I saw a deer with forward facing eyes, it followed me home by Pendle_Affinity27

It's the most wonderful time of the years. Booking Hero on the beach does way more than beach holidays. We know of a millions of combinations of beach holidays, city breaks and cruises. So whether you fancy swimming, sightseeing or sitting on the top deck of a ship, we've got you covered. So stop booking around and whatever your next holiday looks like, get searching at onthebeach.co.uk. After an atoll protected. I first saw the deer a week ago. My boyfriend and I were hiking last weekend. It was our anniversary and we finally had some time off work to spend some time with one another. My boyfriend Aaron was so excited. He'd grown up in the mountains and so he loved the idea of us heading out to his hometown to hike. He was sweet, seeing him this happy. We'd been in a bit of a slump in our relationship because of work. He'd been out on nights and I still work days, so we rarely saw each other. We'd tried our best to see each other at home, but it was hard. This is exactly what we needed. So quality time together. You're going to love this place. You told me in the car, I promise. God, I wish that was true. It didn't take us long to reach his hometown. Smooth sailing, all things considered. Traffic was light. Sun stayed up throughout and the tunes were on point. It was your standard rural town. Quiet and reserved. The place adorned with adorable little mom and pop shops and a miniature fountain in the center. We found this cute little cabin on the outskirts of town. It was small, but unbelievably cozy when you put the fire on. One thing that stood out to me was that the place was littered with huge pine trees. Aaron told me how proud he was when he climbed one of them as a kid. I shrugged it off. I mean, it's a tree, but holy shit. I understood how amazing of a feat this was now. These things were massive. They pierced through the clouds like giant shards of green. My neck killed after watching them for so long. I'd never seen trees this big before. It was like they kept rising and rising and never stopped. There were tons of snowy mountains, too. They encircled the town like a mighty wall protecting it from outside dangers. He was simply breathtaking. Much different than the desert I grew up in. His parents still lived there, so we went to their place for dinner when we finished unpacking. They were a lovely couple. I hadn't eaten that well in a while. His mom made a spicy meatloaf, and I ate so much of it I had to pop my belt afterward. Aaron couldn't handle the spice, so it was hilarious. Seeing him gulp down liters of water in between each tiny morsel, his face was flushed after, and so was his dad's. They looked so much like each other. Once dinner was finished, we all sat in their living room, nursing glasses of wine. Aaron drank the rest of his water. We left around 8pm. I can still remember it because we wanted to head back before it was totally dark. The sun was setting, plunging the streets in the shadow. The moon had been up for a while, and now it began to shine beautifully against the darkening blue of the twilight sky. Street lamps hadn't been switched on yet, so we had to drive slowly and be on the lookout for people or animals. The lights from the shops became pinpricks in the rearview mirror, and eventually we reached the western outskirts of the town. I was lucky that Aaron knew the roads inside and out. I would have crashed as soon as we reversed out of his parents' driveway. We were quiet on the trip back. I think we didn't know what to talk about. Oh, I'm full. Anne's voice broke the silence. Yeah, me too. I gave a soft laugh. The car was noiseless again before we both spoke at the same time. You okay? We matched each other. For the first time in a while, the pair of us laughed together. It was gentle, but genuine. It was nice. Yeah, I'm okay. I giggled. You? Yeah, not bad. Aaron chuckled to himself, hands relaxing on the wheel. The silence wasn't as tense anymore. We knew we were tired. That's all. The trail's gonna look so pretty tomorrow, he chirped, that big smile of his returning to his face. I was gonna say something when he immediately stuck his arm out and hit my chest, creating a barrier to hold me back. He stomped his foot on the brake, hard. He had held his arm out across my chest to keep me from plummeting forward into the windshield. It was abrupt. I fell into his arm and had the air knocked out of my lungs. When the car jolted to a stop, I snapped backwards against the seat, narrowly avoiding banging the back of my head into the headrest. Aaron's arm was still shielding my chest when he fell backwards. Luckily, his head missed the headrest like myself, and he slowly leaned his neck back to put his head against the leather. We sat there, panting after the sudden stop. Aaron was looking forward, eyebrows furrowed, and his mouth contorted into an open scowl. He came out of nowhere. He muttered under his breath. I stared onwards, eyes fixated on the object in the road. It was a deer. She was an average doe, and she had pretty white freckles dotted on her back. She wasn't looking at us, though. Her head was facing the road ahead of us. Her ears were completely still, not even a quiver at the sound of the car screeching to a halt. A deer, I gassed. Aaron had his lips pressed into a tight, thin line. I noticed his chest wasn't rising, and then came to the realization that he was holding his breath. His eyes were wobbling, tears forming. He hadn't blinked once since he slammed the brakes. In fact, he hadn't moved. What? He murmured in a wispy voice. He was breathless. I watched him with wary eyes, awaiting his reaction. I had never seen him this fearful before. It reminded me of a child staring into his closet when he heard a bump in the night. We sat there for another few seconds before I decided to take action and honk the horn. Looking back, I think this was the worst thing I have ever done. I pushed Aaron's arm toward him, and I pressed harshly down on the horn, a quick beat echoing into the woods. I waited. The doe didn't move. I furrowed my brow and started to feel strange discomfort in my skin. This is as if I'd done something stupid, hell, even illegal. This awful feeling ran up my neck. I was scared of a deer of all things. The woods were pitch black by that point, and this unease made me want to head home as soon as we could. Aaron was obviously shaken. Hated feeling so afraid. So out of embarrassment and anger, I yelled. I fucking yelled at the deer. I moved back over to my side of the car, put down the window. I leaned out of it and yelled with as much power as my lungs could muster. Move! Fear definitely put some power behind my voice. As soon as the words left my lips, a rough hand dragged my shoulder back into the seat of my car. I looked back with confusion, only to see a horrified Aaron glaring at me. He put the window up in hisst. What the hell are you doing? It's a deer! I snapped back. Desperate to get away from the road and head home. You haven't scared off a deer before? Aaron shook his head in disbelief and turned back to the animal. I did so too, hoping that the deer had taken the hint and gout back off into the undergrowth. I hadn't even flinched. The thing was still stuck there. A neck twisted to the side and thin legs pinned straight. The dread washed over me, sending a horrible shiver down my spine. Maybe... Maybe it was death? Then, as if it heard me think, the deer ran off in the most awful way possible. It made me recoil so far back in my seat, I was practically moving the chair back. It kept its legs straight and lulled back into the bushes like a crappy stop-motion movie. The deer kept its head facing away from us, bobbing back and forth. It looked like a spring bouncing around after you pulled it back and let it go. It was jarring seeing an elegant creature moving in such a... Disjointed way. It was slow too, taking its time to carefully plod back into the woods. Aaron and I looked at it disappear into the abyss of the pines, eyes wide, with disgust. He continued to stare at the animal before I had to shake him out of whatever trance he was trapped in. He shook his head and thrust the car into first gear, the pair of us eager to get into the cabin. It took another ten minutes for us to reach it. Aaron was driving slightly above the speed limit, but I didn't blame him. I kept thinking about any logical reason as to why the doe had behaved like that. When we eventually realized that the deer had been in the abyss, Aaron and I went back in. When we eventually arrived, the pair of us speed walked inside and locked the door. Aaron double checked all the windows were locked and we stayed the night, snuggled up in our bedroom watching a random drama on my laptop. The thought of the deer was fading now, my consciousness nailing the whole thing down to tiredness. I'd seen weird deer before. The idea of one being deaf or injured made more sense to me than it being anything unnatural. It was our anniversary tomorrow and that was the main thing on my mind. Aaron, however, was twitchy all night. He was the one driving so I could understand why he was unsettled. He was a good driver and I guess he was shocked he didn't see the deer earlier. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to progressive and save hundreds because progressive offers discounts for paying in full, owning a home and more. Plus, you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need it, so your dollar goes a long way. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and Affiliates. Potential savings will vary, not available in all states or situations. The next morning was much better. Aaron woke me up with a breakfast in bed. Much to my delight. He seemed much more calm than the night before. There was still a hint of nervousness behind his eyes, but I shrugged it off. I can't describe the happiness I felt just being there with him. The pair of us set off around one and the hike was supposed to last us for at least two to three hours, depending on how long our breaks would be. It was supposed to be a wonderful couple of hours in nature. It was much longer than that. We told Aaron's parents that we'd be done by four and we'd left a key under the doormat outside. We also told them which trail we were heading on, so they knew where we were if the worst would happen. They told us to look out for mountain lions, which we assured them we would. I was eager to get out there, despite last night's events. It had been a while since I went hiking, but with Aaron by my side, I knew it was going to be a safe, but fun trip. The first half of the trek was perfect. We walked around the forest, the great pines, covering the mossy floor and shadow, the place was teeming with life with squirrels dashing past our heads in the trees and birds chirping sweet songs in our ears. Aaron tried whistling back to little response. I guess my pitch was off, he chuckled. I gave it a go, and surprisingly, a couple of birds twitted back. Aaron feigned shock and snatched me up before running with me down the trail, shouting, You can't have her and she's mine. I was in complete stitches and laughing even harder with bewildered hikers walking past us. Eyebrows raised, some giggling at our frantic display. At the end of the first half of the hike, we were rewarded with a scene of a beautiful lake. It was around there we stopped for a quick break. We sat on the side of the trail, watching the sun shimmering on the surface of the water. There were people all over it. Some were on canoes, some were windsurfing. Quite a lot of people swimming actually. I could see the little heads bobbing around in the water. I took 20 pictures of the place. We stayed there for a while before we set off back down the trail. The sun wouldn't go down for a while, so we took our time. I had completely forgotten about what happened last night. Aaron seemed a little bit on edge, but he was still grinning ear to ear. Sometimes I'd see him look behind us. This guy's did, he's looking at me, but I kind of knew the real reason. I thought of that deer was still playing in his mind. In hindsight, I should have been more cautious too. Aaron lived here all his childhood, so he knew what was normal around those wets. If Aaron was still anxious, I should have been too. The trail was still relatively busy. It was still early afternoon, so most people probably started hiking then. We'd walk past them, greeting fellow travelers, who could hear them behind us chatting about work or whose birthday it was that week. Normal things. We had less than a half an hour left on our way back, and Aaron texted his parents to let him know. I looked up the pines. The sun's rays tried their hardest to shine through the dense needles, showering the floor with little pinpricks of light. Then I heard a voice. It came from somewhere. I originally thought it came from in front of us. It could have been a hiker coming up the trail. The voice was faint, hardly above whisper. Although I would call it more of a groan, it was a rattling sound. I didn't think anything of it and waited to see who was walking up the trail. We went on, smiles still stretched across our faces. Unfortunately, no one ever walked past. I could see Aaron tense his shoulders. He stuck his hand out and waggled it, prompting me to take it. I sped up, walking closer to him, holding his hand. He didn't look down at me, but he acknowledged my presence with a squeeze of my hand. I was going to turn and see if someone was messing with us, but Aaron squeezed my hand again and looked at me with big eyes. He gave a soft shake of his head and gestured with his eyes to remain looking ahead. The voice grew louder the more we walked. It wasn't exactly saying much, just a bunch of babbling. Sharp breaths punctuated every syllable. It kept changing its intonations too. One moment it would be as happy as a child, letting out stifled giggles. Other times it would be nervously whimpering. Sometimes it would be angry, like letting out growls and cut off yelps. It was almost as if it was speaking to us from all angles. Sometimes hisses would come from the left. Some gasps would come from the right. It wanted us to look at it. It got colder. The sun was still high in the sky, but a grim, cold wind had picked up and I ended up having to put my hands in my pockets. We entered an area where there was debris on the ground, needles and sticks, that kind of thing. We walked a bit faster through this part, hoping to reach the exit as quickly as possible. We had to be less than 15 minutes away now, so we were close. Along with the crunching underfoot, the voice followed us. It's getting more vocal now, yipping and letting out whoops. Couldn't tell if they were happy screams or annoyed screams. It was close to us though. Horribly close. A rancid smell had started to permeate the air, rotten meat with a hint of ammonia. Last time I smelled something like that, I went camping with my dad, shot a buck right behind me. I can remember the sound of the bullet going past. Didn't even do anything with its corpse. He just slept by it for three nights and that dreadful smell grew. I didn't sleep a wink. Instead, I watched it every night, imagining it jerking to life and taking its revenge. At the time, I wanted it too. One of the last times I ever went camping with him, thankfully. All drunk. Coming from all sides, I wanted to look. I really did. Aaron however, kept a hand on my back and was almost pushing me along, so I kept looking forward. I wanted someone to come past us, a regular person, just so we had some company, to prove that this wasn't real. Then we found out where the voice was. A loud snap of a twig echoed from right behind us. It caught us off guard. We halted to a stop. Whatever was following us did as well. My heart hammered hard against my chest. It had been behind us the entire time. It ceased its warbling and now was completely silent. There was no breathing. Nothing. I looked over at Aaron pleading. He looked back at me, eyes locked on my face. His breathing went quiet and he mouthed, don't do me. I returned my gaze to the road ahead and swallowed. I saw a marker on the left of me. We were close. It could probably sprint to the exit. I was running through each of the signs and where they were when I heard a sound that sent an ice cold shivered on my back. The voice was horribly familiar yet so alien. It was my own voice deep and gravelly. It was like whatever was behind us, drawing out the sounds, testing its ability. Aaron bristled at the sound with a grimace. It sounded so much like me except it was throaty and aged. It tried again with a higher pitch. It sounded more like me, but not quite. The foul smell lingered, almost making me gag. It smelled so punchy and strong. I believe now that the smell was its breath. We didn't really smell anything like that before the voice came in. It must have been so close to us that we began to pick up on the scent. I don't know. My eyes made their way to Aaron's who was looking back at me with fear that I had never seen before. He mouthed to me. Run. That was all I needed. Before Aaron could react, I had already began sprinting down the trail, running as fast as my legs could carry me. I jumped over the roots of the tree trying not to fall. I heard Aaron behind me, his feet stomping against the ground. Soon, my legs were aching and my heart was desperately thudding, trying to keep up with the fact that I was sprinting for a while. I'm a desk jockey. I do zero cardio, okay? I ran and ran and ran. I kept frantically looking for the markers. How? I was looking for the exit. Nothing but the endless rows of pine trees and the odd bushes dotted around. I had to stop. I didn't know where I was and the sound had gone quiet. Surely it would be okay for me to turn around. So I slowed to a stop, legs wobbling from the adrenaline. I turned around and I scanned the area. Aaron was nowhere to be seen. I lost him. My stomach dropped to the fucking floor. I spun around and watched. He was nowhere. I gone the wrong way. The trail was one road. I didn't change trails or reach any crossroads, but somehow I managed to go further into the woods. It was impossible for me to not be at the opening. I took in huge gulps of air and started to shoot my head around and yell out for air and my throat hurt so much. It was useless, really. My mind began to race. I had to figure out how to find the exit. I stood up and breathed in. Aaron! My blood froze. In my panic, I totally neglected the fact I wasn't alone. The voice was ridiculously close to mine now and the only thing holding it back from being an identical copy was the fact that it hadn't nailed down my accent. This voice had something akin to the Valley Girl accent trying to do a Southern one. It was a terrible impression, but it genuinely sounded like something I would come out with. Then the next sound it made caused me to jump so far in the air my knees cracked when I landed. It made the sound of a car horn honking. It was so ear piercing and loud, my ears rang afterwards. It was short and punchy, like a little pip you'd do if the person in front of you hadn't moved when the lights go green. I would have laughed at that. It's a car now, I would have thought. Instead I thought, it's our car now? The warning beep it had given the deer that night just rang out in the middle of the woods. It did it again louder this time. I think it was trying to make me scream or something because it kept making me jump when it did it. It kept on hopping from one place to another searching for me. When it was closer I backed up to one of the pines and held my breath for all I knew it could have been behind me. I just breathed. I kept my eyes forward like Aaron told me to and breathed. And out, and out. That's all I could do. The place went silent again, fear swirling in my stomach. I thought it found me. Then I felt something touch my shoulder. The fingers were long and they buried themselves into my flesh. Slowly my eyes crept towards the hand until eventually I found the arm. It went up above me and when I saw what was there I nearly screamed. There crouched on one of the bigger branches of the pine. It was Aaron with a finger to his lips. He held out his hand and braced himself against the branch, moving from a crouch to a seated position. I grabbed the hand hard, pushing myself upwards and towards the branch just below him. My right foot made it under the branch and I reached up with my left hand. Aaron pulled me upward, careful not to fall himself. Just as I thought I'd made it safely under the branch below, my foot slipped. I smashed my knee against the bark. I bit back at Yelp and I bared my teeth. Holy shit, that hurt. I didn't even want to imagine looking down so I weakly pulled my leg back up and made my way up the tree. The voice is further away now, the sound of Aaron's voice calling for me. We made a shutter. Eventually we made it to a branch high enough to be safe and thick enough to hold us. We could see the ground through the gaps of the needles. I took a seat and looked at my knee. Blood made my blue leggings go a vile purple. Scratches in the fabric showed my ripped skin as deep red trickled from the gash. Stung like hell. Aaron placed a hand on my lower back and kissed my forehead. I fell into his touch and put my head on his neck. Wet dribbles of tears dripped down to my scalp. Aaron was crying. He was always the more emotional one out of us. We established that quite early on in our relationship and Aaron had held me and balled over a nature documentary where a lion took down a gazelle. That was our second date. I could remember how I stared at him with disgust. A few years later and I still do, but now I hug him back and I laugh. Growing up in a poor household teaches you how to control your emotions. One wrong look and shit hits the fan. That's what drew me to Aaron in the first place. He did stuff like that and nothing happened. His parents would chuckle instead of screaming at him. It's the nicest kind of weird I ever experienced. The voice had rounded back to our tree and it was back to mimicking me. Move! Once again using what I told it last night to coax us out. It did this for about a minute. Then we saw a flash of a brown blur speed past the tree. The blur waddled backwards reversing. Then it saw us. This deer wasn't a deer. We established this, but it didn't make the reveal any less horrifying. It didn't look at us and was looking deep into the forest. Then it heard something and faced our way. Its eyes weren't on the sides of its head. It was at the front like a predator, like a human. They didn't look human. They were regular deer eyes which made it feel worse. Small and beady. The sun was setting so the last bit of light reflected off the eyes. Once darkness began to hit, they changed. In the light of the sunset, I squinted and saw how it shook its head around violently. It looked up in an instant and faced away from the tree. It turned and I saw how its eyes were blown out. Visibly, they had grown a lot and now they were almost black. Better for searching. It spun around again and leapt off into the undergrowth. I heard a roaring sound before I heard a voice I didn't recognize. It was a little boy. Aaron Aaron let it agasp and slapped his hand over his mouth. Tears were in full flown now and his hands were shaking. Over here. Then a giggle, a childlike cough. And the worst sound of the lot. A young boy screaming bloody murder. Aaron clapped his hands over his ears and sucked in wet breaths. I wrapped my arms around him, stroking his flank. I could hear a muttering. It's not Jake. It's not him. Over and over. Aaron It continued to wail. It's fucking awful. His voice kept on wavering back and forth between voices. It had seemingly perfected the Jake voice that Aaron kept on choking on his breath whenever it copied the boy. It had pretty much decided that we were close because it stayed in the same position for the rest of the time we were up there right next to the tree that we were in. The sun had set fully then so it was hard to see anything. My eyes adjusted but it was still difficult. It went on and on draining the pair of us. It got to the point where we were used to the screens and now realized that whatever was making the voices was doing it on a loop like a broken record. My voice, Aaron's unknown boy and then Jake. It was so mentally draining. I was fully considering jumping down and getting it over and done with. At least I would be dying or going missing with the one that I loved. His dismal as that sounds I really couldn't think of anything else in the moment. It messed with me. As soon as I got to close my eyes a loud bang shot through the air. We heard a loud warbling scream and the thundering sound of feet underneath. Aaron looked at me. Eyes red from crying. His face was full of waiting relief. A gruff voice yelled our full names and ran around the tree. A couple more pairs of feet followed. Had to be the rangers. Up here! I called down to them. The flashlight beams showing around until they brought them up to our tree. Thankfully it was the rangers. We clamored down and were greeted with a sight of three park rangers and Aaron's dad. Their faces ashy. I almost fell to my knees in joy and exhaustion. Aaron just caught me at the last second and choked out a sob. We'd been found. Aaron carried me back to the entrance of the woods. Place looks so different in the dark. Aaron's mom was waiting for us with the other officers. She'd been in floods of tears too, immediately running towards us. I'd never felt so tired in my entire life. One of the officers took us to the hospital. I had splinters all in the gash and my muscles were exposed. Seriously gross shit, but nothing was broken. So I wasn't worried. Everything just happened so fast, you know? Aaron was fine. That's all I cared about. It was our anniversary after all. It may surprise you to find out that we headed home the very next day. You were quiet on the way back. I had so many questions to ask, but with one look at Aaron's face, I faced forward and closed my eyes. We were both too tired to talk. Once we got home, Aaron checked the house and collapsed on our bed. I stayed up and numbly watched the crappy comedy. No matter how much I watched. I could still hear the screams. Sometime I dropped off. There was no wind, but when I woke up, Aaron was boiling some water and the smell of coffee wafted its way to the living room. He walked in and handed me a cup, pressing a soft kiss to my temple with a warm smile. We sat in silence, dumbly, watching the TV when he sighed. I'm sorry I took you there. I cocked my head. It wasn't your fault. Silence. I knew what was in there. I had a cup of coffee and stared at him. What? He sniffed and coughed. I remembered it. Everything. What? He turned to me, eyes watery. Seeing it again, he shook his head. Everything came back. What did that even mean? I opened my mouth before Aaron spoke again. They told me his family moved away. His eyes are glassy now, swimming with memories. I was gentle, hoping not to set him off crying. He nodded and took a sip of the coffee. One day he was there, and the next, he wasn't. Now you know why? He nodded again, morose. We sat there for a while. We were camping for our birthday. We had the same birthday. It was our 12th. I let him speak. We were so excited. Then we heard it. The deer? Yeah, the deer. Ah, if only. What happened? They took another sip before he started up again. They called out to us in our own voices, saying stuff like, over here, and our names. Aaron placed the cup on the table. And we thought it was funny. I get that. You were kids. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we found it so funny, we asked it to come out and wish us happy birthday. And I've never seen something more horrible in my entire life. He shook slightly, face gradually going pale, screamed. So it didn't look like a deer or it did. And we just didn't see its real form. We ran away. I did. It's hard to remember. He wet his lips. I could still remember hearing Jake fall and I. I turned to look at him. I reached out and rubbed his arm when he became emotional. He brought a hand up to his lips and stared at the corner of the room. I ran over and I tried to pull him up and it just batted me away like it like a fly. There was so much blood. He looked at me to respond, but I didn't let him speak. It dragged him away and I ran so far. I ended up climbing a tree and camping there for a while. How long? All I know is that I sat there till the sun went down and the noise is stopped. And then. Then I ran home. Did you tell your folks? He nodded sheepishly. They told the police. And they went and they checked out. They found blood. And they blamed it on a cougar. Then it spoke to me. Spoke to you? I was leaning forward in my seat now. Yeah, but I was about to drift off to sleep. I'll come back for you. Then you can join him. Then swallowed thickly. Why hadn't it come earlier for him? Was he trying to ripen him up? Just made me feel sick. And did you ever see it again? No. No, I stayed out of the woods. And it didn't bother me anymore. The air was thick. It was hard to breathe. I was to use this hike as a chance to take him. I could have saved him. You were a kid, Aaron. So fucking what? I could have saved him. Could you? He paused and watched me intently. His eyes bounced from one side. Then to the next, seemingly going through every possible outcome. With the furrow of his brow, I guess he realized that he couldn't have done anything. He sat back in his seat on the sofa. His eyes were still cloudy, clearly still thinking. I leaned over and rested my head on his shoulder, holding his arm. Strange what the mind hides from you, huh? I didn't say anything. I mean, can you say to that? I tried to get on with our lives. I went back to work, so did Aaron. He acted like we had the best anniversary of our lives because what else could we do? Tell my manager that we had some kind of monster deer chase us down in the middle of the woods, and we kept hearing it mimicking us and Aaron's dead childhood friend. See how ridiculous that sounds. So we put on our happy faces. It was harder for Aaron, obviously. He was looking to see a therapist. He was also talking with the police from his hometown over Jake's disappearance. Jake's parents are yet to say anything. Can't imagine what they're going through. He told me he couldn't live with himself if he stayed quiet. I try to look more on the positive side nowadays. I used to be very cynical. I blamed my upbringing for that. I mean, I met Aaron's stuff changed. He was just so enthusiastic about life. Car broke down in the rain. Well, at least you have shelter, lost your wallet. You can always get a new one. You feel guilty for cutting contact with your parents. You had to do that for your safety. Always. He's been able to turn bad situations on their head and find the silver lining in the cloud. Even if it's barely visible. He brought out that optimistic part of me that hid for so long. He helped me out of that horrible pit and made me see the light in life again. Since that day, I've been seeing less and less of that happy go lucky guy. I'm not complaining at all, by the way. Please know that I'd be more disturbed if he just went on with his life like nothing happened. But I feel like I've been taking him for granted. I wanted to help him through this. He helped me, so I'm going to help him too. He assured me I don't need to, but I will anyway. I love him. And if that means that I wait on every hand and foot for him, I'll fucking do it. I thought we were in the clear after we left that place. Turns out I was wrong. This happened earlier today and I'm still shook up writing this. I was at home after work and I went upstairs to go change. Looked like Aaron had just left before my arrival because he left the bathroom light on. I was about to flip the switch when I saw something. It was a bit hard to see because of the frosted glass, but there was something outside. It was dark. Fragmented blob. I was tempted to open the window to see what it was. I mean, it could have been a piece of clothing that had come into the backyard. Suddenly a shiver ran down my spine and I writhed in my spot. I halted and watched the blob. It was completely still, which put doubt on my clothing theory. It was quite windy outside, so the clothing would have wafted around or flown off. This thing stayed deathly still. It had four little stumps under it, like table legs. Maybe they were legs. Cats often came into our yard with the next door neighbor, having two of them. It looked bigger than a cat though. I blame the frosted glass for the distortion, but that theory didn't last long either. The thing began to move. It lifted each of the stumps one by one, which now solidified my belief that this was indeed an animal, and then then it crouched down. Then, much to my horror, the thing lifted up onto two legs, body rising high into the air. It stood up straight, the stumps now longer. The fuck. It didn't wobble or fall, but instead went stiff as a board and raised its fifth stump, which I figured was its neck. So this thing was either staring away from me or directly at me. It was hard to see, but I think that it was looking at me. Then an awful thought came to mind. It couldn't be that dear. I mean, it couldn't. The thing and I were just staring at each other, and I seriously hoped that it couldn't see me, and then I realized something. I had the bathroom light on, and I was staring at the window. It could definitely see me. Thoughts of screaming and hollering from that night played over and over in my mind. Had it followed us home? My body tensed up and refused to breathe. I had gone very much in a prey mode, and I was now trying my best to hide myself, which, let's be honest, isn't going to go down well when you're stood under a spotlight. I don't know how long I stayed there. After a while, the thing gave up, and while still on the time legs, it staggered off into the bush behind the house. I cried. I cried so hard. I ended up squeezing into the corner of the bathroom, shaking like a leaf with tears running down my cheeks. I can't remember the last time I cried like that. It must have been when I first moved in with Aaron, and that was a long time ago. After this release of pent-up emotion, I pulled myself together and I called Aaron. I gushed, spilling everything to him. I thought we'd lost connection because he was so quiet. He eventually told me he'd be home soon and that I should start packing a bag. I didn't have any time to respond before he hung up and I was left baffled. Then when he came home, he came into our bedroom and started piling clothes into his duffel. Where are we going? I asked, staring at my boyfriend in surprise. He'd never been so serious before. I'll tell you in the car. He didn't even bother looking away from his bag. Babe, what's going on? Shhh. He shushed me sharply. I'll tell you in the car. I went back to folding my clothes and chucking spare glances at him. His face completely blank and his hands were working on autopilot. We left the house that evening as soon as we packed. Is it bad to say that Aaron scared me a little? I'd never seen this part of him at all. It was almost like he was angry. We got settled in the car and he pulled out of the driveway. Are you going to tell me where we're going now? He stayed quiet and faced the road. Aaron was getting irritated now. He burst his lips and flicked his eyes over to the rear view mirror. Aaron, will you answer me? Shut up. He hissed, eyes bobbing from the rear view to the windshield and back again. I sat there speechless. That was the first time he had told me to shut up and ment it. There wasn't any venom behind the words and I didn't know what to make of it. So I did what I had learned to do and people were pissed off. I stayed quiet. Much to my shame, I dissociated. He was stressed and I was making things harder. I think I must have dissociated for about an hour before I felt Aaron's eyes before I felt Aaron squeezing my shoulder. We were outside a dive bar. I had no idea where we were. The okay, sweets. He was rubbing into the meat of my shoulder, faced full of concern, but an hour of time lost. I heard him call my name and I woke up from the familiar trance. Where are we? It was the only thing I was thinking about. Let's get inside first. Yeah. Something in me just snapped. What the fuck was that? No, I bet you tell me right now, Aaron. If he was head back against the headrest inside. Can we just get inside? Oh, Aaron, please. I stared at him. I'm scared. It was rare for me to say that out loud. Aaron knew that. He quickly looked all around the car peeking into the windows before he turned me. He beckoned me close to him and I obeyed. Then he whispered something into my ear. It might still hear us. So we need other people to block out conversation. I had a full body shiver and made my stomach feel with dread. He nodded. I understood, even if it sounded bizarre. We grabbed the bite to eat and sat in the middle of the booths. Multiple families chatting beside us. Finally, we could talk. And that leads me to now. I'm sitting in the car. Aaron's driving. In the span of a week, my life has been turned upside down. Life was good. It was good. I was with the man I loved and away from all the shit in my life. My parents were out of my social circle and Aaron's family took their place. Life was good. Now we're running back to his hometown. Sounds stupid, however, there are a couple of reasons for this. One, home isn't safe anymore. That thing knows where we live. Two, we would vacate somewhere, fall off, but money is not good at the moment. Even then, that thing could follow us. We have no idea where this thing can go. Finally, three, Aaron told his parents and they believed us, meaning because his dad saw the deer. They know someone, someone who can help us. Hopefully that makes more sense as to why we've decided to head back. We're going to stay to the highways, no back roads unless we have to. Hopefully that thing either stays away or if it follows us, gets ran over by a fucking truck. Probably wouldn't kill it, but it's slow it down, I hope. I'm going to finish this post here. Aaron and I are in the car now. We're close to the highway. I just hope we get there safely. Wish us luck. Hey there, kids. It's me, Mr. Creepypasta. And before we say good night, I just wanted to say thank you so much for watching tonight's video or for listening to tonight's episode of the podcast. As always, I want to give a very big thank you to everybody who supports me on Patreon, patreon.com. That is the main place you guys are able to support me. If you guys want to be able to support me, which you absolutely don't have to do, but hey, thank you for doing that. If that's something that you do. And if it's not something that you do, hey, please help me. In all seriousness, I really appreciate it if you guys could be able to help me out. If you guys are able to give anything, even $1 a month. 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