Latest / Martin Animations / 5 LONELY AT NIGHT Horror Stories Animate

Transcript

5 LONELY AT NIGHT Horror Stories Animate · Martin Animations

0:03
Speaker 1: My story isn't crazy long, but it's one of the
0:05
Speaker 1: wildest things that's ever happened to me. I still think
0:08
Speaker 1: about it now and how close I came to getting
0:10
Speaker 1: ripped off by people I thought were my friends, so
0:14
Speaker 1: here we go. It was a Friday night a few
0:17
Speaker 1: years back. I was supposed to go out with Ethan, Marcus,
0:20
Speaker 1: and a few other buddies. Just some bar hopping, nothing major.
0:24
Speaker 1: But that afternoon, I got hit with something nasty. Fever, chills,
0:28
Speaker 1: full body sweats. My stomach twisted itself into knots, and
0:32
Speaker 1: the thought of even standing up, let alone drinking, made
0:35
Speaker 1: me want to puke on the spot. I shot Ethan
0:38
Speaker 1: a text and told him I'm out for the night.
0:41
Speaker 1: He hit me back with a laughing emoji, called me soft.
0:45
Speaker 1: I told him to have a drink for me and
0:46
Speaker 1: crashed on my couch, with Netflix playing in the background.
0:51
Speaker 1: I must have dozed off because the next time I
0:52
Speaker 1: looked at my phone, it was well past midnight. My
0:55
Speaker 1: fever had eased up a little bit, but my body
0:57
Speaker 1: still felt wrung out. The TV flickered in the dark,
1:01
Speaker 1: some show playing I can't even remember putting on. I
1:04
Speaker 1: barely even had the energy to sit up, so I
1:07
Speaker 1: just let my eyes unfocus, sinking in and half out
1:10
Speaker 1: of sleep. And then I heard this metallic scrape. At first,
1:15
Speaker 1: I thought it was the TV, some weird sound effect,
1:17
Speaker 1: but when I turned the volume down, I heard it again.
1:21
Speaker 1: And this time, it was followed by whispering. Outside. My
1:27
Speaker 1: body went rigid, whispering. Low, hushed voices just outside my door.
1:32
Speaker 1: My mind quickly scrambled for some kind of explanation. Was
1:35
Speaker 1: it the neighbors, or maybe drunk kids messing around? But
1:41
Speaker 1: then I heard that metallic scrape again, but it was
1:43
Speaker 1: longer this time, like something being dragged across my lock.
1:47
Speaker 1: My stomach quickly turned to ice. I slid off the couch,
1:51
Speaker 1: moving slowly and carefully. The TV cast just enough light
1:55
Speaker 1: to keep me from tripping as I crept towards the
1:57
Speaker 1: front room. I pressed my back against the wall near
2:01
Speaker 1: the window, took a deep breath, and then just barely,
2:05
Speaker 1: barely peeked through the side of the curtain. Two men,
2:09
Speaker 1: dressed in dark clothes, both wearing ski masks. One was
2:13
Speaker 1: hunched over my front door, working at the lock with
2:15
Speaker 1: something thin and metallic. A lockpick. The other stood a
2:19
Speaker 1: few feet back, glancing around, shifting from foot to foot
2:22
Speaker 1: like he was really nervous. My throat locked up immediately.
2:25
Speaker 1: This ain't a prank. This is real. I stumbled back
2:30
Speaker 1: from the window and fumbled for my phone. My hands
2:33
Speaker 1: were slick with sweat as I unlocked it and dialed 911.
2:38
Speaker 1: The dispatcher answered, voice steady and professional. 911, what's your emergency?
2:46
Speaker 1: There's two guys outside my house. I swallowed hard. They're
2:50
Speaker 1: trying to break in. Can you confirm your address, sir?
2:55
Speaker 1: I gave it to her, whispering. My body felt electric.
2:59
Speaker 1: every nerve on edge. Where are they in the house?
3:05
Speaker 1: Front room. I can see them through the window. I
3:07
Speaker 1: don't think they know I'm home. Stay quiet. Officers are
3:11
Speaker 1: en route. I peered back through the curtain, breathing barely.
3:17
Speaker 1: The guy at the door continued to jiggle the knob,
3:19
Speaker 1: muttering something. I could just make out his voice now,
3:22
Speaker 1: rough and impatient. But at the same time, it was familiar.
3:28
Speaker 1: A sick feeling crawled up my spine. I knew that voice.
3:32
Speaker 1: I told the dispatcher, barely even believing my own words.
3:37
Speaker 1: I think I know one of them. There was a
3:41
Speaker 1: pause on the other end. You recognize him? I mean,
3:46
Speaker 1: I can't see his face, but his voice? My mouth
3:49
Speaker 1: went dry. Yeah. Yeah, I do. Were you supposed to
3:56
Speaker 1: be out tonight, sir? That question hit me like a slap.
4:01
Speaker 1: I blinked, my brain working slower than it probably should
4:04
Speaker 1: have been. Yeah, I whispered. I was supposed to be
4:08
Speaker 1: out tonight. The dispatcher's tone then sharpened. It's not uncommon
4:15
Speaker 1: for burglars to plan jobs based on when they know
4:17
Speaker 1: somebody won't be home. You may have been targeted by
4:22
Speaker 1: somebody you know. A cold weight then settled in my gut.
4:27
Speaker 1: I stared at the guy at the door, his build,
4:29
Speaker 1: his movements, the way he was shifting when he got frustrated.
4:33
Speaker 1: Every part of him was screaming something I didn't want
4:36
Speaker 1: to believe. Ethan. That realization made my skin crawl. My friend?
4:43
Speaker 1: A guy I was supposed to be out drinking with.
4:46
Speaker 1: He thought I wasn't home. He thought my house was empty.
4:50
Speaker 1: The dispatcher kept talking, telling me to stay on the line,
4:53
Speaker 1: but I wasn't listening. I hung up and called Ethan. Outside,
4:59
Speaker 1: I saw his phone light up in his pocket. He froze.
5:03
Speaker 1: The other guy just looked at him, confused. Ethan hesitated
5:06
Speaker 1: and stared at his phone for a second. Then, instead
5:10
Speaker 1: of answering, he sent it to voicemail. My stomach twisted,
5:14
Speaker 1: and I called again. This time, he didn't even check,
5:17
Speaker 1: just let it ring. I swallowed down the fear and
5:21
Speaker 1: that rage bubbling up underneath my skin. I typed out
5:24
Speaker 1: a text with shaking fingers. I'm home and I can
5:28
Speaker 1: see you. Ethan checked his phone and stared at the
5:33
Speaker 1: screen and then bolted. I watched him and the other
5:37
Speaker 1: guy sprint down the street, their dark figures vanishing into
5:40
Speaker 1: the night. But they didn't make it far. The second
5:44
Speaker 1: they hit the driveway, red and blue lights flashed and
5:46
Speaker 1: sirens ripped out through the air. The cops were already here.
5:52
Speaker 1: The moment the sirens hit, Ethan and his accomplice skidded
5:55
Speaker 1: to a stop, and for a split second, they looked
5:58
Speaker 1: at one another, then bolted in opposite directions. It didn't matter, though.
6:03
Speaker 1: The cops were already fanning out, voices barking commands. Hands
6:08
Speaker 1: where I can see them! Down on the ground now!
6:13
Speaker 1: Ethan hesitated just for a second, then dropped to his knees,
6:16
Speaker 1: hands in the air. His friend wasn't as smart. They
6:19
Speaker 1: made it halfway across my neighbor's yard before two officers
6:22
Speaker 1: tackled them hard into the grass. I stood there frozen
6:26
Speaker 1: in my window, watching it all unfold. It really didn't
6:30
Speaker 1: feel real. The same guy I shared drinks with, laughs with,
6:34
Speaker 1: confided in, was now cuffed face down on the pavement.
6:40
Speaker 1: A few moments later, the officers knocked on my door.
6:42
Speaker 1: I let them in, and my legs were still feeling
6:44
Speaker 1: like they weren't attached to my body. I gave my
6:47
Speaker 1: statement and recounted everything that I saw. The whole time,
6:51
Speaker 1: my voice was distant, like I was telling somebody else's story.
6:56
Speaker 1: It turns out Ethan and his buddy weren't first-timers. They
7:00
Speaker 1: were tied to a string of break-ins across the town.
7:03
Speaker 1: Small stuff mostly, electronics, cash, anything that could flip quick.
7:07
Speaker 1: He'd been robbing houses for months and months now, including
7:11
Speaker 1: mine apparently. The reality of it all didn't hit me
7:16
Speaker 1: until after the cops left and my house was quiet again.
7:20
Speaker 1: I locked the door, double checked the windows, and then
7:23
Speaker 1: sat in the dark staring at my phone. I don't
7:27
Speaker 1: really know what I was waiting for. A follow up
7:29
Speaker 1: for the police or my friends, really anything, but nobody
7:33
Speaker 1: reached out. I sat up for most of the night
7:36
Speaker 1: totally perplexed, half paranoid. It was a really weird feeling.
7:41
Speaker 1: I ended up just taking more cold and flu medicine
7:43
Speaker 1: and forced myself to pass back out. Over the next
7:48
Speaker 1: few weeks, I distanced myself from some of the more
7:51
Speaker 1: sketchy friends I'd made over the years and got all
7:54
Speaker 1: the info I could on Ethan. He went away for
7:57
Speaker 1: a few months, maybe a year, but he's out and
7:59
Speaker 1: about again. He even tried apologizing to me, but I
8:03
Speaker 1: still don't talk to him. Folks like that definitely aren't
8:06
Speaker 1: worth the trouble. I didn't think twice about that night
8:15
Speaker 1: when it started. It was just one of those evenings.
8:18
Speaker 1: That same routine that I'd done a hundred times before.
8:22
Speaker 1: I got off work early. One of those rare miracles
8:24
Speaker 1: that really didn't happen very often. But I didn't question it.
8:28
Speaker 1: Picked up Darcy from the babysitter. Buckled her up into
8:31
Speaker 1: the car seat while she babbled along about the cool
8:33
Speaker 1: stuff that she did that day. The usual. The house
8:37
Speaker 1: was dark when I got home. The late autumn chill
8:39
Speaker 1: creeping in.
8:40
Speaker 2: Darcy.
8:41
Speaker 1: Darcy. clung to her stuffed rabbit as I carried her inside,
8:44
Speaker 1: picking the door shut behind us. The house smelled like garbage,
8:49
Speaker 1: adding to the list of stuff I needed to get done.
8:52
Speaker 1: I flicked on the lights and sat her down, and
8:54
Speaker 1: shrugged off my coat. I was just about to start
8:57
Speaker 1: dinner when my phone buzzed. I am going to be
9:00
Speaker 1: late at least another hour. Of course. I sighed, stuffing
9:06
Speaker 1: my phone back into my pocket. That left me alone
9:09
Speaker 1: with Darcy, longer than expected. I guess not a big deal,
9:13
Speaker 1: but I was already tired. I just needed to get
9:15
Speaker 1: the house together. Okay, kiddo, I said, scooping her up.
9:21
Speaker 1: Let's get you set up so mommy can get rolling.
9:23
Speaker 1: I plopped her in front of the living room with
9:25
Speaker 1: a sippy cup and her toys, turning on something animated
9:28
Speaker 1: to keep her occupied. She giggled, completely unaware that my
9:32
Speaker 1: energy was running on fumes. The kitchen was cold, even
9:36
Speaker 1: with the oven on. I moved throughout the motions, chopping
9:40
Speaker 1: vegetables and setting water to boil. That kind of mindless
9:43
Speaker 1: task that you do on autopilot. My phone buzzed again.
9:47
Speaker 1: Another text from Tyler. As I typed out a reply,
9:50
Speaker 1: I heard something from the living room. This soft thump.
9:55
Speaker 1: I thought for a second, maybe I dropped a package
9:58
Speaker 1: of pork chops on the floor. No, they were still
10:01
Speaker 1: on the counter. Okay, well, maybe Darcy knocked something over.
10:05
Speaker 1: One of her toys. But then a few seconds later,
10:08
Speaker 1: I heard something else. Something closer to a jingle. I
10:12
Speaker 1: turned my head, frowning. Alright, something's off. I stood there
10:17
Speaker 1: for a moment, knife still in hand, trying to listen
10:20
Speaker 1: past the sound of boiling water. The house went back
10:23
Speaker 1: to quiet again. No thumps, no jingling. Maybe I imagined it.
10:30
Speaker 1: I shook my head and went back to chopping. Pulse
10:32
Speaker 1: just a little quicker now. Tyler texted me again. I'm sorry,
10:38
Speaker 1: I'm ready to be home. What's for dinner? I started
10:43
Speaker 1: typing back when another sound reached me. Not a thump
10:46
Speaker 1: this time, this kind of whoosh, like air moving where
10:49
Speaker 1: it shouldn't be. I turned my head towards the living room.
10:53
Speaker 1: A breeze? I could feel it now, drifting into the kitchen,
10:57
Speaker 1: sending a cold draft across the back of my neck.
11:00
Speaker 1: I dropped my phone. The front door was open, wide open.
11:06
Speaker 1: The next second was pure electric panic. My stomach flipped.
11:11
Speaker 1: I ran, nearly knocking over a chair. Darcy? Darcy? My
11:16
Speaker 1: voice cracked as I burst into the living room. Empty.
11:21
Speaker 1: The sippy cup was on its side, dripping milk into
11:23
Speaker 1: the carpet. Her stuffed rabbit lay abandoned near the couch.
11:28
Speaker 1: The front door gaped open to the night, a dark
11:31
Speaker 1: mouth swallowing up my child. I ran to the threshold,
11:35
Speaker 1: heart slamming, eyes darting across the yard. The porch light
11:40
Speaker 1: wasn't even on. Pure black and no Darcy. My brain blinked.
11:46
Speaker 1: I couldn't perceive or process it. One second she was
11:49
Speaker 1: there and the next, gone. I staggered out into the
11:53
Speaker 1: porch barefoot, cold slapping at my legs. I screamed her
11:58
Speaker 1: name into the night. Darcy, baby, where are you? No answer.
12:03
Speaker 1: I ran down the steps and scanned the yard, the driveway,
12:06
Speaker 1: the sidewalk. My pulse was roaring in my ears. Could
12:10
Speaker 1: she have gone toward the street? The backyard? My mind
12:13
Speaker 1: raced through every horrible possibility. And then I heard movement,
12:18
Speaker 1: a rustle from beneath the porch. I spun, breath sharp
12:22
Speaker 1: in my throat. I dropped to my hands and knees,
12:25
Speaker 1: peering through the latticework. There she was. Darcy crouched against
12:30
Speaker 1: the foundation, wide-eyed and silent. Her tiny hands clutched her shirt,
12:35
Speaker 1: but she wasn't crying, just staring. Baby, I gasped out.
12:41
Speaker 1: My voice was shaking. Come here, come to mommy. She
12:45
Speaker 1: didn't move. I reached for her, trying to stay calm,
12:49
Speaker 1: but then I saw it. The thing in the shadow
12:53
Speaker 1: was just a foot away from her. A skunk. Its
12:57
Speaker 1: black and white shape curled tight, tail raised, nose twitching
13:01
Speaker 1: as it watched me with these beady little eyes. The
13:05
Speaker 1: pulse slammed harder. Darcy was trapped. One move from getting sprayed,
13:11
Speaker 1: or even worse, bitten. My hands curled into fists, and
13:15
Speaker 1: I forced myself to breathe. Panic would not help. Darcy, sweetheart,
13:21
Speaker 1: I whispered. Don't move, okay? Just stay still. She just
13:26
Speaker 1: blinked at me, as if waiting for my next move.
13:30
Speaker 1: I twisted around, hearing footsteps, chest seizing up. It was Tyler,
13:34
Speaker 1: jogging up the driveway, confusion written all over his face. Jesus,
13:39
Speaker 1: what the hell's going on? He panted out, and somehow
13:43
Speaker 1: I didn't hear him pull up to the house. I
13:46
Speaker 1: pointed under the porch. It's Darcy. She's stuck and there's a...
13:52
Speaker 1: The skunk shifted, and my breath caught. Don't startle it,
13:56
Speaker 1: I hissed to him. Tyler crouched beside me, peering into
14:01
Speaker 1: the darkness. Shit. Slowly, he straightened up and reached into
14:06
Speaker 1: his coat pocket, pulled out his keys. I didn't know
14:10
Speaker 1: what he was doing until... He aimed, pressed the button,
14:14
Speaker 1: and set off the car alarm. That blaring sound shattered
14:18
Speaker 1: the quiet. The skunk flinched, and its tails flicked up
14:21
Speaker 1: and then... gone. A streak of black and white, shooting
14:25
Speaker 1: out from underneath the porch, vanishing into the bushes. Darcy
14:29
Speaker 1: then let out this startled little yelp, and that's all
14:31
Speaker 1: I needed. I lunged forward and grabbed her and yanked
14:34
Speaker 1: her in my arms, stumbling backwards into the grass. She
14:38
Speaker 1: clung to me, her tiny body trembling. I pressed my
14:41
Speaker 1: lips to her hair, whispering, You scared me so bad, baby.
14:46
Speaker 1: My whole body felt like it had been hollowed out,
14:49
Speaker 1: shaking with the leftover adrenaline. Tyler bent down and checked
14:53
Speaker 1: her face and her arms. Is she okay? I nodded.
14:58
Speaker 1: I think so. Then that smell hit me, something burning.
15:04
Speaker 1: Tyler's eyes went wide. Dinner. I turned and stared to
15:08
Speaker 1: the open door, smoke curling from the kitchen. The pot
15:11
Speaker 1: on the stove, whatever I was cooking, was now in flames.
15:16
Speaker 1: We ran inside. Tyler grabbed the fire extinguisher from under
15:20
Speaker 1: the sink while I yanked that smoking pot off the burner.
15:23
Speaker 1: My hands were shaking so hard that I almost dropped it.
15:26
Speaker 1: Flames hissed and died as Tyler let out a blast
15:29
Speaker 1: of white foam, coating the stove, the counter, and half
15:31
Speaker 1: the floor. Smoke curled toward the ceiling. That smell burned
15:37
Speaker 1: food filling up the house. For a second, nobody spoke.
15:42
Speaker 1: We just stood there panting, Darcy still clinging to my hip.
15:46
Speaker 1: And Tyler let out this short, breathless laugh. Phew. Hell
15:52
Speaker 1: of a night. I wanted to laugh too, but it
15:56
Speaker 1: didn't come. My body was still buzzing from the panic
15:59
Speaker 1: of losing Darcy, from that skunk, from nearly setting our
16:02
Speaker 1: house on fire. I turned and pressed my forehead to
16:05
Speaker 1: Darcy's soft curls, inhaling her scent, that baby shampoo and sweat.
16:12
Speaker 1: We need to check her, I murmured, make sure she
16:14
Speaker 1: didn't get bitten. Tyler nodded and reached out to brush
16:19
Speaker 1: a hand over her back. No scratches, no blood. We
16:24
Speaker 1: still stripped her down and tossed her into the bath,
16:26
Speaker 1: just to be safe. She was sleepy now, the whole
16:30
Speaker 1: ordeal already fading in her little mind. By the time
16:33
Speaker 1: we got her dried off and into the pajamas, she
16:35
Speaker 1: was nodding off in my arms. I sat with her
16:39
Speaker 1: in the rocking chair, staring out the window into the
16:41
Speaker 1: dark yard, my pulse finally slowing down. Tyler walked up
16:46
Speaker 1: behind me, resting a hand on my shoulder. He's okay now.
16:52
Speaker 1: I nodded, but deep down I knew. Those 30 minutes
16:55
Speaker 1: were the longest, most terrifying in my entire life. And
16:58
Speaker 1: thank God Tyler just happened to get home a little
17:00
Speaker 1: earlier than expected. Never left that door unlocked again, I'll
17:04
Speaker 1: tell you that.
17:15
Speaker 2: I've been hiking for a few years now, and one
17:17
Speaker 2: evening I went hiking on a trail I've done before,
17:20
Speaker 2: which I considered my favorite. It's well known for its
17:23
Speaker 2: beautiful views, and I had planned on a simple evening hike.
17:26
Speaker 2: I wasn't expecting it to take too long, so I
17:28
Speaker 2: didn't bring much, just water, a few snacks, and my phone.
17:33
Speaker 2: As the evening went on, the weather turned cooler. The
17:36
Speaker 2: sun was dipping lower in the sky, and I knew
17:38
Speaker 2: it would be getting dark soon. I had planned to
17:40
Speaker 2: stick to the main path, but I decided to take
17:43
Speaker 2: a shortcut that would get me back to the car
17:44
Speaker 2: a little faster. I'd done it before without issue. This time, though,
17:49
Speaker 2: the shortcut led me into unfamiliar terrain. The woods were
17:52
Speaker 2: denser here, daylight was fading quickly, and I had to
17:55
Speaker 2: have made a wrong turn or missed a turn at
17:57
Speaker 2: some point. At first, I didn't panic because I thought
18:00
Speaker 2: I could still find my way, but as I kept walking,
18:03
Speaker 2: I realized I didn't recognize anything. The path was barely
18:07
Speaker 2: a trail now, just some faint markings in the dirt
18:09
Speaker 2: that I could barely follow. My phone had no signal,
18:13
Speaker 2: and when I tried calling for help, it just showed
18:15
Speaker 2: that dreaded no service message. It was already getting darker,
18:19
Speaker 2: and I wasn't sure where I was anymore. Right as
18:22
Speaker 2: it was getting dark, I saw an old shack up
18:24
Speaker 2: ahead of me. It looked abandoned, like it hadn't been
18:27
Speaker 2: used in years, but it also didn't look like it
18:29
Speaker 2: had fallen apart. The door was slightly open, and nobody
18:33
Speaker 2: was inside, so I decided to go in. It seemed
18:35
Speaker 2: like a strange thing to find out here, but at
18:38
Speaker 2: that point, I didn't have many options. I figured I
18:41
Speaker 2: could use it for shelter for the night until morning
18:43
Speaker 2: when I could see the woods better. The shack was small,
18:46
Speaker 2: with old wooden walls. There was some broken furniture, a
18:49
Speaker 2: dusty table, and a few old crates scattered around on
18:52
Speaker 2: the carpet that covered the ground. It wasn't much, but
18:55
Speaker 2: it was better than sitting outside in the dark. I
18:57
Speaker 2: locked the door behind me and settled into the corner
19:00
Speaker 2: with my bag as a pillow, lying on top of
19:02
Speaker 2: the carpet so that I had at least a little padding.
19:05
Speaker 2: Around midnight, I began hearing noises. It was faint. but
19:09
Speaker 2: there were noises now and then coming from below the shack.
19:12
Speaker 2: At first, I thought an animal had made its home
19:14
Speaker 2: under the shack, but as the night went on, I
19:16
Speaker 2: heard a lot of different noises, some louder scrapes, or
19:19
Speaker 2: just overall rustling around. I was confused, but tried to
19:23
Speaker 2: ignore the faint noises as I drifted in and out
19:25
Speaker 2: of sleep throughout the night. It all came together for
19:28
Speaker 2: me when suddenly I heard loud steps ascending towards me
19:31
Speaker 2: in the middle of the night. There was a lower
19:33
Speaker 2: level below me, like a bunker in the ground. As
19:36
Speaker 2: the steps worked their way towards me, I felt a
19:38
Speaker 2: slight push below. I realized I was laying right over
19:41
Speaker 2: the entrance to down below, which must have been a
19:44
Speaker 2: trap door below the carpet that I was laying on.
19:47
Speaker 2: I shouted out hello, kind of out of instinct, and
19:49
Speaker 2: didn't know where to go.
19:50
Speaker 1: Else to do.
19:51
Speaker 2: Whoever was below me trying to open the door frantically
19:53
Speaker 2: ran back down the stairs. A few moments later, I
19:56
Speaker 2: heard someone scrambling away into the woods, making a lot
19:59
Speaker 2: of noise as they went. I was a little worried
20:01
Speaker 2: that the person might come back, but I wasn't going
20:04
Speaker 2: to find the trail in the middle of the night,
20:05
Speaker 2: so I stayed. I spent the rest of the night
20:08
Speaker 2: huddled up in the shack, hoping that the morning would
20:10
Speaker 2: come soon. In the morning, before I left the shack,
20:13
Speaker 2: I tried to open the trap door below the carpet,
20:16
Speaker 2: but it was locked, and I couldn't find any other
20:18
Speaker 2: entrance to the bunker below me. There had to be
20:21
Speaker 2: another entrance, because whoever was down there had taken off
20:23
Speaker 2: into the woods earlier that night from a different exit,
20:26
Speaker 2: but it was well hidden because I didn't see it.
20:28
Speaker 2: I'd made my way back to the hiking trail easily.
20:31
Speaker 2: It was easier to figure out where I was going
20:33
Speaker 2: in the daylight, and after a few hours, I was
20:35
Speaker 2: back at the parking lot. I immediately reported what I
20:38
Speaker 2: found to the authorities, but when they asked for the
20:40
Speaker 2: details on the location, I couldn't give them an exact spot.
20:43
Speaker 2: The area was so far off the main trail, and
20:45
Speaker 2: I didn't really know where it was. I don't know
20:48
Speaker 2: if the authorities ever even looked for the shack and bunker,
20:50
Speaker 2: or if they ever found it. Maybe they didn't take
20:53
Speaker 2: me seriously, or figured it was nothing to worry about.
20:55
Speaker 2: To this day though, I question myself why someone needed
20:58
Speaker 2: a hidden bunker below an old wooden shack in the
21:00
Speaker 2: middle of the woods for. It must have been some
21:03
Speaker 2: sort of extreme doomsday prep type of person, or someone
21:05
Speaker 2: who is up to no good. One of my last
21:18
Speaker 2: years at church camp when I was a teenager, I
21:20
Speaker 2: got a good scare and learned a good life lesson.
21:23
Speaker 2: I was 14, and my friend Tyler and I had
21:25
Speaker 2: snuck out of our cabin after lights-out time. We didn't
21:29
Speaker 2: plan to go far, just a short walk around the campgrounds.
21:32
Speaker 2: We wanted to explore a little, talk about whatever was
21:35
Speaker 2: on our minds, and maybe see if we could scare
21:37
Speaker 2: each other. We were bored. We had spent the whole
21:40
Speaker 2: week at camp doing all the usual stuff like hiking, swimming,
21:43
Speaker 2: and the evening campfires. But that night, we felt like
21:46
Speaker 2: doing something different We didn't realize how dumb it was
21:49
Speaker 2: until it was too late. We left our cabin quietly,
21:52
Speaker 2: trying not to wake anyone, and walked down the path
21:55
Speaker 2: towards the woods behind the camp. The camp was isolated,
21:58
Speaker 2: with no houses for miles, no streetlights, just trees and
22:02
Speaker 2: a couple of small buildings scattered around. We knew the
22:05
Speaker 2: camp pretty well, but we had never tried to navigate
22:07
Speaker 2: it in the pitch dark. We wandered for what felt
22:10
Speaker 2: like a while, just talking and laughing in the dark.
22:13
Speaker 2: We figured we'd make it back before anyone noticed that
22:15
Speaker 2: we were gone. but when we turned around to head back,
22:18
Speaker 2: we realized the camp didn't look the same. The trail
22:21
Speaker 2: we had followed into the woods didn't seem familiar. The
22:24
Speaker 2: lights from the cabins were not where they should have been,
22:26
Speaker 2: and the shadows from the trees were deeper, like they
22:28
Speaker 2: were closing in. Tyler and I started walking faster, but
22:32
Speaker 2: it only made things worse. The more we tried to
22:34
Speaker 2: get back, the farther we seemed to get. The trail
22:37
Speaker 2: was different. It twisted and turned in ways we didn't remember.
22:41
Speaker 2: The trees looked bigger, and the path narrower. It was
22:44
Speaker 2: like the woods were alive, shifting around us. We tried
22:47
Speaker 2: to retrace our steps, but it felt hopeless. By then,
22:50
Speaker 2: we were both nervous. Tyler kept insisting we'd get back,
22:54
Speaker 2: that we just needed to keep walking, but I wasn't
22:56
Speaker 2: so sure. My mind kept jumping to all the creepy
22:59
Speaker 2: stories we heard at campfires earlier in the week. You know,
23:02
Speaker 2: the usual scary stories about lost campers, strange sounds in
23:06
Speaker 2: the woods, and old legends nobody really believes but still
23:09
Speaker 2: makes you uneasy. After about an hour, we stopped. The
23:13
Speaker 2: woods were thick, and the moonlight barely cut through the branches.
23:16
Speaker 2: There was an eerie silence, like everything was holding its breath.
23:20
Speaker 2: That's when we heard something, a noise far off in
23:22
Speaker 2: the distance. It sounded like footsteps, with the crunching of
23:26
Speaker 2: leaves and twigs breaking. Someone was walking, but not in
23:29
Speaker 2: a normal way. It was like they were dragging their feet.
23:32
Speaker 2: We didn't say anything, but we both knew that we
23:35
Speaker 2: had to get out of there. We started walking again,
23:38
Speaker 2: only this time it was with a sense of urgency.
23:40
Speaker 2: It felt like we had to get back before whatever
23:42
Speaker 2: was back there caught up with us. Finally, we saw
23:45
Speaker 2: one of the camp cabin's lights, faint but visible through
23:48
Speaker 2: the trees. We moved towards it quickly, trying not to
23:51
Speaker 2: trip over roots or rocks in the dark. We finally
23:54
Speaker 2: broke through the trees and went back onto the main path,
23:56
Speaker 2: right in front of the main campfire area. By the
23:59
Speaker 2: time we got back to our cabin, we didn't say
24:01
Speaker 2: a word to anyone. Nobody knew we had been gone.
24:04
Speaker 2: I'm not sure what happened out there in the woods
24:06
Speaker 2: that night, but I know we both felt something wasn't right.
24:10
Speaker 2: It sounds fake, but it was the weirdest sensation ever.
24:13
Speaker 2: It felt like the woods were changing constantly, somehow trying
24:16
Speaker 2: to keep us trapped out there. The weirdest part of
24:18
Speaker 2: the whole night was that I had my watch out
24:20
Speaker 2: there with me, and according to my watch, we had
24:23
Speaker 2: been out there for at least an hour and a half,
24:25
Speaker 2: maybe even two hours. I wasn't sure the exact time
24:28
Speaker 2: we had left, but I know it was for sure
24:30
Speaker 2: over an hour. However, when we got back to our
24:32
Speaker 2: cabin and saw the clocks there, only half an hour
24:35
Speaker 2: had passed. After that, we never went exploring in the
24:38
Speaker 2: dark again at church camp.