creepypasta · horror · autumn · school camping trip · supernatural · digital dread · predator · unsettling · thriller · forest setting
A cold seeped through the bus windows, defying the heater's weak efforts. Outside, a riot of autumn leaves—scarlet, gold, copper—swirled across the road as the old yellow bus shuddered onto a winding forest highway. Inside, the tinny echo of headphones battled with the restless chatter of students. I kept my gaze fixed on the window, watching the world dissolve into a blur of fiery decay. The two teachers at the front sat in stiff silence, their faces etched with a weariness that felt decades deep. My eyes kept drifting to their hands, folded in their laps. No bags. No gear. Just empty, pale fingers. The road narrowed, and ancient trees leaned in, their branches knitting a ceiling that choked the daylight. We were heading somewhere—Nicolet National Forest, they'd tell us later, a na…