The years I spent in high school could be described as some of the happiest years of my life but at the same time some of the most terrifying. My life as a high school student wasn’t easy, I never had an understanding family who supported me, instead I had an abusive father who would strike at me, my mom and my siblings every time we disobeyed one of his many strict rules. Luckily I had four friends Jessica, Erika, Chris and Nick, we were all really close we never thought something so horrifying and disturbing would happened to us like the night of September 14, 2011 almost 7 years ago but I can still remember it like if it had happened yesterday. That day and the many after to come were the days I wish I would've just stayed home but I didn’t and to this day I regret not staying home and convincing my friends to have stayed with me.
The day of September 14, 2007 there was a football game and of course my friends and I never went to those we thought they were unnecessary and that we could use that time to do things that we actually liked. But that day we decided we would since Erika wanted us to all go because she wanted to spend some time with the guy she liked. Although it seemed unnecessary for us to go she still wanted us there in case something happened.
As we arrived to the parking lot of the football stadium we immediately heard the loud cheering, I couldn’t bare hearing the loud noise but I was already there with all of my friends so I couldn’t do anything to get out of there although I wish I would have. I wish that I had made different choices that night but I didn't. As the night came in and the game was almost over I couldn’t have been more happy because I thought I was going home but little did I know Jessica once again had already made plans for all of us to go to a party. I tried to get my way out of it but I couldn’t, I don’t know why I always did the things she wanted me to do it was like if I was her puppet. Deep down I knew why but couldn’t come to admit it. Only until this night I would find the courage to tell her what I felt but it would be too late.
When we arrived to Kian’s house for the party everyone was already there everyone was having such a great time. As I went in I made my way into the living room I saw people laughing, arguing and some even passed out as I got to the backyard I saw people jumping into the pool and eating pizza and drinking beer. Caila my biology partner and long time friend offered me some beer I politely declined since I was the one who was going to drive but ended up being convinced and decided to drink. Hours kept passing by and I continued to drink I felt like I was becoming an alcoholic I had drank so much, this was my first time doing this. As I was sitting there in an old wooden chair I saw a shadowy figure in the woods, I stood up and tried to walk towards it but everything was such a blurr I could barely see anything I thought it was probably my imagination playing games with me and the alcohol settling in. So I went back inside the house and found Jessica with that guy she liked, he was such a jerk and everyone knew it except Jessica I thought she would know better since her ex boyfriend was just like him. But I decided to not get myself involved since the last time I did it didn’t go so well. Instead I decided to just sit in the couch, relax and hope that I wouldn’t feel so drunk in a few hours. Three hours had passed by and it was 12:30 am, I still felt pretty drunk and my head had started to hurt so I decided that It was time for me to leave. I reached inside my pocket to get my car keys but I couldn’t find them. I started to look for them like crazy but had no luck.
I began to look for Jessica to ask her if she knew where they were but she told me she didn’t and asked why I wanted them. I told her that I was planning on leaving, she asked why and I replied by saying “well you know how my parents are, Erika, Chris, and Nick want to leave too so they’re coming with me once I find my keys. You’re welcomed to come with us too if you want” Jessica looked down and looked at David and thought about it for a little bit and then said “umm I don’t know, I don’t want to leave David.” David looked at her and told her “no it’s okay if you want to leave then go, I don’t want you to get in trouble with your parents for staying out late” then Jessica went along and said “fine I’ll go with y’all and if you can’t find your keys lets just go by the woods I know a shortcut home.” Listening to her say that made me happy and so we both went and got everyone and left the party.
Since we couldn’t find my keys we began to walk into the woods through the shortcut Jessica knew. It was really dark and we could barely see anything so we decided to turn on the flashlights on our phones. It had gotten pretty chilly out but we kept on walking. Jessica told us the walk would only take about 20 minutes and it would be better than turning back. As we walked it got darker and darker and it got harder to see the trail even with our flashlights because of the many leaves on the ground covering it. We could only hear the sounds of the wind and rustling bushes, we started to get a little worried since the more we walked the more we felt lost. Chris told us that it would be better if we went back but it was to late now we could no longer see the trail. Erika started to panic, she said she knew that since the start this was a bad idea. Jessica tried to calm everyone down by saying “Guys don’t worry we’re almost there, I know it.” Nick looked at her and said “how are you even sure, there’s no trail whatsoever to follow and it’s clear to everyone that we are completely lost.” Everyone started to panic even me, the batteries on everyone's phone were really low, soon enough there would be no light to help us see. No light, and no trail to take us home.
Everyone stopped for a moment to think, I checked my phone for any service but there was nothing and my phone was down to only 10%. My hopes for calling someone were gone. So I told everyone that there was nothing we could do at the moment and that it would be best if we found a place we could stay and rest until the morning. Hopefully with the morning light we'll be able to find a trail that would lead us home. Everyone agreed and we started to look for a place we could stay, a few moments later Nick spotted a cabin not far away from where we were. We started to walk towards it. After walking for eight minutes we had finally arrived, we weren’t sure if we should go in, Erika was the most skeptical about it but it was starting to get really chilly and soon it would get cold. With that said we went right in. The door was open and so we thought that it was probably abandoned. I mean, why would anyone just leave their cabin open?
As we walked in we tried turning the lights on but they didn’t work which was another indication that the cabin was probably abandoned. We went along and took a look around the cabin and found some blankets and flashlights that we could use during the night. The cabin was decent, it had two rooms, a bathroom along with a kitchen, dining and living room space and it had another room that was locked and we could not find the keys to open it but it didn’t bother us since we thought it was probably just a storage room. So we all went along and decided to go to sleep but before we all made sure that all the windows and doors were closed so no animals could come in and to just let it be warm inside since Maine has pretty cold weather especially at night. After we made sure everything was closed we all went to sleep.
I remember that night I woke up sometime later by what sounded like someone knocking on the window. It was still dark so I could not see anything, I was tired and do not remember in full lenght what I heard or saw. I tried going back to sleep but I kept hearing the loud tapping noise so I decided to wake Chris up and ask him if he heard the same knocking sound. He said he did. I asked him if we should have a look around the cabin in case someone was out there and he said “I’ll go take a look.” I asked him if he wanted me to go with him and he said that he would go alone since he wanted to take some fresh air. I waited for about five minutes and wondered why it was taking him so long, a few moments later I heard his scream. It was really loud and it sounded like he was screaming from the top of his lungs.  I ran outside to see what was going on but I didn’t see anything. I ran back inside to wake everyone up as quickly as I could. I told them what had happened to Chris, about the scream I heard but they didn’t seem to believe me. They thought that it was just me hearing things because of the alcohol. Suddenly,  Chris screamed again and that’s when everyone followed me outside. We all started to look everywhere and then we spotted him, he was being dragged by someone, it wasn't clear but it seemed like that  person had a disfigured face full of scars, he was even missing an ear. We saw as he was been dragged into the unknown, his hands were full of blood and he was trying to grab onto something, something that would prevent him from being taken by the horrifying disfigured man. We all ran towards him but stopped when a knife was thrown at us, it was really close to hitting us so we ran back to the cabin.
Once we got to the cabin we closed everything up. Every window, door, everything that would allow someone to get in. We continually heard the screams of Chris yelling for help, we heard the laugh of the disfigured men as he did who knows what to Chris. Erika ran to the door trying to go out but we all stopped her. We told her that it was to dangerous and that she would be killed by the disfigured man or men that were outside. She told us “how can y’all just leave him out there, he’s being tortured don’t ya’ll care that he’s in any pain? How are y’all going to live knowing that he’s going to be killed and we’re just in here not doing anything about it” Nick told her “I know how you’re feeling right now but if we go out there we’re all going to be killed, there’s nothing we can do right now, it’s best if we just stay in here and hope that they leave.” Everyone stayed silent because no one knew what to say, you could tell that everyone was panicking though. Then Jessica said “But I mean, who’s fault was it for us to stay in this cabin, huh? It was you Nick, you caused this! So if there’s anyone who should go outside to save Chris it’s you Nick.” Nick responded by saying “It was your idea for us to go to that stupid football game and that stupid party. Then you dragged us into the woods because apparently you knew your way. If you’re going to blame someone blame yourself.” Everyone started to argue and then suddenly everyone got quiet, Chris’s screams had stopped..
Everything was plain silent, the only thing we could hear was each other's heavy breathing because of how scared we were. I told everyone that it wasn’t the moment to start arguing or to look for who to blame. Instead we should try to figure out how we were going to escape out of the woods, any second now the disfigured men were going to come back after all of us. After we planned our escape we all decided that one of us should go distract the disfigured men. At first no one wanted to do it but then Erika decided that she should. First we looked in the cabin to try to find any weapons that we could use if they got to us, we just found a knife and we knew that, that was not going to be enough and so we thought we would look inside the room that was locked. We tried to open it a few different ways but we had no luck, then we finally found the key under the couch. As we opened the room a bad smell came out and we saw photographs of dismembered bodies laying around and jars full of human parts. It went from eyeballs to arms to legs to even kidneys. We saw bodies displayed in the walls without their eyes or ears and this is just a picture in my head that I still remember to this day. We all felt disgusted by all of the things we saw. We all rushed out of there as fast as we could with the few other knives we found.
Everything that we needed we had gathered, no one was ready to go out but we all knew that we had to or else they would come in and kill us all. Jessica was standing by the door ready to open it and let Erika go out to distract them as we ran out. We all took a long breath and hoped everything would work out. Just moments after Jessica opened the door to let Erika out, Erika began to run and scream “Hey! hey! I’m here, hey! Hey!” We saw as the disfigured man started to run after her, he started to laugh as he dragged his chainsaw dripping with blood. The sound of the chainsaw made me think about how many victims he had used it on. It scared me to think how much he was capable of but I no longer had time to think, I needed to start running in hopes to find a way out of the woods. We all started to run out of the cabin as fast as we could, I remember jumping through the long pieces of wood on the ground and looking out for any tramp’s they might of put. I could no longer see Erika, I had hoped that she got away. As we ran I saw Nick trip on a rock besides me, He hit his head hard, Jessica and I stopped for a moment to help him up but we started to see two other disfigured men coming towards us with a bow and arrows.
With no time to spare we picked Nick up as fast as we could and started to run. Once we started to run we saw how they were throwing arrows at us, always close to hitting us and we knew that it was not going to be long before they actually did. We didn’t have time to look back we just looked forward trying to find a way to be as far away from them as possible. It seemed like they knew the forest fairly well, they knew where we would end up so it was critical for us to find a hiding place. My hands were getting really sweaty and I was tired I could no longer run but I could not stop I had to keep going. As I turned my head back I saw how an arrow was coming towards us I was about to tell everyone to move but before I could say anything the arrow went through Nick’s right eye and then another one through his left and then two through his back. Jessica stopped and looked down at him, she was in panic she kept looking back at them and back at Nick. I went towards her and grabbed her by the arm she told me she couldn’t go any farther and that we had to help Nick but I told her she could no longer do anything to save him. We had to leave him behind and we needed to keep going.
We kept running hoping that we would gain some time as they stopped for Nick. We did, we ran to a point that we could no longer see them. We sat down for a moment behind some bushes in hope that they would give up. As we sat there I saw how she started to cry. She told me “This is all my fault, I...I don’t know how I’m going to live with this.” I told her “This is not your fault, we are both going to get through this along with Erika wherever she is. Don’t worry I’m going to help us get through this.” Jessica laid her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes for a few seconds. She told me that she was grateful to have me as a friend and that she never know’s why I always do what she wants me to do. At that moment I knew that I had to tell her how I felt about her before it was too late. And so I said “I know it’s not the right moment to tell you this but... I love you, I always have.” “Oh Brian” she said. Suddenly, I put my hand around her mouth to keep her quiet,I had heard someone walking at a close distance. I tried to look behind to see who it was but as I turned around I was startled by a disfigured face, it was the disfigured man and he was ready to strike at us with his bow and arrow. I looked at Jessica and gave her a sign not make any sort of noise, we both stopped breathing heavily and covered our noses so we would not make any noise, everything was plain silent any noise made could cause the man to know that we were hiding behind the bushes. He took a look around but didn’t seem to notice us and so he walked away or so we thought.
We both stood up a few minutes after we heard he had left but as we stood up I watched him throw a knife onto Jessica’s chest. I screamed “NOOOOOOOOO!” as he starts to run towards us but I didn't care. I got into the ground and laid her in my arms while tears dripped down my face I tell her she’s going to be okay. Instead of listening to what I had to say she tells me “Go, leave, hurry and run while you still can. Don’t let me stop you, please go.” she looks at  me as tears go down her cheeks. She tells me “It’s okay, leave me here and take my knife and use it but please just go. Now! Just remember that I also love you.” I close my eyes and stand up. I got my flashlight and knife I had and started to run. Tears and sweat were dripping down my face, I looked back and see him standing right beside her about to stab her again, thinking of that image still pains me today I continue to run forwards but decide to look back one last time.I saw  her and saw her body laying there full of blood with him on top  licking it off. F***ing cannibal.
I run and run and decide to not look back anymore, I see the sun rising and see a road and decided the smart thing was to run towards it. I stood there for a moment in hope that someone would pass by but nothing. I continued to run on the road and finally I see a car coming towards me. I start to jump and wave my hands like a crazy man and see how the car is coming to a stop. He opened his window and asked me what I needed and I told him a ride. He sees the blood in my clothes and is hesitant but I plead to him and decided to let me in. As I go in I see him in the back of the car the disfigured man sitting there ready to strike at me but without any hesitance I hold my knives firmly and stab him and the guy driving multiple times. When I’m done I throw the bodies out the car and start to drive, I look around for any signs of Erika but nothing appears. I kept hoping that she made it out alive. After a long drive I finally arrived to safety, once I got in  town I went straight to the police department. I told them everything  I went through but no one believed me. They told me that I was probably just lying to get attention until they saw all the blood in my clothes. They began to blame and accuse me of murder. I tried convincing them but no one believed me.
After my parents went in to talk to the police they decided to let me go but after a few days had passed and my friends were still “missing” they started to investigate. I keep telling them my story until finally they decide to have a look around the woods. They found nothing, not even the cabin. The only thing left that they could do was to arrest me for the murders of my friends. Their only evidence was the blood I had on my shirt from Jessica and that I was the last person that had seen them. Till this day I still don’t know what happened to the cabin and how it disappeared. Ericka’s body was never found, so I hope she made it out alive. I wish I were able to look for her and prove my innocence but behind bars there’s nothing I can do but to write my thoughts in this old journal and hope they don’t come for me since I maybe the only one left.