 I found the bridge while walking through the woods. I usually stick to the path, but today my mind was elsewhere, and I accidentally wandered off the path and into the woods. When I looked up from my thoughts and surveyed my surroundings, I realized two things. I had no idea where I was, and it was getting late. I pulled out my phone and tried to find signal to no avail. I really needed to get the thing replaced, but I didn't have the money for it. I sighed and slipped it back into my pocket. When I looked up again, I decided to try and retrace my steps, and that's how I found the bridge. It was old and rickety looking, like it was made long, long ago. The nails holding it together were covered in rust, and the wood the nails were struggling to hold together was splintering and warped, but somehow still standing. It reached over an old creek I could probably jump over if I needed to. I scratched my head as I looked the bridge over, had I crossed it while I was wandering. I might have, but if I did, wouldn't I have noticed? I placed one foot on the bridge, and it let out a loud squeaking groan and protest. I stepped back quickly, afraid my foot might fall through. If I'd crossed the bridge, I would have certainly noticed. I pondered for a moment before another thought occurred if this bridge was old and nearly falling apart. It had to be near people, or at least a park or something. Maybe there was another trail nearby. For a moment I debated just jumping the creek rather than putting my faith in a bridge that was probably built during the time of pioneers, but vanity prevented me from taking the leap. I just bought the shoes I was wearing and didn't want to risk falling into the water below. My mind made up. I placed my foot on the bridge again and added weight this time. It groaned and squeaked, but held. I slowly added my other foot and it still held, confident the bridge could hold my weight. It made my way across. I cringed and tensed at each creek and groan, but eventually I stepped foot on solid ground. I let out a sigh of relief and started walking again. I reasoned that if I traveled in a straight enough line, I'd probably make my way to a path or park. It took me a while before I realized something was wrong. It was quiet. I mean, dead quiet. I didn't hear a single bird chirp, a squirrel rustle in the trees or even the sound of bugs buzzing. The wind had even fallen silent. Not a single branch rustled in the dead silence that surrounded me. My breath sounded like thunder in my ears as I looked around. I remembered hearing that when the forest falls silent, it usually means that a predator is near, but there are no predators where I live, not even a feral dog or anything like that. I took a moment to compose myself. There was a reason for this, I just couldn't think of it at the moment. Though the uneasy silence did give me a reason to pick up the pace, my footsteps sounded so loud in that silence. I'd walked a good deal further when I was stopped again, this time by a smell. It was God awful. I wretched right there and nearly threw up my lunch. I took a moment to compose myself and looked around again. The smell was hard to place. My mind defaulted to rot at first, but that didn't entirely cover it. It was like rotting meat and plants, but also something more, something I couldn't place. After a moment I managed to compose myself and I began to power through the stench and marched forward. It was starting to get dark and I really didn't want to be stuck in these woods all night. I walked further still and I was stopped for a third time. This time though, I wasn't stopped because I was disturbed, not at first at least. I stopped because I was relieved. Ahead of me was a figure, a figure that I couldn't quite make out yet but it was the general size of a human, a bit short but I couldn't think of what else it could be. As I made my way to them, I slowly came to a stop and took in a sight that froze my blood. The person, if it even was a person, was hunched over something. It took me a minute to realize what it was, a deer. The deer was covered in blood and its glassy lifeless eyes stared back at me, judging by the sounds coming from the figure. It was safe to assume it was eating the deer. I slowly began to step back, maybe if I could get far enough away, I could make a mad dash in the opposite direction without it noticing me. And then a sound shattered, that near perfect silence of the woods. The sound of me stepping on a twig, how cliche. I froze and so did the figure. As I watched it slowly rise up to its full height, it was massive. It had to be eight or nine feet tall. I saw that its skin was pitch black. Its limbs were long and thin. Its arms ended in massive hands the size of dinner plates with long fingers that dripped with blood. Its head was completely bald and from where I stood behind it, I didn't see any ears. This thing, as there was no other way to describe what I was looking at, slowly turned towards me and I felt my eyes bulge and my skull. Its chest was skinny, almost bone thin, but its gut bulged out like a balloon. Its face, if you could call it that, was not human. For a nose it had two slits that opened and closed slowly, its mouth was devoid of lips. Instead there were rows of razor sharp yellowed teeth that were stained from the blood of its latest meal and the eyes, the eyes were the worst part. The eyes contained more hate than I'd ever seen. It was as if you condense all the hate of mankind into two glowing yellow bloodshot spheres. They pierced my very being and I felt infinitely small under those eyes. Neither of us moved. It kept its evil eyes focused on me totally unblinking. I didn't move out of terror. I was afraid that if I did it would break whatever spell held it in place and it would charge after me. It felt like we were standing there for hours. I don't know what finally broke the spell, maybe another twig snapped or maybe a particularly heavy leaf hit the ground. All I do know is that as soon as the spell was broken, I ran. I ran as fast and as hard as I could. As I ran, I heard it behind me, that thing chasing me on all fours. There was gaining on me fast and there was no way I could outrun it. That's when luck saved me. At that moment, my foot caught a branch and I hit the ground hard. As I did, I felt something soar over my head and crash into a tree and a split second later, I heard a screeching that pierced my ears like glass. That screech was like a thousand cries of rage and pain all at once. I looked up to see that the creature had slammed into a tree that fell on it, impaling it through the leg with one of its branches. The creature began lifting the remains of the tree off its body and I quickly got to my feet and ran in the opposite direction. I had no idea what I was going to do. Maybe with its leg injured, I could outrun it for a while, but eventually I would tire. What about that thing? Would it tire? Would its leg wound even make a difference? My thoughts were interrupted by that god-awful screeching again. I was too scared to turn as I ran, but I was sure that thing was on my tail again. As I ran, I caught sight of something that gave me hope, the bridge. If I could cross it, then maybe the creature would follow and break through. The creek underneath wasn't deep, but it would probably slow that thing down long enough for me to escape. I wasn't completely convinced this plan was a good one, but I had no other hope. I made it to the bridge as the creature let out another screech. I spared a moment to look behind me, and I wished that I hadn't. If being stabbed through the leg had caused that thing any pain or discomfort, it didn't show it. It was charging at me on all fours, a long black tongue dangling from its open jaws. It was panting like a deranged hound on the scent of a wounded animal. I didn't have time to slowly make my way across the bridge, so I decided to try and leap across, not trusting it to hold my weight as I ran. As I did, I felt the monster's claws catch my sneaker, and I fell to the ground hard. I rolled onto my back as the creature began dragging me towards its gaping jaws. I desperately searched for something to hold onto as I kicked the creature in the eyes with my other foot. My foot suddenly came free, my shoe slipped off. The force caused the creature to lurch back slightly, and I used the moment to quickly scramble across the bridge, fully expecting that thing to fall on me and tear me to shreds, but it didn't. As soon as I made it all the way across, I leapt to my feet and turned back to see the creature hadn't followed me at all. In fact, it hadn't even set foot on the bridge. Instead, it sat there glaring at me with those bloodshot eyes clutching my sneaker in its clawed hand. As I watched, it slowly turned and retreated into the forest. I didn't have the energy to go any further, and I collapsed right there. I awoke later to sunlight hitting me in the eyes. I sat up and looked around, the events of the previous day slowly flooding back to me. I was still at the other side of the bridge, no evidence of what had happened other than my missing shoe. I slowly climbed to my feet and looked around. I wandered a bit more before I remembered my cell phone. I retrieved it from my pocket and checked for signal. As soon as I realized I had some, I used my GPS app and felt my face burn. According to it, I was only an hour's walk from a park. I made my way there and went home, physically and mentally exhausted and totally unsure if what I saw was real. I don't really go for walks anymore, and if I do go for a walk, I stick to walking around my neighborhood or walking in the local park. I only ever ventured into the woods once more. I bought a can of gasoline and a lighter. Getting the bridge was much easier this time, or maybe I was just faded to find it. I never set foot on it, I didn't want to take any risks. When I lit the bridge, I heard it again, that same screech I heard that night. I shuddered and quickly left. I've made theories on what I saw that day. A wendigo is the most likely explanation, a creature that possesses people and fills them with an unending hunter and forces it to eat the flesh of humans, but I don't know if that's right. A wendigo is a creature that had once been human, that thing had never been human. Maybe it was a demon or maybe it was evil. Pure evil given flesh and blood, maybe that was the rotten smell, the rot of humanity. Maybe that was why I saw such hatred in its eyes, maybe that's why at night whenever I'm trying to sleep, I hear that same screech echoing in my nightmares. I only hope that burning that bridge was the right idea. I hope that by burning it, maybe I killed that thing or sent it back to wherever it came from. But sometimes, sometimes I'm not so sure, what if that bridge was all that was keeping that thing there? What if I've unleashed that thing on the rest of the world? I don't know why I'm writing this, maybe as a warning, but there's not much of a reason for it. That thing can't be outran, I doubt it can be harmed. The best advice I can give you is that if you ever encounter that thing, just run. It doesn't matter where or how, just get as far away as humanly possible and pray that it never catches you.