The Vanishing at Elderberry Grove

1. A Trip to the Woods (Michael)
With the ring of the bell school has ended for us. No longer is Riverview High School our school anymore and to celebrate me and my friends Arthur, James, Emily, Marc, my girlfriend Andrea and I decided to celebrate us graduating by a camping trip to Elderberry Grove. Outside on the schoolyard sitting on a bench Marc was playing a game on his phone. With Andrea and Emily followed shortly by Arthur and James just walking out of their class we headed to the schoolyard.
"‎Hey Marc," I said, as I walked toward the bench he was sitting on and he put away his phone.
"Yo guys. Finally finished?" Marc asked.
"Yes, it felt like forever before the bell rang" Emily replied. "Glad to be out of school."
"Excited for tomorrow, guys?" I asked. "No parents, just us six and the woods for a week."
"Yeah. Maybe we get some alone time," Andrea whispered in my ear. "But Em and me need to get some stuff from the store to be ready for tomorrow. So see you guys soon."
I kissed Andrea and after we said our goodbyes to Emily and Andrea, they decided to go to a camping supply store to pick up some final things. My other friends came to my home after they got their gear from home. Since it was our last day in the suburbs before our camping trip we decided to play videogames together for a couple of hours. Since I just got the new Smash Bros. we decided to play that first and go head to head against each other. Not long after it was getting late and we decided to head to bed. The next day with our bags already packed in my car I decided to drive to Andrea her home to pick up Andrea and Emily. We swiftly drove off to Elderberry Grove. Arthur, James and I pitched the tents.

After our tents were up Andrea and I decided to explore the area a bit and gather firewood for the evening. Hand in hand we strolled together while I was also picking up pieces of firewood.
"It's lovely out here, isn't it?" Andrea said as we walked down a forest path. "The fresh air, the immense nature and you by my side."
A smile came on my face when she said that. We stopped for a while and kissed, before we gathered some more wood and explored the area further. We came across a lake not too far from our camp site ideal for swimming, we saw some wild animals and a forest ranger station. With my mobile phone I decided to take some pictures of the animals around us.
"You should take one of me petting a deer," Andrea said as she plucked some grass from the ground to lure a deer. As I took the picture, I thought I saw some weird figure in the background. A tall figure with skinny arms and a weird physique that almost looked like a church bell. But that might have been my imagination.
"Alright. Just stay still," I said as she tried to lure a deer. But the deer were too shy to come near us, so I took a picture of as close as a deer would come to Andrea.
With the firewood Andrea and I gathered we made a campfire and started to roast marshmallows, whilst Arthur started to play on his guitar. Not long after we decided to head to our tents and sleep. Or at least I'd try to, as I could not manage to sleep. With a flashlight I roamed around the campsite. Suddenly a rustling bush startled me, but as I pointed my flashlight over to it I saw a hare hopping along. After a short walk I came to the lake and decided to sit there, gazing over the lake.

2. Disturbance At The Camp Site (James)

Me and my brother Arthur were chatting about. He asked me if I've ever been hunting before. "You should know this Arthur" I said with disbelieve. "I don't like killing". Arthur stood up and said
"If you've never done it before how could you possibly know?" He grabbed a hunting knife.
"Since when do you own a hunting knife?" I asked.
"There are so many things you don't know about me bro" he replied. "It's dark outside, that's when the good stuff is out. Are you in?"
I hesitated but eventually complied. We walked for a couple of minutes and came across a lake. Arthur stopped in his steps and whispered "Don't move."
A couple of deer were walking slowly to the lake to drink from it.
"The deer here look like prime prey," Arthur whispered. "At camp I've got something to conceal our scent and an extra gun if you're game."
"No. I don't think I have what it takes to kill," I replied.
"Oh come on you have to be self sufficient," Arthur said. "Hunting helps with that."
"Who even thought you this?" I wondered.
"Our dad did," Arthur replied. "I can even teach you to make snares to trap small game."
"Yeah? And why do I need to do that?" I wondered.
"It's important to know how to track. Look at the food, droppings and prints of the animals. You can tell where they are hiding that way," Arthur said. "Besides it's also a way to find a trail towards camp or food if you know how to do it right."
Then suddenly I looked across the lake only to see a human-like figure walking towards us. As Arthur and I ran away we quickly separated. As I hid behind a tree I heard the thing getting closer. I held my breath but strangely heard some kind of laughter. I looked from behind the tree. It was Micheal dying of laughter. "Did you think I was some kind of scary animal James?" Michael asked.
"Yeah, you scared the living hell out of me mate" I stood up and looked around me. Where is Arthur?
"HEY Arthur! It was Michael." We got no reply. "Arthur?" "Hey Arthur where are you?!"
We heard A loud screeching noise. Michael and I started scanning the area but there was no sign of Arthur. We quickly ran back to our camp. "Guys it's Arthur, he's missing!"

3. The Lost Village (Marc)

As we heard from James and Michael calling for aid, Emily, Andrea and I got up and walked with them.
"Where was he last seen?" I wondered.
"We were near a lake, not too far from here," James said. "Arthur wanted to show me some hunting tricks, but we got separated."
"He couldn't have gotten far then," I said. "Let's do a quick search around there and hopefully we can get back to camp soon."
We arrived near the lake due to Michael and James showing the way. We split up in two groups and with flashlights looked around. Emily, James and I looked around the west side of the grounds near the lake, while Andrea and Michael looked east. As we searched at least an hour passed, but then I thought I saw Arthur and rushed towards him, but I fell down and rolled down a hill. After I got up from the fall, I flashed my lights towards some houses, But there was something strange and eerie about it. It was abandoned, as if lost and forgotten for centuries.
"Marc! Where are you?" James asked worried.
"I'm down here," I replied while waving my flashlight skyward, so they might see a light coming from downhill.
Soon they came to where I was and we started searching further. We came across more houses, all were desolated, empty and run down. It seemed as if there was a village here, a village time forgot. For some reason I decided to go inside one of the houses, as the others looked further into the village. After I entered I went into shock, as there I found something bizarre and strange; a person frozen in fear and shock.

With my flashlight I looked around and saw another person sitting against a wall, as if it tried to get away from something, alas it was too late for the poor soul, as it turned out he was deceased, with one of his arms and face showing decay.
"What could've done such a thing?" I thought to myself. "What has happened?"
A loud scream came from Emily, so James and I ran towards to find her, but she was nowhere around from where we heard the scream.
"First Arthur, now Emily?? What the hell is going on here?" I thought.
"Maybe we should call the police and head back to camp," James said worried. "This is getting dangerous. First Arthur, Now Em?"
"Sure, we need to call the cops. But It's too dangerous for them to be out here alone," I explained. "I saw two dead people in that broken down house over there. I can't leave them out here alone. We need to find them before something bad happens to them!"
As James dialed the cops as I wondered nearby screaming the names of Emily and Arthur as loudly as I could in hopes that they could here me and come to me. I tried to stay in the line of sight of James, but somehow I strayed too far away and I couldn't even see the light of his flashlight anymore. I tried to remember which path I took, but it was too dark to notice details. Then I saw in the distance two flashing lights, "Perhaps it were Andrea and Michael," I thought to myself. "It must be them searching for Arthur."
So I walked towards that light. As I came closer something felt wrong. I couldn't explain the feeling, but it was as if my body decided it could no longer move as I got closer towards the lights. And then I saw it, a large shadowy figure with a spade shaped head and large talons appear before me and as it came closer I became more paralyzed, before it reached out towards me and.....



4. Who's there (Andrea.)

Me and Micheal were searching for an hour. "Where could he possibly be?" Micheal asked.
"If we knew that we wouldn't be doing this right now." I replied.
"I don't mean it like that, We should've planned this better." Micheal said.
"Plan this better? How could've we planned people going missing?"
"Andrea, I know. But there's no need to constantly cut me off. I know you're stressed right now, I am too."
"Sorry, It's just too much for me right now."
As we walked further into the woods we saw James. He was running towards us but there was no Marc. I expected the worst but still asked.
"Hey James, Why are you not with Marc and Em?" James looked at us with disappointment.
"I hoped they'd be with you guys. Marc walked off as I was calling the police. Or at least tried to. Stupid phone failed on me. We lost Em while we were searching for Arthur."
It was all getting too much for me. "How could a simple camping trip get this messed up?" I thought to myself. "I should have stayed at home just watching movies instead of this mess. Not even one night out and three of our friends are missing. These woods are cursed."
"We can't lose each other guys. Not a single one more," I said fighting against my tears.
"I'll try to reach 911 again, but my battery is low," James said. "Last we were over there in what seemed to be a village. I think Marc might be in one of those buildings, perhaps Arthur and Emily are too. It's from there we heard Em scream. We could look for them over there."


After James told us about the village we probably did the worst thing we could've done, but we decided to check it out. The atmosphere felt strange. A dark feeling surrounded the village. Each step felt like it could be your last even though there was no real sign of danger. Micheal walked in front with James protecting our backs, while he was still trying to reach 911 on his phone. The village was small, with there being only a couple of buildings left. There was a well somewhere near the center of this creepy place, but it was crumbling down and in disrepair with a rusty bucket beside the stone structure. When we stood in front of the well, we heard screams coming from a building with one large window. There was something inside, as we saw light flashing out the window.
"That could be them in there," James said. "Come on let's go see."
Micheal and James sneaked in through a small hole underneath the window. I saw them walking towards the back of the room. I felt as if they were going to die. I wanted to scream; "Guys come back." but couldn't, because something held me back. Suddenly my vision started to blur.
"It must be the stress," I thought, but soon after I went down to the ground.
As I looked towards James and Micheal as they we're getting closer and closer to the end of the room. As I was looking towards them trough the window I noticed something strange and scary In the reflection in the glass. It was something dark, This presence you could not only see, but feel as well. I felt weaker and weaker. I inhaled for one last time trying to yell at Micheal."Help me!" but I couldn't manage it anymore. My vision went dark as I looked at Michael. "I don't want to leave you," I whispered.
"Andrea!? Hey Andrea!?" Michael asked worried, as I reawakened.
"What happened?" I asked. "Did I pass out?"
"Yes, I think so. Let's get out of here," Michael said. "We passed by a ranger station earlier, I think I still know the way there. Come James, let's go there and see if we can get help. It's better to have somebody who knows the area better with us to search for our friends."
"Yes, good idea. I'll try to see if I can manage to call 911," James said.

As we trekked through the forest in search of the ranger station, we heard an ominous screech in the distance before we saw strange eerie lights. Hoping it were the flashlights of our friends, we soon came to realize what we saw was a figure with glowing eyes too tall for it to be human moving through the woods. Another eerie shriek came from the creature as he moved closer to us. We decided to run as fast as we could away from that thing. We came by a large wooden hut, there we decided to hide as quickly as we could and trying to not make any sound. As the creature approached us I felt the dark feeling again before passed out, but this time it felt more intense. As we sat there hidden against the wall of the hut James began to dial 911 and finally the damn thing worked, hoping soon a ranger or a cop could come and get us out of this mess.
"911, what's your emergency?" the operator asked.
"911, what's your emergency?" the operator asked again.
"911, what's your emergency?" the operator asked again but louder, but the phone lay on the ground of the forest dropped from James's hands.
"Hello?" the 911 operator wondered. "Who's there?"