Dear Diary

[Boss, I tried my best to make sense of the pages. There was a lot of blood, rips, stains, burns, and outright bite marks. I don't know what to make of this. Have we found a body yet?]

Dear Diary:

Day 1 – I'm so excited!!! I got the cottage of my dreams for a steal!!! Middle of the woods, in a nice clearing. PERFECT!! Sure, yeah, the former occupant was nuts, muttering constantly about the forest moving things around on her. Yeah, yeah, her husband disappeared years ago, so she can't blame him, so blame anything other than herself? It's not like she had pets or chickens or anything normal. I can't wait to start painting and moving stuff in! This will be EPIC!

Day 2 – New paint job! Shelves! Furniture! Locally hand-sourced and made to my specs. Weird, though, when the guys were moving it all in, there was a lot of creaking and moaning from the woods nearby. Bears? The guys said bears haven't been seen in this area in centuries, local gossip is something bigger ate them. Yeah, sure, let's get the gullible newbie all worked up over local folklore, hah hah.

Day 3 – Rugs! Clothing unpacked and put away! Food stocked! Even got a slimline fridge in and hooked up. Nothing fancy, the electric line out here is wonky. Mostly for preserved jars of pickles and jams and stuff I've opened. If I'm going hardcore off the grid, I'm doing it right! I'll do a propane stove until I can get the wood stove up and working, it's a freaking MESS. What was that old woman doing to it? Maybe I should check for a spell circle chalked on the floor? Sheesh. Superstitious old bat.

Day 4 – Of course, the spell circle's on the cellar floor. Silly me. Found it while stocking my jars.

Day 5 – I guess I'll be going into town for laundry. Not like I'll have a lot out here, besides, who would see me? And the electricity, and it's not like I'm on city water. The well's nice. I find myself doing a lot of sweeping. So much leaf and pin needle litter! So annoying! Maybe I'll set up a burn barrel and just dump the lot. It's like there's a high wind every night and it piles up against the back walls!

Day 7 – What keeps knocking over my burn barrel??

Day 9 – Finally had to brace the blasted thing, and still had to sink it in a bit of cement! Had to hire the guys back to do it, and they didn't want to. What's up with that? Said I shouldn't rile things up. Are they freaking kidding me??? I was almost too upset to hang the curtains! I keep seeing lots of eyes in the darkness, so of course I'll have to pen the chickens tight. That starts tomorrow. The cool gingham helps, quite soothing.

Day 13 – The workers won't come out for me anymore. Three chicken coops busted beyond repair, and all the chickens gone. Feathers everywhere. Locals keep asking, are you sure you want to stay out there? Here's a nice home in town, all snug. If I wanted to live with people, I'd go back to the burbs! So much money wasted! And now I have to buy eggs, and pay for three coops. Expensive firewood!!

Day 17 – FINALLY! Sat down with my boxes and boxes of fiber! Cozy, fuzzy stash! It's too hot for silk or cotton, and the wool's a bit on the sticky side in this humidity. If I want to get the afghan done in time, I guess I'll have to switch to linen. I got out the big spinning wheel, since I need water to spin it right. The humidity will help on that score! And ramie's just too fussy. I want this first afghan in my cottage to be PERFECT!

Day 19 – Well, that's a weird pile of fiber. It keeps unspooling into strange corners. And once I found it upstairs!! Did it take a ride on my hem or something?? Freaky. Well, on to the next color!

Day 20 – HOW DID IT END UP OUTSIDE HALFWAY TO THE WOODS????

Day 21 – Spooled and back in boxes! And I'm thinking of putting a grate in the chimney. It's got to be how things are coming in! At least they haven't gotten to my food yet.

Day 22 – HOW DID THEY GET IN MY LATCHED PANTRY??!!

Day 23 – Every time I go back to the box for more fiber, things are moved around! And the spools are unwound, and the thread's off in different corners! I found one wrapped around another bag of unspun fiber!!! WHAT IS GOING ON??!!!

Day 25 – Split up the spools into different boxes of mixed fibers. Now bags of wool are going missing!!

Day 26 – I SWEAR MY SPOOL BIT ME!!!!!

Day 27 – Decided to get a dog to fight this horrid mouse infestation. No, I haven't seen anything, BUT STUFF KEEPS GOING MISSING!! Of course it has to be mice! Or rats, or chipmunks, or squirrels, or some other furry variant of the Order Rodentia!! I'd decided on a cat, but the damn things refused to come out of their cages!! Every single mother-loving one of them!!! I tried forcing the issue, and I got scratched up and down both arms for the effort!!! Trip to the local doc, bandages, antiseptic, and another offer to move to town, WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE!!!?? A terrier. Why didn't I think of it before?? PERFECT!!!

Day 28 – Dog won't come out of the bedroom!!!

Day 29 – Where's the dog? Why do the spools seem fatter?? What keeps happening to my bags of wool??? Something's gotten into the silk floss too!!!!

Day 30 – I'll get another dog. Something bigger...

Day 31 – FREAKING DOBERMAN PINSCHER BROKE OUT AND RAN AWAY!!!

Day 32 – FINE. I will deal with this myself! I can stay up and beat the damn things off with a club if I have to!!

Day 33 – nothing happened overnight nto a peep so tired goingg to slepp

Day 34 – WHAT THE HELL EVERYTHINGS SHREDDED!!!!

Day 35-37 – Tried to get things straightened out, everything keeps rearranging! I don't hear a thing!!! Just wake up, even the furniture is all moved!!!! Im hearing things, Im seein things, shadows, skitterings, Im losing my frikkin mind!!!!

Day 38 – Skein's halfway out the box. I shoved it in, snagged on a pin or something caught in it!! HURTS!!

Day 39 – Did that skein blink at me???

Day 40 – I SAW IT MOVE!!!

Day 41 – I WILL KILL IT EWITH FIRE!!!! What did thata spell circle look like again?

[Days 42-47 are ripped out, and the ends of the pages look chewed]

Day 48 – The old lady was right. She was right all along. I havent showered in days. The bedroom door is locked and barred, and Ive stuffed blankets under the door. Sometimes they twitch, so I know the influence is spreading. I have to make a run for it soon – I didnt get much food before it attacked me.

Day 49 – Its banging on the door...

Day 50 – Hurt it! It tried to squeeze through the keyhole! Some tendrils are twitching. I stuck them in a canister, but it still drew blood. Its still howling. Windows's covered, can't get me formm outside. Can't run for it fromm there. Good shears, pretty shears. Lovve you, protect your mamma.

Day 51 – Allmost broke through door. Harp to stay awwake

Day 52 – It's cominggggg

[Boss, it's me again. Police say there's a trail leading into the woods, and the bloodhounds refuse to go in. Considering the state of the place, and how everything was shattered to flinders, I don't think she could have survived in her paranoid state. Blood is everywhere. According to the Forensics people they pulled in from the city, the only thing that looks like it was left intact was a drop spindle kicked into a corner and overlooked. She protected the diary as much as possible, but you see what a mess I have done transcribing it. Hard to read, literally. Lost her grammar when she lost her mind. All the doors were off hinges, and windows shattered. Horrid stuff. I'm going to send this and start reaching out to the others, the Forensics person who took the spindle hasn't been heard from in three days, and the last communication was that it looked like a fun hobby and they always wanted a cottage in some woods. Um, I know that detective, and there's no way those words ever came out of their mouth. They're city born and bred and an avowed metro person. Ain't no way. I'll catch up with you once I check up on them.]