We’ve all been there: you’re driving down the road near a patch of woodland, it’s getting dark, you’ve had a thoroughly uneventful day, and you’re mostly convinced that your most exciting days are behind you. All of a sudden, out from the trees springs the most wobbly adrenaline junkie you’ve ever seen in your life, and you come just inches away from being the billionth person to collide with a deer on the highway.
Now, imagine that exact same scenario, except instead of driving a car, you’re delivering a package with your bare hands, and you’re mostly convinced that this deer is actively ill-intentioned rather than confused by all the concrete and automobiles nearby. Such was the ordeal faced by one unlucky Amazon delivery guy not too long ago.
Distributed on TikTok by @memezar courtesy of one Kyle Deese, the five-second video above captures a delivery that seems entirely unceremonious at first, but quickly evolves into anything but. Indeed, in not even the blink of an eye, the shape of a stag manifests seemingly out of thin air, ostensibly endeavoring to launch itself out of the shrubbery and directly into the courier’s ribcage.
His reaction is perfect; freezing at just the right time, dropping the package in spite of whatever breakables could have been inside, a loud “F***,” and a lickity-split heelturn. The closing milliseconds see him pondering this close encounter with his would-be ungulate assailant, no doubt trying to process the whirlwind of information that his body absorbed in that moment.
Commenters made it their mission to watch this video as many times as they could to try and spot the deer prior to its sudden emergence, but it seems as though each and every one of them failed. “I have watched this several times and I’m convinced the deer just spawned there,” said one. “I’ve watched this like 10 times and I still can’t figure out where the deer came from,” said another. Indeed, the only logical explanation, as @HollySings12 puts it, is “that deer just causally coming back from another dimension.”
Now, in all likelihood, this deer wasn’t actually seeking to give this poor delivery man a hard time, and simply decided that it was time to go explore elsewhere. Nevertheless, it’s always wise to be wary of the possibility of a deer attack, despite what so many Disney films would have you believe. According to Deer Association, the deer’s generational position as a prey animal means that it naturally lives in fear, and so it might lash out if it feels particularly vulnerable. Such instances can include being especially sick or injured, or protecting their fawns.
All we can think about now is how this driver is going to approach disclosing this situation if that dropped package actually did have something breakable inside of it. Indeed, how will he possibly keep a straight face when laying out the events? And even if he does, who’s going to believe him? Perhaps that’s the deer’s next evolutionary step as they seek to reclaim the world from humans; auxiliary gaslighting. Nature is truly ruthless.