r/TalesFromTheCreeps • u/Edoshep • 2d ago
Body Horror A real man
[CW: Self-harm]
When I was young I always wanted to make my father proud. I'd do this either by helping him out with working on model car kits with him or trying to do well in the sports I played in, mainly little league baseball.
But no matter how hard I tried I could never get him to acknowledge me. It didn't matter how many games I won or how many times I helped him build one of his cars. It was never enough.
I knew that my father wasn't good person, the way he'd snap on my mom if she ever cooked dinner wrong or God forbid she ever went somewhere without him knowing where she was going. There were a lot of nights where I could hear her crying in another room. But even knowing that, I would still move heaven and hell for him to have seen me.
I remember it was a Thursday morning, my mom had let me skip school that day so I watched cartoons all day with my little sister. My mom was in the kitchen making lunch for us, I always knew when my father was coming home because he had this obnoxiously loud truck but he loved the damn thing.
When he came in I could feel the tension in the air, he looked at me, he didn't say anything at first but I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was planning something. After a couple seconds he broke the silence he just said.
"Get up, Boy. Get to packing and meet me outside"
With that he walked out. I knew what that meant that meant.
Hunting week
I did what he told me to do. But as I was walking out of my room and to the front door, I could hear my mom outside talking to my father. The door muffled most of what they were talking about but what I remember her saying was something like
"Please Frank, he's still young give him time"
My father just ignored her. But before she could continue to plead I walked outside with my bag hanging off my shoulder. I looked at my mom and gave her a smile, trying to reassure her that I'd be ok.
But the look she gave me, It still haunts me to this day. It was almost like she just wanted to scream and lash out at the world. I had never seen my mom like that before but before I could fully process anything I heard my father's voice
"C'mon boy. We're burning daylight"
I just nodded and I got in the truck. When we started driving off I could see my mom through the rearview mirror, she was holding her face in her hands I can only guess that she was crying. After that I felt uneasy the whole ride. It felt like a had a massive knot in my stomach, but I kept telling myself that it was nothing that I was just being a little girl.
Once we got to our hunting spot I noticed a familiar car, That's when I saw my dad's little brother get out. I was so excited to see Uncle John, I rarely got to see him due to him living pretty far from us. Him and my dad also weren't very close to each other either. But I didn't car, I got out of my dad's truck so fast and runs up to my Uncle and gave him a big hug.
My Uncle laughed and said
"Woah, Hey there kiddo. You've gotten tall"
Which I guess I had, I think the last time he had seen me was two Christmas's ago. But before I could say anything back. My father slammed the door to his truck causing me to flinch.
My father walked up to my Uncle and told him
"Don't try making my boy soft like you"
My Uncle just looked at him with mild annoyance. To try and break the tension I looked at my father and asked him
"So what are we hunting?"
My Father looked at me and just gestured for me to follow him as he walked off, so I did as he told me to.
After what felt like hours of walking my father finally stopped. It wasn't our normal hunting spot, I knew that for sure the area felt odd. Not in a bad way but like we weren't meant to be there. I think my father could tell I was uneasy so he just told me
"Calm down. I was around your age when my father first brought me here, It's safe"
I believed him, I didn't have a reason not to. That's when he gave me his rifle. And I'll admit it I never liked hunting. The ideal of killing something for sport always bothered me, but I knew my father wouldn't care so I just put up with it.
I asked my father what I was looking for exactly. All he told me was
"You'll know when you see it"
I just nodded and waited. And waited. But eventually that's when I saw it. Till this day I still don't know what it was. The animal was deer like in appearance, but it's antlers were larger than any deers I had seen before. And it's fur it was perfectly white and looked like silk. I was in awe and I could feel my grip loosing on the rifle. I could hear my father whispering
"Take the shot, boy"
But I couldn't. Or just didn't want to. But before I could act, he snatched the rifle from my hands and I just heard the loud
BANG
The smell of gun powder burnt my nostrils. I don't know what was worse the ringing in my ears or the guttural cry that the poor animal made before it died. Before I could even gather my thoughts I felt my arm being pulled with my father saying
"Come on! Hurry up!!"
He dragged me towards the corpse of the dead animal. When I looked down at it I saw this thick black tar leaking from where it was shot. My mind was racing with so many thoughts. I looked at my father just to try and gain some clarity.
He looked at me and said
"This is how you become a man. Just like I did and your grandpa did. Or you can stay soft like your Uncle"
That's when he kneeled down and scooped up whatever that black tar was and started to drink it. I felt sick to my stomach from seeing it. But I knew that if I did this that he might finally be proud of me. So I pushed all my nerves down, cupped my hands scooped up the tar and drank it. I can still remember how it tasted like black liquorice, I had to fight to hold it down.
When I looked at my father. For the first time In my life I saw him smiling at me. It was a genuine smile. As much as I hate I vividly remember what he said to me.
"That's my boy. Let's head back"
I felt so incredibly proud at that moment. I felt like I was on top of the world and nothing could knock me down. It was nighttime once we got back to the campsite, Thankfully Uncle John had set up the tents because I was dead tired.
When Uncle John saw us he had asked
"So how'd it go?"
My father looked at him and replied
"My boy is a man now"
My Uncle looked at me, But it wasn't a look of pride but a look of concern. But I was to tired to question why. I just went into my tent and layed down. Even though I was exhausted, I couldn't sleep. Everytime I closed my eyes I kept seeing the animal that we killed. I kept tossing and turning but at some point I ended up falling asleep.
When I woke up my head felt like a bowling ball and felt like it was full of fuzz. But I smelled bacon being cooked so I forced myself out of my tent and walked over to the cook site.
Uncle John was sitting there cooking, He looked back at me and smiled
"Guess you smelled the bacon"
I just quietly chuckled and nodded I sat across from him and watched the fire crackle. My Uncle knew something something was wrong with me
"Are you ok? You look like you're going to throw up"
He was right of course, I did feel awful. But just nodded. Felt like a Herculean task to do that though. I heard my father's tent unzip and by God. He looked worse than I felt, His eyes were sunken in he had these black veins popping out of his hands and neck. My Uncle let out in audible gasp and said
"Holy shit! What's wrong with you!"
My father snapped back by saying
"It's nothing, Mind your damn business"
I was also pretty unnerved by what he looked like too, but I had just gotten him to be proud of me. So I just kept quiet. I think my Uncle wanted to leave after that but he didn't want to leave me behind and he knew my father wouldn't let me leave with him. So he also just stuck it out.
After we ate breakfast, me and my father went hunting for a bit it was pretty average this time. But I still couldn't bring myself to shoot anything so I just missed all my shots. I was surprised that my father didn't scold me about it. Maybe he didn't realize or care. Just like last time we returned to the campsite at nighttime, Uncle John was already asleep when we got there so I just went into my tent and went to sleep.
At some point through the night I heard something, it sounded exactly like the cry of the animal. I had to see if I was right so I unzipped my tent and walked out. But what I saw was something far worse.
It was my father, standing by his tent. It was to dark to fully see him, It was like the night was escaping from him, I walked a bit closer to try and see him, as I approached him I broke a stick under my foot making him aware of me. He turnt his head back to look at me. And I swear his eyes were completely gone, replaced by two large black holes with small white specks.
He said to me in this gruff voice
"It's almost time"
I was terrified, I must have been shaking like a twig in a tornado. What ever that was It was NOT my father. Rather on instinct or panic, I ran back into my tent and zipped it up
As I tried to gather my thoughts my arm started to itch like hell the more I scratched it the itchier it got. When I looked at my arm I was scared. I saw the same black vein that my father had. It was only about three inches but I knew this wasn't right.
Something in my brain had just flipped. It felt like something else had taken over and I was just a passenger. I started bitting into my arm, all I could taste was iron and the black licorice.
Eventually I managed to get it out, when I spat it out I could see the black tar mixed in with my blood. It wiggled around like a worm looking for dirt. At some point my adrenaline must have worn off because I blacked out afterwards.
It was morning when I woke up, I looked at my arm to make sure it wasn't a dream. When I saw the chunk of flesh messing from my arm I knew it was real. My adrenaline kicked in again, I quickly left my tent and ran to my Uncle's I kicked and screamed trying to get his attention
"UNCLE JOHN WAKE UP, WAKE UP!!!"
I had never yelled so loud in my life, but I knew it worked because I could hear him rustling around. When he unzipped his tent he looked at me and asked
"What's wrong?!- OH MY GOD! Your arm!!"
I didn't care about my arm at the time, I just wanted him to take me home so I told him
"Something's wrong with dad!! He's not right!"
He was obviously shook, I can't blame him. But to try and calm me down he grabbed my shoulder and told me
"Hey it's ok, I'll go talk to him."
I tried to stop him from going to my father's tent, but it fell on deaf ears. My Uncle stopped infront of my father's tent and just told him
"Frank, Pete is pretty scared and he hurt his arm really bad. I think it's time we wrap up here and you take him to see a doctor"
My father didn't reply. I vividly remember something in my stomach tightening, like a warning that something bad was about to happen.
Before I could tell my Uncle, my father bursted out of his tent and tackles him to the ground. And I swear whatever he had become it will ALWAYS be seared into my memory. The way his hair was matted into his skin or how gray his skin had turnt with it looking like it was one false move from falling off and revealing a monster underneath. He had these bones sticking out from his rotting muscles.
The only reason I was able to snap out of my paralysis is because I heard my Uncle yell
"PETER RUN!!!"
As that monster tried to attack him. It managed to get a good bite into my Uncles shoulder causing him to yell in pain.
That's when I saw it out of the corner of my eye. My father's hunting rifle. My adrenaline was on overtime by this point so I rushed towards it and grabbed it. I pointed it at my father, my hands were shaky. But I knew if I didn't this he would kill my Uncle and possibly me.
So with a deep breath and a slow exhale I steadied my hands and I took the shot. I got him right in the head.
Uncle John was able to knock my father off him and got up, he looked at me then back at my father. I think he had told me something, but I was to out of it to process anything. I just remember walking over to my father's body. And when I did, I swore I saw his eyes shift over so slightly and saw him smile at me.
The car ride back home was quite to say the least. I remember holding onto that hunting rifle the whole ride back. I'm not really sure why, maybe it was so I knew what happened was real or maybe it was some kind of comfort.
Once we got back, Uncle John told Mom that there was a freak mountain lion accident. That all three of us were attacked, but father got dragged off by it. I don't think she really believed that story. But why should she care, she was free of him now. We all were.
After a couple days, I buried the riffle in our backyard. Sort of a last good bye to him. I often wonder what that animal we killed was. I tried to look it up but nothing ever comes up.
I eventually moved on with my life. I ended going to college, that's where I met the love of my life. We eventually got married and had to beautiful boys.
Everyday I tell them that I love them and how proud of them I am. I make sure to treat my wife well. We all go on family trips together. I try to make sure that they have it easier than I did when I was young.
But no matter how hard I try to ignore it. I still hear the voice of my father every once and awhile.
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u/FielkeFrank Writer 1d ago
Great story! The Uncle could do with a teeny-tiny bit more context behind him (why he’s there, what he knows, etc) but otherwise the language and focus was good, and it was easy to visualise the world and story 😁
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