Kim and I wanted to go backpacking during spring break. It started with her showing me a post online of a beautiful rocky overlook with a waterfall in the distance. We hadn’t been on a real vacation since we were kids. Something about the picture made me feel nostalgic, remembering a nature reserve close to our childhood home. Once I mentioned the park to her, we were almost instantly making site reservations. We spent hours, late into the night, excitedly chatting about our upcoming trip together. I was looking forward to a week away with my best friend, and most definitely looking forward to a break from my thesis.
The days leading up to our trip were spent buying gear and supplies. We might have spent a little too much for the trip we were taking. The park wasn’t anything extravagant, nothing like a national park is, but it was still beautiful nonetheless with a nice, long hiking trail. We planned on spending our mornings hiking and taking in the sights, setting up camp in the early afternoons to relax in a secluded area. Even for this time of year, the park would hardly be busy. Most people are attracted to the nearby coasts and cities for spring break. Kim and I may just be lucky enough to have the park to ourselves, give or take a jogger or two.
Our drive to the reserve was peaceful once we got outside the campus and inner-city traffic. The scenery gradually shifted from businesses and residences to a heavy coverage of trees. We came across other cars at increasingly infrequent periods. Kim could hardly sit still in her seat, her excitement was plastered across her face. She planned on taking full advantage of the quietness to ‘meditate’ and ‘find her inner self.’ While I didn’t quite understand what she meant, I wasn’t going to complain because I knew I can find time to myself to catch up on some reading.
The drive took us a couple of hours to reach the park. We parked and unloaded the car, lugging a heavy bag of supplies over my shoulder. We had seven miles to hike before we made it to the first site of our trip. Kim wouldn’t stop complaining about halfway through already. I started getting annoyed before realizing myself we were both irritable from the drive and hike already. We were impatient to relax for the rest of the day. Our site was a very welcomed sight once it came into view. Kim and I started hanging our hammocks as soon as we could, desperate to get off our feet. Just as I suspected, we were the only ones in the park for break. We didn’t pass nor hear another person the whole time we were on our way to the campground. My car was the only car in the lot. It was looking to be a quiet, relaxing vacation, just as we needed.
As night fell, the park came more alive. We were still the only people here as far as I could tell. Nocturnal animals began to stir. Occasionally, we heard a coyote call here and a fox scream there. Growing up in the area, these sounds were commonplace to us. It felt good to be back home. I slid into my hammock and let the sounds of nature put me to sleep.
I wasn’t sure what time it was when I was startled awake, it must have been in the middle of the night. The stars shifted and it was still pitch black. I blinked and tried to see my way through the darkness. I wasn’t sure what woke me up at first, until the still of night was interrupted. In the short distance, a shrill, fear-stricken scream pierced the quiet veil of night. I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up. It sounded human. I woke Kim and told her what I heard. She played it oof as me hearing a fox and still being half asleep. After some minutes of bickering, she convinced me to try and go back to sleep. I stayed awake for what felt like an hour, not hearing another wail like before.
Daylight blinded me as I was scared awake once more. It was that scream again. I shot a look over to Kim, she was still asleep in her hammock. The scream rang once more, this time it sounded like it was on top of us. I took my utility knife out, my eyes frantically darting around trying to pinpoint the sound. It screamed again, however, something sounded off about it. It didn’t sound completely human anymore. It sounded like it was right above us in the trees now. I woke Kim and immediately put my finger to my lips, pointing up to where the scream originated. Her eyes went wide when she finally heard what I have been hearing since last night. Our eyes scanned the trees as the screaming continued. Suddenly, Kim began laughing almost uncontrollably. I glared at her and shushed her once more. She shook her head and pointed to a tree limb right above us. I followed her finger to a large, black mass perched over our hammocks. It screamed that same scream. I felt so stupid. The entire time I was shaking in fear, the sound that scared me was no less than a raven mimicking what could only be some hiker taking a fall on the trail. Relieved, I laughed alongside Kim. We were both put at ease to find out the disembodied shrieks were simply a bird making noises. We shooed it away from our site, and gave a scolding scream before it took off.
Our morning was peaceful afterwards. We packed up and headed further along the trail towards the next campsite. The views were beautiful, evergreens leading to tall oaks and tall hills. There were nor more signs of screaming, human or bird. Before we got to the next site, I had all but forgotten about the whole ordeal. We went through the same movements as the night before setting up camp.
We were up later tonight than last night. We weren’t as road fatigued. We had a nice roaring fire going by the time dusk set in. It seemed the raven decided to follow us. We began hearing its screams again in the close distance. Kim and I played with it for a few minutes, screaming back in reply. Once night fell, the bird settled in and became quiet as most birds do at night.
This morning, nothing woke me from my sleep. I stretched and emerged from my hammock. Right away I noticed Kim wasn’t in hers. I figured she went to find a private place to do her business. I decided to stoke the dying embers from last night and wait for her.
Almost half an hour goes by before I realized Kim still had not returned. I was about to make my way more into the woods to begin my search fore her when the raven returned. It gave me a cockeyed look before letting out its human screech. I shooed it away, but it continued to follow me. Another scream greeted me as I pushed deeper into the brush. It was another raven. With a different human voice. I was a little unsettled hearing not one, but two birds screaming bloody murder at me.
The longer I walked trying to find Kim, the more ravens joined in with their terrible screams. Every single raven screamed a unique scream. Soon there were over thirty ravens circling above me, a cacophony of human-like distress.
I came to a gathering of trees where another five or so birds were hunched and fighting over something on the ground. The ones trailing me made their descent onto the others. The shrill cries crescendo-ed to ear drum bursting levels. There was a flurry of black feather, claws, and bills as forty some birds fought over what was on the ground. A nearby deer caught sight of me, and darted off, cracking a branch in the process. The ravens, once fighting each other, now unanimously flew into the sky in reaction to the sudden sound. The place fell silent. Once the loose feathers settled, I was able to see what was on the ground. It was a human corpse. My initial reaction was to be sick, and so I was. The body looked to have been there for a few days at least. It was an obvious murder. Shaken, I stumbled backwards and felt a branch crack under my feet. Looking down proved to show it wasn’t a branch, but a human skull, hidden lazily under the forest leaves.
I was about to run when I heard the birds returning. Every single one of them screaming. I looked to the first body again. Its face was outstretched into the look of indescribable horror and pain. Like the person’s last sound they made was a life pleading scream. Like the ravens’ screams. Dozens of birds, screaming a different person’s dying scream. I was frozen in terror when I heard another scream, from a familiar voice…Kim.