§196

‘It was my fifteenth birthday, March 20th 2006. I was walking along a hiking trail with three friends, two girls and a boy my age. It was about five o’clock or a little later. The weather was gray and overcast with drizzly rain. The path we were on branches off from the main trail. We were going through a heavily wooded area and the trail was narrow so we went single file. We were climbing up a hill when I saw the fairy(?) standing ahead and a bit to the right of me, between two younger trees. It’s the only time I’ve ever seen a fairy(?) that looked like a person. They were taller than me, maybe five feet five inches to five foot seven inches. They had brown skin, leaning towards dark, and fair straight hair. They were naked from the waist up and wearing dark clothing from the waist down. They were very thin looking and I couldn’t tell if they were female or male they were very androgynous. They had a mostly human looking face but their eyes were a bit too big and I couldn’t see any whites in their eyes, just dark. I expected the fairy(?) to disappear as soon as I looked directly at it, and so I waited breathlessly for a second, but it didn’t. I could still see it. I asked my friends if they saw anything up ahead, and they got very quiet and said no. One friend asked if I was alright. I was afraid, but without turning around (I didn’t want to look away from the fairy person thing) I told them to get back to the main trail. I was the leader of my little group of friends and I think they understood I was serious, since the laughing happy mood quickly evaporated and they just obeyed me. I stayed exactly where I was, staring at the fairy(?), afraid to move or turn my back. When I realized my legs were shaking I stood up really straight and stuck my chin out and tried to look brave and unconcerned. We had a stare off for a minute, or maybe a minute and a half, before I said out loud, ‘I’m leaving now.’ And then I did. I turned around and walked quickly, doing my best not to run, back to the main trail. My friends had just gotten back to the main trail themselves when I got there. My friends asked what happened then but I told them I couldn’t explain it. My heart was pounding and I felt quite sick to my stomach, like after you get a burst of adrenaline. One of my friends assumed that I had seen a ghost (they were really into that sort of thing), so I didn’t deny it and didn’t confirm it and just let them think that, since the truth seemed so much more outrageous and unreal.’ ‘Human adult height, maybe five foot six or five foot seven? Androgynous, thin, with darkish brown skin, very fair longish straight hair and large dark eyes with no visible whites. They were only wearing dark pants or a long skirt, and they were naked from the waist up.’ ‘I’m not sure it was a fairy. That’s just what seems to fit the best. The fairy(?) seemed really solid. And earthy, and kind of animal-like even though it looked sort of like a human.’ ‘I don’t know how the fairy(?) felt about me. They didn’t really have a facial expression, they just stared at me. I don’t know if it was friendly or malevolent or what. I was just scared to be seeing something that I’d never seen before, and that seemed like it shouldn’t exist.’