I've lived in Kentucky my whole life, I've been an avid hunter for over half of it. I don't live "out in the country" as most people assume when they imagine Kentucky, which in turn can make it difficult to find somewhere to hunt. A few years ago when i was 27 I found an older gentleman with around a hundred or so acres which he was wanting to lease out. He himself did not hunt and in some way or another had inherited the land from distant family. He gave me the address and told me to check it out. If I was interested we could meet and I could pay a sum of money to hunt for the coming year.
The following Friday I left my house and drove about 45 minutes to the small town off of I65. It took another 30 or so to arrive at the property following the directions he had given me. The gate at the entrance was old and covered in rust but unlocked, the weeds had already grown up around it and I could tell it hadn't moved an inch this year, I assumed much longer. Passing through the gate I drove about 30 yards on what I assumed was once a path before getting out. I got my pack out and checked for a third time that I had everything. Binoculars check, Food check, Cell phone check, and my favorite hunting flashlight check. I made my way towards the closest hill in hopes to get a better feel of the lay of the land. There were numerous trees scattered across the top of the hill which rolled down into a valley with a very nice meadow skirted by woods. It looked too good to be true. After a while I had made my way down to the very edge of the meadow. Both deer and Turkeys are very keen on leaving the safety of the woods early in the morning to feed in places like this, I needed to find their trail. Searching along the treeline I eventually did. I followed it for quite sometime noting the various tracks lining it just to make sure. When I finally went to turn back I noticed off in the woods what looked to be a house. Feeling adventurous and with only the sound of mother nature around me I made my towards it.
It was old. The sides were made of wood that I assumed was once painted white, and it was covered in Ivy as well as moss and other algae growth. Most of the windows were shattered, the remaining glass yellowed with time. Part of the roof had caved in at some point. I made my way into the door-less entrance. It was dark, the trees were in bloom and there was obviously no electricity. I pulled out my flashlight and took a look around. Parallel from the front door was another door in equal disrepair as the rest of the house, judging by the bolt lock it was a basement. The lock was clearly rusted shut, I am sure I could have pulled the door from the decrepit frame but didnt want to cause any more of the roof to come crashing down on me. To the right was a hallway and the left a kitchen and living room. I made my way towards the right across the disgusting carpet that appeared to line the whole house. The kitchen window was gone and Ivy had nearly covered the entire opening, the stove and refrigerator were both covered in rust spots and were a sickly off white color. The sink head was coated shut from a hard water build up. The living room had an old TV with a now rotten wood frame and a mildew ridden couch that I'm sure had an entire ecosystem living within it. The rest was buried under the rotten timbers that were once the roof. I walked back to the front to explore the hallway. There were three doorways, the first was open the door removed from the frame, clearly a bedroom or was at one time. Light seeped in from a shattered window on the far side of the room the bed was in tatters, theres no telling what kind of animal had been living in it, possibly still living in it. An old dresser was in the corner in the same shape as the rest of the house, and all around the room were old jars. Most of the jars were empty some had remnants of what I assumed was old moonshine still lining the bottom. The second room was a bathroom this one also did not have a door the toilet was missing replaced by a broken pipe sticking out of the floor, the sink was filled with more jars. The last door in the hall was shut, despite being further in the house it appeared to be in the worst shape. I turned the handle and when I gave a slight push the entire door gave way. I was carried forward with the momentum landing hard on the rotted wood. I cursed and picked myself, what I saw was madness. The room had no windows and the walls were a sickly yellow color. My eyes burned to look at them but I could tell they were written on. Nearly every inch of the walls was covered in very small text. I couldn't imagine at the time how long it would take to have written it all. The only furniture in the room was a desk and a chair, unlike the rotten door this was very well preserved. The desk had only a few candles, a feather ink pen, and an old ink pot sitting atop. There was a single large drawer on the right side. I opened it half expecting it to fall apart like the door. The drawer was deep but at the very bottom was a book. I could tell just from looking at it the book was old. It was a deep dark leather with an emblem I couldnt quite make out etched into it. The pages were not uniformly cut and some stuck out further than others. I opened it half expecting to once again see the small writing from the walls covering every inch of every page, however they weren't. The pages were blank, I flipped through every page and each one was blank. I was about to put it back in the drawer when my phone rang, I hadn't realized how utterly quiet the house was and the sudden noise had almost made me jump out of my skin. I answered the phone only to find dead air, the call dropped. I knew it was because I was in an old house, in the middle of the woods, in a small town in the middle of nowhere but still it frightened me. I put the book in my pack to hold onto as a keepsake and turned to make my way back home. When I came to the front door I turned and looked at the dead bolted door in front of me. I didn't want to be in the house anymore and I am sure the mildew was giving me a pretty bad headache so I decided to save it for another day. Standing in the doorway I pressed my flashlights button twice to turn it off. I wish I had brought a different flashlight.
I use this flashlight for hunting because it has two settings. The first is a nice bright white LED, the second is for blood trails. When you're tracking a deer after landing a shot you often find yourself busy for quite sometime. The will to live is so strong they can run for hours only stopping to rest when they are sure you aren't near. This can lead to many hunting trips carrying into the night, the blue light allows you to see the blood trail lit up a bright florescent blue. I wish I hadn't noticed but the deadbolted door had numerous faint blue handprints on it, the deadbolt as well. I trailed the light down along the carpet to find a trail of blue leading towards me, it ran right between my feet and out the door.
By this point I was terrified, my imagination began to run wild. I made my way back to my truck as fast as I could and drove until I was home safe in my driveway. I was about to try to call back whoever called me when a thought made my stomach churn. I reached into my pack and got out the book. I didn't want to but I had to know. I opened its blank pages and took out my flashlight. I turned it on and pressed the button a second time. I threw up. The book seemed to glow a faint blue in my hands. Even over time the blood had faded but trace enough amounts remained. I soaked the son of a bitch in gasoline, I burnt it in my back yard. I drank a beer and watched until I was sure it was gone and then I used more gasoline to burn the ashes. I only read the first page but it cut deep. In the very center of the page were two sentences.
"This is my life's work. This is how a God is born."
To this day I can't look into a fire and not hear that damned laughing in the back of my head.
Submitted January 18, 2015 at 02:39AM by GrimDarkDistillery http://ift.tt/1ya9FGn nosleep
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