That's what Josh, my best friend, asked me one night while we were camping in the woods.
"Seriously? Is this another story you made up, Josh?" asked Sue skeptically.
"No, no, this story is 100% true. Seriously, you've never heard of it?"
I shrugged my shoulders in denial.
Josh loved telling stories. Especially the urban legends he'd read on the Internet. Most likely he'd prepared a dozen of them in advance for the night.
"The story begins one late night in the forest where we are," Josh began seriously.
I smiled out of the corner of my mouth, and exchanged a glance with Sue, who knew as well as I did that, now that he was off and running, there was no stopping him.
"Milly was a high-schooler like the three of us, and ever since she was a little girl, she'd been picked on by the other kids. You see, Milly was different from the others. She always kept to herself, didn't dare speak up, and didn't mix well with the others. And soon, she became the target of others. Over the years, her reputation followed her, and the harassment from other students in her class became increasingly cruel"
Sue kept a neutral expression, but I could feel that the story touched her. She too had struggled to fit in after her parents moved here. And it was only after befriending Josh and me that she'd managed to come out of her shell. But if she hadn't, she might have been subjected to this kind of behavior too. In fact, she had confessed to me that this had even been the case at her previous school.
"One wintry evening, several students decided to play a prank on Milly," Josh continued, the flames from the campfire reflecting in his eyes.
"They all grabbed scary masks, armed themselves with knives, and chased Milly as she made her way home through the forest. Milly, terrified, fled as far as she could. She got lost in the forest. The story goes that during the night, cold, lost and hungry, she found a rope stretched over a branch, like an invitation. And that she ended her life."
"What a horror..." said Sue, still captivated by the tale.
"And since then, they say she haunts these woods, and that it's possible to summon her by repeating certain words."
"Cut the crap," I said, uncomfortably.
"I swear! All you have to do is stand in front of a branch and say "Milly Milly, why are you so lonely" three times, then turn around and say "Milly Milly, come talk to me" just once. Then you'll hear the sound of the rope swinging under the weight of her body. And the story goes, if you're unfortunate enough to turn around and look at her, she'll kill you.
"Okay, that's definitely nonsense. No, really, Josh, you had me going so far, but I don't believe it anymore," Sue said, standing up.
"You'll excuse me, guys, but I'm going to hit the sack. Good night, don't stay up too late tomorrow, we're leaving early."
And with that, she headed off to her tent.
Josh and I stayed a while, staring at the fire in silence.
After a while, as if he couldn't hold back any longer, he asked me, "Do you want to do it?"
"What?"
"Well, repeat the sentence and everything? Come on, we've been walking and picking mushrooms all day, what the hell?"
I had a feeling that if I didn't agree this night, he'd ask me every night after until I gave in, so I preferred to take the lead.
We found ourselves in front of a branch a few dozen feet from the camp, where the fire was beginning to fade. We had equipped ourselves with our flashlights to see where we were going.
Josh seemed excited.
I have to admit that once we got to the branch, I was more apprehensive than I would have imagined about some stupid urban legend.
"You're the one doing it," Josh told me.
"Why me? It was your idea, your story!"
"But I've already done it 15 times, come on, it's your turn, man, don't back down now."
I huffed, this was typical of him.
I stood in front of the branch, flashlight in hand. Josh gave me the sentence to repeat three times, and with a stutter or two, I managed to get it right.
I turned around, my back to the branch. Jose stood next to me because he said if he looked, it wouldn't work.
"Milly Milly, come talk to me," I finally said in a whisper.
"Hey, don't shit yourself," Josh laughed.
We waited for a few moments.
"Well I don't hear any taut rope noises, I guess that means I'll live."
"Maybe she was busy elsewhere tonight," Josh replied with a laugh.
"Come on let's go to bed, we're starting to freeze out here."
We headed back to our camp.
I couldn't help but look back for a moment while holding my lamp in front of me. And for a moment, I could have sworn I saw something moving from right to left near the tree where we'd been for a few moments.
Damn I should really stop listening to Josh’s stories.
I was awakened by a scream.
I scrambled to my feet, ears pricked and wondering if I'd imagined the scream.
I could see through the canvas of my tent that it was still dark outside.
"Josh? Sue?" I called aloud, our tents being right next to each other.
No answer.
Why the hell aren't they answering? If they play a prank on me, I'm going to kill them.
I grabbed the flashlight from my tent, my cell phone, and quietly stepped out of my tent.
"Josh? Sue?" I asked again.
I lit up their tents in turn, and noticed they were both open, and empty.
I couldn't remember clearly what I'd heard, but I thought the scream I'd heard was that of a girl. I couldn't believe for a second that Sue would participate in a prank like that.
But if it wasn't that, then maybe something serious had happened.
As I stood there trying to think about where they might have gone, and what might have happened, a strong wind blew. And to my right, a few dozen feet away, I spotted something moving.
"Josh, I swear to God, if this is one of your stupid jokes," I said as I slowly approached, my flashlight trying to shine through the vegetation toward the spot.
I walked towards where I'd thought I'd seen movement, and finally, I saw something just to my right moving again. Slowly, heavily.
I heard the sound of a taut rope.
I shone my flashlight from bottom to top.
And there I saw Josh, hanging by his neck with a rope tied to the branch of a tree.
I was silent for a few seconds at the shock.
"Josh, please stop this bullshit."
His face was contorted in an expression of sheer terror, eyes revolted back. His skin was blue, lifeless.
I nudged him with my hand, and he just rocked back and forth a little.
I couldn't believe it. It must have been an elaborate prank on his part, it wasn't possible, not Josh. He was glowing with life, he would never have taken his own life like that, in the middle of the night, camping with us.
The reality finally dawned on me, and I was overcome by a violent sob. My legs buckled and I threw up on the ground.
As I wiped my mouth, my eyes misty with tears, I heard something impossible.
The sound of a taut rope slowly swinging, right behind me.
I straightened up slowly, the sensation of mortal danger just behind my neck.
"Who... who's there?" I asked, my voice trembling and still tight.
The rope suddenly stopped moving.
"Why won't you look at me?" asked a feminine voice from beyond the grave and whose windpipe seemed to be strangled.
"Wh... What?"
"Your friend looked at me. And look at him now. He's so much happier, here, with me."
I remained silent, my eyes fixed in front of me, as if frozen in place.
It's impossible, she can't be real, you're having a nightmare, wake up wake up.
"LOOK AT ME!"
I ran.
I didn't know where, and I didn't care. She'd killed Josh, and now this thing, whatever it was, was after me.
After a minute I remembered Sue's scream. She must have been awakened like me, maybe by Josh getting up or when he'd been killed, and she must have discovered his corpse too.
With any luck, she'd managed to escape too.
I figured that if she'd gone off with her cell phone too, she'd have tried to escape to the nearest road, which was about 15 miles away, even though there was no way she'd get there before the night was over.
I tried calling the police or my parents without success. But luckily the GPS still seemed to be working, so I followed this direction.
I was walking fast now so as not to collapse on the ground from exhaustion. I was already out of breath and couldn't stop.
I always made sure to aim my flashlight at the ground in front of me to be on the safe side. The urban legend Josh had told me was that you had to "turn around and look at her" for her to kill you, so maybe I shouldn't look her in the eye?
I felt like I was being stalked, I flinched at every movement of a branch in the wind, and I constantly felt eyes behind my back, but I was too scared to turn around.
I had to get the hell out of this forest.
Sorry Josh, I promise I'll come back for you as soon as I find some help.
I spotted an abandoned cabin we'd seen on the way here. I remembered Sue had said that if there was a storm, we could always take shelter there.
Suddenly, I saw light piercing the darkness through the wooden planks of the cabin.
I sprinted toward it.
"Sue! I'm coming!" I shouted, out of breath.
I stepped inside, the boards creaking beneath my feet. Light streamed in from under the door of the cabin's only small bedroom.
I crossed the space between me and the door, glad I'd found Sue before I fled here. I put my hand on the door handle.
"Sue...", I paused. The silence was unnatural, something was wrong.
"Sue, are you okay?" I asked through the door, my hand still on the handle.
"Sue answer me please you're freaking me out, Josh is dead and the thing that killed him is still around we need to get the hell out of here."
No response.
"Sue!"
I noticed the light moving under the door. As if someone was holding the strap at the end of a finger and swinging it left and right.
"No no no," I said in horror.
In response, a childish laugh rang out from behind the door.
I ran to the front door, which I opened with a shove of my shoulder, and ran, ran straight out.
After a few minutes I collapsed on the ground. It forced me to stop and think about what had happened. Maybe it wasn't Sue. Maybe this thing had managed to grab a flashlight and was playing with me. After all, I had no idea of the extent of it’s abilities.
I kept my eyes on my knees as I pondered what I'd just seen.
Then I heard it. That sound, which I could now detect among any other sounds.
The sound of a rope stretched taut, swinging from left to right.
The sound wasn't coming from behind me this time, but from my left.
I could feel her sinister gaze on me, inviting me to look back at her, and sealing my death in the process.
I stood up, eyes still on my feet, and started to run to my right.
But I was stopped in my tracks. The sound of rope was now coming from just ahead.
Without thinking, I turned again in the opposite direction.
Again, the sound was coming from right in front of me.
She's everywhere. I'm screwed.
I stood there with my eyes on my feet, trying to think of a solution. I was reaching my limit. Josh's death, Sue missing, maybe dead too, and this running around all night.
I closed my eyes, and tears quickly formed at the ends.
I had an idea.
Legend had it that it was "looking" at her that allowed her to kill you. What if, what if I kept moving forward, looking at my feet. Or even, closed my eyes?
The very idea of walking through the forest with my eyes closed sent a chill down my spine, but what other choice do I have?
I've been squatting here for several minutes now, writing this message.
I've tried to call the police but every time I call all I hear is static.
I don't know where Sue is or how to get rid of this thing. I'm alone, I'm cold and I'm exhausted.
If you're reading this, please help me.
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