Willow Men
There’s a local legend where I come from. They’re simply referred to as the willow men.
There’s hardly a need for the law enforcement in this town. The willow men take care of all that. Every single step taken, every word spoken, every drop of blood spilt.. The willow men know about it before anyone else. Believe me, anyone that has invoked the wrath of the willow men has gone missing without a trace.
That’s why when I realized what I had done it was too late. The willow men were coming.
She just wouldn’t shut the hell up. No matter what I said and what I would do she was just hysterical. She kept pacing about the house screaming. She said she found this and that and knew I was cheating on her. She’d ask me who it was and I told her she was crazy. I guess I wore that excuse out. After a while, I couldn’t take her damn voice anymore. I’d walk room to room and she’d follow me. When we got to the kitchen I had my fill.
I reached for the first knife I could find and jammed it into her throat. The face of anger and sorrow melted into one of despair and disbelief. The crimson fluid ran freely all over her blouse and she dropped to her knees, scrambling around on the floor. She clawed at the tile and made gurgling noises which only served to infuriate me. I grabbed an iron skillet that had been pre-heating on the stove and took a swing at her head. A wet crack followed the impact and while I didn’t need to keep going I did.
I lost count of the number of times I hit her but I had a good deal of blood on me. What was left of her head was being held together by thin particles of bone and blood continued to rush out. I dropped the skillet to the floor with a loud clang. I wish remorse could have followed so I would’ve felt a least a bit human but it didn’t. I was just happy to be rid of her. With a grunt I picked her body up off the floor and hoisted it unto my shoulder. Her face hung next to me, dead eyes staring with conviction. I could only chuckle. As soon as I got outside, I dropped the ragged heap onto the ground and went to find a shovel. That’s when I knew they were watching.
I could hear the whispers from the woods and in the corners of my eyes I could see them staring intently at my every move. Whenever I would look up to the woods I would find only gnarled trees staring back at me. I knew they were there. It was dusk by the time she was good and buried. I was drenched in sweat and it had made the blood stains on my clothes expand and turn orange. I looked back up to the woods and I saw them peering from behind the trees. Long, gnarled faces with hollow eyes and gaunt figures. I could only half see the faces as they chose to hide behind their precious trees but they were there. Watching, whispering…
“What are you staring for, bastards?! You heard her! I had to do it,” I yelled at them.
Was I expecting a response? I don’t know. They just continued to watch me from behind the trees. I spit on the ground and threw the shovel down. They would come for me under cover of darkness and I wasn’t going without a fight. I stole away into the house and prepared. I pushed couches and dressers in front of doorways. I nailed wooden boards haphazardly to cover all the windows. As the sun crept underneath the horizon a great trepidation settled in the pit of my stomach. Was it honestly nerves? I hated to think it was such a powerful fear that I would start breaking into an ice cold sweat. I loaded up my shotgun and reached for a bottle of whiskey. I forced down a mouthful and then another and slammed the rest of the bottle against the wall in frustration.
One door I left open. It was the back door that stared out to the woods. I put a chair down in front of it and sat, shotgun in my lap. They were still staring at me. The willow men. We stayed staring at one another for three days. Eventually, exhaustion began to get the best of me and I started to nod off. I tried desperately to keep my eyes open. For a foolish second I propped my head up with the shotgun so that it wouldn’t fall. I snapped back to reason and lifted my head high. Last thing I wanted to do was shoot myself. Had I known what was coming I probably should have.
I pushed myself to stay up for a few more hours. The day came and went and it was the dead of night before I knew it. They persisted behind the trees. I began to rationalize that if I closed my eyes for a second, I could have enough time to open them while the willow men were coming at me so I could take a few down. Smiling I did just that. Of course, its’ difficult to tell how long you were asleep. Could be a second, could be for days. I opened my eyes again and found I was still sitting in my chair with my shotgun in my lap. I snapped up when I saw that the willow men were no longer behind the trees. I flipped out and held the shotgun up, darting around barrel first. I took a few steps outside and tried to control my heavy breaths. I shook damn near uncontrollably and found it impossible to keep the gun steady.
I began to calm down when I didn’t see anything outside and began to return to my post when I stopped dead in my tracks. I felt tears well in my eyes and something began to push up and out of my throat. The willow men were peering from around the doorway and the sides of the house. I froze staring at their gnarled up faces and branch-like hands. I had to do something. I pulled the gun up and fired off a round. It managed to take out part of the door frame but it missed any of them altogether. I popped open the shotgun and madly grasped for a fresh shell in my pocket. I successfully reloaded it and lifted the gun back up.
The willow men continued to look at me from where they had been. I took careful aim this time and fired once more. Another shot hit the doorframe this time although closer to the willow men. I fumbled for a third round and as I did, I saw a large shadow cover me. Looking up, the willow men were upon me. I screamed and closed the barrel down on my thumb effectively severing it. Immediately after that, I lost all consciousness and collapsed.
When I awoke, it was ice cold. My vision began to return to me slowly and I could feel that I was being dragged. My heart sank when I looked around. Darkness stretched as far as the eye could see and I knew I was in the deepest part of the woods. Where my thumb had once been was black and swollen and had managed to numb up to my forearm. My ankles were in severe pain too but I didn’t know why. When I looked, I saw that they had been clearly snapped and the willow men were dragging me by my feet. I began to scream as loudly as possible for someone, anyone.
All I did was cause more willow men to appear and watch me from behind the strangest willow trees I’d ever seen. Their trunks were small and looked just like leather. The earth around them was red and moist yet where I was being dragged was dry, rugged land. I looked up to the canopy and wish I hadn’t. Skinless corpses hung down, blood dripping freely to feed what I now knew were flesh-bound trees. My screams were swallowed by the dark and my throat gave out, hoarse from the strain. In the silence, I heard a faint moaning.
I looked around to see if there was someone else here. Maybe some poor bastard who suffered my same fate. To my horror, I discovered the source of the moans. The bodies hanging on the branches of the trees were all still alive. Soon, I too would have my flesh torn asunder and be damned to hang up there and feed the hungry willow trees. There was nothing I could but accept my fate. The willow men had me.
—
Credited to Vel.
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Read NowCopyright Statement: Unless explicitly stated, all stories published on Creepypasta.com are the property of (and under copyright to) their respective authors, and may not be narrated or performed under any circumstance.
Honestly enjoyed it. Some of it was a bit predictable but it’s a hell of a lot better that some of the other pastas I’ve read on here in the past few days!
I love this!!
i think it was guud ^-^
BUT WHO WAS DEAD WIFE’S VENGEANCE?
It was a nice pasta with a concept that’s not overly hackneyed, not played-out like the creepy dolls or the WITNESS pastas. Not the best one ever, but better than most.
Take that treehuggers!
Very good pasta. I thought for sure this was Josef’s work at first
I can’t say I really feel sorry for the guy. He cheated on his wife and then killed her because she was mad.
… Seriously?!?
This guy’s a little disturbed. But it was a very cool idea for the town “police” to be the willow men. However, I didn’t like the way it ended. I was expecting a more clever way for him to meet his demise, not just the usual twisted visceral death. Gory details don’t really support the story’s plot and mostly just end up being disgusting and unnerving.
But maybe I’m too picky…
Yummy pasta, but I think it would have worked a LOT better in present tense. It doesn’t make much sense that he’s calmly reflecting the event while hanging skinless in a tree. Present tense would also have upped the pace and added more tension.
Sweetness!!! BD
Love it. My only problem is this; how in the world is he writing the story?
Not bad.
The thumb thing was impossible and ridiculously stupid, other than that, pretty cool pasta.
He had it coming.(:
dammit, where are the willow ladies?!
It was kinda nice, but am I the only one who wants answers to these questions –
1. Why didn’t he just get out of town?
2. How could he have written the story if he was gonna get skinned, hung up and fed to the trees?
Or maybe I’m just too nitpicky ;p
Pretty good, albeit long. Yeah, it does go down in quality at times, but in general it is well written. I really liked how you made it feel like if these willow men were all part of his imagiantion at first and then made them real.
Still preferring shorter pastas, though.
I third Media Guy.
Gave me a shiver.
I was shat.
Wow that left me with the feeling of complete hopelessness. Which is good.
Eh..
“And yet I don’t hate it. It’s not bad, it’s just not knock-your-socks-off good. It fluctuates between being well executed and terribly written. It’s suitably creepy, then laughably gratuitous. I guess this one’s only criminal flaw is inconsistency.” -Media Guy
I second that.
:]
Sucks to be him.
=)
lengthy, and sadly I didn’t find it worth the read.
Yeah, I thought this was pretty average. Could have been a bit more graphic.
Concept was okay, but……Inconsistent. And, there were a few unrealistic things (outside of the Willow Men themselves, and what all’s suppose to make the story creepy), and, well…..It just wasn’t creepy. Guess I was one of the few people that didn’t like it this time.
Also, it’s not that gruesome, in my opinion. I’ve read hella more descriptive stuff, seen hella more graphic stuff. Thta’s just me, but the gruesome meter really didn’t move on this pasta.
Yeah, everything described here is pretty tame stuff. I’d guess that the “Omg dat was real disgustin guys lol” posts are from people who wandered in here by accident / while searching for something else.
Your comment lost all value the moment you said “hella”.
TAKE A PHOENIX DOWN!
who was trees, tho?
I loved this one. =)
Good job, Vel.
this is the best i’ve read since that one time
Very Awesome.
I must say though, was his mistress hot?