It’s been two years and I still don’t like talking about it. There was a reason I left my hometown, and a reason why I never wanted to go back. There’s also a reason my friend Mike and I don’t speak anymore.
We grew up in a smallish town in the Midwest. We had about two blocks of a downtown area and a lot of nature. Mike and I spent most of our time in the woods, hanging out with the hippie people that stopped and stayed in the woods sometimes. Our peers didn’t bother us often, and that’s how we liked it. Think “America, Pick-Up Trucks, Blue Jeans” type of people. So, when we got a text from our friend, Tiana, saying she would be kicking it around town soon, we were pretty hyped.
I suggested that we both ditch work the day she comes into town and just go out to the woods and help her set up camp. Tiana was a super cool person. She left home at 14, Mike and I met her when we were all 16, and she’s been out here surviving by herself this whole time. It’s probably bad, but my favorite part of Tiana coming around was her dog, BirdDog. BirdDog was the coolest animal I’ve ever met. He would always come chill for the good snuggles, was super friendly, loved fetch, and was great at keeping wild animals away.
They finally showed up on the first weekend of October. We met them by the rails and walked to their usual spot. Tiana told us about her travels while we hiked the trails. She told us this wild story about a guy she saw in Oregon. Apparently, she had just gotten off a bus when she walked into a man that was yelling at her. I don’t remember what she said he was saying, I think she thought he was trying to rob her. Anyway, this dude pulled out a knife and just kept on yelling. Tiana started backing away but noticed the dude wasn’t really reacting. She just backed away slowly and left the guy to shout at nothing. “People are f*ckin crazy, man.” She would say.
BirdDog loved zooming through these woods. After trotting along with us he would see a squirrel or something and take off after it. He came back once it would get away. Mike, Tiana, and I all took turns tossing a stick for him. There was a moment where we all kind of stopped because we realized he hadn’t come back yet. As soon as Tiana started to shout we heard a rustling of leaves and loud barks. BirdDog had found something and was chasing after it. That’s when we heard what sounded like humans running away. “Goddamnit,” and then a gun shot rang out. Mike and I fell back a little bit, but Tiana, she just ran right up to the dudes yelling “Did you mother f*ckers just shoot my dog? I’ll f*cking kill you.” The dudes sounded like they were talking shit back, but all that came out of their mouths sounded like mumbled garble. They left the area while Tiana and BirdDog kept on barking.
It took us a while but we set her camp up before it started getting dark and were sitting around the fire passing a joint. About twenty minutes after we finished it we started hearing movement in the woods. We could tell from the sounds, it was human feet moving around. Someone was nearby and none of us felt comfortable about that. Everyone shushed each other and Tiana grabbed BirdDog. The feet stopped shortly after we stopped talking. Mike was pale, with his eyes wide open, mouthing “what do we do?” We all looked at each other and nodded at the other to say something. Something in me was just like f*ck it, I’ll go. My heart was beating in my throat, but I shouted “excuse me! We know you’re out there, can we help you with anything?” There was no response. BirdDog started growling and Tiana was trying to keep him quiet. “We have a dog with us, and he bites!” Still nothing.
After some quiet bickering and worried glances, we decided that we should leave the campsite. The nearest populated area is less than a mile away and we can get there relatively quickly. We had to leave before nightfall so Tiana agreed to get her things in the morning. Something about the exchange left us all with such a bad feeling in our guts. Nothing good would happen if we stayed there that night.
Once we got up and got moving, all three of us were moving quickly. It was as close to running as we could muster. It felt like my heart was going to jump right out of my chest. I’d worry about catching my breath once I can see neon lights glowing. I swear I could hear footsteps following behind. It was hard to tell if I was actually hearing it or if my mind was playing tricks on me, but each broken twig sent a shock through my body. There was nothing I wanted more than to get out of those woods.
The sky was getting darker and the light was slowly leaving. Our path grew darker the longer we ran. My legs were getting heavy, my lungs were on fire, it took everything I had to keep going. I heard them behind us again, the footsteps. They were moving fast this time. Up ahead the businesses on the street start shining through the trees. We were so close. My mind saw safety and suddenly my body was moving on its own. Never in my life have I moved that fast. The lights were so close when I felt my foot kick a branch and my face met the ground. Everything in me told me “I’m f*cked.” The footsteps are closer and all I can see ahead of me are the backs of Tiana and Mike running for their lives. I noticed two things when I was getting up. I was wet and in pain, but there was no time for that. My body snapped back into gear and I got the hell out of those woods.
We exited into the street and straight into the chain store’s parking lot. Once we could touch the building we collectively stopped and turned towards the woods. Mike looked at us and gasped out “what..was..that?” in between labored breaths. Tiana said she didn’t see anything. I said, I don’t know. I just heard people moving in the woods and got a bad feeling. We just sat there for a while. I checked to make sure I wasn’t bleeding or badly injured anywhere, Tiana and Mike were asking if we were all okay. No injuries from what I could tell. We all made it safely.
“Where’s BirdDog?” The words hit my stomach like lead.
Where was he? We ran around the parking lot calling out for him but there was no answer. We all started panicking but Tiana started falling apart. “BirdDog” turned into just yells in between cries. There was no movement coming from the woods. I felt bad, but I didn’t have the courage to go back into those woods and look for him. We all seemed to have an unspoken agreement on that. Tiana fell apart crying and we just tried to be there for her. It started to feel uneasy again once the darkness started to settle in. Any warmth from the sun was gone with it, and that night was exceptionally cold. We got our friend up and went to our apartment to wait out the night.
It took a few hours, but things calmed down a bit. Mike grabbed a bottle from his room, and we passed it between the three of us. No one spoke until about halfway into it. “What the f*ck?” That’s the only thing we could say. It seemed to be the only thing any of us could think of. It was Tiana that broke the silence.
“You think it was those dudes we ran into earlier? You think they’re f*cking with us?”
Mike and I share a look and I tell her I don’t know.
“You know anyone that would do some sh*t like this?”
At the time, I really didn’t. Mike told her that there were some problems but no one ever did anything like this. I’d never heard of anything like this either. It was odd, though. Why would someone stalk a group of people and then do something to their dog? Just because the dog barked at them? The people in this town are dumb but I never thought they were that bad.
We’ll go find BirdDog once it’s light out. None of us managed to get any sleep in. We passed a bottle all night and talked about our game plan for the morning. We agreed we needed to wait until morning, and that we needed weapons. Mike had a hammer and a baseball bat, which he gave to Tiana. I didn’t have any weapons, so I grabbed a kitchen knife. The plan is, we’ll retrace our steps and work our way back to the campsite. It made sense that he would go there.
Our resolve strengthened with each sip of liquor and each passing hour. No matter what, we were going to find BirdDog. We were out the door as soon as dawn broke. Suddenly emboldened by the coming of light, I hype myself up and prepared for a fight. The adrenaline was something else. I couldn’t stop shaking. Imagining winning the fight made it easier to put on a brave face. I was honestly no less scared in the morning, but we couldn’t leave a friend behind. Imagination gave way to reality when we made it back to that store front and back to the mouth of the woods. There was a moment of absolute stillness just before we entered. None of us spoke and nature seemed to be at rest. Tiana was the first who entered the woods, Mike and I followed her lead.
I really tried to summon the courage of a seasoned warrior, but in my head I saw myself more like a small child, off to fight the monster in the closet, a pillow in one hand and a teddy bear in the other. We were about halfway through the woods with no signs of BirdDog and no signs of who was in the woods with us. If I could go back and redo any part of my life, it would be this moment. I would have begged and pleaded for the three of us to turn back, call the cops, and hope they handle it, but we didn’t do that, and we can’t go back.
We kept going until we could see the camp site ahead, smoke coming off the remains of the fire. It looked like someone ransacked the place. Everything was thrown around and out of place. The tent looked like they busted through it and tore it up. It was barely holding on. We approached slowly and moved as quietly as we could to it. The moment Tiana saw what was inside the tent, she screamed. It was the most broken sounding scream I have ever heard. You could hear something inside her twisting up, the overwhelming pain. Tears burst from Tiana’s eyes as she sobbed over her best friend’s body. BirdDog was inside the tent. He had been severely attacked and left twisted in a horrific display. The lead in my stomach shot out as bile spewed from my stomach onto the ground.
In between Tiana’s screams and cries, there was another sound. Something that didn’t fit right. It was soft at first, but it quickly became impossible to miss. A soft chuckle rapidly crescendoed into a hysterical fit of laughter. It drowned out the rest of reality and for a moment, all that existed was this laughter as two large men stepped out from behind trees near the tent. No matter how hard I tried to look at them, I couldn’t see anything about their features, hair color, or even skin color. In the same moment they came out from behind the tree, the one close to Tiana swung something at her and all I saw was blood. Her screams even now in more pain than before. I couldn’t process what was going on.
The second man approached Mike. Mike swung his hammer with all he had. It looked like he even got some good hits in, but then the strange man swung something at Mike and it tore through his skin, blood spattered the ground. My brain and my body could only process one reaction to what I was seeing. I turned around and booked it as fast as humanly possible away from that situation. I was in complete denial for quite some time. It wasn’t until I made it back to the storefront that I realized no one was following me.
I called 9-1-1. I told them what I had seen and where my friends were. The police showed up first. They left a couple of officers with me while the others explored the woods, looking for my friends. Fire trucks, an ambulance, and even animal control all responded to the call. I sat in front of that store for what felt like days. The police had called Mike’s parents and my parents. They arrived before anyone came back with a word. It was difficult for me to speak in between panic and crying.
No bodies were ever recovered, not even BirdDog’s. The official reports stated that it appeared as though a bear attacked the campsite. They dismissed my claims that it was actually two men. The doctor said I was experiencing delusions from the stress of the situation. I disagreed but it went that way anyway. They put me on medication and I was to speak to this particular therapist for some time after. Wasn’t all bad, though. As it turns out, that’s exactly what anyone would want after a situation like that, drugs, therapy, and a safe place to sleep. When I was discharged, I firmly believed my friends were attacked by a bear and that I was lucky to get away.
It probably would have stayed that way too, if it weren’t for a letter I got in the mail today. The sender failed to let me know where it came from, but for two years I haven’t wanted to speak about this, and for two years this was all that was on my mind. I opened the envelope and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
A wedding invitation came out. The bride and groom? My friends, Mike and Tiana. In the picture, it looked like they hadn’t aged a day. They looked happy. It’s messing with my head. Two years and they couldn’t have told me they were okay? Couldn’t have made any contact? Were they mad I ran away? This whole time I thought they were gone. How did they get my new address? Not one person told me they made it or were okay. No one said they were in the hospital. The last I knew, the police claimed they were taken by a bear, and that was that. I figured Mike’s mom would have at least told me something.
I took a picture of the invite and sent it to her with the message “Tell Mike congratulations for me.” I figured maybe they didn’t want to invite me and his mom just sent me this out of pity or something. All she said was “wtf, that isn’t funny.” Turns out, Mike was never found, and he officially died by bear attack. I explained to Mike’s mom about the letter with the invitation in it and asked her if she knew anyone that would do something like this? She didn’t and left it as some sick joke, but I can’t shake this feeling that my friends are out there somewhere. There’s an address for the wedding, and a time and date. I guess we’ll see then.