It was Wednesday, October 11, and it was a cold and dreary Fall day. Kevin was sitting in English class trying to think about this coming weekend, and trying to block out the teacher. It was two days from Friday the 13th, and people started to act more strange  and superstitious. Kevin didn't really believe in all of that stuff about opening an umbrella indoors, or breaking glass, and walking under a ladder will give you bad luck. He never really understood why people made a big deal about Friday the 13th, just because there's a scary movie named after this date does not mean people need to freak out about it. He felt people are more fidgety this Friday the 13th because it’s in October, the same month as Halloween.

While Kevin was zoning off into nowhere his teacher called on him to answer a question. He didn't know what they were just talking about so he just guessed a stupid answer and everybody laughed at it. After the teacher told the class to settle down she called on some other person to answer the question. Just as Kevin went back to zoning out again his friend Adam threw a paper ball at him to get his attention.

“Hey Kevin,” whispered Adam. “What are you doing this Friday?”

“Nothing,” Kevin replied. 

“Want to go camping?” Adam asked.

“No way,” said Kevin

“Why not,” Adam asked. “Are you scared because it's Friday the 13th?”

“No,” Kevin said quickly. “I just don't like the outdoors.” 

“Really,” said Adam. “I don't buy that.

“Well you don't need to,” said Kevin.  

“Well,” continued Adam. “You know that old friend of mine Greg, well, he said if I get at least three other kids to go camping with me he’d give me one hundred dollars!”

“A hundred dollars,” Kevin said suspiciously. “Sounds too good to be true.”

“Well, it is,” said Adam. 

“What's in it for me?” asked Kevin.

“Uh, I'll give you twenty five dollars out of the one hundred,” replied Adam.

“I’ll only go if you give me half of it,” said Kevin.

“Fifty dollars,” yelled Adam too loudly.

“Adam Smith,” yelled the teacher, “There shall be no outbursts like that in my classroom!”

“Yes ma’am,” whispered Adam cowardly. “Fifty dollars,” he whispered, “No way.”

“Fifty dollars,” said Kevin, “Or I’m not going.”

“What about forty five dollars?” asked Adam.

Kevin thought about it for a while. 

“Well,” hesitated Kevin

“Please,” begged Adam. “That's as high as I’m willing to go.”

“I guess I can do forty five dollars,” Kevin finally said. “I'm broke anyways.”

“Thanks for being willing to do forty five,” said Adam.

“Yeah,” said Kevin. “But you better have the forty five dollars or else you’ll never see the light of day again,” he whispered angrily.

“Alright,” replied Adam.

At lunch Kevin and Adam sat by each other to discuss more about their camping trip. 

“So,” started Kevin. “What made you decide to do this?”

“Well,” said Adam. “Me and Greg got into a fight about that I was the wimpy one when we were friends and I said I was not wimpy at all, so he dared me that if I go camping in the woods with some other people overnight this Friday without chickening out he’d give me one hundred dollars.” 

“Why the woods,” Kevin asked. “Is it because Jason Voorhees is out there?” 

“No,” replied Adam. “It's because they say there's a man out in the woods called Ben Dover.”

“Ben Dover,” said Kevin surprisingly. “That sounds so fake.”

“Well it isn't,” said Adam. “They say he’s in these woods called ‘The Whispering Forest.’”

“I'm guessing there's a story behind this,” asked Kevin.

“You guessed right,” said Adam. “There’s an urban legend,” started Adam. “And it goes that many, many years ago a boy named Benjamin Whitmire went for a hike in the woods one day. When he was hiking along he stopped to get a drink of water out of a creek. When he bent over to get a drink he fell into the water and was sucked under.”

“Wait a minute,” interrupted Kevin. “He got sucked under?”

“Just shut up and listen,” said Adam. “Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months and months turned into decades. No one has ever found him, some claim that they still hear the noises of a person in those woods, and the footsteps of a lost person trying to find their way home. And that's how the name Ben Dover came about, and that's how those woods got the name The Whispering Forest, and whoever bends over in the woods will be taken by Ben Dover!”

“Wow,” said Kevin with shock. “That’s a bunch of bologna!”

“It’s true,” exclaimed Adam. 

“Yeah, well, it sounds like one of those creepy, mysterious stories you see on Buzzfeed in Snapchat,” said Kevin. 

“Well, it's not,” said Adam angrily. “Anyways,” he continued. “I was thinking,”

“Sorry to interrupt,” said a girl. “But I was overhearing your conversation and I was sort of interested in your camping trip.”

“And who are you?” asked Adam.

“Oh, well, I’m Theresa Moore,” she said

“Who?” asked Kevin.

“Theresa Moore,” she said again.

“Are you new here?” asked Kevin. 

“No,” she said. “I've been coming here since second grade.”

Kevin and Adam stared at her blankly. 

“I sit behind you guys in Geometry,” she said.

“Oh yeah,” said Adam suddenly. “You're the one who set the science lab on fire last spring.”

“Yeah,” she said quietly.

“So, why are you interested in this camping trip?” asked Adam.

“Well I guess I’ve just always wanted to go camping in the woods,” replied Theresa.

“And I don't really have anything to do this weekend.”

“What's the catch?” asked Adam suspiciously. 

“Nothing,” replied Theresa.

“Well, then I guess you can come then,” Adam said hesitantly.

“Sounds good,” said Theresa. “Where are we meeting up?”

“How about at four o'clock on this Friday in the school parking lot,” said Adam. 

“Works for me,” said Theresa. Then she went back to her other friends down the table.

“She was kind of,” started Adam

“Weird,” said Kevin, finishing the sentence.

“Yeah,” said Adam. “I wonder if she knows about the dare and wants some of that

money?”

“I doubt it,” said Kevin. “But it could be possible.”

“Well we got three people now,” said Adam. “Now we just need one more to have four, 

although I wonder who we could get to go?”

“I know someone who might,” said Kevin.

“Who?” asked Adam.

“My other friend Jacob,” said Kevin. 

“Jacob Anderson,” asked Adam.

“Yeah, why?” replied Kevin.

“He just doesn't seem like that type of person to go camping in the woods,” said Adam.

“Well I’ll ask him,” said Kevin.

It was Thursday afternoon and Kevin, Adam, and Theresa were sitting in Geometry class, all thinking if this camping trip is really worth it. As they were sitting there, Kevin decided to finally ask Jacob about the camping trip.

“Psst,” whispered Kevin leaning over to Jacob. “Jake, I need to ask you something.”

“What,” replied Jacob with annoyance in his voice. “What do you want?  I'm trying to listen to Mr. Earl.”

“I was wondering if you wanted to go camping in the woods this Friday?” asked Kevin.

“On Friday the 13th? No way!” said Jacob.

“Please?” asked Kevin. “There's money involved,” he said, trying to persuade Jacob.

“How much money are we talking about?” asked Jacob with a smirk on his face.

“Um, how about twenty dollars?” asked Kevin with hope.

“Really,” said Jacob. “Twenty dollars, I don’t think so.”

“Ok,” said Kevin quickly. “What about twenty five dollars?”

“Twenty five,” said Jacob. “I don’t know?”

“Come on,” said Kevin. “It’s the best I can do.”

“I guess I can do twenty five,” said Jacob hesitantly. 

“Great,” exclaimed Kevin.

“Hey Adam,” whispered Kevin.

“What?” he asked. 

“I got Jake to go,” said Kevin.

“Good,” replied Adam.

“Here’s the thing though,” said Kevin. “I said he could have twenty five dollars if he comes.”

“What?” said Adam with anger. “Where do you think that twenty five dollars is coming from?”

“Well, I figured that twenty five dollars could come from mine and your money that we get,” said Kevin.

“No way,” said Adam. “I’m already giving up forty five for you!”

“Fine,” said Kevin. “How about I give up ten of my dollars and you give up fifteen of yours?”

“No way,” said Adam. “How about you give up fifteen of your dollars and I give up ten of mine.”

“Fine,” said Kevin. “You get to keep forty five, I get thirty, and Jake gets the last twenty five.”

“Sounds like a deal,” said Adam with satisfaction. 

Then Kevin turned around to talk to Theresa. 

“Hey Theresa,” he whispered.

“What do you want?” she whispered back.

“Are you still planning on coming camping?” he asked.

“Uh, yeah,” she replied. “Why do you ask?”

“Oh I was just wondering,” he said. “Because Jacob Anderson is coming.”

“Ok, that’s fine with me,” she replied

“Good,” said Kevin. “I was just checking to make sure it was fine with you.”

It was Friday the 13th, and all four of our main protagonists were going about the day nervously trying not to think about what lies ahead of them that evening. As the school day started coming to an end they were starting to become more fidgety about their camping trip in the woods. And what didn't seem to help was the fact that it was Friday the 13th and that everybody made it seem more scary than it really was by talking about scary movies, or spooky tales, or about Jason Voorhees. 

“So,” started Adam. “Are you nervous about the camping trip tonight?”

“What,” said Kevin with a jump. “Nervous, um, no, why would I be?” trying to sound cool. “Are you nervous?”

“What’s there to be nervous about?” said Adam, sounding unsure. 

“Oh, I don’t know,” replied Kevin. “I was just curious.”

They sat there in silence staring at the clock, watching it slowly tick second after second towards the end of the day.

“How do you think Jake and Theresa are feeling?” asked Kevin.

“I don’t know,” replied Adam. “Probably nervous.”

“Just like me,” whispered Kevin to himself. 

A couple of minutes later the clock turned three o’ six and the bell rang to signal that school was out. As school let out and everybody scrambled out to get on their buses or rush home to start their weekends our four main protagonists sluggishly made their way to their houses to pack up their stuff and to get prepared for what they’re about to do later. All four of them, all have the same thing in mind, “Are we going to be ok?” It was about four o'clock when they all arrived at the school parking lot.

“Looks like we’re all here,” said Kevin

“You guys excited for the camping to begin?” asked Adam nervously.

“Sure,” said the rest of them with no interest.

“Well,” started Kevin. “Should we start to head off to the woods?”

“Why not,” said Jacob sarcastically.

Our four protagonists started their adventure out of town towards the Whispering Forest. As they drew closer towards the woods a sudden fear came over all of them.

“So,” said Theresa. “Are we really going in there?”

“Of course we are,” said Adam with an unsure tone.

“I suppose we should start heading in there and set up camp before it gets too dark out,” said Kevin looking up at the dimming sky. 

“I’ll go first I suppose,” said Adam with some regret.

Our four characters slowly and doubtfully made their way into the thick and dark forest. They all walked very slowly and very close to each other trying to feel more safe. As they walked they looked all around them and kept an open ear making sure nothing was following them. Then they all jumped as the heard something move in the distance.

“What was that?” whispered Theresa to the others.

“I don’t know,” said Kevin. “Maybe it was a deer or squirrel.”

“Let’s just hope that it was,” whispered Jacob.

As they traveled deeper into the woods they heard more noises and movement around them. As they traveled along they started to become more worried and more afraid of the woods.

“I can see why they call this The Whispering Forest,” said Adam. “There’s lots of noises in this forest.”

“Yeah,” said Theresa. “I just hope we don’t see anything.”

“Especially since it’s getting darker now,” said Jacob.

“What’s that over there?” said Theresa suddenly. 

“What,” said Adam with some fright. “What do you see?”

“Its eyes are glowing, and it looks like some sort of animal,” said Theresa.

“Well how close is it you think?” asked Kevin

“I don’t know,” said Theresa. “Maybe about fifteen yards way.”

“Is it coming towards us,” asked Adam.

“No,” said Theresa. “But wait, it looks like it’s starting to move towards us!” 

“What should we do?” asked Jacob.

“I don’t know what we should do,” said Kevin. “We should just wait to see what it is.”

“Why!” said Jacob. “So that we can be attacked?”

“No,” said Kevin, “I just want to see what it is.”

They all stood there in silence watching the animal slowly come towards them. 

“I think we should bail,” suggested Jacob.

“No we can’t or I’ll lose the one hundred dollars,” said Adam.

“That's why you’re doing this,” said Jacob. “You’re doing this for the money, not to hang out with us.”

“Well why else would I want to come out here, especially on Friday the 13th!” said Adam.

“True,” said Jacob. “I’d probably do the same thing.”

“Shhh,” whispered Kevin. ”I’m trying to listen to see how close the animal is.”

As they watched it come slowly closer to them its eyes seemed to glow brighter and brighter, and the animal seemed to get bigger and bigger in the light of the setting sun. The four of them huddled in fear as they saw what they did not know come towards them. Then out of nowhere it made a horrible noise then came charging straight at them. They all screamed as it came charging at them. Then right before it attacked them it stopped a few feet in front of them…

To be continued.