Evil Whispers From The Pines

Chased by a man with Blood on His Jeans

After the rowboat incident we no longer felt safe coming and going from my friend's house. We still took that back road route coming and going from my house to hers as it still felt slightly safer than walking along the highway. Well, at least we thought that until we found out otherwise.

One of the many times I visited her house and we were headed to my house, not to stay (she would no longer stay at my house) but to get clothes or maybe to hang out just briefly. We were nervously walking along that back way like deer on high alert for a predator. After the rowboat incident we had walked that road maybe a half dozen times without incident. Still, on that evil mountain, you never knew when, where or how something might happen. So we were always on guard. We were briskly walking along and chatting when we started noticing that the bushes behind us on the side of the road were rustling. But not the rustle you would see with a small animal like a squirrel, more like half of the bush is shaking so that it catches your attention, you can hear it, and it makes you turn and glance back. Something was obviously following us but what could move in such an odd manner? Noticing it was gaining on us, we started walking faster. But, it was not long and the bush shaking was nearly keeping up with us. Since whatever was shaking the bushes seemed to be getting closer, we picked up our pace to a light jog. Jogging made no difference as soon the bush shaking was actually level with us and happening on both sides of the road simultaneously. We looked at each other and before we could fully react the bush shaking was now just slightly ahead of us. Almost simultaneously we broke into a run. As an athlete I was much faster than my friend but I slowed my pace to stay level with her. So we are running, at a fast pace down that gravel road and now the bush shaking is still slightly ahead of us but concentrated on my side of the road. I gesture to my friend to continue ahead as we are about a city block's length from the highway with an open field on our right. I figure they are most likely after me so my plan is to draw them after me. My friend had Grand Mal seizures and I was afraid running like that in the heat might trigger an attack so I already felt bad she was running. At the edge of the field, I veered off the road and hit the high yellow grass at a sprint. In a normal situation I would never have ran across that field at all and certainly not in shorts and sandals. It wasn't very far from where we encountered the rattlesnake den so I knew there were lots of snakes in that area. But, at that moment, snakes were the least of my worries. If I startled a snake and got bit, well there was anti-venom for that, but if whatever was pursuing us through the bushes caught us I had no idea what might happen. I don't know if they emerged from the bushes and gave chase, I never looked back. Looking back would have slowed me by precious seconds. There was an old car parked in that field, completely covered by dead leaves with things growing out of it and the grass completely immersing it but it was directly in my path and I did not want to waste time going around it. I jumped up on the hood of the car, leapt up to the roof, back down on the trunk and then a huge leap beyond it. A few more steps and I was at the highway. I could see my friend had already made it to the highway and was on the other side a short distance from my house. I watched as she slowed and carefully picked her way down the hill from the road. I could tell no-one was chasing her. I still had no idea if anyone was chasing me or not but I did not slow down at all. When I reached that hill down to the house my friend had carefully made her way down, I barreled down it slipping, tripping and sometimes even rolling. I did not care. I was completely terrified. I wasn't super concerned when I saw the bushes shake behind us. I figured someone was doing that to scare us, maybe we were too close to the grow fields. But when the shaking bushes were level and then ahead of us and we were obviously moving out of the area, I could not understand how anyone could be that fast. So either a lot of people were stationed like that along the road or some extremely fast individual or thing was stalking us.

The little kids were out playing and my sister was out there watching them in the yard when my friend and I reached the house. Once we told them what happened we turned as a group to scan the parts of the hill and road we could see from the house. There was nothing. Whatever was chasing us must have broken off the pursuit at some point. Or so I thought.
Later the little kids would recount seeing a man with scraggly black hair come out of the woods near that open field. He walked for a moment along the highway then headed back up the hill above our house into the woods. They said the man had red stuff on his pants that looked like blood.

Was that the person chasing us? I think it was likely one of the people. I don't think it was the only person. An individual human could not have made bushes shake on both sides of the road like that nor so easily stayed ahead. I'm not saying I was an Olympic level sprinter but most people aren't. Especially if they are trying to stop along the way and shake a bush. The bushes shaking weren't like someone was running through or by them it was more like a mini earthquake broke out at the base of the bush.

We did not call the police because, other than bushes shaking, nothing happened. When we called about our dog it was clear they got calls about the occult all the time. In this case, they would likely have just explored the area. And said be careful.  I don't know if they would have done something if they caught us.  It seemed like they were trying hard to catch me based on the speed of the footfalls behind me.  But maybe not. If they wanted to do physical harm to me I was alone at the house nearly every week day. But maybe it would have been different catching me in the woods. I did not want to test it.