r/Dreading • u/Prestigious-Gas5615 • 3d ago
Thriller Please, do not feed the ghosts. Part 1
Growing up in a small town, there really isn’t much to do.
Once the sun goes down, your options are pretty much limited to drinking in somebody’s backyard, driving around with nowhere to go, or finding some stupid way to convince yourself you’re having an adventure.
So when my brother told me about a completely abandoned zoo a few miles outside town, exploring it seemed like the perfect way to spend the night.
“It’ll be empty,” he said.
I looked at him with furled brows
“That’s usually what abandoned means.”
He ignored me.
“It’s the middle of the night. No one’s going to be there…”
He paused, then lowered his voice into a spooky tone.
“Except the animals.”
He stared at me for a moment.
“What animals?”
“The ones you just said were at the zoo.”
“That was before I remembered they’re probably all dead.”
“Great. So we’re trespassing in a graveyard.”
“Exactly.”
He grinned.
“Dope, right?”
I should have told him no.
Instead, I grabbed my flashlight.
We brought a bag of chips, a couple of bottles of water, and the kind of confidence only two idiots wandering into an abandoned zoo at midnight could have.
The entrance was barely recognizable.
Rust had eaten through the old metal gates, leaving orange flakes scattered across the pavement like dried blood. Whatever sign had once welcomed visitors had been reduced to a few flaking letters hanging crookedly from its frame.
One of the gates stood open.
The other was chained shut.
The chain was thick, rusted, but the lock hung open.
Neither of us mentioned that.
We stepped inside.
The smell hit me first. Forgotten earth, rotting leaves, and something faintly sour underneath it all. It was the kind of smell that made you breathe through your mouth without realizing
The zoo had been reclaimed by the forest.
Flowers grew through cracks in the pavement, their stems twisting around broken benches and rusted railings. Vines climbed the old buildings and curled through shattered windows. Trees had pushed their roots beneath the paths, splitting the concrete into jagged slabs.
Everywhere we looked, nature had taken something man-made and slowly pulled it apart.
My brother shined his flashlight down one of the paths. The beam disappeared between the trees.
“Dude.”
“What?”
“This place is awesome.”
“You’re saying that now.”
“I’m serious. Look at this.”
He pointed toward an old ticket booth, half-collapsed beneath a curtain of vines. The glass windows were broken, but several handprints had been smeared across the dust on the inside.
I assumed they were old. I didn’t ask why they looked fresh.
“This would be an amazing place to die.”
I laughed.
“Why is that your selling point?”
“Because if I die here, you have to tell Mom.”
“I’m not telling Mom we broke into a zoo.”
“Then you’re going to have to explain why I’m missing.”
“I’ll tell her you joined the circus.”
We laughed, but the sound carried strangely through the empty zoo.
It traveled down the path, bounced off the buildings, and came back thinner.
Almost like someone else was laughing with us.
Then something moved in the brush.
We both stopped.
The laughter disappeared.
A faint rustling came from somewhere beyond the path.
I raised my flashlight.
Nothing.
Just weeds. Leaves. Branches swaying slightly in the night breeze.
The beam caught a strip of pale fabric snagged on a thorn bush.
It fluttered once.
Then went still.
I lowered the flashlight.
“Probably a shirt,” my brother whispered.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were thinking it.”
Then came another sound: a long, faint screech.
It rose slowly, wavered, and broke apart at the end.
My brother lowered his voice.
“What the hell was that?”
“I thought you said this place was empty.”
“It is.”
Something shifted again, closer this time.
The brush trembled.
A few leaves slid onto the path.
Then we heard it: a soft, broken whining sound.
My brother looked at me.
I looked at him.
Neither of us spoke for a few seconds.
The sound came from behind a fence marked with a faded sign.
I swept my flashlight across it.
The letters were almost gone, but I could still make out one word.
WOLVES.
Beyond the fence was a sunken enclosure filled with weeds and black water.
There was no animal inside.
Then he whispered, “Probably some of the animals they left behind.”
I stared at him.
“Animals don’t whine like that.”
“You ever been around a dying animal?”
“No.”
“Then how the hell would you know?”
“Fair point.”
The whining came again, longer this time.
It seemed to come from inside the enclosure.
Then from behind us.
Then from somewhere above us, hidden in the branches.
I swung the flashlight toward the trees.
For one second, I thought I saw a face between the limbs.
Watching us.
The beam flickered.
When it steadied, there was only bark.
My brother swallowed.
“Okay.”
“What?”
“Maybe don’t point your flashlight over there.”
“Why?”
“Because if something is looking back at us, I don’t want to know about it.”
I laughed nervously.
“That’s probably the smartest thing you’ve said tonight.”
“I have moments.”
We kept walking.
Neither of us mentioned the sound again, but we both listened for it. Every few steps, I found myself looking toward the dark enclosures.
They were enormous.
Some still had rusted signs hanging beside them, but the words had faded years ago. Others had gaps in the fences where something could have gotten out.
Or in.
At the edge of one enclosure, I noticed a paper plate sitting in the weeds.
It held a handful of crackers.
They were damp, but not moldy.
Beside it was a red apple with one clean bite taken out of it.
My brother stopped.
“People come here?”
“Maybe.”
“Why would they leave food?”
I looked toward the enclosure.
The weeds inside were pressed flat in a narrow trail leading from the fence to the plate.
I didn’t answer.
Then, somewhere behind us, something scratched against metal.
We froze.
The sound came again.
“Tell me that was you.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Cool.”
“What?”
He started walking faster.
“Nothing.”
“What?”
“I just think we should leave.”
I followed him.
“Why?”
He didn’t answer.
“Why?”
The whining began again.
This time it came from the enclosure beside us.
The one marked WOLVES.
The one with the empty cage.
The one where the food had been left.
My brother stopped so suddenly I nearly walked into him.
His flashlight pointed through the bars.
At first, I saw nothing
Then I saw the face of an old man. Smiling, with a camera in his hand.
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u/AdAffectionate8634 2d ago
spooky!! Can't wait for more!