Camping Trip

About three weekends ago, I went camping in the Huntsville National Forest in Texas. There were three friends of mine (they came home for the weekend) and me. These three friends of mine are all in college, but we usually get together at least once a year. This year, we planned to go backpacking deep into the forest and live off of fish we catch and animals we trap. We've been doing this for a while in numerous places, so we're pretty much used to anything you'd encounter out there.

It was my turn to pick where we went camping, so I chose Huntsville, TX. We drove up there, parked our car, and started walking off into the forest. Everyone was catching up with each other, so we had some laughs along the way. We walked until it started to get dark, then stopped to set up camp. Everyone gathered wood to make a fire and we pitched our tent, then we did what we always do: try and scare each other with weird stories.

Around this time, we started to smell something very faint. It wasn't overbearing, but it WAS noticeable. We couldn't put our fingers on what it was. Nonetheless, we carried on with our lives. Eventually, Mike had to go piss and he walked off into the forest. A moment later, he came running back with piss all down his jeans like he'd missed really bad. We immediately started crack up and throw jokes at him before we noticed he was white as snow and trying to catch his breath. He started screaming for us to follow him before he ran off into the forest.

All of us get serious and follow him, not knowing what the problem was. We started to hear a faint screaming and crying in the distance, in the direction we were running. It was pitch black away from the camp and Mike had the only flashlight (we left ours at the camp, but he had his from his trip taking a piss), so at this stage we didn't have much choice but to follow the light, which was frantically pointing here and there in front of him.

The screaming got closer and Mike started to slow down. We noticed a ratty, old cabin that looked abandoned, save for a faint light coming from one of the old mildew-covered windows. The crying was intense; whoever it was couldn't breathe enough to let out a full yell. We followed Mike up to the front door and we could hear the crying from inside. As soon as he knocked on the door, it stopped.

We waited for a moment before hearing really heavy footsteps walking fast to the door. There was a giant slam, then the sound of a bolt unlocking. Then...silence. We waited for a bit and knocked a few more times, but still nothing else happened. We walked around the house and eventually noticed a window that was a good ways up. Alex took a deep breath and asked us to give him a boost so he could see inside. Mike lifted him up to the window. We watched Alex brush away dirt and webs and place his face close to the window to try and see something.

Suddenly, he breathed in fast and let out a scream. He fell back from the window, screaming bloody murder the whole way. We tried to calm him down, but he was hysterical. He started to shake, punch, kick, you name it, and took off towards the camp.

None of us wanted to be separated, so we ran close behind him. We caught up, grabbed Alex, and set him down. The fire was dying out, so I grabbed some nearby wood and added it to the fire. My hands were shaking. I had to do something. I went back to Alex and we tried to calm him down. He wouldn't budge; he kept screaming and was breathing so hard he eventually fainted.

All of us were terrified and we kept the fire high until sunrise. Periodically, Alex kept waking up, screaming like before. By sunrise he was up and looked catatonic, just mumbling to himself and whispering.

Mike and I decided to go look at the cabin, since it was daylight. We searched where we thought it was, but there was nothing there. Nothing at all. The indistinct smell from last night had grown to a very strong smell of something dead, something stale. We headed back to the camp site. When we got there, we found Alex had chewed into the sides of his face and had swallowed so much blood, he was throwing up. Joh was at his back and he looked like he was about to die of exhaustion. I guess all of us looked that way, but I hadn't noticed until I saw his face. "We need to leave. Now," Alex said quietly.

We started to pack up the tent. At around noon, it started to rain heavily and the sky began to grow really dark. Alex started to go into a panic; he grabbed a big stick and yelled at us to leave it and go or he'd knock us out and drag us away himself. Mike started to yell at him and they began to fight. The rest of us broke it up, finished packing, and we started to make our way back.

After a little while, we arrived at a creek we had crossed the previously day, only to find it flooded over. The water moved too fast for us to cross. Alex started scream again, yelling at Mike for taking his time packing up the tent when we could've gotten out of here. This went on for a while until we finally convinced Alex to calm down and tell us what happened.

He explained everything. As soon as he put his face to the glass, someone on the other side did the same and started smiling really big. The person had dark eyes and a dark mouth, both of which much bigger than Alex's eyes and mouth. As the smile got as large as it could, a giant shadow behind it swung something down and sliced the person's face off. The face slid down the window eventually started to laugh quietly. Mike, still pissed off (and, though he wouldn't admit it, beginning to get freaked out), started to argue again. We started to follow the creek for a way to cross.

We started to see toys floating in the creek. They were really old toys: old Barbie and baby dolls. This wasn't like any old trash floating in the creek, either. This was a lot of dolls. One washed toward the side and Mike picked it up. It had some kind of voice chip that was dying and started to say some gurgling words we couldn't understand, followed by its sad excuse for laughter. After that, it sounded like it was whispering. We decided the batteries might be dying, so Mike threw it down. We kept going, the sun starting to set.

Alex was freaking out even more now, whimpering and breathing heavily. We started to see shadows move behind trees, something we all called BS on until we were all seeing it. By the time it was barely light out, we stopped as we saw the cabin right in front of us. None of us knew what to think. "This is bullshit," Mike said. "I'm going in there." Alex tried to stop him; in fact, we all do. We just wanted to go home. Mike tells us to fuck off and do our own thing, because he didn't care anymore. He kept saying how it was all bullshit.

We started to hear hundreds of the same sort of doll from before. That laughing, whispering, and attempt to sing was really unsettling. We started to move forward past the cabin, pushing forward. The scent of something dead was in the air. It was the same as before. It wasn't long before we started to hear crying and screaming again. We kept walking and eventually left the woods. We got back to our vehicle and hopped in. It was pitch black, but we drove. Near the 45 to Houston, the road was under construction, but there was a detour pointed out. We headed toward it; it was a small, bumpy dirty road leading into the woods. We stopped the car.

A young girl came up to the car. She looked like she was in trouble, but nonetheless young and pretty. She approached the passenger-side door, looking drugged up or beaten. Alex doesn't roll down the windows or open the door. The girl reached for the handle and he immediately hit the lock button. Afterward, she put her face to the window and began to smile really big. We floored it. Alex started to cry and scream, but by that point we were all breathing heavily. We finally cut to a street that took us to the 45 and we took it the whole way. When we got back to my apartment, nobody knew what to say. We broke apart and went our separate ways.

Mike messaged me later, saying he was going back. I tried to convince him otherwise, but all he does is claim it was our own minds that screwed with us. I think he just went to prove himself he wasn't scared. I can smell that stench everywhere now, and I don't go out anymore. I just stay inside and don't answer the door. Last week, everyone I met was acting really strange, both people I knew for a long time AND total strangers. My own dad, when I went to his place to eat supper with him, just watched me strangely as I sat down at the table. He didn't say a word the entire time. I kept asking him, "What's wrong?" All he would do was shake his head.

When I was leaving to go home, I turned to wave. My dad had a black eye and an open mouth. His face was contorted in pain. When I started to walk back, he shut the door and bolted it. I stayed there, knocking and knocking, but nothing happened. I called him later, but his phone was disconnected. I even called the police. Halfway through the questions they were asking me, the connection started to fade to static...but I could hear a faint mumbling, singing, and laughing.

Mike has completely vanished. There is not even ONE record of him being alive. When I call Alex's house, they talk to me like I'm some salesman. They say they don't know any Alex; the person who tells me that is Alex's mother, even. I can't get hold of John, either. Someone started knocking on my door periodically, but when I go to look, I see a face completely covering the peephole with a giant smile starting to form.

I called the cops again and instead of it turning to static, the questions got really strange. "Sir, are you affected by any drugs at the moment?" "No." "Are you coming home anytime soon?" "Excuse me?" "Come home." The phone call ended afterward. I try to call people now and all I can hear is static, bad baby doll noises, crying, and screaming. My mail slot swings every now and then, too. Someone is sliding pieces of baby dolls through it. My TV is busted, too, but when I go to piss I can hear it on. I might be going insane.

Whoever lives above me started to scream in pain and cry deeply recently. I hear giant footsteps, bangs, and something falling to the ground from their apartment. From the neighbors to the right of my apartment, I hear what sounds like a baby that never gets tended to; it sometimes even sounds like a baby doll whose batteries are dying. My phone has been ringing for a while now; it's Alex, telling me things in a language I have never heard before, nor could ever manage to repeat. I kept getting pictures sent to my email of small, black colorations, but now I can't even access my email. Someone's been knocking on the door, too. After a few minutes they start slamming against it. I start to hear the bolts unlocking one-by-one and I run to make sure to lock them back. After that, I sit and begin to cry.

What do I do? My electricity keeps dimming. My water, sinks, bath, and shower all smell like something dead's been laying in them. I keep seeing the shadow of someone behind me raising something in the air, but I take off to the other side of the apartment with my head against the wall. I have boarded my windows shut; someone was throwing rocks through them. I never could see who. I have boarded my bedroom up, too; I hear crying and screaming in there now. Now, while I'm typing this, I can see the shadow of someone behind me reflected in my computer screen.