The Swing That Swung By Itself

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window. The cabin used to be part of a camp, but the campgrounds had long since entered a state of disarray and very soon after visitors altogether stopped coming. Naturally, stories of hauntings, ghosts, and mysterious disappearances soon followed, uncorroborated of course, and people steered further and further away. One story, however, is true. The story of Johnny. An eight year old boy who lived in a house on the very site of this cabin in a time before Camp Hickory. In fact, the nearby lake was once a small pond in neighborhood where Johnny lived. A town called Hickory. In the mid 1950s, Hickory, was a place where the people who lived there were steel mill workers and military personnel. Their children were the byproduct of the baby boomer generation. Johnny was one of these children who lived at 13 Oak Spring lane, and while most of these children lived normal lives, Johnny’s story is much grimmer. Like many men who came back after the war, Johnny’s father, without any mental health services available, turned to the only mental health remedy he knew; alcohol. They say that one day in a particular frenzy, Johnny’s father accidentally killed the boy, however, there was much speculation about whether or not it was an accident. You see…the circumstances around Johnny’s death were…gruesome. No one in that little town could conceive of the horrific scene that befell the boy. Johnny’s father was arrested, his mother went crazy and was admitted, and the house itself became a pariah. At least until enough time had passed and the town managed to rebrand the location as an apartment complex in the 70s. That’s where this story begins. With another kid, just about your age who lived at the Oak Spring apartments in apartment 13.

Mike was a scrawny kid with unruly dark hair and tawny skin. His blue eyes made him stand out among his peers; the product of genetic adaptation. Mike was the type of kid who loved being outdoors and always found a use for his trusty wrist rocket. One particular day, Mike was hanging out in a silk tree near the apartments on a particularly hot summer’s day; the sweet smell of the flowers produced a calming effect. While tweaking the tension on his sling, he heard a couple of other boys chatting. Quietly, Mike adjusted his position on the branch and looked towards the sound trying to identify who was speaking. Two boys who looked to be around his age, one taller by about a foot, and the other about his size were walking by talking animatedly about the new Nerf Disk. They stopped near the tree, likely also attempting to get out of the heat and continued chatting. Mike, not knowing what else to do to get their attention decided it might be fun to mess with them a bit. He reached into the pack he kept on him for ammo and pulled out a small rock; perfectly smooth. He raised his hand and aimed at the ground near the kids. The rock shot out and blasted the ground near the boys who immediately stopped talking and looked at the impact site. Confused, they just stared for a moment before the smaller boy asked “what was that?” Mike loaded up another one and shot the same location; only a few inches off; he was quite proud of himself. The kids took a step back and looked around. Eventually, they looked up and spotted Mike in the trees. “Hey!” The taller kid yelled. Mike adjusted himself, sitting up, and looked down at the kids. He gave them a salute. The kids looked at each other and laughed before turning back to him. “You’re a pretty good shot!” The taller kid said. “Yeah! Good shootin!” the other one chimed in. “Nice wrist rocket! Saunders? “Yeah!” Mike said raising it up to show them. “You can tell?”

Mike swung down landing near the kids. The taller one reached out his hand and Mike handed over the wrist rocket. The two boys examined it in awe before handing it back. “Cool,” the taller kid said. “I’m Mike,” Mike said introducing himself. “I’m Eric, and this is my brother Steven,” he said pointing to the smaller kid. “You live around here,” Eric asked? “Yup, my folks just moved in a week ago,” Mike said. “Military?” “Yeah, my dad’s in the navy. He’s an Admiral.” “My dad’s in the Air Force.” “You wanna hang out with us?” Steven asked. “What are you guys up to?” Mike asked. “We’re on our wait to pick up our friend Red. He lives on the 4th floor.”

Mike agreed and the three of them continued the short walk to the building. They entered the building and walked towards the elevator passing a hallway of rooms along the way. Eric and Steven looked at one door in particular and seemed to increase their pace. Mike looked at the door. It was room 13. His apartment. Curious, Mike continued with them to the elevator but didn’t mention their strangeness. They pulled open the door and entered the elevator, closing the door behind them and pressing the number four. The elevator groaned as it slowly pulled them up to the fourth floor and they stepped out. Eric and Steven ran out and Mike followed after closing the door behind them. They stopped at room 40. They banged on the door and yelled for Red to come out and play. A moment later, the door opened and a kid about Steven’s height with vibrant orange hair and freckles stepped out. “Hey guys,” he said with a slightly raspy voice. “Who’s this?” He asked. “This is Mike,” Steven said. “He’s crackshot with a wrist rocket!” Mike blushed.

Suddenly, something creaked in the distance. The four of them turned towards the elevator. The door was opened. Steven and Eric looked at each other. “Didn’t we close that?” Eric asked. “I did,” Mike said. “You sure?” Eric said. “Yeah, my dad always says we don’t live in a barn, so keep the door closed,” Mike reasoned. “Maybe it’s Johnny?” Red said. Mike turned back towards Red. “Johnny?” Mike asked.

There was a tense silence as the four of them exchanged glances. “Johnny’s the ghost who haunts this place,” Red said with a serious look on his face. Mike turned to Steven and Eric who nodded solemnly. “What do you mean?” Mike asked. “Are you deaf?” Red said. “He’s a ghost!” “You can’t believe that,” Mike said. Red looked back at Eric and Steven. “Who is this kid?” Red asked. “He’s new,” Steven said. “Only been here about a week,” Eric explained. “Well, Mike,” Red continued. “Johnny isn’t a ghost story. He’s a real live ghost. Some people have even seen him wandering the halls, and at night you can sometimes hear him bouncing a tennis ball off of the walls.” “That doesn’t sound too scary.” Mike said. “Yeah? Well that’s not the worst part. Sometimes you can hear the screams of his sisters as they’re being murdered and sometimes, kids like us go missing.” “I don’t know that I believe that,” Mike said. “What? You think you can take out a ghost with your wrist rocket when it carries you away?” Red asked. Mike didn’t respond. “Just remember this. What you can’t see. Just might kill you,” Red said. “With his aim, he just might hit a ghost,” Eric said a moment later relieving the tension. “The story about Johnny’s death is true, Mike, and sometimes, weird and unexplainable things happen around here that grownups either never see, or are too busy to notice.” “Did Johnny live in the apartment building?” Mike asked. “Not exactly,” Eric said. “He lived where this apartment building now stands. Legends say that they never tore down the old house. All the equipment would go haywire just before they could so they ended up just building the building around the house. Some say they even left the original door in the same place,” Eric said looking at the others. “Apartment 13.” A chill ran down Mike’s spine. That must have been the reason they were so skittish. “That’s where I live,” Mike said his voice cracking. A look of terror came other the other kid’s faces. “You’re joshing me!” Red said. “No! Not at all! We just moved in!” Mike said. “Well move out!” Red commanded. “He can’t just move out,” Steven said. “He has to or Johnny’s gonna get him and his whole family!” Red said causing Mike to start hyperventilating. “Woah now! Calm down, Red!” Eric said raising a hand towards Mike to relax. “No one’s gotta anywhere. We can figure this out!” Red opened his mouth to object, but a quick glance from Eric deterred his response. Eric looked back at Mike. “You said you moved in about a week ago. Have you seen or heard anything strange?” “No, nothing.” Mike said. “Maybe we should go down and take a look around?” Eric said looking at the others. Steven’s mouth opened wide, but nothing came out. Eric looked at Red, who just started back with a serious look on his face and nodded. Eric nodded as well then looked back at Mike. “What do you say?” he said reaching his hand out. Mike thought about it. He didn’t want to investigate a potentially murderous ghost, but if he was living in it’s house, it was probably better if he investigated it with the others as opposed to denying the opportunity and being force to investigate it alone. “Together?” Mike asked looking intently at Eric. Eric reach up his hand and spit into it and then reached back out towards Mike. Mike nodded and spit into his own hand and clasped it with Eric’s. The four of them headed to the elevator.

When they arrived on the 1st floor, Mike opened the door and the four of them stepped out. They trailed Mike as he walked cautiously towards his apartment with a newfound fear. As they neared, they heard a creak. They all stopped in place and looked around; the elevator door was still closed. A they continued walking even slower and stopped in front of apartment 13. Mike gulped and reached up slowly towards the doorknob. He didn’t want to grab it, but he knew he had to. His heart was beating so quickly that he could swear the other kids might hear it. They stood in perfect silence watching…waiting. As Mike’s hand grasped the knob there was a loud bang and the four of them yelled and scrambled falling over each other as they attempted to move in different directions. Mike was still on the ground frantic as he heard something else; laughter. For a moment, he thought it was the laughter of the ghost, but then he realized it was coming from somewhere behind the walls. He stood and looked towards the sound. It was coming from the room across the hall. Apartment number 14. Someone was laughing hysterically behind the door. They must have been peeking through the peephole. The others had stopped scrambling and were looking at Mike. “Come out here!” Mike yelled angrily. The other boys caught up with him and stared at the door as the sounds of laughter subsided. After a few seconds, they heard the sounds of the door unlocking and then it creaked open. A girl about Eric’s height appeared from it. She had hair like Red’s and wore a backwards cap and scuffed up jeans and a Yankees baseball tee. She had an ear to hear grin on her face. “You should have seen the look on your faces!” she said laughing again. “That wasn’t funny,” Steven accused. “Yeah! Someone coulda got hurt!” Red affirmed.

“Hurt? If anything I saved you!” the girl said. “What are you guys doin’ messin’ around that place anyway? Lookin’ to get cursed!?” Eric briefly looked at Mike and then back to the girl. “He lives there.” He said pointing at Mike. The girl’s smile faded as she looked at him. Mike could feel her eyes piercing into his soul. “Don’t you know what happened there?” she asked. “Yeah,” Mike said. “They told me a kid and his sisters were killed by their dad.” “What?” she said. “No, that’s not the real story. This is the real story,” she began. “They say little Johnny’s father was possessed. Something had happened during the war and some say it wasn’t his father who came back. Johnny was a quiet kid who used to play out by the old swing set. One day, Johnny’s father went crazy throwing things around the house and then went to the old shed by the pod and grabbed an axe. First he killed his wife and then he went to the back where little Johnny was swinging by himself, until he wasn’t the only one swinging.” The boys looked at each other, confused. “Because his dad swung the axe and killed him,” the girl said. “Oh,” Red said. The other boys nodding with him as they realized what she meant. “I’m Eric,” Eric said reaching out his hand. “Aurora,” the girl responded swinging her arm out and catching his hand with a loud slap. “Wow, good grasp!” Eric said. “What’d you expect!?” Aurora snapped back.

Just then, the door to 13 opened and Mike’s mom stepped out. “What’s going on here? I heard a ruckus!” She turned to Mike. “What are you doing out here boy?” “Sorry Ma’am,” Mike said. “Me and my new friends were just playing around.” Mike’s mother looked at the other kids who stared up at her silently. “Oh, well ya’ll should play outside. You don’t want to disturb the adults. Lot of the folks around here work odd hours and need their rest ya hear?” The other kids nodded and responded with “Yes Ma’am.” “Michael, come on in and wash up. Dinner’s on.” “Yes, Ma’am.” With that, she went back into the apartment and closed the door. Mike turned back to the others. “Well, I gotta go, but maybe we can hang out tomorrow?” “You bet,” said Eric. “Sure thing, Red said. “Look at us gettin’ all in a tizzy about ol’ Johnny. If he was stupid enough to get axed, he probably couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn anyway. Let’s get out of here. Speaking of parents who don’t hate their kids, ma’s makin’ my favorite today; sloppy Joes!” “Oh wow! Can we come over!” Steven asked. “I’ll ask,” Red said as he and Steven walked towards the elevator. Aurora and Eric stood in the hall facing each other in silence. “I guess I’ll see you guys tomorrow,” Aurora said. Eric nodded and began to walk towards his brother and Red. Aurora opened her apartment door and stepped inside before turning back to find Mike still staring at her. “Probably.” She said as she closed the door. Mike gulped again and turned towards his own door. For a moment he was afraid, but then he realized that his mother was home. If adults didn’t notice things like ghosts, then he’d probably be safest inside around his mom. As he stepped inside, he heard a thump on the wall. He instinctively turned towards Aurora’s door, but the sound he had heard came from the direction of the elevator. He looked down the hall towards it, but there was no one there and the elevator remained closed. Mike went inside and closed the door to wash up for dinner.

That night, after Mike was fast asleep, something else was happening in another part of the apartment complex; on floor 4. Red woke in the middle of the night. Something had woken him, but he didn’t know what. He looked around his room in the dark, but couldn’t see anything. Outside of his closed door, he heard something…thud. A moment later he heard another one…then another one. Like the sound of a tennis ball being bounced off of the wall. Red slowly rose from his bed and creeped towards his door. Maybe it was his parents, he thought. He listened to the sound of the thuds, they seemed a bit further down the hall, but then the thuds became more frequent. They started to get louder, like whatever was throwing the ball against the wall was coming down the halls towards his room. Pretty soon, the thuds were crashing against his room door at a fast pace. They didn’t stop. Red’s heart raced as he tried to step backwards and fell to the ground. The thuds suddenly stopped leaving him in deafening silence. Then…the door knob began to turn. The door very slowly began to creep open, it’s rusty hinges screaming in agony. Red sat frozen in place stating at the empty space as the door fully opened waiting for someone, or something, to enter. Red was left staring into the hall. There was no one there. Slowly, he stood and backed towards his bed. One final thud. Red stared ahead still unaware of what made the sound. Something warm dripped down his face. He reached up to touch it and looked down at his hand. Blood! It was in that moment, his last, that Red reached up and felt the top of his head. Something solid…something cold…something heavy, stuck out from it. Red collapsed onto his bed…dead.

The next morning Mike woke up with the sunlight streaming through his window. He slept like the dead. He expected to have nightmares from the day before, but somehow he had avoided it. He got up and stretched and then headed towards the bathroom to freshen up before heading to the table for breakfast. As he was stepping into the bathroom, there was a knock at the front door. Mike stopped as his mother walked out of the kitchen and removed her apron to answer it. Standing at the door was a police officer. Mike couldn’t hear what they said, but he had apparently asked to enter since mother moved out of the way and ushered him in. The officer took off his hat and looked down the hall at Mike, nodding slightly before turning back to his mother and following her into the living room. This was a curious sight, but Mike continued into the bathroom and did his business before heading into the dining room. As he headed to the table, he glanced into the living room where mother sat with the police officer. Her hands were clasped in front of her face as he spoke something; she seemed horrified. Mike turned and walked slowly towards them. He barely heard the words “we’re still investigating who might be responsible” before the officer spotted him and immediately stopped talking. Mother looked at him and stood, straightening her dress. “Mikey,” she began. There was another knock at the door.

Mother walked to the door and opened it. It was Aurora, Eric, and Steven. Mikey perked up and ran towards the door, but mother stopped him. “I’m sorry kids. Michael can’t come outside today.” “What?” Mike said. The police officer walked up behind them and excused himself. “I’ve got more rounds to make,” he said bowing his head and exiting the apartment looking at the other kids. “Ya’ll be careful now, y’hear?” “Yes, Sir,” they said in unison. “Like I said,” mother continued. “Michael can’t come out today…because…well…you kids be careful, ok?” “Yes, Ma’am,” they said in forlorn tones. Mike looked at his friends. Aurora stared at him intently…like she was trying to communicate something to him. Mother stepped back and closed the door. “Why can’t I go out today? Am I in trouble?” “No Mikey…something terrible has happened…to a child. I think maybe it’s just safer for you to stay inside while the police figure this out. You don’t want to hinder an active investigation, right?” “No, Ma’am,” Mike responded. “Good boy. Why don’t you get yourself some eggs and biscuits? They’re on the table.” “Would you mind if I ate in my room?” Mike asked. “What?” Mother asked looking appalled. “There’s just…just this book I’ve been reading. One of father’s. It’s mighty interesting and I just didn’t want to put it down last night. I was hoping to get right back to it.” Mother shook her head, but relaxed and seemed to consider. “You don’t let a crumb get on that book or you’ll catch it from your father. You understand?” “Yes, Ma’am!” Mike said running to the table and grabbing a small plate of food before hurrying back to his room and closing the door. He sat Indian-style on his rug and ate staring at the door wondering what horrible thing must have happened. He thought of his friends and remembered the look on Aurora’s face. Wait a minute, he thought. Where was Red?

Just then there was a rap at his window, which made him jump and snap his head in that direction. Another rap came. He quickly stood and ran to the window opening the blinds. Aurora, Steven, and Eric stood on the other side. Mike opened the window. “Did you hear?” Aurora asked. “Was it Red,” Mike asked. “Yeah,” Eric said. “They’re saying someone cut him in half with an axe in his bedroom.” “My goodness,” Mike said lifting his hand to his head. There was a moment of silence where they all stared at Mike. “You don’t think…” “Don’t you?” Aurora asked. “An axe murder of a kid the day after we told you about Johnny’s murder?” “Yeah, but why Red? Why would that happen?” The looked at each other without an answer. “He insulted him,” Steven said. “What?” Eric asked. “Red said some awful stuff about Johnny last evening. Remember?” The kids thought about it. “He must have woken the spirit,” Aurora said. “What does that mean?” Mike asked. “It means, Johnny isn’t done yet,” Eric said. “I think I know what we can do.” Steven said. “What?” Mike asked. “Maybe we can apologize?” “What? Apologize to a murder ghost?” Aurora asked incredulously. “Well what else could we do? I think it might be worth a try. Otherwise we’re just waiting for Johnny to come after us.” The four of them exchanged looks; they nodded in unison. Without another word, Mike climbed out of the window. “How do we find him?” “We go to the place where he was killed,” Aurora said looking at the others. “The swing.” She turned and began to run. They all followed her around the apartment building towards the back. They stopped at the corner and peeked around at the swing set. It was an old set with two wooden seats. One was still, but the other moved gently back and forth creaking creepily. Slowly, they walked to the swing that swung by itself. They glanced at each other. Steven walked up in front of the swing and looked down at it. “Johnny?” Steven began. “We’re sorry for what Red said. He didn’t mean it. That’s just Red. We don’t think your pa hated you and we’re real sorry about what happened.” “Please don’t kill us,” Eric added. There was a gust of wind, and then suddenly it and the moving swing stopped. They looked around at each other. “I think that worked!” Eric said. The four of them whooped in celebration and high fived one another. “We did it!” Steven yelled. They turned and began walking towards the apartment when all of a sudden there was a loud crack. Before they could figure out what had happened, Steven collapsed face first onto the ground; blood oozed from the back of his head towards the ground. Frozen in terror, Eric stared down at his little brother. Mike and Aurora turned at the same time towards the swing, which was now zooming over and over in circles around the swing on its metal ring.

“We have to get out of here!” Mike yelled over the loud sound of the metal scraping on the swing set. “There has to be another way to stop him!” Aurora yelled as she helped Eric pick up his brother. Steven groaned. “It’s going to be ok, buddy, I’ve got you,” Eric said tossing Steven onto his back. “Just hold on tight, ok bud?” Steven didn’t respond, but gripped Eric tightly. “Maybe the source isn’t where Johnny died, but when it was decided that he would,” Aurora said. “What do you mean?” Mike asked. “The shed! Where his dad got the axe!” She pointed towards the pond. There was a small shed near the water that seemed like it was barely standing. The three of them ran towards the shed; Eric with Steven on his back. As they arrived, Aurora smashed through the door shoulders first and looked around. “What are we looking for?” Eric asked. “There’s got to be something in here. Some kind of clue to what happened,” she said. Aurora and Mike began pushing things around. Old paint cans, tools, nails looking for anything. As Mike was searching, he pushed a mallet off the shelf, which fell to the ground and, unlike the rest of the tools, shattered a floorboard. Mike looked down at the mallet and almost looked away, but then he noticed there was something under it. It looked like a book. He knelt and reached for it. It seemed that the book didn’t fall off of the shelf with the mallet, but was under the floorboard where the mallet hit and was slightly lifted from under it. “I think I found something!” Mike said. Aurora and Eric moved to him as he opened the book. “It’s a journal!” Aurora said. “Read it!” There were multiple entries, but Mike skipped to the last one. “June 2nd 1952 Something’s following me. It’s been following me since Papua. I think one of the locals might have done some ritual. It’s been tormenting us for months. I’ve finally figured out how to stop it. Fire. I need to burn down the house. Eileen is out shopping. This may be my last chance. I feel it…like it’s always right behind me always watching…I have to to…before it…kill,” Mike finished. “What?” Eric asked. “That’s what it says,” Mike answered. “It just trails off and his handwriting starts to smudge.” “This must be right before he killed Johnny,” Aurora said. Just then the shed began to quake loudly and metal and tools began soaring around them. “We’ve got to go!” Eric yelled dodging the debris. Aurora looked around and lunged at something. She stood and showed the others what she had grabbed; and old match box. Mike looked around and grabbed a gas canister, liquid sloshed inside.

The shelf started to fall towards them as they headed out. Eric fell to the ground and quickly covered his brother’s body from the impact. Aurora and Mike stopped and he yelled “I’m fine go! You have to burn it down! Go!” They turned and sprinted around the apartment towards the front “It has to start in apartment 13!” Aurora said leaping skillfully through Mike’s open window. Mike climbed in after her and suddenly the items in his room also began swirling and smashing against each other. Aurora opened the match box and pulled out a match striking it; the flame took hold immediately. Just then the door to his room exploded open. A transparent shadowy figure stood slightly crouched staring in at them with unnaturally large white eyes. The creature reached out grabbing Aurora’s leg and pulled her. She fell to the ground and the match went out. She screamed as the ghost crawled backwards dragging her into the hall and began climbing up the walls taking her up its side. Mike swung the gas canister splashing the gas all over the room. Aurora managed to strike another match but the ghost slashed at her with its other hand and she dropped the match and the match box and it continued dragging her. Mike lunged at the matchbox, but the ghost dropped Aurora and grabbed Mike’s shirt and began pulling him away so he couldn’t reach the box. For a moment, Mike panicked as his shirt choked him and the ghost dragged him into the hall, but then he had a sudden peace. He knew what to do. He reached down into his pouch and pulled out a handful of rocks. Some of which were made of flint. There were also some nails that must have fallen in from the shed. Mike grabbed his wrist rocket and loaded it with the flint and nails and aimed at the puddle of gas on the carpet. He would only have one shot to do this right, and if the metal and flint didn’t collide at the carpet, it would all be over for them. He aimed and shot. The objects clinked on the floor and a moment later erupted in a flame. The ghost dropped him and screeched something terrible. Aurora grabbed Mike and the two of them fled through the front door and out of the building.

Before long, the entire complex was up in flames and not long after that, it was nothing but a burning husk of rubble. The tenants moved away and years passed before anyone ever returned to the site, eventually deciding to expand the pond into a lake and turning it into Camp Hickory. It only survived for a short time before strange things started happening again, particularly in the cabin. The camp eventually closed down never to be opened again. They say that the cabin stands in the exact place where apartment 13 was burned down. Some claim they can smell smoke where there is no fire. Like I said, the cabin in the woods has been abandoned for years, but some nights, just like tonight, a candle burns in the window.