Please excuse my fluency, my first language isn’t English but Guarani (an indigenous language for those curious).
When I was younger my grandfather used to tell me to respect and listen to the signs of nature, to venture with care and to not disturb Windigo or Tikwi for if I disturbed them, I would surely die if I did.
I don’t remember much of the details since I was told this like 15 years ago but I know that Windigos are isolated creatures that thrive in darkness far from civilization. Stubborn being that suck the life out the living organisms around them and that Tikwis are masters at deceiving humans because they are loud, they can’t avoid it, they are hungry. And hunt by trickery for the further away they sound, the closer they are. But those were just all folklore from our country.
….
This summer my fiancé and I decided to go on a road trip to Niagara Falls.
So we left our puppy at my mothers house for the trip and on we went.
The ride was good but a bit gloomy with all the rain and fog around Southern NY. It was totally different up north. It was hot.
By the time we got to the falls, the environment was an scorching hot in upstate NY. It felt surreal. Like I could melt under the sun. Quite ironic since it had been raining for last 3 days.
Nonetheless, the weather being bipolar isn’t anything new and it wasn’t going to stop me from enjoying Niagara’s boat rides…but it did
And I wish it hadn’t.
As we approached our turn to get on a boat that would take us up close to the fall we heard some commotion and an explosion coming from some passengers on the boat.
The heat had cause the the boat to overheat and ruins the lubrication and the metals parts inside of the engine. Melting and sticking everything together, causing it to have a mild explosion.
My fiancé and I were bummed but
“Hey we can still do other things” he said
“Like what?” I responded
“Hiking, Niagara has some wonderful trails”
Hiking is one of my personal hobbies. So this was without a doubt an experience I wanted, after all, Niagara has an ancient and beautiful history in it’s woods, with millions of trees that were strong, thick and tall as giants.
We set ourselves down an easy trail that followed down to the rapids of the fall. There were some rock stairs and the trees covered the sky and the sun like a nice cloud.
The shade felt like a breather from the heat of summer and the lower we went the more refreshed we felt.
Maybe we went to low because there soon was nobody but us and 3 warning signs that said something along the lines of
“We do not recommend you go pass this fence”
“WARNING, DO TO MUD SLIDES A SECURE PATH TO THE CAVE HAS BE BREACHED”
and a small hand written sign that said “ Do not go to the devils hole”
“What’s the devils hole?” I asked
“His butt” responded my fiancé
“Let’s go anyways, some mud slides haven’t stopped us before. Besides, the devils hole is a great attraction, I wouldn’t want us to miss. Story goes that some scientists came upon it in 1763, it’s almost pitch black but you can still see the rock formations from the outside as it goes on to a bottom that has never been mapped. We can’t go in but it’s for sure a rare sight.” He continued.
“Sure, let’s do it” I said as I jumped that small little fence. If they really wanted to keep people out and if it really was that dangerous the fence would’ve been taller, right?
The trail started pretty chill, literally. It was a bit chilly and moist. There was some mud slides, eroding rocks from the water, some broken trees and what appeared to be decomposing animals on the side of the trail.
Nonetheless, we kept walking and taking some pictures.
Something felt off as it kept getting cooler. My metal sole boat started to weight heavily and something was eating away at my anxiety
and at my fiancés too, I could see it in his face and in his steps as he walked faster than me. He was also whistling from what I could here.
My steps kept getting heavier as we made it to the end of the trail. I was still behind and noticed he made it first and was admiring the view and kept on whistling.
As soon as I reached to his back he turned around, grabbed me by the wrist and said “okay that’s enough, we should leave”
This scared me and made me anxious so I speed up and tried to make small talk but he remained quiet. Unsettling quiet.
I was getting all fussed up but then he said “just walk and don’t look back, just look straight ahead till we get out of the woods”
I said “yes” and we speed walked our way up.
As we did that, I remained silent, anxious, scared and specially sensitive.
You notice a lot more when you’re quiet.
You could notice how heavy those boots felt.
You could notice how cold it was down here.
How eroded the rocks were. How the trees weren’t broken but decayed. And you could definitely smell the bodies of little creatures left lifeless by the side of the trail. What predator kills it’s pray but doesn’t eat it?
You could definitely notice how unusual and unnatural it all seemed, smelt and felt.
Especially the whistling
Because my fiancé wasn’t whistling..
“Oh what in the white people horror movie is happening!?” I thought. I was scared.
But I kept my eyes up front and the closer we got to civilization, the more the sound lessened but I could still hear it when we got out of the woods.
I could still hear it when my fiancé asked me if I was okay and if that wasn’t one heck of an experience.
I could still hear it as we laughed.
I could still hear it as we walked away
And I could still hear it on the way home in the car.
But it got quieter.
I could mildly hear it as I picked up my dog from my mom’s house.
I could barely hear it as I cooked dinner.
And finally, the sound disappeared once I entered my shower.
I felt relief.
And as I prepared to go to sleep my fiancé was looking for our dog as she wasn’t in her usual spot.
“Where’s our dog?” he asked
I take a look around, sure that our dog is just under the bed or in the messy sheets.
I tilt my head and see my dog under the bed and say
“She’s under the bed” and walk away to keep washing my teeth
“You mean inside the sheets, right?” Said my fiancé as I look back and saw him pulling out our dog from the sheets.
But that couldn’t be right.
Because there was still something, under the bed.