Let's Not Meet: A Collection

night vision

It was the summer before my senior year in college. My little brother, always interested in military stuff, had gotten a pair of night vision goggles for his birthday and he'd left them at my apartment. One night I was bored and decided to go try out the goggles at a wooded hiking area/nature preserve nearby. In retrospect this seems like a very stupid idea since I was all by myself (and female), but I was young and stupid and I got myself all excited at the possibility of seeing deer and other woodland creatures in their natural nighttime habitat. I was familiar with these woods-my best friend and I had hiked there at night before and we'd never run into anyone else. Our area is mostly rural and pretty safe, so I didn't anticipate any trouble.

I parked in the little sparsely-lit parking area, ignored the sign PARK CLOSES AT 10 and entered the woods, night vision goggles in hand. It was a half-moon that night, and that was the only light that filtered down through the canopy of trees. It was pretty dark, and I didn't want to put on the goggles until I'd found a place to sit down, so I lit my way with the mini-Maglite on my keychain. A couple of times I thought I heard a little rustling in the woods a fair distance away, but it was nothing out of the ordinary and I put it down to animal activity-hopefully the deer I'd come hoping to see. After I'd hiked in a fair distance, I found a fallen log to sit on and put on the goggles. I don't know if you've ever used night vision goggles before, but the effect is impressive. They can turn near pitch darkness into bright-as-day. Everything appears in shades of green, but quite bright and clear. For a while, I had a blast looking around from my fallen-log vantage point. Some chipmunks played around in the leaves nearby, and a big owl blinked its lamplike eyes at me from a tree branch. No deer though, and I started to think that maybe they wouldn't be likely to come anywhere near me, darkness or no, if I sat right out in the open on a log. So I decided to find a place where I could be a little more hidden. I made my way a little deeper into the woods and finally found a huge tree, perfect for climbing. I've always loved climbing trees, so it was nothing for me to hoist myself up a few branches and settle in to wait for my deer.

I didn't get to see any. What I did see, lit up in bright night-vision green after about ten minutes of waiting, was this: A man, dressed head to toe in dark-colored clothing, making his way stealthily through the woods. He was coming from the same direction I'd come and was clearly trying to stay hidden, moving from tree to tree and glancing around carefully before moving on again. It looked very much like he was looking for someone. It took me a few moments to notice that he was carrying something, and when I saw what it was, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. He had a knife-a big one-and he was gripping it as if he expected to use it in the very near future. It wasn't deer hunting season, and this was a nature preserve where hunting of any kind was prohibited. And at any rate, the guy was alone and not dressed like a hunter, there were no deer in sight, and very few hunters kill their prey with knives.

I was suddenly horribly aware of my situation: a young woman alone, weaponless, in the middle of the woods at night. This was the 90s, so no cell phones, and even if I'd had one I wouldn't have felt safe using it lest I draw his attention. I didn't know how he was able to see so well in the dark-I guess his eyes had just adjusted-and I was terrified he would look up and see me. I sat there, afraid to move, afraid to breathe, and watched him as he continued his methodical and stealthy process of scanning the forest for who- or whatever the hell he was stalking. I scanned around but couldn't see anyone else, even from my high vantage point, and the sickening thought struck me that he might be looking for me. I remembered the rustling noises I'd heard in the woods when I first arrived, and then I thought back further and remembered something else: a white car that had followed too close behind me for most of my drive to the nature preserve. I'd been annoyed and a little freaked out at the time, but when I'd turned into the nature preserve parking area the white car had passed me and driven on its way, and I hadn't thought anything more of it. Now I wondered, horrified, if this was the driver of that car-if he'd circled back and seen my parked car, alone in the lot. If he'd come in after me.

I sat, paralyzed with fear, and watched the man for what felt like forever but was probably another half hour or so. There was a heart-stopping moment when he paused right underneath my tree and I was sure he was going to look up and find me, but he didn't. After a while he seemed to give up on whatever plan he had in mind--I heard him say "fuck it," and he started heading back in the direction he'd come, the direction of the parking area. I stayed in the tree, wet with sweat and crying, until the sun came up a few hours later. Then I climbed down and, still terrified, gripping the little can of pepper spray on my keychain, I made my way as fast as I could to the parking lot.

The man had been there--my windshield had been smashed with a rock, and someone had scraped all down the sides of the car with something sharp. Presumably, a giant knife that I'm lucky didn't end up in my chest. Thank God for the night vision goggles that let me see him before he could see me, and thank God for big trees with sturdy branches. Creepy forest rapist, let's NEVER meet again.

Edit: To answer some of the questions I've gotten in the comments and PMs, I did call the police once I got back home. Two very nice cops came to my apartment and took a report, and that was unfortunately the last I heard of it. Which from what I've seen on this sub is fairly typical, bummer though that is.