The Skinwalker

The Skinwalker. A name that I've only heard in children's stories and legends, to scare them into doing good. Up until recently, I've believed that The Skinwalker was but a mere made up story. Of course, there were people who believed The Skinwalker, hell, I do now. I'm currently sitting at my desk, looking through 3 different files that seem to be linked together, all in a span of many many years. The first file; A man in his late 50's reported to be ripped to shreds, body parts and organs found in his home, the roof, the yard, and in his rectum, around the 40's. The second case; A 3-year-old child who was found impaled on his bed post, and his throat in the gutter outside, around the 80's. The last, and most recent case; A woman, Amanda Millard, in her mid 20's, supposedly on her way home from the market. All these cases are all linked together in one sickening way. They were all skinned.

~

I pulled my coat around my body tighter, the cool air appeared to caress me as a mother would to her infant child. I clutched a small brown paper bag in my fingers and shivered as a large gust of wind blew past, along with leaves tumbling down the road on the cool night. I've always gotten a feeling that someone was behind me or perhaps watching me from afar. Stalking, waiting for me to make a certain move so that whoever or whatever it was, could engage contact. However, my paranoia grew as the feeling grew, something kept telling me to turn around. I was too terrified to do so, so I picked up my pace. Not far from home now, I told myself. My breath quickened and it was almost as if I could feel hot breath down my neck. My curiosity grew and grew as my pace quickened even more. I turned onto my street and started running full speed, dropping my grocery bag in the process. I could hear heavy breathing and heaving behind me as I ran. I cried out in fear as I felt myself being grabbed and spun around quickly.

I looked up to face my attacker and the sight that I saw nearly put me to my knees. whatever this...thing was, it towered over me by at least 2 feet, It was deathly pale and skinny, all bones were clearly visible. Its eyes were dark, deep and sunken into its face, its teeth were long and sharp, and its nose was small and boney. The creature was hunched over and had it's long, bony arms were out, holding me in place. That's when I really noticed it's hands. It had long, bony fingers, and on the tip of those fingers were long, thick, sharp razor-like nails that were stained with red, brown, and yellow. Before I could react to this hideous creature standing before me, it withdrew it's arm and jolted it forward quickly, It's long nail impaling through the center of my stomach. I couldn't scream, run, or move. I was frozen in place. It almost seemed like the creature had a smile on its twisted face. I watched in horror as it took it's free hand and started peeling away my skin from my bones. I screamed. I screamed and cried until my throat was raw and sore. The pain was so unbearable yet, I could do nothing about it.

It seemed to last for hours and hours until it just...stopped. Out of nowhere, I couldn't feel the pain, I wasn't screaming, nor crying. I wasn't even at the scene of this mutilation any longer. No, I wasn't there, I was looking over it. I watched as the creature tore the rest of my skin off, and put it on, as if it were the most comfortable thing, I could hear the cracking of its bones as it took my shape and form. and I watched as it used the blood from my body that now lay in a heap on the floor, to spell out on the sidewalk;

"BEWARE OF THE SKINWALKER"