Yesterday I learned a lesson in adhering to ‘pointless rules’, that I don’t know I’ll ever forget.
I was out biking the trail network near the local native reservation. I had been out for hours already and was starting to get tired. I knew the trail I was on was twenty minutes to the road but it I just didn’t have it in me. I knew I shouldn’t, but when I saw that shortcut I had to take it.
NO TRESPASSING: KEEP OUT
I groaned in annoyance. Why did they need to block off this part of the park? I knew the maps and I was pretty sure that the blocked trail would lead me home at least half an hour faster. I looked at the imposing sign in bold letters. Metal fencing and concrete blocks, wooden planking and boarded up fence panels. They really wanted to keep people out apparently.
Rules are made to be broken, I thought as I walked around the sign.
I would regret that shortly.
At first it was great. The trail had a sort of untouched quality being blocked off for so long. I rode for about ten minutes until I saw someone.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me…” I said under my breath.
I tried to make myself inconspicuous but they were bound to notice me regardless. I saw one of the men point to me and say something to the others in the group. I really did not want to get charged with trespassing. One of the men called out and I sighed in defeat.
“Hey!” he yelled.
“Didn’t you see the sign?” the one next to him called.
They started making their way towards me down the hill.
Great… couldn’t they just let me pass through?
I scanned around and noticed in the treeline beside me there was a small trail, probably used mostly by game. I looked up at the men approaching and nodded and waved as I rolled off into the woods.
“HEY STOP!” one of them shouted.
“Don’t go down there! Come back!” another yelled
Yeah, yeah… I knew I was in the wrong but was it really that big of a deal? I couldn’t have been the only one who used this trail. The park had enough space for both of us. As I rode further away from them I could swear their yelling became louder; it was like they were screaming bloody murder.
All I had to do was focus, I had a rough idea of where the trail would lead and it was going to save me a bunch of time. They would have to deal with a wayward vagrant on their land for a minute… then I would be gone.
I noticed right away the path I was riding hadn’t been used in a long time. Logs and trees lay fallen. Overgrown bushes, sticks and branches pointed into the trail. Discarded packaging of products that had been discontinued years ago. Sometimes on paths like this you would randomly find dumped electronics or vehicles, air mattresses or clothing.
It was almost unnerving.
I wondered what happened in the lives of those who left the things behind. Why all the way out here? Were they homeless? Were they even still alive? I pushed it out my mind.
I got through the worst of it an kept riding. I no longer heard the men yelling. I could see ahead an opening in the trees, it must have been the river. The trail ended at an embankment. Thick thorn bushes covered everything.
No…
Why didn’t I realize this was going to lead me right to the river? There was no way I could head back now. The men may have stopped yelling but they were still there. They didn’t exactly seem pleased that I decided to cut across their land. I looked over the river.
It had completely dried up due to the hot summer that we just had. By some luck there was a sand bar and what looked like a trail on the other side . I was also fairly certain that was end of the property line.
I had to get over there.
I begrudgingly started through the thick brush, thorns from the brambles hooking into my jacket from every direction. Thankfully it lasted only a moment and then I was in the clear. The riverbed was filled with a much less aggressive vegetation. However, I let my guard down too soon.
It took only about ten steps until I realized the stupidity of my mistake. The water had cleared from the river, yes, but the ground itself was still incredibly thick with mud. I took one wrong step and my leg was submerged halfway underground.
Balancing my bike became impossible and it fell into the muck. I laughed to myself uncomfortably thinking of every story and movie I had seen of people being consumed by quicksand. I tried to force my leg out and get footing to push off of the ground but my free leg was just as soon swallowed.
I groaned. This was karma. My punishment for trespassing.
After minutes of digging and cursing and almost losing a shoe, my legs were free. I had crossed the murky wetland. I was only slightly covered in mud. As I started down the trail I looked back to where I had just come from.
One of the men from earlier was there, waving his arms like a maniac and shouting. He had caught up to me and seemed kind of hysterical. I couldn’t make out what he was saying, it just sounded like nonsense.
“Okay thanks!” I said sarcastically. “I’m off your land now… bye… see ya…” I gave him an exaggerated wave with my whole arm and then shook my head shrugging my shoulders with my palms up.
“Give me a break dude… fricken people these days.” I said scoffing thinking how overly dramatic they were about the whole thing.
I was wrong.
For the first little while the trail was like any other. However it was kind of narrow and littered with deadfall and trail debris. I would walk the bike. It was about minutes or so when I noticed… it seemed to be darker out than it should have been. It was like dusk was settling but I was certain it wasn’t that late. I went to check my phone. It was dead.
Strange… I thought I had at least 50% left.
I noticed then how quiet the forest here was. I hadn’t seen or heard a single bird or squirrel. I looked around at the trees. I was starting to get uncomfortable. Something about this area was off, the trees although green and lush, seemed lifeless.
I looked ahead on the trail. There was a figure in what looked like a black shall hobbling along with a cane. An old woman, she was just at the precipice of the sight line. She rounded the corner and then she was gone.
Something about her made the hairs on my neck stand up.
It’s not like this was deep into the wilderness but it was still so out of the way. What was an old woman with a cane doing here? I rounded the corner expecting to see her but she wasn’t there. It wasn’t possible she had covered that much ground in so little time.
It wasn’t for another few minutes I saw her again.
“Ma’am!” I yelled out several times. It was like she couldn’t hear me.
Finally she turned around slowly and smiled. Friendly, but something about her was disconcerting. She turned into the woods and vanished.
“The woods…?” I thought in disbelief. She couldn’t traverse these woods with a cane. She would die out here!
I ran ahead to where I had seen her.
“Ma’am!” I called out.
“Ma’am!” the sound of my voice echoing throughout the forest.
I stopped dead in my tracks when I got there. It wasn’t to look for her, no, something had caught my eye. In the center of the path it lay looking up at me. A Captain George figure… it was just like the one I had as a boy. I stared at it transfixed. I crouched down and picked it up slowly half expecting it to fall through my hands. It was uncanny… the same scuff marks, missing an eye…
This was MY ‘Captain George’ toy.
“You’ve been missing that a long long time” a caring old voice creaked from ahead. I looked up almost in a trance. “I wanted… I tried so hard to… find this… all those years ago” tears welling up in my eyes. I was unaware of the strange feeling that had come over me.
“Yes.. and now you’ve found it… how sweet” she said as she limped closer to me. Suddenly I snapped out of it realizing how odd the whole situation was.
“Why… are you out here alone? You… you can’t traverse the woods with that c-cane” I said voice shaky, unsure of myself, still crouched and watching idly as she came closer. Apart from her cloak she looked like a normal old woman, but her eyes, her eyes were the deepest shade of brown I had ever seen. She placed her wrinkled hand on my ear…
“My dear…” she said her voice lulling me into a daze again
“I’m out here for you…“
Suddenly her expression changed. Both of her hands on my face now. She was floating mid air, her black hair and cloak flowing around her. She had a horrendous expression, black veins now straining her face.
It felt like she was draining me… draining me of life… I was starting to pass out.
BANG!
Like I had awoken from a dream. She released me from her grip and was now shrieking in pain. Another shot rang out piercing her in the chest. She cried in agony grabbing her head still floating mid air.
The shriek rang discordantly in my ears as the wraith retreated into the woods.
“Silver bullets” the man from the river bank said holding one up and eyeing it. I was still in shock, staring at him but not really hearing.
“We TOLD you not to go this way…” he said shaking his head, looking at me pitifully.
“Come on… let’s go” he said helping me up off the ground, the others arriving now, running up with rifles in hand.
“Is he okay?” the elderly man asked.
“He’s okay” said the man who had helped me.
We walked in silence as they guided me along, out of the woods. I was stunned the entire time. I don’t think they cared, they had seen this before.
The man who had helped me loaded my bike into a pick up once we reached the parking lot. After a series of yes or no questions he was able to determine the general area of where I lived.
“Easttown? Yes… Riverpark? No… By the school? Yes… By the shop? Yes..”
When we got close I was conscious enough to find my way.
“I can make it from here” I said.
“and… uh, thanks” feeling like a fool for ignoring them.
“Yeah… no problem…” he paused.
“It was close… you know? Next time, follow the signs eh?”
“Yeah… yeah… definitely… thank you… thanks… I will” I said awkwardly.
He nodded and waved at me and drove off.
I watched as the car disappeared in the distance.
Follow the signs… I thought.
Yeah, probably not a bad idea.