The Congregation of the Exalted

In our youth, our parents always tell us folk tales, or even true stories that will influence us to stay on the right paths as kids. Well from the first day I moved to this town of mine, I have been hearing things that have paralyzed me with so much fear, that I find the safest location is inside my own home. That may be because of my own personal experiences with the stories of this town, but I must get this tale out there. I'm going to give you the short version of the tale, because it is quite long.

The story goes that a young boy, when I heard the story back when I was eight, I was about the same age as the boy. Anyway, this boy was extremely naive, didn't care to listen to his parents, they told him to stay away from the woods, for there was something that clung to the shadows of them. As the boy grew older and more arrogant, he started to venture those woods on his own.

One day he followed a path he really did not know, and eventually lost his way. He felt like he was being followed but continued to try to find his way and eventually exit the forest. I'm not sure how much truth to this story there is or if it's just some folk tale, but it says that the boy is then stopped by a group of five, dressed in dark cloaks.

The one in the middle, steps towards him, and whispers to him, "You've wandered too far." and supposedly the boy was never heard of again. I'm not sure how the last part got out, but hey it's a story right?

Now I get to the real reason why I brought this up. Over the past two months me and my friends (all stupid teenagers ranging from ages 15–19) have been venturing into the woods of our neighborhoods, finding strange markings and symbols of sorts.

We were followed the other day, by a tall man in a hooded cloak....and well I'm kind of paranoid...well we all are...we lost our friend one night...and he showed up in school 4 days later, acting completely out of it....we don't know what to do...this might be the last time I type something....I just heard a loud crash outside my door...oh god.