It seemed like since the moment I was born that the supernatural seemed drawn to me. Though I wouldn’t have my first real experience with it until after my second or third year of school. I must have been 7 or 8 at the time. I can’t be sure anymore how old I was. The older you get, the more the years all seems to blend together. It was during late summer. Late July most likely.
Back in those days, I spent a good part of the summer at my grandparents. It was okay though, because that meant I got to spend time with my uncle, Leo. He was my favorite of all my dad’s siblings. He was still a young man in his late 20s. He had fought in the war and lived at home to help my grandparents out. Everybody has their favorite aunt or uncle, and Leo was mine.
Sometimes when he was off from his job at the meat packing plant, he would take me swimming and fishing. We had this little spot about an hour’s drive out of town that we would frequent. It was on one of those adventures that this fateful day would occur. We had got to the fishing spot a little after 8 in the morning. Made an entire day of it. I got about 30 fish that day. A record for me at the time. But that’s not why I remember that day. That’s not why I remember it at all.
The day had been perfect up to that point. But as all days must they eventually have to end. It was starting to get late, the sun was already starting to set when we decided to call an end to our fishing expedition. We were packing up the truck when I first noticed it. Silence. I don’t mean it was quiet, no I mean there was no sound, no nothing. No birds, no insects, heck even the wind had stopped blowing. It was eerie, the sun fading in the back and the void of sound around us.
Suddenly, there was this growl, almost a roar actually. I couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from. The way it echoed through the air it could have been coming from any direction. But one thing was clear, it sounded to be getting closer to us as the seconds ticked away. It sounded like it was maybe half a football field away. That was when I heard the rustling from the trees just to the left, almost directly above us. Something was up there. Something large. You could hear the leaves rustling, branches snapping as whatever it was jumped from tree to tree.
I looked over to my uncle. If he heard it then I’ll never know. He was paying it no mind. Just packing up all of our stuff, never once looking up or picking up the pace. To this day I still believe he knew it was there at that time, but he was paying it no heed as not to panic me.
Fear of whatever this was, started to overtake me. I stopped what I had been doing almost completely. Helping load up our gear was the farthest thing from my mind. I started to become frozen with fear. My uncle had to practically yell at me to snap my attention back to him.
“We’re almost packed up, Reco. Let’s get going. It’s late already and your grandmother is going to be worried if we aren’t home soon.”
Hurriedly, I helped him pack up the remainder of our gear into the truck. Whatever had made that sound, I wanted no part of meeting it or finding out what it was. We got the truck packed and I took one last look around to see if I saw anything before hopping in the passenger side of my uncle’s truck.
It was still dusk, not yet completely dark. As we drove down the road, the light was quickly fading overhead. My uncle flipped on the radio. I don’t even remember what was playing at the time. Probably some jazz song. My uncle loved that type of music.
We had been on the road about 10 minutes when things began to feel not alright. You know that feeling you get deep inside your gut when you know something was wrong. I was feeling that something fierce.
Suddenly, the headlights began to dim and the radio began to fade in and out. And from above us that rustling sound had returned. Uncle Leo played with the dial some, but once again he ignored the noise, his focus remained on the quickly darkening road.
It was then that it happened. I’ll never forget it. The horror, the fear, the uncertainty.
We had just took a curve on the road. The rustling sound had gotten louder, closer. When unexpectedly….
BAM!!!!!
Something big and heavy landed in the back of the truck. It had leaped down from the trees above. It landed with such force that the front wheels of the truck temporarily lifted off the road. My uncle almost lost control of the truck as it skidded across the road.
Leo looked briefly in the mirror than moved his eyes back on the road. He briefly touched the crucifix he kept on the dash, then tightly gripped the wheel with both hands. His knuckles turning white with how hard he gripped it. I just sat there staring ahead, frozen in fear.
Whatever it was, it was moving around in the bed of the truck. I could hear it going through our stuff. Tossing things around, rummaging through our cooler. I started to get up in my seat so I could look back and see what was back there. Uncle Leo grabbed me by the shoulder and pushed me back down into my seat.
“No, mijo! Just look ahead. Don’t look in the back. Whatever you do. Trust me.”
There was fear in his voice. Not a lot, but a hint of it. This was a man that had lived through the horrors of war and he was scared. I can tell you I did exactly as he said without question.
I could hear a small growl from the back and whatever was back there was moving around the tailgate. Whatever it was, it was heavy. The truck leaned towards the back because of the weight. For the next five minutes I sat there frozen in fear. I looked at Leo. He just starred ahead, occasionally glancing at his rearview mirror.
Unsure of what to do, I sat there. Fear had completely overtaken me. I didn’t know if the thin layer of glass between us and the bed was enough to keep us separated. As my mind ran through every possibility of what was back there that my biggest fear came to be. Whatever was in the bed of the truck was MOVING. Not like before when it had stayed in the rear of the bed. No this time it was moving forward towards the cab of the truck.
I was petrified. I couldn’t move. The creature had begun a slow methodical move towards us. The nails of the beast scrapped against the metal of the truck. The truck shifted with its weight as it moved slowly closer to us.
“Don’t look! I will explain later. Trust me.”
I trusted my uncle but I was scared. We were still miles out of town. All that separated us from whatever was in the back was a sheet of glass. No one lived near where we were for miles. Meaning no help if somehow that thing decided to come into the bed.
The creature kept getting closer, the scrapping louder. I could hear it’s heavy breathing now. My uncle kept looking ahead at the road. I saw in left hand though he had slowly unclipped the strap holding his sidearm he kept on his belt
Then there was the tapping. You could hear the nails of the creature gently tapping the glass directly behind my head. Tap. Tap. Tap. The tears of fear begin to well up in my eyes. Tap. Tap. Tap. The creature was just begging us to turn around.
What were we going to do? What was it? Why did my uncle seem to know what it was? What if it gets inside?
I was beyond scared, nothing in my short life came close to the fear I felt at that moment.
“Just look ahead. No matter what. Never look back!”
I’ll never forget those words my uncle spoke or the sound of fear in his voice. But that wasn’t the worst of it. No, not even close. What happened next, I still dream about at night sometimes.
“Whaaattt…is…wrrrroonnng…litttle…one? Juusssstt…opppen…the…wwwinnndoooww. Let meee in!”
An eerie raspy voice spoke from behind me. A gasp escaped my lips, tears begin to flow freely down my cheeks. My Uncle Leo gave the voice no notice and fiddled with the radio more.
“DO NOT IGNORE ME!! LET ME IN!! FACE YOUR FATE!!”
Angrier and louder the voice boomed. Then the banging started. The creature or whatever it was began banging on the roof of the cab with such force that truck begin to rock with each blow. BANG!! BOOM!!! BANG!!
The blows rained down on my poor uncle’s truck. But still I refused to look back. This continued on for the next 30 minutes or so.
Just when I thought the roof would cave in from the blows being rained down upon us, I saw the lights of the city as we neared the edge of the forest.
A roar erupted from behind us and the creature muttered these final words.
“This is not the end. No little one. One day we are meet our fates. That protection won’t be there for you forever. Till then!”
And with that the truck rocked as whatever was in the bed leaped in the air and away from the truck.
We sped forward in complete silence. My uncle said nothing. When we were about two blocks from my grandparents, my uncle pulled over and finally turned to me.
“Reco, we must talk. You can never tell your grandparents what happened here. There is much you do not know and not enough time for me to tell you everything. The world is filled with great evils. Our family… Some of our family are chosen. We have a gift to see the other world. Not all of us are as strong, some just see glimpses. Others like me and you, well we can interact with that world. But there are creatures that live within that world that don’t appreciate our gift. They prefer to remain hidden from view as the do their work But there are rules they must follow and ways we can protect ourselves. I’m going to give you something. My grandfather gave it to me when I was about your age. Now it’s yours.”
With that my uncle grabbed the crucifix around his mirror and put it around my neck. I had never noticed before the uniqueness of it. There was a large black rock in the middle. Obsidian. And the outside of it was glass, with a thick red liquid inside. I have never taken it off since my uncle gave it to me. It’s still around my neck to this very day.
My uncle made me promise to never tell outsiders about what happened. They wouldn’t believe it anyways he said. After that night he said we could never talk about it again. To talk about it gives them strength.
We talked for about an hour more on that side of the road. He told me about where they come from and of the evil and corruption that they wished to spread. Afterwards, we continued our drive home.
True to his word my uncle never again spoke of that evening with me. And I… Well I wasn’t going to bring it up.
About ten years later, just outside of those woods, Uncle Leo crashed his truck and was killed. I’ve often wondered if whatever had jumped on our truck, that long ago night, had somehow caught up to him finally.
The world is a beautiful place, no one can argue that. But, there are evils out there. Some that stay hidden just beneath the light. Never forget that. Some things can’t be explained and perhaps it’s for the best that they aren’t.