I have never been much of a social person. So when I get the chance I like to hang out with the people I’m surrounded by. My family. It’s a much better alternative than having to talk to “new people”. So instead me and my family, mainly my older sister, like to explore the open desert. We go on hikes, build Forts, etc. But our most recent discovery has made us… Shaken. I now feel like something’s always breathing down my neck.
I suppose I should start from the beginning. Hi, my name’s Maxus. I am a 17-year-old boy from Phoenix, Arizona. About three years ago my parents moved me and my two siblings out to an old property behind a lake called, Lake Pleasant, near Phoenix. The lake is pretty well known. And it has a constant flow of people coming in and out. But me and my family lived around twenty miles or so behind the lake, way off into the dry desert. There is no one within at least a ten-mile radius of us. And the only thing leading us back to the city is the worn dirt road that goes for about twenty-five miles before hitting asphalt.
The place we moved to is about eighteen acres of land. There are probably about ten or so one-hundred-year-old worn down building scattered around the property. Once used as temporary homes for prospectors looking to stay out in the desert and sift through the rivers nearby for gold. But we lived in the main house. Where the owner, his family, and guests stayed. That’s where we stayed for the next two and a half years.
The place is pretty run down. mainly to do with age. The place being at least a one-hundred years old and all. But since it was past down from generation to generation, It’s been at least livable. To the point where we had power, working water, and some AC units we added. It was an ok place that I was not used to living in, being a city boy, But we had just good enough wifi for me to be satisfied.
The place itself you’d think would be haunted or something for how old it is. But surprisingly no. In fact, it seems almost comforting to be within the place. Waking up and sitting on the porch to watch the hummingbirds feast on the sugar water. Or taking long naps by the spring. It was, Peaceful. But the desert around us, the tall, red, jagged mountains. It all seems… Strange. There’s almost an otherworldly feeling when walking the desert alone. Nothing but Saguaro Cacti everywhere you look. Towering over you like tall pine trees. And the rocky, hot dirt below you. I can’t really describe it. But walking in a place with no sign of any human, let alone any creature, is very… Eerie.
Anyway, let’s catch up to about one year of living at, what we called, “The Ranch”. At this point, it is just me and my younger sister Serina. My older sister Sarah having moved out about three months after we moved to the ranch. She’s much older than me. I think she is twenty-two now so she was I think eighteen or nineteen when she moved out. It had been months since Sarah had moved out but she still came down once in a while to hang out. She only moved back to Phoenix, but the forty-five-minute drive still was costly. Which is why she didn’t come around that often.
Despite the lack of visiting. It was still fun when she did come around. We primarily like to make forts. Using sticks and the debris from the old buildings we made lots of them. Nothing too impressive though. We also like I said would go on hikes. We practically went everywhere. But we mainly trailed the large river bed we called “The Wash”. I remember one day we decided to hike the mountain behind our house.
It’s the closest one to us, and it only takes about one hour to get to the base of the mountain. With a mix of driving and walking. So we packed up hopped in the ATV and made our way to the mountain. Driving off and out into the desert. We made our way through the old road that’s behind the ranch. The road was probably used by carts and older types of cars. We keep going for about twenty minutes before reaching the fence that separates our property from the government’s property. From there, we go on foot. At this point, it is getting pretty close to 2:00 PM. And we figured we had plenty of time to get to at least the base if not the middle of the mountain and back before dark. I barely remember what it was like on the way there. All I remember is a lot of talking and chatting. Probably about video games and what the top of the mountain would look like. As we walked, our conversation starting to simmer down, I couldn’t help but notice something a little odd.
Maxus- Hey Sarah is it me or are there-
Sarah- Less Saguaros? Yeah, it’s kind of weird.
Maxus- I mean I can only see like four or five around us!
Sarah- Yeah maybe um, it’s just a dryer part of the desert?
Maxus- And the other cacti, There are little to none of those too! No jumping cacti barley any brush!
Our conversation shifted away from that. But the whole way to the base of the mountain I couldn’t help but wonder why the area we were in seemed so… Barren. We walked for about another thirty minutes before getting to the base of the mountain. Looking up. It’s huge. The moment we hit the base. Both of us knew that we would not be getting far. For we underestimated how big the mountain really was. From a distance, it didn’t look too huge. But being this close really shows its magnitude. We take a little break before heading up. Discussing how far we think we’ll make it. But in the middle of our conversation, we heard something that made my stomach drop. The screams of what sounded like a dying woman. We froze. Didn’t take a breath. As we sat in silence for what seemed like several minutes. Until the silence was broken by Sarah.
Sarah- That was one loud-ass mountain lion
Maxus- You’re telling me! I’ve heard they’re pretty convincing, you know as a screaming woman, but I did not expect it to be that convincing.
Sarah- I have my bear mace. Wanna keep going?
Maxus- What!? No! What’s bear mace going to do against a goddam lion!?
Sarah- Come on it is literally used for bears. Bears are way bigger.
Maxus- Uhhhhh. I don’t know dude.
Sarah gave me a pleading look while mouthing the words, please. And eventually… I was convinced. I don’t know why. Maybe curiosity maybe stupidity, either way, We started up the mountain. However, we did try and steer away from where we had heard that scream. After a rough hour of steep climbing and traversing. We arrived at a small ledge to take a break. Looking out we could see the ranch the road leading to it. Staring from this height we knew it was going to be a long trip back. And we both expressed as much as soon as we could catch our breath. We sat for a while. Probably too long admiring the view while also trying to avoid moving down. Suffice to say, we were pretty fucking tired. I was lying up against a rock near the ledge while Sarah was leaning up against the mountain wall. And then Sarah found something. The very thing I still think about to this day.
Sarah- Hey, HEY! This- this wall is crumbling apart!
Maxus- What? What do you mean?
Sarah- It’s falling apart! There’s a cave behind here!
Maxus- Holy Shit! there is!
We pulled away the rest of the rock to reveal a short dark cave. Most certainly man-made. From the entrance to the back, all of it you can tell was blown out. Likely by dynamite. The cave was about 15ft by 20ft or so. The ceiling being only seven feet high or so. The walls were covered in sketchings. Some looked to be depicting what looked like people eating… other people. But the main focus of the room was right in the middle of it. A brick well that drops down into a seemingly infinite pit of darkness. Dropping a rock would only result in silence. At first, it was pretty exciting. Finding an old hidden place like this. It felt like we just discovered a dinosaur. But the feeling was short-lived lived for our giggles of excitement were broken by the sound of a loud crank of a wheel. Slowly turning for about a minute before a very large bucket comes into view. Slowly but surely making its way to the top. And when it does we stare into the bucket with udder confusion and shock. The words never leave our mouths but we could read what it says. At the bottom of the bucket carved into it. It reads…
“HOP ON IN”
We stood there for at least a minute. The whole time expecting to hear someone or something say anything. Or for the bucket to go back down. But in the brief moment, Nothing happened. Then Sarah to one step back. The sound and movement slow and careful. As she does this the Bucket slowly descends back down into darkness, much slower than before. The sound of the wheel making noise again takes me out of my paused state as I two begin to move back from the well. As I take my steps back my attention slowly moves towards the floor as I see a rather small rock rise from the ground. I guess it must have really distracted me because I was so transfixed on the rock rising from the floor that I hadn’t realized that I was still moving backwards. This resulted in me hitting my head on a lowered part of the ceiling and as this happens I snap out of my carefulness and began to casually walk over to the rock.
Sarah seeing me march over to something, goes to meet me at whatever I’m about to go to. And we both stop right at the rock. Sarah quickly noticed it and both of us bent down to see what the hell this meant. We whispered a few ideas back and forth but the correct one was figured out by Sarah.
Sarah- Oh look, the rock is moving at the same pace as the bucket!
Maxus- Yeah…
Sarah- It’s some sort of mechanism that’s pulling this bucket up and down.
At that exact moment, she proves her point by stepping on the rock and as she predicted, the bucket starts to rise. I don’t know why my brain at the time couldn’t figure out such a simple pully system. Especially when I was the first one to see the rock. Anyway, Sarah took her foot off and the bucket began to go back down and the rock began to come back up. Not long after that, our relief soon became excitement once again as we explored and took pictures of this strange find. We did this for about ten minutes before sitting down and actually resting. We sat for quite a bit while Sarah was going through her probably dozens of pictures. I took three. As she did that I sat there in silence thinking about how neat of a find this was. But in that moment I couldn’t help but wonder, who could have made this? And how long has it been here? My questions quickly fade to the back of my mind as the sun beams my eyes. blinding me temporarily before they adjusted. And Looking out I saw that it was nearing the evening. For a second I’m distracted by the beautiful sunset. The sky turning into a pink and orange colorful horizon. But then it hits me.
We have not been here long enough for it to be the evening! Or was I going crazy? We got to the base of the mountain by like 2:30 PM. We hadn’t been there for more than an hour. Right!? At the time I brushed it off. My rationality being that I was bad at keeping track of time. In hindsight… I wasn’t crazy. We left and set off back to the house though I couldn’t help but look back over and over. I was paranoid! And I didn’t know why. The mountain now seems more like a looming figure. Something about its jagged shape and dark caves gave me a chill. Compared to the rest of the desert the mountain seemed untouched by life. Animals and cacti alike. Sarah didn’t seem fazed however. And in fact, seemed pumped to have found it checking her schedule to see when she could come back out next. About halfway back she noticed my lack of excitement.
Sarah- Hey what’s up?
Maxus- Nothing, why do ask?
Sarah- You just seem…
Maxus- did you get that feeling?
Sarah- (A look of confusion)
Maxus- Like- like the mountain is hiding something. Something it doesn’t want to show.
Sarah- (Giggles) Uhh no, can’t say I felt that. Do you have something against poor old Mr. Mtn? (Giggles)
Maxus- (Glares)
Sarah- OK ok. I mean at first it was a little creepy and the cave drawings were… questionable. But I think this is cool! Think of what could be down there! Diamonds, gold, old pennies and stuff.
Maxus- …
Sarah- You don’t have to go back if you don’t want to. I get that you’re still a little spooked by that whole bucket thing.
Maxus- Maybe one day we go back and check it out again. But I’m gonna give it some time.
Sarah- Agreed.
Little did I know, I wouldn’t be going back. The next two years were uneventful. Though I noticeably left the house less often. And I felt the comfort of the Ranch starting to fade away. Which is why I moved out about one year after the trip. The mountain was too close. And for some unknown reason, I couldn’t bear it! Every night since that trip I felt like it was watching me. Like it knew something I didn’t. I’m sounding crazy I know. I was self-aware enough at the time to know that I thought I was being irrational. To put it simply. I was afraid of nothing. however recently, I found something to be afraid of. Sarah was reported missing four nights ago. She was reported by her boyfriend. saying she had told him that she was “going to a lake with some friends” and was only supposed to be gone for most of that day. But I know where she had really gone. They have a search crew out there as we speak but any additional info would be appreciated.
Why did you have to go…