Scary Stories

Wendigo

"Why do we have to get a live Christmas tree?" my little sister Laura whined. "Because it's not the same with a fake tree," Mom responded. "I never had a single fake Christmas tree in my house." "But we can get air fresheners for the tree! Anything to not go out in the middle of nowhere and grab a random tree; it might have a squirrel in it!" Laura begged. But my mom had made up her mind; We're getting a real tree, and that was final. I was excited to get a real tree. I have always loved going up to the mountains and chopping down the tree and I wanted to prove to Laura that I'm the strongest boy in our family. "Hey mom, can I chop down the tree instead of John?" I asked. "No way! You'll drop the axe like you always do, Toby" John yelled. "Will not!" "Will too!" "That's enough you two." Mom said as she parked the car. "Yes Toby, you can chop the tree this year" "Yes!" "No!" John yelled as he grabbed the axe. "John, you've cut the tree every year since you were 8, now that you are 18, let's have Toby try this year," Mom said taking the axe and handing it to me.

I ran into the woods and looked for a tree. All of them were too big, too small, to sappy, or too tough to cut down. We started losing hope after about an hour. "Way to go, Toby," John said. "I would've found the perfect tree and we would be on our way home by now." "Oh shut your pie hole, John. You would've gotten us lost like you always do. At least we can still see the car" Laura said as she started walking to the car. I felt like I was just a loser until I saw it. A tree that was about 6 feet tall. Perfect for our living room. "Hey, guys! I found a perfect tree!" My mom walked up to me and saw the tree I was running up to. "Yeah! That'll be perfect for our living room. Good job, Toby," Mom said as I got ready to cut it down. John and Laura walked back up to Mom and they watched me cut it down. "See John? I didn't drop the axe this time." I smiled as the tree fell.

John and Laura grabbed the tree and started walking to the car. As I followed, I heard a whine. It sounded like my dog, Tucker. I brushed it off and started following Mom, Laura and John. Once we got home, I helped set the tree in its stand and put water in it. Laura started decorating it and John went into the kitchen. I helped Laura and looked outside into our backyard. There was a pair of eyes at the tree line on the other side of our fence, but as soon as I made eye contact they disappeared.

As we got closer to Christmas, strange things started to happen. We would lose the belongings that we had never lost before, we would hear things scratch at our doors at night, even when Tucker was sleeping with me in my bed. The last thing that happened was Tucker passed away. He wasn't coming when he was called and while Laura was playing in the snow, she found his body, bloody and cut open, all of his organs and intestines gone. We buried him that night and I cried myself to sleep.

I woke up in the morning to see Laura hopping up and down. "Why are you so excited?" I asked, sitting up and rubbing my teary eyes. "It's Christmas Eve!" she said and she ran downstairs to tell Mom. John got up and started to walk to the attic to go get the wrapping paper. I spent my whole day sitting on the couch watching Christmas movies and trying not to cry again. I got Tucker when I was five as an eight week old brown Husky puppy. My dad named him Tucker for me and I had taken good care of him ever since. My dad left my mom shortly after but let me keep Tucker. Now being 11 and not spending Christmas without him since being five, I didn't care about setting out the cookies or laying carrots on the driveway anymore. I just wanted my dog back.

That night, I was asleep when I heard something I thought was strange. It was Tucker scratching on my bedroom door and whining softly. I got up and groggily called his name. "Tucker?" I heard the whining and scratching again, only it was louder. And it sounded like it was slower, like when you put a video on slow motion. I got closer to my locked bedroom door and was about to unlock it when it hit me hard. Tucker is dead. That is not Tucker. I started to panic and backed up slowly back to my bed. I then heard a knock on my door. "Tobes? Are you alright in there?" It was my mom's voice, but it had that same slow feeling to it. I didn't respond. I just closed my eyes and hid under my blankets until I fell back to sleep.

In the morning I told my mom what happened and she said she never went to my room last night. We opened our presents and I started to forget about it, until it happened again that night. 'Tucker' would scratch at my door and someone in my mom's voice would ask me to open the door. I started getting scared to go to bed, so after a few weeks of this I looked up what it could possibly be while my family was gone to my grandparents all weekend. Then I saw it.

'Wendigo. A Wendigo is a creature in the forests of Canada and the northern United States. They get their prey close to them by speaking and acting like their close pets, friends and family. Once targeted by a Wendigo, there is a very little chance of surviving. People claim that when a Wendigo kills you, they just eat your organs and intestines, then leave the rest of the body to rot. If you do survive the first visit or experience, you're safe. The Wendigo will try it's hardest the first time it tries to pull you closer, but will slowly lose interest and eventually will leave you forever. However, this is the case with only one Wendigo, with two or more, you're as good as dead.'

"Oh my god," I whispered. "I survived a Wendigo." I felt a wave of relief wash over me and then I looked outside. There were those two yellow eyes in the tree line. I felt brave and stared at it for a long time. There was only one. I was safe. Once it got dark, I looked out the locked back door and saw those two yellow eyes again and I looked back at the TV knowing I was safe. Until I heard a noise: The sound of Tucker whining right behind me, and soft growling.

"Breaking News: Boy found dead in his own home."

"An 11-year-old boy named Toby Roberts was found dead late last night in his living room. His body was ripped open and his organs and intestines were missing when the body was found. Whatever had killed this boy ran into the woods once it was done eating and left the body. Police have no idea what to make of this murder."