Foreward: (sorta, this isn't a book)

First person stories are my strong suit. It's not that I dislike third person stories, but I like first person stories in particular for their ability to create a "viewpoint" that obscures information the main character would not otherwise have. I just wanted to clarify since the last story I shared was in the third person.

This is a story about a woman.

I hope you enjoy. I don't write a lot of suspense horror so this is maybe my best shot at it in a very long time.

My name is Samantha, but I would rather be called Sam.

I live in the town of Eclectic.

I won't tell you where it is, but I'll tell you that I'm in the United States. At least, I'm pretty sure. There are times when this place feels like it's own insular world. There are things that happen here that don't seem to happen in other towns, but it feels like the people who live here just accept it and try to pretend like it's normal. It's a very cold place to live most of the time. When summer comes, it's usually never very intense.

The winters are a completely different story, and well, it's worth mentioning that things get a lot weirder in the winter.

There's another town near where I live. I'll tell you about that one some other time. It's not a place I like to think about, and a lot of people have gone missing there. But this isn't a story about that town, this is a story about Eclectic. My home. A place I've been living ever since I was a little kid.

I don't know when people will be reading this. It's November right now. 2004, specifically. I feel like I should have clarified the date a lot sooner than that. People are still mulling over the results of the election, and no one's really surprised that President Bush got another term. It's not that I really like talking about politics, but it's the most recent thing that happened on a national level that people here have actually been able to hear about.

There are times when information just... doesn't arrive in Eclectic. Or we hear about it much later. There's something wrong with the signals, someone once told me. The only stations that come through loud and clear are the local stations, mostly right in the local county. It creates a lot of problems when there's a real emergency in town. People used to make a big deal about it and said that it seemed really unsafe. They threaten to move sometimes, but no one ever seems to really follow through. My town is weird, it's like people want to stay here and they don't know why.

I can't explain it either. It feels... safe? Safer than out there. Safer than something I can't explain. I can't put it into words but there's just this bad feeling that people get when they go too far away from town, they start to feel so anxious to the point where they come back. Maybe it has something to do with that other town I mentioned. Maybe we're going crazy because someone put something in the water. I'm just kidding; but sometimes it really does feel like this isn't a normal way to live.

I've seen... things. Things on the outside of town, out in the woods. I know they weren't always there.

When I was a little kid my mom and dad used to go on picnics near those woods and just spend time out enjoying nature like anyone else. It felt just like any other part of town, even if it was further down the road. Maybe I would even say it felt safe. But that feeling isn't there anymore. Not during the winter. But even during the summer, I can't bring myself to go out there. Not after some of the things I've seen.

I don't know if I can describe the things I've seen but I can try. I don't usually get a good look at them. I used to think they were people? I swear to God. And I've only ever seen them at night. They would always walk between the trees like people taking a midnight stroll, so it was easy to mistake them for people. I was a little worried they were criminals or something. Recently, I've seen one up close.

I borrowed some binoculars from my friend Stacy. I didn't tell her what for, because she's one of the people in town that is too nervous to talk about the strange things that are going on. Well, they're stranger than they've ever been, as far as I can remember. But thinking back, I really wonder if my eyes were playing tricks on me. Here's what I saw.

It looked like a person. Tall, for sure. It walked just like a person, but slowly. They always seemed like they were taking their time getting anywhere that they were going. I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman, or whoever. The one thing that stood out the most about them is the fact that in the darkness I could clearly make out something strange about their... hair.

I should probably explain something about my house, first. I live in a small one floor house with a porch. My house is on the outer edge of Eclectic, but it's still part of town. The forest isn't very close to my house. It's close enough that I can see it from my porch. With the binoculars, I felt like I could see anyone or anything in the forest well enough to tell what is or isn't what I'm actually looking at. That's why I can without a doubt... I don't think they *were* human.

That hair, that freaky hair. It wasn't like hair at all. It looked like it was *moving* around their head. It didn't look like it was being moved by the wind or being brushed by anything- it sure didn't look like they were moving it with their hands. I couldn't stop staring at it. I must have stared at that thing for at least 4 or 5 minutes before...

It looked at me.

It looked right at me. It didn't move. I'm not even sure if it could see me as well as I could see it, but I know it was staring at me because it almost felt like a staring contest. Those eyes. I still can't get that image out of my head sometimes, the image of those white glowing eyes. I promise you, I wouldn't joke about something like this. I lowered the binoculars and I just went into my house. I locked the door. I went as far as taking one of my wooden kitchen chairs and propping it up against the door handle.

I didn't go for a weapon or anything. I don't own a gun, or a bat, or anything like that. I hoped I would never need it, and I never felt unsafe in my own town. That's the one thing I used to like about Eclectic the most. It was strange, but it was safe. So... safe.

I waited for hours thinking something bad was going to happen. The thing I saw never came for me, but I cried a lot that night. I made extra sure to cover the windows with the drapes and keep the lights low. I kept some low burning candles near my bed, on the night stand. I didn't want to be in total darkness.

I'm writing about it now because it's over. I haven't had a night like that. It's been at least a week. I don't know if those things are still hanging around in the forest, but I'm willing to bet that they are. I've been having really scary dreams lately where I'm lying in my bed, and something shaped like a person passes right by the window in the darkness. I really hope they're just dreams. They always feel so real. I haven't had a good night's sleep in a while.

I know it's not really likely that anyone will read this. But please. If you visit Eclectic, don't go to the forest. I think those things are still out there. They look like people, but they're not. I don't know what they are.

Goodbye for now. I guess.

©DreamHollow4219