Chapter Text
Tommy wasn't sure what he heard as he sat up in his tent, but he also knew he wasn't alone. Beside him, Tubbo, and Fundy were all sitting up and looking around. The darkness outside the thin fabric was crushing, but through it one could hear something. Faint crunching of leaves, footsteps. Light and careful, moving through the underbrush just a few feet from the tent.
"W-What is that?" Tubbo whispered to his friends as they listened with wide eyes as the footsteps circled around the campsite.
Fundy frowned heavily, "I don't know." he breathed out, "But it sounds close." the sounds then suddenly stopped outside their tent.
Squinting in the low light of the dying campfire, Tommy saw something, it stood on two legs and looked to be a person. Carefully moving over to the opening, Tommy could sense his friends fear as he opened up the tent enough to poke his head out.
Nothing.
Tommy frowned as he looked around the dark area of the low campfire, no footprints or signs anyone had been there. "What?" Tommy said as his friends looked also.
"But, something had been here." Fundy said as they got out of the tent putting on their shoes. Their curiosity outweighed their fear. "Could it have been your drunk dad?" he asked Tommy who frowned and shook his head.
"He would have made more noise than that." Tommy told them as he knew his dad sometimes wandered the woods when drunk.
The three teens looked around with matching frowns, Tubbo shifted, "I don't feel safe out here anymore." he muttered.
It felt like something was watching them and none of them felt safe. Fundy spoke up again, "My house is closer, we can crash in the basement, I have a key." he said to them. Sounded better than being out here with whoever was stalking about.
Zipping up their tent and gathering courage, they headed off down the path to Fundy's house. Trying to tell themselves it was nothing, just maybe some deer or some pranksters from school. Their flashlights lit the path as they walked, Tommy and Tubbo were mostly looking out for roots until they grunted as they collided with Fundy.
"What the hell man?" Tommy hissed then frowned as he could feel Fundy trembling.
Then, Tubbo spoke up, "W-What is that!?" he breathed out. Trailing his eyes, Tommy could see it also, just a good thirty feet from them was a... person. But, they looked all wrong. They were tall, lanky, their arms near touched the forest floor and were claw-like. Tall antlers like an elk were on their head, leaves were faintly outlined in the inky blackness of the sky and the slow light of the flashlight pointed at the ground.
But, the most glaring feature was the two massive wings that took up most of the path and near touched the trees. For context, it'd take all three of them arm and arm to reach the length of the path. A cold feeling settled over the area, and Tommy now noticed how silent it was. Not even the summer crickets were making noise.
"You think it knows we are here?" Tubbo asked gripping Fundy for dear life.
At that, the... creature turned its head to face them, blue eyes glowing in the darkness. The three teens felt like they were paralyzed with fear as their creature turned fully to them, the sound was like the creaking of branches.
Tommy didn't know what possessed him, but he lifted his light to shine it on the creature. He wished he hadn't. Tubbo let out a scream that seemed to snap them out of their trance.
The face was pale the eyes were sunken, with matted blond hair that was made of twigs and leaves. Seems it was also wearing a hat that was worn and had seen better days. Its body was made like a tree though with a huge trench coat on.
With that, they broke out in a run down a side path that they had been down before. They have explored these woods a lot, they knew all the path, and fear was rushing them to find someone, anyone.
There was the sound of something close behind them, Tommy's lungs burned for air as they ran. As they ran through the woods, Tommy looked back for a second to see if it was chasing them. Really should have watched more horror movies, before that's when he collided into a tree.
With a painful grunt, he hit the ground and saw stars for a moment. Tommy coughed a bit as his hand held his chest, then he winced as he sat up. Currently, his mind was thinking about the pain, then he looked around sharply for that thing.
The silence was around him, his friends had long since left him behind. He was alone. Tommy got to his feet, his legs ached from the run. He had to get out of here, but... which way had he been running again? Though he knew these woods like the back of his hand, it was a different story at night.
"Tommy!" a voice said, it sounded like Tubbo's. Relief filled him and he turned to the sound.
"Tubbo?" he called back as he took steps to the noise down the path. Thinking they came back for him.
"Tommy!" it said again in the same tone as before. That made him pause, it didn't sound like it was getting closer. "Tommy!" he heard again in his best friend's voice.
Squinting in the darkness at where the sound was coming from, he noticed something blending in with the trees. His footsteps stopped as his eyes trailed up again and there it was, just fifteen feet from him. It's sunken blue eyes looking at him calmly.
The creature opened its mouth again, "Tommy!" it said again, just like Tubbo. Tommy was in shock, gapping at the thing. Did it just... mimic his friend's voice?
"Come ... closer." that time it was Fundy's voice, only the two words sounded like different tones. Like it was taking words from random conversations.
Tommy couldn't move, he could only stare. They stared at each other, then the thing moved out of the trees, and a step was taken over to him. He was scared, but he couldn't move. Tommy always wondered why rabbits froze when they saw a predator. But, that's how he felt, fear was keeping him in place. Maybe it was a more primal thing when faced with something you couldn't outrun or couldn't fight. Did, you just give up? Hope by staying still it wouldn't notice you?
His head felt foggy like his thoughts were fading, was he crying? Tommy didn't know anymore as the things closed the distance between them. "Calm." he heard from its mouth, this didn't sound like either of his friends. It sounded like a male's voice but still had that distorted echo.
His breath was shaky as it reached out, claw-like fingers touching his skin. This was a nightmare, one he just couldn't wake up from. The scent of birch, its minty scent that he learned from class, came from the creature. The blue eyes gazed into his own, as the claws brushed away his tears and pushed his hair out of his face.
Then... nothing.
-0-0-0-
No one knew of what happened to Tommy, Tubbo had come back to see what he called a monster had taken his friend.
Search parties found nothing, just their ripped up tent.
It was blamed on a bear, like always Tubbo found in the stories he found of people who had seen something similar.
Not that Tommy's parents cared, quick to cash in on his life insurance for more drugs and alcohol.
Tommy was never found.
And he wasn't the first, apparently, two other boys, Wilbur and Dave, in the area had gone missing to the same thing.
His friend would be just another myth of why to stay out of the woods.