The video starts up with Emma seated in front of her laptop once more. She has dark bags under her eyes. There have been a handful of other assignments recorded before this particular entry, but this is the next to contain pertinent information regarding the case files. Emma's brown hair is disheveled, and she is wearing little to no makeup, sweats, and an over-sized T-shirt.

--FILE 003: THE WOODS--

09/26/XXXX

Emma: "God, I hate this assignment. Talk about an invasion of privacy."

Wynona (offscreen): "Guillermo isn't asking you to spill your guts to the world, Emma. Just pick something simple that meets the subject you were given."

Emma: "At least your subject isn't invasive."

Wynona: "Uh, are you joking, or did you forget? My subject is 'Love Life'. I have to make a vlog on some stupid story from my personal love life."

Emma: "Oh- shit. I got you mixed up with Cathy. My bad. Cathy's was 'Favorite childhood book'."

Wynona: "I freaking wish."

Emma: "Mine isn't much better. It's 'childhood stories'."

Wynona: "Okay, come on, surely you've got some story worth sharing."

Emma spends a moment just staring into space, obviously trying to think of a story to tell. It's unclear if she realizes she can pause the recording, or simply wishes not to, in a passive aggressive attempt to make her Creative Writing I Professor suffer as much as she is.

Emma: "Ugh, I have absolutely zero inspiration for anything. Can you tell me one, just to warm me up?"

Wynona: "You're hopeless."

There is shuffling off screen, and then Wynona herself scoots into view, on her own rolling chair. She has thick, curling black hair, and a pair of round spectacles sits on her nose. She, too, has some dark circles under her eyes, and she appears thin and somewhat underfed.

Wynona: "Stories from my childhood aren't exactly good."

Emma: "Don't be silly, Wyn, being poor doesn't mean you can't have a great childhood."

Wynona: "Not exactly what I mean." She seems to hesitate at this point, as if considering sharing something. "I'm not originally from the [CITY REDACTED]."

Emma: "I mean, that's not that big a deal. People travel all over to attend schools, if they want to badly enough."

Wynona: "Yeah, but where I'm from is... different. It's a small town, and I mean small. You had to take a highway to get anywhere in town, and houses could be like, up to a mile apart. We lived like, on the edge of a lake, and our closest neighbor lived on the other side."

Emma: "I swear to God, is this a scary story?"

Wynona: "I mean... scary in that it's true? Yes."

Emma: "Oh, hell. Tell me, anyway. We can keep this in and see if you can get extra credit."

Wynona rolls her eyes, but she's grinning, clearly amused.

Wynona: "Okay, but you can't say I didn't warn you." She suddenly grows serious, and her eyes get a far-away look to them. "About fifteen years ago, I was involved in an investigation."

Emma: "What, like a... small town cop investigation?"

Wynona: "No, like a 'the FBI are involved' investigation."

Emma: "Oh, shit."

Wynona: "Like I said, we lived on the edge of a lake, and there were all these woods around us. My older sister and I used to play in them all the time. It was, you know, pretty safe. The road was way far out from the woods, and we never even got close enough to it to see the rare car traveling past."

Emma: "Sounds almost magical."

Wynona's expression darkens.

Wynona: "It used to be. One day, Brittany and I were playing Red Riding Hood together."

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Emma: "Aww, that sounds super cute!"

Wynona: "It was Brittany's game, and you know how weird she is. Red Riding Hood was actually a poacher, and the Wolf had to try to stop her from wiping out all of the wildlife on a nature preserve."

Emma bursts into laughter.

Emma: "That is exactly the type of game your sister would coin."

Wynona: "It's a good thing we were. I was hiding in the bushes, because I was playing Red, and it was Brittany's job to find me. All of a sudden, though, her hands claps over my mouth, like this-" Wynona mimes a hand suddenly coming from behind her to cover her mouth.

Emma: "Jesus."

Wynona: "At first, I was super mad, because it scared the heck out of me... but then I realized why she did it. We weren't alone."

Emma (visibly alarmed): "Shut the hell up."

Wynona: "There was a man walking in the woods, and he had a little girl with him. A little girl I knew from school." She looks progressively more upset and distant, staring past the computer with a faraway look in her eyes. "Her name was Lizzie, I remember. Both she and I were five at the time. She was following this man, and he was dressed in a hoodie, jeans, and sneakers. For the most part, he was perfectly normal... except his face."

Emma: "If you tell me he was bleeding out his eyes, I swear to God-"

Wynona: "No. He had a nasty burn that spread across half his face."

Emma: "Oh."

Wynona: "May not seem like much right now, but as a five year old, it was kind of scary. Lizzie was just chattering away at him, though. Her mom used to tell my mom all the time that Lizzie was so friendly... she was so proud of her sweet, talkative little girl..."

Emma's face falls, and she says nothing, perhaps realizing now that this story doesn't have a happy ending.

Wynona: "Anyway, Brittany and I sat as still as we could, barely breathing, while the man walked past with Lizzie beside him. They disappeared into the trees, and then Brittany took my hand, and we started trying to make our way back home. I don't know what she was thinking, but I was just... hoping... that everything was okay."

Emma: "Wyn, you don't have to tell this story if you don't want to..."

Wynona (continuing as if she didn't hear Emma): "Only a short distance away, though, we heard Lizzie scream. It was... it wasn't a good scream." She looks shaken. "It's hard to explain. It was also so, so short. She screamed bloody murder for just a fraction of a second, and then everything went dead silent in the whole forest."

Emma: "Oh, God."

Wynona: "Brittany and I raced home. We didn't dare say anything at first- Brittany told me that we'd get in a ton of trouble. She was only eight, and as a kid, it's so hard to know what the right thing to do is. We knew something was super, super wrong, but we didn't understand just how bad... until we saw the news."

Emma: "Did they find her?"

Wynona: "No. It was a missing person's report, and then we got the alert that Lizzie was missing. Lizzie's mom even called our house to ask, in tears, if Lizzie was there. That's when I cracked."

Emma: "Did your mom believe you?"

Wynona (cracking a small, fragile smile): "If you'd seen the way both Brittany and I were shaking, you'd have been hard pressed to think we were lying. We were crying so hard, snot was coming down our faces. The cops were at our house in no time, and the FBI shortly after them. They asked us to take them to the exact spot where we'd seen Lizzie, and we were able to, because we lived in those woods, and we knew them backwards and forwards."

Emma: "Did you find her?"

Wynona: "No. Lizzie's body was never found- she was one of many that were never located. I... found the guy, though."

Emma looks visibly alarmed. Neither girl looks like they remember that the camera is rolling.

Emma: "What do you mean, you found him?"

Wynona: "We knew what direction the guy was going in. That neighbor I mentioned before, the house on the other side of the lake? It was totally empty. No one had lived there in over a decade... but I saw smoke coming out of the chimney. I told the FBI... but I also saw the man in the woods."

Emma: "With the girl?"

Wynona: "No, I mean right then. I was telling them about the smoke, and then I realized that we weren't alone. I heard this strange sound, and I followed it- like a thousand flies all going absolutely insane over something. I only took a few steps toward the noise when I realized there was someone standing in the shadows of the trees- forests can get real dark, when the trees are thick."

Emma: "He was right there?! Shut the fuck up, he was not!"

Wynona: "He was. I screamed and pointed, and he took off... but he wasn't fast enough. The FBI caught him, and they were able to finally pin all of the murders he'd committed on him, once and for all, and sentence him to death row."

Emma suddenly looks like a few puzzle pieces have clicked into place.

Emma: "Hang on, wait. Are you talking about, like... someone super famous?"

Wynona smiles weakly.

Wynona: "Pretty damned famous. He's the last serial killer to get that kind of infamy: the Maggot Man, they called him."

Emma shudders in horror, her skin pale and clammy.

Emma: "Jesus, you're right. I've heard that case before! My mom used to watch a ton of true crime shit, and that one was on all the time- they talked about two unnamed little girls who helped capture him!"

Wynona: "Yup. My sister and I."

Emma: "That is actually terrifying."

Emma seems to notice the camera suddenly, and bursts into nervous laughter.

Emma: "I don't think I'm going to have anything that can top that. You think Guillermo will let us switch, if you agree to turn this in? There's no way he won't see that storytelling as a masterpiece."

Wynona tries to smile, but she seems greatly unsettled and uncomfortable.

Wynona: "Nah, I think... maybe I will just do the 'love life' one. Not as... heavy."

Emma nods in understanding.

Emma: "Yeah... yeah. I know what you mean." She pauses, hesitating, as she watches Wynona look into the distance again, remembering. "You okay?"

Wynona startles somewhat, and then flashes Emma a smile as she pushes herself up.

Wynona: "Yeah. I'm fine. I'll be fine. Don't worry about me, Em. Just get your homework done."

Emma watches her friend shuffle back off screen, pushing her wheeled chair with her as she goes, and her expression becomes worried. After several long seconds, she comes to, turns, and cuts the filming of the video.