Tales From Endless

“Welcome to the town of Endless, where dreams are endless, and your potential is limitless!”

That’s what the brochure said when a mysterious hooded stranger gave it to me 10 years ago. At that point, I needed a fresh start and so I came to Endless to start a new life… Well, that was the plan at least. My name is Jacob [REDACTED], and I'm a resident of Endless. Been that way for 11 years now.

You see, this town is not what it seems. From weird happenings and abnormal animal life to strange residents and mysterious visitors, the town of Endless is filled with many mysteries. To add to the craziness, the town has a public library that most definitely came from the 17th Century or earlier, an old Hanging Gallows like the ones used in the 16th century, and a rusted Guillotine that lay broken in pieces in the local graveyard (which is supposedly haunted).

To make things more unusual, the town is surrounded by three different forests: The Wild Forest, The Dark Forest, and The Void Forest.

At first, I would worry and get stressed about the strange happenings and the forests nearby, but after the first couples of years these strange things became the norm… That is until recently some strange stuff has been happening, and believe me, this is weird, even for Endless.

Before I tell you what happened, you should first know that the wildlife of Endless are not your everyday average animal, no, no, no! That would be too normal. Instead, the majority of the wildlife are weird hybrids of animals and humanoids, and the one in question is a beast I’ve come to affectionately call, Nimrod. Nimrod is a humanoid deer person… thing… and as for why I call him Nimrod, I’ll tell you about how we first met. It was in my second year here at Endless and I was driving home from work (which isn’t far) when suddenly a deer ran out in front of me.

In that moment, two things went through my head: one, HOLY CRAP I gotta swerve outta the way! And two, was that deer on their hind legs? So, I gripped the wheel tight, pressed the brakes, and turned slightly, swerving off to the side and coming to a sliding stop on the wet road. I sat there a moment collecting myself before I looked out my window to see if the deer was still there. It was… and it was standing on its hind legs.

I blinked once, then twice before opening the car door and walking out into the damp air. The deer turned to face me and in the light I could see that it’s front legs were actually deer arms in the shape of a human’s, muscles and all. In fact, the entire beast had a human anatomy but with a deer head which housed these glassy black eyes. I cautiously walked towards the beast who stared at me with intense curiosity.

“H-hello? Creature? Are you… friendly?” I asked with a shaky breath.

The beast did not respond. Instead, it huffed and puffed before casually turning around and walking back into the forest. I wasn’t sure how to take that, or even what to do about it. I ended up deciding that I was just too tired and seeing things (it was 6 in the morning). I got back into my car and kept driving back home. That wouldn’t be the last time I saw him though because for three months after, the thing came to my house and simply stood on my property line.

I’d wake up, look out my window, there he’d be, just standing there staring. And every time I’d come out to tell it to go, it would already be gone. All this came to a head when one night Nimrod came headfirst into my living room as I was trying to read a book. I sat there a moment before I reacted. I flipped out on the creature who casually stood up like nothing happened and proceeded to walk to the other couch and sit down.

Now that I could see him, I saw that he was your everyday brown deer, only he had a black spot on his left eye and a scar on his right side. He didn’t say anything, he just stared at me with those black glassy eyes. After a moment, I relaxed and started to think about how to get rid of the deer. I didn’t have a gun so I couldn’t shoot him. The only knives I owned were in my kitchen, and I wasn’t going to risk getting tackled by a random deer person.

“Soooooo, what brings you to my home?” I asked awkwardly.

No response. The only sounds filling the room were the crackle and pops of my fireplace. I won't lie, it was very awkward.

“Um.. I don’t mean to be rude, but… why the hell are you in my house right now? And why did you come through my window?” I asked, trying to get it to communicate.

Still nothing. After another few minutes of silent staring, and freezing my ass off, I decided that getting a knife might not be such a bad idea and got up. It was then that the deer spoke to me… or rather, I heard him in my mind.

I stopped dead in my tracks when in my mind he said, “Please, sit down. I just want to talk, human.”

I blinked a few times before slowly sitting back down on the armchair and squinting my eyes.

“What is this? Are you in my head?”

“Sort of. My voice was taken, and so I must rely on my magic-”

“Deer magic.” I chuckled.

“-in order to communicate with you.”

“Okay, I’ve seen a lot this past year, and this is a first. A talking deer? Ha! You gotta be kidding me, I didn't think the hallucinations would start so soon.”

“I am not a hallucination. I know, it sounds absurd, but I heard that a new resident moved in while I was away from the town. I'd also like to apologize if I spooked you, it is a custom of our people to watch before we approach.”

“Is it customary to break my window!?”

“…yes, I apologize. I will fix it right away.”

With that, he stretched his hand out, and the broken pieces of glass glowed a bright blue before quickly reforming into a new window.

“That’s a cool trick” I said out loud.

“Yes, yes it is. My name is Alu, what is your name?”

“I... I don't think I should tell you. You seem nice, but you’re a nimrod if you think I'm just gonna DOX myself to a magical talking deer. Ooh! I think I'll call you Nimrod!”

“That’s not-”

“So is that all Nimrod? I’d really like to finish my book before another hallucination arrives.”

The deer man stood slowly and nodded at me before saying in my mind, “As you wish, I will return to chat with you. There’s something about you I can’t put my hoof on…”

I blinked once, then twice.

“Wait, what’s that supposed to mean?”

But the deer man had vanished into a cloud of smoke.

“I really gotta get my insomnia under control…” I said under my breath.

Nimrod would continue to visit me at least once a week for the next 9 years. It was strange at first, but after a while I got used to having a deer friend visit me and talk to me when I wasn’t working. I mean there were others that visited me at work, but none of them ever came to my house.

Then, the other day, Nimrod didn’t show up. I went into the forest outside of town to see if I could find him, but when I spoke to the other deer people, they had no idea where he could have gone.

And that brings us to yesterday. I work the night shift and the graveyard shift at the local gas station just outside of town on the weekends, and yesterday at work, around 2 in the morning, I was approached by a familiar figure. That strange, hooded person who gave me the brochure for Endless had come back, driving in a 1962 GTO Ferrari.

It would be the first time I had seen the guy’s face which was mostly obscured by neon yellow and blue sunglasses, and a black and white skull mask on his mouth and lower jaw. I walked over cautiously, and of course the guy recognized me. He asked how I liked Endless and if I was doing alright. I told him I was, and he pulled down his mask to reveal a toothy grin.

“Good, good, good! I’m glad!” He said happily and loudly, and then, lowering his voice he continued, “This town is pretty strange ain’t it? By the way Jacob, word of caution, you should keep a better eye on your friends. It ain’t right for a deer to left hanging, know what I mean?”

Before I could question what he meant or how he knew my name, the gas pump clicked off, and he said, “Ah, looks like I’m good to go! Don’t worry about the change” as he handed me 40$ cash. I was stuck like a deer in the headlights, but I took the money, took the pump out, put it back on the machine, and closed the back of his car up. He clicked his tongue twice, snapped his fingers, and drove away in with a low roar. After I came back to my senses (I have no idea what happened), I went into the store and walked up to the counter. There, a woman about a couple years younger than me sat on a computer chair staring absentmindedly at the computer screen while blowing pink bubbles with her gum.

“Yo, Clara! Can you do me a favor?” I asked her.

She blew another bubble, very slowly mind you, and after it popped, she turn her head to me and looked me up and down with her dead eyes and flat expression. I raised an eyebrow at her, and she cocked her head to the side.

“Whatcha want shit stain?” She questioned with a tone of I-don’t-want-to-talk-or-socialize-right-now.

“Clara, I need to go check something, can you watch the pumps in case anyone comes?”

She rolled her eyes, but agreed to do so, and that was all I needed. I ran out the door, not bothering to get into the car, and ran straight to the old hanging gallows in the back of the town. The hooded guy said something about being “left hanging” and that was the only place that made sense. I didn’t have time to question why or if he was even telling me the truth.

I didn’t want to take that chance.

The town was eerily quiet, and a light rain began to fall, slowly soaking my hair, face, and clothes. I got to the gallows, out of breath and now in the middle of a rainstorm and stopped at the platform. There was a crack of lightning, and the brief flash of light revealed a terrible scene.

Now only was Nimrod, my friend, dead and hanging on one of the old nooses, but his belly had been split open, and his insides completely removed. I fell back in horror, and while he was a deer, he looked human enough to me for it to be traumatizing.

And that brings us to now.

I don’t know what to do other than record a voice diary to keep myself sane. I can’t call the police since it technically wasn’t a person, and the gallows are surprisingly a public property, so there goes trespassing.

Oh crap! I gotta go, got a customer. I’ll be doing a lot of more these, so… for anyone reading this, thank you.