Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-32764586-20181013160849

Look, I'm just a 15-year-old boy, okay? I'm not gonna start a blog post dedicated to weird and awful experiences that have happened to me, nor will I write a book about paranormal activities I've witnessed. In truth, my life has been pretty mundane up until this point. I mean, I won't lie to you guys. Sure, I'm superstitious and religious, but that belief is based purely on faith, not evidence.

Well, a little context probably wouldn't hurt would it? I live at the end of a rather small neighborhood. The woods and a house awaiting purchase are all that exist behind my house, and ahead of it is a rather lifeless street of maybe a half dozen houses. I swear to you the homeowners of said places are almost never there, but I suppose that's what a nine to five job does to an adult. Truthfully, I find the barren landscape calming and soothing for the most part. There's a strange feeling of comfort that comes with limited isolation, and that's as best as I can describe it really.

There was, however, one night in particular that shook things up a bit, for lack of better words. Now, for a night so important to me and the events of this story, I find it odd I can't seem to remember the exact date. For some reason, I found myself up until almost midnight. My parents were tired and, of course, told me not to stay up too late. Furthermore, I remember them asking me to take the dogs out before I went to bed. I was much obliged to do so in return for staying up late, so I promised to do so. After some watching a bit of Netflix, my eyes wandered down to the clock within the tv box. It had been almost an hour since my parents had gone to bed. I rubbed my eyes and felt a bit tired myself, so I grabbed my dog's leashes and took them outside to walk.

I walked down the long gravel driveway and stepped into the street. I let my flashlight illuminate the road in front of me and continued down the path, allowing the dogs to finish their business. Once they were finished, I turned to go back to the house. But I stopped dead in my tracks once my light hit a certain area of the road. Just a few feet in front of me sat a lump on the ground I hadn't seen before. I had to restrain my dogs with quite a bit of strength, as they seemed to notice it as well and attempted to reach it. I decided that I would bring them into the house and go back out so I could see what the lump had been. As I approached it a second time, I bent down at the knees and let the light hit it. That was when a knot turned in my stomach.

It was a frog. A baby frog at that, laying belly up. There were several things wrong with this scene, and I'll explain them now. One, the frog was still there. What I mean is, upon viewing it, I suspected a predator had killed it. However, the frog was still on the road, dead. Not a single part of it was eaten, however, the stomach was slit down the stomach and the intestines sat beside the animal. The animal's eyes seemed to have been removed as well. Maybe this wouldn't have seemed so odd if it weren't for the size of the creature. It was so small in size that such injuries seemed... intentional.

I shuddered a bit and then decided upon going inside again, deciding I had enough of the mess before me. I made sure to lock the doors that night. Don't ask me why. I guess I just felt as if I had to.

When I went outside the next morning to go to school, I went to the spot I had seen the dead frog. There was nothing there. Assuming that whatever had killed it cleaned up the remains, I walked to the bus stop. On the way there, I kept my eyes peeled for any other dead animals on the road. There were none.

When I got home from school, I decided that I would ask my mom about what I had seen. Perhaps she would have an explanation I hadn't previously considered. After listening to my story intently, she suggested that maybe a neighbor's cat had been the cause of it all. I nodded my head and accepted her answer. It would make sense, after all, I've heard of cats randomly killing small creatures all the time. That night, and the next few nights that followed, I saw the frogs on the road again, always in close proximity to my home. This still unnerved me, but I didn't pay much mind to it. I simply ignored the bodies and walked my dogs as normal. That was, until one morning in particular.

Another day of school had arrived, and I did my normal daily routine. I got up, showered, got dressed, ate breakfast, and brushed my teeth. I exited the house, ready to go to the bus stop. I walked down the driveway as always, and then I stumbled back. Right in front of me was a squirrel, completely snapped in half. The two pieces of its body that had been disconnected were perfectly symmetrical. It sat in a pool of its own blood, an expression of shock and horror etched onto its face.

I gagged and quickly ran past the body. I pulled out my phone and texted my Mom, explaining to her that there was a mutilated squirrel directly in front of our driveway. I quickened my pace and arrived at the bus, where I then got a response from her. She said she would check it out. After waiting a few minutes, she texted me again, asking me where I had seen it. I stared at her text in disbelief, unsure how she could possibly miss such a sight. I described exactly where it was, and then waited a few more minutes. Again, she responded, and my eyes widened at what she said.

Where I had seen the animal, morbidly attacked and bloodied, she saw nothing. Chills ran down my spine, and I was genuinely shaken to my core. I tried asking a few of my school friends if they had experiences anything similar to what I had. None of them had any idea what I was talking about.

Much to my surprise, the nights after that seemed to calm down. I didn't see any more frogs or animals on the road, nor did I see any on my way to school. It almost seemed as if the strange anomaly had stopped on its own over time, and for that I was thankful. There was a strange period of time where nothing happened at all. Looking back, I was foolish to think it had ended there. No, I should have known all along. It wasn't the end of the storm, but the calm before it.

This peace I experienced came to an abrupt end just two weeks ago, on a night that seemed just like every other. My father had been the one to take the dogs out this time because I was busy walking towards the mailbox (I had neglected my duties to get the mail earlier in the day, so now I had to get it at around 12 due to my procrastination)

I grunted in annoyance at the fact that I wasn't allowed to go to bed until I got this chore done, but I accepted it. I had brought it upon myself after all. I had started walking at a slow pace but sped up as I went along. There were woods to both sides of me because of how the roads are positioned, and I was slightly creeped out by a feeling of being watched from within the branches of the enormous trees. The streetlights had already shut off, and I was relying on my dim phone light to find my way since my dad was using the flashlight to walk the dogs back at home. My entire body felt tense as adrenaline rushed throughout me, ready to burst into a sprint at any given noise. I resisted this urge though, since the entire neighborhood seemed silent, strangely enough, although I believe that may have actually added to the eeriness of it all.

I finally arrived at the mailbox and inserted my key into the lock and opened it. I reached my hand into the hole and felt around. I didn't feel a single letter inside, but my hand did land on something... odd. Something squishy and moist. My hand instinctively recoiled as I took a step back. I peered into the mailbox, shining the light inside so I could get a better glimpse of what I felt. When I did see it, it took all of my strength not to scream.

There, inside the box of which only I had the key to open, was a frog.

Needless to say, I sprinted as fast as my legs could carry me until I reached my home. I launched myself up the porch stairs and entered the room, closing and locking the door behind me, my breath exasperated. My parents looked at me strangely, and I quickly explained myself by claiming I was just worn out from my run home, which they didn't seem to question, whether it be from believing me or being too tired to wonder why the hell I was running so far so late at night. Regardless, they went to bed and I locked the doors.

I didn't remember falling asleep, but I remember waking up in a pool of sweat. I sat up and looked around me, seeing the room entrenched in total darkness. From within my room, I could hear something strange. It sounded like footsteps... footsteps ascending the wooden stairs leading up to the front door. And then I heard the signature creak of the door open slowly, and that was when I felt my heart rise to my throat. Despite my mind screaming to my body that I should hide or stay put, my body disobeyed and opened my bedroom door. My ears were filled with the sound of my dogs barking furiously, but the barking soon turned into something else. Whimpers of fear... and then screaming. Screaming which pierced my ears and made my heart come to a standstill. Screaming which didn't sound like my dogs at all, but rather of a human being instead.

Despite my better judgment, I found myself running to the living room, where there I found my two dogs. Battered and bruised, with cuts and scrapes all around them, they sat in place, seemingly unable to move. I could see their mouths open, and their throats emitted the same human scream of utter agony and despair that they had earlier. My feet trudged across the carpet, methodically making my way towards them. They screamed louder and more violently the closer I approached until I heard a crack. Their bottom jaws unhinged, revealing a gigantic maw They stood on their two feet as a man would, and their once human groans of pain turned into an inhuman, ungodly shriek which split my ears, causing me to clutch my head in pain. Then, just as suddenly as they started, they stopped and collapsed to the ground, dead.

I felt myself rush towards them, but I never got close. I felt something from behind me clutch me in its appendages, and I felt my body being pulled back into something sharp, stabbing me and causing me to roar in pain. I swear to you; my voice was not my own. No, it sounded like that inhuman screech my dogs released. I saw my vision become blurry until it all faded to darkness, and that was when I sat up in my bed. I rubbed my face with my hands, feeling the sweat pooling under my eyebrow. I raced out to the living room, only to see my dogs laying comfortably in their beds.

I didn't sleep a wink for the next few nights after that, nor did I mention that dream to anyone until now.

Again, the calm before the storm arrived, and each day and night without a single strange occurrence was truly nail-biting. That nightmare was all I could think about, and my lack of sleep showed within school. After several detentions for falling asleep in class, my grades dropped drastically, and my parents became worried. I never told them what happened though. They wouldn't ever believe me, especially since I seemed to be the only person who had witnessed these events.

I only bring this up to you guys because I'm becoming increasingly worried. You see, these strange occurrences have picked up recently. Just as recently as a week ago, in fact. Nothing too extreme has happened yet, but I'm worried that might all change soon. The dead animals I've been seeing aren't just frogs anymore. There are birds now, and even a few more small squirrels. Each and every night I see them, and each and every night they come closer and closer to my house. I'm not sure if what I'm experiencing is just some sicko out there messing with me, or if something more is going on within my neighborhood. All I know is that I've nothing to prove this is all happening, as each animal I see disappears without explanation by morning. I know for a fact that this isn't just some cat.

Look, the point is that last night I heard something familiar... something terrifying. I woke up to the sound of creaking. The creaking of wooden stairs leading up to my house, to be specific. I heard footsteps which stopped just outside of the front door, and then they stopped. I didn't have the courage to open the door and look, so I peered through my bedroom window to see what was outside. Once my eyes became adjusted to the darkness, I was able to spot a lump on the welcome mat just outside my door. I couldn't discern the exact features of what it was, but I already knew in truth, and I couldn't sleep any longer that night. Once morning arrived, I looked outside the door, only to see nothing, as expected. It wasn't until then that I realized I had never heard anything descend the stairs last night, which caused a large knot in my stomach.

I don't know what's going to happen tonight, but I feel like it won't be good. There's no way anyone will believe me, and I don't know what can or will help me at this point. I loaded my rifle and made sure my hatchet and knife are within grabbing distance tonight. I'll also be sure to lock the doors. I'm not sure anymore... I'm just taking all the precautions I can at this point. All I can think of at this point is that damn nightmare...

Update: It's morning after since I typed this all up. I made a last second decision to let my dogs sleep in my room last night, making sure to lock the door behind me. Call me paranoid, but there's no such thing as being too safe at this point. I didn't sleep at all last night, and I didn't hear anything at all either. Finally, at about 4 AM, I let sleep overcome me. When I got up this morning to prepare for school, I found a dead, mutilated frog right outside my bedroom door. 