My Story

Most of the scary or creepy stories that I've heard or seen are about three common things.
Firstly, humans or humanoids being scary. Ok. People can definitely be scary, but really? Humans are one of the most dangerous species on this planet for sure, however, we all know that they will be dealt with if they cause any harm. No matter how strong or smart somebody is, humans are very limited. Also, humans have no unique features that are scary aside from their familiarity. Don't get me wrong, I've been scared of people before. About ten years ago, my deaf little cousin, who was too young to understand right from wrong (his handicap didn't help either), pointed a kitchen knife at me while laughing. It was a scary moment, but no one got hurt.
The other commonly used thing in these kind of stories are mythical creatures. Most of those creatures are a lot more powerful than us and have unknown origins. The fact that not much is known about them makes them especially frightening. But at the same time they are myths, and most of us are smart enough to know that they aren't real.
Lastly, animals are used. Real, existing animals. Sometimes creepy crawlers like snakes, insects or rats are used and other times large and dangerous animals, such as lions, sharks or wolves.
All of the previously mentioned creatures, including humans, don't really scare me. I am wary of them, of course, but the only thing that I actually fear are dogs. I don't know why they scare me, but every time I see one, I panic and I do everything I can to stay away from them. I've seen plenty of them in my life and I haven't been attacked once by them. So I know they aren't dangerous, but for some reason, I still have a phobia of dogs.
I'm sorry for the long introduction, but anyway onto my story. By the way, this story did happen. I might exaggerate sometimes, but it happened. It was a few months ago on my way back home from school. I usually get off at the bus stop before the road where I live because it's closer and it's on the side where my house is, but it was raining that day and the other side has more cover. Instead of walking straight and turning to the right, I took a shortcut through the woods. It's just a rocky pathway away from the roads which joins back to the road where I live.
There are more trees there, so I'll be "safer" from the rain (not that the rain hurts or anything). I was pretty happy knowing that dog owners usually don't let their dogs go outside when it's raining. After walking for a few minutes, I heard a loud piercing bark from a distance which gave me goosebumps. I don't usually get goosebumps from being scared, not even when there's a dog right next to me, but I do get them when I'm cold and the temperature was pretty low. Heh, now that I think of it, the setting was perfect for a scary story with the trees, the rain and the cold. Anyway, I figured it was just a neighbor's dog and shrugged it off. Although that bark was rather peculiar, nothing like I've ever heard before.
I even felt the vibration of the sound. I also heard some rustling but again that was explainable since it was quite windy. But then I heard some cracks and crumbles as if somebody or something... was following me from far away. I turned and looked but didn't notice anything, so I kept walking. The sound of something walking didn't stop and got louder very slowly. After just three or five seconds, I turned around again. This time, I saw a figure from a fairly long distance in a shape of a dog. That sent a chill down my spine, there is nothing scarier to me than a stray dog moving towards me. When I was looking at it, the dog stopped moving and put its head up.
Suddenly, it started running towards me. Of course I responded by running away as fast as I could. The moment I started running, it started to bark continuously. I felt all those barks pass through my body and shake everything around me. I was surprised at how fast I was going, I'm usually a lazy guy but I didn't run out of breath or feel tired. After what felt like hours (was actually barely two minutes when I looked at my watch), the barks abruptly stopped and so did I.
I found myself where the shortcut joins the road where I live. I didn't turn back, I walked home at a faster pace than usual. I didn't tell this to anyone but I just had to get it off my chest so I'm doing it now. After that day I never got off on that side of the road again. I still don't know what that dog exactly was, and I don't want to know.
Category:Animals