Hello, r/nosleep. Today I have decided to come clean by confessing my biggest fear since childhood. When I (44 year old male) was younger i lived on a farm with my family in a rural part of Slovakia, close to the border of Poland. One day me and my older brother wanted to go play outside and went into a nearby forest. We asked our parents for permission, and ran out the door the second that “yes” flew out their mouths. We hopped on our bikes and sped down the road, towards the nearby forest.

After riding for some 10-15 minutes, we parked in a ditch and ran out into the darkness. It was around 10 am at that time. We explored around and found a very branch-filled tree. We looked at each other and bet to climb the highest, the winner getting the others dessert. We liked making bets. He counted down “1” and “2” before speeding off, up the tree. I followed quickly after, but he was already about 3 meters up, and i basically had no chance of winning.

As I tried climbing up, the branch I held onto snapped, and I fell down and hit my head first. I saw my brother look down quickly, before returning to climb. But quickly after he continued, I heard a loud noise, it is hard to explain how it sounded, but it was like wind flowing fast in front of you. I looked up to see a long, almost staff like item had penetrated my brother’s leg, and screamed loudly before flying down the tree. He landed beside me, head first as well. Only this time he was too far up, and landed hardly onto the dirt. The side of his head looked like it had exploded. A big, bloody, mushy substance surrounded his head.

I screamed in horror, before a family friend, Josan, appeared before us. He put his hand over my mouth and hushed at me. He picked my up and ran with me to a fallen tree nearby. He hid us there and set up his crossbow, pointing towards my brother’s lifeless body. I was still in shock, but learned to be silent. Suddenly a human-like shout could be heard from deeper into the forest. An animal appeared, but it wasn’t. It looked like a deformed dog. It has a twisted shape, with almost human like limbs. It sniffed at the corpse, then started licking the brain mush. I was horrified, wanting to just leave this evil dream. Josan shoot at it, hitting it in the shoulder. It growled at the wound, before running into the forest. Josan followed after.

I took off running, not daring to look back. I ran for god knows how long before reaching my bike. I rode down with unimaginable speed, down towards my farmhouse. After reaching there I ran inside and locked the door. My parents heard the commotion and asked what all was. I simply replied with “training” before heading towards me and my brothers bedroom. It was already late by then, and I fell asleep. From that night on and for the next 6 years, I would hear those human-like screeches, almost calling out to me. I moved out the day I filled 18. Ever since then I feared that forest.

I’m planning on returning there for winter-break, and I’m gonna kill that goddamn dog, whatever it takes. Josan went missing a couple weeks after the incident, and I’m gonna avenge him and my brother. I’ve purchased a rifle, a 22. If I remember correctly. If this is my last time on this earth, it was a good run.