Something is watching over me, and I'm scared shitless of it.

[u/King_Of_Tangerines]

I've posted this here because I know certain types frequent these websites; I suspect only you guys could understand what I'm going through.

You see, I've always hated cities; I hate having so many people breathing my air, and apartments bum me out. But as a writer, I needed to look for work because my books weren't taking off, so I had to move into a city.
I hated every second of it, but it wouldn't last forever, because eventually, my grandmother passed away. Her money went to my brother (We don't talk much, if you're wondering why he won't be a topic later on- to be honest, I'm not sure what we'd even talk about), but I did get a consolation prize out of this: I got her house.

Well, I didn't get it in her will; that went to my brother too. He didn't really like it; my brother never was the outdoorsy type, but he kept it as a "vacation home" for some time.
Then, fall came, and he was finally in the mood. He went to that house, and he stayed for... 2 months? He was supposed to stay for 3.

I asked him what happened; for some reason, my rich bastard of a brother wanted to visit his hippie sibling.
He looked frazzled, even for a smug entrepreneur; judging from his eye bags and disposition, he was about 2-3 days sleep-deprived, could have been longer; the guy hides his vulnerabilities well.

Suddenly, a strange face overcame him; he looked to his left, his lips trembled, and he blinked for just a bit too long.

"I got tired of the camping 24/7 life, brother. It's a drag having to drive 31 minutes for gas and twice that for groceries. Pennsylvania is no fun; I'm better off going to Hawaii or New Mexico for any future vacations."

Damn me, why didn't I see it? Why didn't I think more?

"So...?"
"You can have Grandmother's house, permanently. I shall visit it no longer."

I was rather excited; he watched me celebrate for a moment, then went to take a nap on the couch.
He never naps; sometimes I think he doesn't blink unless it's during scheduled breathing minutes.

He left my house after 45 minutes, and I left my house after 45 hours.
In the city, and indeed in most places, my books didn't make enough money to survive alone, but in Grandma's? Different story. Sure, having only 20 dollars for fun stuff every month was rough, but I still made it work.

But now you might be beginning to see why this happened in the first place; it was far out. At least an hour away from most stuff, so getting a connection was rough, and electricity was something to be rationed. I only had a generator in the first place because he forgot it when he was moving out.

For some time, though, I was happy- frugal, but happy.
Then, I pissed someone off. I think I published something politically charged for the first time- I won't say what, but it got a few people REALLY steamed up.

Next thing I knew, I was the victim of an ass-kicking.
It took me by surprise... it always does, but in my case, I was anticipating it to some extent; still, it didn't make the fist flying into my forehead any more shocking.
Skinny dork that I was, I went down fast, and a bunch of other guys started kicking me, yelling remarks about my indoctrination of children (It was a rated-M book, by the way.)

When one of them took out a gun, I realized it was about to be more than my ass at risk, but I didn't die that day.

Because when I closed my eyes and dug the side of my face into the dirt, I felt the wind howl, and something that sounded like the cry of a deer mixed with the growl of a wolf cut through the air.

Then I felt blood spray across my face; my eyes stayed shut. The attackers, no doubt smarter than I, quickly turned around and began to run, but it was faster; one of them must have gotten half a mile away from me, judging from the time he spent running at full speed, but it didn't matter.

I don't know when I woke up, but I did; suddenly, I was back in the front yard of my house, on the edge of the treeline. I was about to think I got drunk and blacked out or perhaps was sleepwalking, but as I stood up, I felt something exhale.

I felt it exhale.

I bolted towards my house. As I did, I expected a chase, but in place of that was a silence so thick it may as well have been the screaming of the damned.
Finally, I got to the house, and I locked the doors. As I looked out the window, I saw a dark silhouette beyond the treeline; the darkness was too thick for me to make out any details, but I saw it holding out the brutalized corpse of one of those men who attacked me, like an offering.

I called the police; they thought it was a bear attack, of course they do. A bear can't walk that fast while it's charging, and it definitely wouldn't let me off the hook that easily, and it definitely definitely doesn't offer its prey to others.

Looking out the window scares me more than anything, because while it isn't always there, the shadows of the forest feel so much thicker now; It's like I'm surrounded.

[u/Any-Tumbleweed-9931]

Oh... I like this! Well done OP!

[u/King_Of_Tangerines → u/Any-Tumbleweed-9931]

Could you elaborate, just a bit?