It was March 14th, 2001.

The day we all decided to play hide and seek at midnight after smoking a blunt of dank ass weed. Til this day, I question if I were just insanely high, if I entered a parallel universe or if I were just going crazy, but that night is a night I'll never forget.

It was my 17th birthday party, I had a couple of my closest friends sleep over and we decided to be a bunch of big little kids. So there we were in the street, hiding while one counted.

There was only one rule: No hiding beyond Campbell Street.

I chose to hide in a tree since I'm extremely acrobatic and can climb like no other. Getting up the tree honestly wasn't as hard as staying in it.

Luke hid next to me under a car. I could clearly see him and he could clearly see me. We eyed each other, making a silent pact that if one of us is found, we would not out the other.

I heard footsteps on the pavement walking towards me.

I squinted my eyes and saw Becca's uncanny frizzy hair. I watched as she walked in a zig-zag motion, looking behind garbage cans and in recycling barrows.
She then walked towards me with shined her flashlight under the car where she found Luke. She came toward the tree, checked behind the trunk and even in the leaves towards me, at one point she shined the light straight at my eyes, then turned around and walked away.

"What the hell?" Luke said. "I just saw Julie in the tree right before you caught me, how the hell did she move so quickly?"

"I'm right here guys" I said.

No one replied. I repeated myself again and jumped out of the tree. "Guys?"

They didn't answer me.

I ran, caught up with them and hopped in front of them, and the strangest thing happened --- they didn't even make eye contact with me. They looked through me almost as if I didn't even exist.

I wasn't understanding what was going on. I followed Becca and Luke down the street as Becca searched for Samantha and August. I tried everything. I screamed, I poked at them but seemingly went right through them, I tried to hit cars and shake trees with no reactions from them at all.

"BOO!"

Luke and Becca screamed and giggled, their voices echoed down the quiet dark street. Samantha and August playfully hugged them both and began to walk.

"Leave it to Julie to find the best hiding spot." Samantha said, shining her flashlight aimlessly.

"I'm right here gu—"

"She was in the tree next to me, let's go back. I'm sure she didn't get far."  They all walked back toward the car Luke hid under and checked the tree again, still no sign of me.

"Well.... Because I'm right freaking here!" I jumped and screamed for their attention.

They searched for a while longer, under all the cars, in all the trees, in everyone's backyards. I followed them tirelessly, begging them to just give me a break. Hoping that this is just some kind of joke they all agreed to play on me.

"Alright let's just go back to Julie's, maybe she went home." Becca suggested. "Plus it's getting late and I really, really don't feel like walking anymore. My legs are tired. I need cake!!"

"Omg cake sounds so fucking good." August responded.

I followed them back to my house, dragging my feet and restless. "Where's Julie?" My mom asked.

"She didn't come back here?" Luke asked, wide-eyed.

They all ran down the street, my mom ran following them. "What were you guys doing?!" She yelled.

"We were just playing hide and seek! Julie was in this—" he paused.

Everyone screamed and cried in terror. "MY JULIE" my mom yelped. I ran over to the tree, faced with the most haunting sight before my eyes.

There I was, on the ground. My head split open, blood pooled on the cement as I lay with my eyes open.

Suddenly, a black mist surrounded the tree, out of the mist came out a creature so ugly and unearthly, I can hardly describe this things features. The eyes were blazing red, horns stuck out from its forehead. The entire body seemed to be made up of some kind of black material resembling volcanic rock... but did not look hard to the touch. It screeched before speaking. "I found you." It pointed at me, growling and smiling through its tiny, sharp teeth. The lips on this creature seemed to stretch far beyond a human's ear.

It jumped toward me and wrapped me in its arms and jumped into the mist. In the darkness, it chuckled and mumbled "now you're hidden and mine forever."