Horror logo

The Murderous Spirit of Howard Frank

A ghost story

By Paige Turner Published 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago 5 min read
Like
The Murderous Spirit of Howard Frank
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. The dark dense forest surrounding the cabin fell eerily silent, not a croak from a frog, a song from a bird or a chirp from a squirrel. The creatures of the forest felt the dark presence had come back. It had been fifty-five years since that candle burned, and it could only mean one thing, the spirit Howard Frank had returned to claim his next victim.

Four college students had decided to go camping in a forest.

Once they set up their tents, they we’re ready to start drinking. They were couples: Sam was with Greg and Owen with Bianca. Greg was studying to be a doctor, and Sam was going to become an elementary school teacher. They had met at a friends party, they like each other right away and started dating a little after that, it had been a year since then. Owen was trying to be a football star, he had little time off between practices and going to the gym, but in his time off he had met Bianca who was studying physical therapy. Owen and Greg were long time friends, since elementary school, and couldn’t wait to have their girls meet.

Greg started a fire, that’s when the party started, they all drank and danced around the fire until night came and the only light was the bright moon that shone from above. They stumbled into their tents to get a good nights rest.

But it wasn’t a good night at all. Sam was the first to wake up to footsteps running around their tent. Still having a buzz on she sat up wondering if it was a large animal. She shook Greg awake, he mumbled but didn’t wake up. She could faintly see a large shadow walking around the tent. She shook Greg harder watching the shadow circle the tent. “What?” Greg mumbled, “there’s something walking around the tent” Sam whispered. Greg turned over ignoring her.

There was loud growl followed by two hands pressing hard against the tent side making Sam scream and waking up Greg who jolted sitting up. “What the hell?” He exclaimed. “Whose there?” He shouted. There was no answer, the footsteps moved faster and faster circling the tent, a deep sinister laughter started and two hands pressed against the other side of the tent. Sam screamed again grabbing Greg’s arm. “Get away from our tent!” Greg screamed. Now there were more then one set of footsteps, they raced around and around the tent. They heard Bianca and Owen scream. “Bianca!” Screamed Sam, but she didn’t answer back, neither did Owen.

“What do we do?” Sam screamed to Greg. Before Greg had time to answer a man’s voice screamed at them, “I’m going to kill you! I’m going to kill you!” He repeated over and over as he raced around the tent. He never seemed to take a breath or get tired, his footsteps thumping continuously onto the forest floor.

The tent began to shake from side to side as if a large gust of wind was blowing. Behind them the tent started to rip open. They both jumped up, and looked at the tent as it ripped open. The man still screaming at them over and over, “I’m going to kill you!” The tear grew bigger and bigger. Greg unzipped the tent from the other side, “run!” He told Sam. She didn’t give it a second though and ran out of the tent. She didn’t dare to look back. She ran guided only by the light of the moon.

She only got a few feet when she stopped dead in her tracks, by the light of the bright moon she saw Bianca and Owen hanging from a tree, their limp bodies swinging from side to side. There was a liquid dripping off of their feet which Sam only assumed could be blood. She screamed a high pitched scream that she never thought she could make. She heard the loud booming steps behind her and she started running again. Branches hit her body and face as she aimlessly ran half naked through the woods. She tripped over an uprooted branch that sent her flying, she hit the ground hard and began to roll down a hill.

As she rolled she hit rocks, branches, roots and trees but nothing stopped her from rolling.

She eventually came to a stop. Laying on her back see looked up at the stars. She was out of breath and everything in her body hurt. That’s when she heard Greg scream. She knew it was Greg , his voice was too familiar. She cried as she laid there trying to catch her breath. Then the man’s voice rang out, reverberating on the tees. “I’m going to kill you!” Over and over again.

Petrified Sam got up and began running again, but she didn’t know if she was running away or toward the killer. Suddenly she saw a dark, tall ominous shadow a few feet in front of her. She stopped so quickly that her feet slipped from under her, and she fell backwards. She quickly sat up staring at the figure. “I got you!” Said the voice starting to laugh.

Sam didn’t even have enough time to scream, before she was dead.

Satisfied, the spirit of Howard Frank faded into the forest. The creatures of the forest resumed their regular routine. The forest would wait another fifty-five years before Howard Frank returned.

fiction
Like

About the Creator

Paige Turner

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.