From the day I moved in, something hadn’t sat right with me about my new neighborhood. Everything just felt a little… off.

To backtrack just a tiny bit, I had recently moved into my new apartment. I would say this was about three months ago now. When I toured the unit, everything was great. Our leasing agent was friendly, the apartment was huge and had been a really great price. I thought this would be the perfect move for me.

I must have been seeing the world through rose-colored lenses because literally the day I moved in, I noticed some very… odd things.

Mainly, I noticed how uncomfortable my dog was from the moment I moved him into the new place. He began exhibiting abnormal behaviors, even for him. In the four years that I have owned him, he has never been as terrified to go outside as he is here. I am talking full-on shivering every time I take him out to do his business. It is so bizarre.

But on top of that, I hear weird sounds outside my apartment all hours of the day, but particularly at night. Before, though, I just chalked it up to the water treatment facility that is behind the property. Or at least that’s what the leasing agent told me it was.

I don’t know, though. Sometimes the sounds I hear are just machinery, noises you would expect to hear from a facility like that. Every so often, though, when I am outside with my dog, I hear what sounds like inhumane wailing. Every time it happens, my dog freaks out, tucks his tail between his legs, and tries to pull me back inside. But even when there are other people outside, it is like they don’t even hear the noise. Not a single person turns towards the noise, their pets don’t react to it at all… it’s weird.

And on top of that, it always smells awful outside in that area, especially when it rains. It smells overwhelmingly like sulfur and toxic gases. Again, though, no one seems to notice it. No one even acknowledges the smell, almost like I am the only one who does.

But here’s the kicker. One night, when I was out walking my dog (who was particularly frightened this time), I saw something glinting just inside of my peripheral vision. I whipped my head towards it, whether out of fear or curiosity I am unsure. In the distance, just before the line of trees that blocked my view of the facility, I noticed two beacons of bright yellow light. Initially I thought they were flashlights or something, but it was more similar to the reflective eyes of an animal.

I squinted in the dark, trying to make out more of what I was seeing. My blood froze in my veins when the two points of light turned directly towards me. I was rooted to the spot.

It was only then that my dog noticed… whatever it was. Almost immediately he yelped loudly and pulled on his leash as hard as he could. Because I was still frozen in fear, he pulled the leash right out of my hand and darted towards the apartment.

I barely noticed. Whatever it was in the dark had begun to move closer to me, slowly. Like an animal stalking its prey.

In a few drawn-out seconds, the thing passed under a dim lamppost. I finally got a good look at what it was. Its body was an oily black color, and it’s limbs were impossibly long and thin. I could see the bones and sinews squirming underneath, even from this distance. I could see some of the iridescent skin sparkling lightly under the lamp, and I noticed that it had spiked scales all over.

But the thing that finally snapped me out of my trance was even more frightening. Just as this creature was drawing closer and closer to the flimsy fence that separated us, ten more pairs of the yellow eyes came into view. These were all at different heights, and in my panic, I could have sworn I saw one pair that towered above the line of trees.

I ran. I screamed the entire way, but I ran as quickly as I could to my apartment. I was about 100 yards away from my front door. My scream was shrill and broke the peaceful silence of the night. Not a single light came on in any of the surrounding houses. Nothing stirred.

As I got to my front door, I noticed that my dog was hyperventilating and scratching furiously at the door. The paint was ruined and his paws were bleeding. He had ripped his claws off in his frenzy. I threw the door open and my dog raced inside and hid under my couch.

I barricaded everything. But I didn’t dare look out the windows.

Once, I heard that same inhuman wailing I had heard countless times before, but the sounds never drew closer than the fence. I did not sleep that night. The next morning, I got the hell out of there. I didn’t care about my lease or fees or anything like that. I just left.

***

Like I said, it’s been about three months since I had moved into that place, and it’s now been about two weeks since that last night. Since then I have discovered that there are entire forums online about the creatures that I saw. Numerous sightings, some mysterious disappearances that may be linked to them… but the most interesting tidbit I found is that there’s a woman out there somewhere who is trying to figure out what these things are and where they came from. Her name is Sonya, and I plan on reaching out to her soon. She seems to be the most knowledgeable person out there.

If for some reason I am never seen again, I am leaving this document behind. I want people to know that there are things out there that can’t be explained. Some may read this and think that I am buying into another outlandish conspiracy theory… but that’s not true. Hopefully soon I can begin to shed some light on these things…

***

P.S. Should you want to know more about Sonya and the work she has done, perhaps you can take a look at Sonya’s Notes. This gives a detailed account of the creatures and basically showed the start of her investigation. I am scared but excited to see what we could find out together.