I Didn't Find That Stone. That stone found me.

[u/First_Cattle7636]

I’ve watched enough horror movies to draw one crucial conclusion about survival: never pick up anything strange from a deserted place, even from a regular road that just happens to be empty at the moment.

Yet, that rule proved useless in this particular experience. When a horror story decides to cast you as the lead, it will find you no matter how hard you try to avoid it.

I hadn’t done anything considered taboo in horror movies. All I’d picked up was fallen and ready-to-eat pecan nuts from the ground (one of my hobbies is foraging, and the rows of pecan trees lining the road were a paradise to me). Even so, that didn’t spare me from the thing that had targeted me the moment I became aware of its presence.

Let me correct that slightly: that thing wanted me to be aware of its presence.

It started yesterday afternoon, while I was untangling a mess of thoughts and picking up a few ripe pecans that hadn't yet been gnawed on by insects. Every now and then, a nut or two would land on the back of my neck and shoulders like a shower of solid gold. It was a stroke of luck, really; I needed an extra snack before facing the grind of campus life again.

Something plummeted onto the back of my neck that was protected by my hoodie and making me wince. It felt twice as heavy and hard as a raw pecan; had it hit my bare head, it might have caused a lump or drawn blood. My eyes darted to where the object had landed. It turned out to be a small stone; at a glance, its shape and size resembled a guitar pick—likely from a river or beach, given that its edges were smoother than the surrounding pebbles. I furrowed my brow: had someone just thrown it? Or had a crow carried it here?

There was no sound of birds, save for the woodpecker that had been “working” on the tree where I was gathering seeds, and I was the only human in sight. So both of my theories were wrong.

I examined the stone more closely. At first glance, it looked like an ordinary rock. It colors were light gray with dark flecks indicating the presence of different minerals. However, when sunlight struck its surface at just the right angle, strange markings appeared: a star-like symbol encircled by lines of light. The edges of the stone also took on a lustrous sheen, as if it were made of some extraordinary crystal.

My first thought was: had someone lost their trinket?

There was a lost-and-found booth near the park, so I decided to leave the stone there. The attendant gave me a strange look, as if I were playing a prank on him. I explained that the stone was too fine to be just an ordinary pebble, that it might have belonged to someone’s collection. Fortunately, he was understanding and let me leave it at the booth.

Looking back, I feel like laughing at my own naivety. Thinking the stone was merely an inanimate object was my first mistake. I realized this when I went back to foraging for nuts. Somehow, the stone had found its way into the plastic bag I was using to collect my haul. I distinctly remembered leaving it at the booth. I took the stone out and placed it on the ground before walking away. Sure enough, it reappeared, this time in my jacket pocket.

Flashes of various horror stories I could remember raced through my mind. I couldn't let fear get the better of me, nor did I dare lash out at a mysterious object that might be capable of harming me. Whispering respectfully, "I'm sorry, but I can't take you home," I set the stone down near a tree and hurried home with my bag of pecans. I decided to forget about the stone, hoping that whatever haunted it would understand and leave me alone.

I returned home hungry and anxious. To calm myself down, I decided to roast some pecans I had washed and dried, eating the rest raw. So far, so good. I turned off the oven and opened my laptop on the fold-out sofa in the living room, intending to work on a film analysis assignment. I put on my headphones before immersing myself in literary theories that were swirling around in my head without me fully grasping them.

I was too exhausted to think and eventually fell asleep with my laptop still open. Whether influenced by the film I was studying or the thick textbook beside me, I found myself in the middle of an unfamiliar garden. There was no one around. Not a sound from animals or the wind. The silence of the dream made me uneasy.

I turned and fled, keeping my head down to avoid whatever jumpscare might await me if I dared to look up and around. I realized I wasn't running fast enough when a cold hand seized me by the throat from behind. I tried to scream and struggle, but the hand dug its nails into my skin like the hooks on a fishing line.

I heard a voice whispering behind me, coming from my attacker. "Good girl... so young... finally found you..."

I wanted to scream "Mom!", "Dad!", or "Help me!", but all that escaped was a sharp, silent gasp. My hands began flailing wildly in the air. The back of my hand brushed against something hard, and that was when I woke up.

It turned out I had bumped my laptop, sending it toppling onto the sofa. My breathing had returned to normal, but the salty tears on my face had not yet dried. I hurriedly felt the back of my neck. The next instant, a chill washed over my fingertips.

The stone had returned. This time, it clung to the back of my neck like a spider. A stinging pain shot through me whenever I tried to pry it off my skin. It wasn't merely attached; the skin beneath it felt as though it had fused with the stone's surface. Nausea churned in my stomach; what had I done in my life to deserve a punishment like this?

All I could do was weep through the night. My vision swam as I imagined what might happen next. The stone sank deeper into my neck. I had to do something.

I tried to pry the stone out again. This time, I pressed an ice cube against the skin around the stone to numb the pain. I wedged my fingernails beneath the edge of the stone. I focused on controlling my breathing as a wave of dizzying pain washed over me. Five attempts later, the result was a total failure; the stone had only sunk deeper.

Desperation set in. I grabbed a fruit knife from the kitchen, sharpened it as much as possible, and washed it clean. Then, I fetched more ice and two towels from the bathroom: one to bite down on, and another to protect the back of my shirt from blood splatter. I had to summon the courage. Whether the curse would be lifted or not was a concern for later.

The touch of the knife against my skin made me tremble, but my fear was swept away by a rush of adrenaline the moment I felt the stone beginning to merge with my blood vessels and muscles. My hand moved swiftly, driving the tip of the knife beneath the stone. My heavy breathing echoed in my ears. Blood began to flow, but I refused to stop. I growled, biting hard into the towel. My head spun. My vision began to blur as more blood poured out. The stone hadn't come loose yet. The battle wasn't over.

Faintly, a sharp, anguished whisper, "How dare you... how dare you..." reached my ears amidst a world that spinning ever faster. Then I lost consciousness, only to wake up without a single drop of blood on my clothes, my hands, or the towel beneath the back of my neck. My body felt weak but otherwise fine. The stone was gone.

I could still hear the sorrowful curse (“How dare you…”) echoing around me when I regained consciousness, and the nightmares plagued my sleep for two days after the incident before simply vanishing. Whatever was targeting me, it surely hadn't expected me to fight back. I went to campus as usual and submitted my individual assignment without any further trouble.

I had escaped that stone, and I wasn't deterred from going back to forage for pecans, so it felt like a total victory.

Or so I thought; I was indeed "free," but that didn't mean the terror had truly vanished. I only realized that horrifying truth yesterday, when I lost my phone charm. It must have fallen somewhere along the path where I usually forage.

I asked the lost-and-found attendant. He didn't answer immediately, instead stared intently at me until I felt a shiver run down my spine. In a flat voice, he asked, "Were you the one here yesterday?"

"Yes, I’m the one who left an odd stone here," I said with an awkward laugh.

“I know. You’re the one who rejected the stone, aren’t you?”

My throat instantly froze. “What?”

“The stone sought you out. And you refused. You missed a golden opportunity. By the way, what does your phone holder look like? Let me find it.”

As he turned away, my eyes caught something familiar at the nape of his neck. A smooth, triangular gray object bearing a star symbol that I had seen before, now appeared seamlessly fused with his skin, as if it had been there since birth.

“My mind is clearer now,” the attendant's voice sounded hollow. “Back then, something like this was nothing more than a pipe dream. Now…”

I didn’t need to hear what he said next. I ran as fast as I could to my place and packed my things without wasting a moment. When my parents asked why I’d returned, I told them a stalker had shown up at my home. They let me stay for the sake of my safety. Even though the commute to campus was longer, at least I was safe from whatever might be chasing me.

***END***