Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Ok, this may sound weird... I don't expect you to believe me or anything else that you
witness through this, but all of this is true.
I have to ask... Have you ever felt... Hollow?
Sometimes I do. I normally describe it as feeling numb or empty, but I use the word
'hollow' to describe it. I've... felt that way for the past few days.
It's... weird... different...
Yeah, I guess numb is a good way to describe it too...
What's happened the past few days? I am not certain... At first, I thought it was just
the stress... perhaps the lack of sleep...
I noticed it seemed to start when I remembered something that happened years ago...
I was in high school, it was spring break. I think it was my junior year. I am not entirely
certain... My memory is fuzzy... My friends Tyler, Evan, Steven, Chibi, my girlfriend
Tara and I had gone camping at one of our favorite camping spots. We had stayed there
for a total of two weeks, I think. We had only gone back into the nearby town to get
some more supplies, then we would make our way back to the campsite.
One night, we went by the river. My eyes were adjusted to the dark already, and we were
admiring the beautiful scenery, as well as talking, laughing, cutting up, you know. Having
a good time. But... something felt... off... it was then Tyler pointed across the river...
"What is that? Do you see that?" he asked.
That's when it clicked for me. It was like a huge déjà vu moment. I had dreamed about
this night, many months before. Something was going to happen, something wasn't going
correctly, it was going terribly wrong... But at the time I couldn't put my finger on
it.
I tried to squint in the dark to see the figure Tyler pointed at... But... I couldn't see
it. Then I started feeling... Terrified. Panicked. We needed to leave. Now. And I didn't know
why...
"This isn't right..." I heard myself saying. "It isn't supposed to happen like this...
It's all wrong...!
Before Evan could finish saying 'What are you talking about?', it splashed into the
water. Whatever the thing was, it was running at us now. We all started to take off back
towards the camp, but Chibi was running towards the...The... The Thing. Evan picked her up
and we all ran. She screamed, trying to fight away from us, saying "NO! LET ME GO! IT NEEDS
ME! IT WANTS ME!"
We ignored her cries... We didn't want to leave her out there with whatever that thing
was... So we kept running until we made it back to the campsite.
Mind you, this was a state park. There were a few other campers... But not very many since
it was in the spring.. So we were kind of out of luck for help.
Besides, who was going to believe a bunch of teenagers in the middle of the night screaming
about some monster?
So... We made it back to camp. We did everything we could to light the fire, so we could see
the 'thing', but as soon as the fire got started, we could feel it was out there, and it couldn't
come near us...
But... it was still out there...
Tyler was the first to speak up, "Did anyone else just *** see that?!"
We all started to argue amongst ourselves, trying to humanly rationalize and comprehend
exactly what we just saw. Chibi was crying her eyes out, not even remembering coming
back to the campsite. Tara was trying to calm her down as we continued to argue, but we
decided to just stay by the fire, and wait until morning. After the sunrise, we would
all leave.
So, we tried to find ways to get our mind off the situation, but stay around the fire.
So I sat by my friend Steven, staring into the fire, trying to grasp exactly what just
happened. Tyler and Evan started playing guitar, Chibi had fallen asleep, and Tara had Chibi's
head in her lap. I sat there, quiet for some time, until my friend Steven grabbed my shoulder.
"What?" I asked him as I turned and saw his face. He had a terrified look... his eyes
were wide. "... Can you not hear that?" he said. He pointed up towards the treetops.
"Can you not see them???"
I stared into the treetops, trying to see anything besides leaves or branches, but of
course my eyes were used to the light now. It was hard to see.
However... The harder I looked... The more I started to see shadows moving... And the
more I listened... The more I heard whispers...
I looked at Steven, keeping my voice down and not trying to alarm the others. "What
the hell is that?"
He said, "There's more than one of them..."
We stared frightened for a while... Not knowing what to do. He then broke the silence between
us, "They... They want to help us."
I looked at him with that 'Are you out of your *** mind?!' stare. "WHAT?" I almost
shouted at him. "Did you not see what that THING tried to do to us?!"
He nodded, but only said, "The ones above us are not like the one that was chasing us..."
"You're *** with me now, aren't you?" I asked him. I started to wonder if it was
just my imagination playing tricks on me now, and he was just playing along. Sometimes I
still wonder. However, despite that, he shook his head.
"No, they want to help us... But they need something from us first."
"What?" I asked him.
"They need some kind of energy from us... I can't entirely understand exactly what it
is, but they need it to protect us."
We argued for a moment, trying to find out exactly what needed to be done, but only kept
the conversation amongst the two of us. We didn't want to scare the others again. So,
after a discussion and him listening to the creatures, they needed one of us to go to
the edge of the ring of light, that was made by the fire, lay down, and try to be comfortable.
I was, apparently, the one most suited for this. (apparently the creatures' words, not mine) So I reluctantly I accepted, knowing
I was going to protect my friends.
I walked to the edge of the light. I heard Evan say, "Don't go too far!" I told him I
wasn't. Then I laid down.
I was on my stomach... and I felt this... pressure on my back at first. Almost like
something was pressing against my back. Then... I felt this tugging inside of me. The tug
started turning into this burning throb... It came in pulses, as if something was being
pulled out of me at different levels. I gritted my teeth... Trying not to yell or scream.
I felt myself becoming... Weaker... More tired...
Tara saw me laying down by myself. She walked to me, placing her hand on my back "Are you
OK?" she asked.
When her hand touched my body... It was like it was freezing... Yet it was burning.. The
throb within me started pulling to her hand, like if she was pulling this so-called energy
just by touching me.
"DON'T TOUCH ME!" I yelled in pain.
She backed her hand away. Scared, almost sobbing. I had NEVER talked to her like that before.
Steven took her by the hand and led her away from me, trying to explain the situation at
hand to her as much as possible.
So I laid there for what felt like hours... A continuous throb within my body.
Then... It stopped. I couldn't move. My legs were like Jello. My arms wouldn't function.
I felt... Like I explained earlier... Hollow... Steven came to me, saying "They want you to
stop. If they keep going.. it could kill you."
I told him that I couldn't move. So he picked me up and helped me wobble towards the fire.
Tara hugged me, keeping my head in her lap now, caressing her fingers through my hair.
Asking me what happened and what was going on. I could barely talk. I felt so tired...
Drained. I tried to explain to the best of my ability.
I saw Steven walk over to the edge of the light, and laid down to do the same as I did.
Then after about an hour, he came back and sat down next to me. "It's done. We're safe
for tonight."
We left the following morning. We had seen no evidence of the thing or things that were
there. Only the memories we had of that night would have to suffice. No one really talks
about the incident anymore. Hell, we don't really have a reason to talk about it much
anymore anyway... But... Just the other day... I remembered it. I guess when I was reading
some scary stories on the internet, it brought the repressed memory back to my mind... And
ever since I started thinking about it again... I had that feeling... I had started feeling...
Hollow again...
As I said in the beginning, I don't expect you to believe my story. After all, it happened
years ago. However... I am still feeling... hollow.
I may have to go back to the campsite again, as much as I really don't want to... start
to investigate... maybe I could find some old legends or something If I do, and I survive...
if I make it back... WHEN I make it back... I will let you know all of what I found. If
I don't, I guess you might have to just take my word for it...