It was the summer after graduation that me and my boyfriend decided to come out as gay. Arnold, that’s his name, was a lot more nervous about it than I was initially. So we decided that I would come out first and Arnold would come out if things went well with my folks.  As the day approached I got a lot more nervous and began to have second thoughts. I was scared that things won’t go well. And the more I thought about sitting there in the same room with all of my family the more afraid I felt. But I had promised Arnold that I would do it. It’s far too late to back out. So I came up with this plan that would make it easier at least for me. At least at the time thought it would.             I left a note for my parents, one I knew they would find once they got back from work. Arnold and I drove out to the woods where his uncle had a hunting cabin. It was in a rather remote area but to us that seemed like a good thing at the time.  In my note, I told my parents to call me only if they decided to accept me as gay. If they didn’t call in a week, that’s how long we were planning to stay, we would leave for college together and  I guess that would be over between my family and me. This way at least I didn’t have to sit there and look as their faces turned from loving to disappointment. I thought this way it would be easier.             If my parents decided to call under the condition they had accepted me and Arnold, I did not give his name in the note, and then I would tell them how to get to the cabin and we would all talk.  And I gave them a week to make up their minds. I hoped they would come around but a part of me almost knew that I would be leaving here with here with Arnold and never seeing my family again. I had most of my stuff packed in a bag and so did Arnold exactly for this reason.  The cabin wasn’t very big, the entire thing was one room. Most of it was used for storage. Arnold’s uncle used to hunt out here but then he got an injury that made it hard to walk so he stopped. There was an old hunting rifle in the cabin and some fishing gear. There was no running water but there was power. The toilet was just a shower curtain and a bucket, however, there was a small electric stove for cooking as well as a mini fridge. No beds, we brought an inflatable mattress and sleeping bags.             We tried to keep our minds off the inevitable for now. It was a bright sunny day and after we unpacked we went fishing. There was a river nearby it seemed like a good way to pass the time. As we walked to the river I noticed the woods were overgrown. Not many people came here. There were some remnants of a path that were walking on but the shrubs and grass had completely taken over in places. After finally making out way to the river we noticed there were deer tracks by the water.  We had a gun but not hunting permits. Neither of us really knew what to do with an animal once you shot it anyway so we weren’t going to do that. But shooting deer with a camera was another deal. Arnold loves photography.            After a while of nothing biting I needed to answer a call of nature and went a bit further into the woods. It was around the time my folks would get home and I was becoming more nervous. On the way back I took out my phone to see if there were any messages or missed calls. My phone had no signal. I must have walked in the wrong direction while looking at my phone. It was not back at the river but still in the woods. I could hear the water but not see it. There were some dense bushes ahead that I doubted I could walk through. But then I noticed something bright on the ground by those bushes. As I walked closer I felt my stomach turn. It was a bright-colored bird cut open with its guts out. It looked like it had been there for a bit. Then I noticed a squirrel cut open in a similar manner. There were bones on the ground that I began to notice everywhere- mostly small animals or birds.  It looked like something was feeding here and quite often. I snapped a picture to show Arnold who was more knowledgeable on wildlife than me.              When I got back he looked worried. He thought I got lost. I told him about what I found and showed him the pictures it took. He said he had never seen anything like this. Animals eat their kills but there didn’t look eaten. Arnold became worried that perhaps there were other people in the area, like some dumb teenagers that cut open animals for fun or even one of those crazy cults that gather in the woods.  We laughed it off as we headed back to the cabin. When I thought Arnold wasn’t looking I kept checking my phone. But I couldn’t get a signal.            We cooked some pasta using the drinking water we brought and sat outside eating it with some canned meat. Not the best dinner but we were hungry from the fresh air. Then I decided to walk up the road a little bit until I got a signal. During the day the woods were nice but not that it started getting dark they began to look creepy.  I had walked a good distance away from the cabin before I finally got two bars of signal on my phone. There were no calls or messages, I also checked my emails. It was unsettling, trying to imagine my parents and my sister sitting around the table having dinner without me and then having an uncomfortable family discussion after. It was only after I put my phone down and looked around me that I realized just how dark it was. I used the flashlight on my phone to walk back. Arnold was already getting ready to sleep when I got back. I think my face said it all since he didn’t ask. After I fell asleep I had some anxious dreams about arguing with my parents and being kicked out of the house. And then I had another dream. I was in the cabin half asleep. I could see the window from where I was laying and then something walked up it. It was tall and dark and didn’t quite look human. I was so scared that I woke up. I thought it would be close to morning but it was still pitch black. I could see the window from where I was laying and I looked at it expecting to see something standing there.  It was so dark that there could have been somebody there and I wouldn’t have seen them. I pulled the sleeping bag over my head and eventually went back to sleep.             In the morning I once again went to check my phone but there was nothing from my parents. Then we went to the river and washed dishes from last night. On the way back I noticed another bird cut open, it looked fresh. Somehow I felt uneasy. I told myself it was just my nerves over a completely different matter.  Maybe we scared off the animal before it could eat and it will come back once we leave. We cooked some toast and bacon and made sandwiches. After having some coffee I did feel a little better. At least until Arnold asked me if I was outside last night. “No,” I said. He thought that maybe I went outside to answer the call of nature in the night. “No,” I said again. “I found tracks,” Arnold said. I felt my blood run cold as I remembered the dream I had. Somebody looking in through the window behind the cabin. I told Arnold about it as he took me to the side of the cabin. It was slope overgrown with bushes taller than the two of us. Sure enough, pressed into the dirt were tracks of boots. Neither I nor Arnold wore shoes of that size or type. But I did feel a little bit relieved, they looked days old.  Definitely left here before we came. “Do you think that maybe some drifter was using this cabin before?” I asked my BF. “The lock wasn’t broken. Maybe somebody came here to hunt or fish and found this place and wanted to see if they could take shelter from the rain.  It’s true that people don’t over here often but sometimes they do.” “Either way.” I said.” We should cover that window. Just in case somebody comes by this place.” “Waking up with somebody standing there would be creepy.” He agreed.             We locked up the cabin and drove into the nearest town to buy more supplies and fuel for the generator. That old thing ate like a beast. Having both recently turned eighteen we also got some beers. After we got back we made a fire pit and roasted some sausages, made hot dogs, and had some beers. Then Arnold had an idea to shoot some bottles. We went a little bit into the woods and lined them up on a log and tried to shoot them down.  I managed to hit two out of the six. We didn’t have much ammo, there were only a couple of boxes in the cabin and we had to stop when we had only four rounds left.  That and it was getting dark. It was a good day. I actually had fun and forgot about my parents for a bit. I slept pretty well that night. The next morning we both wake up pretty late. I felt a little dizzy and my stomach was irritated somewhat. Arnold was feeling much better than I was. We had some coffee and went outside to take the dishes from yesterday to the river. The moment I set foot outside I nearly dropped the plates. There was a dead bird on the doorstep of the cabin and it was cut open. I managed to hold it in and throw up. Arnold came out and he was a little grossed out but he moved it to the bushes. Then he called out to me. “Take a look at this. I’ll get my camera.” While he ran inside I walked over to the car. Sure enough, there were dead birds and animals. A gutted squirrel on the front, another bird on the roof. Arnold began taking photos. “Dude, this is sick.” He said.” Somebody is out here doing this. We gotta go to the police.” “Yeah.” That was all I managed.             The blood and the guts were making my already upset stomach feel worse. We decided to go after we finished the dishes and washed up ourselves.  As we walked the trail to the river there were dead animals almost a trail left for us. I finally lost it and threw up.   This was beyond disgusting.  Some person or people were killing these poor animals and just leaving them. I’ve heard stories that cults leave dead animals as sacrifices and sometimes as warnings or threats. The thought that there was some crazy group of fanatics that come here at night and do messed up murder rituals in the woods was kind of scary.  Arnold took photos as evidence.  We went over to the place where we first saw bones, so this would prove that this was happening for a long time and that we weren’t the ones doing this for fun.  I shared my cult theory with Arnold and he seemed to agree. “If there were some people using these woods as a ritual ground us shooting last night must have scared them. They probably want us gone so they left us a message.” “Yeah, we should tell the local police to be on the lookout and maybe find a motel for the rest of the week,” I said. We went back to the car and I turned the key. The car started but it wasn’t moving. It was shaking in place. Something was wrong. We got out and Arnold immediately checked the tires. “It’s slashed,” he said looking at the front tire on the passenger side. “This one too.”             It turned out all four were slashed in the exact same way. Something rather narrow and sharp, large enough to leave a visible hole was used. Like the tip of a stiletto knife. The horrible realization began to sink in. They weren’t trying to scare us away. At this point, Arnold looked probably as scared as I was. We couldn’t leave in the car.  Whoever left the dead animals made sure we couldn’t leave. This meant only one thing- they didn’t want us to leave. Somebody was planning to kill us and they wanted us to know it. We had a few options. We could leave our stuff and try to walk to town only the nearest one was 2 hours by car. I doubted we would get there by nightfall.  And if we decided to walk and those people came upon us we would be vulnerable. We didn’t know the area very well; there was also a risk of getting lost.  If we stayed in the cabin of course we would be at risk but it had walls and we had a gun. Granted we spent most of the ammo on shooting bottles but we had 4 rounds left. If we barred the window and the door we probably stood more chances than walking out in the open where anybody could happen upon us.             I walked up the road until I got a signal. No calls or messages. It has been three days. At this point, I was starting to lose hope. My family probably hated me and wanted nothing to do with me. I know it was a long shot but I wrote my dad a message.“I’m sorry. I know you must be angry with me. And we can talk more about it later. We are staying in a cabin in deep woods.” I added the coordinates.” This is not a joke! I have reason to believe we are in danger. We woke up to find all four tires of the car slashed. There is somebody in the woods and they mean us harm. Please come get us.” As I was standing there I swear I felt something watching me from the woods. There was this deep feeling of unease that took over me. I put my phone back into my pocket and pretty much ran all the way back to the cabin. I told Arnold that we should wait for my dad to come and get us and if he wasn’t there in a couple of hours we should start walking. Our plan however was quickly washed away as the weather suddenly took a turn for the worst. I’ve never seen it get dark this quickly but it suddenly began to pour. Lightning, thunder, and strong winds raged outside.  We locked the door of the cabin and pushed a large shelf in front of the window. I looked around and found some more ammo for the shotgun. It was better than nothing. It was becoming abundantly clear that we will have to spend the night in the cabin. The road out of her went uphill and wasn’t paved. Walking up a muddy hill in this weather we would be as good as dead if someone came after us. The night that followed was the worst in my entire life. All through the night, we heard strange noises outside the cabin.  At first, it sounded like a large animal walking. Maybe it was just a deer walking around the cabin. But why would a deer be out here in a storm? Then, and I’m not joking we heard the same deer-like footsteps on the roof of the cabin. It didn’t sound human, it sounded like hooves against wood.  We heard several taps on the window but the curtain was closed and we pushed a shelf in front of it. I don’t think I got any sleep that night.  But this was not the worst of it. As we sat there huddled up in our sleeping bags there was a voice outside and I swear it sounded like my dad.  It called my name. I got out of the sleeping bag thinking that my dad was here to pick me up. It called again and I was rushing to the door smiling. “My dad’s here to pick us up.” When I looked back at Arnold he looked terrified. “What’s wrong?” “That was your voice.” He whispered. An unimaginable sense of dread came over me. “But I’m right here,” I whispered back. Arnold just nodded and I sat back with my sleeping bag around me like a blanket. I was so sure it heard my dad. If Arnold hadn’t stopped me I would have opened the door to whomever or whatever was there. I hear the voice several more times in the night and every time it seemed to be coming from a completely different direction.  If my dad was really here he would have knocked on the door and told us to come out. I must have dozed off at some point all I remember is thinking that my dad will never come. How my family must hate me for being gay that they would know I’m in danger and not come to help me. My dreams were a weird mix of sounds and memories. I could still hear the storm outside; I also heard my mother and my sister calling for me. I also heard something else that I could only describe as a low growl but sounded like it was right next to my ear. I tossed and turned unable to wake up for what felt like hours. When I finally did open my eyes it was still dark. It was morning and pretty late too but the storm kept going. It wasn’t raining but the wind was strong and I could start pouring again any minute. Arnold was already up and packing our bags.  We needed to get out of here and we needed to do it as soon as possible. Packing only some of the things so walking would be easier if we went outside. I couldn’t resist and walked around the cabin looking for tacks of whatever was here last night. To my surprise there was nothing. I noticed some deer tracks further in the bush but that was nowhere near the cabin. That thing sounded like it was rubbing up against the wall by close it was. Then there were the roof footsteps. If something as heavy as a deer actually got onto the roof that whole thing would have caved in.  It was like I was going insane. I know what I heard. And the voices last night, Arnold heard them too. The more I thought about it the less it seemed to me that a human was behind this. I don’t know if this was one of those folklore monsters like the Wendigo or some cult summoned a demon to go after us. Or maybe, maybe I was going crazy and imagining things.  I walked slightly ahead and Arnold was behind me. I had the gun in my hand in case something jumped out at us. The hill was muddy and slippery; it was hard to walk up. I looked at the dirt for car tacks but there weren’t any. Nobody came here last night. At least my dad didn’t.  I stopped to check my phone. This spot up the hill sometimes had a signal. No luck this time.  It was probably because of the weather.  I started walking again and then after maybe 20 minutes I froze. There were trees on the road. They didn’t seem like they had fallen, more logs than trees. The roots were still there but a lot of the branches were removed and they were stacked on top of each other blocking the road.  These weren’t there yesterday afternoon. They were large trees that would require equipment to move. There didn’t seem to be tracks of any machinery or cars in the mud. I felt a chill run down my spine. I felt like I was watched again. Then I realized how quiet it was. I couldn’t hear anything, not a sound. I looked behind me and Arnold wasn’t there. I began to panic and called out to him. The answer came minutes later and sounded like it was coming from further in the woods. “Help me.” I could clearly hear Arnold's voice. How did he get so far? What if something got him? I couldn’t just leave him. I walked into the woods, it was dark because of the dense clouds that covered the sky and tall trees. I heard Arnold call out again only this time it sounded like it was the complete opposite direction from last time.  I took another step and I felt a hand on me. Startled I turned around ready to shoot. Standing there was Arnold. “What are you doing?” “You called for help. You disappeared from sight.” “I trying to get a signal on a few steps away. I heard you call me and then you just started walking into the woods.” “You didn’t answer.” “I did.” “I didn’t hear you. I mean I did hear you but not you.” He looked just as scared as I felt. We got back on the road and walked as fast as we could, nearly running when the ground was steady enough. We walked around the pile of trees and I noticed dead animals around it. we ignored it and kept going. I could feel something there. it was following us. I was too scared to look. I could imagine what I would see some emaciated thing with a skull of a deer and inhumanly long arms. We hadn’t walked far from the log pile when the trees began to shake. It was like the whole forest was shaking at once. Rain began to fall and it fell fast. I was soaked in seconds. It was cold and made it difficult to see or move fast because now it got even darker. I was nearly crying, thinking that this thing could control the weather. It was for sure going to get us.I was blinded by a sudden light that seemed to come out of nowhere. We stood there not quite able to see because of the rain that kept hitting us in the face.  Then I felt the forest shake again. Branches began to fall from up above. Something grabbed me and then I finally saw my dad. He was pulling me towards the car. Moments later a giant tree fell exactly where I was standing. We got into the back of the car, wet and terrified. I didn’t know what to say. Dad drove like crazy; a few more trees fell behind us. “Dad, I .. I’m sorry. “He was quiet for a while, he didn’t turn back to look at us and then he said: “I’d rather have a gay son than a dead one. You boys were this close to getting yourselves killed. What were you thinking going out in this weather?” I felt so relieved I almost cried. Then I began telling my dad about all the things that happened to us. He droves us to the station and we gave a statement. Arnold had the photos of the dead birds and our car was still there.  Though, somehow I had the feeling that nothing would come of this and I was right. A couple of weeks later we heard back from the police they had investigated the area and found our car but there were no dead animals. They had searched the bushed by the river too – they were clean. Not even a bone turned up. I still have no idea what that was or how it disappeared from the area so quickly. Or perhaps there was nothing there to begin with and nothing strange happened and all those events have perfectly normal explanations. I don’t know, but you won’t catch me going camping any time soon.  

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