I went camping by myself back in the March of 2018. I’ve always loved nature and I mean loved it. I don’t know if its the plant life or the peace of being alone but I had planned to go camping in a forest for a while beforehand. I decided to bring the basic survival items, obviously, and some things to keep myself from becoming bored out of my mind. Now, because I had planned to make the most out of this trip I had brought items for nighttime. In specific these items were various amounts of energy drinks and protein bars. Since I knew I was going to be awake while it was dark out I had also brought a headlamp so that I wouldn’t have use any energy to hold up a flashlight if I happened to get too tired.
When I drove out to the forest I had gotten an eerie feeling but disregarded it as being put into a rather different environment than what I was used to. I went somewhat deep into the forest but made sure to maintain vision of my car so that I wouldn’t get hopelessly lost. Once I pitched my tent I made a small place for a fire. Since this was in March I had brought some small pieces of wood from my fireplace at home to burn since most of the wood and leaves were probably going to be wet due to melting snow. I gathered the rocks to keep the fire pit small and as the darkness crept in I had my first energy drink and lit the fire.
At first I had just sat around the fire for the first couple hours as I waited for it to become pitch black. Soon the fire started to dwindle so I turned on my headlamp and decided to set out into the darkness. I tried my best to memorize my path but the lack of light made it hard. As I ventured deeper the eerie feeling I had grew stronger. Soon, I figured out why. While carefully treading I passed by what I thought was a tree but noticed a reflection of my light. I quickly glanced at it. I analyzed its body while paralyzed with fear. Its feet looked like the roots of a tree. It had pale skin that was covered by patches of mud. I thought I could see its ribs but the memory eludes me. Its face, though. There’s a reason I call it the bird. Despite it’s humanoid appearance it had a crow-like beak.
It had beady eyes that were so vividly yellow. The top of its head was completely bald with a few amount of wrinkles. The detail that still makes me shiver is the inside of its mouth. As it opened its mouth I saw hundreds of teeth, all razor sharp but it had no tongue. It let out a shriek that was so shrill, so mouse-like. It didn’t make any moves towards me but I ran. I ran back towards my tent and hid inside. At first I was surprised to find my tent but then decided that the fact I was alive was something better to focus on. Of course, I couldn’t sleep the entire night. As soon as I saw a decent amount of light I fled back to my car, leaving all my stuff behind. If I stood paralyzed for just a few moments longer I have no idea what would‘ve happened. All I can think of is its shrill shrieking while writing this. I never want to see it again.