My life completely changed that day.
The year was 1998, I was a punk kid who listened to Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam, etc. I lived in a casual suburban town not too far from Buffalo, New York. I enjoyed things like skateboarding, basketball, and playing the Les Paul I got for my birthday.
I lived near a wooded area that always had a faint light illuminating from what appeared to be an old shack. At night, I would look out my window in the direction of the light, and then around the area it was coming from. I never told anyone about the light because at the time I wasn't concerned.
About two months later, I got out of the seventh grade, and was glad that summer had finally come. I would often skate with my friends around the area of the woods, although each time we got closer to it. My friend, (let's call him Jonathan) one night noticed the light coming from the trees. I told him that it was coming from an old, ugly shack. After that, he didn't seem too concerned about it, so we dropped the subject.
On the 4th of July, my Dad was hosting a neighborhood steak-out. Me and Jonathan had stolen some firecrackers that we found in a box in the back of an old Volvo. Around 8:00 PM, mostly everybody had arrived, and we ate dinner while our folks had a few drinks. Me and Jonathan were feeling adventurous, so we asked my Dad (who had already had a few beers) if we could go explore in the woods. He said that it was fine but not to get ourselves killed.
We then headed off towards the shack, curious of what was inside. After about ten minutes, we were out of sight from my house, but we had finally come across the shack. The light shined extremely bright, and turned out to be an old Victorian styled lantern, sitting on a wooden desk with a single drawer.
I opened up the door, and inside was a bronze key with a goat's head on top. We scratched our heads wondering what the key was for, until we noticed a keyhole on the wood paneled floor. Jonathan and I hesitated for a few minutes, debating who should open the latch.
He eventually stepped up and opened it up. The hatch made an ear piercing creak as it opened. We were confronted by a set of old stone steps, leading to what appeared to be some sort of chamber. Jonathan led the way, as we made our way through the hell hole.
After multiple twists and turns, I said "There's nothing here, let's go." Jonathan agreed, but right as we turned around something caught our ears. "They're coming to get you, Barbara." Being a horror fanatic, I knew the famous line from the classic "Night of the Living Dead".
The line repeated over and over, and we decided to keep going. We found a dead end, with two rooms on either side, and we decided to look in the one on the right first. There was nothing there. As I turned around facing the left, something horrifying entered my line of sight. Sitting in a metal chair was a creature, covered in dried blood, wearing a black cloak. The most disturbing feature was its face. It had the head of a goat, with black, dead eyes. It had a smile on carved into it's face, revealing bone. I ran faster than I ever had, and looked behind me one last time.
It had Jonathan.
He was kicking and screaming, but it dragged him and threw him into the room, with a loud thud. It then came after me, and I ran through the maze like passage, until I found the stairs again.
I slammed the hatch as hard as I could and ran back home. After I got back, I told my parents, "Jonathan is missing!" Then, I proceeded to tell a terrible lie; concerned that the creature would come for me if I told others of its existence. They never found Jonathan's body, and they even searched the shack.
I lived in that house for another year or so until my parents deemed it an unsafe area. I still thought about the thing every night when I closed my eyes.
The thing that haunts me the most is that I may never know what happened to Jonathan. Was he taken to another dimension? Is he hidden somewhere? Is he still alive? I might not ever find out, but that thing is still out there, and it wants it sacrifice. I have come to believe that it will hunt down anybody who knows it exists. I'm so sorry, but now, it's your turn.
-Tyler
