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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/Suffocated-Soul on 2024-09-14 21:22:25+00:00.

Growing up on the border of Alabama and Mississippi had its perks, mainly the seemingly never ending trees and the creek that wasn’t too far from my grandmother’s house. The heat and tornadoes were something I wish I didn’t have growing up though, I can’t count how many times I would wake up in the middle of the night to the sounds of the tornado sirens going off or to my grandmother’s old radio that she always kept on issuing a weather warning.

I was also prone to nightmares at that time of my life, they would happen more frequently when I stayed with my grandmother but I would still have them when I wasn’t there. They’ve lessened over the years but every once in a while I’ll get them. My grandmother’s house was also just all-around creepy to me as a kid. In the room I would sleep in there was a large mulberry tree just outside the window, it grew close to the house and the branches would sometimes scrape against the window.

I stayed with my grandmother a lot when I was young, my mom worked overnight at the hospital so sending me to stay with my grandmother beat having to pay a babysitter. I honestly loved staying with my grandmother, anytime I was at her house it was always warm home cooked meals and she would show off anything she had that she thought was cool. Most of the things she had to show off though were books, newspaper clippings, or random antique trinkets that she had collected over the years.

A lot of the time she would already have food laid out on her kitchen table before I even arrived, then she would talk with my mom a bit while I ate, then she would sit out on her back patio for a while. She would sit in a rocking chair wrapped in a green jacket that was too small for her and falling apart. The jacket had clear signs that she had tried to sew the sleeves and mend some of the holes, but that didn’t help with the frayed edges that unraveled more each time I saw her. I usually didn’t join her when she was out back, every time I did she would offer me a cigarette but scold me if I accepted.

The night that would lead to the decline of my visits with my grandmother started the same as all the others, me running out of my moms car and almost tripping on the steps that led up to the front door. My grandmother waiting on the porch to give me a hug and tell me to go eat while she talked with my mom. I never heard what they were talking about, and being ten I didn’t really care. My grandmother came in sometime later, hobbling the best she could since she refused to use a walker or cane.

“I tried to make everything you liked. If you don’t like it just don’t eat it I won’t be upset.”

I assured her that everything was great, because it was. I would never admit it to my mom but she wasn’t the best of cooks, so being able to have a meal that didn’t make me want to consult a religious leader was a welcome change.

“There’s some coke in the fridge for you. I didn’t want them getting warm.” She hobbled to the back door, grabbing the green jacket that hung up on the wall to do what must have been a daily ritual for her.

By the time I finished my dinner she was already back inside and putting away the leftovers. I helped her the best I could, but looking back now I think I was just in the way.

That night I heard the same sound I always had, that tapping and scratching on the window. It still scared me even after my grandmother assured me that it was just the tree outside the window. She had told me that she would cut the branches so I wouldn’t have to worry, and I thought she had, but the knocking and scraping still continued.

I tried to sleep through it, at this point it was honestly pretty easy since I was used to it. I was on the brink of sleep when I heard a voice whispering to me. It was saying my name repeatedly, I didn’t know if it was my grandmother but if it was she didn’t try very hard to wake me up because I fell asleep anyway.

I woke up to the sound of running water and mosquitoes pricking my skin. When I opened my eyes I was face down on the ground outside. I was at the creek. The same creek that my grandmother insisted I never go alone because there were too many snakes. I sat up and sat on the ground for a while, hoping that I was having another nightmare and that I would wake up back in my grandmother’s house tucked into bed. But I didn’t wake up, and each snap of twigs from some animal solidified that in my mind. I cried for a long time. I didn’t want to get up, I wanted to wait and let someone come find me and take me back. But I knew that it was late and that I wouldn’t be found if I didn’t try to find my own way back.

I had been to the creek enough times to know my way back, but it was so dark that I was unsure which way I was meant to go. At the time I thought the smartest thing for me to do was to turn my back to the creek and walk straight. So that’s what I did. I walked for what felt like a lifetime but I kept having to stop and watch the ground to make sure I didn’t step on a snake.

As I walked I kept getting more and more upset. I would cry until I couldn’t see, wipe my eyes, and cry again. I started to hear the crunching of leaves that wasn’t coming from me, looking back now it was very stupid of me, but I started calling out for my mom and grandmother. I hoped that they were out here looking for me and that they would hear me if I yelled loud enough. But if either of them were out there neither responded.

Eventually I got to the point where I couldn’t keep going, I collapsed next to a tree and cried until I almost threw up. My crying was interrupted by more crunching of leaves, this time they were getting closer though, and I realized that they were footsteps. I froze up and tried to keep my crying quiet. I thought that if I was still enough then I wouldn’t be seen. So I sat there covering my mouth to stifle my sobs and laying on the ground as still as I could.

The footsteps got closer. And closer.

And then they stopped. They stopped right next to me and I cried harder.

“What are you doing out here alone.”

He asked me a question but it didn’t sound like a question. His voice was calm and warm, it sounded familiar but I was sure that I had never heard it before. Looking up at him after realizing that my attempts to hide were useless I saw that he looked similar to my grandmother. He was a little taller, much younger, and his eyes were a bit darker. I think that’s why all the ‘stranger danger’ training went out the window.

I sobbed and tried to explain that I had woke up by the creek, but it was unintelligible.

“Aw it’s okay.” He knelt down, pulling me into a hug before standing up again.

He rubbed my back for a while, telling me that everything would be okay. I felt like he was right, that as soon as he showed up everything was fine. He continued to console me while carrying me through the woods, after a while I had stopped crying altogether, laying my head on his shoulder and trying to stay awake from how exhausted I had become.

I never told him where my grandmother’s house was but he knew the way, calmly walking through the woods and making his way to the clearing that bordered my grandmother’s property.

I could see my grandmother’s house.

The lights were on in the house. My grandmother was standing past the well, near the tree line that the man and I had exited. I was happy to see her, I knew that I should have shaken off the man’s grip and ran to her but I didn’t, I was content where I was and I didn’t know why. He had stopped when he saw my grandmother, and when I looked at him I saw that he was smiling warmly at her.

I couldn’t hear exactly what my grandmother had said but it was something to the effect of, “Put her down.” He did, setting me down on the ground gently and ruffling my hair before putting both of his hands in his pockets. I stayed next to him, I couldn’t hear my grandmother until she yelled and I remember being scared because she was mad at me.

“GET OVER HERE!”

My grandmother was always very soft spoken, as soon as she yelled I ran over to her and did as she said without whining when she hissed at me to get into the house.

“No need to be so harsh on her Eve. She’s a good kid.” I heard the mans calm voice before I started running back to the house. 

I watched them through the window once I got inside. But once my grandmother started walking back to the house I got away from the window and stood near the door. I wanted to cry again knowing that I had upset her so much.

I kept apologizing to her and she insisted that it was okay but I knew it wasn’t. She sat at the kitchen table with me while she called my mom, who showed up thirty minutes later with the police. I assume my mom called the police because I remember my grandmother talking to her on the phone and saying that she didn’t need to call anyone. My mom yelled at my grandmother for a while and I had to talk to the police.

As far as I know they never found anyone, but after that I wasn’t allowed to spend the night at my grandmothers anymore.