I found a monster in the woods. Every year I spent a week in the woods alone. I cannot stand

being inside my empty house on the anniversary of when I lost everything important in my

life. The walls close in on me and I feel suffocated. So I go to the woods, I sleep, drink,

and try to shoot at least one deer. On the second day of my trip, I was walking through

the forest in damp weather, feeling miserable, when I came across it. A creature hanging

by its foot from a tree. I panicked when I first saw the figure strung up in the tree and

rushed forward, hoping if it was a person I could still help. As I got closer, I saw that

even though his body was similar to a human, all the proportions looked wrong. The legs

far too long and skinny, the stomach sunken in, ribcage visible, making it seem like it

had no muscle mass or fat. I stopped below the creature, staring up at it in disbelief

of what I was saying. One foot was stuck inside a bear trap that was attached to a train, hooked

over a branch. His entire body was hanging from a torn and bloody ankle, snared inside

the trap. Rists tied together and arms so long they needed to reach the ground as they

dangled past its head. The creature's face was covered by a blank wooden oval with moss

spilling out from it. At first, I was certain it was dead. As I got closer, I saw the chest

rise weakly as it let out small wheezing breaths from under the mask. Even without seeing

what was under the mask, I knew this thing wasn't human. The woods had a bad reputation of people

going missing, most didn't like camping overnight inside the forest anymore. It was a good place to

find fish and hunt, but not to stay the night. I had my hunting rifle with me. I could put it

out of its misery, but just left it alone. Someone put this thing here, they might be back for it.

Misty rain came down and I could see puffs of my breath in the terrible weather.

My feet cold and fingers stiff. It would get dark in a few hours.

...