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I don't usually tell this story, either because I don't wish to spook people with it, or because I don't want to relive it. I can't exactly tell. Either way, I suppose since you're willing, I am as well...
This was back at the old cabin, the one my grandfather had given my father after he passed away. I was younger, maybe 16 or 17, around your age. We had recently moved in from an, admittedly worse, trailer situation. We'd only been there around a month. We were grateful, but that cabin was old. It was a small, 1 story shack with faded wood siding, well 2 story if you count the attic as a room, which apparently my parents did, because that's where I slept. The windows rattled with the wind, the roof leaked in a few places, and you could occasionally get a whiff of mildew. It had a large property though, a few acres of thick woodland, plaines, and a marsh on the west end of the property. There was nobody for miles around. My pop always liked his alone time, explains why we never did find out how exactly he died. Anyways, for all its flaws, it was better than our previous situation. I don't miss that house. I might have, if what I'm about to tell you didnt happen, but, it did. And now I'm stuck with the memories of it.
I was always an outdoorsy kid, even back when we lived in the trailer, we were parked on a few acres of woodland. I got used to going off alone. Wandering the woods, finding dead animals, collecting rocks, jumping in creeks, and whatnot. Looking back, it probably wasn't the wisest on my parents' part, but they had other problems than to keep an eye on me. Maybe that's how this whole thing happened in the first place...in any case, I was used to my woodland excursions, and this property was no different. Over the month I had been there, I was out trying to familiarize myself with the property. It was a large place, I'd say by then I'd only explored around 30% of it. I was the weird kid, my brother, your dad, wanted nothing to do with my excursions, especially the ones at night, which were the majority of them haha.
It was a cold night, I had my carhartt on, a gift from your grandpa. I was pretty dar off, on a thin, overgrown, trail in the woods beside the marsh. The moon wasn't very full, so most of my light came from my flashlight. The small, dinky flashlight I grabbed was running out of battery and starting to flicker. I gave it a few good smacks and it seemed to cooperate, though it was still faintly flickering, and not quite as bright as before. I was gettin a little spooked, so I decided it might be wise to start making my way back home. Then I heard something in the marsh, this loud, rhythmic, rapid, high pitched clicking sound, almost like someone chattering their teeth after getting out of some cold water. *click click click*.
At first I thought it was just a bug, or maybe a rabbit, a frog? I had no idea but it was the most logical explanation I could come up with at the time. It still spooked me just as much as it should have though, and I turned 'round real quick. I started walking back towards the cabin, the way I came. A few minutes later, I heard it again. *click click click*, I froze. I wasn't anywhere near the place I'd heard it before. Something was moving in the marsh to my right. I frantically aimed my flashlight at it. It was too far off for the dying flashlight to reach it fully, but I could just make out the silhouette of what seemed to be a deer. "Oh", I thought, "it's just a deer". It's head faced towards me, not moving. The noise had stopped. It stood motionless for what felt like ages, and eventually I worked up the courage to walk off, keeping an eye on it as I walked until it was out of sight.
It was freaky, but not out of the ordinary to have a deer stare at you like that, unsure if it should run, but for that long? Odd. I kept walking, checking over my shoulder, and the checking marsh beside me, watching for any movement. Maybe I was just being paranoid, after all, I was already spooked before seeing the deer. Then I heard the clicking again, *click click click*, still from the marsh, but closer this time. Once again, I snapped my flashlight towards the noise, but this time, I didn't see anything. But whatever it was saw me, because the clicking stopped. My heart was racing, this wasn't normal. I kept walking, more like jogging. I wasn't hearing it anymore but I didn't care. Suddenly I tripped. I wasn't paying attention while running i guess, it's something you should never do in a forest with all those roots and rocks, but I wasn't thinking about that. By this time, the trail had headed deeper into the forest, and I was left sprawled out in a patch of weeds. I heard the clicking again, this time a bit off behind me. *click click click* faster this time. I scrambled to sit up and twist to look behind me. I aimed my flashlight into the woods, and this time whatever it was, was in range of my dying flashlight. It was that deer...but it looked wrong. It was slowly advancing, it's movements were jerky and sudden, it's head was too long, it's body too wiry. Its rib cage was almost fully visible, as if it were wrapped in plastic wrap, and it was missing an antler, but just one, snapped off. It's other antler was enormous, growing in unnatural directions, like gnarled vines, with far too many branches. I tried to scramble to my feet. It's mouth opened, revealing rows of jagged teeth. It opened so wide, I thought its head would split in two. Just then, my flashlight finally gave out on me and I was plunged into darkness. *click click click*.
I bolted, I didn't look back. I didn't listen for any more noises. My only goal was home, safety. Eventually I could see the cabin in the distance, the old shack never seemed so inviting. I ran inside, and slammed the screen door shut, closed and locked the main door, and stood there for a moment, processing what just happened. Your dad was on the couch, sleeping, and your gran and pop were in their room. I didn't want to wake them up, that was our one rule and they'd never believe my explanation, so I went back to my room, shaking. I tried to sleep, but really couldn't after that. And I could have sworn that right outside my second floor window, I could hear that *click click click*.