Contest Entry: Snared

"Naw, man, that shit only works in October."

"Nuh-uh, it's always around, regardless of the month."

"Bullshit. There's no pervert ghost in those woods."

"Wanna bet…?"

That conversation kept playing in Caleb's mind over and over again as he walked. He was at a bar with his friend Garrett at the time, and they had gotten into the discussion about the local legends. Eventually they had wound up talking about the alleged ghost of the perverted man who lived in the forest around on the west side of town. The story went that there was a man who used to go to bars and linger around, waiting for a man that he saw that he liked. Once he did, he either waited for them to leave or began to talk to them, playing on their likes and dislikes until he drew them away from their group or their drink to play pool or do whatever. The action, though, was once he was alone with them.

This man, who often introduced himself as JC, was rumored to know the best techniques to lead a man out without getting suspicion cast on him. Once done, he would drug his victim and steal him away to the woods. Men would come back from their excursions with wide eyes and fantastic stories of a man who basically raped them and tortured them in the forest over a twenty-four hour period. However, no one ever took them seriously. "Just the product of a vodka nightmare and a hangover," the usual brush-off would ring. Any challenge of bruises or fluids would be written off as "you must have fallen," "I know you like to tie yourself up sometimes," "You were drunk as hell: you must've pulled at least two or three out, you horny son of a bitch," "You probably were playing with your knife and got carried away," and the ever classic "Shut up, man… I drank too much and I've got a headache."

In time, the bartenders of the town got together and filed a police report, and soon after, JC was caught, convicted, and jailed. An appeal that the conviction came from unreliable witness testimony, though, was enough to set him free. As soon as the cell doors behind him closed, locking him out, the man went back to his usual stomping ground and disappeared, and the torture complaints died down for several years. It was rumored that some out-of-town hikers had found him strung up from a tree and that JC had killed himself for being caught once.

It was this rumor that Caleb and Garrett were talking about. "There's no fucking way that he could be around still. Besides, if he is, what harm can a ghost do to me?" he smirked to himself as he walked into the forest alone. He was completely sober, and his backpack was set up for a night-time camp out in JC's Forest. The sun was starting to go down as he made his way to the center of the wood, finding a clearing where it was rumored the body was found. Caleb had to admit that the place made him feel a little uneasy, but he brushed it off. He was acting like this was October… It was early September… still technically summer.

Like that changed anything.

He set up his campsite regardless, and had just settled down when he heard a noise. He paused and looked up, the fire highlighting his features and making his brown hair reflect red. He narrowed his light brown eyes and grabbed his knife with one hand, flashlight in the other. "Who's there?" he asked, shining the flashlight in the darkened trees. He didn't see anything.

"Garrett, I know it's you!" he called with confidence he didn't have. "Garrett, c'mon, man, get the fuck out of there." The silence was deafening. He shifted uneasily in his chair before finally getting up. "C'mon, dude, it's not funny anymore."

"I think it's hilarious," a strange voice rang out from behind him, making Caleb whirl around and nearly drop his flashlight. "Who…" he gasped, pulling his knife up in a defensive pose. "Who the fuck are you?!" The flashlight roamed over the bigger man's body, loose clothes hiding a muscular frame. He settled it on the man's face, his heart dropping at how unfamiliar he looked.

"I've got a knife…" Caleb warned.

"Oh really?" the stranger cooed. "Well, I've got a gun…" the click of a pistol cocking seemed to echo through the woods, draining color from Caleb's face. "And you know what they say about bringing a knife to a gun show." This guy seemed to be taunting him, and Caleb didn't like it at all.

"Who are you?" he asked again. "What's your name?!"

"Me? Why, folks 'round here call me JC," he smirked. "Now be a good little boy and put that knife away before you hurt yourself, hmm?" The gun's barrel reflected firelight as it was raised up to eye level.

Caleb blinked and paled. "Y-you… you're not real!" he said with a hysterical twist in his voice. As if to try and re-affirm his ideas, he threw the knife at JC, watching it as it sailed through the air…

…and cut shirt and the flesh on the man's shoulder, drawing a thin line of blood caught in the firelight. JC didn't even wince as he reached up with his free hand and felt the cut, chuckling and wiping his hand on his pants. "Too bad… Ghosts don't bleed," he grinned. Caleb grew as white as a sheet. To face the ghost of a hunter was one thing. To face the man himself...

Caleb screamed as he turned on his heel, racing to the trees. He didn't get far before his ankle caught a snare trap. His world went from right side up to inverted in a matter of seconds and his cry caught in his throat as his forehead slammed into a slightly raised tree root. He hung there for a moment in a daze, his t-shirt falling to reveal his toned abs. He felt something drip down to his hairline, and he pressed his hand to feel something warm and sticky.

I'm bleeding… he thought, groaning as he was lifted by the shirt. He looked into JC's eyes as they seemed to glitter in the dim firelight, and his own eyes widened. He squirmed and started to push the man away, kick at him with his free ankle, whatever it took to get him off.

"Stop! Don't touch me--!" he was cut off as a wet cloth pressed against his mouth and nose, catching him on an inhale. He gagged and coughed, the chloroform making short work of his already stunned state. Within moments, Caleb was out like a light, JC's deep, dark laughter echoing in his ears.