00:05Someone tried to open my tent when I was seven years old and the worst part is it didn't happen
00:11in the woods or on some remote campsite where something like that might make sense. No, it
00:18happened in my own backyard in a quiet neighborhood where my parents thought we were completely safe.
00:23My older brother Scott was a boy scout back then and I remember I was always jealous of the camping
00:31trips he would go on with his troop. So one weekend we decided to copy what he did and turn
00:38our backyard
00:39into our own little campsite. Our parents helped us set up a tent near the fire pit. They even lit
00:46a
00:46small fire so it would actually feel like a real camping trip instead of just two kids sleeping
00:53outside. To my seven-year-old brain, it actually felt like we were deep in the woods somewhere.
01:01We roasted marshmallows by the fire, talked for a while, and eventually when it got late,
01:09Scott and I crawled into the tent with our sleeping bags and our Game Boy SPs, which at the time
01:16were
01:17the most important things in our lives. We laid there playing games for a while until Scott eventually
01:25got tired and fell asleep. But for some reason, I couldn't fall asleep, no matter how hard I tried.
01:33The sleeping bag felt uncomfortable, the air inside the tent felt strangely warm, and the backyard
01:42suddenly felt much bigger and quieter than it had just a few hours earlier. At some point though,
01:50I must have fallen asleep without realizing it, because the next thing I remember is waking up
01:56in complete darkness. I was confused for a few seconds about where I even was. Then my eyes adjusted
02:06slightly to the darkness, and I saw Scott's sleeping bag next to me. It was empty. My first thought
02:14was that he must have gone inside the house because he couldn't sleep, which suddenly made the tent feel
02:22a lot more uncomfortable now that I was alone out there. So I decided I was going to run inside
02:29too,
02:29but before opening the tent, I did a quick peek outside, mostly because as a kid, I was always
02:38scared of the dark, and I didn't want to step out to the yard if something was there. That's when
02:44I saw
02:44him. There was someone sitting by the fire pit. A man, not my brother, not my dad. A grown man,
02:51sitting in the darkness, facing directly toward the tent as if he had been watching it the entire time.
02:59The moment I saw him, I gasped, and immediately zipped the tent shut again. I crawled back into
03:09my sleeping bag and froze in place, while my heart started pounding so hard I was convinced he would
03:17be able to hear it through the thin fabric. For a few seconds, nothing happened. I started hoping
03:25maybe he didn't see me. Maybe he thought the tent was empty. Then I heard the chair move slowly. A
03:34second
03:35later, I saw a shadow appear on the wall of the tent as the man stood up and walked closer.
03:41He was right
03:42outside now. Then I heard the sound that made my entire body lock up the zipper, moving very slowly. It
03:52only
03:52moved a few inches, just enough to create a small opening. And without thinking, I turned my head
04:00slightly toward the bottom of the tent. That's when I noticed something I had never noticed before.
04:07At the very bottom of the zipper, there was a tiny gap where the fabric didn't fully seal.
04:13And right in that gap was an eye. One single eye pressed against the opening, staring directly at me in
04:24the darkness, while I could clearly see the white of it through the faint moonlight. I was completely
04:30frozen. I couldn't scream. I couldn't move. Then the eye squinted slightly, like the man was smiling,
04:38at something he could see inside the tent. The zipper moved another inch. And that's when I finally screamed.
04:49I kicked my way out of the sleeping bag and slammed into the tent poles while outside. I immediately heard
04:58footsteps sprinting across the yard. A second later, the back porch light flipped on, and my dad burst out of
05:06the
05:06house yelling as he ran toward the tent. But whoever the man was, he was already gone. Police searched
05:16the neighborhood that night, but they never found anyone for weeks. I couldn't sleep properly after
05:23that. Eventually, things started to feel normal again. Until one day at school, during recess, I was
05:32standing near the fence with a few other kids, when a man on the other side suddenly said,
05:38hey, and asked me for directions to somewhere nearby. I told him I didn't know, mostly because
05:44we weren't supposed to talk to strangers anyway. Then he said something that made my stomach drop
05:51instantly. Your name's Chris, right? The moment I looked at him properly, I recognized his face.
06:00It was the same man, the same one, who had been outside my tent. I immediately lied and told him
06:09no. He
06:09just smiled. Then he said something that I still remember perfectly. You don't remember me, do you?
06:19I ran straight to the teachers, but by the time anyone looked over the fence, he was already gone. And
06:26even now, years later, I still think about that night, sometimes, about that eye, staring at me,
06:35through the zipper of the tent. And I still wonder what would have happened if I hadn't screamed.
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