It’s pouring outside. My friends and I are on the couch, hanging out, just talking. We’re just making jokes when the topic of crazy stories comes up. One of my friends, Ryder, talks about how he tripped and sprained his ankle. Another one of my friends, Wilson talks about how he almost got fired for talking trash about his boss. Then it’s my turn.
“Wanna know how I almost died?” I ask.
“Bullshit, you did not almost die.” Wilson said.
“Yeah, you would’ve cried about it to us a long time ago.” Ryder says, trying to piss me off.
“It’s true! I swear!” I exclaim.
“Okay, then tell us.” Ryder says.
I was about to tell them, but for some reason I hesitated. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to tell them. If I tell them about what I saw, it means it would stay alive in my mind. It would be harder to suppress the memory. Half of me says this is a mistake. Another part of me says it needs to be told.
“Okay, I used to live in Oregon. It was on a beautiful property. A nicely sized house out in the wilderness. It was by a river surrounded by woods. I had no neighbors for at least 6 miles. The nearest city was about an hour away. I loved it. Absolutely beau-” I was interrupted by Ryder.
“How does this have to do with you dying?” Ryder asks.
“Maybe if he could finish you would know!” Wilson says, mad at him for interrupting the story.
“Okay, so like I was saying,” I start again. “It was absolutely beautiful. There were a few hiking trails nearby. One day I decided to go camping. I packed a tent, food and water, sleeping bag, and a buck knife. I started going on one of the hiking trails. It was an 8 hour hike with a turnaround point around 4 or 5 hours in. I walked, taking in the scenery. All around were birds, squirrels, bunny’s, deer, and other forest animals. The sounds were peaceful and the warm summer sun on my skin along with the breeze made it a perfect time to go hiking.”
“So did you like, almost fall off a cliff or something? I honestly don’t see where this story is going.” Ryder asked.
“Ryder, I swear on my life if you don’t shut up, I will stab you!” Wilson yells.
“Try me, I will kick your ass into next week!” Ryder yells back.
“Can I finish?” I ask.
“Yeah.” Ryder says, apologizing.
“Okay, I finally made it to the turning point. By the time I set up camp it was evening. I was drenched in sweat because the whole hike was uphill. I went to sleep. It was around 2, maybe 3 AM when it happened. I was awoken by screaming. It was a man screaming for help. There was only 2 problems though. First, it was the voice of my brother. Now the only problem with that is-“
“Is that your brother died.” Wilson said. I nodded. At this point I was shaking, and fidgeting with my fingers, regretting telling this story already.
“The other thing was that the voice was weird. The voice was off. It sounded like something with limited knowledge about human beings was trying to be one. It was like if you threw a fishing lure in the water and just left it in the water, not moving it. The fish would know something’s wrong. That’s what it felt like. Something was wrong. It felt like a trap. I went out of my tent, buck knife in hand. I slowly approached the voice making sure whatever was yelling didn’t see me. I came to a stop at a bush. I saw my brother. But he was off. He was making movements almost robotically. His face looked fake. The skin looked rubbery, his eyes too far apart, his mouth too far down his face and too small. It’s like the same concept about the fish and lure. It looked like something trying to imitate a human with only limited knowledge about them.”
“This is when I started to notice the forest was dead silent. There were no animals in sight. I’ve camped out here before and have had to leave the tent in the middle of the night to piss. I know that even at night the forest is alive. I start to slowly back up. I step on a stick. Normally you probably wouldn’t notice but sense the forest was dead silent, it sounded like a bomb went off. The thing snapped its head at me. I ran. I made it back to camp. I looked behind me. I see the thing, except it transformed. It wasn’t that fake human I saw earlier. I would think it was a skinwalker or wendigo but it just didn’t look like that. It was like a spider. It had 8 legs, human legs. In the middle of its body 4 arms stuck out. It was white as a ghost. Its eyes were sunken and bloodshot. Its jaw went slack revealing its teeth.”
“Its lips were rotted revealing his blackish gums. Its teeth were corroded with parasites. There was bits of flesh mangled here and there. It snarled and came at me. I grabbed 2 sticks and let it get close. I let it get close enough so I could smell its hot breath on me. It smelled like rotten flesh. What a surprise. I shoved the 2 sticks in its eyes. It screeched. I stabbed it in the neck with my buck knife. It went back enough for me to get a good head start. I sprinted the whole 5 hours back with it on my trail. When I got to the house, I looked behind me and it was gone. That’s why I moved here, to California.”
“Your fucking lying.” Ryder said.
“I’M NOT LYING!” I screamed, my voice cracking. I broke down and started sobbing.
“Wanna prove it?” Wilson asked. I looked up at him and nodded.
PART 2 HERE: PART 2