He roamed the forest like a lion in search of his prey. The fog was so dense he could poke holes in it with his fingernails. He liked the mist. It encompassed the land and intermingled with the darkness causing quite an eerie ambience. What a perfect day to kill. Mother Nature couldn’t have provided a better mood to the upcoming slaughter.

He was restless. Would he ever find the solace he craved? The autumn breeze swept through his body awakening his senses and preparing him for the hunt. Actually it wasn’t a hunt since his victims would come to him. All he had to do was watch and wait. That was the hard part. He wanted blood now. He was thirsty and that was the only cocktail that would quench is appetite.

He loved darkness. In the dark things were hidden unlike the light that manifests human nature and all its weaknesses and downfalls and there were many. Yes he loved darkness and mist that covered the land and made everything invisible to the naked eye.

He wasn’t always this sinister and morbid. But life taught him the cruel lesson of achieving justice at any and all costs. He clutched the Bible in his hand while searching for a good place to bury it. It was useless to him as was the idea of any kind of god existing and looking out for the good of people. There was no such thing as a god; especially this god Christians talk about who is supposed to be this all merciful, all forgiving deity. That thought alone made him laugh with scorn. That kind of god only existed in fairy tales and fiction. He was convinced that people created this god in their minds to make them feel better about all the wrong they do. This Christian god is supposed to forgive all sins and give you hope of a peaceful and wonderful afterlife. Of course people believe it – or rather want to believe it. This way they can justify all their wrongdoing by saying that god will forgive them.

He tried to do right by others. But it’s true what they say about the children suffering because of the sins of the parents. It happens every time. His miserable life was a result of the heinous crimes of his parents and now his children would suffer a similar destiny. They were doomed to suffer. So he had to prevent that from happening at any cost.

They were coming. It was only a matter of time before he would feast on their flesh. Did he want them all or should be claim one tonight and take his time with the rest? Yes, that was better. This way he could watch the others suffer for their loved one. If he killed them all tonight what fun would that be? He believed in spreading out his activities. They’ll be plenty of time to claim the others. After all, when you’re dead you have nothing but time.

It was just about the time of the annual Halloween retreat that he knew they liked to venture out into and what better time than now? He spent the last few years of his life building this cabin in the most secluded remote spot in the mountains and it would be the perfect place to dwell, mediate, and plan the next murder. After all that’s what he had done all these years up here and now he won’t be alone. Now he’ll have his bloodline joining him and together they’d seek vengeance on all that had it coming. Yes, the sins of the parents definitely trickled down to the children. It was almost like a legacy the parents leave behind that the children are doomed to share. And this case was no exception.

“Come on Benji, let’s go! We’re not going to the moon to camp out,” Jack yelled at his brother from the bottom of the stairs.

Benjamin finally made his appearance at the top of the staircase and smiled shyly as he lugged a suitcase down the steps.

“You packed a suitcase?” Gabriel laughed. “Man, you’re such a girl.”

“Hey just the essentials are in here,” Ben remarked. “Sunscreen, insect repellent, some sweaters and chocolate.”

Jack shook his head. “You don’t need all that. Real men just camp out with the clothes on their backs. And what do you intend on doing with this suitcase when we go hiking? There is no way you’re going to lug that around.”

“Yeah real men,” Gabriel teased.

“I’ll just leave it at our campsite,” Ben said. “It’s not like it’s going to get stolen. I don’t think those woods are going to have any campers this time of year. They usually go in the summertime.”

“True. But who knows?” Jack said. “Maybe we’ll have some leaf peepers in the area.”

“Not where we’re going,” Gabriel reminded them. “The spot I chose is a secluded area that nobody would ever venture into.”

“Right, I forgot, it’s where the Boogeyman resides,” Jack said sarcastically.

“I’m telling you guys, it’s true,” Gabriel said. “Those woods have a demon in there. He lives in the deepest darkest part of those mountains and he just waits for some poor unsuspecting soul to dare go in there so he can claim his victim.”

“Where do you come up with this stuff, man?” Jack remarked.

“I don’t come up with it,” Gabriel insisted. “Haven’t you heard the legend?”

“That’s all it is,” Ben said. “A legend.”

But Jack and Gabriel knew that Ben was a little scared. His big brother Jack would always tease him and go along with Gabriel’s crazy stories just to frighten his brother. Gabriel, their close friend however, truly did believe in the supernatural. Sometimes Jack wondered if Gabriel made up these stories just to scare Benjamin who believed anything, or if he really did believe in a demon residing in the beautiful mountains located merely feet from their enormous house on the outskirts of town.

Jack and Benjamin made an annual ritual of camping in The Green Mountains a week before Halloween. They chose that time because the weather was perfect. It wasn’t unbearably hot and humid like summer and there was no snow or freezing temperatures like in the winter. In fact, autumn was the perfect time for their campouts because the fall foliage was in full swing and it wouldn’t last much longer before winter weather settled in. So every year they took a weekend out of their schedules to spend some quality brother bonding time with each other and go hiking and tell ghost stories around the campfire and just enjoy the beauty that nature offered this time of the season.

This year their best friend Gabriel wanted to join them on their annual retreat and the guys were thrilled to have him along. Gabriel actually owned a cabin in the Green Mountains that he called his home away from home. It was more like a retreat for him when he needed to escape the rest of the world. He offered to have them stay up there, but Jack scoffed at him and said that the point of the trip was to rough it in the outdoors. Benjamin, on the other hand, wasn’t too opposed to the idea but his brother wouldn’t hear of it. Their friend Gabriel was the creative fun one who came up with the most absurd ghost stories and tall tales anybody could ever imagine. So they figured that bringing him along would great be entertaining to them if they wanted to get spooked. Of course Jack never got scared. He didn’t believe in anything paranormal or supernatural. But he loved watching his brother’s face as he pretended not to be freaked out, but Jack knew better.

While Jack took the weekend off to be with his brother and friend, his wife Isabel would stay home with their son Caleb who was eight, and decorate the house with all sorts of fun stuff in preparation for Halloween a week and a half away. That satisfied Caleb who couldn’t wait to put pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns everywhere and of course, go shopping with his mother for a trick-or-treating costume. He was almost at the age where he would outgrow all that so Isabel wanted to take advantage while she still could before adulthood spoiled all the fun.

Joining them this year would be Sadie who was Gabriel’s daughter. She was the same age as Caleb and they were good friends from school. Her mother recently passed away leaving Gabriel to take care of his daughter on his own. So now that he was going camping with his buddies, Isabel offered to watch over her for the weekend. Sadie was a joy and this way Caleb would have a friend to keep him company since he had no siblings of his own. Sadie was just like a sister to Caleb and they fought and got along like siblings too.

“Let’s go before I’m forty,” Jack said. “You’re worse than Isabel when it comes to getting ready.”

“He wants to look good for the ghosts,” Gabriel remarked.

“Cut it out!” Ben remarked. “There are no ghosts in those woods. I hope you don’t go around filling your daughter’s head with this nonsense.”

“She already believes in them,” Gabriel said. “Because they’re real. I don’t try to dissuade her from the truth.”

Jack and Benjamin exchanged glances and Jack shrugged. He didn’t know what to think about their friend.

“Honey we’re leaving!” Jack called to his wife.

Isabel came out of the kitchen with a towel in her hand and Caleb and Sadie following her like two puppies with their faces covered in pumpkin.

They were in the kitchen carving pumpkins and Isabel was trying desperately to wipe their hands so they couldn’t get it all over the place.”

“You be good while I’m gone,” Jack told Caleb. “And take care of your mommy.”

“I will. You promise you will come back before Halloween to take me trick-or-treating?” Caleb asked with half a cookie still in his mouth.

“I promise,” Jack laughed. “I’m only going camping for one night son.” Then he whispered in his ear, but loud enough for Ben to hear, “Although your uncle packs like he was going away for a year.”

Caleb giggled as Jack placed a kiss on his cheek and put him down saying, “Wipe that mouth of yours, Caleb. And say goodbye to your uncle and Gabriel.”

“Bye,” Caleb said to them.

“Bye daddy,” Sadie said to Gabriel.

He picked up his daughter and found a spot on her check that wasn’t covered in pumpkin and planted a kiss. “Behave while you’re staying here with Isabel,” he instructed. “Do as she tells you.”

“Don’t worry about her Gabriel, she’s an angel,” Isabel said.

“Thank you for watching her this weekend,” Gabriel remarked.

“My pleasure,” Isabel said. “Now you boys be safe. Are you sure you packed some warm sweaters and jackets? It gets very cold at night.”

“I did,” Benjamin said proudly displaying his suitcase.

Jack rolled his eyes at his brother and remarked that they were fine.

Jack and Ben did not look like brothers. In fact, their features were so dissimilar that they often joked that one of them was adopted. Jack was a tall well built man who stood at a towering six foot 4 inches and tanned skin from working and playing out in the fields year round. He was very athletic; hence the masculine muscles that were a result. His hair was the color of a fiery summer sunset and he kept it pretty well groomed and cut all year round. In contrast, Ben was shorter with only a five foot five inch stature and was bulky in his build, but it was not muscle that he attributed that bulkiness but rather his fondness of food and his lack of motion. His hair, or rather when he used to have hair, was the color ash. But Benjamin never cared much for it because it wasn’t smooth and straight like Jack’s, but rather had too many kinks. So rather than deal with the gels and hairsprays to tame it, Ben did himself a favor one day by shaving it all off. He loved it and kept it that way ever since. The only time he wished he had hair was in the winter when Vermont brought its white blanket of snow to cover the land and his head got cold. So from November to April Benjamin always had some sort of hat or cap to keep him warm.

Isabel turned serious and looked up from her petite five foot one inch frame at her husband. “Are you sure it’s safe?”

“Honey of course it’s safe,” Jack said. “Come on, you’re not going to listen to those stories of ghosts and goblins are you? That’s Gabriel’s department. Don’t be like Ben.”

Ben gave him an angry glare as Jack continued. “Honestly, we’ve lived here forever and you know those Green Mountains are safe.”

“I know,” Isabel remarked. “Just be careful anyway.”

“Always,” Jack reassured his wife. He gave her a kiss, told her he loved her and said goodbye to the children before he and Ben and Gabriel headed out the door.

“I love you too,” Isabel cried back just as the door slammed shut.

She had a worried expression on her face. Ever since she listened to those silly girls at church with their foolish talk of ghosts and spirits lurking in those woods, she always had a sense of trepidation when Jack and Ben went there. She knew it was irrational and childish. Jack was right. They had lived there all their lives and those mountains were peaceful and beautiful. And this time of year they would be exceptionally beautiful displaying their fall foliage that millions of people flocked to see from all over the world every year. She knew they would be fine. Still, Isabel couldn’t shake the premonition she felt all through her body as she felt a tug on her skirt.

She looked down at Sadie who said, “It’s not safe for daddy to go to those woods.”

“Oh honey come on now,” Isabel said kneeling down to be eye level with the girl. “You know there is no such thing as ghosts.”

“That’s not what daddy says,” Sadie insisted.

Isabel shook her head. How could Gabriel fill his daughter’s head with such nonsense? She wondered.

She decided to distract the kids by suggesting they resume with their pumpkin carving. The two hurried back into the kitchen with Isabel following. Before she joined them, she crossed herself a couple of times and said a silent prayer for the Virgin Mary to watch over those guys.

Nightfall draped the land quickly as it always did this time of year. Jack, Ben and Gabriel managed to get some good hiking done before it got completely dark and by the time they set up camp, Ben was exhausted while Jack and Gabriel felt invigorated.

“Man I’m out of shape,” Ben said as he reached in his suitcase for a chocolate bar.

Jack laughed at him as he worked on building a fire for them. The air was cool and crisp just as predicted and the autumn was indeed showing off its brilliant exhibition of colors. Of course now in the darkness of the night, all the leaves looked alike. But the scent of maple was in the air.

The three were peacefully camped out in a secluded part of the Green Mountains. It was a spot Gabriel loved and had discovered on his many hiking excursions so he wanted to introduce it to his two friends. It was a wooded area that had more trees than any other part of the mountains. That was part of its allure for Gabriel. It was heavily forested and it gave that part of the mountains an almost eerie feeling since the moonlight liked to dance on the treetops and cast its shadows on the land.

They were laying on their sleeping bags on their back staring up at the night sky and the stars that were sprinkled like salt above them. They had on sweaters and blankets because it had indeed gotten quite cold as soon as the sun vanished. It was a typical Vermont autumn where the days were warm and pleasant and the nights were downright cold. And it was only going to get colder as the season progressed and Halloween segued into Thanksgiving.

“Do you ever thing about Dad?” Jack asked out of the blue to Ben.

Surprised, Ben turned his head to look at this brother. “That came out of nowhere.”

“I’ve been thinking about him a lot lately,” Jack said. “He was so vibrant and so full of passion and life. He had so many dreams and aspirations.”

Ben nodded in silence as Gabriel just listened. “I still can’t believe it sometimes.”

“How he died?” Ben asked.

Jack nodded. “Not just that but what Mom did; betraying him the way she did. It’s her fault Dad never accomplished anything he set out to do. When she betrayed him she not only broke his heart but she crushed his spirit. I don’t understand how you can claim to love someone yet sleep with another man. I wish that Caleb could have met his grandfather, but as for his grandmother, I have to say I’m glad he’ll never meet Mom. I guess I never forgave her for what she did to Dad even though I know she loved us and it had nothing to do with us.”

“Is that what happened to your parents?” Gabriel intervened.

The two brothers looked at their best friend and then at each other. They trusted Gabriel more than anybody else outside the family and decided it was time he learned the truth of their parents – a subject that up until this point they hadn’t ever wanted to discuss.

“Yeah our mom had an affair with another man and when our father learned about it, he was so devastated he fell into this terrible depression. He didn’t eat, sleep, stopped going to work and pretty soon his health began to deteriorate,” Ben paused unable to continue.

Jack continued for him. “One day he went off into these mountains leaving us a note. He wanted us to know how much he loved us but that he couldn’t go on with the knowledge that his beloved betrayed him. He committed suicide up here.”

“Oh man I’m so sorry to you both,” Gabriel said. “How could I have never known that being your best buddy?”

“We just didn’t want to talk about it,” Ben spoke up. “For a long time we both hated our father for deserting us. Soon after Mom died and left us to basically care for each other. But we were old enough to do that without any sort of authoritative adult to be our guardian.”

“But before Dad died, do you remember how he always talked about wanting to open up his own business?” Jack asked Ben.

Ben nodded with a smile. “Yeah. He kept talking about how he wanted to make a difference; even if it meant just making one person smile each day, and that would make him happy. That was just the kind of man he was.”

“You know what? I want to open up my own shop,” Jack said. “I want to fulfill Dad’s last wish.”

“What kind of shop?” Ben asked Jack.

“I don’t know, but someplace people can go to and have fun,” Jack said. “A place where I would be known in this part of Vermont. A place like…”

Jack was quiet as Gabriel and Ben turned over on their sides to look at him. “Like what?” Ben asked.

Jack took a deep breath and inhaled the sugar maple that the Green Mountains were famous for this time of year and said, “A place like a maple store!” he exclaimed.

He sat up in his sleeping bag at the thought of it; his eyes wide open like two bright light bulbs. “That’s it!” he exclaimed. “I’m going to open up a shop where I can make my own maple syrup. And it won’t just be maple syrup, it will be maple everything. People will be able to get maple flavored candy, popcorn, anything that suits their fancy. And it won’t be that Aunt Jemima crap either. It will be fresh maple syrup taken right from these trees and bottled at the source.”

“Mmmm, pancakes,” Ben said.

Jack elbowed him playfully and said, “Will you stop thinking about eating for one second?”

“Okay, one,” Ben said with a smile.

“I think I will be the hit of the entire state of Vermont,” Jack continued in excitement. “Who doesn’t like maple?”

“I think you might be on to something there bro,” Ben said. “Need any help with this idea?”

“How would you like to be my partner?” Jack asked.

“If it has to do with food, I’m in,” Ben said.

“What about you?” Jack asked Gabriel.

“I think I’ll pass,” Gabriel said. “I want to open up a store of my own and sell Halloween accessories; only it won’t be open just around Halloween, but year round. It will have cauldrons and incense and voodoo dolls. All things associated with conjuring up spirits.”

“You and your spirits,” Benjamin said. “You really are into this stuff aren’t you?”

“It’s real man,” Gabriel said. “And I’m going to educate the public on just how real it is.”

The three resumed positions laying on their backs and looking at the moon in silence. They had set up a tent but decided to build a fire and build their sleeping bags outside of it instead. Gabriel claimed that’s how real men camped. They didn’t need a tent but slept right underneath the stars. Jack and Ben followed suit.

“I have to take a piss,” Gabriel remarked before getting out of his sleeping bag and wandering far enough to take care of his business.

After a few minutes of being alone, Ben turned to his brother and said, “You’re a lucky man Jack.”

“Why do you say that?” Jack asked.

“Well come on bro, look at all you have,” Ben said. “A beautiful wife who adores you, and she is mighty beautiful, a son who worships you and now a shop that will probably earn you a lot of money.”

“Yeah I am pretty blessed,” Jack agreed. “But hey, that shop will be both of ours. We can finally quit our day jobs and run this shop full time. Oh I can’t wait to tell Isabel this idea tomorrow.”

“I can’t wait to tell, oh wait a minute, I don’t have a wife to tell,” Ben said with a hint of self pity in his voice.

“You’ll find someone bro,” Jack said. “And she’ll be almost as wonderful as my Isabel. You’ll see.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Ben remarked. “We’ll see.” But silently Ben thought that nobody could be as wonderful as Isabel.

They were quiet again; each in their own thoughts. Jack suddenly turned to Ben and reached his hand out, grabbed his shoulder and said, “Boo!”

It actually caused Ben to jump as Jack rolled in his sleeping bag with laughter. “First you have to stop being a chicken and then maybe you’ll get a woman.”

“I know you think I’m being ridiculous listening to Gabriel’s gibberish about the supernatural but I was talking to Scott at work and he swears up and down that when he came out here last fall he saw a ghost roaming around the woods. He was camping too and his campfire suddenly blew out after he just made it. There was no breeze or anything that would cause a fire to burn out that quickly. Then like a second afterwards he saw something that looked like a silhouette of a person only it wasn’t a person. It was a thing, an apparition gliding around his campsite. He was so freaked out; he packed up his backpack and split.”

“Scott is a freak,” Jack said lamely. “And you’re listening to his convoluted stories, which doesn’t make you any better. As far as Gabriel, I think he is still pulling our legs. He wants us to think that he believes in this stuff but I don’t think he really does.”

“But he’s always talking about it,” Benjamin said. “Why would be talking about it so much when he doesn’t believe it? He even convinced his daughter that ghosts are real.”

Jack shrugged. “Well I don’t believe it,” he said. “There are no such things as ghosts. Goodnight little bro.”

“Goodnight,” Ben replied.

He watched as Jack closed his eyes and was immediately overtaken by sleep; his stomach moving up and down rhythmically.

He wondered where Gabriel was. He was taking an awfully long time taking a leak; unless it was more than just a piss he had to do.

Ben just stared at the stars listening to the crackling of the fire and the forest noises. Of course there were no such thing as ghosts, Ben told himself. That was just silly.

But nobody thought it was so silly when Jack turned out missing the next day.

Benjamin and Gabriel had gone to the local authorities and claimed that when they woke up that morning, Jack wasn’t in his sleeping bag and there was no sign of him. They waited and waited and finally got restless and scoured the area.

When they returned to the house in hopes to find Jack there, Isabel said she hadn’t heard from him. Horrified, she made Ben and Gabriel call the police and a search party was instantly formed.

Forty eight hours later, a body was discovered by local authorities bloody and mutilated buried under a pile of leaves. Next to the body was a doll bound with twine, which had several pins and what looked like fish bones stuck into every part of it. It was unclear who the body belonged to because it was so badly disfigured beyond the point of recognition. But when Jack never returned, it was assumed the body belonged to him. Of course an autopsy was performed, and the coroner confirmed it must be Jack Graham. Cause of death-homicide. After interrogation and many questions directed at Benjamin, Gabriel and even Isabel, it was concluded that someone grabbed Jack in the night and stabbed him repeatedly before abandoning him deep in the forest. As far as the doll found beside the corpse; it was believed to be voodoo.

Benjamin and Gabriel swore they hadn’t heard or seen anything suspicious. Actually they had fallen asleep from the exhaustion of hiking all day that they were both out like a light and hadn’t woken up all night until daybreak when they discovered Jack to be missing.

A week after that on Halloween night a group of children ventured into those same woods unsupervised to try to see if the rumors were correct and if they could spot any ghosts or paranormal activities. The children were never seen from or heard from again.

Isabel grieved for her husband and Benjamin for his brother. Gabriel just insisted it was the demon who claimed Jack that night. Caleb cried at the prospect of never seeing his father again. Sadie just told him that she knew all along it wasn’t a good idea for their fathers to go into those woods because all the children at school said it was haunted.

Gabriel gave Isabel and Benjamin his condolences before he and his daughter went home that day. Despite Benjamin’s attempt at comforting his sister-in-law, she was too much in grief and sought refuge and comfort in the church. It was determined that she needed to go away for therapy. It was the only way she could truly deal with her loss and be a decent mother to her son. So in her absence she wrote this note to Ben.

My Dearest Ben,

You have been a wonderful brother in law to me and Jack was lucky to have you for a brother. I know that I still have my son but he is a constant reminder of my beloved husband. I fear I cannot go on like this and be a proper mother or any sort of functioning individual in society. So I must seek treatment to help me cope with this devastating loss. In the meantime, I ask that you take over temporary guardianship of my son until my return. I would very much like it if you continued residing in this house since it is as much yours as it is ours. I plan to one day pass on this house to Caleb and keep it in the family. When he is of rightful age he can decide what to do with it. I apologize for placing such a heavy burden on your shoulders but I trust no one else with Caleb but you. I know you will be a wonderful parent to him in my absence more so than I can be for at the moment. Thank you and God bless.

Despite the contents of the letter, Ben found the PS to be the most disturbing part.

PS. In the length of time I am away, raise Caleb the way you see fit, but please just follow one request I ask of you. Keep him away from the Green Mountains. I am convinced that something sinister lies in those woods. My beloved did not die at the hands of a random killer, but rather there is pure evil that resides in that forest; an evil that transcends any of our mortal imaginations.