Darkness had settled over the landscape like a heavy shroud, and I found myself wandering the forest alone, my breath visible in the cold night air. How could they leave me, my friends? They ran at the first sign something was wrong.
We’d been camping, like we had several times before in these woods. But this time something was off. We’d heard strange noises in the distance, like a howling, but it didn’t sound like any animal that we could recognise. We brushed these off as wolves in the distance. They sounded quite far away, but we pitched our campsite a few miles in the opposite direction just to be safe.
When the tents were all set up we set about our usual activities, drinking, talking and telling ghost stories. We took turns telling the scariest stories that we could think of, but on this night, the tales seemed closer to reality than ever before. We all seemed on edge and a general sense of unease settled over us. No longer feeling the same buzz and enjoyment that we normally do, we decided to get some sleep ready to hike further into the woods tomorrow.
I was wrenched from my slumber with a start. The sounds of screaming and howling, much closer now than before, were suffocating. Struggling with my sleeping bag, I flung back the cover of my tent to see my friends fleeing away from our campsite in a frenzy, leaving me here in the dark. I could also hear that terrible howling, closer than ever, as though whatever was responsible for it was hiding just out of sight.
Grabbing a flashlight from my tent, I began to give chase to my friends, but they were out of sight now, thoroughly hidden by the dense foliage of the forest. I ran for what felt like hours, the thick trees and overgrown roots flying past as I darted between the dense foliage.
Exhaustion began to take over me and my legs began to burn. Heeding my body’s cries for me to stop, I slowed to a walking pace, taking in my surroundings. I was lost, the trees and bushes all looked the same, stretching on in a never-ending mirrored scene. There was no sign of my friends or the path that they had created in their frantic fleeing. I was alone.
I walked deeper into the heart of the forest, my flashlight casting feeble beams of light that barely pierced the inky blackness. Every rustling leaf and distant hoot of an owl sent shivers down my spine. I was aware of exactly how vulnerable I was and I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was being watched. My heart raced, and my footsteps quickened involuntarily as if some primal instinct was urging me to flee.
It was then that I saw it. As my flashlight swept the darkness before me it highlighted a figure standing among the trees, partially obscured by shadows. My breath caught in my throat as I trained my flashlight on the form. Partially obscured by the trunk of an aged tree I could make out a silhouette that seemed almost human but grotesque. Its eyes glowed with an unholy light, reflecting the beam of my flashlight in a menacing gleam. Its lips curled into a malevolent smile that seemed to stretch too wide, revealing sharpened canines.
My voice quivered as I called out, “Who’s there?” The figure remained motionless, its malevolent gaze fixed on me with an intensity that sent waves of dread coursing through my veins. I took a cautious step back, my fingers trembling around the flashlight’s grip. The wind carried a whisper, a voice that seemed to emanate from the very trees themselves.
“Come closer,” it beckoned, its voice a distorted blend of human and something far more sinister. My heart pounded in my chest, a relentless drumbeat that matched the rhythm of my fear. Despite every fibre of my being screaming for me to flee, I found myself taking hesitant steps toward the figure. It was like it was compelling me.
As I drew nearer, I could see its features more clearly, illuminated by the brightening light of my flashlight. The face seemed almost familiar, yet so wrong. Its skin was stretched taut across its bones, so tightly that I worried it might split. Its limbs were unnaturally elongated, resembling the arms of some kind of horrific ape. A thin layer of fur covered the majority of its skin, matted in several places with a deep red liquid. My mind struggled to comprehend what I was seeing – a living nightmare that defied explanation. And then, in an instant, the figure’s features contorted, shifting into an even more grotesque form.
It began to hunch over in pain, letting out a horrific scream that seemed to almost sound like the howls we were hearing earlier. Bones snapped and the taught flesh ripped as the creature’s body began to alter, rebuilding itself. The fingers on the tips of its elongated limbs began to split, revealing sharpened claws that glinted in the glow of my trembling flashlight. The spine contorted to allow the use of all four legs with ease, giving it a strange, semi-quadrupedal stance. The face began to elongate and split from the mouth, revealing the bones underneath as they stretched and morphed into a snout filled with those jagged, sharp canine teeth.
My pulse quickened, and the air grew frigid as if the very essence of the forest had turned against me. The darkness seemed to close in with an oppressive weight. I found myself rooted in place, unable to tear my eyes away from the horrific transformation occurring before me.
Its lips moved, but the words that emerged were not in any language I recognized. They were a cacophony of discordant sounds that seemed to pierce through my thoughts like a blade.
“You’re mine,” it seemed to growl, its voice sending icy tendrils of terror down my spine, “Start running”. My mind raced, thoughts scattering like leaves in a gust of wind. I needed to escape, to break free from the grip of this malevolent presence. But my limbs felt heavy as if bound by an invisible force that was slowly tightening around me.
With a surge of desperation, I forced my legs to move, stumbling backwards, nearly tripping over the undergrowth as I turned to flee. As I ran the forest seemed to close in around me, the trees twisting and contorting in ways that defied reason. Shadows danced at the edges of my vision, and the very ground beneath my feet felt unstable as if the earth itself was shifting.
A chilling howl ripped through the air, joined by a chorus of screams that seemed to come from every direction at once. The figure pursued me, its form flickering in and out of the trees like a ghostly apparition, slowly gaining on me. My breath came in ragged gasps, and panic threatened to consume me whole. My lungs burned and my muscles screamed in protest.
I sprinted through the underbrush, branches clawing at my skin and grazing my face, but the figure was relentless in its pursuit. Its howling grew louder, mingling with the sounds of the forest until they were one and the same. I could hear its thudding footsteps and the snapping of twigs behind me, getting ever closer. My mind felt like it was unravelling, the boundaries between reality and nightmare blurring into a twisted tapestry. How could this be happening?
And then, just as I felt my strength waning, I burst through the treeline and into an empty clearing bathed in moonlight. I collapsed to the ground, my chest heaving as I struggled to catch my breath. My body was giving out, my muscles were on fire and unresponsive to my commands. I lay there, waiting, expecting to feel the vicious claws or teeth of that horrid abomination tear through me. But they never came.
Slowly and with great effort I lifted myself onto my side and looked back in the direction of the forest I’d fled from. The creature had come to a halt at the edge of the forest, its distorted form contorting in frustration. It was glaring at me with intense rage, I could feel the hatred in its gaze, but it didn’t move any further. It was as though it couldn’t leave the edge of the treeline. With a final, chilling howl, it seemed to retreat into the darkness of the forest, leaving behind only a lingering sense of malevolence.
The forest was silent once more, the night air carrying only the rustling of leaves in the wind. Relief washed over me as I realised I had escaped the clutches of a creature beyond comprehension, a being that existed on the fringes of our reality. But what was that thing? I could feel the weight of the ordeal and the fatigue of fleeing catching up with me. My vision began to blur and I passed out.
From that point things are a little hazy, I don’t know how long I was in that clearing before I was stumbled upon by a pair of hikers. They found me curled up and crying before bringing me back to the ranger station. After I’d calmed down enough to realise I was safe I was interviewed by the police. Two officers came out after being called by the ranger. They sat me down in what I assume was the waiting area on a large sofa where I went through in detail what had happened, knowing full well how crazy I sounded.
When I began to describe the creature the officers both looked at each other, exchanging an almost knowing glance. After I’d finished my story they didn’t seem as doubtful of my story as I expected. They asked a few follow-up questions before thanking me and getting up to leave. Just as they were turning to leave a sudden moment of clarity shot through me and I proceeded to ask about my friends, if anyone had seen them or heard anything from them after they fled.
“There’s been no reports of anyone else in those woods” was all the officers could say. My heart sank, although they’d abandoned me I still cared about them. No one had seen or heard from my friends, not even the Rangers. The police sent out a search party to the location I gave them for the campsite but all they could find was the tattered remains of our tents, as though a wild animal had torn through them.
It wasn’t until I overheard the rangers and the officers talking that another chill ran through me. It was only a small sentence, but it horrified me nonetheless. “That’s the third one of these in as many months. We’d best find something else before the next full moon”