Something Followed Me Home in the Woods

Eladio was a young boy when it first happened to him. He was roaming the thin forest of the woodland next to his home in the outskirts of Alberto Oviedo, Mexico when he first encountered the thing that lived in the large pile of rubble near the swamp.

He was hiding from his older siblings in a version of hide and go seek when he ventured deep into the dark woods surrounding his neighborhood. He did not understand why the rubble lay in a pile by the swampy land, but he knew that his brothers would hate the stench that the putrid waters wafted upon the air in its surrounding areas, so hiding here would prove to be the best way to beat his brothers at the game once and for all. Even though he had to put up with the putrid odor for just a little while.

But as he sat there hunched over in a pile of boulders which in elder days had been the building blocks of a great temple, he felt something was amiss.

Something was watching him.

Not his brothers, who were in the field before him searching to and fro across the grasslands beyond the forests edge.

No.

Something was watching every move he made.

Something dark.

Something that had sinister motivations in its observation of the young boy.

Like a wild animal in the hunt he knew he was being stalked.

Not by flesh or bone.

It was then he saw it.

Out of a pile of rubble, just visible to the human eye.

The shadows seemed to coalesce into an ebony thickness that merged with the shadows surrounding it.

If he was not a sensitive youth, he might have missed it entirely.

Ever since he was a child he was a reflective and sensitive youth. He had an uncanny ability to know when things were about to happen. He knew when unfortunate things would happen in his family and in his village. He had a gift of premonition that was not specific but nonetheless was undaunted in its accuracy as to the effect it would have on those that he loved and respected.

But to his dismay the majority of his premonitions had to do with disaster.

Such would it be this day, as the thick ochre of darkness spread upon the rocks, forming into a shape that sprang into a life of its own.

At first he doubted what he saw, even though his preternatural senses sprang the alarm as soon as he caught glimpse of the demonic spirit. But after he saw it move in the silhouette of the forest he knew it was something else.

He ran as fast as he could through the woods, leaving all his cares for his friends behind him. His only concern was that of self preservation. For he knew that what stalked him was both terrible and unworldly.

Finally he found his way to home, and safety. But things were forever altered. Something had changed that afternoon in the woods, and his young mind could not conceive of what had transpired in those ancient ruins in the woods.

Years later he found himself in the same area again. This time it was as he was running from the authorities. He was no longer a youth, but as a troubled teen he sought acceptance with the vermin of the local street thugs. As he was fighting back the memories of dread that he had experienced in the area as a child, he sought refuge in the thick black forest in order to escape the local authorities. He almost felt drawn to the place. But it was in a hopeless attempt at freedom. By this time he had run from the law on many occasions and there was simply no where else to go. So even though it filled him with dread, he ventured into the dark woodlands that had so disturbed him as a youth. To find consolation for his troubled life he tried to find refuge in the very thing that struck him with fear and dread as a child. Perhaps he sought resolution to the demons that had haunted his soul for so long.

The ruins were still there, just as he remembered them. As the sun went down, the shadows crawled upon the stone. As a young boy he had feared the dark crevasses of the unknown, but now as a wanted criminal he saw them as a welcome hideaway from searching eyes. He quickly scurried into a niche in the rocks and waited for the sun to set and his pursuers to wander haplessly in the dark. Then he would make his escape.

But that night something found him. Something that was not of flesh. It was something that had been waiting for a soul that had been tainted with iniquity to cross its path, in order for it to find a home.

There was a moment as Eladio sat there in the dark that he knew something was wrong. A feeling came over him unlike anything he had ever sensed before. At first he felt utter dread, as if an icicle had been pierced into his spine which had frozen him in place. He felt fear and dread, but not enough to make overcome the fear that he anticipated if he was caught by the local police. And then there was the warmth. It spread from his head to his fingers in an ecstasy of pleasure. But in that pleasure he knew he was losing himself. Something was with him.

In him.

Something dark.

The darkness that had frightened him as a young child.

That had called him to this place.

It was then that he ran from the crumbling ruins of his ancient ancestors, temples of death that had claimed the lives of untold thousands.

He ran from the demons that had once given him fright as a child, and try as he might every time he looked behind him they still lurked behind the nearest tree. Ready to strike, ready to claim another victim in their blood lust of flesh.

He ran and ran until he was found screaming unintelligibly by the sheriffs of Alberto Oviedo. Lying on the road to Rio Colorado his clothes were half torn from his bruised body as if by some terrible slashing force. They subdued the young lad and shackled him, for he constantly jerked in defense against unseen forces that he deemed were violently attacking him. One deputy swore he saw a tear appear in the young lads flesh as he helplessly moved to block the blow, only to be hindered by his iron restraints.

They put the young thief in the cell of the local jail, but the commotion and violent actions of the boy soon became too much for the local authorities to endure.

It soon became evident that something evil resided in the young lad. The jail was enveloped in a thick and cold fog. The boy spoke in an unknown language which seemed to eerily echo in the small confines of his cell. His body tried to escape from its shackles in obscene contortions to no avail.

Finally at their wits end, the Sheriff sought the help of Father Vierra, a local priest who had dealings with those who were entrapped by the occult and demonic spirits.

He visited the young boy and soon found that he faced a challenge, like he had never encountered. The spirits which infested the young lad latched onto him like a suckling pig to its mother. They seemed to feed upon the youth and his troubled past, and no matter what he tried, the forces would not leave.

Finally after hours of spiritual combat the young boys personality emerged, frightened and desperate.

“It followed me home in the woods” the youth said in the voice of a young child, “It has been there for so long and I did not know it until I came back to…” the young boys voice trailed off into a gurgle which was followed by ungodly screams. Father Vierra evoked the name of Christ and followed his Exorcism Wright that he had learned long ago, and the boy convulsed before him.

What followed were confessions of inconsiderable wrongs done to the boy as a child by his family as well as that of the boy to others as he grew to adulthood. Demonic spirits of abuse and neglect that had hollowed out the young Eladio from the inside out since he was a young child. And the evil entities readily filled the gap, only to manifest themselves fully as he entered puberty.

It took many years but Father Vierra never gave up on young Eladio. And although not completely whole, he is now free man. Free of the confines of prison, and free of the unclean spirits of the ruins of La Oscuridad Del Bosque.

Thank you “Father Vierra” for this wonderful story of deliverance and hope for the wandering soul.

Until next time,

Pastor Swope