These last few nights have been, to put it lightly, troubling. About a week ago, I planned on driving down to Southern California from my home state of Washington to get some sun. Washington is beautiful during the late summer and that’s why I’ll never leave, but I’ll be damned if the Washington winters don’t have the most hope-sucking weather imaginable. Call me a snowbird, but my skin was turning as pale and grey as the blankets of clouds above me and I needed out.
Of course, I had my college classes to worry about, but I just couldn’t even stomach the idea of showing up to lecture with the dread that this season filled me with. I knew I would miss some important class time, but missing a week and a half for my mental health was better than rotting in class.
I didn’t have much money for hotels, but I did have plenty of friends with vacant couches along my route. The way I planned it, the drive would take three days: the first day would be Seattle to Oregon, Oregon to Northern California, and then to Southern. It was a good plan, and anybody else would say the same, but not even the most schizotypal among us could have predicted what would soon unfold.
The first stop on my trip was may friend Juli’s house. Juli lived in a town called Grants Pass that’s nestled in the mountains at the bottom of Oregon. I had been there only one other time passing through, but I knew that the mountain air would be nice, even if it was just as grey as Seattle. Funnily enough, Juli was the one who inspired to me take this trip. A few days before leaving, she called me to tell me her parents weren’t home and that it was just her and her dog. At the time, I didn’t know what to make of this, but when I suggested visiting her on my way down to California she seemed strangely excited. She kept thanking me under her breath and she seemed to have a slight wobble in her voice. I told her that I should be the one thanking her for giving me a place to stay. Then I picked on her a bit for sounding like she was trying not to wake her parents up even though she was home alone. Normally this would have gotten a laugh out of her, but this time Juli didn’t say anything. That’s when I began to notice that I couldn’t hear a television or stereo or anything else playing in the house, just silence. I then asked if she was still there and she told me that she had to go and that she would see me soon then hung up. I thought it was a bit out of character, but I didn’t think much of it because I hadn’t exactly felt like myself these past couple of weeks either.
At around 9 o’clock I left Seattle for Juli’s and estimated I would make it there before dinner and I was almost right. I hadn’t anticipated the lunch rush in Portland, but I still made it to Grants Pass at around twilight. I had to drive down a backroad away from the town center for a few miles till I got to Juli’s. I pulled into her driveway and began unloading my car trunk. After pulling out my suitcase and overnight bag I stopped to look around. The sky was a bright pink and I could still see the lights from town in the sky below it. Juli’s house sat on an open field about two or three acres in size with a dense treelike surrounding. I took a deep breath of the mountain air and felt like new life was entering my body. My shoulders slouched back down and the tension left my forehead. I had become so relaxed there that I didn’t even notice that Juli hadn’t come outside. Again, I rationalized it all to her just being distracted so I rang the doorbell.
She opened the door before I could even get my finger off the button. I got the feeling that she had been standing behind the door just watching me from the window. Despite not wanting to step outside, Juli did seem happy to see me. She hugged me and her eyes looked excited yet tired. We exchanged greetings, still using that almost whisper, while her dog Roscoe wagged his tail at our feet. I took my bags in and noticed that despite the beautiful sunset, all her curtains were closed.
I asked if she had a spare bedroom I could keep my stuff in, but she said could sleep in her room. I was a bit confused by this and didn’t want it to go where I thought it was going, but she seemed to insist so I gave in. She asked if I wanted anything to eat, using a more normal volume now, and I told her I was full from eating on the way. I suggested that we should watch a movie that night and she agreed, but just told me that she didn’t want the movie too loud because it would hurt Roscoe’s ears. I thought this was an odd thing to say, but since she had seemed to warm up a little bit since I got here I didn’t question it.
We sat down on her couch around 9 o’clock to start the movie. We both had laid under blankets while Roscoe lay between us. The movie was some sort of really silly comedy that Juli picked out that I had a hard time sitting through. About thirty minutes into the movie my attention begins to wander. I look past Juli and towards her living room window. The curtains were still fully closed but I thought that I could hear something. Roscoe had perked up and seemed to be listening with me. It sounded like several “yipping” type sounds coming from her backyard. I looked back at Juli and she was still focused on the movie. I grabbed the remote and muted the television. The sounds from the backyard became much clearer and it sounded similar to a pack of coyotes sounding off. Juli’s eyes widened and bit her lips. She turned to me and there was a look of concern in her eyes.
“It’s just coyotes…” she said now staring at the ground.
I hadn’t always lived in the city so I knew the sound of coyotes when I heard them and something just didn’t feel right. I thought that there was a bit of garble in their yips like these coyotes had pneumonia. I decided I was going to open the back door to get a better listen. I sat up but Juli grabbed my arm before I stood up.
“It’s just coyotes” she repeated, this time looking me in the eye.
Juli’s eyes began to sparkle and I sat back down. I decided that it wasn’t worth it because the coyotes seemed to upset her. At the time I left it at that, she unmuted the movie and we finished it without another word. She turned the movie off and the yipping was clearly louder than it had been earlier. Juli and I washed up and got ready for bed. She had set up a mattress on the floor of her room for me. After the coyote thing, I began to understand why she wanted me to sleep in her room.
Roscoe trotted behind Juli as she entered the room. I had already climbed into my makeshift bed since I had a busy day. Juli and Roscoe got in her bed and we all got ready to sleep. As I drifted off to sleep I still could hear the coyotes outside. They were much louder than I could tolerate so I lay awake. I turned my head to Juli and she was looking at me.
“How long has it been like this?” I asked.
Juli looked away from me and stared back up at the ceiling. She was silent for a minute before answering.
“Well, there’s always been coyotes, but they changed only a few days ago after my parents left” she replied, “it’s best to get some sleep while you can”.
I thought that was a bit overdramatic but decided to just try to go to sleep. After a while, the fatigue was too much and I drifted off. At this point, I doubt even a honking freight train could keep me from a good night’s rest. Too bad there wasn’t a freight train.
It was around 1 am when I was awoken by grinding noises. I looked over to see Juli already awake and holding Roscoe’s muzzle close to keep him from barking. I began to ask what was going on but she shushed me. Even though she seemed panicky there was an aura of confidence to her, like this was a part of her routine. Her head was on a swivel as the scraping continued getting closer to her room. I didn’t know whether to duck under the covers or get up and grab something. For my ego’s sake, I luckily chose the latter. I quietly got up and fumbled through my bag. Under my deodorant, I could feel the cold metal. It was my knife that I had brought for the road. It was just a multitool, but it would do. I stuck my nail in the slot and tried to get the stiff knife open. The blade was only the length of my pinky and whatever was outside sounded big. I looked over to Juli as she motioned her head toward her pillow. I reached over to the pillow and found a large chef’s knife tucked away. I quickly thanked whatever deities may be listening and wielded this knife instead.
The garbled yips became louder as it seemed like more approached. Soon I could hear even their claws scratching just outside Juli’s window. My knuckles were beginning to turn white as I cliched the knife and Roscoe had stopped trying to bark and moved under the bed. Soon I started to crash from all the adrenaline and began to nod off, but was quickly awoken by a new noise. It was a low thud and it was coming from the living room.
Then I remembered Juli’s glass backdoor and that these things had found their way in. They kept thudding and thudding against the glass until we thought they were almost going to get in. We heard the first crake and knew that with a couple more good slams they would be inside. Juli and I then braced ourselves for a fight that neither of us was prepared for but then came more familiar noise. The thumbing of a helicopter came over Juli’s house. Then a light so bright it shined through Juli’s curtains and filled the room. Those things outside sounded like they were going mad. They yip more intensely than they had before like they were in danger. It was hard to hear over the helicopter, but their sounds grew more distant as did the helicopter. So all we could hear was the faint sound of the helicopter flying off into the mountains, and then all was silent again. The knife fell from my limp grasp and popped the mattress. I was slowly lowered to the ground and sat for a moment preparing to process everything that had happened.
“Did this happen last night?” I asked.
“No”, Juli replied in between breaths, “no scratches, no helicopter”, she gasped out.
She laid back down and so did I. I felt her hard floor beneath my shaking body. I asked if I could sleep in her bed and she agreed. Juli, Roscoe, and I all cuddled up in her bed. I was still on edge, but my intuition knew they weren’t coming back. Before my mind could fully understand what had happened, I drifted off to sleep.
All of us woke up late the next morning. Juli and Roscoe got up before I did. Despite Juli’s fear of stepping out of the house, she had to let Roscoe out to potty. I got up and followed her to the back door. The door’s glass had a spider-web-type crack at about waist height and a single large fissure that extended from the top to bottom. I walked through the door and met Juli on the back porch. The cold mountain morning air hit my tired lungs like a punch. I felt the crunch of glass under my slippers as I stepped out and saw Juli standing with the knife watching the trees. I greeted her and she jumped back a little as she turned to me. I watched the tree line as Roscoe ran around and eventually turned my attention to him. He had already gone and was now sniffing around. Juli was too focused on the tree line to see Roscoe sniffing around the sides of the house. I stepped off the porch to get a better look at what had gotten his attention and saw the marks. The sides of Juli’s house looked like it had been torn to bits. Ripped shingles were scattered over the grass and I could see droplets of blood around as well. Roscoe had stopped to sniff a hole in the ground. I walked over to check it out and saw the footprints. It looked like what I think a coyote print looks like, just larger and longer.
We came back into the house and I went to pack my bags. Juli urged me not to go, but I had already planned to leave that morning regardless of the horrors. She begged me not to go, but I needed to get out of there. I couldn’t stand the guilt of leaving her alone again here so I offered to take her along with me. She hesitated to leave her house abandoned but knew that the house wasn’t safe anymore if the same thing happened again. So she packed a bag for her and Roscoe in only a few minutes and we were ready to head out the door.
My hand reached for the doorknob and I froze. Through the door’s small window, I saw a silhouette of a head and shoulders standing on the landing. Roscoe started barking for the first time since I got here and I looked through the peephole in the door. A man in dark sunglasses was standing there and looking down at his watch. The man was wearing a spotless forest service uniform with creases that still looked fresh. I almost thought I saw a tag poking out the top of his collar. On his hip, had a standard walkie-talkie, but had one of those wire earpieces in along with the standard flashlight and sidearm. I started staring at the gun, trying to remember the last time I saw a U.S. Forest Service with a firearm. The man looked up from his watch and, rather than ringing, he stared right at the peephole. I started to get lost in the man’s eyes and was only snapped out of it by the clicking of the door latch. During that time, I had unknowingly turned the knob and opened the door a crack. It was too late now and had to commit, he knew we were there. Roscoe stopped barking and hid behind Juli. I opened the door fully to confront the man. I nervously looked down and saw the man’s clean and shiny jackboots. I looked back up to meet the man’s gaze and he spoke.
“Morning, sorry to bother you”, the man said flatly, almost rehearsed.
“Good Morning”, I choked out, “can we help you, sir?”
“Anything out of the ordinary happened last night?”, he asked
“Just some loud coyotes”, I answered.
My eyes moved toward the front yard. I saw the man’s black SUV in the driveway. The grass had deep chunks taken out and more muddy tracks. Debris from the side of the house was scattered on the lawn. As I looked at the wreckage the man looked back as well. He quickly turned back to me.
“Just coyotes”, he said.
“Yep”, I answered with a nod.
“Anything else?”
“Nope, actually we were all just about to leave for the weekend”
“You do that…”, the man said with the smallest smirk then back to blank.
The man turned and walked back to the SUV. He climbed in the passenger side and the SUV rolled back down the driveway, but once it pulled onto the road it drove for a moment before parking on the shoulder, still within our view. I took this as our queue and we loaded our luggage into my car. I pulled out of Juli’s driveway and I had to reluctantly had to drive past the SUV. When we pulled past, I looked into the windows. The windows were as black as the SUV, but I could still see inside if I looked closely. It may have been just dark, but I’m pretty sure that I did not see anyone inside. We passed and continued down the road into town. After that, we continued my trip as planned. We didn’t talk much about anything during the drive.
The following nights were not easy. Both me and Juli tried melatonin, but it was no use. Each night as I began to enter the state between being awake and asleep I would begin to hear them. Eventually, Juli tried some cold medicine to go to sleep. It seemed to work for her, but I couldn’t take it since I needed to drive.
I was in a malaise through most of the trip. When I was asleep I feared what they would have done and when I was awake I feared what they may have been. I almost forgot what it was like to sleep peacefully. Sometimes, when we would go out to eat, I would forget about it all for a moment, but it always came back. Juli is asleep right now with Roscoe, and I’m hidden under a blanket next to them typing this up. It’s even harder to sleep right now than it has been. My fingers are trembling and I have a tight feeling in my chest. We are on the last leg of our journey and I have to take Juli home tomorrow, but I can’t think about what may be waiting for us there. I have to sleep. I have a long drive tomorrow…