Summer, 1990. - Help.com

Summer, 1990.

There is a place called Fort Myers Beach, downin southwest Florida. It’s a township now, but back then it was just part of the city I lived in. The whole “beach” is an island, maybe 5 miles ling by a mile thick.There were, even then, very few parts of the island that were not developed. One little section of woods, maybe a half mile by a mile, was lef in place as a nature preserve, and a public park.It was next to a school behind a playground, and for years it was a great place for the high schoolkids to hide and drink, or make out, or do all the things we did back then.

Between the years of 1987 and 1992, there were several dissapearances that seemed to occur in or near this area. Or at least this would be the last place a person was either seen or reported to have been heading to.

See, if you know the minds of kids, this just made it all the more attractive to us.

My best friend, and I say it without shame, was and is Mike H. We were as close as brothers, thru reasons and circumstances that would take too long to go into in what will already be too much writing for many to bother with. But the point is, in the summer of ‘90, he was getting ready to head off to Kentucky for college. He would be leaving before the actual year started, because of the partial football scholarship he had recieved.

We had all had many going away parties for him and our other friends who would be leaving, but Mike and myself decided, one night after a party, to head out to those woods. We were determined to, as usual, do things that would be legendary, so we decided that we would explore every bit of those woods.

It was about midnight when we got there, and we were fortified with drink( Some Hamms Beer, only a 12 pack), some food (Taco Bell leftovers from the car) and other essentials (Cigs, Dip and TWO lighters, just in case). Now understand, I had not drank up to this point, because I was driving, and I am very anti drunk driving. Mike may have been a little buzzed when we got to the woods, but it did not last for long after we hiked all the camper trails in a humide 90 degree south Florida night.

To this day, I do not believe we were influenced by the alchohol. I think everything we say was as real as could be. As real as anything else we perceive in our so called “normal” world.

It was of course very dark in the woods, and we debated for a minute going off the trails. But then Mike said to me “Brian, man, we are both over six foot tall, both over 200 lbs, and either one of us (at the time) could take on 3 guys in a fight. We got nothing to worry about. I wish the School Street Stalker would show up”

School Street Stalker. That is such a stupid name. And it signified nothing. None of the missing people, maybe 5 over 4 years at the time, were assumed to be murdered or even abducted. Judging by ages and curcumstances, most were assumed to have ran away from home, or, in the case of the slightly older ones, just decided to start their grown up lives a little early. Just coincidence that they were associated with these woods.

So we hopped off the wooden plank “trail” and down into the muck of real nature. As we walked, we talked. Both of us knew that I had put away my dreams of going on to college, and was well on my way to getting very involved in the surprisingly extensive world of crime down in Fort Myers. Mike was, of course, going to play ball at this little Kentucky school and get a degree to teach math. We spoke of his little girl, already walking and trying to talk. This was the night he asked me to be her unofficial Godfather. But not just yet, only after the demon mounds.

Summer nights in Florida, in the woods on the beach, with your best friend, should not be scary, but i was feeling uneasy the farther we went into these tiny woods. I said to Mike “Hey, man, I am getting tired of walking. Lets head back to your place, and try to get Denise and Nicki to come over. Or even Samantha and Alli.”

“Pu**y, you’re scared” he said ” I ain’t ready to go back. Gonna stay till the sun comes up, remember” okay, maybe he was still a little buzzed. We walked around aimlessly for a while, then started to notice little hills everywhere.

“Hey, indian stuff i bet” I said. Lots of little indian relics all over Florida. I had even discovered some when i was about 10. Showed it to a teacher, made the news. An old Indian campsite on a small pond. So of course, i was the expert on this type of stuff.

“No way, man, it’s just some trees laying on thier sides, probably been like this since Donna came thru in the 80’s” Mike says “Ha , thats funny, when the moon shines on them, its almost like you can see faces in the roots”

We both kinda stood there for a minute, looking, seeing how, in the shadow and half light, the roots of the trees, laying up on end, seemed to move around and make scowling faces. It was almost funny. If my car was next to me, or if i was just outside my house, then it would be funny. But here and now, creepy.

“Brian, go up and use your lighter to look at those faces, haha” Mike joked. I am ashamed to say I said “No” and sat down. “What? you really are scared, huh? Well, okay, it’s freaking me out too, but really, what the hell. It’s not like we are seeing anything really. Just shadows. Here, I will be your hero” and he grabbed my lighter and walked up the the fallen “tree”. he held the lighter right up by one of the “faces” and flicked it on.

Never before and never again have i heard a sound like that. Imagine a tiger, being raped by an elephant, while they are both being run over by a jumbo jet. And then Mike started to make the strangest noises too…It sounded like a woman screaming. I focused, somehow, despit the noise, on the tree roots he was lighting up.

No, uh uh, not a chance. To this day, it is with all the caution i can muster that i think about what i saw, and i honestly, honestly, cannot put it into words. I can feel my heart beating harder just thinking of it. NOPE, sorry.

Mike then did something I never would have expected, and it never happened before or since. He ran away, fast. Left me behind, did not even look to see if i was following. Of course i was, almost as fast as him. We ran aimlessly for a while, till we both ran out of breath and had to rest

“No way, no way, no way” he said “did not happen, did not happen”

“Mike, that was..those really where fa..”
He cut me off “Nope, roots, tree roots, and the wind, and we must have drank too much” Between the two of us, since we had started this hike, we had each drank ONE beer.

“time to go, its late” He said “Okay” i answered, no argument, no joking, nothing. Ready to go.

Now this is the slow part. We wandered around in these woods, that are only a mile by half mile wide, right on the edge of well lite places, roads, and the Gulf of Mexico. Hours and hours. How could it not even be sunrise yet? How could we not find our way out of this?

We finallt saw light just over a small hill a little ahead. Should not be hills here, but who cares at this point? Mike starts up the hill, me right behind him.” Wait’ he says “Dont go like RIGHT over the hill. lets just peek over and see”

I did not even think to question this. Seemed perfecly logical tonight, of all nights, to look before we lept. Here is what we saw. Follow me here.

Several houses, all with chimneys (Not a standard in south Florida), all lite up , all with very strange looking cars in the drives. We could see shadows cast on the shades of the windows in some houses. The shadows seemed so tall, and so thin. all these houses, maybe 6 of them, we situated on a culd de sac, a circled street. Strange sounds, like of TV programs, but slightly off, could be heard from the houses. And then we noticed that all the shadows we could see seemed to be pacing back and forth in front of thier windows, over and over again.

What cinched it for me was when i noticed, and pointed out to Mike, that there was no road going into the street. It was just a circle, in the middle of the woods, cars parked, power running the lights, but no way in or out.

Without another word, we both climbed back down the hill, and started walking in one direction, straight away. It seemed only a few more minutes passed, and the Sun started to rise in the east, the direction we were facing. We found the trail, we made it back to my car, we headed back to Mikes place.

The next week he left for school. I went to jail for a stupid crime, and changed my direction in life. Mike and I have only spoke of this night 2 or 3 times over the years, and then only to show how our story related to someone elses tale from those woods.

That is all I can say for now.

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