Invisible

I was reading an article that i "Stumble(d)Upon", about mythology, and i read about a "hidebehind" and i thought I'd write a story about it!

Invisible

It’s dark, and I can’t avoid the putrid smell of rotting flesh. My head is pounding, and I can’t move my legs. I can’t remember anything, except walking through the woods. I can hear footsteps coming towards me. My eyes are starting to adjust to the darkness, and I can see primitive drawings on the walls. I can also see a dark figure, standing on two legs, and it has a..tail?

5 Days Earlier

People have been disappearing for weeks now, and what started out as a simple kidnapping, has turned into a massacre. In the beginning it was slow, 1 person a week, but this week, there has already been 3 abductions, and it’s only Tuesday. All the abductions seem to be in the forest, mostly at night time. It is unsure whether or not this is a mass kidnapping for a hostage situation, or a serial killer.

All we have on the profile, is the guy is approx. 6’8”, previously convicted for molestation, and spousal abuse, aggressive in nature, and not easily influenced. Trouble is, we’ve run searches on ex-convicts, and nothing matches the profile. We’ve had officers on double shifts, trying to keep the neighbourhood safe, and it doesn’t slow this guy down in the least!

“So what do you think?” I asked. “I don’t know what to say.” said John. John is part of my team, along with Kathy and Josh. “What do you mean you don’t know what to say? People could be dying, and that’s all you have?” I said frustrated. “Well, what can I say; we’ve gone through 3 profiles already, the guys pretty much invisible. The only way we can be sure if we’re close with our profile, is if we get an eye witness.” John said. As much as I hated to admit it, he was right. The only way we were going to get a profile, was with a description, and the only way we were going to catch him, was with a profile.

4 Days Earlier

On Wednesday, we had alerted the media that whoever is committing these crimes is unknown to us, all we know is that every abduction was in the forest and that we suggest avoiding any forest, and we also suggested the buddy system. Whoever it is, there is no bias, black/white, male/female, adult/child, if you’re within reach, he’ll take you. We also said that if anyone had any information on the case that they should call in.

Over the next day we had many people calling in, claiming that it must be aliens abducting these people. My team and I quickly brushed these off as paranoid callers, but one man called, claiming to have an idea on what could be committing these crimes, but he would only talk to me in person, so we had planned to meet at a nearby Tim Horton’s on Thursday.

3 Days Earlier

The man I had planned to meet was a Native American who went by the name of Helushka, he said it’s a Native American Winnebago name meaning “fighter”. Helushka had brought up the idea of American Folklore, and that a creature that is known as a hidebehind. I stood up and started to walk away, thinking this was some sort of practical joke, but he told me to wait and just hear him out.

“A hidebehind is a nocturnal fearsome creature from American folklore, which preys upon humans that wander the woods. It was blamed for disappearances of colonial loggers when they had failed to return to camp.” Helushka explained. “So what does this have to do with our guy?” I asked. “Well, all the victims have been hikers, walking through the woods at night, it hasn’t just started to happen, it has been happening for as long as people have lived in this area. All those closed missing person’s cases, it’s these creatures!” he said. “If this has been happening forever then how come nobody has ever seen one of them before?” I asked. “They have been seen! Otherwise we would not be talking about this right now; they are not seen often though! When somebody attempts to look at the creature, it hides behind an object, whilst sucking in its stomach to be perfectly behind a tree, or whatever it happens to be hiding behind.” Helushka informed me. “The victims are dragged back to the caves in which the creature lives. Tell me, in the forest, have you seen any signs of something being dragged?” he asked. “Well, I don’t know, we haven’t really been looking, for a ‘hidebehind’; we’ve been looking for a serial killer.” I stated. “Just don’t rule anything out; I don’t think you’re in the position to be doing that. I’m merely trying to help.” Helushka said. “Here, take my number, call me if you change your mind” he pleaded.

2 Days Earlier

The next day, the whole police station was at the forest to recreate the previous abduction scene, trying to get inside the killers head. I hadn’t told anyone about what Helushka had told me the previous day, as I didn’t want anybody getting worked up over fairy tales. While walking the trails, I had noticed some strange track in the foliage. It looked like a footprint from a man, but with long claws. We had taken photos, to be examined back at the station. Also accompanied by the strange footprints were signs of people being dragged, but no signs of any struggle? Obviously the victims were unconscious during the abduction, meaning the killer had probably struck the head with a blunt object of some sort.

Late that night, I had decided to give Helushka a call, telling him about the strange footprints, and signs of being dragged. I also told him that there were no signs of struggling, and he told me that was because the creature sneaks up behind its victim, and knocks it out, before dragging it back to its cave. I asked him if they hunt in packs, or go it solo, and he told me that there is usually only one, unless its mating season, which is usually fall. Luckily he said, it’s June. I had asked him to meet me at the hiking trails entrance at 7am the next day, and he happily accepted.

1 Day Earlier

 

Helushka was at the trail, at 7am on the dot. We talked as we walked to trail, he claimed that he had an idea to catch the creature, and I told him I thought he was crazy, but I had no other choice than to listen to him. “We’ve got to set up some sort of trap.” Helushka said. “What kind of trap would that be?” I asked. “Well, we need bait, a person willing to walk these woods at night, a large fishing net and some rope, I think you can understand where I’m going with this.” Helushka said confidently. “The trap seems reasonable, but what if it catches someone else, and who is going to be stupid enough to be bait?” I asked. “I don’t think anybody will be going anywhere near this forest at night, not after all the kidnappings at least, and I was hoping that’s where you would come in?” he asked. “How did I know you were going to say that?” I said. “So, what do you say?” Helushka wondered. “I mean, I’ve really got nothing to lose, we’ve exhausted every other theory, and there’s probably going to be another abduction tonight. Uh…yeah, I’ll do it” I said. “Great! So we meet here at noon tomorrow!” Helushka reluctantly stated.

I went back to my office, and told my team about the plan, I had told them to not interfere, and that this was a onetime thing, seeing as we exhausted every other theory. “Seriously? You’ve lost too much sleep on this case, just take a day off.” Kathy said. “Maybe I have, maybe I haven’t, either way, it’s not changing my decision, I mean, if it’s not real, what have I got to lose?” I asked. “He’s right Kathy, what does he have to lose, plus, what if they actually catch the killer?” said John. “What if this backfires though? You’re really putting your life on the line here; we have over 20 cases of missing persons, unknown if they are dead or alive! You could be digging your own grave!” Josh stated. “Yeah, well I’d rather not think about it that way, I really have no other choice, if you guys have any other ideas, please, share them, I’d love for you to change my mind!” I said. It went silent for a few minutes, and then I told them I was going home to sleep, and that if everything went well, I’d see them on Monday.

10 Hours Earlier

As I had guessed, there was another abduction, but this time it was a block away from the forest, so whatever it is, it’s getting braver. Once again, Helushka shows up, not a minute late. “So what’s the plan?” I asked. “Well, it is going to take us a few hours to set up the trap, and we’re going to have to run through the plan a few times, to make sure there’s no slip ups, because we can’t exactly afford one” said Helushka. I agreed to take as much time as it took to go over the plan, because this was my life hanging on the line.

7 Hours Earlier

 

“Alright, so it’s set up, what’s the plan?” I asked. “Well you’re going to walk around the forest, off the trail come sundown, and as soon as you start hearing noises coming from behind you, start walking towards the trap. I’m going to be waiting 25 metres south of the trap, and as soon as it springs I’m going to shoot it with a tranquilizer, so try not to get trapped. Then, after it passes out, we’re going to tie it up with the extra rope, and bring it to my house, where I have a holding cage ready for it.” Helushka said. “You’re not in this to help…you’re in this for profit!” I pointed out. “Heheh. What can I say? It’s not like I’m breaking the law. I’m just looking to make a living; you can’t blame me for knowing what the public wants. They want danger, but they want it caged, so they can poke it and laugh at it, while they tell it how dangerous it isn’t.” Helushka stated. Helushka was right, and even though I didn’t think it was right, there was nothing I could do about it, and this was the last option for me. Hopefully after tonight, we can get back to looking for the real killer, knowing that some child’s fairy tale, isn’t looking to kill the whole town. So Helushka and I practiced the plan once or twice, and then we went our separate ways. I went to get something to eat and get a few things to bring with me that night. Then at night fall we met at the same spot, and I started walking around the forest.

2 Hours Earlier

 

I met up with Helushka, and he told me that now was the best time to start wandering, while there’s still some light to help adjust my eyes. It was much darker in the forest than I had expected, even with some light left, I had walked into 2 trees. It was about 30 minutes of wandering before I started hearing any noises; I had started to walk back to the trap. Every step I took, I could hear the noises getting closer and closer. With every step I took, fear started to overtake me. I started to walk faster and faster, when all of a sudden, everything went black.

1 Minute Earlier

When I woke up, it was much darker then it was earlier, and there is an un-avoidable smell, of rotting flesh, instantly I knew, I found where all the missing people had gone. As my eyes started to adjust, I had noticed a shadowy figure with its back to me, like a human, but with a tail, or something. There were paintings on the wall, and it almost looked like they were painted with blood. One of the pictures, which I can’t get out of my mind, looked like people just walking, with some dark figure, just watching them walk from behind a tree.

When I had come to my senses, and realized I had to get out of there, I tried to get away but I couldn’t seem to move my legs. All of a sudden the creature started to walk towards me, and as it got closer, I knew that Helushka was right, because what I had seen was not a person. Glowing red eyes, and pitch black fur, accompanied with the figure of a human, and 3 inch claws on the end of each hand, what had once looked somewhat humanly, now looked more demonic.

I had decided to ‘play dead’ thinking that it would walk right past me, ignoring me. I was right, it had walked right past me, and continued walking, then stopped. It bent down, lifted its arm, and swiped at something. A blood curdling scream was tossed my way, as the swipes continued, later accompanied by crunching and chewing. The screams I had heard, were very familiar, it took a minute of screaming for me to realize that it was Helushka. Once I realized that Helushka was in here with me, I had lost all hope. Nobody was going to know I was missing until midday tomorrow. I was sure to be dead by then.

Then, I remembered, a few hours earlier, I had gone home and got my gun. I patted down my whole body, twice, before I realized it must have dropped while I was being dragged here.  I had pulled myself up against a wall of the cave, so I could sit up. The pain in my legs was almost unbearable; I had wondered how I had hurt them. Then I thought this thing must have broken them, knowing I would have woken up, and not wanting me to get away.

Seeing as I had no other choice but to sit and wait for this thing to find me better tasting than Helushka, I tried to make myself comfortable. I had tried to adjust myself, and I put my hand on what I thought was a rock. I took a closer look at it, because it felt quite smooth. With closer inspection, I had realized it was my gun. Suddenly I was struck with happiness, I had a chance to get out, and I wasn’t about to waste it.

I removed the clip, and tried to count how many bullets I had left. A full clip, 7 bullets, and I wasn’t about to waste them. With that thing still having it’s fill of Helushka, I knew I had to get its attention somehow. I shot 3 bullets towards the exit of the cave, its head shot up without hesitation. Fear had gone down my spine, and utter regret of not shooting it instantly filled my thoughts. It looked over at me in confusion, then turned around and started running at me; I quickly shot another 3 bullets, just out of reaction. I missed 2 and nailed it with the third one, with a huge yelp of pain, the creature stopped, and looked me in the eyes. I had only one bullet left, and this thing was just getting angry. I took my time with the last bullet, aimed, and squeezed the trigger.

10 Hours Later

 

“Have any of you heard from him yet?” John asked. “I was hoping you’d be able to answer that question” Kathy said worriedly. “S**t guys, he’s not at home, I’ve called 3 times, each time it goes to the answering machine, and his cell phone is off.” Josh said. “We’ve got to go to the forest, now!” Kathy said.

“Look at this!” Josh said, pointing at a trail of blood. “Well, let’s go.” John said. It led them straight to the cave, where they had discovered all of the missing persons, including me and Helushka. I was the only one still alive, and barely that. They told me I was rushed to the hospital, and was unconscious for 2 days. When I had woken, Kathy was the only one in the room. I had asked her what happened, and she told me that I went missing, and they found me in a cave with the rest of the missing persons we had been looking for. I asked her if she had found anything else, and she told me they only found the 5 bullets I had fired. I asked her if they found another body, one that wasn’t a human, and she had told me they hadn’t found anything. I told her about what I saw, and that I fired 7 bullets, and there had to be some evidence of it being there, and she said that there was no evidence of anything being there. That I miscounted the remaining bullets in my clip. That I was severely dehydrated and just thought I saw what I did. Then I asked her about the cave painting, the one with that creature watching those people. She asked me what I was talking about.

1 Week Later

I had decided to bring Kathy back to the cave, where I had seen the cave paintings. They were there, but in a different spot from where I thought they were, I asked her how she’d missed them, she assured me that they weren’t there when everybody else was. Then we started walking back down the trails. When I heard the same noise I heard before I blacked out a week earlier.

Author's Note

As always, constructive criticism is wanted! Thanks everyone! :)

Reviews

[Jimmy]

Wow.....just wow.......

[Angie Diane♥&hea..]

I thought this was awesome.
Some of the parts were scary. O.o
I think you did a really nice job on this. Thanks for sharing.

[Lillianna Rey]

wow...this is amazing....im not that much into stories like this but my bff is so ill recommend it to him n if ur lookin for constructive criticism ull get it. but frm my point of view absolutely amazing write