Two boys are exploring the woods near their home in Western New York. They experience an unseen entity in the trees. Later, the one boy is physically attacked at home by a 'Glimmer Man.'
"I grew up in Western New York near Rochester, not too far from the Canadian border. My dad built a mini-mansion that backed up to the Forever Wild Woods. That's the New York State program that keeps the wilderness as is. Once the house was built the woods became the playhouse for myself and my closest friend DJ.
It is the early 1990s and we love being outside. One day while exploring we found an amazing section about 50 minutes walk into the woods that was a gorgeous swamp full of flowers and life. I remember approaching it there were snapped trees all around and straight branches jammed into the ground like spikes. The solid land went into the swamp like a peninsula. The trees were almost like walls on each side that funneled us out onto it. We approached the water and saw snapping turtles quickly submerged. Being kids we started skipping rocks and throwing boulders to get splashes, just doing what kids do.
Then out of nowhere DJ and I felt a wave of fear, sort of a sixth sense. Our hair stood up, we were both looking around for what triggered this primal feeling. DJ pointed to a tree across the water and I can only describe it as if the top half was bending back and forth, not like the wind was gently pushing it but like it was close to snapping. Left, then right. Back and forth. It was bending, creaking loud, over and over, quicker and quicker. The bottom of the tree barely moved. Then out of nowhere, there was this rumbling growl that was so loud it shook our insides. I've been around loud things before and even learned to shoot an eight-gauge black powder shotgun. No sound compared to the force of this. Picture your soul getting pushed out your back and then springing back inside like a giant invisible rubber band.
In the pierced silence of this, we both ran for our effing lives. The whole way home we ran through bushes and branches ripping up our exposed skin. We both thought we could hear pursuit all around us but said nothing.
Once home, we tried sharing what happened with my parents but they wouldn't listen. We decided to stay inside for the rest of the day. As usual, DJ was spending the night and we decided to crash in the support, a 25x25-foot room filled with double-hung windows on two exterior walls, a sliding glass door that led to a three-story deck, and a French door that led to a formal living room. Dad had worked hard. He went from a garbage man to a business owner so this house was massive.
Anyway, DJ was on the couch while I lay on the floor in front of the TV with a Nintendo. It was summer so all the double-hung windows were opened wide. I stretched out with my arms behind my head my neck on a couple of pillows and my fingers were interlaced. My hands were sort of folding up the back of my head with elbows flared out. DJ was out and snoring and I was half asleep watching something on the TV.
As God is my is my witness, out of nowhere I felt a massive hand engulf both my hands and part of my wrist and pull me toward the windows. I moved a good 2-3 feet and effing lost it, screaming in terror! It released me and within a minute my Dad ran in. DJ was silent and just staring at me. I told my dad what happened. So he went to each window and said the screens were all slid down and in place. He said that it was just a dream, for me to man up and shut up. I shut up and prayed he'd just go back out.
I looked at DJ and asked him if he had seen it. He just looked at me and didn't say anything about it. He ended up calling his parents and getting picked up in the middle of the night. I went upstairs and tried to sleep in my room.
the next day, I called DJ's house to see if he wanted to come over and his mom said he didn't feel good, and to not call again until I heard from him. This confused my 12-year-old mind. We never got together again after that. I'd see him occasionally. He was cold with me every time.
Eventually, at the end of summer, I ran into him on the canal path, one of our fishing spots, and decided to question him. His mom wasn't there to be the buffer. He finally confessed that on that night, for some reason, he awoke and saw a 'Predator' grab and pull me. He didn't use that specific word, instead, he described a massive clear, but distorted 'shimmer thing' that reached in and grabbed me.
I never knew others had seen this cloak of invisibility. I now refer to it as a 'Predator.' Did it lift the screen up slide easily enough and then close it that quick? Did it somehow pass through the fiberglass mesh? I just don't know. I looked in the morning but saw no tracks and DJ thought it was a ghost. I didn't put it all together until much later as an adult. I think it followed me home after we trespassed on its turf. It could have hurt us easily at any time but it didn't. I almost think it had a sick type of humor and enjoyed terrifying us a little bit.
I never went that far back in the woods after that."
Transcribed source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHpbPrFozzk
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