I can feel it scurrying inside of me, the scratching across my bones as the curse takes holds of me. I can feel it under my skin, this parasite wrapping about my body and squeezing the life out of me. The image of what I saw flying around my mind, infecting all my memories and dreams. Always the same door turning up everywhere like it’s following me. I’m going to try and take it out but first, I need to write about what happened. I have the knife next to me, ready to tear off my skin and show the world that I was right. They all didn’t believe me, but I was right, and I will show them all. I hope that this story is my prove. Prove that I’m not making it up or lying, that I really do feel it feeding in my brain and ready to take me over. They will lie to you, say it isn’t real that it’s just a story but it’s not.
I’m an animal rescue officer, I take calls trying to find missing dogs or take wandering dogs off the street. Most of the time it’s a simple enough job. Most people look after their dogs, and they just look away for a second. No one can really blame them and usually we find them a couple of streets away. We also take care of some of the more violent ones, ones that had a bad upbringing, so they respond to everything with anger and violence but they rarely ever bite. It’s mostly a show of dominance but there harmless even if it is frightening.
However, the worst are the ones left behind. Abandoned by owners who just thought it was a good Christmas present to show on their Instagram to show off how good of a parent they are. The ones who just get bored and leave them in a park and say that they run away. I once found a dog in a bin about to be taken away. After seeing the eyes in that dog, reflective from the terrified tears. I saw myself in those eyes. Afterwards he wouldn’t leave my side and to be honest I didn’t want him to. My own imaginary tail wagged every time I saw him and just the thought of him playing in the park forces my eyes to cry the painful tears.
So, I adopted him. Got him vaccinated and chipped. I didn’t want to take the risk, so I got a tracker on him as well. Sometimes I wish I didn’t. I know I’m not supposed to adopt dogs I rescue however I’m only human and I just couldn’t get those eyes out of my head. But now like everything else, it has been invaded by the images. I think some were even still alive. Rasping for one last breath.
My area has never been the best for dogs, over the many years I’ve lived there several dogs have all went missing. Not enough to catch anyone attention but more than your average town. I never even thought about it until recently I just assumed all other towns were like this. Most dogs however just get lost in the woods and don’t come out again.
Next to the park is a thick wood that is impossible to see into. The trees block out the sun forcing it to turn pitch black inside. No one can explain why the leaves fully block the sun out but it’s just an unexplained anomaly that no one bothered to investigate. Whenever a dog goes missing it’s the first place we look. It’s more than likely they wondered inside and got lost, unable to see in the void.
I was playing in the park with my dog, playing catch. I thought I heard a scream behind me, loud enough to hear but quiet enough that I wasn’t entirely sure if it was real or not. I turned to check and saw not a single other person there. Like they all knew what was going to happen. I looked back to find my dog was gone, disappeared. Lost like everyone else. I start calling his name to no response. Sprinting as fast as I can in any direction into my voice croaked with his name escaping from my quivering lips.
I got out my phone and opened the tracker app to find him and found that he had gone into the woods. I just stared at my phone hoping that I’m just hallucinating but it’s true. The problem with the woods is that we have never found a dog in those woods. Even if we are certain that the dog went that way not once did, we ever find one.
My whole body telling me that it’s already too late, my feet rooted into the soil and heart grieving before I even tried. No. This will be the first time we find one, that I find one. I entered the twisted woods and instantly was plunged into darkness like I entered hell itself.
Closer I got to the flashing dot on my screen the more my heart told me to run. That it isn’t worth it, that you will find something you can never unsee. I wish I listened. As I stepped closer to where he was, I thought I saw something. Something tall and skinny. Just a shadow. I start running, my croaked voice coming back as I shout a deep scratchy.
I come up to a hill, I check the tracker to see that he’s just on the other side of the hill. and I start climbing never stopping. Grabbing onto branches and roots pulling myself up trying to get to the top. The smell hit me first, a smell of rotting meat that burns my nostrils, making me want to vomit but I can’t stop. I must see. I grab the final branch to climb and with a final pull, hand drenched in sweat and despair I yank myself over.
I wish I didn’t. I wish I just called someone else or left it. In front of me was a massive field of hundreds of dead dogs. Some were just bone while others still had melting flesh. However, they all looked repulsive. They were all missing their skin. All their muscle and organs were shown like a sick garden. Intestines been ripped out and flayed across the ground like roots. Their bones sticking out of their bodies, growing like bloody trees.
I couldn’t breathe, the stench blocked my lungs and the drug of oxygen refused to enter my body. Right below me was a creature. It had a human face, but its body was like all the fat had been ripped off leaving only the organs and strings of nerves vibrating like someone playing a violin. I gasped and it looked up at me, staring into my eyes like my own dog used to. It was holding my best friend in its arms. He wasn’t breathing and i knew he was already dead. I can just hope that it was quick.
It looked back down and started stroking him, it was gentle at first. Almost soothing before it plunged its hand into him and ripped off his skin like it was unwrapping a Christmas present.
I can’t remember what happened after that. I just woke up in bed hoping it was just a nightmare. I tried to call the police, but they just put it down to drunken haze. I tried to tell people but if I carried on, I would be locked up and treated like a madman. I can still hear the wet rip as he tears the skin of my dog. I still remember seeing the muscles sticking to him like melted cheese. It’s infected my brain like a parasite, and I must get it out. They will tell you I was mad, that I was grieving but I’m not. They are all liars, and I will prove them wrong. I just need to grab this knife and show them. Show them this parasite. If I don’t make it then follow this warning. Don’t follow your dog into the woods.