A few years ago, I bought a small house in south west Maine. It’s one story, around 1,000 square feet. A few months after I bought the house, I got lonely, and decided to buy a dog, whose name is Ace.
There’s a forest outside my home. I never bothered to do any of the normal things people do when there’s a forest near them, like camp. However, Ace never liked the forest. He would bark or whine any time I took him on a walk where the tree line was visible.
I started realizing what was happening last winter. Every tree began to wilt and die simultaneously. If one leaf fell off a tree, that leaf fell off of every tree. When it became spring, all the leaves grew back at the same time and place as well. It’s as if the forest grew as one.
Two months ago, Ace picked up the habit of scratching my door any time I had locked him out of my room. He always makes a mess when I let him in though, so I have to keep the door closed. Two weeks ago, l heard a yelp. It was not Ace though. It came from somewhere around the back of my house. After that sound, I heard Ace running and whining, and he started scratching my door. It wasn’t normal, though. It was frantic.
I let him in my room, and I swear I already saw the damn thing in my yard. I saw that thing staring at my dog like it was a fucking smoker seeing a cigarette. I looked closer and all there was out there was the tree line, but I saw that thing out there, I know it. I couldn’t sleep, nor could Ace. I stayed up and just scrolled through social media.
I don’t know what time it was but I heard a yelp again, and after that a long, disgusting groan. I couldn’t open my door, I couldn’t. I didn’t want to see those eyes turn into fucking trees. All I did was sit there, thinking of what to do if there was something out there.
The next morning, I don’t know why but I bought a pistol. Something told my to buy a pistol. It was some kind of a Glock, I don’t remember the exact name, and the name doesn’t matter. That night, it happened again. The yelping, groaning, scratching, and the fucking staring.
This time though, I went outside, the pistol at my hip. Either that thing was going to end up with a bullet hole in its head or I was going to die, and I would be damned if I let the latter happen.
I was sitting there, in the maybe 20 degree weather, just waiting. But nothing happened. I waited and waited but there was nothing. Until Ace was scratching on my door. I looked around and saw it coming out of the tree line, the long pale limbs, the, maybe 4 different eyes, and I heard the groan. But it wasn’t a groan. It was a scream. The loudest scream I had ever heard.
The thing ran at me, and I drew my gun. I was still shooting it when it was down. I moved to grab my phone to call the police, and the second I turned around, it was gone. I called the police in shambles, not knowing what to do.
I got a fine for “prank calling” 911, but I know what I saw. I have to move away, I can’t look at that forest ever again. I don’t know what is wrong with that forest, but it’s not normal. Maybe it’s cursed, maybe it’s haunted, or maybe this world has more secrets like this, waiting to emerge from the tree line.