Snapping Branches
I don’t like people much. And due to a slew of personal reasons most people don’t like me either. To punctuate exactly how much I don’t like being around others, I just recently purchased a new house so completely out of the way that my nearest neighbor is at least a mile and a half from me. That’s right, just me and nothing but the animals and trees in all directions. Now, a lot of people would call me crazy for living out here like this. If some disaster were to happen I’d pretty much be screwed, I know. But I’m at a point in my life where I don’t think I care much about that… well I thought I didn’t. I’m such a fool. Having left the town I previously lived in at about seven in the morning, it was at least mid-day by the time I’d finally hauled my beat-up truck and the few possessions I own up the curving path to my new abode. Like a monstrous serpent of earth and gravel cut right through the dense pine forest, this ‘driveway’ was about a third of a mile long in itself, and full of so many rocks and potholes I was sure I’d get stuck. But due to some miraculous stroke of luck I managed to avoid having to call a tow company. The trees and greenery finally fell away to reveal a clearing with a modestly sized cabin near its center. I stepped out of my pick-up, slamming the door behind me and causing a few birds to scatter from their nearby hiding spots among the thick and tangled pine trees. With gravel crunching underfoot I walked around to the back of the truck and began unloading. Now, I said I didn’t have many possessions. This is true. Regardless of this fact it still took me about six hours getting it all unloaded. The furniture was the hardest part. Damn-near broke my back dealing with the armchair. But like I said, I don’t do company well and this includes people for moving assistance. I groaned aloud as I stretched a bit, wiping sweat from my brow as I cast my gaze up toward the setting sun. SNAP It was a loud cracking sound that echoed deep from the woods. Must’ve been loud as hell because it was plenty audible even at such a far distance. “Damn serious tree branch right there.” I said to myself as I looked in the direction it had seemingly come from. The forest was so dense that visibility fell off at around fifty feet, being replaced with gnarled branches and darkness. Didn’t help that the sun was halfway down, causing eerie-looking shadows to stretch across the lawn toward my house. Regardless of all this, I focused my gaze on the spot intently. A deer? Bear, maybe? At some point I realized I’d been holding my breath for some silly reason, letting out a long exhale. Just when I was turning toward the steps that lead to my front porch I heard it again. Another resounding SNAP that sprang from the dark of the woods. I whirled around to face it, but again nothing was there. “Jumping at damn twigs now?” I asked myself, chuckling as I finally peel my gaze from the forest and walk into the cabin, shutting the ornately carved wooden door behind me. Standing in the entryway I looked around my new home with a grin. It really was a nice place. Had that old rustic feel to it that resonated with all the ‘classic mountain home’ vibes I’d been searching for. It’d even been given some pretty modern appliances, had some nice motion floodlights on the outside as well. And I got it all for what was practically a steal! Admittedly, I didn’t feel like unpacking too much after all that heavy lifting, so the majority of my possessions would remain in this room for now, standing up against the wall in neat stacks. I slipped my work-boots off and moved on into the kitchen to make myself some dinner. Well… ‘dinner’ being a couple cups of Ramen Noodles and a beer. I realized with a groan that I’d have to go into town for some groceries -eventually-. I went ahead and unpacked the TV and an old rocking chair, setting both objects down in my new living room so I could watch one of the many shitty B-movies I’d brought with me. I was a sucker for goofy horror stuff. I threw open the window next to me for some of that cool air and started digging into my ramen. CRACK I felt like I just about jumped out of my damn clothes when I heard it. Another snapping branch in the woods, but this one was… closer? Yes, it was definitely closer. I settled back down in my chair, but my eyes were once again glued to the forest. Why was this setting me off? The damn woods were full of animals and sticks. It wasn’t weird to hear a few snap now and then. Regardless of my attempts at telling myself how ridiculous I was being, I still gazed out the window. It was darker out there now, so I was even less likely to see anything. It was then that I realized just how quiet it was, not counting the loud fucking branches I mean. Not a bird call to be heard. Maybe they were sleeping, I thought… But why hadn’t there any crickets chirping? I’d started to feel a headache build up in the back of my skull, sweat on my brow despite the cool air blowing in through the window. “Okay, enough of that then.” I’d said aloud as I get up from my chair with a grunt, promptly shutting and latching the window. I’d started to wish that I had brought curtains with me. Figured I wouldn’t need any this far away from anyone else, but now? I felt exposed, vulnerable even. But the old .22 rifle I’d brought up here with me did provide a bit of comfort. I started back on my meal that had begun to cool, guess I’d been looking out that window for longer than I thought. Some time later I’d cleaned up and gone down the hall to my bedroom. It was about 10 PM now and a glance out the window showed only an ocean of blackness. It was one of those moonless, starless nights that made you feel like you were out in space. By now, my headache had grown considerably and I felt like I’d needed the help of my medication to get any meaningful sleep. Yeah, the meds are related to my issues regarding other people. Gulping a sleeping pill, I climbed on into the bed this cabin had also come with. The mattress was surprisingly a lot more comfortable than I thought it’d be, too! Wouldn’t be long before I’d drift off into another one of those long, dreamless sleeps I was so used to these days.. not long at…. CRACK Up I sat, looking around left and right. But what greeted me wasn’t the cozy walls of my bedroom. In all directions stretched nothing but dark, silent woods. If it hadn’t been for the lantern I wouldn’t be able to see anything. Where’d this lantern even come fro- SNAP. Stabbing through the nothingness like a knife was that damn noise again. I didn’t know what to do. Panic had begun to grip my insides like I was choking on freezing water. I had to get out of here. CRACK. I -had- to run. “No, damnit, no..” I let out as I began my frenzied dash through the forest. Branches reach out from all sides like skinny clawed hands, ripping at my clothes and skin, but I couldn’t even begin to care about my physical state at the time, I knew I just had to get out of there. SNAP Behind me, another one of those god-awful snapping sounds chased me from the dark as it drew closer… What… what was even out there? Damn it, what was it! My head felt like it was going to burst and I was absolutely covered in scrapes and cuts. I almost fall and split my skull open on a rock I didn’t see, but caught myself at the last moment. CRACK. The noises were increasing in frequency and volume, I realized. It was getting closer. Tears stung my eyes as I cried out into the darkness, as if this would stave off the futility of my situation. But just when I thought all hope was lost I broke free from the woods into a familiar clearing! “Yes, YES!” I yelled. I’d made it home, I just have to get inside, just have to…. What I see in the clearing isn’t my house. With the dim light my lantern provides I see a tree. A -massive- tree. The trunk stretches high into the sky, and its many leafless branches look like the arms of some sort of colossal upside-down insect, it’s twisted legs attempting to pluck the very moon from the sky. I’m transfixed by the sight, absolutely dumbfounded. SNAP. The horrible sound from mere feet behind me had pulled my mind back into focus. But I know it’s pointless to run now. I stand there, rooted to the ground just like the tree before me. I didn’t want to see what it is, like the mere sight of it will cause me harm. I refuse to turn around. I just… wanted it to be over with. Clenching my hands into fists, I shut my eyes tightly, waiting for the white hot pain of an early death to tear through me. Then I woke up. Drenched in sweat, I opened my eyes to see the ceiling in my room. “….God damn…” I’d said with a croak as I practically threw the sheets off of me. Rolling out of bed, I staggered into the kitchen to pour myself a glass of ice water. It felt so good, soothing my raw vocal cords. Had I been screaming in my sleep too? Those meds were supposed to keep that from happening, I’d thought as I rubbed my hand down my face. And why did that dream feel so real? That tree… I felt like I’d seen it before… It finally dawned on me after a few minutes of silent contemplation. I turned toward the back door, opening it after more hesitance than I probably needed. The back yard was expansive, surrounded by woods on all sides except the one facing my house. A few small trees dotted the lawn here and there, but smack dab at its center was a gigantic tree stump. The thing had to be at least ten or eleven feet wide by my count. I’d seen this in one of the pictures that had advertised the house on the website I found it on. Apparently most of the wood that made up my cabin came from this thing. I walked across the lawn, letting the cool morning air sooth my still very warm body until I stopped a few feet away from the stump, looking down at it. Well, this stump was certainly a lot more dead than the tree in my nightmare… but the width of it seemed spot on. Having such a god-awful dream on the first night in my -dream home- seemed par for the course with my luck. I turned and trudged my way back inside, but not before taking one last look at the woods toward the very back of my yard. It was mid-day after an uneventful morning passed, and I’d decided that maybe I would just bite the bullet and head into town for those groceries… and curtains, I grimly reminded myself. The whole way there I just kept looking into the woods on either side of my path, and when I rolled over a branch the snapping noise it caused damn-near made me swerve off the road. Those damn woods. I took a breath to calm myself. “…Just a dream, you’ll love it here.” I said. The drive took about forty minutes or so, total, but I could probably cut the time down after I remove all those rocks and fill in the potholes. The transition from dirt and gravel into pavement marked my arrival into the small pocket of civilization that was the town. Toward the center was a small shopping center that pretty much held all of the businesses here. Found myself a parking spot and went inside. I walked through the sliding doors of the grocery store, past the only employee stationed at the check-out area. Looked like an older woman, her hair tied up in a messy grey bun. She had thick glasses that really gave her an elderly librarian sort of look… I hoped to God she wasn’t chatty. After about twenty minutes of walking around on old and yellowed floor tile I’d amassed a fairly decent haul of items. I figured it was time to check out so I turned and started down the somewhat claustrophobic aisle when a snapping sound from behind caused me to come to a dead stop. “Here? There’s no way, no way, just no way.” I hear myself choking out. I whipped my head around so fast it could’ve broken my neck, but to my intense relief I just see another employee. He was using a box cutter to break plastic straps that held a box closed. I stared for a moment before a laugh slipped its way out involuntarily, causing the guy to look my way in confusion. Realizing I probably looked crazy for doing so I promptly turned and walked the rest of the way to the front. The elderly woman behind the check out counter offered me a smile, and I did the best to return the gesture, but it just felt awkward and forced, as usual. “Haven’t seen your face before. New in town?” she asks me. Inwardly I groaned. Yep, there’s the question. I attempted to answer her as cheerfully as I could muster. “Yeah, uh. Just moved in yesterday actually.” She nodded as she continues to scan my items. I wished she’d scan them faster. She spoke up again. “I can always tell, I got an eye for faces. Whereabouts are you located anyway?” I blink a few times. “Moved into a place up the dirt road, the new cabin.” I said before my brain knows what its doing. Why did I say all that? Could’ve just made something up… Well, she’s just some old lady anyway, I figured. I broke out of my train of thought when I realized she’d fixed me with a strange expression, her prior demeanor having melted away. She would then wordlessly hand me my last bag and I took it from her, confused. Had I offended her somehow? Typical. In the end I let out an awkward half-laugh before opting to leave with a quick “Goodbye.” The drive home was done in complete silence. Upon getting home, I began to hurriedly throw curtains up over all the windows. I tried to tell myself it was just for the sake of privacy, but that was a thinly veiled excuse at best. Only after blocking my view of the forest completely did I prepare dinner. I put on some music and even sang along to it, trying to block out any other potential outside sounds. More time passed and it was eventually 8 PM. The sun was well into setting. I could see only a faint bit of light slipping in from between the curtains in my living room. I sat down into my armchair that I’d unpacked a few hours ago, sighing and watching some of that mind-numbing tv. At some point I guess I’d slipped into an unwanted nap, because the next thing I knew I’m jolted awake once again by… by… Well, by the TV I’d left on, I’d so conveniently decided. Looking at at my watch I saw it was 12 AM. Great, I’d ruined my sleep schedule with a four hour nap. With a groan I rose from my chair and fumbled my way down the dark hallway to my room. I’d figured that after last night I should try two pills instead of one this time. This way I’ll be out like a light for sure. I’d taken both, slipping into bed and rolling onto my side to see my now curtained window through the gloomy darkness of my room. Twenty minutes pass and I’m really starting to feel those pills taking effect. That familiar fuzzy feeling in my brain was setting in and I was- SNAP My drooping eyes open wide, bloodshot. My gaze is locked on the window. It was out there in my yard, I just knew it was. Inwardly I fought with myself to rise from my bed and walk over to the curtains. I had to know. If I knew, I’d stop being so afraid. It’s just a damn wild animal, just an animal, just an animal. “…Just an animal..” I whispered as I pull the curtain aside just enough to peek through. It was dark out there. Dark enough that the meager moonlight only allowed vague silhouettes to reveal themselves. Had to look around around for a moment before I finally spot it. Toward the center of the clearing stood a familiar shape. A deer? No, a bit too big… I decided that it’s an elk, but it was just so hard to see that all I got was a dark elk-shaped blob. I could make out its tall, lanky legs, and its huge set of branching antlers that sprouted atop its head. I sighed in relief, grinning to myself for being such a baby about all this. I’d begun to look away when another snap from outside caused me to turn back around in confusion. What was it stepping on to make those noises? I cleared my yard pretty well this morning. I continued to watch it curiously, but I could feel those pills taking effect more and more with each passing second. After about a minute of watching the thing, it finally dawned on me. Didn’t I have motion lights? Why weren’t they on? Actually, had this thing moved at all since I started watching it? I attempted to swallow, but my throat was dry. I kept watching it, another minute passes, then two more. “…Please, just fucking move.. please..” I said, hopelessly. But it just stands there in the dark like a statue, like something fake. God damn it, why wasn’t it moving? It was wrong, everything about this was just so wrong, I decided. A noise catches my attention, a soft creaking noise coming from the elk… the -thing-. It grew in intensity until- CRACK It’s antlers, it’s god damn antlers! They twitched, then cracked and shifted like those insect-like tree limbs I’d dreamt of, like someone breaking an arm out of place in multiple angles, like- CRACK The antlers shift again, and crack again a few more times. I shut the curtains quickly to block it from view, but the memory of it is burnt into my mind. It was dark in my room. It didn’t see me, it couldn’t have seen me. Please, God, don’t let it have seen me, I thought. I just end up sitting there on the floor under the window, panting and sweating, waiting for SOMETHING to happen. But even with this fresh fear coursing through me I could feel those pills fighting to put me under. Staring up at the clock on my bedside table I started counting the passage of time. 12:30 AM…. 12:45 AM….. 12:50 AM……… I’m finally out around this time, I think, but I have that same horrible dream and I wake up screaming in the morning. From my very uncomfortable spot on the floor, I was relieved to see that there was light streaming in through the curtains. I got up, stiff from my unfortunate sleeping location, and threw them open to reveal an empty back yard with that massive stump at its center. That thing was standing on that stump, wasn’t it? No, no it wasn’t, I stubbornly thought. There wasn’t anything there. That was all…. all just some sleeping pill fueled hallucination. This whole thing has just been in my head, like everything -always- is, I tell myself. What an idiot I was. Regardless of how much I tell myself it didn’t happen, I only went outside once to get the mail down at the end of my driveway. Otherwise I was shut up in my cabin, with the music blaring. I really liked this music. I dug out some books that I hadn’t touched since buying, I put on a movie only to realize halfway through that I’d watched it the day I moved in. Something kept distracting me. The thought of that thing I saw through my window.. But I just as quickly reminded myself that it wasn’t possible. This was reality. Not some nightmare. The worst things in these woods were bears, and even then they won’t go out of their way to kill you. My attempts at reassuring myself were useless and I could feel my anxiety growing as the hours slip by. At around 6 PM I decided to shower, and I stayed in there for about an hour. Yeah, a hit to the water bill but I really needed it. I actually did feel a bit better afterwards too. Slipping into bed after changing, I sat there in silence. I figured that I’d forgo the sleeping pills, to PROVE to myself that all of this was just the side effects of some faulty drugs and I’d end up getting a lot of money for financial compensation or some shit. Yeah, they were supposed to keep me from having shitty dreams, but the last two were worse than anything I’d ever dreamt before, and I wasn’t about to go through that a third time. I stared at the clock, watching the time tick forward and internally on high alert for any totally not real noises. But, I didn’t hear anything. Only the usual forest sounds of crickets. I slid further under the covers and let sleep take me, for better or worse. Why hadn’t I just taken the damn pills? I woke up, startled awake by rapid thudding footsteps coming down my hall. It was here, here in my fucking house. How? HOW? I just kept asking myself HOW as I scrambled toward the edge of my bed, toward the wall that had my .22 mounted on it, but it was too late. My door flew open. But what stepped in wasn’t the thing outside my window. It’s was a man in dark clothes. Yes, someone had broken in. I froze in my tracks as I noticed he had a gun pointed at me. “Don’t you fucking move!” he yelled at me and I flinched from the volume. I complied, remaining stationary. “..L-look… I don’t have much to steal, y-” I tried to say, but I’m cut off by another scream from the intruder. “Shut the fuck up or I’ll blow your brains out! C’mere.” He gestured to me with the weapon and I reluctantly did as he commanded, walking towards the open door. Why was my luck so shit? I get over these nightmares just to be confronted with a very real situation like this. He’d forced me out ahead of him, into the adjacent living room down the hall. “Stand right fucking there.” he said, and I did so… I stood there silently for almost fifteen seconds. What was this? Was he thinking about what to do with me? A sharp blow to the back of my head with his gun answered that question. I fell to the floor, hitting my head again on its cool surface. The whole world just started spinning. “Had my eyes on this place for a few days.” He told me, walking around my crumbled form. I could feel a warm trail running down the back of my head from where he’d hit me. “You should really start locking your doors.” Damn it, I’d been so scatterbrained yesterday I forgot even that much? This guy had really taunted me about it too, the goddamn asshole. Couldn’t he just steal all my shit and get it over with? He had been about to hit me again, I think, when it happened. CRACK. That noise, it came suddenly and loudly. Even in my dazed state I could feel the fear bubbling up. My attacker apparently heard it to, which meant it was real. It had always been real. “What was that?” he asked aloud, looking down to me. “You got someone living here with you huh?” I shook my head as best as I could manage, but another SNAP from outside drew his attention again. “Yeah you do, fuckin’ liar.” he spat out at me. He angrily marched his way down the hall, wood creaking under his shoes as he barged out through the back door and into the darkness, bellowing loudly. “HEY! Don’t move or I’ll shoot your-” The motion sensor lights snap on like they were designed to do. They hadn’t been wrongly installed or faulty of course. The only ‘wrong’ thing in this situation was that -THING- outside. From my angle on the floor I couldn’t see the man anymore. Just the illumination cast into the room by those bright lights outside. I heard the dumbfounded confusion in the mans voice, his absolute lack of understanding at what he no-doubt saw standing in the middle of my yard. “…What the fuck.” He’d said. SNAP…. SNAP… SNAP-SNAP-SNAP-SNAP Then, the screaming began. First in terror. Sheer, unadulterated terror. I heard him running back to the house, screaming like that the whole way. The snapping and cracking was maddening, like whatever out there was excited to see that pitiful man. A shark smelling blood, is what came to my mind at the time. His screams shifted almost instantly to those of agony and he began to beg for his life. The sound of his voice was being rapidly moved from place to place outside, as if he were being thrown about by some great force. I struggled with all my might to get to my feet, and finally did so. Moving down toward the open back door, I had to fight against all my instincts that were telling me to flee right then and there. As I reached the door, I shut my eyes. I didn’t want to see it. I thought I did before, but now I knew without a doubt in my mind that I absolutely MUST NOT SEE IT. A few warm droplets splash across my face right before I slam the door shut, locking it. CRACKING, like someone bending a bundle of twigs until they all broke at the middle. I turned and frantically sprinted to my front door, the door that the would-be robber had probably come through. Finding it unlocked told me this hunch was true, and I promptly locked that door as well. Turning again to my back door, I now only realized that the screaming from outside still hadn’t stopped. It had only grown more intense. I could hear vague words and phrases. His pleading had devolved into what sounded borderline deranged. He apologized over and over to his dad, his mom, others I could only assume he knew. At one point his screaming turned into hideous laughter, only to return to screaming minutes later. Even when blood filled his lungs, even when his vocal cords were shredded, he kept screaming. Why wasn’t he dead? How wasn’t he dead? I felt absolute sorrow for this man, and he’d beat me over the head and tried to rob me only minutes earlier. SNAPPING, like someone breaking every bone in their body. How can I most accurately describe the sounds he made? Maybe… like a guy who’d fallen into a woodchipper feet first, but if his death was played out in slow motion. The man outside my house screamed like this for an hour and a half. I know this for a fact, because all I could do the whole time was stare across the room at the clock on the wall. What else could I have done besides sit and listen? The snapping noises of the thing outside and what I assumed were the mans bones being broken just blended together. Finally… mercifully, the screaming tapered off into a pitiful gurgling whine, and then silence. I sat there, I just kept sitting there, not moving. Not even to get up and clean my head wound. I sat until the sun had long since risen, and when I finally got up it felt like my body was made of jelly. I walked to the bathroom, looking into the mirror. What had felt like warm rain on my face when I’d been at the door earlier was made out to be speckles of blood that had long since dried. After frantically cleaning it all off in the sink I left the room, then looked to the back door. Walking to it made me feel like I was on the moon. Everything was in slow motion… this couldn’t have been real, I pointlessly thought. I finally pushed it open after what felt like a million years had came and went. It had been real. It had -all- been real, of course. What I saw, I’ll never forget. All the drugs in the world won’t dull that scene. Strewn about my yard was the man. Yes. I’m sure that was him, all over the place. The grass was stained red, and looking to the side of my house revealed it was painted a similar color. There was meat everywhere, organs, fractured bones stabbed vertically into the earth. But the bones were so white, so clean… I doubled over and puked up the remnants of last nights dinner, warm bile and snot coated my mouth and nose and left me choking for breath as I sputtered. Raising my head again, I noticed something else in the middle of all this carnage. The tree stump had grown into a tree again. It was -alive- again.. significantly shorter than the one in my dreams, but still definitely a tree. In the twisted branches of that tree hung the mans intestines, draped from branch to branch like fleshy powerlines. Across the front of the broad dark trunk, facing my house, lay his skin. It had been so intricately removed from his body that I could practically see the expression of frozen agony on its stretched face. The day went by in a blur and it’s almost night again. I don’t know what to do. I can’t call the fucking police about this. What do I tell them? That someone broke into my house and then… -then what-? They carefully disassembled themselves and posed their body parts in my back yard? This is the kind of thing people get executed for, I imagine. My track record isn’t the best to begin with. I’d decided it was best to just… clean it up, to hide it all and pretend it never happened. It’s hard getting several meters worth of guts out of a tree, especially when you stop to puke every five minutes… and I’ll need to buy a power washer for my walls. But I realized something else while I was out there cleaning that asshole up off my lawn, and this horrible thought only solidified into truth when I heard the increasingly close snapping of branches out in the woods a few minutes ago. That tree doesn’t look like it’s finished growing yet. 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