Another Flash Story!

This is a story I submitted for publication but it was after the deadline expired so it was denied.  I think it's a fairly good story,maybe not as good as my Pot Roast story, but still pretty good.  Let me know what you think!

Hide and Seek

“The woods are haunted you know,” Josh said as they walked.

“Bullshit,” Bob said grumpily.  “There are no such things as ghosts.  Don’t be so stupid.”

“You guys are so stupid.  Why do you have to argue all the time?” Tanya said, rolling her eyes.  “We’ll just go into the woods to where the house is supposed to be and see for ourselves.”

“Fine with me.  How are you feeling, Josh?” Bob asked.

“I’m not scared if that’s what you’re asking,” he said but didn’t sound too convincing.

“Yeah right.  If we need to find our way back we can just follow your urine trail.”

“Shut it, Bob,” Josh said.

They walked in silence through the woods to the shack where the ghosts of the murdered children were supposed to be.  They opened the door and went inside.  Everything had a thick layer of dust…everything but the toys that were scattered around the floor.  There were no footprints anywhere except from the three of them.

“This is creepy.  I want to leave,” Tanya said.

“You can’t leave.  Now that you’re here, you have to stay,” Bob whispered.

“What?” she asked, her voice almost a scream.

“The children need playmates,” he said, and looked her in the face.  “And you’re here.  Time to play.”

Josh grabbed Tanya by the arm and pulled her back through the door.  His face was pale as a sheet and he was terrified.  A wet spot manifested itself on the front of his pants.  The two of them ran, Tanya chancing a glance over her shoulder saw Bob standing in the doorway of the shack looking out at them.  A second later she fell to the ground hard on top of Josh.  He had tripped over a root and tried to use her to maintain his balance. 

A shadow fell over them.  Two people wearing dirty, ragged clothes were looking down at them.  They each wore crooked smiles that were short several teeth.  The one on the left brought a rock down on Josh’s skull.  There was a cracking sound like an egg being dropped on a tile floor.  Josh’s body began to shake like it was electrified and the horrible creature brought the rock down again and Josh was still.

Tanya saw hands reaching for her and she screamed and passed out from terror.

                                                            ***

“Be careful with your new ball, if you break that one it might be a long time before I can get another one,” Bob warned the children.  They grunted something unintelligible that he took to mean that they understood him.  They gently rolled Tanya’s head back and forth between them, her face locked in a frozen expression of fear.  Bob shook his head.  He warned them.  There were no ghosts.  Just the grown up children everyone thought were dead.  And they needed playmates.  Bob left the shack, eager to find more playmates for the children. 

They tired of their toys so quickly…