The Thing By The River

"The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown"

Weird things happen on this ranch. I didn't like it. But when I was 10 my house burnt down and it forced us to move there. And by weird I mean, if you sat out on the porch at night you would feel things watching you. It gave you the feeling they weren't friendly. The feeling could even get so strong that we would close our curtains. One night, after settling down, there was a scratching at the door. Everyone heard it. "Just a dog" my father said walking to his room. I agreed and went to my room. From the window, I could hear barking. But the yipping wasn't any dog that I heard. It was a low rumble, like a truck, and the chirping of a bird. Only then did i hear the bark. After a while I fell asleep. In the morning I did my usual chores. I hauled the trash out and over my back and started to walk to the trash bin by the highway(The road was a long walk by the river that lay on its other side and was clear on the left by the end of the wood). When I arrived, the smell of rotting flesh touched my nose making me wince and cover my mouth. It was so strong that when I breathed in with my mouth, I could taste the rotting flesh. When I got near the trash, pigs of each size were stacked in it. They were ripped apart. I gasped and quickly threw my bag in the garbage and began to turn around. Something caught my eye on the other side by the river. It was a wolf. I stared right back at it. Then to my horror, It stood up on its hind legs. I was to petrified to move. To run. Its lips turned into a large smile. Its muzzle covered in blood and teeth yellow. It took one step out towards the road and reached out its paw like it was trying to grab me. It took two more steps on its haunches and then stopped. It stared at me and kept smiling. This wasn't friendly. It let out a low whine. Then it started running. Finally snapping out of my daze, I turned and dashed. It let out a ear piercing whine, almost like a woman screaming. Its feet were large and every step it took it crushed a tree branch or cracked the leaves. In the distance, I could see my house. And it pulled my faster and finally I arrived. I slammed the door and the thing banged right into the door. I heard it walking on out porch and it walked the window, it stared at me and grinned, clapping its teeth together. After a few minutes it got down on all fours and walked away. When it reached the forest start, it turned and looked at me one last time, smiling one last time before running off. I don't live there any more. But when I do go and visit family in the small town near by, I know not to go by the river. For The Thing is evil.