I was at my friend’s cabin a few years ago for a weekend, but the last night I stayed, I had the weirdest experience, it went something like this:
Ripples of light glinted off everyone’s cheeks as the fire crackled along with the distant sound of laughter and a hint of cigarette smoke in the air. We were partially in the shadows, walking next to the cabin, kicking pinecones through the dried out needles strewn on the forest floor. The night breeze was cool on our faces, arms crossed over our chests in oversized hoodies to keep warm. We were approaching the gaping darkness of the shed, located a ways away from the cabin: completely submerged in the night and the outskirts of the property, tucked away among the trees.
“Where are we going?” Carter we will call him in order to avoid identity leaks, the youngest of the six was slightly behind, distracted by the overhead branches swaying in the light breeze. He looked behind him as we changed course away from the group and the comforting warmth of the flame they surrounded.
“Not too far.” His older brother Konnor answered, releasing a cloud of smoke between his teeth, and passing the source to me. A wave of raspberry scent filled my nostrils for a brief moment before disappearing behind me, filtering into the natural air. Our footsteps became more profound as we joined the shrubs and small plants that littered the outskirts of the gravel and dry pine needles marking the land around the cabin.
“He’s got a point, what are we doing?” There was a giggle behind my best friend at the time, Giana’s question, mocking the decisions being made by the group as we mindlessly followed one another.
“You don’t have to come with.” There was a sharp bite in his response, and I could feel the tension between the two family members. I bit my lip, keeping my chin down while shifting my hands to my pockets to remain distant from the conversation. I took a puff from the colorful stick, inhaling the tinted oxygen and trying my best not to cough. I released the remains, a very opaque gas that one would have to be actively searching for in order to find. I felt a smile quiver to the edges of my lips as the dizzy feeling reached my brain; the addictive chemicals finding its way to my nerves and allowing me a temporary, false happiness.
“Maybe I won’t.” My mind snapped back to the present as I realized I was putting one foot in front of the other with a group of other teenagers my age excluding Carter. “Let’s go.” Giana’s words were muttered to two of the others that hadn’t been engaging and they broke off from our trajectory, heading back towards the campfire and cigarettes. The youngest hesitated to be with us, but ultimately decided to wander back with the others, partially motivated by the fear of darkness.
“You don’t want to go back?” Konnor stopped as we had reached the destination of the shed, staring at the void in slight awe.
“Why would I? I’m already here.” I could barely make out his expression in the darkness, but I saw the bottoms of his eyes outlined by the smile of his cheeks. There was a drawn out pause as we took in the sounds of nature: the crickets chirping, the leaves rustling, the sound of gravel and voices in the distance. I made myself at home and sat down among the brush and without a word he followed in suit.
“If I stare hard enough, I can usually trick my mind into seeing figures.”
That’s when the mind games began.
Little did I know that sentence would be the cause of a subconscious fabrication of what reality is and what my eyes were perceiving, breaking every rule that separated the once unlinked worlds. It didn’t take long before I knew exactly what he meant by that as my footing squirmed at the feeling of being stared at from the shed. My eyes had adjusted by now and I could see the farm equipment strewn about the bottom of the building: a tractor, some tools hung up on the wall and a dirt bike. However, in the dead center there was a steep staircase that I had first mistaken as a ladder that led up to the attic. It was a loft, so it only covered about half of the area above the main part of the shed, but there was a gaping hole around the entrance of the staircase nearly beckoning to enter the chasm.
“What the hell?!” I threw my arm in front of me, vape in hand when I saw the pair of eyes staring down at me from the top of the stairs. It just… appeared. My vision in the general area it had come from went blurry and then… I didn’t know it was possible, it truly was a manifestation. They had a human look to them, except held wider as if frozen in shock, with evidence of smile lines underneath. Within them they were bloodshot and clear red veins could be seen behind the small black pupil… I couldn’t tell if this detail was gathered in the intensity of the moment or if it was truly what I saw, but they almost appeared to be glowing red.
“Look away or close your eyes and it disappears.” I did as instructed and sure enough when I looked back at the entrance to the loft, nothing was there. I felt uncomfortable, surely it hadn’t just vanished because I closed my eyes, it must have moved while it had the opportunity to get me when I’m most vulnerable.
“How do I know where it is now?” I tried swallowing the fear in my voice as I frantically searched the building for a sign of movement or any sounds that would give away the location of the creepy image.
“I’m glad I’m not the only one who experiences this problem, however I’m sorry you have to live with it. I’m not sure how it works, but if you look long enough and think long enough, something appears, but as soon as you distract your gaze, it leaves. It can’t hurt you if you’re smart about it.” I felt a lump form in my throat, how did it have the capability to cause harm?
“You sound crazy, but I know what I saw.” I took another hit, waiting for the small high before handing it back to him.
“Look! To the left of the pillar.” My body shuddered. Legitimately shuddered. The same pair of eyes, staring more intensely, which I didn’t know was possible, but now I could see the black of its skin, peeling and unkept with long claws that were wrapped around and gripping the pillar. That’s when the uncanny smile appeared, it hadn’t done that before; large, sharp teeth, yellow in color, with blood stains and chipped pieces revealed in an uneven row.
“Are you seeing what I am seeing?” I scooted backwards against the dirt floor, keeping my eyes locked on the creature so I could confirm my distance. I took a sharp breath and felt the air in my lungs compress, either out of fear or because of my bad smoking habits.
“Look away.” Konnor was turned towards me now, showing his back to the… thing… whatever it was I saw. The claws ripped away from the pillar, leaving four long streaks engrained into it, grabbing the railing of the loft, along with two new weaponized hands, bracing to lunge for us.
“Diana goddammit look away!” He forcefully grabbed the side of my head and turned it towards his eyes, stricken with concern. I felt the air in my lungs decompress and my shoulders relax as I looked behind me, everyone was still going about their night as if there wasn’t something from hell itself thriving in the darkness of this shed.
“Why didn’t you look away? At this point you’re asking to be killed.” He threw his hand up in frustration, directed towards the shed. The claw marks remained on the pillar as I quickly glanced back and I felt a bolt of fear and anger rise up inside.
“Do you think this is serious? It’s fake, it can’t hurt me, why would you show me something like this if it would put me in danger?” His smile had faded long ago, but I felt the seriousness harden in his stare at that moment.
“Because I trust you. Do you want me to prove it?” I leaned forward, breaking my gaze from the pillar to place my head on my arms, bringing my knees towards my chest. I considered it for a few moments, taking some heavy breaths from the lingering fear of the face nested in the darkness just before me.
“Go ahead. Prove to me that these things can pass through figments of our imagination into the real world.” There was clear sarcasm in my tone which I received a hefty glare from. However, he nodded and stood up, holding his hand out to help me out of the seated position as well. We walked back towards the cabin, but in the direction that a wall would be between us and the campfire people, leaving us completely on our own. I glanced over my shoulder briefly at the increasing distance of us and the shed, but couldn’t see the eyes, or the creepy smiling expression staring eerily into my soul.
“Here’s another good location.” It peered over the downwards slope of the mountain we were on, where the trees appeared to be endless and repetitive. He threw a leg over a large rock and hurdled it with the other before making a perch out of the stone.
“Listen, if I’m going to do this, you aren’t allowed to manifest the same creature, or else it will attack you before you can realize it had even gotten to me. For now I just need you to look at my hand.” I straddled the rock, not allowing myself to look into the deep forest as I searched his hand for any sign of trauma. A few moments passed and I was starting to get tired of the waiting game before he finally spoke up again.
“I found one, it’s a lot taller, no eyes, just a mouth, and tiny claws. It will most likely bite me.”
“It’s approaching now.” The once cool tone in his voice filled with tension as he described its approach: Slow but closed the distance with few strides, towering over us now with a toothy grin, specifically three fangs that were very uneven.
“Its claws are walking up my forearm but digging in… agh.” He grimaced and sure enough I could see the marks appearing on his arm, drawing blood out. They formed large droplets before breaking and streaking down his arm. His breathing grew shallower, and I felt the intensity spike. I didn’t have to look to feel the presence of something near me, something powerful and much larger than that of myself.
“It’s gonna kill me…” I could see his eyes now, glued open and staring at something above him, arm outstretched as if taunting whatever he was seeing to take it.
“Konnor, look away I believe you!” He was unresponsive.
“KONNOR!” I threw my hands in front of his eyes and his body jolted as he became aware of his surroundings. There was a trickle of blood that spilled over the edge of his lips, which he quickly wiped away when he looked back at me.
“It was ready to rip off my entire limb.” He winced as he brought his hoodie sleeve down to cover up the claw wounds and mustered a nervous smile before standing from the rock and heading back to where we came from. I followed, unable to understand what I had just witnessed.
“Now you understand, yes?” I had a grim look on my face, nodding slowly and keeping my head low. . I watched thin air press into his skin. Thin air. To this day I know what I saw which a wound was being drawn out from nothing. It broke my mind.
“Why did you put me in danger?” His tempo slowed until he came to a halt.
“I was tired of being alone and I figur- “
“You felt that endangering another life would fix this problem?! Are you serio- “
“What are you two LOVE BIRDS talking about.” Carter came trotting up to us with a smore in hand and chocolate already smeared around his mouth. There was a long period of silence as we both stared at him long enough that he was intimidated and went away.
“I understand why you’re upset. I’m sorry.” I scoffed and my arms crossed my chest once more, turning slightly away from him and back towards the shed. He held out the vape. I looked down at his offering for a second before unfolding my arms and hitting it again. I was killing my lungs, but I now know I will be dead soon enough to some imaginary creature that somehow has the ability to cause physical damage to me.
“I’m sorry doesn’t take back what you did.” I shook my head and handed it back, sitting on the ground to better stabilize myself after a long breath.
“Hey guys! Done with your lame adventure yet?” Giana and the other two were back, giggling and stumbling over one another in the process, clearly under the influence since we last saw them.
“Leave us alone.” Konnor held a steady gaze with Giana before she broke away by bursting into laughter. He held his stare, causing her to step forward and push him by the chest with both hands and the other two laughed.
“Y’all are weirdos.” It didn’t take long for them to leave but shortly after we were called into the cabin for bed, couldn’t risk being eaten by the “wildlife”.
I had changed into a pair of sweats and a tank top before crawling under the heavy, floral print comforter that must have been made in the 1970’s, the smoke smell alone was overwhelming, and it looked just like a crusty wallpaper. Giana and the girl she was with before came crawling into the bed next to me, turning the lights out on their way in. Konnor and his brother were in the other room, sleeping on the couches soundly and with access to a nightlight, but I was stuck in the dark… once again.
I had so many burning questions as I laid there. Who discovered this? How is this possible? How many other people here know about what is going on? How is the damage these things cause explained? How long has Konnor been seeing this and how did he transfer this ability to me?
The girls had drifted off to sleep, their breathing became heavy and patterned and the fidgeting stopped. I felt more alone that I had for the entire night, staring at the dark ceiling, recalling the only answer I could use from earlier: “If you look long enough and think long enough, something appears, but as soon as you distract your gaze, it leaves. It can’t hurt you if you’re smart about it.”
“Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it.” I whispered reminders to myself for most of the night, but it was only making the entire situation worse, and my stomach feel uneasy. I watched as the popcorn ceiling above me warped and formed shapes, my sight felt as though it was crawling, and my mind went fuzzy.
I was no longer alone.
I felt paralyzed, with tears rolling down my cheeks, mouth forced into a frown, unable to make a sound or call for help as I stared fear right in the eyes. I couldn’t close my eyelids and I couldn’t turn my head, no matter how hard I tried, there was something holding me there.
I faced the same thing I saw earlier, hanging from the ceiling by long, disheveled limbs, cracking and bending in directions it wasn’t supposed to. The claws scratched against the drywall, making my ears feel as though they were bleeding. It’s large, human-like head blended in with the dark, but its face was clear. The eyes were stuck open, sending shock through my muscles while ensuring eye contact was being made, every vein behind the pupil was visible. Its mouth, once grinning, was now gaping open in excitement, still pointed upwards into a smile. The teeth were the same, far from clean, but it was now drooling black liquid, the same consistency as blood when it came into contact with my skin, burning hot in temperature. I felt it melting me, but I couldn’t scream, I couldn’t wake anybody else up, I was alone with this thing. It was slowly lowering its face towards my body, its breath becoming unbearable, almost coaxing me to vomit. I heard its excited sharp gasps as it closed the distance, its neck twitching here and there, ready to torture me however it pleased.
That’s when my gaze snapped towards the door as it flew open to reveal Konnor standing behind it, poised and ready to take action. I sat up, knowing that the thing was gone and burst into tears. Who knew what that thing was capable of, but it was unnerving, and I was ready to go home. He had walked over and embraced me, rubbing the back of my head as I bawled. Just as before, nobody else was awake, nobody else was aware of what was happening, we were alone.
“Remember it’s just your imagination.”
I never told anybody about it, nobody could believe me even if I tried. I would end up in an insane asylum before it would be looked into. But I’m most scared of transferring this ability to someone else, by looking at them and making contact with them and telling them how its possible. So for now, it’s just my imagination.