Every October, the fog rolled thick through Deadman’s Grove, a forest that’s beyond the end of town. Locals said it was haunted, but Kevin, a twelve-year-old, didn’t believe in ghost stories. But that all changed the night he followed the flickering lantern.
It was just past 7 o’clock when Kevin’s dog, Rusty, sprinted into the woods. Kevin chased after him, calling his name, but the fog swallowed his voice. That’s when he saw it, a dim orange flickering light, dancing between each tree. A lantern.
Kevin thought it might be a hiker or a camper. Kevin followed the light deeper into the forest, but it always stayed just out of reach. The trees grew thicker, the air got colder. Rusty was nowhere to be seen.
“Hello?” Kevin yelled. The lantern paused then flickered twice. He stepped closer. That’s when he noticed something strange, the lantern wasn’t being held by anyone. It floated.
Kevin’s heart pounded. He turned to run, but the forest had changed. The path was gone. The trees looked older, twisted. Kevin was lost.
The lantern moved again, slowly circling him. Whispers filled the air, soft, echoing voices that seemed to come from the fog itself. “Stay…Stay…”
Kevin backed away, tripping over a root. As he got to his feet, he saw Rusty standing beside a tree, barking furiously. The lantern flared bright, then vanished. Kevin ran to Rusty and found a narrow trail behind a tree. He didn’t look back. The whispers faded as he got farther away from the forest, breathless and shaking.
The next morning, Kevin returned to Deadman’s Grove with his parents and a police officer. They found no lantern, no trail, and no sign of anyone else. But near the tree where Rusty had barked, Kevin spotted something half-buried in the dirt, a rusted lantern, cold and cracked.
“That’s from the old logging camp, ”The police officer said. “Burned down over a hundred years ago. They say that one man never made it out.”
Kevin never went back to Deadman’s Grove. But sometimes, when the fog is thick, and the wind is just right, he swears he can still hear the whispers.
Karsyn Mooney, Bennington
Age 13