Tuesday, October 18th 14:24

I wasn't sure if writing any of this down was going to do anything, more so for others than for me. I'm already too far gone, there's no saving me from whatever fate has in store. You all, however, are different, and I can only hope what you'll hear from me will serve as warning. 

Do not trust the woods, do not trust the water, and never, I repeat, never, give them any miniscule sign you've noticed their presence. Don't look them in the eye, don't flinch when they move or speak or even touch you, never speak to them. Unless you want to end up like me of course, stuck in a once wonderland now turned nightmare. 

I won't tell you all exactly where I live, since I know some of you dumbasses would still look for it despite my warnings. I grew up in a National Park, and as the title suggests, I am unable to leave. Not 'unable' in a, can't get in a car and drive off, kind of way but moreso, I am involved in something far greater than I am, type of deal. Things reside within the 6 million acre park, beings older than humanity itself, some of them not even from this plane of existence. 

For you all to fully understand the situation at hand here, or what I can speak of it, I'll have to go back to about 6 years ago. To the fateful day I fucked over my entire life without realizing it. Before I start there though, I need to describe the specific area I grew up in, and tell you all about some of the beings I saw before I made contact. How I went so long without doing anything before I'll never know, I like to think I had some god trying with all its might to spare me from this fate. 

The town I grew up in had a population of around 3000, no grocery store, and there wasn't a stoplight in sight for nearly 30min in any direction. It was quite literally bumfuck nowhere, a secluded area full of redneck hillbillies. The town was surrounded by massive mountain ranges on one side, and an incredibly large lake on the other. It was so big it would have been one of the Great Lakes if it had not been so far away. Winters were vicious, temperatures in the negatives even in the day, snowfall ending up nearly as tall as I am, and ice storms that left softwood trees destroyed. As a child it was like heaven, the snow in the winter, the temperate summers, all of the nature to immerse yourself in. Despite it all I’m thankful for growing up in nature, the times when I was innocent are the fondest memories to recall. 

I used to love to fish as a child; I couldn’t wait for those few months when the lake water was the perfect temperature to go out on a boat and spend all day on the dark water. It was out there, in the middle of the lake, when I remember seeing my first creature. At the time, I thought it was my imagination, that maybe I had seen our famous Loch Ness monster knock-off, Champ, in the water. Having now killed multiple of them I know they are far from fake, and not nearly as pretty as my childhood memory recalls. 

As I was saying, I was out in the middle of the lake fishing. The lake holds all types of fish, including some big ones such as Sturgeon and Northern Pike. It also has lamprey, which to most in the area is what they consider the most violent thing in the waters. I'm terrible at fishing, even worse as a child, so I wasn't pulling anything up. My bait was being taken time and time again to no avail, and my tiny patience as a kid was wearing thin. It has been nearly an hour and a half, the afternoon sun beating down my neck, so I decided to get in the water and try again in a little bit. Once my life vest was secured I was allowed freedom. 

The water was cold, as it always was, only going up to mid 60s in the summer, but it has felt great. I'd hated swimming with the bright orange life vest, but as a 7 year old I didn't have much choice. I had done a few laps around the boat, some awkward doggy paddle that made more noise than anything. I think it was the noise that drew the creature's attention. As I was swimming a little ways away, I couldn't have been more than 15 feet from the boat, I saw something underneath it. I had never seen a lamprey before, so I thought it was some kind of big fish. It was hard to make out between the glare off the water and the shadows of the boat. I couldn't go under with the vest on, so I was left with slowly moving through the water, heading towards where it was. 

When I was about 6 feet from the boat, near the ladder by the motor, I caught a better glimpse of it. Well, moreso it's eyes than anything, as its wriggling body seemed to melt into the shadows. Its eyes, the 4 of them it had, glowed under water, a bright green hue. It has no pupils, but I knew it's gaze was on me, watching my current movements. My curiosity was outweighed by some internal feeling in my gut and I faltered, floating idly in the water. I knew it knew I had seen it, even as a child I could understand that much. 

The 'standoff' had only lasted for nearly a minute before my mother's voice had reigned in my focus. "Get back up here if you're not going to swim anymore."

I couldn't disobey my mother, but that meant swimming directly towards where it sat near the ladder. My hesitation had been long enough for my mom to call my name in that tone, the one where you knew you were about to get in trouble, and I swam in. I had kept my eyes focused on the boat, ignoring what I thought was some strange mutant fish, and my heart picked up as I got to the ladder. It didn't touch me though, and I got back on the boat with no issues. I stared down at the water I had come from, waiting, but I didn't see any glimpse of it. 

The creature I saw that day I now call "Slimy water bastards", but their 'official' name is The Feasters. They look similar to lamprey, but are far more deadly. I've seen them range between 6-15 feet long, their black skin actually secreting some weird volatile slime that makes shadows darker, and does to your skin the same thing laundry detergent does. They have four eyes, two on top and two on the sides of their head, and I believe they use some type of thermal sight to be able to see in the complete darkness at the bottom of the lake. Their mouths are just a gaping hole that takes up 90% of their face, rows of spinning teeth and a barbed tongue that'll rip through your flesh and inject you with a nasty poison. Thankfully, they're very easy to kill, but what they lack in strength they make up for in numbers. You'll never find one alone, even if you only see one, they swim along in massive writhing masses, only sending out two to four for short periods to go check something out. Rather intelligent as well, the fuckers, and love to take small children and drunkards; easily manipulated people. When they get you, they leave nothing behind, their razor teeth tear into flesh easier than any knife. In mere seconds you'll be gone, nothing but a few blood drops in the water after the swarm you to feast; hence the name. 

You might be wondering how that wasn't the fateful day, since I had directly acknowledged its presence. It was because I hadn't seen enough, The Feasters are low level if you were to tier them. You either need to see a mid to high tier, or be vocal about the things you've seen, to get screwed over. I'll go into detail about the tier thing at a later time, I'll also try to explain the other reason as well but I admit I don't fully grasp how it works. All I really, 100% know, is that this forest is far older than any human creation or being inside of it, and the things that reside in this park have merely accepted humans living here. We're all ignorant sheep, unaware of the pack of wolves looming over us. 

I need to head out now, I have ground to cover and a creature to continue to track. I'll get into the actual start of this bullshit next time, so goodbye for now. 

Don't look at them, don't speak to them, don't trust them. 

Wednesday, October 25th 19:34

Hello again everyone, I didn't plan on posting both of these together, but as I went to post the previous one my power was cut off and things got busy after that so now they're forced together. Thankfully I killed the thing that sucked up my electricty, but by the time I was done I needed to head out to continue my tracking. Then the creature I was tracking got the better of me and I've been healing from a nasty bite the past couple days. Worst fucking part of it all was I never got to see the damn thing, fucker stole my sight before I could protect myself. Yes I can still see, what he takes is never permanent as long as it's not your life, I'll tell you all more about him later as he comes into the scheme of things.

As I said, I'll tell you all just how I got into this mess. I'll be dropping a lot of information on you all, so I'll try to explain it as simply as I can. Between the time I first saw The Feasters and the one I'm about to mention, I did catch a glimpse of plenty of other creatures. This place seems to hold them all, fae, folklore beasts, creatures that seem to come from some other place themselves. Which they do, but I'll be getting to that. Any land dwelling monster you could think of exists in this massive park. All the ones I saw before that day were small little things, a few fairies here or there, a Not Deer while on the back of the bike late at night. You simply did acknowledge their existence and you were fine. Unless you stumbled across one of the more serious ones, like I did, and then you have no choice but to accept the things that exist here.

It was about 6 years ago when it all went to shit. I was 16 at the time, going through highschool and consistently getting the short end of the stick. I won't go into any detail about my school life, but just like any small town, a small class met there were almost no secrets. That's how I ended up finding out some of the popular kids in my grade were going to take a visit out to one of the mine shafts in the immediate area and do some sort of 'seance'. I should note the town I grew up in was an old mining community, the abandoned tunnel system carved underneath most of the town itself. Nearly all the entrances were vertical, shafts going straight down into the abyss.

However, there were two mine entrances you could walk into, the only two out of the nearly 50 locations. I've done my fair share of paranormal shit, I used to use Ouija Boards all the time, went to supposedly haunted buildings, but I followed the rules. I believed wholeheartedly in the existence of the supernatural and knew it needed to be respected. These kids though, well let's just say they found it fun to steal headstones from abandoned cemeteries among other things.

My ranking in the social hierarchy was that I knew and talked to all the popular kids, but never hung out with them outside of class. Hearing their conversation would finally change that, despite the fact I hated most of them, and with some minor convincing I was able to tag along. I was going to hopefully bring order to the situation, be able to stop themselves from royally fucking themselves over. I knew none of them really believed in the supernatural, thought there were no consequences to their actions, and part of me wanted to keep them safe despite disliking them. My hero complex was what ended up screwing my entire life over.

They had seemed to pull out all the stops for this one. The group of 12 teenagers arrived at the mine entrance at 02:45am, an array of stuff between them all. Alcohol, candles, salt, chalk, a Ouija Board, anything that seemed to scream horror movie gone bad. It was at this I was questioning my decision, I had only heard they were going to try and do a simple seance. This all looked like something far more serious though, one of them had actually put research into it; I was impressed as I was concerned.

Doing it in the witching hour was already unsettling enough, but as he walked into the only depths of the mine the feeling only doubled. We went along until a bend appeared, stopping just after so the group was in complete darkness. Even with the 6 lanterns the darkness crept uncomfortably close. I have to admit now, I'm afraid of the dark, always have been, and that fear has only worsened the longer I live. Things thrive in it that we cannot comprehend.

I did little to help set up, I was going to voice an opinion if they messed up, but everything was placed correctly. It took nearly 20 minutes to complete, and a glance at my watch told me it was 5 after 03:00. The head of the group called us all over, and we sat on the ground in the best of a circle we could manage. I'll spare you most of what was said, ignoring the fact I've forgotten most of it, it was all cliche words you'd find when Googling 'how to do a seance.'

The lanterns were turned off, leaving us with only scant candle light. At this point I closed my eyes, ignoring the darkness surrounding us, the feeling in my gut telling me something was wrong. As the person speaking finished her last words, we all held our breath. I couldn't see anyone else, but I could only assume the looks on their faces as the minutes passed with nothing happening. After what I assume was around 5 minutes of nothing but silence, a shuffling next to me made me sorry my eyes open.

One of the boys was moving, an annoyed look on his face.

"I told you this wasn't going to work man, let's actually do something fun and crack open one of the bottles." He was starting to stand, to break the circle, we hadn't even tried to officially end. I called out "wait!" at the same time as the girl performing it but it was too late. He stood, letting go of the hands next to him and moving towards one of the backpacks. Everything next happened in very quick succession.

He grabbed the backpack and all of the candles went out at once, putting us all in darkness. I scramble for a lantern near me as a few others call out in surprise; some are laughing. I manage to find a lantern, my heart pounding out of my chest, and turn it on. I turn to face the group, I see closely in the distance the reflection of eyes, the glint of teeth visible only because of the large grin on the face of the creature.

I ignored the cave dweller that blew out the candles. I pointed out the slight breeze that was being pulled into the mine to the group as the other lanterns flick on. Any tension dissipated and the seance was over, everything packed away as the alcohol was brought out. I moved so I sat near where the dweller had been, making an invisible boundary so no one would go farther in.

Things were fine after that, while I stayed sober the other teenager got drunk. Ghost stories were passed around giving the setting, supposed true experiences some of them had been through. No one brought up any creatures though, all stories based around ghosts. A few about champ, one about Bigfoot. This is when the conversation took the worst possible turn, and where it all went to hell.

"Do you really think shit like that exists?" One boy called out after the Bigfoot story, his words slurred.

"Bigfoot? Don't know man, I wasn't telling the truth." The storyteller replies, causing complaints to be thrown around by the others. They all knew it wasn't true.

"Not just him, all of that bullshit? We all knew that the seance was fake. But the other stuff, the indians 'round here sure think so." The first boy continued on, messily downing a shot as he talked. My heart rate started to pick up, I didn't like where this was going.

We had a good size Native reservation an hour and a half north of us near the top of the lake. Many families went up there to buy cigarettes and chew in bulk for dirt cheap. Their folk stories had managed to trickle down into the southern town as the years went on, some of the most famous ones were also a part of their beliefs. I don't even enjoy typing their names, but I will for this specific exchange only.

"Are you talking about the Skinwalkers?" The girl who performed the seance added in and I shook my head. I was wrong to hope she'd be smart enough to not say it after all the research she'd done. "I think it's much more believable compared to ghosts, their stories have been around for generations."

I agreed with her, though I did also believe in ghosts. The longer a stories continued to survive without any changes to it, the more likely it was real.

"Yeah those things, or the Rake," I didn't point out that the Rake wasn't Native, it was however believed to exist in this area so I gave him credit. "No one's ever seen one, not one person in this town. You think they'd go after the night hunters if they were existing and all."

I was uncomfortable as the conversation switched to drunken ideas on how to find one and if they were even real. The name was being repeated over and over, either they didn't know or just didn't care.

"What about the other one, oh what's it's name, the dear looking thing. Imagine the rack you'd get off that thing." The boy from before said with a raised voice, the comment made the group erupt in laughs. My blood ran cold, I opened my mouth to try to redirect the conversation.

"I think tha-" I was cut off by the only one in the group I mildly liked, someone who I knew knew not to say it.

"You talkin' 'bout the Wendigo? That thing supposed to be a killer bud. Doubt you'd get a shot off before it'd get ya with how bad your aim is." I stared at him, baffled and angry, as the conversation turned into an argument over aiming skills. I was afraid, very much so, and had the right to be if everything said about the beast was true.

I needed to leave, to get the fuck out of there before it got to us, but I wasn't going to make the 2 mile walk to the cars by myself. So I stayed there, sitting on that cold dirt floor as they all laughed and drank and ignored the hell they just created. Not that any of us really knew what was going to happen. After this incident I always listen to my instincts because if I had left at the start, I would have never seen the thing.

Time drew on for what felt like hours, but it was only around 30 minutes later that all the alcohol had been drunk and the group seemed to be getting ready to leave. I didn't want to stay, but I didn't want to get up and walk into those woods. Yet I did, picking up all the trash as the group got everything packed away. With a bag of trash in one hand, and a lantern in the other, I forced myself into a spot near the front of the group.

As one of the only sober people there, there were three in total for each car, I also needed to help direct the 9 drunk teenagers down the crush covered path back to the cars; to safety. I was scared to say the least, the darkness of the woods, the idea of that spirit being somewhere in the area, it all elevated my heart rate even more.

We were just over a mile into the hike when we stopped for a piss break. Each sober person took a group of three to watch to stop them from wandering off. None of the small groups were over 6 feet from each other, all keeping close to the trail. I watched the drunkards in front of me as they took turns going behind a tree to piss.

It was as I watched the guy, making sure he would fall over, something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention. I almost had to force myself to look towards the trees to the left, just barely making out something in the distance.

Antlers, and ones nearly 8 feet up in the air.

My stomach lurched in my chest and I desperately shot my eyes back towards the 3 in front of me. I didn't see it, it's not there, I'm not going to die.

I was on edge as the group was brought back together, and despite my efforts I was forced to watch the back of the group. We had less than a mile to go but I felt that it was already too late, and it was. About 5 minutes later the noises of branches breaking behind us brought the back of the group to a halt. My heart hammered in my chest as I turned around, knowing what would be there.

It was about 30 feet behind us, standing in the middle of the trail we had just been. I couldn't bring myself to look away as it started us all down, as its soulless eyes met mine. I had no choice but to accept what in front of me was real. I thought I was going to puke or pass out, maybe a combination of the both.

Someone started to say something but then it moved closer, far closer than I thought it could in a mere second, and I was instinctively yelling at everyone to run. I bolted, running as fast as I could the way we needed to go. Noises told me that some of the others followed, and screaming told me others hadn't had the time.

Everything was a blur after I started running, I kept running until I was steps from getting in a car. My lungs burned, my legs ached, and I felt like I was going to pass out. As I got in the car I made myself wait, told myself I'd sit there for 10 minutes before leaving anyone not in my vehicle here.

After 10 minutes everyone was here except 4 kids, one being a designated driver, though I could care less if the other drove themselves home drunk. The one who had said its name had also not shown up. I knew I was speeding as I drove off, heading towards the house of one of the kids in the car.

I thought I had somehow escaped death, had just seen something to scar me for the rest of my life, but the days after the event proved differently. I was the only one who remembered what happened, some kids actually didn't remember the events after leaving the cave, but everyone gave me a weird look when I brought up the 4 who had died. They all believed they had gotten back to the house with us, none of them remembered the sound of the screams or what had been there.

I was confused, thankfully the parents there acknowledged the missing kids, but it didn't explain the rest of the group. It wasn't until after the parents went to go look for them I came to a plausible explanation: not everyone had actually turned around. That had to be it.

I knew for a fact two who had died had been behind me, and the other two somewhere in front. Everyone who saw it had died, everyone but me. That's where things didn't make sense, and to this day still don't. I can only assume the answer I came to was correct and somehow I was spared from the fate of death.

The parents found what was left of the bodies of the 4 others on the trail, and police investigation ruled it as a bear attack. A real possible answer, given both black and brown bears existed in the area. I knew it was wrong, I knew that evil spirit had killed them, that it had spared my life.

Some of you may be questioning how exactly this fucked my life over besides some mental scarring. How being spared sealed my fate to something terrible. I'll try to explain it now.

I saw something that on the ranking was mid tier. It wasn't just some fairy or gnome, it was a malevolent spirit known by many. I acknowledged its existence that night, something I know now shouldn't have allowed my life to continue. The forces in control of this park let us humans live here normally as long as we feign ignorance to the other things that live here with us; they want to stay a secret from the rest of the population.

Many humans don't believe what they see anyways, and anytime someone died from one it's because they did believe. They saw it for what it was, and that means they could therefore spread that information to others. That's why they killed people, and while I'm making it sound like it's the humans fault, many of these things purposely put you into a situation where you're forced to acknowledge them just so they can kill you. The Feasters are just one to use that tactic.

Some people do live after it if what they saw was low tier, like a gnome. To avoid going into detail right now, my ranking is based on the survivability after encountering one; low tier high survival and vise versa. I'm still not sure why some mean death while others don't, but I do know my experience should have been the end.

The malevolent spirit saw something in me and let me go, to put it simply, what exactly that was is for a later story. By doing so, I was now allowed to openly acknowledge everything else without fear of death. I was given some fucked up right to view them all, to see the area I lived in for what it actually was. Now at the time, I was unaware of all of this, and thought I had somehow gotten lucky enough to avoid death.

With new memories scared into my mind, I continued for the next few months believing everything was fine. That was quickly destroyed by the first encounter I had with a rather close, but untrustworthy, friend of mine.

That story is for another day however, as it's far later than I thought, and I have to get up at 01:00 for my bounty tomorrow. I hope this satisfied you all for now, I'll be back soon enough with more.

And remember,

Don't look at them, don't speak to them, don't trust them.