Slender and Slim

My father was a hunter. He had been since he was able to, his farther had taught him to hunt. When he came home, he would tell me stories about his hunts, he said his farther did the same for him when he was growing up. He would tell me about how he would sleep under the stars with a tarp to block any wind and a sleeping bag for the added warmth. He said it made him feel one with the earth, like the nature had always been his home. I always wanted and begged him to take me with him, but he would shut me down every time. Said he preferred to be alone with his thoughts. I thought that was boring.

One day he came home and looked strange. Before, when he used to come home, he would always have a smile. This time was different. I thought I would ask him how his trip went but he wouldn’t tell me, no matter how much I begged and pleaded.

Today, I asked again. I don’t fully understand why he decided to tell me this time, but I got my answer.

He had started this story the same way he starts all of his stories, on a trail hiking towards some forestry. He changed location a lot, but this time went to one of his regular spots, apparently there was a meteor shower that night and he got the best views of the stars from there.

It was a slow day, nothing to hunt and no tracks. No sign of life for miles into the woods. Reaching the top of a hill he began setting up his tarp and made a fire, it was colder that day. My dad wasn’t a big man, he was slim and slender.

Day ended and night fell, the meteor shower ended, and my dad went to sleep. When you sleep like he does, in the elements, you get woken up by a lot of noise, but my dad said that he didn’t hear anything. he woke up but didn’t get up and he watched something. laying down he could see something, staring at him from just behind the branch of a tree.

It made no sound; it didn’t want him to wake up. It didn’t move it just watched. It was slender and unfathomably slim. Dad didn’t say much about what had happened after seeing the creature. He just went silent and began staring at the ground, after some time he sent me to bed.

I woke up in the middle of the night, I’m not sure why. I felt like I couldn’t sit up. I always sleep facing the wall, its just more comfortable to me. After waking up I felt like I had to turn and there it was. Slender and slim, watching me. Through a crack it had made opening my door I could see it. My body forced out a scream but there was no oxygen in my lungs to make a sound.

I think it saw that I was awake because it spoke to me, in my dad’s voice. It told me to go back to sleep, that everything was okay. I tried not to. I didn’t want to. As my eyes closed and my body went limp all I remember seeing was the thing staring at me, it hadn’t moved, it had no lips to talk.

Now I tell my son stories about my hunting, he always jokes about how I need a bigger sleeping bag and how I am so slender and slim.