The Thing in The Woods
When I was 12 or so, I would often go to my best friend's house to hang out. We’ll call him Jack. Jack had a large wooded area in his backyard where we would often play and explore. It was very thick and dense, and went very far back. Even going more than 30 feet or so in, you would no longer be able to see his house.
On one summer's day, we finally convinced our parents to let us have a sleepover after what had felt like years, even though it was probably only a few weeks since our last one.
During the day, we decided that once the sun set we were going to play hide and seek in the woods with Jack’s older brother, Chase. Looking back, this was a really dangerous idea because like I said before, those woods were huge and thick and it would have been incredibly easy to get lost or to trip and get injured, especially in the dark.
There would be two seekers and one hider, and we all had flashlights. The first two rounds we played were really fun and without any issues. The third round, I was the hider.
Jack and his brother gave me the standard 30 second head start, and I dashed into the woods and went as far back as I could. The further back I went, the thicker the woods got. The flashlight I was using was pretty dim, so I was mainly relying on the moonlight to see, but the woods were so dense in the part that I was in that the light was heavily obstructed.
Eventually, I found a large rock and hid behind it. I was there for a few minutes, waiting for Jack and his brother to find me, until I heard something. At first, I just thought I was just imagining it, or it was just the sound of the crickets, but then I heard it again.
Help…help meee.
It was definitely somebody saying help me. Something was off about it. I don’t know how to describe it but it sounded buzzier than it should have. Terrified, I sat there frozen for a few more seconds and heard it again and again. I realized it was Jack’s voice.
I thought that maybe he was hurt and that’s why it sounded so weird, so I ran to where the sound was coming from to help him. The sound was coming from in front of me, deeper into the woods, which I thought was odd because I had never heard anyone’s footsteps pass me. Before I could reach the source of the noise, my flashlight turned off, and no matter how many times I slammed it against my palm, it wouldn’t turn back on.
Battery must be dead, I thought.
The moonlight was almost fully blocked out by the trees now, and having no flashlight made it very hard to navigate.
Eventually I came to this small clearing. This is where the voice was coming from. In the distance, I saw a heap and thinking it was Jack, immediately ran toward it.
The closer I got though, the more I noticed was wrong. His limbs seemed lankier than they should have, almost disproportionate to his body. This was definitely not Jack. I wanted more than anything to turn and run as fast as I could, but I couldn’t. I was paralyzed. No, not paralyzed, I was still moving. To my horror, moving forward. I couldn’t stop.
“Help…Help meeee” it said again. I noticed its eyes were bright, piercing yellow.
It started slowly stretching out its long, bony arm toward me, its spindly fingers about to wrap around me and pull me in when there was a light from behind me.
Someone was at the edge of the clearing with a flashlight calling my name. It was Chase. The light distracted the creature and unfroze me. I ran to him. His eyes were wide and shocked. I looked back into the clearing. The thing was gone. My flashlight fluttered back to life, illuminating the ground below me.
Chase grabbed my arm and looked me directly in the eye. “Don’t talk about this to anyone. Do you understand me?”
He was serious. Dead serious. I was already terrified and just relieved the thing was gone and even though I had a million questions all I could manage to get out of my mouth was, “y- yes…”
As we were walking back through the woods Jack saw us and exclaimed “Oh you found him!”
“Yeah…yeah I did” replied Chase in a lighter, but still disgruntled tone.
Later that night, me and Jack were sitting in his living room reading comic books when I noticed something on the mantle above his fireplace. There was a small figurine of a deer with unmistakable bright yellow eyes.
I abruptly excused myself to the bathroom. I hadn’t told Jack what I had seen in the forest.
While walking to the bathroom, something caught my eye that stopped me dead in my tracks. There was a painting hanging in the hallway. It looked like an old, Leonardo da Vinci style painting. It was of a man, sitting next to a pond with glowing yellow eyes.
After that night, I never went back to Jack's house. Eventually we kind of grew apart, but we still maintain contact occasionally.
I can’t help but think Chase knew something. He knew something Jack didn’t. Something weird was happening at that house with that family and thinking about it more, my curiosity has been sparked. I think I might get back together with Jack and ask him some questions.
I’d love to hear any thoughts or theories you guys have, because I have plenty myself.