My cousin Eli and I took the shortcut through the woods behind my grandma’s house because we were stupid and wanted to get home faster from the gas station. The sun was dropping fast, and the deeper we got into the trees, the darker everything felt. About halfway through, we heard a whistle. One sharp note. Eli smirked. “Probably some hiker.” Then it happened again. Same whistle. Closer. Trying to be funny, Eli whistled back. The entire forest went silent. No birds. No bugs. Even the wind seemed to stop. Then from somewhere ahead of us— whistle. Much closer. “Okay… that’s weird,” Eli said. We kept walking, faster this time. Every few minutes, the whistle came again, each time sounding like whoever—or whatever—was getting nearer. Then I heard footsteps in the leaves to our right. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Keeping pace with us. I aimed my phone flashlight into the trees, but all I saw were trunks and darkness. Then Eli grabbed my arm so hard it hurt. “Don’t move.” “What?” “Look.” About twenty feet ahead, between two trees, was a figure. Tall. Standing completely still. I couldn’t make out a face. Then it lifted an arm slowly. And whistled. We ran. I don’t remember much except branches hitting my face and Eli nearly falling twice. The whistling followed us the whole way, closer than ever now, sometimes behind us, sometimes to the side, like it was circling us. We made it to Grandma’s house and slammed the door so hard a picture frame fell off the wall. Grandma rushed in, asking what happened. When I told her about the whistle, she looked sick. “Your grandfather used to whistle like that,” she said quietly. I laughed nervously. “Not funny.” “I’m not joking.” She sat down and told us that years ago, their dog ran into those woods one night. My grandfather went after it, whistling so the dog would come back. Grandma said she heard him whistling for almost an hour. Then she heard another whistle answering him. Then both stopped. They found the dog the next morning sitting at the edge of the woods. My grandfather was never found. That night, Eli slept on my bedroom floor because neither of us wanted to be alone. Around 2:13 a.m., I woke up to a whistle outside my window. One note. Then another. I froze. Eli was already awake, sitting upright in his sleeping bag, staring at the window. Then came three slow knocks on the glass. Tap. Tap. Tap. I forced myself to look. There was someone standing outside. Tall. Motionless. Its face hidden in the dark. Then Eli whispered, barely audible— “That’s not the same thing we saw in the woods.” Then the thing outside the window whistled. And from somewhere inside the house… something whistled back. #fyp #viral #scarystories #scarytiktoks #scary - @scary.stories.js4u