 At first, when the four teenagers were murdered out in their cabin in the woods, everyone thought it was just a case of wrong place at the wrong time. Then the summer camp massacre occurred, and some people began to think that the person responsible was purposefully choosing these locations. It was very unusual, other than in movies, for six young camp counselors to be murdered in such a brutal fashion. I think it was around this time that the media began to dub this killer as the cliche killer. His legacy was solidified when the three babysitters were murdered on Halloween night. I know the most people that resided in my small town believed in the idea of a killer that tried to only kill while using iconic movie tropes, but to me, the whole idea sounded ridiculous. I was of the opinion that they were more an opportunistic killer that happened to find groups of teenagers in what just happened to be famous slasher locations. Most of the time, the victims seemed to be youth who were alone and vulnerable. I honestly didn't think too much of it, really, and I never thought that I would have to worry about being stalked by the cliche killer that thought never crossed my mind. I actually thought that if I attended the party at the abandoned farmhouse, I would actually be safe. By the night of the party, it had already been two months since the babysitter murders, and so they were beginning to take a backseat in people's minds. Obviously, the pain of losing friends and in some cases, family, the pain was still raw, but I think people were starting to heal. I guess that's why there were still plans of having a party in the first place. A way to take back our youthful spirit without fear and without the worry of a killer looming over our heads. The party itself was only going to be a relatively small shindig, but like most teenage parties, it had the potential to grow out of control. As far as I knew, about 24 of us were expected to attend, but I fully expected more to show up. It was obvious before we had even conceived the idea of a party that it would be held at the abandoned farmhouse. That's where all underage parties in our town were held. It's secluded. It's quiet. It's out of eyesight and near shot of all the locals. I'm convinced that the town police are fully aware of what happens out at that farmhouse, but are either too busy or just don't care enough to do anything about it. I guess it's easier to let us young ones have some fun now and again. The date was set and the invite list was complete. All that was left to do was wait until the party got started. I think in the lead-up to the gathering, we all pushed the cliche killer from our minds and we only tried to focus on the positive. Even an hour before it began, the thought of the killer hadn't even entered my self-admitted small mind. It didn't take long for the night of the party to roll around, and soon enough I found myself sneaking through the front gate of Rope's farm and making my way over to the large empty barn that sat in the middle of the expansive and overgrown field that made up the rest of this once bustling farm. The party began, as you might expect, with a beer flowing, confidence growing, and inhibitions lowering. As far as I could tell, no uninvited guests arrived. And so the 24 of us spent the night partying and dancing, trying to forget the tragedies of the past few months. As the night began to quiet down, a number of people began to stumble out of the old barn and make their drunken way home. Before long, there were only eight of us left in the rusted, hay-filled shed. We were all standing around in a circle. The music had been turned off, and so we stood in silence for a moment. Jenny, a young blonde girl who I'd known for many years, was the first to speak. Do you know who this farm belonged to? She asked the group. No, who? I responded. I'd always wondered who used to own the farm and why it had since been abandoned. So if Jenny knew, I was thrilled that she could enlighten me. It belonged to the rope family. She began and then continued on to tell the tragic story of the family. The ropes were what seemed like to the outside a relatively standard family, which they probably were. The two parents had one small son, Terence, who was only a small child when they bought this farm. They ran this farm quite successfully for a number of years, but when Terence started school, that's when their problems began. You see, Terence didn't fit in with the other kids. He was different. He had a strange obsession with animals, which led him to not being able to properly communicate with other people. Some people say that he could speak to cows and to chicken, but not people. This led to the other kids relentlessly bullying him. They would make farm noises at him and make him walk on all fours like the animal he was. This went on for years. The school did nothing about it, of course, but the emotional trauma on young Terence took a toll on him. Soon, he would spend all his time in this very barn. His parents hardly saw him anymore. He would live in this shed, always milking the cows, the cows that were his only friends. Of course, this all leads to a tragic conclusion, because one fateful day, his friends turned against him. The cow kicked a hoof swiftly into Terence's head. More kicks followed, and soon enough, he was lying on the floor, dead. Terence's parents moved away soon after, abandoned the farm, and moved to another town. No one knows exactly where they went, but people say Terence still lives on the farm, in this very barn, to be precise, in a farm that isn't quite human, but isn't quite dead. It is said that anyone who trespasses on his land, though, will meet Terence. He's said to drain his victims of all their blood with the very milking machine that he used to milk the cows with. Jenny stopped speaking, and when I looked around at the group of us standing in a circle, I saw everyone's blank expressions. I couldn't hold it in once I'd finished processing what she just told us. I burst out laughing, and once I let out a chuckle, everyone else followed. That is the biggest load of shit I've ever heard. I said to Jenny, No, it's not, it's true. Why do you think it's called rope farm? She retorted angrily. I don't know why it's called that, but everyone knows that Terence Rope was killed at summer camp. He was set alight by the camp counselors, and now he stalks the camp grounds, praying on order counselors. Apparently, he turns them into human schmarsh. That's what I heard anyway. Ethan said, Ethan is one of my best friends, but he isn't exactly known for being the smartest person in the room. He definitely isn't the smartest person that has been inside this barn, and that includes the cows. You're an idiot, Ethan. I thought everyone knew that Terence was killed in the woods, abandoned by the other kids in a scout group. He was forced to try and survive alone in the woods. Jerry, another person present in the group said, Well, I heard that he hunts babysitters because he was murdered by a young child that he was babysitting. He wouldn't let them stay up late, and so they killed him. Well, that's what I've heard anyway. Another voice from within the circle said, I had heard enough at this point. I thought we'd come here to take our minds off of all this killing and murder, yet here we were, telling stories of a local urban myth all about killing and murder. This conversation didn't sit well with me, especially after the recent events that had transpired, so I decided to voice my concerns. Are you sure we should be discussing this subject matter right now? After everything that's happened, I don't think it's really appropriate. I said to the group, hoping we could move past this topic of conversation. Of course now's the time to discuss it. Jenny responded. It's the perfect time to talk about it. It makes it scarier knowing someone's really out there, doing that to kids like us. It helps set the mood. Well, it just seems insensitive. I reply, knowing it will fall on deaf ears. And besides, who would actually believe someone gets their blood sucked out by a cow milker? It's perfectly believable. It could. Jenny stopped Mint's sentence and let out a loud grunt of air. At first I was confused as to what was happening, and I watched as her face began to slowly contort and wrinkle. I watched as deep wrinkles in her skin began to grow even deeper and the color drained out of her face. I noticed that her face was beginning to shrivel and shrink and it was at that moment that I knew blood was being sucked straight out of her. I think everyone realized this at the same time because everyone began to scatter like mice who had just lost a game of hide and seek. We all ran in different directions, not by design, but because it was a natural instinct to just run in any direction that wasn't towards Jenny. As I turned my back to run, I heard a soft thud and I glanced back over my shoulder to see what it could be. I looked back and saw the shriveled lifeless body of Jenny drained of all blood. Standing behind her corpse was a tall man holding some sort of contraption that looked like a large needle attached to a long coiled hose. This must have been what killed Jenny. This must be Terrence Rope. I ran quickly out of the barn, not turning back again to look if I was being followed. I kept my legs moving and I tried my best to run quickly and in a straight line, which still being slightly drunk didn't make it easy. I pushed on slightly staggering but still managing to put distance in between me and the barn. I could feel my chest begin to tighten because of the physical exercise, but I had to push through it. It was better to be puffed out than dead. I took one more step and the next thing I knew, the ground was rapidly approaching my face. I hit the ground hard and I felt the sharp stab of pain run up my arm as I put it forward to help stop my fall. I looked around the area to see what I'd possibly fallen over but saw nothing but flat grassy earth. Somehow I'd just fallen without any warning or without anyone there to trip me. One thing I did notice while I had my quick visit to the floor was a large man slowly walking towards me. He looked calm as he approached me, each step a slow but large stride. The man was dressed in blue overalls but beneath was only bare skin. In one hand, he held the strange needle and hose device and in the other, he was holding some sort of pump. Covering his face was a strange mask. It appeared to be made out of cheap thin wood and was covered in slages of black and white paint. I speedily tried to stand up again and began to run away before this man had caught up to me. But I only took three or four steps before I'd already stumbled and fallen back down onto the dusty ground. I picked myself up again, unsure of how I'd managed to fall over again. I glanced back over my shoulder one more time and saw that Terrence was now only a few meters behind me, his arm extending out the needle towards me. I don't know what came over me but I suddenly had the idea to head back inside of the barn and hide from him rather than run away. Maybe if I hid, he would lose interest in me and go after someone else. I know I could have tried to keep running but it felt like one of those dreams where you're being chased but your legs don't wanna work. I ran forwards towards Terrence but I stepped to one side at the last second and avoided a needle getting stuck into me. I kept running, trying to place as much distance between him and me as I could. It would mean more time to hide once I reached the barn. My feet must have tried a bit harder to stay on the grassy dirt this time because I made it to the barn door without tripping again. It was still open. I guess no one stopped to close it on their panic filled way out and the first thing I saw when I entered was Jenny's lifeless prune-like body on the barn floor. I tried to avert my eyes from the disturbing sight but I couldn't help but look over. That could be me if I don't find a good hiding spot quickly. My eyes darted around the barn hoping to find a large hay bale or a trap door I could hide in. I didn't see either of those but what I did see was even better. The gun was sitting atop an old bench that was tucked away nicely in the corner of the barn. I hadn't even seen this bench the entire night but luckily I'd seen it when I really needed to. The gun was just laying on the wooden bench top and it was probably my only hope of survival. I ran over to the bench and picked up the small handgun that was resting there. It felt heavy in my hands but it felt powerful too. Powerful enough to stop the psycho that was about to walk through the barn door. I quickly checked the gun so I could be sure it contained ammo. I discovered that there were three bullets loaded, three chances to kill him. I crouched down just in front of the bench trying my best to camouflage myself into the dark corner. I hadn't seen this corner of the barn for the few hours that I'd been here so I hope that he would forget to check here too. That was unlikely considering if this was Terence he'd spent most of his life in this very barn. Nevertheless, I was gonna try my luck by hiding here using the gun if I needed to. I heard footsteps entering the barn. They were slow but produced a heavy thud with each step. He was here. He stopped walking once he was just past the entryway into the barn. He turned his head from side to side looking for me. Through the open mask I could see two dark eyes piercing through. The eyes scanned across the large open area but they never looked directly into my hiding spot. He then took another step forward and continued searching. He must have not been able to see because he kept walking across the barn. He held the large needle and hose in his hand waiting for someone to use it on. He paced back and forth hoping to find someone's blood to drain. I tried my best to stay quiet but my fear made my breathing loud and a little bit raspy. I don't think he was able to hear it though because he never once looked in the direction of the bench in the dark corner. After what felt like an hour of him searching he turned around and walked back out of the barn. I didn't dare move once he was gone. I stayed exactly where I was. My legs were beginning to cramp from squatting in the same position for too long but that was better than the alternative. I waited for five minutes then another five just to be sure. I then slowly stood up knees cracking as I did and slowly began to creep to the barn entrance ready to make my escape. That's when I felt the sharp stab of pain in my neck. The next few moments flashed by so quickly I'm not entirely sure what happened. I don't know how he appeared behind me in the first place. It defied all logic and reasoning but somehow he did and he'd stabbed me with a large needle. I turned around sharply and saw him needle in hand. I raised the gun and pulled the trigger twice. Two bullets flew out of the gun and at insane speed they lodged themselves directly into his chest. Terrence laid out a soft grunting sound and then began to fall towards the floor. He hit the floor with a heavy thud. I felt for the long needle that was pierced into my neck. I found it easily and I yanked it out. I felt a sharp jab of pain but luckily that was all. I looked down at the body of Terrence on the ground. It was still and unmoving. I'd killed him. There was only one thing left to do now. I raised the gun up and pointed it towards him. I then dropped it to the floor right beside him and I turned around and I ran. By the time the police arrived I'd managed to find another three of my friends terrified in hiding up trees. We'd all huddled together and rung the police. They sent out a car and surprisingly it only took a few minutes before it arrived. The police managed to find the rest of my friends alive and unharmed. The only casualty that night was Jenny. Police searched the barn and found her corpse still lying on the ground exactly where Terrence had left it. The only thing was Terrence's body wasn't where I left it. Police searched the entire barn and the surrounding area but found no sign of his body anywhere. I know I'd shot him. I know I'd killed him. So where was he? Where is he now? I don't know the answers to those questions and I definitely don't know if he will ever reappear. What I do know is that the media was right. The cliche killer is definitely real.