I have a story. A few, actually. I didn't really think much of these, until recently.

When I was about twelve, I lived in Georgia. I lived on the coast, near Savannah, on one of the islands out there. The island had it's own grocery store, a few drive ins, two gas stations, and some odds-and-ends stores; 5ish miles away, was an island with a walmart, and we could go to a third island or Savannah for anything else.

Most of the island though, was marshland and woods - in addition to housing developments. Most of the housing developments were newer (20~ years), but the neighborhood I lived in was older and thus, poorer than the others.

I had a small group of friends, and my friends and I used to go exploring the woods and marshes. It's worth noting that I'm not from the South, and that I've been homeschooled most of my life due to constant moving (parents'jobs); this made me sort of an outsider, with my good ol' boys (and girls) friends and although I remember everything about them and knew a ton about them, I really doubt any of them remember me at all, and none of them cared enough to learn much about me. I was "that guy", and an outsider with the group. This is important to remember, when it comes to my stories.

The first story took place towards the end of summer. This is technically the second story (order wise), but it's probably best told first?

I caught a head cold and spent three days sleeping non-stop in my room and only told my "best friend" ("Hank") this over the phone. The weather had cooled down a lot, but it was still warm even at night, so we had taken to camping a lot in the woods near our houses (and sometimes further from home) because it was perfect weather for that.

While I was sick, my friends went camping without me. What happens now is a retelling of what H (and another friend, his cousin, "Andy") told me after I got better and left my house.

Hank, Andy, Hank's girlfriend Michelle, and three of their mutual friends had been hanging out all day, and decided last minute to camp in the woods near Hank's house. So, they pitched a few tents right	inside the woods, near-ish to a pond that was between his house and the woods, and got to goofing around.

Shortly after dark, they heard "loud splashing" in the pond, like some one was swimming late at night, but didn't bother to go and check it out as it wasn't out of the question that someone would be swimming that late out there. A few minutes later though, T apparently showed up at the campsight, soaking wet and acting kind of off. Apparently "I" didn't say anything, I just came up, sat down near the fire, and started "watching" people "really awkwardly".

Hank ends up asking "me" if I'm feeling alright, and "I" told him I was fine, I just felt lonely and decided to join them, and his mother told me where he was. Now, only he knew I had been sick, and he didn't apparently want to bring it up because Andy was a major germaphobe, so he just sort of shrugged it off and they went on with their evening to the best of their abilities, while "I" sat there, not talking, just watching them.

After a while, "I" dried off. and both Hank. Andy, and everyone else there told me I started stinking (and I got the creative nick-name of "stinky" because of this) like a dead animal. Michelle started gagging from it apparently, and everyone jokingly told me to go "take a shower".

So, "I" got up, walked out of the woods in front of them, and Hank. Michelle and Andy followed me, thinking they’d hurt my feelings, only to see me calmly walk into the pond until I was up to my waist, dive in the rest the way, come back up a "bit" later, and walk back out, all without saying anything. It's worth noting that I'm not a good swimmer, and I hate diving due to a fear of inhaling water and choking, so the chances of me doing that (especially fully clothed) are pretty fucking slim. After that. "I" apparently sat back down, and resumed being awkward; when I started smelling again after drying off. they kindly decided not to bring it up, although Michelle told me later "I" smelled like I was rotting, and she kept moving further from me because of it.

Time goes by, and everyone decides to go to bed. Aside from me saying "I'm fine", "I've" apparently said nothing and they've basically forgotten I'm there. Hank tells me to go home (He said he was basically insisting), because no one wanted to share a tent with me. But I refused, and Andy and another friend (Cory) decided to share a tent with me. So they go in. and apparently had to call me into the tent repeatedly, and once I did go in, I just laid down on the floor, facing the wall, nothing under me.

Due to the stink, apparently neither of them could get to sleep very easily, and according to Cory, "I'd" constantly turn my head "really oddly" and watch them. This went on until about 5AM, when I suddenly got up, standing as high as I could in the tent, walked out. and that was it - they didn't see me again until about 36 hours later, when I left my house finally.

Although it probably isn't that spooky, I KNOW I didn't go out there. I've tried shrugging it off as a joke or me being delusional, but I'm really pretty damned sure I didn't go out	there at all. I was sick, and I'm	a	big baby when I'm sick (Hank even told me it was weird that I wasn't bitching about having felt bad. and that I wasn't harassing Andy over his germ issues) and I clearly remember doing nothing but sleeping, playing video games, looking at porn on shitty ass dialup and watching Scifi Channel.

In addition, my room was three stories up and if I'd left it, I would have woken up my parents (who wake really damned easily), had they been asleep when I supposedly headed out there - and they weren't. I remember my mom coming into my room to watch TV with me at around that time.

But, on the other hand, I doubt my friends were smart enough to have an elaborate lie like that (and that they'd care enough to tell it) and they seemed very sincere. That, and Hank's mom later confirmed that I had. in fact, stopped by and asked where they were - and that she'd noted I smelled awful and seemed off. but assumed it was because I was sick and hadn't bathed.

His mom and mine, who had been friends, had a major falling out arguing over whether or not I'd showed up there, and none of my friends ever believed me. I never thought much of it (figured it was a mean joke or something), until recently. This is probably tied to an earlier event, that had happened over the summer.

Over the summer, we found in the woods an area that had been converted into a paintball fort. Lots of elaborate tunnels/trenches and a few sheds and buildings. It was all really cool, but apparently abandoned (some of it was flooded, for example) and we spent a good few afternoons playing out there, even though it was always sort of "unnerving". You felt watched, y'know?

A good example is, I remember Michelle joking that some big burly guys could pop out from the tunnels, kill us, and kidnap her. She did it sort of nervously, like you do when you're trying to make yourself feel better by joking about your fears.

One afternoon we headed out there on our bikes and were goofing around. Pretending to be soldiers or something. We did this for hours; Andy, Michelle, Hank. Cory, and a few other people. It got dark out, and I found myself alone in one of the trenches when I started to hear splashing from one of the submerged tunnels. I figured someone had fallen in or been pushed in, and didn't think much of it.

A few minutes later, Cory jumped into the trench with me. Now, if someone else was an outsider, it was him; he was fat. annoying, and weird. So what happened next wasn't THAT out of character for him, although it still made me uncomfortable. He came up beside me, and just sat there and watched while smiling way too much. I tried to carry on with the game (especially since I was the Drill Sergeant; I'd hit puberty early so my voice was fucking deep and they picked me for it), but he was just distracting as shit and weirding me out.

Finally, I just locked eyes with him and just tried to stare him down. He didn't blink, didn't move, didn't do anything; just looked back at me, smiling. And then I realized he was soaking wet. Part of me, I remember, was worried someone had tried to drown him and made him literally retarded, but about then he reached out, put both hands on my shoulders, gripped me as tightly as he could (I had bruises), and just, stared, smiling as broadly as he fucking could.

And then he let go, got up, and left. He did it for maybe 15 seconds - any longer and I'd of fucking screamed - and then just, left. Nothing said.

I just sat there, bewildered and a bit frightened, and I remember realizing that he was fucking freezing. It was hot and humid out still (my shirt was stuck to my back from sweat and I felt greasy the entire summer), but he was freezing. I figured he was from the water, got out. and tried to follow him - he was no where to be seen. I went in a trench with Andy and a couple other people, and carried on for a bit, but they realized I wasn't really "in the game" anymore, and we stopped playing a bit later.

I didn't realize it then, but I realize it now - Cory was dry when we got on our bikes and left. I think I either didn't think about it, or thought he just dried fast in the heat, and never mentioned any of it to anyone, as he was a bit weird in general. We didn't play out there again, though.

My last story happened a bit after the second, close to Halloween. We'd all gotten cheap halloween masks at walmart. and decided one night to play tag outside while wearing them. We did that for a few hours. It was actually more like a tag/hide and go seek combo, and it took a while to finish playing.

I remember clearly though that there were six of us out there (everyone mentioned, plus Michelle's friend), and that at multiple times I saw a seventh person wearing a mask we didn't have. I figured it was someone switching masks until later, when I realized no one had a mask like that. I then sort of decided not to mention it; one, because I figured it was this weird girl who lived down the street (who actually would have been too short), and two, because I didn't want to spook anyone. Nothing really scary happened, we'd just be running and I'd see them running the opposite direction and go hiding, or something like that. It was just weird.

Actually, stuff where we'd come up with one extra happened occasionally, but no one ever really thought anything more than we "miscounted".