Creepy story from my childhood

I was reliving some old memories today and remembered this weird experience I had as a child. I’m curious if anyone else has experienced something similar.

I put this under paranormal but I’m not sure where this should actually fall- feel free to make suggestions and I can edit. Anyway, I am currently 27(M) and this happened years ago when I was maybe 9 or 10.

A bit of backstory: I was always very adventurous and spent a lot of my free time with my best friend running around my neighborhood playing in the woods, searching for creatures (frogs, snakes, rare bugs etc.) I also did a lot of fishing at this pond by my house maybe 0.5-1 mile from my house. Also, to note, I lived in a very wooded area. My house was situated in a clearing and while there were neighbors around, there was thick woods towards the back of my house that went on for miles.

Now, on to the story, this one day in particular, my friend wasn’t able to come over but I didn’t want to waste the beautiful day so I decided to go into the woods to the pond to do some fishing. It was a bright sunny day and I was ready to go catch some bass! My parents gave me a lot of freedom and didn’t really care where I was as long as I was back before dinner. I never wore a watch so I just used the position of the sun to determine the time.

I get to the pond and everything is great! I caught a bunch of fish to bring home. Throughout my day, I periodically looked up in the sky to gauge when I’d need to head back. I looked up at a particular time and remember being happy that I still had a few hours left before dinner. I decide to sit down on the side of the pond and fish while sitting and relax a bit. This is when things got strange.

I should mention that one of my neighbors’ house is situated right on this pond. Essentially, the back of their house faces the pond and is about 200 ft away from the edge. They always let me use the pond whenever I wanted and always came outside to say hi and to make sure I’m ok. Well, I found it odd that after being there for so long, they didn’t come out. Maybe they weren’t home?

Anyway, I began to realize that I was out in the woods all alone with no one around. This didn’t alarm me, but I was now aware of that fact. I dismissed it and kept fishing. About an hour later, I notice that a breeze started. These weren’t strong gusts but enough to ruffle the trees and suppress sound. I started to get the feeling that I was being watched, even though I knew I was alone. I wasn’t scared at this point, but starting to get a bit weirded out. As these gusts came and went, I began to hear a faint voice, that sounded like my mom’s coming from the direction of my house. It sounded annoyed and I was like crap, I better get home. I was kind of relieved since I was starting to get a bit freaked.

I quickly packed my gear and headed out. Since the voice sounded annoyed (me still thinking that it was my mom) I decided to take a shortcut home, rather than my usual route through the woods. This short cut involved a dirt road with numerous houses on it, but this road directly connected to my street and brought me home in a more direct way. The breeze blew and I started to rush towards the exit of the woods to the dirt road. I felt much safer once I could see other houses and no longer felt that I was being watched.

I rushed home, I could still hear the voice calling to me, getting louder as I drew closer to my house. Once I got there, I left my gear outside, and walked in the door expecting my parents to be mad at me for something. My mom was right in the kitchen and smiled and said “wow, home early today?” To which I responded “weren’t you calling me to come home”? She looked puzzled for a second and said I was probably just hearing things. I remember being weirded out for a second but didn’t really give it that much thought after. I went back outside and gutted the fish and brought the flesh into the house to clean and grill. That was the end of that, or so I thought.

Fast forward to about a week later. It was a warm summer night so my windows were open. My mom went away on business and it was just my dad, my brother, and I in the house. I’m fast asleep and am woken up suddenly by what sounded like my dad’s voice calling to me from outside. I looked at my clock on my nightstand and it was just passed midnight. I thought it was very strange that my dad was outside but I was still half asleep. I’m calling “dad?” all the way down the stairs. I don’t get a response and in my delirious state, I put my shoes on and go outside, still calling out for my dad. I’m now outside and still calling for my dad but don’t hear anything so I begin wandering around my yard calling for him. Finally, I hear “him” calling my name from the woods. Without thinking about it, I start walking towards the woods calling out for my dad. As I’m about 50 ft from the tree line. I hear a voice booming back from my house “OP WTF ARE YOU DOING”. I look back to see a flashlight and my dad walking towards me. He had heard me calling his name in the yard. His windows were open as well and he must have heard me.

I ran over to my dad and he was like, what is wrong with you? Why were you walking towards the woods? To which I replied “I heard you calling me”. “Oh I get it now, you were probably just sleep walking, it happens, now go back inside and get to bed”

I went back to bed and that was that. My dad gave me a little bit of a hard time when I woke up the next morning- something along the lines of “some night you had last night, huh” and that was the last we ever spoke about it. Recently, I’ve been lurking in this sub and have read some similar stories which made me have a flashback and think of this one.

Any ideas on what this could have been? It could totally have just been a dream/ me sleep walking, but I remember it unfolding, even though I was half asleep. The other part I find strange is that I had 2 separate accounts of hearing voices calling my name in such a short span of time. My child like brain never put 2 and 2 together that they were related, but now I’m convinced they could be. I haven’t had anything even remotely close to this happen since then. Just thought I’d share since I think this community would appreciate it.

Let me know what your thoughts are!