 Ashwood Forest has legends. The mailbox is one of them. I'm a deputy in a small town surrounded by forest. The forest isn't like normal ones, no, this one's different, even if I try to convince myself that it's all in my head. For one, there are many legends around the Ashwood Forest starting with the mailbox. The legend goes like this, there's a mailbox deep in the middle of the Ashwood Forest. It doesn't stay there for long, but if you happen to come across it, the mailbox will have something in it as the flag will be standing up. If you look inside, there will be a letter with your name on it and nothing else. Inside that letter will be the date you die. That's just legend, stories to keep kids from wandering too far in and getting in trouble, but there is truth to that legend. I found out about that truth two years ago. I was just starting as deputy and I had big shoes to fill after deputy grand retired and I was trying very hard to impress my superiors as well as grand. I was in way over my head. It was a disappearance case. Local hunter hadn't returned home when he said he would and his wife called it in. We conducted a search party and started the search. I was in group two with Mac Peterson and Brooke Justin, two very close friends of mine as well as co-workers. It's probably nothing. He got lost in the trail, couldn't find his way back. Peterson said, stepping over a fallen tree trunk in his way. Yeah, but what if he's hurt? You have no compassion Mac. Justin countered. Peterson was about to complain further when I spotted something. Guys? Does that look like a mailbox to you? I said, pointing at the quite obvious red flag of a mailbox. What the hell? Why is there a mailbox out here? Peterson walked ahead to it. I was a bit more weary of the odd decor. Wait, Peterson, don't open it. I called. Something about the mailbox made me feel scared, wrong as if opening it would cause something bad to happen. Peterson ignored my request and walked closer. Birds shot from the trees in droves. I heard the deer nearby scamper off into the forest like the creatures knew that opening the mailbox was wrong. I was not as lucky as the woodland creatures. I was unable to run away. Peterson opened the mailbox and froze. I walked closer to him. Trying to get a look inside, no matter how much my body protested the thought of going near it. Mac. I asked, looking to Justin, who had the same look of blank confusion. They didn't even register my existence. In a trance-like state, Peterson took out the letter inside and opened it. I could read it from over his shoulder. And as I read it, I adopted the same feeling of confusion and fear. A scream pierced the quiet of the forest. Peterson dropped the letter, snapping out of his trance, like Justin. What was that? Peterson asked, forgetting about the mailbox in front of him. I looked away for a moment. And when I looked back, much to my deep discomfort, it was gone. The whole thing, the mailbox, the letter, the depression where the mailbox was before, looked like a normal clearing. We never did find that hunter. That scream must have come from him, but no matter how long we searched, we didn't find a trace of him. The cabin he was using was cleared out, and there was no discernible trail. The man just dropped off the map. But one thing did come out of that search. We didn't find the man, but we found the truth of the mailbox legend. It doesn't tell you when you die. In fact, nothing of that sort. It tells you a piece of information. This is what it said. To Mack Peterson, Brooke Justin, and Atticus Brooks, beware the creatures who roam the woods, not all of them are good. Some are harmless, small, and sublime, while others seek to take lives. If you hear the scream of a ghost nearby, you know it's time to hide. For the creature who stalks the woods at night isn't far behind. If you ever visit Ashwood and happen to find a mailbox deep in the woods, don't go near it. Run as fast as you can. The creature is not far behind. Update. This is my second post so far, but I'm not sure how many there will be based on my luck. Ashwood is dangerous, even if the residents like to ignore that. So far, nothing in the present day has gone awry except for run-ins with the mailbox and the doors. Yeah, let's talk about those. It's probably just like you pictured it, random doors all over the forest. And it's not old doors. It's like you took pictures of random doors in your neighborhood and then put them in the middle of the woods. I've never opened one. I know better than that. It was the same feeling when I was near the mailbox, a sense of foreboding. Some people weren't so lucky. The reason I know that these doors are bad is because I've seen what's behind them, and it's not pretty. I lost an officer to them, a rookie. She was young, a weak, fresh, and had been subjected to all the pranks possible at the office. She was a good sport, but desperately wanted an excuse to get out of the office. She got it. When I asked her to come with me to look for another missing person, we get a lot of those due to Ashwood Forest. It was a teenage girl. Parents reported her missing after she went into the forest with friends for a party. We were walking when we came across one of the doors. There wasn't the first time I'd seen one. Deputy Grant had showed me them before he retired. The week before he retired, he had a few more things to go over. One that involved the doors. He took me out to Ashwood Forest and followed an erratic trail, almost kind of wandering. Finally, we came across a dark wood door with a glittery plastic sign that said Welcome. I was immediately uneasy. This here is one of the doors. No one knows where they come from, but we have rules. He said, I silently listened to him list the rules, because I knew that I'd need them in the future, no matter how stupid and far-fetched they seemed. No matter what, don't open them. If you see them, just turn the other way. They latch onto people who come too close, those who are susceptible to it. Any questions, kid? Yeah, you said susceptible. What does that mean? Deputy Grant looked at the door and signed. People who look at those doors feel a pull, a desire to go near it, to open it. No one knows why people do this or why people are susceptible, it's just the way it is. Deputy Grant looked at me and had a question of his own. Do you feel it, Brooks? The pull. I looked at the door. Even looking at it caused a ripple of dread to run down my spine. Every brain cell screamed at me to get away. No, no, no I don't. Deputy Grant hummed and looked back at the door. Well then, congrats Brooks, you're one of the lucky ones. When I took Kingston out, I never expected to run into a door which Deputy Grant would scold me for. Always be prepared for anything is his motto, but in this town you can't always be prepared for everything, you'll go insane. We came to a clearing and there was a door, a nice one plucked from a rich neighborhood with a reef on it. Easter, I think. I immediately noticed Kingston's eyes dull slightly and moved to go toward it. Brooks, what's with the door? I grabbed her wrist as fast as I could, trust me, don't go near them. She laughed and shook my hand off. Come on Brooks, lighten up, it's just a random door, although it does look new. Don't touch it, let's go this way, you can see the trail right there, I said, but she completely ignored me. Before I could stop her, her hand touched the doorknob and she turned it. As soon as she opened it, her body froze, every single muscle tensed and she went rigid. I yelled at her, I shook her, nothing, Olivia, Olivia can hear me. I tried to yank her away from the door, but it felt like her feet were nailed to the ground. I made the mistake of taking a peek inside. It was just black, utter darkness, no light, it was so dark, it was almost endless. It felt cold and hopeless and I get chills just remembering it. Every brain cell screamed at me to run and finally I slammed the door shut and yanked her away from it. And after it was shut, it just vanished. She was still rigid, but I got her to walk for a few minutes and she returned to semi-normal. We did find the girl, surprisingly, usually a missing person is a certain death sentence. She was a little drunk, but we got her back to her parents who were more than a little pissed off. But Olivia was never the same again. Two weeks after she opened the door, she had a mental breakdown that landed her in a psych ward. As far as I know, she's still there. And there's something else. What maybe scared me even more was at her desk, the things she wrote on it. When her things were removed, we had to throw away the desk because of all the writing on it. This is what she wrote. The doors have called you home. You can feel it in your bones, the time has come to be one with the doors that call you home. Don't be afraid, you'll be okay, you're ready to come home. So now, you know the warning, if you happen to find the doors in Ashwood Forest, don't open them. I'd hate to know what home is.