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Nightfall Crypt
  • 7/7/2025
A 16-year-old boy ventures deeper into the woods behind his mountain home than ever before. What begins as a quiet walk under the fading evening light becomes a desperate sprint for his life when something-or someone—starts chasing him. What he sees at the property line is burned into his mind forever. This story explores what happens when you cross a line in the wilderness… and something follows you back.
Transcript
00:00It's hard to recall what drove me to venture deeper into the woods than I ever had before.
00:07Perhaps it was a sense of boredom, or a desire to prove my courage in the familiar territory of my backyard.
00:15I had spent my entire life in that mountain house, surrounded by dense forests and steep valleys that seemed to stretch endlessly.
00:24I had always kept to the well-trodden trails near our cottage.
00:30But that night, something inexplicable tugged at me.
00:35The sky, a canvas of fading orange, was quickly being swallowed by the encroaching darkness.
00:42I armed myself with a flashlight, a jacket, and bear spray, because even though I felt brave, I wasn't stupid.
00:50The forest was a realm of lurking dangers, where bears and deer roamed freely.
00:57The trees, tall and imposing, seemed to swallow sound, and the cold had a way of numbing your instincts.
01:07I followed the slope behind our house down into the valley, brushing past thick pine branches and ducking under limbs.
01:15I knew the trail well at first, then it became mossy rock and overgrown roots.
01:22I kept going.
01:24Twenty minutes in, I realized how quiet it had become.
01:29Not in a peaceful way either.
01:32Just wrong.
01:34There was an unsettling absence of sound.
01:38No birds chirping.
01:40No critters rustling in the underbrush.
01:43Just the steady rhythm of my boots and the sound of my breath.
01:47My flashlight cut through the darkness like a knife.
01:50But everything beyond its narrow beam felt unnaturally still.
01:57I reached the creek that curved around our property.
02:01A silvery line of water threading through the trees.
02:05That's when I saw it.
02:08Garbage.
02:09An old tin can.
02:11A rusted cooking pot.
02:13A torn sleeping bag lay twisted, as if it had been dragged across the ground.
02:17Two shoes.
02:19One upright.
02:20One collapsed on its side.
02:23They looked waterlogged.
02:24I paused.
02:26My first thought was that someone had been camping out here.
02:30Maybe even living rough.
02:32It wouldn't be unheard of.
02:34The forest stretches for miles.
02:37Someone desperate enough could hide out here for weeks and never be seen.
02:42I stood there for a while.
02:44Just scanning the area with my flashlight.
02:47The beam caught the edge of something else.
02:51Something I didn't register at first.
02:53Like a darkened patch of tree bark that didn't belong.
02:57But it was probably nothing.
02:59Just a shadow.
03:01I turned back.
03:04The walk home started fine.
03:06My legs were tired.
03:08And it was pitch black now.
03:10So dark that I had to concentrate hard to keep the light steady on the trail ahead.
03:15I kept glancing back over my shoulder.
03:19I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd just disturbed something I shouldn't have.
03:24Like I'd opened a door by walking past that campsite.
03:28About six minutes into my return hike, I heard it.
03:33A sharp, heavy crack.
03:36A branch behind me.
03:39I froze.
03:41Every muscle tensed.
03:43I turned slowly, shining the flashlight behind me.
03:48Nothing.
03:49The forest was a blur of vertical black trunks and tangled brush.
03:53My light swept over branches, rocks, and space.
03:59Then I heard it again.
04:02Faster this time.
04:03Crunch.
04:04Snap.
04:05Footsteps.
04:07Running.
04:08Before I could process it, I was running too.
04:12Not thinking and just sprinting.
04:15Something primal took over.
04:17And it screamed, go.
04:18I kept the flashlight aim forward, but my hands were shaking so badly the beam danced all over
04:26the place.
04:28The terrain was uneven, with roots jutting out like traps and stones rolling beneath the feet.
04:35I yelled out, pleading, stop, please stop.
04:40My voice cracked as I ran.
04:42Whatever it was, it wasn't stopping.
04:46It was gaining.
04:47The sound of branches being violently torn, footsteps pounding closer, and a guttural,
04:54angry grunt.
04:56It wasn't the sound of a person breathing.
04:58It was too deep, like an animal with a voice box that didn't fit.
05:04Hot tears streamed down my face from the cold wind and the panic.
05:08The way it moved.
05:09The sound it made.
05:11Felt wrong.
05:12Too fast.
05:13Too loud.
05:14The fear was palpable.
05:19The desperation overwhelming.
05:22Hot tears mixed with the cold wind and panic.
05:25It wasn't stealthy.
05:36It wasn't stalking.
05:38It was chasing to catch.
05:40The path narrowed near a cluster of boulders.
05:52I almost slipped climbing over them, my flashlight catching only glimpses of the trail ahead.
06:07My legs burned.
06:09My chest hurt.
06:10I kept screaming, maybe out of desperation or some hope that it might scare whatever was behind me.
06:17The fear was palpable.
06:20The desperation overwhelming.
06:23Then I heard it slip.
06:26A violent grunt.
06:27Something fell hard.
06:30Branches snapped.
06:31And then silence.
06:33I didn't wait.
06:34I tore through the woods.
06:36Lungs on fire, ignoring the needles that whipped my arms and face.
06:40The light of home came into view, our porch lights barely glowing between the trees like distant stars.
06:48I hit the property line.
06:51And for the first time, I dared to stop.
06:54The relief was overwhelming.
06:57The fear still lingering.
06:58I turned around slowly, raising the flashlight back toward the woods.
07:05And that's when I saw him.
07:07A figure standing at the edge of the woods, barely touched by the beam of my flashlight.
07:14The dread was suffocating.
07:16The terror absolute.
07:19He was standing about a hundred yards back, just at the edge of where the trees begin again.
07:25The beam barely touched him.
07:27But it was enough.
07:29A tall man.
07:31No pants.
07:33His hoodie was torn and soaked to the bottom, hanging over long, pale legs that looked almost raw in the light.
07:41He wasn't moving.
07:42He was watching.
07:44Arms slack at his sides.
07:46I couldn't make out his face.
07:49The shadows clung to him like wet cloth.
07:52I stood frozen.
07:54Then he moved.
07:55He sprinted.
07:56Not like a normal person.
07:58He dropped low.
08:00He dropped low.
08:00Arms and legs bending unnaturally.
08:02And started lunging forward, using the trees to pull himself faster, grabbing at the ground, almost spider-like.
08:10Every motion was explosive, violent.
08:13Behind me, I could hear his guttural exhale, like a dog about to bite down.
08:26I threw myself across the door.
08:28I threw myself across the yard, every nerve in my body screaming.
08:32My legs barely worked by the time I reached the porch, fumbled the door open, and slammed it shut behind me.
08:41Everything went quiet.
08:43I turned off the lights and crept toward the window, flashlights still shaking in my grip.
08:51My breath fogged the glass.
08:53Then I saw him again.
08:56He was standing right at the fence, looking at the house, waving.
09:02His arm rose unnaturally high, slow and puppet-like.
09:08His hand flopped limply with each movement.
09:11He didn't speak.
09:14Just stared.
09:15He was so tall I could see his head over the six-foot fence, his silhouette stretched and boneless.
09:23I stepped back from the window, shaking.
09:27I locked every door, every window.
09:30Woke my dad up in a panic.
09:33I told him everything.
09:35But I don't remember how he responded.
09:37If he took it seriously or thought some drift had just freaked me out.
09:42But no one ever found the man.
09:45No one ever found the sleeping bag or the garbage near the creek, either.
09:50I never walked back there again.
09:54Sometimes I still hear footsteps in the woods late at night.
09:58I'll be brushing my teeth or standing at the window.
10:02And the sound drifts out of the trees.
10:06Not footsteps on the ground.
10:08Footsteps hitting bark.
10:11Like something climbing.
10:13Or waiting.
10:15Waiting for someone else to walk just a little too far.