin thinks to himself. Staring at the wolves, Erin nervously crouched down in the grass trying to hide out of sight. The pack slowly crept in closer on Erin. With nowhere to go Erin yelled out “HELP! HELP! HELP!” the wolves pounced on Erin causing him to be pinned. They ripped through his clothing down to his pale white flesh. Erin was kicking and thrashing at the wolves trying to get them off, but there were too many and they were too strong. They devoured into his arms and legs ripping the muscles from his bones. “HELP! HELP! HE…” One of the wolves had bit down on Erin’s neck, breaking his windpipe and killing him. The wolves howled to the moon as their hunt was a success.

Erin’s mangled body was discovered two days later by the police. All that was left was his bones and the clothes he was wearing. After this incident everyone was told to never go into the woods after dark again. The wolves are deadly animals that will eat you alive.