My heart began to race as I pulled out my pistol from the vault in the basement. Matty was out of control. We had been friends since middle school. I couldn’t do this. He wouldn’t if he was in my position. But my family was in danger. Matty screamed and groaned as he broke down the bedroom door. My mom was standing in the kitchen with a knife in her hand. It wouldn’t help. Matty didn’t feel pain. My dad had gone to the farm to get his shotgun. I rushed in as Matty charged toward my mom. He kicked my mom to the ground. He raised his hand. His white, sharp claws shined in the pale moonlight coming from the kitchen window. I shot him in the hand. I did it. Blood dripped from the hole left in his rotten hand from the gunshot and on the floor. He turned around and lunged at me and threw the gun out of my hand. It all happened so fast. I punched and kicked but he barely felt anything. I can’t believe Matty, the friend who was always there for me had turned into an unrecognizable monster. He tried to slash and stab and bite for what felt like an eternity. He wouldn’t let up. I reached out for my gun. I could feel the cold, metal plating make contact with my hand. I picked the gun up and fired a shot. It missed and hit the lamp. The lights in the house were out. The rain was starting to get stronger. Soon it turned into thunder. I heard windows shattering around me. I fired a shot. it hit Matty in the shoulder. I heard the monstrous roars of thunder outside. Matty wasn’t giving up.
I and my family were going to die because of a little trip to the woods and a little encounter with a deer. It was staring at Matty the entire time. Like it saw something in him. All the time, its eyes were glued to Matty. It followed us. It followed us to our campsite. It followed us to our boat. It followed us to our car. I remember fainting as my dad dragged me out of a river. My mom looked distraught. No sign of Matty.
“What’s going on?” I said.
“We crashed. We have to get out of here. It’s getting dark.” My dad responded
-“Where’s Matty?”
Dad looked confused for a second. He ran back to check the car. He bent down to check the passenger seats. He looked back at me and mom with a sense of distress on his face.
“He’s not here!” he shouted.
“Where could he have gone to?” mom said.
-“We have to find him before it gets dark.”
-“There’s no way we can do that. We’re all injured. Getting out of here would be a miracle.”
-“We can’t leave him out here. We gotta find Matty.”
I could hear mom’s frantic crying as she preyed for Matty’s well-being
It was getting dark. We each got our flashlights and started searching. It was such a big area, I was starting to doubt that we were ever gonna get out of there. As I was searching for Matty with my flashlight in total darkness, I heard what sounded like human footsteps behind me. Then, an awful groaning sound. I was honestly too petrified to move. Eventually, I gathered up the courage to turn around and see what it was. It was the deer. I didn’t know what to make of it. It stared at me with those same, unmoving, unsettling blue eyes. After a few seconds, it ran into the forest. Something compelled me to chase it. I ran and ran and ran deeper into the forest. As I chased down the deer I heard a loud and painful scream coming from somewhere in the area. I ran towards the direction I thought I heard the scream from and found Matty. He was just lying there. I was terrified. I didn’t know what to do. I checked to see if Matty still had a pulse. He did.
I carried Matty through the forest and back to the crash site. Mom and dad were relieved. I had to walk for 3 hours while carrying Matty on my back until we finally reached a rest stop. We stopped a car and hitchhiked to the nearest hospital. The injuries weren’t too serious. The doctor told us to go home and get rest since this was a traumatizing experience for all of us. We decided to let Matty stay in our house for a couple of days since his parents were on a business trip. I even let him sleep in my bed. A decision I regret now.
I raised my gun, I fired 4 shots blindly, and all of them hit Matty in the head. His lifeless body dropped to the floor as dad ran into the room, his shotgun ready to fire. We were all fine. I had a couple of bruises and stitches but, I was okay. Mom stood up and looked at me with shock. We were all horrified. How did this happen?
We moved out of that house after a couple of days. We were still recovering from our initial shock. To say that things went back to normal would be a complete lie. Mom, dad, and I barely talked to each other. We wouldn’t eat and most nights, we would cry ourselves to sleep. No matter how hard we tried, things wouldn’t go back to normal. Not until we found out what happened to Matty and got some closure. We couldn’t be kept in the dark forever.
I went back to the same forest where we saw the deer, where we crashed our car, where Matty changed. I packed nothing but a flashlight, some canned food, and a gun. I ventured deep into the forest. I searched and searched and searched for that damned deer. I was starting to get dizzy. The place was like a maze. After searching for what felt like forever, I finally heard that recognizable, horrifying groaning sound. I jumped and looked behind me. There it was. Blue eyes, ominous stare, up to no good. I pulled out my gun and pointed it at the deer. It started to run away. Like last time, I felt an irresistible urge to go after it. I chased it through the forest. It wasn’t very fast. I didn’t want to kill it. I wanted to see where it would lead me.
Eventually, we reached a completely deserted location in the forest. No wildlife, no trees, darkness. I lost the deer. I was so scared I raised my gun and started firing randomly, hoping it would hit it. I was done. I thought about ending it all. My entire life had been ruined and broken by this deer. I knew it was the source of it all. I couldn’t let it get away. after a couple of minutes, I felt something big creep up behind me. I turned around and saw the thing. Big, blue eyes, sharp claws, and teeth. It walked towards me on its 4 legs. It felt like I had awakened something. I raised my gun and started firing. It didn’t help. I started running out of the forest as fast as I could, and it followed. Jumping around, leaping from trees, letting out screams of agony.
The sun was starting to rise. I’d been there for almost 8 hours. I finally got out of there and started running towards the nearest gas station. I was almost there when the thing leaped in front of me. It lunged at me, but I was able to dodge it. Whatever this thing was, it wasn’t a very fast fighter, but neither was I. It stood up and kicked me in the face with one of its legs like a horse. I shot it until I was out of bullets and while it was busy dealing with that, I escaped its grasp. It was still following me. we reached the road. It let out another scream and ran towards me. It kicked me down. Again, and again, and again. I couldn’t defend myself. I heard the engine of a truck getting closer. I began running towards the truck, the thing not far behind. As soon as I saw the truck getting close, I leaped out of the way. The truck hit the thing with so much power that it sent it flying across the road. But it was somehow still alive. It just got up on its 4 legs, didn’t even flinch, and walked back to the forest. Just like that. It forgot about me. I was gonna pass out from all the pain but out of pure willpower, I walked all the way to the gas station, got in, and started typing.
I’ve always been a religious man. I grew up in a Christian household where stories of demons and mythical beings that caused chaos in our world would be read to me every night before bed. Where certain behaviors, philosophies, and beliefs like atheism were off-limits. But, after this encounter, I don’t think I believe in any of it anymore. Maybe god did abandon us. Not because he was disappointed, but more because he was scared. Maybe he’s not as all-knowing and omnipotent as we all think he is. This isn’t the work of the devil. It’s something more, something dangerous, something truly unconquerable and mighty. it’s better if humans stay away from it rather than try to study it, because even god doesn’t know what it could do.
So for any of you reading this story, if you ever feel that something is out of place or not right, run. You might just end up ruining your entire life.