The Deadly Dare

Halloween Stories | Feb 13, 2013 | 8 min read
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Halloween Stories

The Deadly Dare

A dare to go to a secluded cabin in the woods turns deadly. CHECK OUT MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL SCARYSTORIESOFGHASTLYHORROR

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THE DEADLY DARE
Josh, Robert, and Bret were sophomores in high school and best friends. They lived in the same neighborhood and did almost everything together. One of their favorite things to do was to camp out in the woods at the end of their street. They would take their sleeping bags and sleep under the stars. They loved telling each other scary stories around the campfire.

One day Josh and Robert were bragging to some of the kids at school about their latest camping trip. "Our camping trips are great," Josh said. "Of course, a lot of people might be afraid of being out there alone. You have to be a certain kind of guy to be able to stay out there in the woods overnight. Like just last weekend, we saw a wolf."

"Yeah," Robert added. "It was a huge wolf, and we got so close to it that we could have reached out and touched it."

Bret came down the hall and saw the group gathered around his two friends. Sure, he had done his share of bragging about their campouts, but this wolf story the guys were telling was a little too much. Actually, what they had seen was a runaway German shepherd. It even had a collar around its neck. "Oh, come on, you guys. They don't need to know about all of that." Bret said. He wanted to change the subject before somebody found out they were exaggerating the truth. Then the other kids would tease them. But it was too late.

"Hey!" came the voice of Andy Seibert, a senior. "If you sophomores are so brave, why don't you stay out in the real woods?"

"What do you mean, Andy?" asked Josh.

"My older brother has a cabin up at Lake Montuak in the state forest. If you're so brave, then why don't you stay there by yourselves for a night? Since you're so friendly with wolves, you should feel right at home there. And there are bears and cougars there, too--not to mention the state prison down the road a few miles. I bet 25 dollars you won't spend a night in that cabin alone."

The three friends couldn't stand to hear the crowd of kids laughing at what Andy said. Bret could tell the kids didn't think they'd spend the night in the cabin. All Bret knew was he didn't really like the idea of all those wild animals outside the cabin, plus the state prison down the road.

Bret's heart skipped a beat when he heard Robert say, "Well, we accept. That will be a piece of cake."

"Yeah," added Josh. "Get that 25 dollars ready."

"Yeah, sure," teased Andy. "It'll be a piece of cake. Hey, I'll even drive you there myself." Bret went along with his buddies. But he still felt uneasy. After all, he knew the difference between a German shepherd and a wolf. He wondered if Josh and Robert did.

Late Friday afternoon, Andy drove the three boys to the cabin. When they stopped at a gas station deep in the woods, the man at the pumps saw their sleeping bags in the back of the car.

"Be careful if you're going to be out in the woods this weekend," the man said. "The man on the radio's saying that a maniac escaped from the prison yesterday. He's armed and dangerous." Then the man lowered his voice and looked around, like he was afraid somebody might hear him.

Who could hear him? Thought Bret. We're all alone out here in the middle of nowhere.

"They say the escaped guy's a little crazy, too," said the gas station man in a low voice. "He killed a whole family up in the northern part of the state."

"I wonder how much Andy paid this guy to tell us that?" Robert whispered to Josh and Bret. "He's just trying to scare us."

"Yeah," answered Josh. "And he's a lousy actor, too. That whispering bit is hokey!"

They Finally reached the little cabin after a long drive up a dirt road deep in the woods. They got out of the car and stretched their legs. As Andy was helping the others unload their gear, he said, "listen, you guys. I've been thinking about what the guy at the gas station said about that escaped murderer. If you want to call the whole thing off, that's okay with me. I won't tell anybody."

Bret started to say he was willing to call it off, but Josh butted in first. "Nice try, Andy," he said. "But you're still trying to scare us into not staying here. Then you'll tell everybody at school that we chickened out."

"Yeah," added Robert. "It won't work. Just like that thing with the guy at the gas station who you told to scare us didn't work."

"What are you guys talking about?" Andy asked. "I didn't tell him to say anything. I'm just trying to help you out if there's something dangerous up here."

"We'll, we don't need you're help," said Robert. "Just be here tomorrow morning to pick us up. But don't come back too early. We might want to sleep late," he joked.

"And have that 25 dollars ready!" shouted Josh.

"You guys are still talking big," said Andy. "Don't say I didn't give you a chance to back out."

Bret wished his friends hadn't been such big mouths in saying no to Andy's offer to leave. But what could he do now? He couldn't back out himself, or his friends would never let him forget it.

Before getting in his car, Andy gave Josh a flare gun. "Don't let anybody in the cabin, and keep the door and windows locked," he explained. "And if you get into any trouble, just shoot off this flare. Someone's bound to see it."

The three boys watched the taillights of Andy's car disappear down the dirt road in the twilight. The sun had just set over the tops of the tall pine trees, and it was getting dark fast.

The three friends settled quickly into the cabin, stowed their gear away, and started a fire to heat some of the cans of food they had brought with them.

After they ate, they talked about what an easy bet they had made, and they began to plan how they were going to spend the 25 dollars they would win.

"We should have bet him 50 dollars!" said Robert with a laugh.

About 10:00, the fire started to die down. The boys realized that someone needed to go out and collect some firewood in the woods. "I'll go," offered Robert. "It'll only take a few minutes," he said, pulling on his coat.

"Maybe two of us should go," Bret said. "Remember what the guy at the gas station said."

"You're a chicken!" hooted Josh. "That was all an act that Andy set up. Don't tell me you believe it!"

"Well," said Bret. "I didn't say I believed it. I--uh--just think we should be careful, that's all."

"Hey, don't worry about it, Brettie. I'll go with Robert," Josh teased.

"We'll be back to tuck you in and read you a bedtime story in a few minutes. You didn't forget to pack your teddy bear, did you?" added Robert. Josh and Robert were laughing their heads off.

"Ah, knock it off, you guys," said Bret angrily. "At least take this flare gun with you." He handed the flare to Josh. The boys went out the door and vanished into the darkness around the cabin.

After they had been gone for what seemed like a long time, Bret started to get worried. He looked out the window. But he saw nothing--just the faint outlines of the tall pine trees against the pitch black sky. "Where are they?" Bret wondered out loud. "There was plenty of wood right around the cabin."

Then it struck him that Josh and Robert were trying to scare him. That's just like them, he thought. They're trying to make me think something's happened to them. They think I'm a chicken.

About 10 minutes later, Bret suddenly heard muffled screams coming from the woods. "Go Ahead, you jerks," said Bret. "You can't scare me."

After another 15 minutes, Bret heard a loud pop, and the night sky lighted up. "The flare!" exclaimed Bret. "Now they're trying to get me to go out there."

But then he heard nothing for almost an hour. His watch said it was past 11:00. The joke, if it was a joke, had gone on too long. It wasn't funny anymore. Where were they?

Bret had decided to open the door and call to his friends, when he heard a sound outside. It was the sound of heavy footsteps thudding up toward the cabin door. There was another sound, too, like something was being dragged across the gravel in front of the cabin. It was coming closer.

Now Bret was terrified. He felt deep in his bones that this wasn't a joke. He knew something horrible had happened to his friends. He started to pile up against the cabin door everything he could find--the heavy wooden bed from the corner, the table and chairs, their backpacks. He even blew out the lantern and cowered near the still-warm fireplace in the dark. The dragging sounds got louder and louder. When he heard a heavy thud on the front porch, he thought that it was all over for him. He tried to make himself small enough to hide in the corner of the cabin. He couldn't stop shaking. He tried to scream, but no sound would come out.

And when he thought he couldn't be more afraid, he heard, from behind the pile of furniture at the cabin door, a scratching.

The prisoner's trying to get in! Bret thought in horror. Then he heard a moaning that didn't even sound human. Bret shrunk into the corner, expecting every moment to be his last, expecting the murderer to break in the door at any moment.

The scratching and moaning went on for what seemed like forever. Bret was too terrified to even look at his watch. All he could do was bury his head in his hands to keep out the horrible sound of the escaped man trying to get in and kill him, like he had killed Josh and Robert.

Bret must have fallen asleep or fainted from fear. He woke up the next morning to the sound of a horn beeping in front of the cabin. He heard nothing else--no scratching, no moaning. He stood up stiffly from his hiding spot near the fireplace and walked to the cabin window. He saw Andy sitting in his car. He was blowing his horn and calling out Bret's name. Feeling a tremendous sense of relief, Bret began furiously cleaning away the furniture from the door. He never wanted to spend another night in a cabin as long as he lived.

Bret flung open the door and started to run toward Andy's car. But before Bret even stepped out on the porch, he saw why Andy had stayed in his car. There on the porch, next to the door, lay the bodies of Josh and Robert. Their heads were crushed in. And their fingers were bloody from having scratched on the door to get in.




Tags:

   Halloween Stories Kid's Scary Stories Horror Halloween Stories Scarystory Strange Weird Spooky Chilling Creepy Morbid Macabre Ghastly Dare Camping Camping Cabin Slasher Teens
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