I've written a ton of scary stories over the years, but almost all of them were either fiction or things I'd heard from someone else. I've never written about something I experienced myself.

If you ask whether that means I've never had a terrifying experience of my own, though, that's not quite true.

I have. A terrifying experience. And honestly, it might still be going on even now.

Right after I graduated middle school, I left my parents' place and enrolled in a vocational school out in the countryside of ▉▉ Prefecture.

It was a boarding school that provided job training for horse-related work. You know, for kids who wanted to become racehorse jockeys or stable grooms. A place to learn specialized knowledge and skills.

Because it was that kind of school, we kept several dozen horses. Even though it was on a pretty small scale, we even bred them, birthed foals, and raised them.

So that's the background. Now here's the scary part.

Naturally, since it was a school, there were classmates, seniors, and juniors. And being in a niche industry like that, people usually stay in touch after graduating. Keeping in contact, getting dinner together if you find jobs near each other, that kind of thing.

Except for my class. We don't have any of that. Or rather, we can't.

Because everyone else is already dead.

I probably don't have much longer, either.

My closest friend died in his company dorm about two weeks after graduation. Cause of death was asphyxiation. Word was that his mouth all the way down his esophagus was stuffed tight with small animal corpses and animal fur. What's worse, even though he was found right after he died, the place was swarming with disgusting bugs and centipedes.

I was the one who found him, so it's an undeniable fact.

The others probably died the same way.

Why did this happen to my class? There's one thing I suspect might be the cause.

Back when we were third-year students at that school.

Out of nowhere, one of the mares we cared for was found to be pregnant.

The school didn't do any breeding, so it was a complete mystery. The teachers made a pretty big deal out of it, thinking maybe a student messed up and brought a stallion near her when a teacher wasn't looking, and the stallion broke free from the handler to mate. Or maybe someone artificially inseminated her.

But by the time the pregnancy was discovered, her belly was already huge. Even though no one knew the cause, they decided to go through with the birth, saying it would be good experience for the students.

It progressed shockingly smoothly, until one night, a student on night watch noticed. 'Hey, isn't she about to deliver?'

The mother horse started pacing, groaning, looking like she was in agony.

Going, 'Urrgh... urrgh...' It was the middle of the night, but everyone jumped out of bed and gathered around, cheering her on: 'You can do it! Come on!' and 'Hanako! Hang in there! Just one more push!' A teacher came too, and when the foal's head started emerging, he went into the stall to help deliver it, but something seemed off.

The teacher's hands froze. Even to us, it looked like, 'Wait, is he hesitating?' And to top it off, the mother horse.

Labor hurts, obviously, but the way she was groaning wasn't normal.

'Urrgh, vaah... gaaah... urv, vah, vah, VVVAAAHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH! GAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!' She started letting out a sound you'd never expect from a gentle horse—a death rattle, a scream, a voice that didn't sound like any beast on Earth. None of the students had ever witnessed a horse birth before, so we just thought, 'Is it always this horrific...?' but in reality, it was deeply abnormal. It was so abnormal that the teacher called a vet right away. The vet rushed over immediately.

The vet tried to help the teacher deliver the foal.

But the moment he saw 'IT' with its head poking out, the vet made a weird 'Uhk?!' sound. But seeing the look in the teacher's eyes, he shut his mouth and went back to helping.

For a horse birth, it turned out to be shockingly difficult.

I don't really remember how much time passed.

The room was filled with the mother horse's unearthly,

'VAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!' death scream,

along with what sounded like the vet and teacher—either in total desperation or trying to escape reality—

shouting 'UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!', female students sobbing loudly,

and male students groaning and sniffling,

turning the place into a screaming, living hell.

As the night wore on, the mother horse's death shrieks finally stopped, and 'IT' was finally brought into this world.

Somehow, deep down, I think we'd braced ourselves,

but seeing 'IT' after it was born left every single one of us speechless.

'IT' was a filthy, bluish color all over, with no hair at all. It had about seven legs that looked like human baby limbs, and its face was—

Sorry... I want to write more details, but just trying to remember is making me sick...

Anyway, 'IT' was so sickening... It had the shape and form of something that shouldn't exist in this world.

Right after 'IT' was born, it glared at everyone in the room and said,

'GO HOME.'

It said it loud and clear. The sound came from where 'IT' was, but it was undeniably the teacher's voice.

The mother horse was dead, having vomited a massive amount of blood from her mouth.

'GO HOME.'

This time, it was the vet's voice.

Everyone was just standing there frozen, but the teacher standing closest to 'IT' broke the silence.

He screamed something like, 'Ugh, ah, UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH ANYTHING BUT THAT AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!' and started bringing his fists down on 'IT'. Over and over, with all his might.

'IT' let out a quiet 'Gih.'

When we saw it making sickening squelching... mashing... cracking... sounds, the students started screaming all over again.

Some vomited, and some fainted.

The teacher who helped deliver 'IT' and the vet died the next day.

The teacher who disposed of 'IT's corpse died the day after that.

And the students who witnessed 'IT' being born that day died one after another after graduation.

I'm still alive. But I might die tomorrow. Because while writing this, I remembered what 'IT' looked like.

I wrote this while picturing it in my mind. It really was disgusting.

How should I put it... it felt like having my heart stroked with a soft brush,

the kind of sickening feeling like putting on a shoe and realizing a dead cockroach was inside.

I really shouldn't have I'm remembering it now

What on earth was that why do we have to go through this, I remember I remember I remember I remember what it looked like, gross, gross gross gross it's coming back I don't want to remember I can't. I can't forget I was almost forgetting but just remembering it is impossible gross impossible impossible impossible impossible impossible impossible impossible I can't stand it I can't stand it I can't stand it I can't I can't I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die I want to die

Are you okay?

I'm going home.

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This was a LINE message sent to me by a friend who moved far away after middle school.

He liked writing scary stories so I often had him write them for me, but after this message, I lost all contact with him, and a few days later, I was informed that he had died.

When I looked into it later, the vocational school he graduated from had been shut down.

[END]