Short Horror Stories

The Wooden Swing

Warning: descriptions of suicide, abuse, (period- typical?) homophobia and bullying. If these may be triggers for you I recommend either reading other available chapters or exiting this work all together.

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So, I grew up in a place where we were the only developed area for quite a while, so the place was small and had a tight knit community. That's why it was so shocking to me, then and now, to find what I did. Near my childhood home, there was one of those old-fashioned nature parks. It was and still is mostly undeveloped, just trees and grass and stones, maybe a few benches were added here or there, but it was still wide open spaces meant for running around and being a little wild, a place where families go to picnic. It is not necessarily there that our story is focusing on however, no this story has to do with the woods behind that park.There, on its northern border, is a wooden area with an old, worn-down looking playground. The kind that looks like it should have been a part of the park at one point in history, but no it actually had belonged to an orphanage that had operated out of the area years prior. Most people would never see this park, many did not even know it was there, parents would keep their young children away from it due to its dilapidated condition, citing safety concerns.

One Day, I had left the house to go for a walk, having to keep an exercise log for my online schooling program, and seeing as the park was so close to my house, I remember thinking something like, " Half a block around and four and a half across" and I to know this park, this is a record of the events from and after that day till the current time of ten thirty-seven pm, as knowingly truthful as I can make them.

1:30 PM Monday October First

Its fairly early, and i'm already mostly done for the day. I shut my laptop closed and put it within its case, and sat up, putting the recliner legs down as I did so. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed my water bottle, filling it up to take with me for my daily exercise. After filling up the bottle, I headed back into the living room to grab my backpack to put it in, along with a first aid kit, and my keys. Pulling out my phone, I text my mom to let her know I was leaving before tossing it in my bag, and heading out the door. I was walking along the street, when a car comes out of nowhere nearly running into me. I remember thinking it was strange,as i'm a bit paranoid and always look both ways before crossing the street, and i did not not see that car anywhere. At the time I just brushed this off as some asshole rushing to get home and so went flying down the road way faster than he or she should have. Continuing on my walk, I made it the park about twenty minutes later.

Roaming around through the woods, I remember feeling calm and really peaceful, what I'll describe now as the calm before the storm. It was light out and a bit humid, I can recall rather strongly the sound of leaves crunching underfoot. I was smiling and I even laughed a bit, when I noticed a trail I had never seen before, realizing i still had quite a bit of time before I had to get back, I decided to follow it. It was the Worst Mistake of my Life.

The Trail itself was old and worn, but hadn't been in use in a while, you could tell by the way the vegetation had started to grow in again from where it had been carved away.It was a rather narrow path, surrounded by thick tress on both the left and the right sides, moving quickly as I possibly could down its slightly slopped surface until the path widened to what was a rather steep, slightly rocky hill to what i thought was a playground of sorts. Making my way down the hill, I decided to check it out. It was old and rusted, the metal structures looking older than they probably were, with what was left of the wooden fence looking old and rotted. In the center of the playground, was this old oak tree, that was tall and wide and looked perfect for climbing. I made my way towards it intending to see if I could climb it when I noticed what seemed to be a new looking swing attached to one of the lower hanging branches. It was new, I decided upon further examination, the wood seat wasn't worn from nature or use and the rope used to hold the swing wasn't old, dirty, or showed signs of fraying. Figuring some teenager had probably used this as a sort of hang out place and had put it up, I had sat down on it . Catching my breath, I had taken a drink and waited for my heart to stop racing. After a couple of minutes, I put my water bottle back into my bag, and pulled out my phone to check the time. Upon realizing I had needed to get back as soon as possible, I hastily threw my phone into my bag and quickly hauled my way back through the woods and out to the park entrance. From which I proceeded to make my way through the streets back home. The rest of that night was normal, or at least it was until I went to sleep.

2:38 AM Tuesday October Second

It was dark, Pitch black. I was surrounded by voices taunting me, younger females I realized, I remember being overcome by fear, then by sadness, those crippling kinds where you can feel nothing else but that sadness or that fear. I remember a sort of warm feeling taking over me then. I remember that after the voices were replaced by different ones after the warm feelings. Adults, both men and women, but I couldn't understand them. It sounded as though I was fully submerged in water, and they were above me on land talking. Slowly but surely I remember I started to feel again, I was furious, and it was building more and more with each passing moment. Then I remember this door appearing, and it was then I was suddenly entranced by it, and felt the need to go through it. I remember walking through the door only to realize i was at the playground except, it looked newer. All except the swing which still looked the same. Noticing this I made my way towards it, only to realize there was a girl on it and that she was dripping blood. I rushed towards her thinking she needed help. Putting my hands on her exposed wrists I couldn't feel a heartbeat. That's when I realized I couldn't see her breathing and that her eyes looked dead. Her throat was slashed, and I tried to call to report this but that is when I woke up. Reaching over to check my phone, I note that its still early but after that dream I couldn't get back to sleep, so I elected to stay up.

After not being able to get it off my mind I decide to check the electronic archives for anything I could find about that playground but I was unable to find anything other than it was donated to the city and made part of the park after the orphanage closed down. The Rest of my day was normal and I successfully forgot about the nightmare.

2:15 PM Wednesday October Third

I had that dream again, so I decided I was going to go look at the paper records to see what I can find. You see, I live in a rather small town, where we're the only organized town for miles, so it's actually fairly easy to find, say the town archives, which are stored on the second floor of the historical society. So I sent the requiem text, grabbed my supplies and set out the twenty or so minutes to the historical society. It wasn't as nice out today, gloomy and overcast, looking like it was about to pour down rain any second. Thankfully I had made it just in time as it started pouring just after I stepped in the door, after finding the stairs and making my way up to the desk. I inquired about the orphanages' records. The woman showed me where they were kept and left me to my research. I managed to find a list of children being kept at the orphanage, and after compiling a list of subjects that might be the girl. I started looking, trying to find a picture. Eventually I found one with a matching name. She was called Francis"Franny" Smith. This is the girl whose perspective I am seeing. This is when things go from Bad to Worse.

End of Part One.