The Woods

The Woods

It was three weeks before Becky's 23rd birthday. Becky and her sister Andrea were making their way through Bloomingdale’s Department Store. In hopes of finding the perfect outfit to wear to her mom's the Saturday after next. Her parent's had planned a big party for her birthday and invited a few other family members and close friends. So the outfit had to be just right. As she was walking around one of a many cloths' racks, she spotted a lovely dress. So she held it up to her to see what it might look like. She then turned around to her sister to show her what she thought of it. Andrea was nowhere to be seen. But the person she did see was, a man, dressed in a navy blue suit, a bright white dress shirt, shinny black loafers, and a very dark maroon tie to top it off, which also accented the dark tone of his skin. As her eyes met with his see became to feel very faint. She felt flustered, she felt if as though the world had stopped around her, including her mind, except for him. He was rapidly approaching her. Her legs began to feel like rubber, as though at any second she was going to become one with the floor. Her hands got very tense, her palms sweaty, when all of a sudden she lost her tight grasp with her dress and it went tumbling down to the ground like a pile of bricks. The loud clank of the hanger hitting the ground, arouse even more attention of the tall, dark, handsome someone coming her way. He abruptly came to her, bent down and picked up the dress as she was; they picked it up together, stood up together, and looked into each other's eyes. She was daydreaming of the perfect kiss. Then she finally snapped back into reality. She looked up at him as he looked down at her, then she laid her eyes upon the floor in humiliation. He said "Maim, is there a problem, can I help you?" She was so embarrassed, she looked up at him and giggled, "No, no problem here," and stated that she was just a little disturbed that day. He asked if there was anything he could do for her, help her with something and such. The one thing that really intrigued her was the desire in his Southern accentuation, the longer he spoke to her, the more she started to daydream into his mysterious hazel eyes. All she could do was, grin and walk away.

The next time she saw him was again at the mall, this time he was eating at the food court. She tried just to walk on past him. But as she was walking by, he stopped her. He asked her if everything had worked out with the dress. He then introduced himself as "Chuck Howard" Which in all, started a conversation between the two of them. He then proceeded to offer her a seat at his table. The two of them hit it off really well. By the end of the conversation the two of them had made plans to go out for dinner the following evening. She was very stunned by his offer, but in turn replied with a satisfied "yes." He then thanked her for their wonderful chance to reunite. He smiled, and said "I will be looking forward to seeing you again tomorrow evening." She stood up, and replied, "Although I would like to chat more, unfortunately I." He abruptly stopped her train of thought, as he stood up, took her hand and said, "Until we meet again, and gave her a delicate kiss on the top of her hand. She smiled and slowly walked away.
The next day she had arrived at work. She approached her office opened the door and the first thing she saw was a large bouquet of flowers sitting upon her desk, with a small note attached that said "I can't wait to see you, XOXO. She quickly came to the conclusion that the flowers had come from Chuck; but why and how? How did he know where she worked? This question kept her mind pondering through the day. She was relieved from work at five o'clock. She went home, took a quick shower and got ready for her date with Chuck.

No more than she had gotten out of the shower, the doorbell rang. She quickly put on a robe, and threw her hair up in a towel. She ran downstairs to answer the door. It was him, all dressed up. She was thankful that she hadn't gotten dressed yet. She probably would have thrown some ugly, dingy pair of jeans and a flannel on. Now she was forced to dress nice. She offered him to come in and wait till she was ready. He accepted. She then offered him something to drink while he was waiting. So she went to the kitchen, fixed a glass of lemonade, and sat him in the dining room. She quickly ran upstairs and finished getting ready. She put on some old dress that she bought for her sisters wedding two years ago, surprised it still fit. She dried her hair and threw it up into a French twist, put on some gold earnings that she had gotten last week at her trip to the mall. Put on a tad of make-up, and off they went. They had made their way outside, and the first thing she saw was his car, "Cherry-Bomb" red sports convertible. All she could think is "damn, this man must be loaded." But she didn't say a thing. She got into the car and took off. She had no idea where they were going, nor did she ask.

They finally arrived. She had no idea where she was, he had put a blindfold around her eyes about half way through their excursion. He got out of the car, walked over to her side, and helped her out. He stopped her and let go of her hand, went to the back of the car and grabbed something. Her again took her by the hand and led her through what she suspected to be woods; all she could hear was the crisping of the leaves, and the crackling of the twigs. He stopped, turned her towards himself, and slipped off her blindfold. She was in amazement, she looked around herself. She was set in the most romantic setting she had ever seen, even more so than the movies. She looked up to him, and smiled, she was speechless, and she had no idea what to even say. He said "here" and pointed down to the ground, where he had lied down a flannel blanket, with wine, candles, and a picnic basket. The two of them sat down and started a conversation. They had gotten to know each other well. He began to feed her, grapes, apple slices, pieces of chocolate.. They spent the whole beautiful evening there, under the stars, until it started to get too cold. He offered her his coat, the two of them walked back to the car. She thought they were going to leave, but he bypassed the car. She decided to follow him, unaware of where they were going.

They soon arrived, it was a cabin set deep in the dark woods of the forest. She was hesitant to go in, but she did. By the time she had made it in, he was already in the family room. He had started a fire. He had gotten up, came to the door, took off her coat, and led her to the family room. He went to the linen closet grabbed a few blankets, and took them back. He lied them down on the floor in front of the fire, and offered her a seat. The two of them sat around talking into all hours of the night. She felt herself falling for him, not only physically, but also emotionally. Becky was 23, but yet a virgin, she had waited her whole life to find the right person. This blissful night she thought he was it. The two of them, had begun to kiss, which led to fondling, before she knew it she was in his arms; fulfilling the passion that she had long awaited for. She felt as though she was finally being loved, finally being cared about.

Now, unaware of his intentions she committed herself to him. Just then he started to become very forceful, aggressive, and mean. She started to scream out. He began to slap her telling her to shut up. He covered her mouth, so she could no longer scream. She tried with all her might, she couldn't do anything but lie there in pain. She couldn't take it anymore, she tried to kiss him, to try and let him know that she was not afraid. When he bent down to kiss her, she bit him.
Just then he then took her head in the palm of his hands and snapped her neck. She was automatically killed. He then took her nude corpse, and put it into a trash bag. Little did she know, they had made a circle in the woods, the car was right behind the cabin. He took the body, threw it in the trunk of the car, and took off. He drove up to an old factory, and threw her body into the outside dumpster. Chuck was never heard from again.