Hello, my name is Arigie Fisher. My therapist advised me to write down what I’ve been through, so I suppose I will. It’s been a week, and I typically have bad memory, but I still remember everything vividly, so damn vividly. I’ll try my best to recount the details, but… after all I’ve been through, I can’t promise it will be good. Now, where to begin.
It started with a trip I decided to take. I was getting exhausted and tired with people and society, and really just life in general. I decided I’d go camping in some deep woods. I’d rather not state the location, however. Apologies for that.
There were beautiful, lush trees, I could hear the birds singing, and animals moving about. The bugs were a bit annoying, but it was worth it. The way the light filtered beneath the gently moving leaves, the soft breeze coming in from the west, the light rustling of foliage as small animals moved; it was a beautiful sight. I took the camping supplies I packed out of the back of my truck, double checked I had everything, and decided to head north, since I came from the south.
There weren’t really many paths here, it was just wilderness, in some back road dead end I decided I’d go to. I wandered for a while in the woods, making sure to keep a map on hand, and a compass, tracing where I went. Eventually, I came across a nice looking clearing. I cleared the area of rocks, debris, pieces of wood, and anything that would make sleeping rough, then I set up my tent, a nice deep green small tent, just large enough for me and my travel pack.
I checked the distance and time I’d hiked, and saw it was only about 1 kilometer and around 10 minutes. Just after, I looked to the sky to get a rough estimate of the time, and noticed the sun was beginning to set. On the other side of the horizon, I noticed a large amount of clouds rolling in. Just my luck. No matter what it is, I always seem to forget something. It’s usually just one thing, whether It’s a spice in a recipe, or in this case, checking the weather. I decided I’d take a walk around where I set up before going to bed.
I spent around 30 minutes or an hour or so, I’m bad at keeping track of time, just slowly walking around, admiring nature, before I decided to return to my tent.
As I approached, I felt like something was off. The closer I got, the more the feeling grew, and grew. I was having trouble figuring out exactly what it was, but then I noticed.
The tarp on my tent was slightly damp. I felt a little nervous, since I’m generally a bit of a paranoid person, so I quietly walked around the perimeter of my tent. I didn’t see anything odd. Finally, I ended at the entrance, and noticed that the door was slightly ajar.
I cautiously approached, listening carefully. As I got close, my nerves started acting up. Stupid anxiety. I told myself to just shrug it off, but I couldn’t. I don’t know why, but I froze. I was scared something would be in there. I managed, after about a minute of standing still with one hand reaching towards the door, to open the front of the tent. Everything was normal inside. I let out a long sigh of relief, and felt around. Everything was dry, apart from a small damp patch near the door.
The sun was almost down, and it was getting darker. I decided I’d go to bed now, as the sounds of wildlife were shifting from diurnal to nocturnal creatures. I laid down in my cozy little snug sleeping back, made sure everything was neatly organized, still in my bed, and went to bed.
I awoke to the sound of rain falling, I’d recon a few hours later, and felt a little groggy. I realized I had to go to the bathroom, which would mean having to leave the tent. I sighed deeply, part of me regretting my choice to camp, and I turned to go get my raincoat out of my bag - I always come prepared… even if I forget things. I paused as I shifted, something didn’t feel quite right. I listened to the sound of the rain falling for a while, before I noticed what it was. There was a wet splash, splash coming from outside. I paused, and listened carefully.
I noticed it was following a pattern, and sounded like large raindrops splashing in puddles. It was circling my tent, keeping the same pace while doing so. It was at that moment something else occurred to me. The rain drops on my tent we’re much lighter here and less frequent than those on the ground coming from the direction of whatever was circling my tent. The rain was very light, apart from in that one specific area.
Slowly, I reached over to my bag. I always stored a small pocket knife in the side pouch of my bag for self defense. I wanted to make sure I was protected when I confronted whoever or whatever it was. Maybe it was just a really wet racoon or something, sloshing up the water?
I slowly crept to the edge of my tent, and paused. I waited for the footsteps to go behind my tent, before I slowly zipped a small crack in the zipper so I could see out, as quietly and slowly as I could. I waited for what felt like forever, but, as cliche as this is, was likely just a few seconds. I know that’s something that’s said a lot, but you really don’t realize how accurate it is until you’ve experienced it yourself.
I heard the footsteps approaching where I was peeking, and to my horror I saw some strange looking thing. It was about the size of a human, but appeared to be made entirely of water. I couldn’t make out too much of its features due to the darkness of night and clouds, but I did notice the shine of water, and the dripping. I felt like I was being watched. Like it knew I was here. Like it was going to come for me sooner or later, or it was waiting for me to make a move. I slowly shifted back inside, and started to breathe to calm my nerves.
in… hold… out… pause…
in… hold… out… pause…
I started to focus again and, still listening to the sounds, slowly and quietly made sure to get myself in order, putting on my raincoat, getting my bag ready, and putting it on. I made sure I was holding my keys in a way that I could easily unlock my car when I got there.
I waited for the thing to move in front of my tent, I watched as it walked by, and as soon as I was sure it wouldn’t see me, carefully and quietly, but swiftly, opened the door. I took a deep breath, and as I heard it was on the opposite side, I thanked past me for facing the tent towards the car, and I started sprinting.
Immediately, I heard whatever it was start chasing, and I heard the splashing of its footsteps. I heard my tent tear, as it ran through it, I’d estimate at the same pace as me, or ever so slightly slower. I couldn’t slow down, I couldn’t mess up. I ran through the trees, weaving my way through, and I heard several loud slaps of water against the trees, seeming like it didn’t need to navigate through the trees.
I was almost to where my car was when I tripped on a root, and landed with a hard thump, catching myself with my hands, on a rock. This was it. I was done for. I saw my life flash before my eyes, and I heard its weight shift, and I felt a massive amount of pain on my side, and I passed out.
I woke up a few hours later, in a lot of pain. The sun was out, and I could hear the wildlife. It took me a few seconds to realize I wasn’t dead, and I immediately shifted over to check my bag, and to no longer be face down on a muddy rock. As soon as I did, a searing pain shot through my right side.
I looked down, and noticed I was wounded. My bag was torn apart, my shirt with a large gash, and bleeding. The wound was deep, but not too deep. I’m lucky it didn’t kill me, but I felt lightheaded and hazy. The bleeding seemed to have stopped due to my shirt being slightly displaced, and the wetness causing it to cling to my body. I used my torn and broken backpack to cover the wound, grabbed as much of the contents as I could and quickly headed to my truck.
The windows of my truck were cracked, and a lot of the paint seemed to be damaged. I quickly found my keys, luckily they hadn’t slipped out of my hand, and opened the door. I then dropped everything in the passenger’s seat. I was about to go retrieve the rest of my items and equipment when I heard a soft splash, splash. I immediately got into my truck, started the engine, and drove out of there, returning home.
Before I was gone, however, I noticed a blurry silhouette in the rear view mirror. I decided I didn’t want to see it more clearly. I relayed all of this to my therapist, and he suggested I say what happened. So… I guess writing it down did help a bit. I still worry that it’s out there, but I know for damn sure I’ll never get near it, and I’ll never camp again.