Living all my life in a small town in Romania (yes that little country with Dracula and gypsies),
I was lucky enough to live in a nice part of town with a tightly knit community , spending most of my childhood in the forest surrounding most of our part of town.
We`d always hang out in the forest with friends , building makeshift shelters pretending to be adults, heck , watching too much discovery channel we even started campfires to cook “baked apples” (we`d put them on a stick and over the camp fire) , I`m still amazed we haven`t burned the fucking forest down, all those survival shows form Discovery and Animal Planet really stuck with our young sponge like minds.
We`d be out all day until dusk climbing up rocks , trees eating fruits from the forest , blackberries , wild strawberries (the small ones) ,blackcurrants , apples , pears you name it .
Of course our parents scolded us for not having an appetite at dinner time but we were enjoying our youth.(on rare occasions we`d play some SEGA games but anyhow )
This one particular incident happened when I was around 13 years old , very near my house through a smaller street you reach a place Nicknamed “The Devils Bridge” contrary to the spooky name when I was 6 years old it used to be a huge ass garbage dump site, luckily they cleaned it up and by the time of this story (about 7 years later) nature stared reclaiming the barren earth.
I met up with two of my friends and neighbors let`s call them Chad and Louie (not their actual names),
we decided to go to a place very near the Devils Bridge , quickly making our way there laughing all the way .
We arrive at the bridge get down on the bridges right side , near the small creek , our target was a small waterfall a little ways up the creek near which Chad saw a nice area for a makeshift cabin .
Making our way up the slippery damp moss covered rocks I feel a bit light headed and nauseous , but snap back , we walk a bit further and reach another area to climb , up we go .
I make it up , something feels off , I`ve been here yesterday , scanning the area around me something catches my eye , off of a tree branch dangling by a string a nylon bag , the way it was tied was very weird , a sphere shaped head part then the string and the rest of the bag hanging down like a dress.
It reminded me of the Japanese rain warding dolls , but then a disgusting stench hit my nostrils making me gag .
My friends made it up in the meanwhile , they whiffed it too .
Louie: “What`s that awful smell ?!”
Chad: “Jesus Christ it`s disgusting ! “
Me: “I have no idea , stay here I`ll go check”
I covered my nose with my T-shirt steadily making my way towards the tied up nylon bag , I started lowering myself so I could see underneath , I whish I hadn`t though , slowly coming into sight was a small tail then a hind leg , by the fur and general physique , it was no doubt a puppy.
Someone , some heartless bastard or wicked harpy , hung a puppy in a nylon bag.
I felt disgusted and furious , even more so because I was and still am a huge animal lover , snakes spiders lizards all the lot very few exceptions close to none.
I turned to them and told them what was underneath.
Chad was the smallest of our group with Louie in the middle and me the oldest of our friends.
Chad started crying on the spot .
Louie was left with an expression of shock and horror on his face.
We consoled Chad for a minute , and as soon as he regained his composure I decided what to do.
I always had a knife with me a thick spine hunting knife , I took it out of my backpack , tied my T-shirt into a mask of sorts .
My friends asked what am I going to do ?
I told them I wanna bury the small puppy , they looked at each other with sudden enlightenment , both of them approved , thought of it as a good idea.
I go over cut the sting , slowly letting the pup down , then with some thicker branch that I thinned the tip of started raking the soft soil , soon a deep enough hole was created , by the remainder of the string I gently placed the pup in the hole and cover it back placing a huge boulder over the loosened dirt to make sure some bear or wolf would have a hard time digging it up.
We gather around the stone , said a prayer , still in a daze bout the whole event , we were silent , I wanted to suggest to go back home and play around there , but before I could open my mouth I hear a crack , very very nearby , It startled us , we looked around , we saw nothing .
Then again this time even closer then before , we noped the fuck out of there hauling ass like there`s no tomorrow.
The next morning we decided to go back , still shook by the recent event we wanted to see if the puppy was still buried .
Sticks and knife in hand , we were brave little warriors going on a mission , we got back slowly carefully scanning our surroundings , we arrive at the same spot, the boulder was ways off the grave ,
the dirt mysteriously undisturbed , I found the makeshift tool made yesterday , started digging tenderly , empty.
We were in awe , how could something be missing, the ground undisturbed no footprints no marks other than the rock being farther away.
We decide to go further up towards the waterfall.
We make it , water crashing down on the rocks bellow a calm meditative sound , branches leaves and moss all around the ground surrounding the waterfall.
I see something out of place again , not blending at all with the color palette of the forest usual look.
Three puppies , dead and eviscerated in a small pool of blood .
Everything went quiet , it was such a sad sight to behold , even the water crashing down was having a moment of silence.
We look up , and see a woman , the most vile creature I have ever seen in my life , old , weird, her hair stringy and gray, it went everywhere in all directions, under the big clump of hair her eyes were darkened out , gritting her teeth at us , ugly yellowish brown and green teeth that looked like someone just threw them in her mouth , sitting at weird angles , way too long ,
lips almost nonexistent .
She made a weird sound , we were probably all expecting here to scream like a banshee or something.
She just pushed air through her throat , making a deep guttural gurgling grunt .
It was so unexpected , it sounded so disgusting , I just wished she screamed , it would have probably been much more logical for our brains .
She fanned her arms out she was naked, only an old ripped up cloak on her , I winced , gaged and tears welled up in my eyes , it was such a horrid sight , scars , body hair all over in the weirdest of places , wrinkles and creases oddly shaped and morphed her body , her chest sagging , her legs bent inward.
I have never in my life ran as fast as I did that day.
Chad being so small and scared nearly passed out , I still have no idea how a small 13 yo like myself managed to pick him up in my arms and run with him in tow , jumping with precision down the small ledges and rocks like some super goat , Louie was fast as well, keeping up right behind me.
We made it back to the Devils bridge , I slowly put Chad down on his feet, still shaking .
We look back towards the climbing area , there`s nothing , a chilling wind blew over us .
Shivering while shivering is a very odd sensation , we decided to go back home .
I haven`t slept at all that night , tortured by the still fresh images of that old woman , I was sick , still seeing her teeth and morbid body , I went on to vomit all night .
I finally managed to sleep a few meager hours.
Woke up groggy and tired , images of the hag still swimming through my mind .
I go to the kitchen adjacent to my room , grab my cereals and milk , put a decent amount in my bowl.
I dig in like a wild animal , after last nights ordeal of constantly expelling the contents of my stomach I felt like I could eat a horse with room for dessert too!
I have my fill, with a full belly I start pondering if I should go back , I really wanted those puppies to have a proper sendoff to the doggy afterlife.
I meet up with my friend again , they were too scared to go back , no way to convince them.
I understood their feelings , I didn`t want to go back myself if it wasn`t for those pups.
But something made me want to go no matter what , I told them I`m going back there , they were against it , I still went ahead .
This time knowing what to expect made it, if only a little better , at least I wont be surprised.
I got to the bridge , looked towards the path that led to my destination , fear starting to spread through my body like wildfire , yesterdays images feeling like they happened minutes ago.
I took a sharp deep breath , steeled myself , knife firmly in my hand , started making my way to the waterfall.
I slowly make my way back , on edge , every little sound made me jump , I was tense everything strained to the maximum , I pass the place where the first pup was hanged , nothing , the segment of the wire that was left after I had cut it , gone , the dirt seemed even everywhere like there was no digging , my makeshift tool gone , even the rock we put on top of the grave nowhere in sight.
I found that weird but it didn`t make me stop , continuing my careful walk to the waterfall , I make it ,
no puppies , no blood , no guts , everything as it should be.
I look up the waterfall expecting the worst possible scenario.
Nothing.
I decided to climb up the side to the path that leads to the top of the waterfall where the old woman stood the day before.
I get up, make my way to the top of the waterfall , nobody in sight , serene , birds singing water gently crashing down , the coolness of the shaded forest with sunlight peaking in here and there , it felt magical.
I went to the exact spot where we saw the hag , in the mud on the side of the creek a set of small , human footprints , seemed normal , but each footprint had nail marks half as long as the footprint .
I`m Sure it was her , that hag , witch creature , whatever she was .
I decided not to follow yet , it took everything I had to get that far , calming down I started to feel pain all over my body from how tense I was moments ago.
I went back home, planning on what to do tomorrow.
(Part 2 coming soon)