I found a creepy shack in the middle of the woods off of Frenchtown Rd (Part 3)
Thursday, September 10, 6:48 PM
I don’t know where to start, nosleep. I’ve been chasing Charlie for hours. I keep hearing him bark, but when I follow the sounds, I find nothing. I did find some paw prints on the bank of the Amite river, but they turned back around and disappeared back into the forest. Every time that I stop to rest, I’ll hear him again. Only it will be closer than before.
On the way over here, I got in touch with an old acquaintance. He let me borrow his gun, against my better judgement. If something goes down, this gun is registered in his name. Unless he stole it, that is. I didn’t ask. It’s just a little pistol, but it’s loaded. And heavy. If I run out of rounds taking out these devil worshipping fuckers, I can use it to beat their heads in.
Anyway, I’m going to try to keep these short so I’m not wasting juice.
Dylan
Friday, September 11, 3:19 AM
Penny found me. She also told me how worried you guys have been, as well as about her trip to the police station. Sorry about that. I’ve had my phone off most of this time to save power, so I haven’t checked out any comments. But the thing is… I’m not leaving without Charlie. I don’t care how long it takes. He’s the only good thing in my life. I quit drugs for good after getting him. Because I wanted to be a good owner. I wanted him to have a great life by my side.
What kind of man am I that I couldn’t keep him safe? He doesn’t know what’s going on. He doesn’t even know that I’m trying to find him.
Penny tried to get me to leave. I could tell she had been crying. Her eyes were all swollen and her cheeks were red. But in the short time I’ve known her, I think she’s gotten to know me pretty well. After I resisted her attempts to drag me into the car, she caved and opened her trunk to show me Plan B.
She had brought supplies. Rope, lighters, binoculars, a multi-tool, two LED flashlights, a first-aid kit, two cases of water, toilet paper, and some food. She’s a genius. I think I
Friday, September 11, 1:35 PM
Gone again. But I saw him this time, I swear it.
I was typing the last entry when I heard him. It was his visitor bark. Whenever someone would knock on my door, Charlie would run to the window to see who it was. If he knew him, he’d start to whine in excitement.
Hurry, dad! Let him in!
He loved visitors. Any time a friend would walk in, Charlie would immediately start jumping into the air and rolling onto his side to be pet.
But if he didn’t know them, his jowls would retract and a low, menacing growl would erupt from his throat. You had about five seconds to leave, or his booming bark would be heard throughout the neighborhood. Our house was his domain.
This bark was similar. He didn’t like whoever he was with.
I ran and ran, Penny trying to keep up from behind, but he was lost to me. Again. I thought I heard him again a few hours later, but it was so faint. Was I hearing things? Penny thinks I need sleep. It’s been just over twenty-five or twenty-six hours since I slept last. I don’t even remember what I was in the middle of typing in the last entry. Maybe I’ll remember later.
We’re heading back to the car to wait again. Penny has a car charger I can use. And I promised I would sleep if she stayed on the lookout. We’ll take turns, I guess.
Dylan
Friday, September 11, 4:27 PM
The goddamn cultists finally showed up.
I had been sleeping in the back of Penny’s car. She had more gas than me, and a better working air conditioner. Though she must have fallen asleep too, because we were both startled awake a few minutes ago by a loud BANG.
I scrambled out of the car, followed closely by Penny. I had my gun ready to shoot the first person I saw, but there weren’t any. What was there, however, was a dead crow. It had been stripped of feathers, and the eyes were gouged out. Penny doubled over, nearly vomiting at the sight. It had been thrown onto the roof of her car. They were obviously screwing with us. Trying to scare us away or something.
There was nothing I could do but take it and throw it into the forest. I used one of the water bottles to rinse the blood off of Penny’s car.
I still haven’t slept much, but I can’t just wait here. We’re about to go walk the main trail. Update when I can.
Dylan
Saturday, September, Afternoon
Something is wrong.
Penny and I have been feeling nauseous and disoriented all day. She even threw up earlier. It has to have something to do with the black cloaked bastards.
We thought maybe they had done something to our water or food, but the water is completely sealed. And the food doesn’t look tampered with. I had a bag of beef jerky earlier, and I tore off the seal myself. I don’t know how they’re doing it, or what with, but it’s affecting my running.
I heard Charlie early this morning. Penny was asleep, so I went off alone. I was running along the bamboo trail when the sides of my vision started turning black. I stopped to catch my breath, thinking maybe I was just overexerting myself. But I woke up on the ground sometime later.
Nothing was taken from me, but I had been touched. Starting from my shoulders, one long dark line ran from the tops to all the way down to my wrists. From their, the line sprouted into five different directions, one down each finger. The lines stopped in a sharp point at the end of my finger nails. It didn’t look like blood, but it also didn’t have the consistency of ink.
I found Penny locked inside her car when I returned. She looked on high alert, and was clutching her baseball bat. She helped me out of my shirt and scrubbed the “art” off of me.
Why do they just keep baiting me? Why haven’t they harmed me? Or Penny?
Dylan
Saturday, I think
I fucked up. We both did.
We were drugged. All I remember is laughing at the ridiculousness of spending all day and all night waiting to hear my dog, then crying on the ground somewhere near the river. I clung on to Penny’s dirty shirt, crying and snotting all over her. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I would never get him back. That I had failed him.
Then back to laughing. My vision kept going in and out, and Penny was twirling around with her hands in the air. And that’s when I kissed her.
I don’t know what happened. It was dark out and I could barely see what was happening. But we slept together. I’m not going into details, but it happened.
The seriously fucked up part was that I swear I could see people watching. My eyes couldn’t focus on anything, and I think I passed out towards the end. Penny assures me that she’s okay, but I don’t know…
Another thing. I thought I could hear Charlie whimpering nearby, but I couldn’t stop or stand up. I just lied there, with Penny mindlessly doing her thing on top of me.
Our heads are a little clearer now, but we’re both exhausted. I’m going to stay up and let her sleep. I’m just worried that she hates me now.
Dylan
Sunday at night
I am dead.
I had been been forgetting to eat, and not hungry when I did remember. Penny’s stomach was cramping hard, probably from the drugs or lack of food. It doesn’t matter.
The barking came sometime in the late afternoon. Penny was feeling ill and decided to stay at the car. It was probably nothing anyway, I told her.
I grabbed the backpack and set off at a jog. My lungs had seriously been getting a workout these past few days.
I passed the big tree that could take you to the shack. I tried going there the very first day, but anytime I got close, I could hear Charlie barking from the opposite direction. I don’t know how they’re doing it. Or why they’re keeping me away.
I had the gun with me, ready in case I happened upon one of the satanic fucks. But I never did. They always seemed to be watching, though. It was like the trees had eyes. I was never alone.
One lone bark sounded from directly in front of me. My ears felt like the were stuffed with cotton, but I followed as best as I could. My vision was clearer than the day before, but still hazy. I could see black cloaks standing just off the trail, simply watching me run. I didn’t stop, though. I’d get to them soon enough. I had to find Charlie.
Another bark.
I pushed myself forward. Every time I didn’t reach him meant another opportunity for them to hurt him. Or Penny. Or me. I wasn’t worried so much about my safety. But Charlie? He was completely innocent. He loves squeaky chew toys and bacon-flavored treats. And it’s my fault that Penny is even out here in the first place. She read my post and was the first to offer assistance. I shouldn’t have even messaged her.
I haven’t even called in to work either. I’m for sure fired. And my buddy Kyle is worried sick. I see his messages, but I can’t bring myself to reply. I’m not okay. I don’t know if I’m going to make it.
Abruptly, Charlie’s barking was cut off. A single yelp, and then nothing.
Tears were stinging my eyes, mixing with the dirt and sweat. I didn’t even remember starting to cry. He was hurt. He was dying…
I broke through the trees, stopping when I noticed red smoke billowing up from the ground. A smoke bomb was lying on the muddy bank of the Amite river. And next to it was Charlie.
I ran to him, kneeling in the mud and cradling his limp body. Dark blood was still pouring from the hole where his head used to be. The machete I had lost the last time lay forgotten next to him.
Numb. I’ve never prayed before. But at that moment, I broke down. I was sobbing with grief. For my best friend, my brother, my world. I prayed for the numbness to take me. Like heroin, only the hurt would live on in my mind. I wanted to be with him. Away from these woods where my life was taken from me.
Eventually, my tears ran out. The numbness I had so prayed for set in. Everything was colored in black and white. My own life was bleeding out of invisible wounds. I was a ghost, walking down the long trail. I was weightless, carrying his body back to my car.
I didn’t wake Penny. She must have fallen asleep while I was gone. I set the body down in a patch of grass just off the road. Now wasn’t the time for a burial. I had other plans. I gave Charlie one last look and started off toward the shack. The bloody machete in one hand, my gun in the other.
The shack was alight with candles when I arrived. It was inviting, like a party. I walked up like I would walk up any friend’s driveway. Slowly, with confidence. It didn’t matter what happened anyway. I didn’t really expect to walk out alive.
I stood in the entranceway, waiting for something. But I didn’t have to wait for long. Drums began, pounding out a deathly slow march. My funeral march, I suppose. Only, I didn’t want to die. Not yet. I had things to do. I had to bury Charlie. I had to make sure Penny was okay. I had to fix things with my job… And maybe I realized it too late, but there I was.
Boom, boom, boom.
I entered the big room. Nearly a dozen cloaked figures were there, donned in their fucked up canine skulls. There were symbols painted on the skulls this time, though. Greek or hebrew or something.
Boom, boom, boom.
They turned to me. I was the guest of honor, after all. But then I saw it. Charlie’s head. The skin had been torn away from the skull and sliced down the middle, stopping above the nose. Dirty twine had been used to sew it back together. Tears started pouring again. I wasn’t ready for this. My mind was falling apart, and I wasn’t equipped to see my best friend mutilated.
I brought the gun up with a shaking hand and fired off as many shots as it would let me. I’m not sure if I even hit the mark, but I didn’t stay to find out.
I turned and sprinted down the short hallway. One of the cultists tried to grab me, but I buried the machete in his fucking throat. Warm blood immediately poured from the wound. I didn’t miss that time.
Finally free, I tore through the now familiar woods. It didn’t seem as if they were following, but I guess I’ll find out soon enough. If they even wanted me in the first place. Maybe they just wanted Charlie. Maybe I was just in the way. But no, I didn’t think so. They wanted me to find him. They needed me for something...
I made it back to the car and found a note from Penny waiting. I was immediately suspicious, but there was no way she could have teleported to the shack after I had found her sleeping. She had just gone to the bathroom. Her roll of toilet paper was gone too, and her cell phone was lying on her car seat.
In the meantime, I found an old shirt of mine in my trunk. It would have to do. I walked over to Charlie’s body and placed the shirt around him. Blood instantly soaked the thin fabric, but it didn’t matter. I placed him in my trunk. He was never afraid of the dark, but this was different. He would never see light again.
Penny made it back while I typed this, but she’s gone again. She looks awful. Her tiny body isn’t handling whatever drug is in her system as well as mine is. Back to the bathroom for her.
We’re leaving as soon as she’s okay again. We’re going straight to the hospital and dealing with cops later. I’m sure they’ll be called when we get there anyway.
I still feel numb. I’m not sure what the next few days will bring. But if anything more happens, I’ll let you guys know.
Until then,
Dylan
Posted Sep 14, 2015, 4:34 PM UTC · edited