My good friend...

At first, I thought of it as a great idea, besides that, I had no problem doing it. After so many years of leading a lonely life in the city, I needed to give myself a break from all the noise and dirty air that I was already used to... But right now, I think it was the worst decision I could have made in my life…

A week ago, I arrived at the place where I am, a town that seemed to be isolated from the whole world, where you could see the beauty of nature everywhere you looked, it was just what I had been looking for a long time, and how did I get here? It was thanks to a friend who had moved to this town looking for a change of scenery just like me.

To put it simply, I bought a small house a bit out of town, I didn't really need much, just a bed, food, and a roof to sleep under. The first days were the most complicated so to speak, having to look for firewood to stay warm at night and most of the time fishing my own food, although I ended up enjoying that part as the days went by. Everything seemed to be going well, a time away from everything, just me and my thoughts, as well as going to town and talking to my colleague about anything that came to mind and having a few drinks remembering the old days... But those days of peace of mind they left as fast as they came.

I don't remember when they really started, but every night I could feel something strange, they started as simple sounds that I didn't really identify what they were, they seemed like howls of dogs or wolves, plus every morning I found several tracks near my house that in my opinion were something large to belong to any animal that might be in the area. At first, I didn't want to think too much and assumed that they were just animals wandering around at night, so I didn't pay too much attention, not until I started hearing the various rumors in the village.

Rumors talked about how chicken barns had been destroyed at night leaving an image not very pretty to see, or how remains of what would be sheep had been found torn to pieces as if something had feasted on them. Since I didn't really know anything, the best thing that occurred to me was to talk about this with my friend and he explained to me that all this was really normal.

Apparently, during that season it was common for wolves, coyotes, or other animals to look for food and try to steal the cattle of the people of the town, so everyone was attentive to what happened every night, hence all the rumors that had listened. I also told my friend what I had been hearing every night lately and he advised me to be careful not to be out late, and to find a weapon with which to have something to defend myself, after all, I never knew what could happen.

In the end, the days passed, and the incidents with the animals continued to arise, in addition to the fact that at night I could hear the sound of gunshots that were surely used to scare any creature that wandered at night... Too bad that, in my case, things were starting to get worse. Little by little, the howls and sounds that I heard increased to the point that it was almost impossible for me to fall asleep, and my mind did not really understand what kind of animal these belonged to when it came to the point where I felt that those sounds they were right outside my house, that's when I decided to see why all that was going on, but as if that thing knew what it was trying to do, it would disappear right when I left my house.

I felt like I was going crazy, that maybe it was just my imagination because of how tired I was these last few days, but to my bad luck, one day I saw what confirmed that all this was real. My house, despite being small, was surrounded by a wooden fence high enough and resistant enough so that nothing could knock it down, but that morning, that same fence had fallen at the same time as all my hopes that none of that would be real. The first thing I managed to observe were all those scratches that seemed to want to destroy the fence as if it were its worst enemy, I was somewhat terrified, not because of the scratches or because I thought that the fence was strong enough to withstand the blow of a hammer, but because of what was in front of me.

A strange crimson-colored mass that seemed to throb at that moment was hanging all over the fence that still seemed to be standing with all its might, just by being a few steps away I could feel the smell of iron flooding my nose and just taking a look at the light bits of wool that were scattered on the ground, I knew that thing was previously a sheep.

The sight could only be described in one way, "horrible", pieces of what seemed to be organs were everywhere bathed in a red puddle that made my stomach want to take out everything it had at that moment. I did not want to continue in that place, and after going to town as usual and telling my friend everything that had happened, we went together to my house and got rid of all the mess as best we could.

I thought about it during the last days and I couldn't stand it anymore, every night I heard that hateful noise again and the feeling that at any moment something could break the door and enter had me in a constant state of panic, so I decided that tomorrow morning I would get out of that place. I went with my friend and told him about my plans, he understood that I did not feel comfortable with everything that was happening and told me that we should have a farewell party that night so as not to waste the place, to which I gladly accepted.

I had already prepared all the important things that I had brought in addition to my luggage among other things, the only thing left was to wait for my colleague and spend the last good moments in that place. I had some concerns, he had told me that it is somewhat dangerous to go out at night and more so if it is an area as far away as where my house was located, but since I knew that he had been living in the town for about a year, I discarded my negative thoughts and just watched as time passed.

Since an hour of the agreed time had passed, that was when I got worried, my friend did not have the bad habit of being late or standing me up, I had known him practically all my life, and just thinking about the time it took, made me feel that something it could have happened to him. After waiting another half hour, I couldn't take it anymore and left the house hoping to see my friend arrive.

Before leaving, I took the only weapon I had been able to get, it was a simple machete that I also used to cut firewood, but it was enough protection for me.

The night was too dark, so much so that it was a bit difficult for me to see more than two steps in front of me and I only supported myself with the light of the moon that was there at that moment… But if he had known, I would never have left the house at that time. In the distance, a figure had come out of the bushes, it was simple to describe it, a huge dog, it was about two meters tall while on all fours, its eyes glowed in the dark and just by feeling its presence, I was experiencing the greatest fear that I had felt in my life.

Without thinking, I started running, I didn't need to process the situation I was in, I just ran for my life while I felt like that monster was slowly getting closer to me, behind my back I was chased by growls that only expressed the need to tear me apart at that moment, and I tried to ignore the fangs and claws that I had seen before while my heart seemed to want to leave my chest and the air escaped from my lungs little by little.

I knew it was useless, I was just prey running for my life while the predator enjoyed all of it. My chest was beginning to burn as the adrenaline was disappearing from my system causing exhaustion to hit me hard, there was only one end for me... Death, but as if I had no other choice, at that moment I turned around and, as if seeing everything in slow motion, I threw the machete that I had in my hands towards that strange creature that was chasing me and I saw how it buried itself deep next to it, and as if it were a miracle, after hearing a howl in pain, that figure moved away as fast as it could allowing me to escape until I reached the safety of my house.

That night I couldn't sleep, the next morning I grabbed my things as fast as I could without caring if I forgot something and I went to my friend's house to make sure nothing had happened to him. I was able to breathe a sigh of relief when I saw that he opened the door of his house, but what surprised me was the condition he was in.

On one side of him, several bandages were covering an extensive wound that looked too serious, the first thing that came to my mind was to ask him what had happened to him and if that was the reason why he didn't come to my house last night...

…

Right now, I'm on the bus on my way to the city, I've already left the town behind and I don't have the slightest desire to go back… Besides, I couldn't get what my friend told me out of my head.

"This? Last night when I went to your house you cut me with a machete..."

…

"What did I see that night?"