Into the Woods

By Skylar McKinzie

Horror writer Hope Matthews is having nightmares. Nightmares where she's being stalked in the woods by a monster she can't see. Deciding that she's just under too much stress, she rents a cabin on Crystal Lake in Escape, Colorado over the Christmas holidays, determined to rid herself of her dreams and finish her latest book at the same time.

But something is waiting in the woods around Crystal Lake for Hope, something who knew she would be coming. Something who drew her there in her dreams.

Can Hope escape the Christmas season with her life, or will she find herself at the bottom of Crystal Lake, never to be seen again?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Crazy Ink
• Release date: Dec 15, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393767268

Book preview

Prologue

Homecoming Night

Football Game

5 Years Ago

Lora Winters pulled the sash that declared her the local high school’s homecoming queen over her head and flung it to the locker room floor. She was supposed to wear it out on the field tonight, ride on the float with the rest of the cheerleaders and smile as if this was the happiest night of her life. Only she knew that it wasn’t. She hated this town, hated Escape, Colorado with every fiber of her being.

Only eight more months, she muttered, as she changed into her cheerleading outfit, then picked the sash back up and draped it over her shoulder. Looking in the mirror, she had to let out a laugh at how ridiculous it looked to have a bright pink sash on over the black and gold colors of the school’s cheerleading outfits.

But that’s what Ms. Grundle wanted them to wear and Lord knows the cheerleading coach never thought she was wrong. Whether it was fashion, cheers, or your math grade, it was Ms. Grundle's way or the highway as she was fond of telling the girls on the squad, all day, every day.

Shaking her head at the idea that some old lady of twenty-five could even pretend to know what was fashionable and what wasn’t, Lora pulled her hair back in the classic bouncy ponytail that all the cheerleaders wore and set out to smile her widest, even though she hated everything about being a cheerleader.

She had just reached the door of the locker room when she felt someone watching her. She shivered, then turned back wondering who could be back here with her. The locker rooms, both girls and boys were deserted on Friday nights, because everyone was either on the field playing the game or in the bleachers cheering the team on.

Not seeing anyone, she turned on the lights and walked further into the locker room. Hello? Is anyone here? Sheila? Is that you? Come on, this isn’t funny. We have five minutes before we have to be on that float and I’m not going to have old lady Grundle yelling at me, because you can’t stop pulling your pranks.

A loud crash on the boy’s side sent Lora scurrying for the door onto the field. To hell with whoever was in there. They could steal the whole damn place and she wouldn’t care. Hearing footsteps behind her, she turned to yell at whoever was trying to scare her. The words died in her throat when she saw the shadowy figure standing just inside the door to the building.

Suddenly furious at being trifled with, she clenched her fists at her sides and muttered, I’ve had about enough of this bullshit! Lora turned back and stomped just inside the door of the building. If you have something you want to say, then say it! If this is a prank it’s not freaking funny!

Just as Lora stepped far enough into the building to not be seen from the bleachers, someone grabbed her. Struggling to get away, she screamed but the sound was muffled by the cloth being held tight against her face. With everything swimming in front of her eyes, Lora caught just a glimpse of her boyfriend Trent sprinting out onto the field before the chloroform took effect and she swam down into darkness.

DEPUTY ETHAN MYERS wiped his mouth, embarrassed to have gotten sick in the bushes at a crime scene. It wasn’t like he hadn’t been on the job for a few years now, hell he was planning on running against the current Sheriff at election time, but just the fact that he knew the girl was friends with his younger sister was enough to send him into a tailspin, and make him wonder about his choices in life.

I hope to never see anything like that again. One of the new guys on the force came across the football field towards him, his face pale.

You okay man? Ethan wiped his mouth, taking a deep breath to try and settle his stomach.

Who would do such a thing?

Murry, right? Ethan got his own grief under control by trying to make sense of this for the new kid.

The kid nodded, training his eyes anywhere on the field, but on the young girl whose body hung like a grotesque puppet show over the goal post of the football field. Ethan closed his eyes for a second, then popped them back open just as fast, when the image of Lora Winters' barely covered body flashed behind his eyelids. "I don’t have an answer for you, but we’re going to find out. Whoever did this to Lora isn’t going to get away with it.

A truck sitting in the parking lot started playing Christmas carols, which made the scene in front of them seem even more surreal. It was Christmas Eve, for God’s sake. This young girl should be out with her friends or home opening gifts with her family. Instead, she was beaten, stabbed repeatably and draped across the goalpost like a freaking Christmas ornament.

Ethan sighed again, barely able to control his temper at the senselessness of the crime. The strains of Oh, Holy Night filled their ears as they went to join the Sheriff so they could bring Lora down, take her to the coroner, and then inform her parents that their little girl was never coming home.

BLENDING IN WITH THE tourists and residents of Escape, I watched the cops scratch their heads at the bloody carnage in front of them. A jolt of anger flooded me when I thought of the reason a local had to die. The tourists weren’t enough to get the attention of the hick cops in this town. The girls missing from the next town over, now resting in a watery grave, weren’t enough to spur them into action, so I had to get creative.

When I first started this venture, it was because I loved the feel of the knife in my hand, loved the look of unbridled terror, shock, and finally acceptance in my victim’s eyes. But then She started talking to me and it wasn’t enough for her that only I knew of the bodies in the lake. She said it was time to bring attention to my handiwork. The result was the young, once vibrant corpse of the girl hanging on the goal post of the local high school.

Yet, I still had that craving to satisfy. Nothing gave me a tingle like visiting my girls at the lake behind the mountain cabin I had made my own. With a bittersweet smile, I faded back into the crowd gathered to gawk at the remains. Throwing one last kiss over my shoulder to the first of my local victims, I jogged to my car.

Once again, it was time for the hunt.

Chapter One

Present Day

Atlanta, GA

Hope Matthews sat bolt upright. Her heart was racing and sweat caused her flannel pajamas to stick to her like a second skin. Grimacing at the sticky feeling, she checked the glowing green light on her beside alarm clock, groaning when she realized it was once again exactly three a.m. Knowing from experience that getting back to sleep wasn’t in the cards for her, she shoved her feet into her furry bedroom slippers, pulled on a thick robe and headed to