Forest

Let me tell you a story. It is the story of a family. They were doing great, the father had a nice job.. This is what happened to them.

The father, who’s name was Zackary (yep spelled that way), had a wife named Valerie, and a daughter named Meghan who was five and knew how to ride a horse better than anyone in the family. They always called her Meg, and she was the light of their lives. They lived on a farm. Meg always like playing with the horses that they kept in a stable. They had one black one, one white one, and one that had specks of every horse color you could ever imagine. Meg especially like that one, who she named Forest. Forest was a good horse, he always listened to Meghan and her family, and never, ever kicked. Meghan was his favorite.

One night, the father had just put Meghan to sleep and crawled back to his wife and gotten in bed, when he heard a thud. And another. And another. The thuds weren’t too loud, but they were annoying the farmer.

Finally, he decided to check out what was going on. When he came to the door of the stables that it was coming from, he opened them. Inside, the good horse, Forest, was kicking frantically at the door to his stall. All over the walls of his stall were black hoof marks. Zackary raced over to the horse and saw that it’s pupils had almost filled his eye, way past his irises. So the eyes were an eerie shade of black. The man was creeped out, but he decided to calm down the horse before it broke anything. After a minute or so, all was quiet again. He reached his bedroom and headed into sleep with his wife, this time hoping for no more interruptions. Just as he was getting comfortable, he hears a sound next to his bed. He turns, and there is his daughter. She doesn’t say anything, but moves in a circle around a spot on his floor.

“Meg?” He asked. No answer. He decided not to push it, because he doesn’t want to wake up his wife. Meg sleepwalked a lot, so he decided to just turn around and go back to sleep. The next day, he was awoken by his wife.

“Honey, was anyone in our room last night?” She asked, shaking him.

“Yeah, Val, Meg was, but why?” She motioned him out of the bed. On the floor was a red circle. It was strangely accurate for a five year old. He sighed.

“Just leave it, we have enough work to do today cleaning the stables. She gave him a puzzled look. “Forest was kicking up a storm last night, his pupils were all big and black hoof marks covered the stall. Val looked shocked.

“But he-“

“-Never kicks!” Meg finished in her five year old voice. It was obvious she had heard the conversation. She looked at the circle on the ground.

“Mommy, why there a circle?” She asked.

“You drew it when you sleepwalked last night honey.” Meg got very still and quiet.

“Mommy what time?” Val turned to her husband.

“Ah… maybe around 9 o’clock?” He offered. Meg got still and quiet again.

“Meg?” He asked after a moment.

“Mommy I didnent sleepwalk last night at 9. I was awake listenening to you sing. At nine you sang to me.” She mispronounced some of the words.

“Honey that was in your dream while you sleepwalked.” Her mom said, “I never sang to you.” Five year old Meg looked confused, then she laughed.

“Stop being silly mommy. You sang to me.” Val gave Zackary a scared look.

“Honey What was I singing?” Val asked.

“You said bla eeck aw moo chew.” And then you said you loved me and went back to bed.” Val looked even more confused.

“That was all in your dream.” She told her. Now Meg looked angry.

“No mommy I was awake! Because after that happened I put that drink on your nightstand and left.” Zackary and Val both looked to their respective dressers. Val’s had the cup. She looked down at it.

“A dream,” she repeated in a murmur.

“Come on Meg, we are going to see Forest today.”

“Yay, Forest!” Meg said, and clapped. We all headed down to the stables. Yesterday, the milky white horse, had chewed a hole through his stall and was munching away at the hay in Reaper’s stall, the black horse. Forest’s eyes were back to normal. No black hooves were on his stall walls. Meg’s father was flustered. But Meg scrunched up her face, walked up to the big horses stall, and said:

“Why are there hoofs on the stall?” She said hooves wrong. Then she turned to Forest. “You aren’t Forest, silly. Go away and bring him back.” The horse looked at her with Forest’s eyes and snorted in her face. “That tickles,” she said and giggled. Then she leaned close into his ear.

“If you are Forest, do the secret handshake.” The horse stood still. She looked at him. “Gimmie back Forest!” She yelled at the animal. It moved its head down. Now Val, standing behind Meg, could see the horns protruding out of the head. Before anyone else could react, the father, Zack, shot the horse between the eyes as he moved to see the horned head. Demon Forest lay dead. Meg whirled on him.

“Now he can’t give me Forest Daddy!! Meanie-head!” She shouted.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Meg forgot about Forest. That night, she sleepwalked again. Same spot. But the farmer and his wife both had fallen asleep. So they didn’t hear the singing coming from Meg’s room.

“Bla eeck aw moo chew. Bla eeck aw moo chew,” it repeated the chant. They didn’t see the corpse of the demon Forest get up and trot away.

No one was awake when their throats were slit by an unknown force.

The police never found the killer.

I should know. It was me. The monster under your bed. Did you know this is where they used to live? You live here now… want me to introduce you to the family? They are dying to meet you!