I've seen a lot of things, like my Mom getting taken

There's something I wanna say before I start telling a scary story, I just really need to say it, but if you're not interested in some not-so-frightening words, you can go down. I'll try to make it blindingly apparent where my little story starts. Thanks!

I think I've found the true power of r/nosleep. It's not in the thrills, or in its the ability to make hordes of readers lie awake at night, in possible detriment to their personal lives, though it certainly holds those capabilities. No, its true value is in a publicly accepted platform to voice our experiences with the horrors of this world. To give people a voice where they would otherwise go unheard, or, worse, be taken as delusional and deceptive.

Because of the rules here, that EVERYTHING that anyone posts here is true, that it must be treated as much, whether it truly is or not, is incredibly comforting. When a person with a real problem posts here, they get feedback! They get help! Elsewhere, they could potentially get a heavy dose of medication.

More than that, though, simply having people believe you when you yourself feel you are going insane. It can bring a lot of people back from the edge. I've seen it bring people back from the edge, in the last three days of bingeing stories here. It's amazing.

I'm sorry if I do something wrong or phrase something incorrectly, I've never been on reddit before, or on the internet much at all. Technology has never really been a luxury within reach for long in my life. The only reason I discovered it was thanks to my therapist and long-time confidant. He said it would probably help, that it would help having more than him as a captive, believing audience.

So, I'm gonna give it a try.

As the title suggests, I've seen quite a bit. All kinds of the things, the sources of legends and myths, the spawns of religions and mythologies. Life has been... I wanna say a struggle, but more like a battle. But, not a modern fire fight, where you spend ninety percent of the time behind cover, relatively safe, waiting for the opportune moment to pop out into danger and take a shot, no... My life has been an old Grecian war scene. War is chaos, there is no rest, all around is fighting and harm, one step left is a spear at your throat, two steps left is a sword in your back. A step forward brings you into the path of a charging warhorse. There is no calm, no salvation. You either turn with your shield raised, or get cut down in you unpreparedness.

Sorry, didn't mean to get dark, there. All I mean is that I never have really had a break from the strangeness I encounter. It might be a few days between incidents, a few weeks, fifteen minutes. I have to always be prepared.

Monsters don't lurk in the dark. They are everywhere. You're just usually not appealing enough to be a target.

Sorry! I meant to give my opening little speech and thank you, all of you, for being a captive and understanding audience! I didn't want to launch right into my life story, I guess once the apprehension was gone I just wanted to start getting it all out.

I found the bold button! If you are skipping down from the start, this is where the story really starts.

I'm gonna tell you all of the very first time I was touched by the awfulness of our world. When I was made startlingly aware that we aren't truly ever safe. The point where my safety bubble was rather violently popped.

I was four years old.

My mother and I were leaving my preschool. I had had a bad day, a girl bit me, if I remember right, and I had gotten in trouble for pushing her hard. Mom had been called to pick me up. I was upset in part because I had a red bite mark on my wrist, and because the adults had tried to say I had done it to myself for attention. I vaguely remember that the girl had family in the staff, but that doesn't really matter.

We were walking away, my house wasn't too far, and I was absolutely in tears. Mom wasn't having it. She was upset about something else already, and she probably had to leave work to get me, and I was making an absolute ruckus. Her patience was short, and I barely knew I was being a problem.

I look back on this day with so much regret, now...

Mom had just sternly reprimanded me for making a scene in public. I think someone she knew walked by, she was embarrassed. I quieted down, but I think it was mostly my red, puffy, tear-stained, adorable child cheeks that got her because she heaved a sigh and smiled, promising we could go to the park before going home.

I was still upset, but as a kid, I fucking loved the park. I tried not to show it, I still kinda wanted to be upset, but fuck yeah we were going to the park. The park was pretty small, and really simple, I've been back since and it hasn't changed much, but back then it was the shit. Swings? I'd jump off them. Teeter Totter? I'd run up one side and down, the other. Sand pits? that was my original Play-doh! Get that stuff wet and it could mold into just about anything. Those were the three main attractions along with a light copse of very climbable Willow trees.

And that's where I was, digging in the sand, spitting on ants, and trying to build castles. Mom was a ways off, on a bench, reading a book. She would look up every so often, check on me, then read another paragraph before repeating the process. I was fully content, one tower done, a hasty moat constructed, and two and half walls finished. And I wasn't in preschool with rabid Bitey-girl. So, win!

Then I started hearing the giggling. It wasn't faint at all, it was sharp and loud, and not sounding too far off. I looked up and around, expecting other kids, but that would have been weird, in the middle of the day like this. There were none, either way. I liked to my Mom. Her head was up, scanning around. She locked eyes with me, looked concerned for a moment, scanned again, then went back to her book with a shrug. But, she had heard it, too.

I was going to follow her example and get back to my impenetrable fortress, but I heard it again, louder. I heard Mom stand up, putting her bag away, but I didn't look at her. I'd found the source of the voice. It resonated out from the nearby trees. I looked up into the branches, lit with sunlight and easy to see through. But, I knew it was in there. I saw it move.

Mom was calling my name, getting closer, but I still didn't look. Whatever was in the trees was much more demanding of my attention. I saw it shift again, long slithery body with spindly limbs.

It got closer. Its head came free of the branches into the full sunlight. A round face of a man, grinning far to wide, no teeth, but I could see its tongue slithering around inside its open mouth. The eyes were bright, glowing pink half circles pointed upwards.The skin was dark brown and leathery. A thin pointed nose was aimed at me as it drooped down. I remember being confused, then intensely terrified as it giggled once more in my face.

My Mom's screaming shook me more than the creature did. It turned towards her as she approached, no longer smiling, but the face was twisted into an awful grimace, hissing angrily. Quick as anything it turned back towards me with another sinister giggle, no longer concerned with my mother.

It should have been.

Mom tackled into its elongated body. The creature roared and bent under her assault, but never lost its connection to the tree. Mom was screaming for me to run, so I did. I ran straight home. Down the street, one turn, a couple houses and I was there. Not far at all. Maybe a minute. I screamed for Dad. He came out of his office in a panic. I could only gasp a few words.

"Mom! Park! Hurry!" Then I was back outside, sprinting for the park again. I could here Dad behind me, then his longer legs overtook mine and he passed me. I saw him round the corner. I could here him shouting my mom's name as he sprinted down the street. He was scared, surprised. The giggle permeated the air one last time, just as I rounded the corner.

I could see the park from there. I could see my father, arms up in the willow the creature crawled from. I could see my mom's legs kicking out of the bottom branches as she struggled to free herself.

When I was halfway down the street the creature hissed and my mom disappeared into the branches entirely. A moment later my dad was knocked back onto his ass. Then, the tree started withering. My father shouted, I screamed, and the tree frantically withered away.

Dad tried to grab it, tried to do something, anything, but then the tree was gone, and with it, my mom...

My dad changed that day. After a week of arguing with law enforcement of all varieties, and receiving one distressing visit from men claiming to be CIA, he became withdrawn.

Then he started hunting.

Now, don't get any delusions. He was by no means a badass. He was an author, much like I am now. He wrote kids' books. When I say he went hunting, it was for information. He dug through the library, searched newspapers, asked around (This was a while before Google). He got answers, at one point. And ties to rather unlikely places.

The monster that took my mom was often called a snatcher by those who wrote books on these sorts of things. It would hide as an inanimate object, trees, rocks, lampposts, street signs, sections of wall, you name it, then take from people. There were stories of bags, clothes, pets, valuables, and occasionally people. Rarely people. The books theorized that it liked to take things of value from others, things they care about. Maybe it wanted to take my sand castle that day, I don't know, but it took my mom. And, she's gone. I have no reason to think that she is not gone forever. A long time ago I came to terms with that, the idea that it may be my fault she is gone, and that there is nothing I can do about it...

I learned a lot from my dad's research through osmosis, he would leave books out, or talk to me about stuff to work it trough for himself. He became rather obsessed. He seemed to believe he could get my mom back, somehow. I haven't seen him in years, but last I did he was still trying. Still, those first couple years of his frantic searching taught me a lot.

When the darkness touches you, it lingers, never really goes away. And, shadows compound on shadows, growing darker everyday. When you stare into the abyss, it stares back. You will discover everything that you lack.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, I don't mind trying to answer any questions directed my way about anything. I'm gonna try and update everyone once and a while with some of the other things I've seen, try and explain some of the stuff I've learned along the way. I may even be able to share some of the stuff that happens more recently. Thanks for reading!

[You can read my next story here.] (https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/507zil/ive_seen_a_lot_of_things_like_a_whole_town/)