“IT” FOUND ME

It lives in the woods. I don't know if there is a them or just an “it”. But I know for certain there is an “It”

I know because I have seen it up close and personal. My name is Mary Smith, I am a 17 year old girl. I am the oldest of three children. It is the year of our Lord 1702. We lived far away from town, far from those who shunned us. To survive we have a small farm that allows us to grow a modest amount of crops. There is never enough to sell in town, just enough for us to store away to survive the harsh winters that have become common as of late.

The others in my family are my father and mother Thomas and Sara. Along with the twins, May and Beth, identical twins. The two of them are so identical that there are times even I can't tell which one I'm talking to until I spend a moment and look for a scar on the arm of May, a scar she got from one of our sheep when it's collar caught her arm and took a chunk of skin off of her upper arm.

It is a hard life, always working and never an empty moment. When we aren't farming we are out hunting to make sure we have food for the table and furs to trade in town for those items we can't grow, build or invent.

The first time I became aware of “It” was last summer. I had been out hunting in the woods, when I came across a quiet glen deep in the woods that looked inviting. In the midst of this glade was a small pond with an abundance of fish just ready for the catching. It was a horribly hot afternoon along with humidity that was oppressive. I took off my shoes and leggings to sit upon the bank and cool off and rest prior to resuming my hunt. The water was cold and invigorating, a welcome relief from the heat. This was so refreshing I doffed the remainder of my clothes and wadded out into the water. This had the added benefit of allowing me to wash off the grime that I had accumulated over the last couple of days.

Leaning back and closing my eyes for a bit I watched the sun play through the leaves as the shadows flitted across my eyelids. Moments into my rest I felt something, something there was no reason to feel. There was no sound that caught my attention just a feeling of wrongness. Very slowly opening my eyes and turning my head first left and then to the right trying to locate the wrongness I felt. There was nothing to be seen or heard, everything looked and sounded as it should. There were a couple of squirrels playing tag and chasing each other through the branches. The birds never once halted their songs. Yet there was something, what that something was I had no idea, I just felt it, I felt the wrongness in the air.

Sitting up I began to walk around the glade trying to locate that which set my nerves on edge. As I wandered around I peered into the deeper darker woods around the glade. It was then that I saw the wrongness that I felt. “It” was standing just past the limits of my vision partially hidden by the intervening brush. This wasn't a person, this wasn't anything I had ever seen or heard of. “It” stood staring at me, as I stared back it seemed to fade into the background. I never saw it leave, it just began to fade as if it turned transparent. Suddenly I remembered that I was standing there naked to the world and “It's” gaze. Never one to panic, I made my way back to the pond and collected my clothing. While every other moment casting my eyes back towards the wrongness. Moving as slowly as possible I made my way back to the trail I cut. Never stopping to dress myself. That would take precious moments I felt I didn't have I just wanted to get away from the area.

As I left the glade the sense wrongness began to fade. At first I walked, the further away I got the faster I moved until I was flat out running. The brush and the brambles caught at my legs and sides, I didn't care. All I cared about was getting away from there, back to the safety of home and family. A mile or so away I slowed down and did my best to catch my breath and collect my thoughts. Taking a moment to collect myself and take stock of my situation I began by inspecting myself to see and attend to the scratches I had gathered while running. Standing naked in the woods I found that my legs were OK, just scratched up a bit. At seventeen my body was young and strong. I stand 5' 1” around 110 lbs. my breasts are small but I have hopes that when I have a child they will be up to the task of feeding my children. As the oldest child my father relied on me to take an active role in the care of our farm and family. To that end from an early age I was taught how to hunt and farm to sustain the homestead.

By the time I had reached our farm my mood had improved and the fear I felt had receded to a dull ache. As I entered the yard father looked at me and asked, “Mary, are you OK, you look out of breath and a bit skiddish.” “I'm fine father, I was spooked by what I thought was some beast in the woods. I first thought it might be a wolf although in reflection it had to be a wild boar. I feel rather silly running through the woods like I did. Had I had my musket I would have brought home a fine meal that might have lasted us a couple of weeks.”

“Mary when you go out tomorrow take along the musket. You never know what you might scare up. I'm surprised you didn't take it today.” “I had thought I was going to fill my baskets with fruit. However I got spooked before I ever got there. It was silly of me to act that way, I grew up in these woods and you taught me everything I needed to know to survive.” I said. “Mary I've been through these woods a thousand times and every once in awhile I get spooked. When you are alone your mind can start to wander and when it wanders it begins to see what it wants to see. There has been more then occasion when I had high-tailed it out of the woods and back here to the safety of home. So don't let it worry you that you got spooked, it just proves that you have the normal amount caution when in an area that might prove to be a danger.”

With that bit of fatherly reassurance I went into the house to check on my sisters. May was helping Ma in the kitchen and Beth I found out back feeding the chickens. Sitting down on the fence I called out to Beth to come and sit with me for a bit. “Beth, you spend a lot of time back here, have you ever seen anything or anybody lurking in the woods? Something you aren't quite sure what it was you saw or when you did see it you were unable to see the whole of it?” I asked. Beth's response gave me a start. “Did you see it to?” 'Did I see what?” “I've seen “It” many a time. “It” never comes out of the woods, but I have seen it standing just inside the tree line never out in the open, always just far enough back to hide among the trees and bushes. A couple of time I tried to sneak up on it from the side and once I walked straight towards it only to find that the moment I turn my eyes or become distracted It's gone. I don't see or hear it go, it's just gone.”

“Beth, when did you see it last?” “It was there just yesterday, same as always just watching as if it was waiting for something. It never stays very long just long enough for me to see it and then poof it's gone. You know now that I think about it “It” is always in the same spot, the exact same spot!” She said. “Beth would you take me to where you see it, the spot “It” stands upon.” It took a bit of prodding to convince Beth to take me there.

When we got to the place you could see a spot where the grass had been trampled flat. Oddly there wasn't a path to that spot, just the flattened vegetation. Beth began pulling on the hem of my blouse pleading with me to come away from there. As I began to enter the woods Beth said she was leaving and if I knew what was good for me I would get out of there now. I watched Beth turn on her heels and run back to the chicken coops. I on the other hand found a mystery, one I needed to figure out. As I approached the spot where “It” stood, I looked about for any signs of where from it came from or went to. There was nothing there. I have been tracking animals in the wood ever since I could walk. Father would take me on his hunts and teach me how to read the spoors left behind when anything travels through the woods. I'm good enough that I could tell you the size and direction a mouse took in the underbrush. When it came to “It”, there was nothing save the trampled grass.

Later that night I lay awake thinking. If “It” wanted to harm me earlier or us or for that matter, there was many a time it could have done so. So what did “It” want? I decided I was going to find out. Throughout the night and the next few days I began to formulate a plan. The first thing I was planing was to build a blind close to the spot where “It” stood while watching Beth. I couldn't just build it all at once, if “It” was watching I had to do it over the course of many days. So for days I would gather the fruits from nearby trees and bushes while moving branches and other fallen debris into the shape I had in mind.

Beth said that “It” never came out in the morning, only in the late afternoon would she ever see the watcher. As I set about my plan I found the spot I wanted, about twenty yards from where “It” watched Beth. Each day I found a branch here or a pile of brush and very slowly I built my blind. If “It” was smart it would take notice of a pile of debris. So I built the blind in the center of a ring of bushes who's leaves were just beginning to fill out for the spring season. I hoped that any difference would be thought of as just the new spring growth. Three days later the blind was finished, as I stood a distance away one might never guess it was a construct rather than natural growth.

The next day I started out at dawn and made my way to the blind. Before I left the house I told my father that I was going hunting and would be back rather late. I took with me a skin of water and some dried jerky. Making my way into the woods far from my blind I scouted around for any signs of “It”. Nothing was to be found, not a foot print, not a disturbed branch, nothing. After making a very wide trek away from the blind I made my way back towards it. As I moved aside the branch I placed to hide the entrance I decided that I had done a good job. There was plenty of room to sit or lay down while I waited. As the sun rose so the temperature rose with it. What I hadn't thought of was air flow, I had made it so dense there was very little air movement within the blind. Well there was nothing to be done about it, I just had to live with it. All through the morning I kept vigil. If Beth was correct our friend wouldn't be around until later in the afternoon, however I couldn't take the chance that he was nearby and watching.

As the day wore on the boredom was growing by the minute. I wasn't able to move around much for fear of making noise that would give me away. A bit after mid day I saw Beth working in the yard feeding the pigs. She would on occasion look outward towards the woods, her eyes scanning the area watching for “It”. Turning back to watch the woods I became aware that there was something different that hadn't been there before. It was hard to make out it's shape or size, there was a smokey look to it's edges that made it difficult to focus on it's true shape.

I had to wonder how it got there without being seen or heard. My eyes were turned for just a few moments, far to short for any person to sneak past me. It certainly didn't fly there, it had to walk but why didn't it leave a trail? Nothing moves without disturbing something. As I sat there watching “It”, I grew impatient I wanted to know what it was and what was it's nature. Was it an animal or a demon? Watching “It” I began to study how it moved and shifted around the place it stood. There was a eerie smoothness to it's motions. It almost seemed to glide across the surface and when it stopped there was a hint of motion as if it was sinking to the ground.

While my eyes were fixed upon it I began to see something that gave me pause. When “It” moved, it never moved any branches out of it's way, it just went through them as if they weren't there. Smoke through the branches was the only way I would be able to describe what I was seeing. So if this thing was vaporous why did it leave the ground mashed flat wherever it stood still? Did it have the ability to change it's state, from solid to mist? I began to wonder if I could catch or trap this thing? What would catch mist? While I pondered this my legs began to cramp from sitting in one position for so long. As quietly as I could I began to shift myself to gain some relief. To my horror my legs had fallen asleep which caused me to knock the branches that composed my blind. As soon as this occurred “It” turned and looked in my direction. From one blink of the eyes to the next “It” was gone. Damn, now “It” knows I was here.

Looking at the spot where this thing stood I could see no signs that it had ever been there. It was then that the hair on the back of my neck began to scream at me that there was something wrong. Very slowly I turned my head to look around, “It” stood behind my blind looking straight at me. For the next few moments my heart stood still, not a single beat could be felt. “It” did nothing, “It” just stood there looking. Oddly even this close I was unable to discern any of “It's” features., The place where one would expect a face to be was nothing but a swirling mist of dark fog. The entirety of what should have been it's body was only a variation of what it's face appeared to be composed of.

Rooted to the spot unable to move I fixed my eyes upon “It”. There was the sudden realization that throughout this there was not a sound from this thing, not the rustling of cloth nor the subtle noises that any living thing makes just by virtue of being alive. In one instant as I blinked my eyes “It” was gone, gone as if it never existed. Twisting myself around I took in the whole of my surroundings, nothing to be seen, nothing to ever know that the watcher was ever there.

Looking down I saw the shaking of my hands. That's funny I thought, I don't remember feeling them shaking but shaking they were. At once the rest of me began to shake, a shaking that began in my soul and radiated outward. I grabbed my hands to stop the reaction. This just transferred the shaking to the rest of my body. Terror seeped into every cell of my body. All I could do was fold up into a little ball and hide in the corner of my blind.
I lay there, my soul in fear. As my nerves began to relax I began to ponder what I was witness to. First and foremost “It” could have done what it wanted to do to me, I would have had no way to protect myself. Yet “It” didn't do a thing, it just looked at me and then went away. As I began to think rational thoughts again I took notice of that one idea. “It” could have hurt me, so why didn't it? Why just watch? What did “It” want? That's the key I thought, what did it want is the question I should be asking. Once my mind began to follow this thread my body relaxed and once again came under my control. OK I thought, it's clear that my idea of a blind was useless.
“It” knew but just didn't care that I was there and watching. So if it knew I was there and didn't care why bother hiding? If I couldn't hide from it and it didn't have a desire to hurt me maybe I could just sit out in the open and wait for it to appear. It took me a couple of days before I worked up the courage to try my idea. Setting out early, the dawn just hinting at it's arrival I made it to the area I wanted. A fallen pine tree was to be my seat, set around twenty feet from where “It” likes to stand. As the morning wore on the forest felt perfectly normal. The squirrels played their games among the branches, the birds their songs felt right and the remainder of the world felt right.

Last night was long, I spent much of the night soothing Beth's fears. She was convinced that “It” was after her and just waiting for her to have a laps in her vigilance. It took me hours to get her to go to sleep. Only the promise that I would stay awake and watch over her finally allowed her to sleep. This unfortunately sapped my strength for today's mission. My feet felt leaden and my head fuzzy. It was a challenge keeping myself awake.

If not for my task, this would have been a magnificent day to hike the woods in search of game. Instead here I was sitting on my ass waiting for whatever “It” was. As the afternoon wore on I found it harder to concentrate my fatigue was quickly catching up to me. The sound of the life in the forest was lulling me to sleep. Thinking if I shut my eyes for just a second I could replenish some of my vitality. Something was wrong, before I even opened my eyes I knew there was a wrongness in the air. Fear gripped my soul, why did I ever think doing this was a good idea? Very slowly I cracked open one eye just far enough to let a bit of light in. There “It” was, standing right where it stood countless times before. As quietly as I could I turned my head to give myself a better view of this thing. “It” paid no attention to me, it had to be aware of me sitting there I was after all sitting in plain sight. As I observed the creature I was startled to notice that I could see shapes through it's body. As the sun filtered through the trees I could vaguely see the shape of the tree behind it, not clearly but see it nonetheless. “It” made no sound of it's own. “It” was just there. Nearby a squirrel was rushing around on it's quest for food. As the squirrel ran around it ran right through the thing I was watching. “It” didn't flinch or even notice the squirrel run through it's body. That startled me, the idea that this thing might have no substance. Was “It” a ghost, a specter maybe even a witch or warlock?

As studied the thing I turned my head to locate a sound behind me. Nothing but my friend the squirrel on it's hunt for lunch. Returning my gaze to the spot ahead I found that “It” had left. After waiting for an about hour for “It” to return I gave up and headed home. Everything at home was as normal as normal could be. Beth and May as usual were creating havoc in the house. May was upset with father for making her take care of the pigs for the next few weeks for talking back to mom last night. Beth was also on fathers naughty list for allowing the goats to break out of their pen. Causing everyone to scramble to recapture all of them. If you ever want to experience futility first hand try to round up twenty goats. Not only will a goat do what a goat wants to do regardless of what others want, you also learn quickly never to turn your back on a billy. Doing so is a guaranty to have your backside butted.

Every day for the next two weeks I repeated my vigil. And every day the results were the same. I would sit on my log and “It” would stop and watch the farm. I came to understand that it wasn't Beth herself that “It” was watching it was the entire farm. It just so happened that “It” came by at the time Beth was doing her chores.

After the two weeks I began to alter things a bit. The first thing I did was to move a little closer to “It's” spot. I was afraid that I would scare it off. That was not to be the case. If anything “It” became a bit more casual around me. Every once in awhile “It” would spend a bit of time watching me while I sat there. During my time watching I took to the habit of sketching what I was seeing. It seems that “It” had an interest in what I was doing. To test this idea, one day I left my spot before “It” came. I left my satchel filled with sketches upon my log. When I returned the next day my satchel had been opened and the pages looked through but put back in the wrong order, so I knew that “It” had viewed my sketches.

I repeated this a couple of times with the same outcome. Finally the day came when I had gotten bored with the routine never changing. The next day I took a chance and sat on a stump right in the middle of “It's” clearing. When “It” came it stood outside the clearing for a moment before entering. Today was different, instead of watching the farm “It” came into the clearing and sat on a stump not five feet away from where I sat. I had noted before that there was a transparent quality to it's being. Along with an ability to shift from a semi-solid state to one of vaporous being. And while it did not have a defined shape it did tend to take an almost human shape. And while there was no discernible face there was a pattern in the mist that made up it's shape that could be taken for the basic shape of a face. Today “It” was in it's solid state. Throughout my weeks of watching I never attempted to initiate any contact with “It”. But today when it sat near me I felt it was up to me to begin creating some sort of interaction.

I began in the most basic of ways, I said hello. As I spoke there was a noticeable shift in “It's” attention. “It” turned and gazed at me. As I watched there was a perceptible nod in my direction. Taking a step further I said, “My name is Mary, do you have a name?” Once again there was a nod from “It”. “Will you tell me your name?” I asked. “Fiss” It said. “Fiss, is that what you said, is that what they call you?” From “It” came another nod. Turning and reaching down to my satchel for my sketches, I asked. “You looked at the sketches I left here the other day did you like them?” with drawings in hand I turned back to show them. And “It” was gone again. This is getting troublesome I thought. I stuck around for a bit to see if “It” would return. After waiting for about an hour I gave up and headed home.

That evening after we turned in for the night I went into the twins room and woke Beth and signaled for her to join me in my room. When we were safely behind closed doors I began to question Beth about what she saw in the woods. After hearing her account I began to tell her what I had discovered. Beth was rightly upset that I had taken such risks with my life. “ Beth, if this thing was going to harm us it could have done so at any time but it didn't. You told me that it had been spotted by you for at least three weeks before you first told me about it. “Mary I told you about it after you began to question me. I never in my life thought you would go looking for it and I never ever would believe that you would attempt to talk to it!” “Beth if we find something that frightens us we can run away from it and always be afraid of it or we can face it. If we face it we may discover that the fear was only in our heads and had no foundation in reality. Once we learn that we can stop the fear and we might even begin to appreciate what we were afraid of.” “I don't care, said Beth there is nothing you can say to me that will get me to like seeing that thing,it gives me the willies.

The next day I spent the early part of the morning hunting. My time spent hunting for answers about “It” had taken its toll on the food situation at home. To that end I began hunting further from home then I normally would. I had scouted this area some time ago and kept it untouched for just this very reason. One reason for this is the game further away hadn't been culled and wasn't as distrustful of intruders in their area. My reward for this was the best harvest of squirrels and a small wild hog. Father was going to be impressed with the haul.

As I finished dressing the hog I slung it across my back and made my way out of the hollow I had picked for my cleaning chore. I began picking my way through the dense undergrowth and back to the trail I blazed I felt like the mighty hunter returning with her spoils. Having traveled a mile or so I began to get an uneasy feeling. There was something nearby that had my hackles raised. Entering a clearing I took stock of my surroundings, there was a sound of brush being flattened as something headed in my direction. One of the dangers of hunting especially when one was alone was the smell of the kill. You are traipsing around with your kill and every predator in a five mile radius can smell the fresh kill and will be looking to see if they could take it away from you.

Dropping my burden and priming my musket I stood my ground and scanned the area. Within moments there came a crashing from the brush ahead of me. Bursting from the brush was the biggest damn bear I ever saw! I didn't thing this bear was going to be impressed by my musket and even if I managed to hit it I think I would only manage to annoy it. With my legs trembling I raised the musket as Mr bear came to a halt not more then fifty feet away. As the bear raised itself on hind legs I had to guess that it stood seven foot tall when upright. Pulling back the hammer on the musket I took aim at the bears chest where the heart should be. A fraction of a second before pulling the trigger the bear dropped to the ground turn and ran off in the direction it came from.

What the fuck I thought, why did it do that? Lowering my musket I turned to make sure the bear wasn't circling around to get behind me. As I turned I saw “It” standing in the clearing. Well I know why the bear thought better of sticking around. As I took a step forward I said thank you to “It”. As the words left my mouth “It” vanished. Over the next two hours as I made my way back home I kept searching for any signs of my new friend, but nothing was to be seen.

Walking into the yard my father and May dropped what they were doing and rushed up to take the burden from my shoulders. When father saw the size of my hog and the bagful of squirrels his smile grew to cover the whole of his face. “The mighty huntress has returned bearing gifts!” He espoused. Father and May took my kills into the barn to clean and quarter the hog and smaller game. I on the other hand went to the back of the house and stripped off my clothes to wash myself and my clothes from the trough.

As I washed the dried blood and stink from my body I stood deep in thought. Was “It” following me, did “It” intentionally protect me from the bear or was it just a lucky happenstance? Hanging my wet clothes on the line to dry I donned a long shirt I had washed the day before. Going out front and rejoining father and May in the barn I was going to help with dressing the kill. Father on the other hand told me to relax and let them do the work. Saying I had already done more then my share of the work by bringing home this wonderful gift.