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Peach Hollow
By: Aenima


It’s Halloween, and the air is a bleak, cool breeze with the tingling of excitement. The Halloween icons stuck up from people's yards, and the kids are  getting ready for the classic Halloween tradition, trick or treating. I, on the other hand, had different plans. A group of friends and I are heading into the woods to find out the mystery of Peach Hollow. Peach Hollow, Pennsylvania, the town that beamed with the spooky spirit every October, and whose enthusiasm traveled into November and December as well, as well as housing my family and I. It, however, houses a mystery. In 1966, in these very woods that our town was built over. A bright light flashed from the rustic trees and a patch of eternally dead trees stayed. What didn’t stay, however, were four people whose disappearance plagued the mind of the eternally curious and enthusiasts of the macabre. It’s a common tale here in Peach Hollow, as well as a tale with no true ending. 
I arrive at Sirius Lane, the house that we all decided to meet in. Inside were three of my friends, Sabrina,  Louis and Em. “Hey Josh!”, they all erupted with glee and a quiet determination. We didn’t have much time, as sundown is rapidly approaching.
“Alright!”, Louis projected as he stood. “Here’s the plan!”
“We start at my house on Sirius Lane, and we take the backstreets to Maple Crossings, then take a left into Peach Clearing, into Waning Woods, then we stay inside a little clearing and during the night, we walk around and see if we can find anything paranormal, got it?” We all nod, and head outside the garage into our vehicles.
	As we arrive to Peach Clearing, we all feel a tense tingling in the air. The air grows even colder, and the sun, with all its radiance, goes to slumber, and the moon comes up and takes its place. We walk inside the clearing, and follow the rudimentary path to another clearing deeper inside the forest. The atmosphere was a pitch black scene, besides the lanterns and small campfire we created, and the willow trees looked like demons bent over in the darkness, waiting for the spirit world and the human world to finally connect so they can unleash their wrath on humanity. We setup our tents, unload our packs into them, and grab our lanterns and walk deeper into the woods.	
	The air is a frigid demon, and we as we arrive to the patch of eternally dead trees, we see a dim light that isn’t our own. We see an old, rustic oil lantern on the ground. We inspect it to be around fifty years old. We almost pick up the relic, then we hear a voice closer behind us.
“You....are here?”
Em releases a blood curdling scream, and we see the ghastly figure in front of us. His skin was paler than a ghoul, and his figure about as lanky as the trees he hid in. His face is old and distorted, and his cloak is ripped, revealing tattered clothing underneath. 
“Who are you?!” Sabrina screamed.
“I am but an old soul who have inhabited these woods for years. Who may you be?”, the figure asked in a calm  but unnerving tone
“Why do you want to know?!” Louis shouted at the man. I grab his shoulder and pull him back.
“We’re just some kids travelling through the forests.”, I say in a calm tone
“Y..y...yeah.” Em quietly whimpers.
“Ah, I see” the man says in his tone “If you’re wanting the mystery of the disappearances here fifty years ago, I suggest you turn around.” He states in a slightly more aggressive tone.
“I’m sorry, but we’re gonna figure this out” Louis says, as we all grab our lanterns and walk away from the shrouded figure,
	As we slowly walk up another rudimentary path, we see a large, burnt patch of grass. The wind feels as if Hell itself had frozen over and released its frozen evil on the world. We examine the burnt patch when suddenly screams can be heard.
A heavenly-bright light appeared in front of our group. We could hear the screams of the evil and wicked from the other side of our existence. The cloaked man appeared once again, this time with his lantern as bright as the portal behind us.
“I warned you all.” He said eerily. “I warned everyone, including those kids from fifty years ago, to never come to this path on Halloween. This is the weakest point of reality connected to the spirits on the other side and those who come too close are swallowed up by the bright oblivion and transferred into a world not their own...”
“Shut your mouth!” Louis cried, not believing.
The cloaked man walked up to Louis, and proceeded to chastise him in front of us.
 “You foolish kid! You’ve caused this upon yourself!” the cloaked man cried.
	Suddenly, the portal grew brighter and larger, and the willows started to blow in a macabre way. The world of the other side grew larger and engulfed Louis and Sabrina, whose faces in there last moments had the sheer look of terror, the fearful gaze of the eternal demise of humanity, the loss of innocence and life in the same moment.
 “You two, you shall be spared by my hand” he exclaimed, “But, be warned. The real evil isn’t the spirits, it’s humanity itself. Anything these spirits do, it was motivated by the sinful life they lived. Humans are capable of scarier things than this.” The man walked into the spirit portal, and a flash of light blinded Em and I. As soon as we regained our  vision, we ran out of the forest with the loss of innocence and the sheer gloss of terror. Out of all of this, the thing that cloaked man said about humanity being capable of the same evil things that spirits are, it resonated. Humans are the true terror of the world, and the evil isn’t just the spirits on Halloween....
	We reach the front of the woods, and Em and I embrace. We saw our friends meet their eternal demise in our very eyes. The faces they made will haunt me, and the evil of the spirits will follow me. Police sirens flare up and flashing lights of red and blue come ever near.