“It’s impossible to describe the sheer horror we felt… all I can do is try” Tori said glancing over at Keisha.

“There is a chance you won’t even believe us, Mark”, Keisha chimes in.

Tori and Keisha held each other then both sat in front of the fire place. Mark walked over calmly and sat across from the two women. He noticed how they both looked like they have been through hell. Tori has light skin and dark brown watery eyes. Her pretty face was covered in dirt and minor scratches. Keisha big light brown eyes welled in tears. People often questioned if Tori and Keisha were actually sisters. People often fail to recognize that black comes in every shade. Her complexion was deep rich and smooth like an ancient goddess. Keisha was older and often Tori’s protector and so no one has ever seen her with this much terror in her eyes.

“I’m your big brother you two can tell me anything. Last I knew you two were coming up here to the cabin for the weekend like you always do. So please tell me why you called me screaming and crying. You really fucking scared me okay.” Mark said gently. He was gentle but giant. He taught Keisha to be defensive and to fight. Their parents agreed this was an important skill in the city.

“Okay, so I asked Tori to go find some little sticks and kindling for the fire and I was going to start prepping to chicken and potatoes to cook on the open fire,” Keisha began explaining. The trio is from the heart of the city but they love escaping to a cabin on a private lake that their grandfather build as an escape.

Tori wandered into the woods scanning the shrub layer and forest floor for kindling. The canopy was dense and there was only speckles of light seeping through. She collected sticks thoughtlessly not really paying attention to where she was going. Tori realized she wandered into a clearing in the forest.

The ecosystem didn’t seem so alive here, even the air felt stale and dry. This Tori took note of.

She considered herself to be the nature witch type. Their mom hated that word as she thought of her self as a conjurer not some new age bruja.

“Tori, help” Keisha said, almost too calmly.

Tori didn’t reply right away. She figured she’d been wandering into the woods for about a half mile. She couldn’t see the cabin anymore but she was fairly certain which way she traveled. These woods are familiar stomping grounds.

“Keisha, where are you? Are you okay?” Tori replied. “Hang on, I’m coming.” Tori assured her sister but Keisha never answered. Turning in a slight panic Tori scanned the trees surrounding the clearing. She didn’t see anything unusual at first. Walking slow in the direction Keisha’s voice came from Tori thought she caught a glimpse of something odd. However she decided it was probably just a deers antlers. Tori headed south a little bit past the clearing and ended up on a dirt path. Oddly enough the path appeared to simply end. Tori could see that although the path ended about 20 steps in front of her there was something at the end of the path. It looked like a shrine. One tree was decorated in charms that hung from twine ropes, looped around branches. The funny symbols looked familiar but she couldn’t place them.

“Looks indigenous,” Tori said aloud. She reached for a symbol and gently tugged it out of the tree. She wasn’t really sure why she did it but her instincts said take it. She glanced down at the tree stump that was placed before the decorated tree. It had some language and sigils burned into it. The language was unknown but still not entirely foreign. Tori brushed a cold hand across the smooth stump and she swears her heard a voice inside her own head. “You’ve been armed,” she swears she heard in a voice that didn’t resonate with hers. Tori clutched her self trying to stave off the rampant chills creeping up her neck.

“Tori,” her sisters voice called again calmly.

This time fear struck Tori in the pit of her stomach. That classic intuition has saved her before. She reached into her back pocket and called her sister.

“Tori?” Keisha answer.

“Yes, are you in the woods with me?” Tori whispered.

“What are you talking about sis I just finished prepping dinner, why are you whispering, what’s wrong?” Keisha wondered.

“This is going to sound crazy, I heard your voice,” Tori said.

“Send me your location on iMessage. Start heading back the way you came. And sis please be fucking quiet” Keisha said in a sacred tone.

“Don’t hang up, okay?” Tori asked desperately.

Keisha picked up the knife she used to cut their chicken into strips. She opened her messages and located her sister. She was pretty close but not in shouting distance. She put Tori on speaker and headed for the tree line. “What the fuck is going out here today,” she thought out out.

Tori turned around and headed back down the little path. Something seemed odd though. Those chills were back, she noticed glancing at the goosebumps prickling her arms. Her hair was starting to stand up. Her body was reacting and her mind was trying to process why. Then she heard something. It was definitely footsteps, and her instinct was look but she fought it hard. She thought, “Don’t look”. She started to walk faster but the sounds were gaining anyway. There was a eerie whistle that accompanied the steps.

Her sisters voice came from directly behind her head, “Tori”. The whistling stopped. A tear welled up in Tori’s eye. “Please help me, I can feel it breathing,” Tori begged into her phone. “Run!” the real Keisha screamed through the phone.

Tori had already turned around. She screamed at the sight. The creature in front of her was massive. It had to be almost 7 feet tall. It was grey in color and it’s flesh looked like leather. It definitely wasn’t human but it looked like it might have been once. There was a large set of antlers growing straight out of its head! It’s breathe smelled of rotting meat. It grabbed her around the waist and let out of voiceless yell blowing her bouncy curls all over her face. She screamed again and dropped her phone. Then she remembered the twine in her hand and the odd charm that hung from it. The rope felt like it was starting to burn. She swung it frantically at the creature and it glowed a fiery red. The beast dropped her and let out and another silent roar. Standing her ground she waved it again. It felt like she was holding a torch it was so bright. The strange heat source warmed her whole body. Apparently this monster wasn’t a fan of the sudden increase in temperature. It was backing away. The beast kept its colorless black eye sockets locked on Tori. It back away into the tree line but it looked way more angry than before.

Tori’s head was suddenly very clear. She wrapped the twine around her hands and picked up her phone. She could hear Keisha screaming her name.

Tori brought her phone to her mouth, “I’m okay Keish. I’m running to you now”.

And she was, she was running straight for the cabin and definitely not looking back this time.

When Keisha came into view Tori ran directly into her sisters arms and cried. After hearing everything Keisha looked terrified. She couldn’t imagine how such a beast could be so close to their cabin and never been seen before. Not to mention the ancient looking alter that saved Tori’s life.

Both the women looked up at Mark. The fire still crackling and popping behind them.

“Well you’re right it does seem hard to believe. However as a former park ranger I can assure you there’s things in the woods that most modern people never survive”, Mark said carefully. “I worked with an indigenous man for many years and something about this story feels similar to his tales. I can’t remember the word he used for the beast but I do remember that hearing the tale, gave me chills. And just as you told your story the same chills creeped back up my back”.

The three siblings decided to nail the talisman to the main door of the cabin and drove back to the city that night.