I always enjoyed going out into the woods. That is why, when i moved out of my parents’ house, i looked specifically for a place that had some woods behind it, so that when i wanted to go, i didn’t need to drive for great distances for a short hiking trip.
Besides all of the beauty of the nature in the woods across the street from me, there was another reason why i wanted to live near a forest: bones. I had a hobby that people may consider morbid, but i liked going into the woods to find animal bones, even better if they were skulls. I was just fascinated and at that time, i would spend hours just searching for bones. It was just a collecting hobby.
One day was like any other day. It was the last day of college, and because i was fairly introverted, i had no one to celebrate with. That didn’t really bother me. Not many people liked spending their last college day in the woods.
I got home around noon and called my parents. They congratulated me. We were planning to celebrate the end of thr school year by going to a restaurant the next day. They wanted to give me time to calm down after all the stress the exams had caused me.
I took a shower, took some warmer clothes, because i lived in a place where, even though it was almost summer, the temperatures were still pretty low, packed a ham sandwich, took my umbrella, because it was pretty cloudy, took my backpack and headed out the door.
I didn’t purposefully go to the forest to find bones, i just liked being surrounded by nature. I even brought a book.
As i was walking on my usual path, i noticed something was out of place. I walked on that path for thousands of times and i pretty much memorized it. This time it was different. I looked from tree to tree to understand what was wrong.
Then i saw it. A map, nailed to a tree. I approached it. It was very moldy and the ink was almost indistinguishable. The nail itself looked as if it has seen 200+ years of history. I thought that maybe somebody had put it there as a joke.
Since i still had plenty of time and the sun was still high in the sky i decided to follow the map. I ripped it from the nail and it came right of. I studied it for a bit. It had the exact path i would take every single time in red and at the end there was an X. Above it it was written “Treasure”.
As i looked at it, i saw a house, drawn in blue ink not far from the X and it was drawn over in red ink. I didn’t know where that house was, but i guess it was further than where i usually ventured. Some exploring didn’t sound all that bad to me, as i was actually looking for a new hangout spot.
I was walking for about 2 hours, when i noticed something black in the distance. I started walking faster, as i was trying to visit the place and return home before the sun went down. The path looked like it was frequently walked on, as the ground was hard and there was no grass growing on it.
When i finally reached the cabin, it was a classic horror movie cabin-boarded up windows, some of the windows were smashed and on the porch there was a rocking chair, with spider webs seeminly keeping it in place.
I was too curious to leave it unchecked, so i peaked through one of the smashed windows. As i was getting closer to the hole, an awful stench started attacking my nostrils. I held my breath and got quickly close to the cracked glass.
Inside, there was a dead deer without its head in an advanced state of decomposition. Maggots were everywhere and i quickly backed away. As i said, it didn’t look fresh kill, so i figured that the deer had maybe entered the house when it wasn’t boarded up and got stuck. That was the most rational explanation that i could come up with.
Before i continued, i snapped a photo of the cabin, because it was actually a cool spot if you ignored the rotting animal. Then started walking at a fast rate, because i wanted to find that X.
I walked for about 15 minutes before i assumed that was the place on the map, because a huge X made out of leaves and sticks covered the ground. In the middle of it there was a deer head. I assumed it was the deer’s from earlier head. Still, i was pretty spooked, because i couldn’t quiet understand why and animal’s head would be so far from its body.
I ran all the way to my house, because it was almost 8 pm and i didnt want to be stuck in a dark forest with whatever the hell was in those woods. I swear i could hear somebody walking behind be all the was from that X to my house, but everytime i turned around there was nothing there.
Got home, took a shower, ate dinner and fell asleep watching some TV. I remember waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of rustling outside my window. My bedroom was on the second floor. I pull the curtains aside and look down.
A deer was seemingly searching something through the bushes. I was ready to go back to bed, when i took a second look at it and noticed that its face looked too flat for a deer.
Just then it turned to look at me. A human face starred back at me. The deer had a human face. It let out this gut-wrenching scream and got on its 2 hind legs. It started banging its legs on the side of my house.
I quickly closed the curtains and got back to bed. I was too terrified to do anything else. I tried falling asleep and couldn’t. Thr banging continued for another 5 minutes, but felt like five hours. Somehow, i fell back asleep and woke up drenched in sweat. I hoped that it would prove to be just a nightmare, but it wasn’t.
The side of my house really had bloody hoove marks and even some dents. It was a wierd pattern. It looked like something i had seen before. I ran inside and grabbed the map from the other day. I put it in front of the side of my house. It was the same, only this time the X was marked on my house.
From that night on, i always closed the curtains and locked the doors. I could hear the leaves rustling every night, but they were coming from different corner of the house at same time. Each morning, i would find skulls and bones that were most probably human. At least the skulls. 7 skulls in total.
One day i woke up and on my door was written in blood 7 names. I searched them online and it turned out every single one of them was once a resident of the property and that they all died. Even if the cause of death was something simple, like old age or disease, the hobby of all of them was hunting deer.
From that day on, i started becoming increasingly interested in the idea of collecting deer antlers. But i know i musn’t buy any arms, as i believe they are trying to claim their next victim. I believe that this house was driving every single owner insane at the thought of killing the deer population.
One day, i woke up and found a shotgun on my porch. I couldn’t control myself anymore. I took it in my hands and the timing couldn’t have been better. A deer was skipping across the field in front of the forest. I shot it. Ran over there and ripped its antlers of its head, but i felt like i didn’t do everything i needed to. I started ripping chunks of meat and started eating it raw.
Thinking about it now makes me sick. But i couldn’t control myself. It wasn’t even tasty for my sick self. I only killed one deer, but i know they are coming for me. I will become the 8th owner of the house and i will, together with the other seven deers, drive the 9th one insane. I can hear a knock on my door. I think they already arrived. Pale faces with antlers stare at ne through the windows: 7.And the brought the dead deer i killed with them. It looks just like me