What I saw in the woods

A Story by Owl Vase

A short story of a man in the woods as he finds something peculiar.

[Its body was jet black]
I was camping out with my dad for the weekend, as it was a yearly tradition. It was especially warm during this visit. We had to cool off our faces with stream water every so often to fight off the overwhelming sweat. We set up camp in no time; my dad did this so many times it's like second nature to him. We had all our crap taken out, so we could finally start hiking. It was a familiar walk down that trail. It was the same one we went down everytime, afterall. It was the typical hour walk with a few little annoyances, like that part with the jagged weeds or the river with the slippery rocks (Dad almost fell!), but it wasn't too bad. It actually was pretty boring, frankly.
[It hunched over on its hindlegs]
We returned to camp by sundown and promptly gathered some firewood. We had the fire started in a few minutes, but honestly my dad did all the fire-starting because I have no idea how he rubs the rocks to light the sticks. We cooked some hotdogs and had standard small talk. Eventually I said how the trail has gotten boring, and he responded with agreement. He looked over his shoulder and pointed out another path in that camping spot, one that we hadn't gone down before. We mutually agreed to try it out tomorrow.
[It had round, glowing eyes]
We put out the fire layer down to sleep. It was a pretty normal night, well, as normal as laying on the dirt. I heard typical forest noises: crickets chirping, owls hoo-ing, leaves rustling in the wind. I eventually fell asleep (I'm a light sleeper) and had a pretty normal night. Except for the fact that I woke up in the middle of the night, which was a little weird, but was probably just cause I was sleeping on the lumpy ground. It was the heat that woke us up that morning, just as the sun rose. We asked each other how we slept, and both of us said good. I decided not to mention how I woke up in the middle of the night since it seemed unimportant.
[Its tongue stretched out of its mouth]
We fished on a rental boat all morning. It was just a typical fishing session.
There wasn't much talking between us, though. We returned to camp with a few decent catches. The fish were skinned and cooked over a fire. They were pretty average. After eating the remaining fish, we decided it was time to try out the trail my dad had mentioned last night. We put out the fire with a swift bucket of water and got hiking.
[Its snout revealed its sharp fangs]
This path was already much steeper than what we were used to. My ankles had a hard time adjusting to the new angle. Before long we were walking on flatter land, thankfully. Though there was a lot more shrubbery getting in our way, which got annoying. While walking the path we even spotted a few uncommon birds, so I couldn't complain. As we kept walking I noticed the path was getting more and more untamed, and walking was becoming a real challenge. Eventually the trees started to look a little dried out and old, also there seemed to be a lack of animals in this area. The sun was going down so I urged my father to head back and he agreed. We must have lost track of time looking around this new location. We kept walking and walking, but nothing seemed like a path. I got really nervous when it became completely dark. Fear swept over my body as I looked about the decrepit and pitch black forest. We even started to argue about who should have brought what, but we both knew it was both our fault we were in this situation. Things seemed to be as bad as they could get until I heard a sudden rustling behind me. I turned to see the origin of the sound: a hulking beast mere feet away from us.
[Its claws were covered in wet blood]
I couldn't bear to say anything. I just froze as my eyes locked with the creature's. It inched towards me as I began to process what was before me. In a snap I ran in the opposite direction as fast as my legs could allow and screamed to run towards my father. He was confused at first, but caught on quickly and ran with me. As I sped forward I could hear the thing's distinct running coming from behind me. I could also hear its animalistic growls as it pounced at my dad, locking him onto the ground. I stopped only for a second to see that it was taking bites out of him. My dad let out a horrible scream that only lasted a few seconds before being abruptly cut off. I could only keep running, even if I knew the creature wasn't behind me. I returned to camp and bolted straight for the car and screeched off, leaving behind the now irrelevant items. My heart beat faster than I had ever felt it go and I couldn't help but vomit on the passenger seat. It took me a few minutes driving before I truly realized what I had done. I felt the worst sensation of shame and frustration rush through me. How could I let my own father key killed like that? I reached the exit to the park in a few seconds. Though just as I was about to leave, I noticed a glimmer in my rearview mirror, and upon closer inspection I saw a familiar form: the two-legged monstrosity peering at my vehicle. It glared at me before returning into the woods.