I was in the middle of a routine patrol of the park when my radio crackled to life. The frequency didn’t indicate an emergency, so I pulled my truck over to the side of the road and called in to base. On the other end of the radio was Emmett, a fellow park ranger and one of my favorite coworkers.
“What’s up Emmett?” I asked.
“Not much Aiden. Just got someone here who wants to know if we’ve seen her missing brother.”
“Have we?”
“Doesn’t look familiar to me, but since you’re due for lunch about now, why don’t you head back?”
“Sounds good to me.”
I put the radio down, shifted the truck into drive, and headed straight back to the ranger station. It was only a five-minute ride from my present location, and I rolled the windows down as I drove down the neatly paved roads that wound around numerous picnic areas, ponds, clusters of trees, fire pits, and pavilions complete with vending machines.
It didn’t take me much longer to arrive at the station, a large wooden compound with an office, numerous vehicles parked in front, and an exterior that had been freshly painted last month. I noticed that there was a grey sedan that stood out in the sea of trucks, jeeps, and golf carts for official usage.
There was a spot right next to it available, so I parked there and headed inside. No matter what the weather was, the ranger station was always perfectly climate and temperature controlled. Right inside the front door, there was a sitting room filled with comfortable furniture. In two of the chairs sat Emmett and a young woman who looked close to us in age. She had curly brown hair, hazel eyes, and a slightly weary attitude that suggested she had visited many places like this. I also noticed the two of them had made good use of the nearby refrigerator that held bottled water.
They both stood up when I walked inside. I saw Emmett had some papers sitting on the table beside him.
“Aiden, this is Lena,” Emmett introduced us.
We shook hands. “Nice to meet you,” I said.
“Likewise. I’m just here to double check. I have no reason to be sure my brother even went this way, but I wouldn’t be doing my part if I didn’t ask around.”
I nodded. “Of course. Why don’t you tell me what happened? That is, if you don’t mind telling it again.”
She chuckled. “I’ve told it so many times it’s second nature,” she said while sitting back down in her chair. “Sadly there’s not much to tell. My brother Sam has always been flighty. So when he disappeared for a few days, no one thought a thing about it. But when a few days turned into a few weeks, that’s when we started to get worried. But when we went to his last address, there was no sign anything happened. And since Sam was always bouncing around, it wasn’t exactly a clear-cut case of something being wrong. So there wasn’t much for anyone to go on. The only thing we were able to find out was that he was hanging out with a group of friends who were a lot like him within an hour of here. From all appearances, they were just a normal bunch of people.”
“So you think since people just come and go here, it’s entirely possible they set up camp here at some point and left, or even better, are still here?” Emmett asked.
“Exactly,” Lena said. “Sam always did like camping. He’s the type who would be perfectly happy always traveling the country in an RV.”
I nodded.” Makes perfect sense why you think he might be here.”
Emmet turned to the papers sitting near him on the coffee table. “This is him Aiden,” he said while he selected one and handed it to me. It was one of those missing person fliers that you put up anywhere, with the phrase MISSING printed on the top in bold red lettering. There was also the standard contact info, but most of the flier was taken up by a large photo of a blond man with wide hazel eyes. It took me a moment, but I could see the resemblance between Sam and Lena.
“I’ve never seen him before around here. But that doesn’t mean he’s never been here.”
“Sam’s a decent guy.” Lena explained. “Flighty, but he’s not an angry or mean type. He’d run from a fight instead of starting one.”
“Is that what you think happened?” I asked.
“I’ve certainly thought about it, but I just can’t see it. Like I said, he’d be perfectly happy traveling around in a basic RV. It’s far more likely he got into some accident, and no one can get ahold of him. Which is another possibility of what he could be doing out here.”
Emmett took a sip of his bottled water. “I’ve double checked the log and we don’t have any record of any equipment or RV turning up here with no explanation. Apart from that, the most we could do is take another look around and ask the other park personnel to be on the lookout.”
“I appreciate that very much,” Lena said. “My whole family would be very grateful if you kept an eye out and notified us or the police if you saw or heard anything.”
“Will do Lena.” Emmett stood up from his seat. “Thank you for letting us know. We have your information, and we’ll let you know if we see or find anything.”
“Thank you. You both have a good one.”
She stood up, shook hands with us, and walked out the door. Moments later, there was the sound of a car starting up before tires crunched over gravel and pulled away.
“What do you think?” Emmett asked now that we were alone.
“We’ve dealt with stuff like this before.”
“I know. He wouldn’t be the first to go missing out here, and he wouldn’t be the last either.”
“No doubt.”
Then I took my time for lunch. Today, that meant I had a turkey wrap with some potato salad. Then I went back to work, taking time to keep an eye on the usual areas as I watched people walk their dogs, take hikes, or lounge about.
It was a sunny autumn day, with a bright blue sky that contrasted beautifully with the occasional orange and red leaves dotting the mostly green tree line. The temperature was warm and comfortable now, but this morning was chilly, and fog blanketed the horizon as I drove to work. It wouldn’t be long before both morning and night were much darker and colder. The change of seasons are always stark and captivating to see here in the woods. It wouldn’t be long before the days themselves grew darker and colder, and the park was decorated for Halloween. I never failed to be part of the team that decorated and prepared for that.
Since it was fall, that meant dusk settled in quicker than it had just a few weeks earlier. Before I knew it, the shadows were creeping up on the park, which meant it was time for me to politely remind people the park closed at nighttime. The wind picked up by then, which meant the few leaves that had already fallen were being scattered around.
The last car had just pulled out of the lot when I locked the entrance for the general public. Then Emmett and I did the last of the closing shift checklist before we went out through the employee only gate and called it a night.
I went home, had myself some dinner, and watched some TV before I called it a night. The next morning I had an early shift, but I didn’t mind since I was only working a half day. So after I grabbed myself a bagel, I drove to work. The sky was solid grey, with a hint of rain in the air. Which matched what I’d seen on the weather report.
The drive itself was unremarkable, so I arrived to the park in good time. But as I pulled up to the front gate, which was still locked up from the night before, I saw something. A single, solitary figure, standing just inside the front gate.
What? How was that possible? We locked up the same as always, and we’d never had this issue before. Even weirder was the fact that the figure was facing away from the gate, as if watching something inside the park.
I pulled off the driveway and called my boss Carlton and told him what was up. He said he’d be right there and told me to sit tight. He didn’t want me walking into an unpleasant surprise, and he didn’t need to tell me twice. So I waited there, never quite taking my eyes off the front gate. Which wasn’t hard, since whoever was lurking there didn’t move. In fact, I wasn’t even sure they were aware of my presence since they hadn’t reacted at all to the sound of my car. I also noticed they were dressed in clothes that looked faded and torn.
After what felt like an eternity, Carlton arrived with a single cop car behind him. They parked ahead of me, and once he and the cop got out of their cars, I did the same. Then the three of us walked steadily towards the gate. It wasn’t until we were right on top of the stranger that I finally got a look at who it was.
It was Lena’s brother Sam. My stomach clenched at the realization, but Sam showed no interest at all in what was going on. He looked at us as nonchalantly as someone walking here on a hike might glance at a tree.
I quickly explained the situation and called Lena. She said she’d be here as soon as she could, and emphatically thanked us. In the meantime, the cop called for backup and an ambulance before he carefully approached Sam and assessed him. The cop decided he was no harm, so Carlton helped escort Sam to the back of his squad car. The ambulance got there before Lena did, so they were still giving him an exam when she arrived.
After giving me a bone crushing hug, Lena went over to where the medics were studying her brother.
“He’s a bit dehydrated and hasn’t eaten a decent meal for a while, but apart from that, he seems unharmed.” One of the medics, a tall woman with red hair, told her.
“But there’s no doubt he’s seen something or been through something that rattled him.” The other medic, an older man with a mustache said. “I’ve seen this type of reaction to major traumas before. And he’s got all the signs.”
“Do you have any idea what caused it?” Lena asked.
He shook his head. “No, but I can tell you it was something that seriously frightened him.”
She nodded. “Alright. Thank you. I appreciate the insight.”
While that was going on, enough additional park rangers had shown up so we could search the park with the cops close behind. I had no idea what we’d find, but I felt something was wrong from the moment we set foot inside. Every time I arrived here, I felt a sense of calm and peace that came from being in the thick of nature. The scent of pine trees, the warmth of campfires, and the sounds of all the different insects making their presence know. I always found it to be relaxing and invigorating.
Not this time. Today, the mood in the park felt different. Off. Like you were looking at something and could tell some aspect had been changed, but you weren’t sure what. The air felt thick and heavy. I glanced at Carlton, and he looked at me, and I could tell he felt the same.
On the surface everything was fine, but that didn’t mean nothing happened. So we carefully set out to search every inch of the park to make sure nothing was wrong. Every time I turned a corner or opened a door, I expected to find something horrible. But it never happened. Everything turned out to be perfectly in order. Not a thing was out of place. But we couldn’t figure out how Sam had gotten in. How had he done it?
Eventually, we had to shrug and admit we couldn’t find anything. That was when the search party called it a day and those of us that were left went to the ranger station for some water. Sam had been taken to the hospital by Lena and her parents, and we’d put up a sign saying the park was temporarily closed, so it was just us.
“Something is going on here.” Emmett said after he took a long drink of water. “I just don’t know what.”
“I know. But he got in somehow. You saw the state he was in. There was no way Sam forced his way in.”
“I agree Aiden,” Carlton said, “I just don’t like this.”
I looked around the room. “None of us do.”
Emmett was about to say something else before he stood up and looked around. Then he slowly began to walk around the room.
“Emmett?” I asked.
He briefly looked at the window before he turned to face me. “Do you feel that?”
“Feel what?”
“The breeze. There’s a draft in here.”
“Yeah. I feel it too.” One of the cops nodded his head. “I think it’s coming from over there.” He pointed to a large file cabinet against the wall.
All six of us walked over to it and waited. It didn’t take long for me to feel a small breeze coming from around it.
We all exchanged a look before Emmett and Carlton slowly maneuvered the metal cabinet away from the wall. Everyone else stood at the ready should something happen. But nothing popped out. All that happened was that the air got colder, and a section of floor opened into a hole in the ground.
Two of the cops immediately took out their flashlights and shined them into the hole. The rest of us peered behind them, and saw the hole opened up into a small cave. The flashlights revealed that the cave floor was only about a short drop from the opening. There was no ladder or anything, but it didn’t look hard to maneuver.
The opening was large enough for a single person to fit through at a time, so Emmett, Carlton, and I went down with the two cops with flashlights. They went in first, then Emmett, Carlton, and I did. The cave was uncluttered by any debris, and there was no water, so there wasn’t much to look at.
Not that the cave itself took much time to explore either, because before we knew it, we were facing the other end of the cave that turned into a dead end. The two cops shined their flashlights around, but there was nothing to see.
We all had a last look around before we headed back the way we came. I had no idea what to think. My mind was a jumbled haze of thoughts as we reached where the opening was, and I stopped dead in my tracks. Because of the angle of where the opening was and how the cave was laid out, there was a wall set back a few feet from the opening, and there was something written on the wall that wasn’t visible from above.
We see you!
It was written in red paint with giant letters that could not be missed or misread. The exclamation point in particular was drawn with particular embellishment, as if whoever had done it had enjoyed it immensely. We all looked at it in shock before one of the cops took a picture of it.
Then he turned to the rest of us. “No need to linger down here any longer.”
Carlton immediately pointed to Emmett and myself, so Emmett helped me up to the opening, and once I was back inside the ranger station, I helped him out. Once we helped Carlton out, the two cops quickly maneuvered themselves out before we moved the file cabinet back over the cave opening.
Then we all sat back down in silence. The air was tense and heavy, and I felt a faint prickle of fear on the back of my neck. I didn’t know what was going on, but I didn’t like whatever it was. And neither did anyone else. We would have noticed that cave opening before. Especially with all the recent maintenance work.
“Ok.” The cop who took the picture turned to Carlton. He was tall, lean, and had closely cropped blond hair. “Something is going on here, and until we get to the bottom of it, I suggest you close up shop for today.”
“Fine by me,” Carlton muttered. “Let’s get out of here.”
We hustled out of there before Carlton locked it up tight. Then we all got in our respective vehicles and pulled out after locking up the gate tight. As a precaution, they agreed to have a cop car parked there for the night.
I wasted no time in heading for home. But when we all drove away, I swear I thought I saw what looked like a figure in black clothing peering at us from behind a massive tree. When I looked back, there was nothing there.
It could’ve been a prank, or it could’ve been just my imagination. Either way, I wasn’t going back there to find out. Because I couldn’t stop thinking about the message on the wall. We see you, as in more than one person is watching you.
The cops never did find out what was going on, or how Sam had gotten in. But sometimes when I was out on patrols after that, I would swear someone was watching me. I could feel the hair stand up on the back of my neck, and I would get that stomach churning certainty that something was off, but every time I turned around, nothing was ever there. One time, late at night, I even thought I saw someone following me, but when I went to check, no one was there.
But no matter what, I never stopped checking that nothing was there. No one did. Because periodically, we would find something had been moved or altered in some way. Sometimes it was barely noticeable, but that didn’t mean we didn’t notice. We also had the opening to the cave boarded up. But I can’t help but wonder if there are more tunnels just like that elsewhere in the park.