In my town, there is a rule that we all follow. Never go into the Hissing trail.
The entrance to this forbidden place, lies casually on a barely used road, on a steep slope that leads to a long-abandoned house near the top of the hill.
It’s not just any house though, despite the years of abandonment, it is still the most impressive building in our small village.
A chateau-like manor, 3 stories high, filled with balconies and spires, so unlike the shack-like homes that it looms over.
It can be seen from everywhere in the village, although everyone pretends it doesn’t exist. Like the trail that starts right in front of its tall Iron gates, the house too is said to be cursed, although not as much as the infamous trail.
No one knows the actual true story behind it, only the rumors spread in schoolyards by older kids trying to instill fear in the young. Multiple versions of this tale exist, some outrageously fantastic while others remain well-grounded and believable. Still, within all these variations, the baseline always remains the same.
Once, there was a man who inhabited the manor with his wife and 2 children. He was a self-made individual who rose from poverty by his own strength and built an extremely lucrative business.
This man, despite having achieved substantial riches, wanted more. Much more.
He was an arrogant man, that looked down on others, thinking of himself to be above them. He pursued luxuries just for the sake of having them and boasting about them. He spent his wealth frivolously in front of others, indulging himself with their envied looks.
A tiny despicable man is how they saw him, but a rich one nonetheless and, in a place ruled by poverty like this one, this gave him power, and thus, most would bow before him. Sadly for him, although strong, his business wasn’t enough to keep up with his spending, and since he’d become more interested in showing his wealth than to protect it, soon his empire began to crumble.
The man, who’d spent his life thinking of himself above others, was now below them.
Wherever he went, people would point and whisper about his downfall, how the debt collectors rushed up the hill to gut his home from anything remotely valuable.
Even the toilets had been taken, some would say mockingly, making a feeling of ire explode in him.
He didn’t give up though, as he continued thinking of himself as superior while chasing profits that were no longer there, making back-end deals that deepened the hole he was falling into, until it was all too much, and while facing his own downfall, his mind finally broke.
One night, taken by madness he forced his family out of bed and took them outside, into the trail he’d ordered open just a few months before without reason. No one knows why he took them down the path, perhaps he intended on fleeing without being seen as the coward he’d become. Perhaps it was just his madness destroying all reason that still remained in him.
What is known is that his children cried, and his wife pleaded but he’d listened to none.
That night, heavy clouds ruled over the sky blocking the stars and moon, immersing the village in gloomy darkness. The wind rolled down the hill, bringing the sobbing echoes of his family down to the village. Those still out heard the sobbing cries for help and hurried up the hill intent to put an end to his madness, but once there, all they saw was the 4 of them disappearing in the dark trail.
The worried men did not follow them, because at the precise instant that the family disappeared under the cover of darkness, the sky fell on them.
It had been a storm like no other, for 3 days it poured heavily, flooding the river and flushing away all the crops beside it.
Lightning bolts plummeted from the skies over the hills day and night, with their deafening thunders echoing in the valley and keeping everyone wide awake, shivering in their beds.
Despite the danger of walking into the woods under such extreme weather, the town refused to abandon the family. They all despised the father, but the wife and children had always been loved by the community.
So, amidst the torrent of rain, risking their lives under the lightning strikes, everyday groups of brave men entered the dark woods in hopes of rescuing the innocent children.
The storm passed without anything having been found, not a piece of cloth, not a footprint, not even a droplet of blood in a broken branch.
The rain had washed them away! people proclaimed in the tavern.
They need to be somewhere! others said as they continued entering the woods and traveling through the path in search of the missing family.
On the 10th day, they finally found something.
In the middle of the trail, now instead of dried leaves and mud, something impossible had appeared. Estimated to weigh over 5 tons, now where before had been nothing, was a large granite slab.
That however wasn’t all they found though, forming a triangle atop it were 3 polished skulls, that had been placed facing the center of the slab, where a strange symbol had been chiseled.
The village went crazy with disgust, calling out devil worshiping and declaring the area cursed.
Some of the most skeptical continued the search for the family but even they didn’t last long as they quickly started to refuse to enter the trail, insisting that there was something else roaming it alongside them. An evil presence that stayed close, hidden in the shadows.
It was the decapitated family searching for their heads, hissing for help as they were unable to cry, rumor said.
To you, I’m sure this tale will be like any other story. An unimpressive folk tale, similar to many others. For us who live here in this village though, every word of it is real and we take it with severe seriousness. I, most of all.
I wasn’t born in the village. I’m an outsider that came to live here in my mid-teens during the aftermath of my parent’s sudden unemployment.
With our limited means, a home here was the best we could afford, but a grueling change for me who was used to the busy city life.
I was never an awkward kid, but I wasn’t the most popular either. I was what you could call average when it came to popularity, which meant that I wasn’t too thrilled to come here. I understood the situation my family was in, but still, I felt resentful and afraid. I worried that my mediocre personality would make it hard for me to adjust to this new environment and that I’d end up being placed aside and forgotten.
The opposite happened though, since everyone took an interest in me. I was constantly bombarded with questions about the city as well as about the jarring difference between my life here and my life there.
This lasted for quite a while, allowing me to slid into the popular groups while fueling my ego, making me grow more and more arrogant.
You can only be the new kid for so long though, so it was inevitable that the novelty of it wore off and soon I became a regular kid like all the others.
This was by no means a tragedy since I was never put aside as I’d feared in the first place.
I had a well-defined place in my group of friends and I was never alone, but I just wasn’t special anymore, and now that I’d gotten a taste of it I didn’t want to let go of it.
So I did what all the teen magazines said I should do. I reinvented myself.
Everyone knows that at the height of popularity are the jocks, so I started along that path.
The first thing I had to do was to choose a sport. Here that was an easy task, since there was just only one sport being actively played, Soccer. I knew very little about it, with me never even seen a full match of it. Still, regardless of my ignorance, I was sure I was going to be a superstar.
It dint happened how I’d planned though, it looked simple but despite my efforts, I was just terrible at it.
This lead me to be delegated to the sidelines, turning me into a cheerleader instead of an actual player. Obviously, this didn’t suit me, so I quickly tossed out the idea of becoming a popular athlete and jumped on to another route.
I was going to be the tough guy, the rebel without a cause.
I know it now looks cringe, but at that time, it sounded like a great idea.
You must understand that it was a different era, in those days, in the movies, we saw girls falling mad over the tough guys while the other men looked up to them with great respect. So what was I supposed to think?
I started with the basics, and what does every rebel has? A weapon that makes him dangerous.
I scrawled through my dad’s old boxes of junk, with my mind already set on the prize.
A switchblade knife, that he’d shown me a long time ago. The handle was made of rubber with a camo print that made it perfect for the part.
After finding it, we were inseparable, with me constantly fiddling with it, especially when girls were around.
I even nicked myself a few times while trying to impress the crowd with an overly complicated flourish. I’d played it along though, thinking the sudden stream of blood made me look more radical and edgy. As I said, different times, so please don’t judge.
Of course, having a knife and a cool attitude wasn’t enough, I needed to look the part as well.
Taking action movie stars and heavy metal singers as an inspiration, I allowed my hair to grow longer and bought a bunch of worn-out denim jeans as well as a second-hand leather jacket.
This paired with my father’s army boots and a thick iron chain strapped on my waist, was my ensemble for everywhere I went, at any time, in any weather.
Thinking about it now, makes me giggle at my own immaturity but I really thought I looked wicked cool looking like that.
Playing with the knife wasn’t enough, since my goal was to be tough and not a juggler so, I did something that I’m not at all proud of.
I became a bully, picking on younger kids and teasing girls hoping to get their attention, and to be fair, for a while it did work and I was getting noticed.
This was an incentive to push things further and escalate my behavior.
I begin to start fights over nothing with pretty much everyone and even started to bring booze into school and drank it openly in the cafeteria or in the courtyard.
I never got drunk though, a bottle of beer lasted me for a whole day, but acted drunk nevertheless.
Still, this wasn’t enough to become the star I wanted to be, so finally one day during lunch break, I jumped on a table and declared that I’d do the trail
May 10th at 16h30 I stood alone at the forbidden path’s entrance, watched by dozens of curious eyes further away down the road.
Two large cork trees marked its entrance, their overgrown saggy branches intertwined with one another creating a tight nit roof that prevented light from entering the path. This made it look like a black hole ready to swallow those foolish enough to come near it.
In my chest was a nervous buzz that grew stronger the more I stared into the void. A breeze of cold air came from the path, a breeze that I would welcome if it had come from any other place. This one, however, made me sweat and I wished it would just go away.
I place my hand into my jackets pocket, wrapping my fingers tightly around the switchblade, as if that would recover the confidence and arrogance I had moments before while negating the thoughts of fleeing this place right away,
I glanced over the crowd, their eyes were wide with anticipation.
They hadn’t taken any step closer, remaining far away down the road, all grouped together like sheep, too afraid to come as close as I was to it.
Still despite the despicable show of meekness they were giving, I knew very well that if I dared to back down now, I would be the one who’d be labeled as a coward forever.
I had no choice but to go through with it, and although part of me really wanted to defy the town’s greatest fear, another part of me, however, resisted, making my feet heavy and glued to the floor.
I closed my eyes, taking a long drawn-out breath before staring back at the crowd while forcing a wide grin to appear on my face.
The appalled faces gasped and held their breath as they anticipated my next move.
A spark ignited in me as I saw the admiration within those stares. I felt excited and re-energized. This was the motivation I needed.
My eyes returned to the void that didn’t seem as ominous as before, and after giving the crowd a confident thumbs up, I darted into it.
The perpetual shade that inhabited the trail contrasted strongly with the enlightened exterior, this left me momentary blind as my eyes adjusted to this new environment. Nevertheless, I kept running.
The path started with a small, yet persistent incline that in a couple of minutes took the wind out of me, forcing me to stop and take a rest. This allowed me to truly see my surroundings and thoroughly inspect the cursed trail.
It was exactly as you’d expect a woodland trail to be, narrow, dimly lit, and surrounded by thick underbrush that made going off the path a daunting task.
It was eerie, but no more so than others. Here whilst alone, however, everything seemed a bit more ominous though and I couldn’t help the feeling of something watching over me. Something evil.
My heart exploded in my chest forcing all the heat to abandon my body as a loud crack echoed suddenly behind me. Quickly, I turned towards it but saw nothing other than the fallen leaves that coated the floor.
Branches were known to crack with the wind, I reminded myself taking deep breaths to appease my galloping heart.
Settling down took longer than I would like to admit, and when I resumed the expedition, I did so at a much slower pace than before. Part of it was caution, but I did so mostly due to my aching muscles that had become stiff due to the initial run, making me wobble at every off step.
“I should work out more, maybe go for a run or two”, I said out loud trying to distract my mind from the sinister feeling of being watched that had stuck to my nape.
Sadly, I couldn’t busy my mind enough for the haunting sensation to leave, making me stop to turn around every now and then. There was never anything there, and this made it worse as I was sure something had to be.
All around me, branches continued to crack and I was able to ignore most of them. Others, however, would make my heart skip a beat.
These unlike the others came from low in the ground instead of high up the trees. It felt as if they were being stepped on and they always came from behind and always so loud as if they were at my heels.
Still, I forced myself forward. Squirrels and rabbits riddle these woods, as well as wild boars and deer, one of them could easily be walking about making those sounds.
The air although cool, felt stale and muffled, making me sweat as if I had been out in the sun. The humidity made it hard to breathe and soon my pace had turned into a snail’s crawl, with each step being taken with effort.
I thought about stopping for a while, but as soon as I did so, the constant melody of leaves being crumbled under me stopped, imposing on me a grave silence that made me feel even more jittery.
There was something off about this quietness. It wasn’t natural for woodland in spring to be so still. Now was the time when birds chirped and sang day in and out in hopes of getting lucky. There were even no cicadas making that relentless infernal screech, which I’d so often complained about but now longed almost as much as I longed for the end of this trail.
“I have to keep going…” I said out loud again to appease my increasingly nervous mind, it didn’t work as I hope but it was enough to give me the strength I needed to move forward.
Not long after it, the path started to change. It became narrower, while also increasing the number of twists and turns. This disorientated me, making me lose the already fleeting notion of where I was heading.
My shoulders scraped the underbrush, often snagging my jacket in it, making me yelp as my mind raced to summon a haunting image of something grabbing me.
I often thought about quitting, but the thought of turning back somehow felt worse than to keep moving.
I felt trapped in this corridor as I forced myself to continue on until its end, often having to clean my cheeks from the sudden onset of rogue tears.
The air was also becoming thinner, and damper, making me sweat more and more, saturating my hair until streams started to pour across my forehead into my eyes.
This stung, often blinding me to a halt whilst leaving me completely vulnerable to whatever I knew was out there.
The screeching branches had also become louder as if getting closer to me.
The crackling of twigs behind me was also becoming more recurrent, like something was avidly pursuing me. I wanted to run and even tried once, but my body crumbled after my first step.
Contrary to what my instincts shouted at me, I stopped often, either to rest and take a must needed breath or to simply stare at the dim forest behind me, seeing nothing but the thick underbrush.
It was at one of the stops, that I was taken by a strong gust of air that lifted the dried leaves from the ground, blinding me in the process Amidst the twirling leaves, I heard something. It was the faint crack of something approaching me. In a blind Panic a reached for my jacket pocket and took out my faithful companion.
Frantically, I flailed my arms in front of me, cutting the air with it but my hand was damp and trembling from all the anxiety that was coursing through me, and in that moment of panic, my grip failed.
Even though my eyes were closed at the time, I can clearly visualize the blade leaving my hand and flying through the air into the dark forest.
Panic doubled in me, as I cursed the air and dropped to my knees.
Tears poured as I hit the ground with my closed fists over and over again.
Time suddenly halted its march as I once again had all the heat drained from my body. My chest ached as my heart rampaged as if trying to break free from its bony cage.
There was an unmistakable hiss behind me. The same sound of someone gasping for air but unable to take it.
“WHAT’S THERE!!” I shouted while breathing heavily. My instinct ordered me to turn and see, but my body refused to obey.
Another crack, this one louder than the others. Closer.
A jet of cold sweat ran from my neck to the small of my back making me quiver like a loose tooth.
My hands trembled violently with me completely unable to make them stop. The moisture of a cold breath touched my ears, and my whole body froze still, even my restless hands.
“Please…! is all I managed to do, to let out a mere pleading whisper.
Then, whatever was there, touched me. A cold pressing palm right between my shoulder blades. “Please…” I repeated as tears poured vigorously down my face.
Another hiss came this one right next to my left ear, accompanied by a push from the dead hand.
This unlocked something in me, an ancient fear so strong that overwrote my mind and body’s own will, activating the most primal of my instincts.
I ran forward, not looking back, not feeling the pain in my knees and chest, not seeing what lay in front of me.
I ran at full speed for much longer than I think I ever had and I didn’t stop until my body finally caved and I was thrown to the ground, limp like a corpse.
Luckily, the ever-present thick layer of leaves cushioned my fall, and aside from a scrape in my left palm, I was alright. Physically there is because mentally I was in shambles.
“This isn’t happening!” I declared as I lay on my knees, quivering like a chick in a thunderstorm. “Nothing of this is real, it’s not, it’s not, it’s not!” I repeated whilst shaking my head.
It was not easy to continue after that, to this day I don’t know how I mustered the strength to do so. I believe it was the fear of whatever I left behind was going to catch up with me that forced me forward. Now, however, It doesn’t matter what was the reason, what matters is that I continued along the increasingly narrower trail. Sealing my fate to what was coming next.
It didn’t take long for me to stop again though. A couple of trees had fallen into the path, blocking me from continuing. I stared at it feeling a nervous tingle rise in my nape. I jolted my head over the shoulder as if expecting something standing behind me, smiling with joy due to my sudden entrapment…
Nothing was there but still, I didn’t want to go back, now much less than before, so I had to continue forward, through the jangled mess of rotting branches.
It was a slow and arduous process with little space to move within the web of branches and twigs. This meant I was constantly grinding my body against rotten wood. The leather and denim protected me, making me traverse it without a single scrape on my skin.
Still, the traverse was not easy, apart from the required physical effort that tormented my unused muscles at every movement, more often than not, I would get my hair snagged on something, bringing tears to my eyes and forcing me to stop to untangle it. If I still had my knife with me, I’m sure I would have cut it all off, but since I didn’t I had to continue on, feeling sharp pain piercing my scalp every other second.
The laborious task of crossing it was not all bad. The effort and planning of each move, occupied my mind allowing me to forget what came before, relieving me from the constant stress that I had been in.
I even rationalized an explanation of what had happened, making me progress with something akin to tranquility.
It had been nothing more than a hallucination induced by my growing fear and paranoia, I concluded.
I always had an active imagination, even when I was a child I swore I could see things moving in the dark corridor that led my room into the bathroom. This had been no different.
Finally, soon after crossing the web of branches, the path changed and it did so for the better.
The constant twisting and turning finally stopped, allowing me to move in a straight line.
Now with no turn in sight, I could see deep within the path, and my heart rejoiced as at about 30 meters away I could see a sudden change in it.
For the first time, there was light as the trail opened widely, allowing it to shine freely through the canopy.
It’s over… I thought as I darted toward it.
My hurried pace, as well as all my excitement, vanished as I finally peered beyond the veil and into the circle of light. Within it was a granite rectangular prism that laid perpendicular to the path.
The jitters that I thought I’d left behind returned in full force and my heart once again marched towards my mouth, drumming furiously and making me quiver.
A stream of sweat sprouted from my hairline, through my forehead into my right eye, burning it shut.
Quickly I scrape it clean with my wrist, forcing my left eye open, refusing to lose sight of the macabre landmark.
I knew very well what it was, the legend of this trail was clear about it. That was where the skulls had been found.
Again, I felt trapped as I was again unable to continue forward and unable to return back since, at this moment, I no longer believe the soothing lie that told me what I’d experienced had been nothing but a stress-induced hallucination.
I think I would have stayed there, unmoving until my body crumbled and turned to dust if not for the gushing wind that appeared suddenly behind me, bringing with it the familiar presence that had been haunting me throughout the path.
The wind didn’t come alone, it arrived with the sound of twigs snapping and to my horror, the sinister hiss of someone dying for air. It crept faintly at first but it grew louder within seconds.
I didn’t wait this time, this time I ran immediately.
I galloped towards the coffin-shaped monument that had served as the grisly altar on the tale. I dared not to look back, too afraid of what may have been right behind me.
My stamina hit a wall quickly, and my exhausted body wasn’t capable of running anymore, still using the fear as fuel I forced it to keep going. My knees protested, sending waves of crippling pain throughout my whole body, as I felt my legs being turned into cooked pasta. Still, I ran, ignoring the spikes of pain in my chest and the blurring vision as my lungs desperately demanded oxygen.
I refused to stop, and within seconds that felt like hours I was out of the darkness and into the light. The clarity shocked my eyes and finally, my body caved as I stumbled forward like a lifeless rag-doll towards the floor.
I remember a sharp pain in my temple, that rang like a church’s bell, making me dizzy.
I tried to get up, but the ringing made me confused and unsure of where up was. Laying on the ground I lifted my head and looked around trying to get my bearings. Everything was so fuzzy and the ringing kept going on and on, stopping me from thinking straight. I felt my eyes becoming heavy and my worn-out body weaker. I couldn’t stand on my elbows and knees anymore and felt my head slowly drooping.
“I can’t pass out”. I berated myself. “I just can’t!” I shouted in my head as my conscience slipped into oblivion.
I awoke feeling my right cheek cold. My mind was still fuzzy, taking me a while to understand what had just happened. I fumbled around and felt the cold of the granite where my head lay. I tried to sit, my hair was stuck to the slab, making me cry as I pulled away. Memories of what happened came to me slowly.
I forced myself up and this made me wince with pain as I felt my hair being pulled from my skull.
It was dark, I realized suddenly, and tried to look up. My neck was stiff as if it had become wood turning every head movement into agony, still, I needed to see.
As I expected the sky was no longer bright and blue, but dim and gray.
“I passed out”, I cursed under my breath, realizing the monumental mess I’d fallen into.
“I will never get out of here…” I thought, feeling the now familiar turmoil of fear and excitement returning to my mind…
I sighed, as I brushed myself off before looking around in hopes of finding anything that could help me.
I wish I didn’t.
In front of me, at the opposite end of the slab were 3 headless bodies kneeling in a prayer position. The body in the middle was larger, clearly female wearing a nightgown, the others were of children both dressed in simple pajamas.
Their skin was black and dried, reminding me of a banana that had spent too much time in the sun, and above their shoulders was a stump of a neck.
Bile rose to my mouth, but I managed to keep it in, as I almost passed out again seeing the macabre display.
“This can’t be real. I’m hallucinating. I have to be!” I repeated whilst on all fours staring at the leaf-covered ground.
“Do you like my pets?” a coarse voice whispered behind me.
I jumped forward, crawling away from it, feeling my lips numbing as my heart hammered against my ribcage. I didn’t go far, since a pair of icy hands grabbed my feet and pulled me back.
“Now, now, we’ve been waiting a long time for some visitors. You can’t just leave right away.” the voice said.
“Go to hell!” I shouted defensively and the voice laughed. A coarse laugh that sounded like leaves being repeatedly stepped on.
“Face me!” the voice commanded, and I burrowed my face deeper into the ground.
The entity growled and to my horror, the mother sprung forward, grabbing my shoulders and turning me around with the same ease as someone would flip a page on a book. The siblings then joined her, grabbing my wrists and pinning me to the ground, facing the sky.
My eyes darted everywhere but toward the horrid creatures. I just couldn’t bear to look at their horrific form.
“As I said… it has been a long time, so please pardon our manners.” the coarse voice said
”It’s fair to say that we are a bit out of touch” he added with a snark.
“Let me go..” I pleaded and the father, still hidden by shadow laughed, signaling that, that was not going to happen.
“Now, now, why would I simply let you go? You are the one trespassing. This is my land, not yours. There are consequences for every action after all.” he said somberly.
“I’ve never meant for any of this. But it is my fault for not reading the fine print,” he said somewhat absently as if speaking more to himself than with me.
“For many years I’ve stroke deals with Him, and they always went my way. I guess I grew too confident, too careless. You need to be very careful when dealing with Him. You need to measure every word that’s within your bargain because He is a devilish thing. More than seeing the deal close, he wants to see you in misery.” he continued on with growing disdain.
“These were lucky” the Father added while gesturing towards the beheaded figures that held me down. “Their souls are long gone from this plain, only the decaying flesh remains, animated by my will,” he explained with that dried-out voice.
I let him speak freely, not there was anything else I could do and when he was finished, I finally asked him what he intended on doing with me.
“It all depends on you,” he said amused.” you have 2 options in front of you. You either stay or you go.”
”Then let me go then, I choose GO!” I said as tried to break free but they had an overwhelming strength.
“Not so fast friend. You can go with a condition.” the Father said with excitement growing in his voice. “you see… you are mine now…” the Father said gesturing towards the slab, and from the corner of my eye I could see a dark stain atop of it, realizing it was my blood from when I fell.
“WHAT DO YOU WANT!” I shouted feeling the despair rising inside me.
“WHAT I WANT!?” the father screamed back, jumping towards putting his face close to mine. it was dried and blackened like the rest of the family, but his eyes were still there, bright with life. I turned my face away but the mother grabbed my head forcing me to look at him. I could feel his lungs hiss as he exhaled, releasing his fouling breath toward my face and making me gag.
“I want the same as you,” he whispered only a hair away from my face. “ I want to leave this place!”
I gulped, nodding slightly at his words and as I did he returned to the shadow.
“You’ll leave here today and you will make a son, then you will bring it to me as soon as he is born.” the father said slowly and deliberately. “Do you Agree!?” He asked and I felt the hands of the mother squeezing my head tighter.
“Were are having a boy” I remember my wife saying in a cruel twist of fate. Her face was bright with excitement stained only by a sliver of worry in her eyes. In that moment, our kitchen window burst open, bringing in a gust of wind cold and damp, that revived a terror that I’d buried over 2 decades ago. The gust didn’t arrive alone, with it was the hiss. The haunting sound that still persisted in my nightmares, now alive in the breathing world.
After doing the trail I’d vowed to never have kids, but there is something about fate that you just can’t control.
My wife is due in a couple of days and I can no longer sleep. They keep hissing at my ears as soon as I closed my eyes. I can’t take it anymore and when the time comes I don’t think I will be able to resist it.