Don't Turn Around

Don't Turn Around: The Last Thing You'll See

It started with a dare.

The kind of stupid, late-night challenge teenagers whisper about in hushed tones when the world is quiet and curiosity outweighs fear. "Stand at the edge of Bellman’s Forest, just before midnight. Don’t turn around. No matter what you hear. No matter what you feel. Just don’t."

They said it was a ghost. A woman who once lived deep in the woods with her children. She vanished one winter, and when they finally found the cabin months later, the children were gone. No bodies. No signs of struggle. Just claw marks. Long ones. On the inside of the walls.

Now, if you go there and stand still at the tree line, she finds you. But only if you turn around.

Jenna didn’t believe in any of it. She was the kind of girl who wore sarcasm like armor. But even she couldn't resist a dare from her brother Kyle, especially with his smug little smirk and the camera already rolling.

"It's just five minutes," Kyle said. "Stand there, back to the trees. Don’t turn. Easy likes for the video. We’ll even call it 'Urban Legend Debunked.'"

The wind was sharp that night. It sliced through her hoodie like tiny knives. The trees creaked as if they whispered to one another, warning her. The moon hung low, smothered by clouds.

She stood at the edge of the forest.

The others waited by the car, their flashlights dimmed. Kyle held the camera like it was a weapon against the dark.

Jenna checked her phone. 11:58 p.m.

She faced the gravel road. Behind her, just a foot away, the tree line loomed like a wall of bones.

Then it began.

It started as a whisper.

Not a voice. A breath.

Slow. Close.

She clenched her fists. Probably Kyle playing a recording. Idiot.

Another minute passed. A twig snapped. Then another.

She turned her head slightly—not enough to break the rules—just enough to scan the corner of her vision.

Nothing. Just blackness.

But something shifted in the air. The pressure changed, like the world had sucked in a breath and held it.

Then the whisper came again. Right by her ear.

"You see me..."

Her chest tightened. The voice was low, raw, like gravel soaked in blood.

She bit her lip. “Not funny, Kyle,” she muttered.

Something touched her shoulder.

Not a tap. A grip.

She froze. Her instincts screamed to run, but the dare echoed louder in her head: Don’t turn around.

The hand remained. Cold. Fingers too long. Pressing down like roots burrowing into skin.

She squeezed her eyes shut. "It's not real. It’s not real."

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Midnight. The five minutes were over.

She breathed out in relief.

Then she heard a second buzz—coming from the forest behind her.

That wasn’t her phone.

That was Kyle’s.

She turned.

Just her head.

Only a little.

And saw nothing but blackness.

Then, a pair of eyes opened in the dark.

Wide. Milky white. Too far apart.

Then another set below them.

And another.

She opened her mouth to scream, but it was already too late.

Something pulled her backward. Fast. Violent.

The last thing she saw was the road.

The trees swallowed her.


---

Kyle called out.

"Jenna?"

The camera feed was still on. The timestamp said 12:03 a.m.

They walked up to where she had been standing. The ground was disturbed—boot prints, then a long drag mark going straight into the woods.

He hesitated.

“Jenna?”

No answer.

Then something buzzed near his feet.

He picked it up.

Her phone.

The screen was cracked. A single message was open.

From Jenna’s number.

"Don’t turn around."

He looked up.

The others were already backing away.

“Let’s go, man,” one of them said, voice trembling. “We’ll call someone. The cops.”

Kyle turned to face the forest again.

That’s when he felt it.

The breath.

Right behind him.

Warm. Damp. Like rot and ruin.

He didn’t move. His hands trembled, the phone slipping slightly in his grip.

He whispered, “Jenna?”

The breath came again, followed by a voice.

"Now you see."

He spun around—


---

The police never found Jenna. Or Kyle. Or the three friends who waited at the car.

What they did find were five cellphones, scattered like breadcrumbs along the road leading away from Bellman’s Forest.

Each phone had the same final message on the lock screen:

"Don’t turn around. It’s the last thing you’ll see."