I've never posted anything like this before, but I can't get it out of my head.

Maybe writing it down will help.

I don't care if you believe me.

Hell, part of me still doesn't believe it myself.

But something followed us in the woods last weekend, and whatever it was, it wasn't human, and it damn sure

wasn't an animal either. I'm a senior in college, pre-med. I grew up in western North Carolina,

about 40 minutes from the Tennessee border. My parents still live in a small house tucked off

a gravel road about 15 minutes from the Appalachian Trail. We're used to isolation,

spotty power, no internet unless you're lucky enough to park near the library, no neighbors for miles.

It's the kind of place people think is peaceful until the sun goes down. Anyway, between school and work

and stress, I hadn't been home in months.

When I saw a break in my schedule, I jumped on it.

And when my girlfriend Anna said she was free that same weekend,

I figured why not take her somewhere real, somewhere without traffic or phone notifications,

just quiet.

Anna grew up in Atlanta.

She's the kind of person who's never had to check for ticks or hang a bear bag. But she's adventurous. I told her I wanted to take her on a backpacking trip,

just a short two-nighter on an old loop that connects to a forgotten spur of the Appalachian Trail.

Through this place my granddad always warned me to avoid called Walker's Hollow. She thought

the name was creepy in a fun way. I figured it'd make the trip more memorable. We parked at a

barely marked pull-off late Friday afternoon. There was one other car there, older model with

dust all over the windows, no people in sight. I double-checked the topo map, shouldered my

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