Don’t Whistle in the Woods

A work of Appalachian fiction by Dakota Baker

Haven’t ya ever heard to never whistle in the woods? 

Vera had always been terrified of the dark, nyctophobia is what her therapist called it. Ever since she had a panic attack at nine, when her brother locked her in a dark room as a joke, she hasn’t been able to tolerate the dark without some kind of light.

So, of course when she picked “dare” in a game of Truth or Dare with her friends, they dared her to walk into the woods behind her house. They told her to walk in a straight line for ten minutes before she could turn around and walk back.  

Now she’s standing at the woodline, staring at the outlines of the trees barely illuminated by the moonlight, cursing herself for being too much of a coward to refuse the dare. Her heart is pounding so hard and fast that her chest has begun to ache, but she refuses to embarrass herself in front of everyone. One deep, shaky breath in and out, and she begins to walk. 

From under the canopy of leaves the beams of moonlight barely make it to the ground. All Vera can do is stumble forward and try not to fall. 

It feels like the darkness is trying to swallow her whole.

Breathe in ..2..3..4. Breathe out ..2..3..4. A technique her therapist taught her, but she still struggles to catch her breath. 

In an effort to try and distract herself from the shadows lurking all around her, Vera begins to whistle. 

She whistles as she keeps stumbling forward, leaves and twigs crunching beneath her feet. Occasionally steadying her balance on a nearby tree trunk. 

After tripping over yet another tree root, Vera is readjusting herself as she hears a twig snap behind her. She freezes, holding her breath… Silence. 

Even the insects have stopped singing. 

After several minutes of waiting in absolute silence, she shrugged it off as her imagination. 

Suddenly the timer she had set on her watch went off, causing her to startle backwards and fall. 

Cursing at herself as she stood back up, Vera realized she had completed her ten-minute dare and could begin trekking back to her friends. She felt a slight sense of accomplishment at this. 

Vera started walking… and whistling. Making her way back to the campsite where her friends awaited her return. 

Crunch… snap…

She paused and waited. Nothing but silence filled the forest. So she began to walk again.

Crunch… snap…crunch…snap…

With every step she took, a crunch and snap of leaves and twigs followed suit behind her, as if someone was following her. But, everytime she stopped walking the forest fell silent. 

As she started walking again she heard a whisper floating on the wind past her ear. 

Verrrraaaaaa

She froze. 

Her breathing took on a rapid pace, but she was too terrified to turn in the direction her name was called from. Although the forest had fallen silent once again, she sensed a presence watching her from behind. 

Squeezing her eyes shut as hard as she could, Vera took a steadying deep breath before opening them again and bolting in the direction she knew her friends to be. 

The sounds of the crunching and snapping of duff and woody debris on the forest floor picked up behind her, never slowing and inching closer with each second. 

Vera could see the faint glow of the bonfire her friends were gathered around far in the distance. As she was about to shout for help, her sneaker caught on a tree root causing her to fly forward and land on her side with a hard thud. 

Her lungs were on fire and her body ached. She rolled onto her back to catch her breath, eyes closed. 

As she was taking in deep shaky breaths she noticed the forest was once again, eerily silent.

Vera gathered enough courage to slowly open her eyes. What was lingering above her sucked every bit of oxygen from her lungs.  

A creature… bigger than any she’d ever seen. Where its eyes should have been; dark, hollow holes stared directly at her. The head of a deer skull with sharp antlers, the tips covered in a thick red substance that shone in the moonlight. 

She continued to take in the creature, still unable to breathe. Her gaze slid down its long, bony torso to the hair-matted legs folded beneath it, ending at the razor-sharp talons digging into the earth. Its arms were impossibly long, nearly the length of its body, bent as it crouched over her. On either side of her head, clawed hands, each as large as her skull, rested against the ground, trapping her as its weight loomed above her.

–

The sun was shining brightly, illuminating the dew that rested on the forest’s greenery. Birds sang their morning song.

The search party called Vera’s name as they made their way through the wooded area not far from where the group of teens had their bonfire the night before. 

A search dog signalled from the distance and gasps came from the crowd of searchers who had gathered around. 

All that remained was a single sneaker that had belonged to Vera, two massive handprints gouged into the ground, and a dark, uneven trail of blood that ended abruptly, as if she had been lifted from the earth mid-scream.