"Most of the people that survived a strange experience in Bell Forest never got to see what had been following, harassing, tormenting and in some cases, hunting them"
-Unnamed forest ranger.
On the twelfth of June, a young man, just eighteen years of age had planned with some friends to go and spend the weekend at a cabin his family owned, inside of Bell forest.
His name was Jacob and unfortunately for him, in a stroke of bad luck, all of his friends had to cancel the ordeal.
In a deeper stroke of misfortune, Jacob decided that he would still go to the cabin, even if he would be by himself, he had been there numerous times over his life, from ages he couldn't remember to now, he had spent time regularly at the somewhat lost cabin, be it with his family or friends.
He had never been there by himself, but in his mind, the cabin and its surroundings were like home, as safe space where there was nothing to worry about.
It was always a good idea to go freshen his mind in the wilderness, he even thought to go fish a bit, as he had grown used to since his father was an avid fisherman, Jacob wasn't as good as him, but still capable enough to catch some at the nearby lake.
The twelfth, he arrived at the cabin with his father's car, who had lended it to him for the occasion, parking it into a somewhat hidden trail next to the cabin, the place hadn't changed much since he had last come.
The forest was booming with life as it had always did, Jacob prepared to unpack his stuff but first, he went to open the door, simply to make the process of unpacking swifter, as he went to open the door, he noticed that the door had gashes into it.
Going from nearly the top to the bottom, they were all situated around the center of the door.
His first thought was that a bear had done it, whilst perhaps trying to get inside but there weren't any bears in this area, still, that was the only logical explanation that he considered, he checked the outside of the cabin to make sure but there weren't any other scratches or signs that a bear had managed to get inside of anything for that matter, everything was perfectly locked and closed.
The door was the only area where the gashes were to be seen.
Jacob simply shrugged and noted to be mindful of the surroundings when going out, the only bears that were anywhere close this bearless area where perhaps some black bears but he still wouldn't want to run into one all of a sudden.
The unpacking and subsequent night at the cabin was perfectly normal, the cabin itself was quite simple, the roof was the most basic sort, a gable roof, or as reffered by jacob himself, 'triangular with only two sides'.
It was two stories and sported no balconies, it had only a single door, few windows, all equipped with robust flaps.
The inside was rustic and simple, there were no electronics inside, mostly just wooden furnitures.
All in all, it truly felt like you were cut off from civilisation, especially since phones couldn't reach from there either.
It seemed as though it was just him and the wildlife.
It seemed.
Saturday went perfectly fine as well, although, Jacob felt the hair on the back of his raise on multiple occasions as he was fishing, he first chalked it up as the inevitable fear of being alone in the wild, he had never come here by himself after all, he was deemed to feel different.
However, after what happened that night, be it the gashes or the feeling of being observed, Jacob would no longer blame it on the surrounding nature.
After making sure that everything was properly locked and closed, Jacob went to the bedroom he had been sleeping in and in which he had slept everytime he had come to this place.
It was upstairs, situated on the right side of the stairs, stairs that were situated right in front of the entrance.
Unlike the windows downstair, the one uptairs didn't have the luxury of flaps, only curtains as nothing should be able to get up to them in the first place.
The curtains weren't fully closed, opened just enough to let a bit of the dim moonlight through.
Quickly after trying to lay in bed, Jacob began to hear something, he wasn't quite certain of what it was at first, he raised his upper body from the bed to listen more closely, quickly realising that it was the sound of footsteps.
His first thought was that an animal was close to the cabin but listening for some more time, he noticed that whatever was making that sound, was pacing underneath his window, walking back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth over and over again.
He thought about going to his window and with the little moonlight there was, simply look at what animal was walking down there but he suddenly felt his heart constrict, suddenly feeling like it was a terrible idea.
Without knowing why, he started sweating intensely, he was afraid and not for nothing, before he even articulated the thought, his mind had realised that something was off, the footsteps underneath his window, they didn't sound like an animal, they sounded like something bipedal, like the footsteps he would make if he strolled along the side of the cabin.
In fact, they sounded eerilie similar, as though something like him was outside, a person, a human.
A bear or predator outside of the cabin might be scary, terrifying even but it was natural, to be expected in the wild, a person wasn't, especially when it was so dark outside.
Jacob tried to find a rational explanation as to why someone would be near his cabin at such a late hour but he couldn't, he didn't know of anyone else having a cabin nearby, this area was a hunting ground either and all of this didn't matter in fact.
Even if one or both were true, why would anyone be pacing right underneath his window? Even if they had business being in the area, they didn't have any being so close to someone else's property.
And, had they wanted some help, they would have just knocked on the door!
The footsteps slowed down and they seemed to vanish without explanation, they hadn't gone further, they had simply stopped.
He heard the sound of a branch groaning under pressure and then the sound of something landing on the roof right above his bed.
Jacob was already paralysed with fear, convinced that someone had just jumped up on the roof, he couldn't even fathom how they had done so as he focused on the sound they were making.
He heard them carefully making their way to the side, as they had landed in the center of one of sides.
He could hear them as they brushed up against the roof, most likely laying on their chest.
Jacob felt like he was going to pass out from fear as the streak of moonlight that went inside of his room was obstructed by something, quickly followed by the sound of gentle tapping against glass.
"Psst" a man spoke in a friendly tone, his voice sounding muffled by something.
The young man didn't respond, not even daring to make a single movement, lest the creaking of his bed gave his location away.
"Jacob, you came all alone this time? You should be careful, ten times, I had ten occasions" the man almost whispered.
"Be careful" the streak of moonlight quickly came back as the sound of the man jumping off the roof was heard.
Jacob stayed still, waiting for the sound of the man's footsteps to go away if they did come back, he wanted confirmation that he was going away.
Instead of the footsteps, he heard him manically laughing to the point of gasping for air as he went away, his insane laughter vanishing after minutes of nonstop laughing.
Without question, Jacob left in a hurry the moment morning came.
Jacob would never go back without multiple people accompanying him, the man's words still haunting him.