Fear from within

It followed me out of the woods

Since I've been a kid, I've always been a collector of morbid things. My bookshelves are filled with insect pinnings and a collection of specimens floating in formaldehyde. Still my favorite oddities are the skulls that I gather from my trips into the wilderness and have adorning most rooms. Until recently the most frightening incidents with these have been encountering the living predators looking for the last scraps attached to them. Now I have something else to be afraid of when I go out scavenging the woods for trophies. Something far beyond my understanding that still keeps me awake to this day.

The woods had been still all morning; It lacked the tune of the songbirds or the foraging of squirrels that would be common in early spring. You couldn't tell that it was spring though with the chill in the air mixing with the scent of decaying leaves. It had been a few hours into my journey into the wilderness before I came to a small opening in the trees where I chose to take a rest. Here is where I noticed the bleached white skull of a raccoon sitting atop a small mossy mound staring directly at me. It was missing its lower jaw and no other remains lay nearby. It almost felt out of place where it had been, almost as if it had just been waiting there to be found. At the time I wasn't focused so much on how strange it all was, but more on the fact I had found something so well intact and catching my breath going up and down the various hills.

After some time resting and getting a good once over of the raccoon skull, I packed up and continued on with my walk into the wilderness. The air had grown colder with the darkness of the sky and still the only sounds I seemed to hear were my own footsteps in the brush. I made my way back onto one of the trails and followed that deeper into the woods until the tree's no longer let light through the canopy. I had nearly made it to the turn around on the path when something caught my eye deeper off into the woods into a grouping of deadfall. Going over to investigate I stumbled on a grizzly if not uncommon scene; the scattered and decomposing remains of a deer. Each of its legs had been taken in separate directions while its hips and spine laid intact between them. Strangely I didn't see any clumps of fur on the ground, instead my attention was taken by the fully intact head attached to the remaining spine and ribs caught up in a fallen tree. It had a few bits of decaying matter still on the snout and face with dried strands of sinew holding it together.

I couldn't believe my luck then, finding two skulls untouched by scavengers in one day! With my pocket knife I cut loose the skull from the rest of the remains, tossing away the remains and looking back at those scattered about. Something seemed off with how everything had been placed, but I wasn't too caught up on it. Just summing it up to just how the wolves had torn apart the carcass. After all of this I began my trek back down the trail and out of the woods. The day had begun to thaw much like my mood, making the journey more enjoyable than the one going in. However unlike the journey in,life made itself known by the calling of crows flying in from nearby fields. I never saw more than one of them at a time either and strangely this started to unnerve me before I finally reached my car. There I placed my trophies in the trunk of the car, tossed my backpack in the backseat and drove home. It took me a while to feel comfortable again. I had a creeping feeling the whole drive back into town until I was under the glow of the street lights.

Back at home everything began to feel normal again. I cleaned up. I ate dinner and even took some time to relax. After sometime I went out to the car and fetched the two skulls for cleaning and while outside I was caught off guard by a foul scent; It was as if something was actively rotting nearby. I checked the garbage and around the house for any dead animals, but found nothing. Eventually it got to be too much and I went inside to start cleaning them for display. The scent of acid burns away the smell hanging around my nostrils and brings me back to the sterile comfort of my study. Right before I go to clean the skull of the raccoon I hear a knocking at the door. Looking at the clock I wondered who the hell could be knocking on my door at 9pm? I go to look out the front window and see no car in the driveway, or no one at the door. Annoyed, I go back to cleaning the skulls. Again I pick up the raccoon skull and begin washing it off before submerging it into a container of hydrogen peroxide.

The knocking on my door begins again, but I refuse to go out and check until I'm done with what I'm working on. I wasn't going to spend all night going back and forth checking the front door for pranksters hiding in the bushes, if someone needed me they were going to wait. Then the knocking stopped, giving me some comfort in the quiet with only brush strokes and the hum of a small fluorescent light. That moment was cut short after placing one skull in hydrogen peroxide and moving to place the other into a tub of mild acid for cleaning. Then the knocking at the door started up again. What had started off as knocks became an ever more violent banging. I jumped in my seat in shock before rushing to the front door to see what was happening and that's when I saw it.

Outside my window was the carcass of the deer from the woods, now pieced together and walking on its hind legs. I couldn't take my eyes away, thinking it had to be held up by wire or some unseen means until its neck moved as if to look back at me. It had followed me back from the woods, I don't know how, but it had. Now I wanted something, something I had. Something I had taken from it. That's what it had to be. I went and took the Skull out of the tub and slowly made my way towards the front door, unsure if I should even open it. I had no idea what was going on or if this thing would try and attack me once I opened the door. I couldn't hold onto this skull anymore though, not anymore. Taking a deep breath to build up the courage to open the door, and quickly set it on the front step before closing the door behind me. I didn't dare try and look at it again trying to avoid its attention.

I locked the door as quickly as I shut it, pressing myself against it in a panic. Fumbling, I reached over to cut the lights and waited. Nothing came at first. A moment of doubt over my situation flooded over me. The thoughts that it was imagined vanished with a crash against the door. I bolted. Terrified, I ran from the door, hoping to reach some safety or a weapon to defend myself. Instincts took me to the gun in my nightstand first, then to hide in the tub where I passed out waiting for whatever was outside to break in.

The next morning I was surprised at waking up in the tub. It wasn't until I gazed over at the gun resting on the toilet that the horror set it. I cautioned out into the house, and saw nothing but daylight coming in through the windows. Nothing had gotten inside at least, nor was anything waiting outside and I had a moment of relief. It was when I opened the door that that went away; the outside had been battered and gouged. The skull had also been taken, no doubt by whatever had tried to get in the night before. Before I could have lied to myself about this all being some delusion, but this was something real. Physical. Now my study, a place that once brought comfort with its curiosity, only brings me dread.

I sit in there fearing what else might follow me out from the woods to take back somewhere I've found.