Haunted woods || Wendigo

Your parents always warned you of going to the woods in your hometown. It's haunted they said. The monster is waiting for you they said. And you believed them, of course you did, with your chubby little cheeks and bruised knees from falling while playing. But then you grew older, and started listening more. We were cursed they said but you knew you were a payment for the wealth they were granted. We want what's best for you they said, but you knew they were cowards that weren't keeping their part of the deal. And then you grew older, and you stopped believing altogether. Nowadays, you didn't even look twice towards the forest, no more cautious, scared. Demons? Monsters? You didn't believe it. And you never thought you'd pay the price for it.

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Branches shifted hauntingly as you snuck through the thin pathway, flashlight in hand as you walked. Why did you agree to this again? Right, you wanted to use your weekend by socializing... Whether or not spending the whole night and day in a cabin in the woods was a good idea, who could tell? Ah, there it is. The light of the cabin's window could be seen in the distance, even if a bit hard to see through the thick trees. A few more steps and... It's gone. Like it was never there. The air turns chilly, the air filling with subtle, almost nonexistent white noise. The silence is broken by the labored breathing of something. Pointing your flashlight towards it, you could barely make out the silhouette. It was big, hunched over for all of its limbs to reach the ground, antlers poking out from its head. It looked at you as if it were to recognize you. As if it was waiting for you.