It was dark, and cold, and they were both very tired. The New England winter breeze reddened their cheeks and frosted their skin. They wanted to get home quickly, so Megan decided to go home through the woods. She had no problem with it, but Isabelle wanted nothing to do with that trail.
“Are you crazy? No. No, no, no, no. I’m going the long way, I hate the woods. I don’t care, I’m not going in there, I’m walking on the road.”
“Really? Are you going to walk on the road, for a milesworth, by yourself, in the dark? Okay, you do that, I’ll see you at home then. I’ll beat you there too.”
“No, Megan come on, the woods is so..it’s so..sketchy. Do you want us to die in a sketchy forest? No. Not me, come this way.”
“Seriously? Die in the forest? You must be joking. I’m not arguing, I’m tired, and I’m going home.”
Megan started to enter what seemed to be a dark hole of death to Isabelle. She wasn’t kidding. Isabelle thought to herself.You know what, maybe I’ll run home. Yeah, and I’ll beat her too. So Isabelle turned around to walk the long way. She took three steps and saw someone else on the road about 100 yards away. Who in their right mind takes a walk at 11:30 at night? Maybe it’s just someone who lives around here. A late worker at the school? He’s coming right at me...Maybe I should catch up with Megan.
“Hey Megan, where’d you go?” Isabelle screamed. “Wait up!” She ran into the ‘dark hole of death.’

Gasping for air, Isabelle finally caught up to Megan. Megan didn't even turn to look, but continued on and said, “Scared of the dark road?” Isabelle stood up quickly and tried to appear completely calm.
“Of course not, I just didn’t think it’d be right to let you walk in the woods alone.”
“Yeah okay that’s exactly the-- Woah!!” Megan slipped backwards and landed right on her butt. Now Isabelle really couldn't breathe; she was too busy laughing.
“Oh my god, Haha, are you okay? That was hilarious!” She reached down to help up her feeble friend. “How do you like the path now? Ha ha ha!” Megan only giggled a little, and finally stood up. She looked around.
“I swear, I slipped on something. I wouldn’t just fall randomly! Stop laughing!” Isabelle contained herself, but just barely. Megan finally picked something up from the ground.
“See! Told you, I slipped on this flashlight. I must of landed on it too, my butt hurts like a hell.” Isabelle grabbed the flashlight and Megan kept walking. She tried to turn it on, but no light would appear in front of her.
“I think it’s broken. Maybe it’s because of your butt.” Megan turned around and gave Isabelle a look. “Here, catch!” Isabelle tossed the crippled flashlight to Megan, who wasn’t expecting it at all. the metal pathfinder fell to the ground and was now really broken.
“Nice catch.”
“Well, nice throw!”
Megan turned and continued up the path when Isabelle called her back. She found something.
“What now, we could be home by now.” Megan turns around while Isabelle removes a piece of paper where the batteries should have been. She reads it and looks up confused and thrown off.
“Well what does it say?” Megan asked impatiently. Then Isabelle read it out loud.
“It says ‘Joey is trying to kill me.’” Megan looked at her and walked to where the now terrified Isabelle stood to read it herself. Joey is trying to kill me. It was written in what looks to be charcoal, on a plain, but tinted tan piece of ripped paper. The writing was barely legible, but they could read it, and it was a real note, written by a real person, who was probably more terrified than Isabelle. Megan smiled and looked up.
“It’s probably just a joke.” She said to calm her friend down. It was natural for Isabelle to over think these sorts of things. “Lets just keep going. We’ll leave this here.” She gave it back to Isabelle, who was still kind of frozen in her spot. Megan turned away and walked more into the dark. Isabelle, regaining some organized thoughts finally managed to move her legs. She was relaxing, but only a little.
“You’re right, you're right, I know you’re right. A joke, haha, just a joke. No one named Joey is actually out here, right? Silly me, oh Isabelle, got quite the imagination.” She trailed off talking to herself, while dropping the mysterious item. It rolled under a pile of leaves unseen, and they continued to the safety of their home. Truth was, they both walked faster after that.

About a minute after the encounter with the note, they heard a rustling in the tree 15 feet away. Isabelle stopped dead. Megan came to a stop as well.
“Hello?” Megan questioned the dark clump of green. “Who’s there? You playing a joke or something?” Nothing responded.
“Um, I don’t think anything's going to answer if you’re being rude.” Isabelle whispered in her ear.
Megan looked over. “Well maybe not, but then you know if you need to run from a killer.” She smirked and walked on. Isabelle didn’t find it so funny and ran to catch up. But then they heard it again. Only closer. Isabelle bolted past Megan.
“I’m not dying! Not me! See ya!” She ran past her very calm friend who simply chuckled.
“Oh Isabelle.” Then a rustling came beside her. Very close too. Maybe it’s my turn to catch up. Megan ran after Isabelle, but when she reached her she would claim it was simply because she thought Isabelle would get lost. Megan’s not scared of the woods. It’s just a joke. Joey probably isn't real anyways. Yep, that’s exactly what Megan believed.

The flashlight still lies on the ground, buried under a frosty lump of leaves. No one will ever know who Joey is anyways.