Part 1 : https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/13cpg6f/isolation_part_1/
Monday
In the early morning I awoke with a startled realization, there was something outside my tent! I could hear something move about, a small clanking sound when the burger tin can was knocked over. I was petrified, my imagination running wild. Maybe it was the stranger who’s come to rob me of my belongings! Maybe it was a wild bear! Tho, if it was the stranger why didn’t he just come at me yesterday as I lay naked and defenseless on the riverbank? And bears are not native to this landscape!
I steeled myself, slowly and silently got into position and then with a yell I unzipped my tent, threw open the flaps and jumped outside.
It was a fox.
It stood a small distance away from me. Its black eyes, framed by dark fur, defiantly staring me down. I felt my face flush with embarrassment and I actually said “I’m sorry” to the small creature as I went back inside the tent. By the time I had gotten dressed and returned outside the fox was gone.
I humbly sat down and had my breakfast, some cereal I munched while I drank some water. It turned out I had camped in front of a slight cliff, at the base of which I could see a small cave entrance. Interesting. Perhaps the fox lives there. I stood up with my bag of cereal and walked over to the cave entrance. It descended into the ground at an angle, but the back of the cave was dark. I was surprised to see old, worn, steps carved into the rock forming a staircase to help with the descent into the cave. Perhaps it was not a cave after all. I went back to my camp and got my lighter, as well as some sticks from a small nearby tree. I found I could set fire to the end of one of the sticks, and by slowly rotating it I could keep the fire going without having it engulf the branch too fast, though they would not last long. With these I decided to at least investigate the entrance of the cave.
I lit my stick on fire and climbed down. The rudimentary steps helped a lot, I could tell returning to the surface would be quite easy. As I reached the bottom it became obvious that somebody had lived here a long time ago. I could see some rocks stacked in such a way to form a doorway, and I saw a couple of very old, very rusted, pieces of metal that might have formed door hinges. At that point my first stick burned too much and I had to drop it. It sputtered on the floor and went out. I reached for another stick, lit it on fire and entered the doorway.
As I entered the small area I could see that it branched off into three directions. Curiosity overcame me and I moved to one of the rooms. I was surprised how dark it got in there but my burning stick illuminated what appeared to be an old sleeping chamber. At least I imagined it was such as I could tell human sized bed-ish alcoves had been cut into the rock walls. It was not fashioned in any way a stonemason would, or any craftsman. It was rough, uneven, hacked into the rock. I could see three such alcoves before my stick burned out again. I stood in the darkness fumbling, getting my third stick on fire. I still had three more after this one so I was not worried about lighting my way back out. I got it lit, illuminating my surroundings and decided since I was in there I could just as well check out the second chamber of the three.
It turned out that this chamber was a circular one, in the center of which was a large rock slab which I imagined had served as a table to some long forgotten people that had lived here. I spotted a crude carving on the wall. I could make out that it had been deliberately carved, some kind of decorative symbol, but it was too eroded for me to tell what it had been, exactly. I thought I could maybe smell burned coals, but it was very very faint, it was probably me just smelling the small flame I had brought with me. At this point my third stick burned out. I silently cursed while I lit a fourth one. It was an awkward dance of holding the stick, getting the lighter, flicking the lighter on and setting fire to the stick. It would have been simple, but the darkness of the cave made things harder than they ought to have been.
In the dim light of the fire I explored the final chamber. It was a strange one. The cave room was square, though it did look natural. The hairs on my neck stood straight and I was gripped by an uneasy feeling as I gazed upon the opening in the middle of the floor. It was a literal hole in the floor, perhaps two meters across. I leaned over it attempting to use my stick to see the bottom, but all I could see was inky blackness. I dropped a small stone into the pit and counted all the way to four before I heard the echo of it hitting the rocky bottom. Whatever this was, it went deep. Maybe it was just an ancient trash put conveniently formed from natural forces, perhaps there was another path deeper into the earth at the bottom.
My light went out again. Time to light my last stick.
I froze. In the darkness I heard a sound. I stood there silently, the lighter ready to set fire to the stick. The sound had felt close. I imagined something in the darkness reaching out its gray, cold, fingers towards me. I imagined myself being pulled into the hole, so large in my mind’s eye.
I lit my last stick, to my utter relief I was all alone, the put in front of me as before. No person in sight. But some old animal instinct deeply buried beneath the civilized monkey in my brain was screaming warnings at me. I shuddered and decided enough was enough, so I found my way back out and returned to my campsite. When I returned to civilization I’d notify someone about this strange cave. Perhaps a spelunking group, or archaeologists, would be interested. But I had sated my curiosity. I was just happy I hadn’t spotted this entrance the evening before.
My day was uneventful after my cave exploration. It had started to rain so I put on my rain-parka on top of my normal hiking gear, and despite my boots being water resistant I tried my best to avoid any puddles along the way. The smell of rain, mud and wet grass gave me a weird sense of nostalgia, as if I was remembering something that I had in fact not experienced before. It was a strange feeling, I wished I had someone with me to chat with about my trip so far. Next time I would not be so hasty to leave my phone behind, or I would perhaps bring a friend with me. In the rain, while I was trudging through the muddy path, I felt very much alone.
I was in a miserable mood when my internal clock told me it was time to camp. I was just moving along mindlessly not thinking about anything in particular. I did not enjoy the gray sky and damp feel under my clothes. As I prepared to make camp I noticed that the path I had been blankly following seemed thin. Almost like it was a natural line of mud in the ground rather than a true path. I followed the trail a little further and saw that it was indeed just a natural feature. I had gotten myself slightly lost. No big deal, I thought. I’ll just backtrack in the morning, but I had better take a look at the map again.
I reached for it, and with a sinking feeling I grabbed a mushy, disintegrated cheap printer-paper quality handful of paper. My map was gone. I remembered back at the bridge before I fell in, I had put the map in a side pocket where it was vulnerable to the river water.
No big deal, I thought. I know that I need to keep heading north. No worries. So I dug out my old pocket compass. It looked ok… no wait, the needle isn’t moving. A closer examination revealed that during some bump in my hiking the old needle had gotten dislodged from its central pivot point and was now widget to one side of the compass. It seemed slightly bent too.
Fed up with the weather and my breaking equipment I hurled the damn thing away from me, I heard the sound of it hitting water and found that I had stopped by the side of a small lake. Normally it would have been a nice place to stop, picturesque if the weather had been better. But now it was merely a reminder of the fact that everything was wet.
I did manage to create a small shelter by stretching my sleeping bag cover on a few nearby sticks so I could heat up my food. And I found some respite inside the tent, but I could do little about the slight cold. Not freezing enough to hurt, only enough to be annoying. With my stomach full, and nerves fried, I decided enough was enough and I would go to sleep early. I put some calming indie guitar music in my ears, lay down, ignored the small rock that was determinedly digging into my back and closed my eyes.
I awoke some time later. It was very dark, but this far north during this time of the year it would not get pitch black in the night. Rather the atmosphere would take on that twilight quality when the world feels very still, and sleepy, but with the light of early evening just before the sun dips below the horizon.
Are you lost?
I nearly jumped out of my sleeping bag. It was obvious who I had just heard speaking. It had that broken timbre of the stranger’s voice. I was startled, but after a few seconds I realized I welcomed his visit. I had become very lonely. I thought I could see a shadow, right outside my tent, forming an indistinct humanoid shape.
“Perhaps. I’ll find my way tomorrow.”
Have you made up your mind?
“No, I will soon. I have decided I will make up my mind before I finish my hike.”
You are pushing your problems away, into the future.
After a while I replied “I know”. My reply feeling inadequate.
Will you betray them?
“No matter what I’ll do, someone will be betrayed.”
There will be consequences.
“I am afraid of them. Yes.”
I can help you, I can take the burden of decision away from you.
I was surprised by this. So far the stranger had only asked questions. This was the first time he offered any input, and advice. I wondered for a moment how many people had sat in a tent in the middle of the night without any humans for miles around and actively had their imagination talk back to them.
I can guide you along a path that will give you an answer. All you have to do is follow.
“I am going crazy. You’re not real.”
Perhaps.
“Are you real?”
I sat there in the darkness for a long time, listening for an answer. Eventually I realized the shadow on my tent was no more, now it was nothing but the branches of trees casting their shade on this lone symbol of civilization in the landscape.
I went back to sleep.
Tuesday
Waking up I felt peaceful. I could hear the raindrops hitting my tent. I had nearly forgotten where I was until I moved. My body was aching and tired. It was painful to sit up, but with a groan and a shove I managed to get myself into an upright position.
Opening the tent I was greeted with a bleak and depressing sight. Everything was wet. The rain had collapsed my small covering over my camp stove and I realized I could forget about my daily warm cup of coffee. Oh well. I spent some time in the tent hoping that the rain would stop, but I was not that lucky. With a mighty mental effort I managed to get myself dressed, my feet hurting as I slid the shoes back on. My wound from before had crossed the line from being a mere nuisance to being an actual problem. I could see dry blood at the bottom of the shoe. I did my best with my first aid kit to keep myself going, put on a rain parka and stepped outside.
I managed to get my gear packed but it was wet and muddy from being manhandled in the rain. When I was ready I started my backtracking effort. Trying to follow the path which in the previous day had been so obvious to me, but now felt like I was looking for a needle in a haystack. I tried my best to follow what I thought was the muddy line in the ground until, after two hours of desperation, I realized I was hopelessly lost. Fog was starting to form as some warmth arrived during daytime and water was starting to evaporate. It was not thick yet, but I could see that later today it could become a problem.
“Wait, don’t panic.” I tried to calmly tell myself. I could do a big circle to see if I could find the old path again. It would take time but I’d logically be able to find my way again.
I aimed in a random direction, hoping that it made some kind of sense, and started walking. Every hundred steps or so I would adjust my heading slightly to the left thus hopefully walking in a large circle. I did a bit of mental math and estimated how many steps it would take to complete a whole circle and counted my steps. After a long while, climbing rocks, hills and walking through muddy terrain, I finished my first circle, finding nothing. I was painfully aware of my sore feet, my aching muscles and the fatigue setting in. My mental state was starting to deteriorate as well as I had started seeing figures in the fog. They would be there for one second in my peripheral vision, but be gone when I looked in their direction. I told myself they were only in my mind, a trick of the light, but was only partly successful in convincing myself. Ok, ok, I could do this. Now I would just continue onwards but adjust to the right instead of left, thus making me complete a large figure eight. In the middle of the second circle I encountered a familiar sight, it was the spot I had camped last night. I had badly estimated my navigational abilities. I felt like an idiot.
I had been so close. One more day on the path and I’d meet up with my buddy. If I had been more diligent at making progress I’d even have managed to get to the parking lot late this evening. But here I was in the middle of an unfamiliar landscape hoping against hope that I had chosen the right direction to walk in. If only I had brought a shiny new compass. But my love for old stuff had backfired on me. I was an idiot for making this trip so hopelessly unprepared. I thought that it should only take a day to get back to civilization, but logically I could be two to three days away at this point, depending on how far off course I had gone. I didn’t even know how far back I had lost the original trail.
I should have stayed home, I should have spent some time thinking about my decision. If I could, or would, do the right thing… What was the right thing? Would I steal from people to help my family? Would I betray the trust of my bosses and report them to the authorities? Would I betray everyone and decide to do absolutely nothing?
I stopped there, standing in a moss covered nature, with fog moving in and rain incessantly keeping me miserable that I realized.
I had made a decision. I knew what I would do.
Now I just need to get home.
This way! A voice commanded, no, said without any doubt of obedience, from some distance in the fog.
“Why should I?!?” I screamed back at him.
You will be free from your fear.
“Ahh… damn it all.” I said to myself. I realized I was utterly and completely lost. I could not even see far enough to figure out a solid plan, nor could I judge my direction of travel. Maybe this was my subconscious working. It is said that sometimes your brain works in the background of your thoughts on solutions to problems you do not realize you have. Perhaps this time my subconscious is telling me something.
“I’m coming.” I called back. And then proceeded to do my best to follow the voice.
This way!
I climbed up a small hill, it was steep, I had to crawl on my hands and feet to keep balance. The mud and the rain made it hard. My senses were assaulted by the cold rain and the smells of disturbed earth.
I reached the top.
Are you coming?
I aimed for the direction of the voice, it was leading me downhill. To where I could not guess. I reached unfamiliar ground. The rocks beneath me felt jagged and harsh. The vegetation had grown sparse. A lava field, I thought. I had expected to see it in some areas around here. Old cooled lava left this inhospitable rocky area which was hard to traverse. But I had to attempt so, it was my only hope.
Be quick!
“I’m coming, damn you.”
I reached another hill. It was harder to climb than the last. I had to scale it, fearing I would fall backwards onto the jagged rock below. Was this a good idea? I reached the top of the hill.
This way!
At this point I had started running towards the voice. I wanted to grab the stranger and shake him. I wanted him to point me the right way. I was angry.
This way! The voice urged.
Panting I felt I had lost grip on something within. Something important. I was scrabbling as fast as I could, cutting my hands open on the rough stones as I half ran, half stumbled my way along the ground.
Nearly there!
I pushed myself further, all caution lost to the wind. I barely registered my foggy surroundings. My senses were lost to desperation, fatigue, wounded feet and fear. My boot caught an unseen rock, hidden underneath thick moss. The moss gave way and the rock caught my shoe. I fell. I hit my head on something and knocked myself out for a short time.
Feverish, intrusive, thoughts entered my mind as it struggled to restart itself, visions of strange things. I saw a party of travelers, a family of five, traveling a strange and wild path. I saw them building a small home. I felt their hope to be undiscovered. They were chased and they ran. The building was forgotten, neglected, becoming a ruin by a rarely traveled road. I dreamt of four fugitives hiding within a cave, spending long years there, trying to make a home. I could sense the anger, the fear, the desperation. I could feel their darkness. I could feel betrayal.
I awoke, my mind reeling, but I pushed myself back on my feet, dazed I kept running barely conscious of the fact it had grown dark. I never noticed the chasm, hidden by darkness and fog, until the ground disappeared from under my feet.
The human mind works in strange ways. When it is overstimulated it can switch modes similarly to how a car switches gears. My fear was replaced with a dreamlike state where I thought of my family. My sister. My parents. I thought of my bosses, my work colleagues, I even thought of the people who’s money had caused me such anguish. My big problem seemed so trivial at that moment, so small. It caused me to go on this trip. I could just as easily have sat in my kitchen and made the decision over breakfast. But I had made it bigger than I needed to, and made the ill fated decision to take this trip as a result. I missed my home, my friends. I had betrayed myself. Now it no longer mattered, I was here in this unfamiliar landscape, alone, falling to my death.
It took me four seconds to hit the rocks below.
I lay there, my body broken. I could feel intense pain whenever I tried to move. My senses were overwhelmed with pain, the cold of the rain, the rocks under me. I could smell the soil, the grass. I knew it was the end. I would likely never be found. It is strange the kind of peace you can feel when you know it is all over. I saw a small fox nearby, with its cubs, frightened at my sudden appearance. It felt like a surreal sight and I laughed at the absurdity of it all. The last thing I heard before blood loss and fatigue took my consciousness was a small quiet whisper from someone close by.
You should have stayed at home.