We’ve had a mild winter. It already feels as if spring is on the way, and it scares me. I wish the cold stayed so the animals would keep hibernating.
Last summer I went camping with three friends. We were celebrating finishing our final year of high school. Each of us had plans for our future. This trip may be the last time we could spend real time together.
Kevin grew up in the country. He took the bus to get to our school because there weren’t any high schools in his tiny town next to ours. He went hunting often so was the one to help us set up all the tents. A large one for the girls, one for me, and a smaller one for him. He was used to sleeping rough, so he didn’t bring much. I wondered how well I would sleep on the ground that weekend.
We had fun on the first day. We swam and cooked the fish we caught. The girls stuck to the food we brought along while Kevin and I ate the fish. It wasn’t bad, but I’ll admit there was more flavor in a cheap can of beef stew. When night came, I was exhausted enough to fall asleep for six hours until my back hurt too much. At some point in the night animals had gotten into some of our food we didn’t properly store.
Kevin had put his up the right way. Me and the girls assumed raccoons couldn’t get into the locked coolers. Turns out, they could. Amanda and I took a quick trip back into town to restock. And to leave Kevin alone with Carly. Everyone knew he had a thing for her. But he waited too long to say anything, so she moved on to someone else. Someone else who cheated on her with at least three different girls. I didn’t know if he would try to swoop in to just comfort her or finally spill the beans about his years-long crush. Either way, we gave them two hours alone.
“Are you really moving?” I asked Amanda as we sat inside the borrowed truck killing time.
“Hell yes. This place is barely big enough for a Walmart to profit. I don’t want to get stuck in a dead-end job. I want to do something important.” She answered back.
I asked her what she wanted to do with her life. Aside from moving away her answer changed every other week. She had enough followers on her social media accounts to make some money. She met some online friends she planned on living with them to make more content. I did hope things worked out for her. The internet was fickle, but I think she had the mindset to pull it off. At least it appeared to me she knew how to follow trends.
“Are you happy taking over your father’s store?” She questioned.
I nodded but didn’t fully answer her question. I planned on helping with the store while I went to school. I wanted to become a veterinarian. However, I never told my three best friends that. I didn’t have that much confidence in my intelligence level. If I didn’t pass the course, I didn’t want people to know I failed at my life goal because I was too stupid to understand medical terms.
And there was another reason why I never told Kevin about my career choice. When we arrived back at camp, he made it clear how much we clashed over certain topics. I had asked him to leave his hunting rifle at home. He didn’t listen to me.
Carly was in her tent taking a nap. Kevin wasn’t in sight. Amanda stayed at the camp in case Carly woke up while I looked for our other friend. I saw him by the river, hands deep inside a poor animal he shot.
I like animals but I’m not against hunting. I respect people who hunt for food. And I understand that sometimes people need to hunt certain animals in numbers to keep the ecosystem in check. Who I didn’t respect were drunk rednecks that shot anything that moved in the woods. Kevin’s father was that type of person. He killed whenever he felt like it and left the bodies to rot.
“It was out during the day. Probably had rabies. You don’t want it hurting the girls now do you?” He said when he noticed I was watching him.
That was a lie. If he suspected the rabbit he shot had rabies, he wouldn’t be gutting it.
“How did it go with Carly?” I asked.
The air grew heavy between us. He didn’t need to say anything. I already knew the answer. He got rejected and went hunting to make himself feel better. I let myself wonder what type of person my friend was going to become. Was he going to end up like his father, or was he going to be better than that?
He walked over to the water to start washing off his hands.
“I’ll meet you back at the camp when I’m done with this. I have a cooler in the back of the truck to store the meat till I get home.” He said.
I nodded then started away. Before I got too far, he started speaking again.
“I didn’t tell her. I know she sees me as a friend. I don’t want to ruin that or make the time we have left awkward.”
That made me smile. It gave me hope his father hadn’t passed down as much as I thought. I headed back to our small camp ready to have a relaxing day with my friends. Kevin put away the skinned rabbit without letting the girls see it. His clothing had a few spots of blood that thankfully no one else noticed. I knew both the girls loved rabbits. They would be upset knowing a dead one was so nearby.
We ended up talking the day away and then taking a small hike to wear ourselves out before dinner. As night started to fall, we let Kevin make a fire. We then busted out the marshmallows as a long-awaited treat.
Amanda took out her phone to record our little get-together. Normally I hated being on video, but I humored her. She suddenly let out a scream a few minutes into us roasting marshmallows. I shot to my feet worried there was something wrong. A pair of reflective eyes met mine off in the darkness of the woods.
“What are those?” Amanda asked as she darted behind me.
I’ll admit, seeing more eyes appear was freaky. Soon the culprit made itself known. A fat raccoon with a notch in its ear came waddling out of the trees. It studied us for a few seconds. Then a marshmallow landed near him.
“What?” Carly asked as we all turned to look at her.
“You shouldn’t feed them,” I told her.
“He’s cute.” She shrugged.
Amanda’s fear faded when she saw the fat animal. She also tossed a treat over to him. I sighed and let the girls baby-talk the creature as they fed it.
“Don’t let it get too close.” Kevin warned aware of what diseases raccoons carried.
The raccoon picked up each treat and brought it back to the woods. Then another raccoon took the marshmallow from him. It looked like he was sharing with all the other animals before he ate anything. But raccoons weren’t that smart, right? To test this theory, I tossed another marshmallow after Carly did.
The raccoon picked up both, then dropped them off to the unseen hoard in the trees. Maybe it was sharing. But why would it do that?
“You guys really shouldn’t be feeding them like this.” Kevin said sternly.
“Oh, come on, they should get a little treat.” I half-joked already siding with the girls.
I couldn’t help myself. The little guy was cute. Soon we ran out of treats to throw to the critter. Kevin held the last marshmallow in his hand. No more eyes stared at us from the woods. I guessed all the other raccoons but the leader had eaten. It got brave and walked right up to Kevin close enough for them to touch. Their eyes met. A small paw was raised silently asking for what Kevin held. For a second, it looked like he was going to give in. We all groaned when he popped the marshmallow in his mouth ignoring the creature.
“That was just mean.” I told him and looked around for something else to give our little guest.
I had a granola bar which wasn’t as good as a marshmallow. But it was something. I swear the little guy nodded as he took his treat and left back into the woods.
“This is so going to get views.” Amanda said overjoyed she got most of the exchange on video.
“No good ever came from feeding wild animals.” Kevin told us, bringing the entire mood down.
“It was just one time.” I weakly stated.
“How many other people camp here and say the same thing?” He pointed out.
I nodded and agreed with him. I almost felt bad but come on. Those little hands were cute. I couldn’t help myself.
We all decided to go to sleep after dinner. I found it hard to fall asleep on the bumpy ground. I should have brought an air mattress or something. My tent was next to Carly’s and Amanda’s. They whispered for hours, giggling over things I didn’t hear. I wasn’t even upset they were making so much noise. It’s not as if I was sleeping either way.
At some point, I did drift off. I woke up sometime before dawn needing to pee. I hated going into the woods in the dark. I was always scared if I went too far into the trees, I would get lost. I found my flashlight and groaned as I sat up.
I started walking but a whispering sound made me stop. Were the girls awake? I strained my ears trying to hear. No, it didn’t sound like them. An odd smell was in the air. I guided the beam of my flashlight over to the source of the strange sound. It landed on the open flap of Kevin’s tent.
Was he listening to something on his phone? No, he didn’t seem like the type. I got closer and then noticed tracks outside his tent. I could have sworn they weren’t there before.
“Hey Kev…” I half whispered to give him a warning before I opened the front of his tent.
What I saw made my brain stop working for a few seconds. So many eyes reflected the light in the darkness. The noises I had heard stopped all at once the moment I caught these creatures in the act. Kevin’s tent had been filled with all sorts of small animals. I didn’t think this many could even fit inside the small space. To my sheer horror, my friend was also still inside.
He was on his back, his skin pale. Clouded eyes stared up into the mass of creatures crowding the tent. His entire stomach had been ripped open by teeth and sharp claws. A few raccoons even had their heads buried in the flesh when I opened the tent. They slowly lifted their heads looking like a dog caught in the act of stealing treats.
“You were right.”
A voice came from inside. One so deep I could barely understand the words. By some miracle, I kept my dinner down as my eyes scanned around trying to find the source of the voice. A fat raccoon crawled over to sit on what was left of Kevin’s chest. The ear with the notch twitched as the creature displayed a far too-human smile.
“We do deserve a little treat.” It spoke in that deep dark voice.
I don’t remember much of what happened next. I dropped the flashlight and started screaming. The girls came out of their tent, scared and confused. I knew they couldn’t see what I just had. I rushed them into the truck making them promise not to come out as I looked for the keys. Dread came to my chest as I realized the keys must be in Kevin’s tent. I didn’t know if I was brave enough to get them. The leader of the pack must have known that. It walked out, blood covering its face and keys in its mouth.
The raccoons dropped them in the dirt and then walked away to finish the meal. The rifle was inside the truck, but I didn’t bother grabbing it. There was no way I could kill all those animals. I was lucky enough that they were letting us leave.
I drove off ignoring the questions from the girls about what was going on. There was a ranger’s station near the entrance of the campsite. I hurried our small group inside, thankful to see someone still awake.
The middle-aged ranger didn’t appear as surprised as I thought he would be when we rushed through the door.
“An animal attacked my friend.” I sputtered out.
I knew I would be called crazy if I said what I really saw. I was given a raised eyebrow as the ranger got more details about where our camp was. He agreed to go out and see for himself what happened. He called the police as well simply because he wasn’t certain if the animal attack was a lie. When they arrived to keep watch, the ranger and an officer left to see what happened to my friend.
I wasn’t able to answer any questions. I simply said I saw Kevin hurt inside his tent and made us leave in case what had attacked him was still around. The girls weren’t buying that. My reaction was far too extreme for what I was saying.
The ranger came back with the officer. The cop looked as pale and shaken as I was. However, the ranger appeared completely calm.
“Looks like it was a bear attack. Your friend must have had food in his tent. Terrible thing. But this is what happens when people feed the wildlife.” The ranger said sounding like he was accusing us of something.
I couldn’t meet his eyes. He knew what happened. And he knew we were at fault for Kevin not coming home from this trip. The girls started to cry, not understanding how they didn’t hear the bear when their tent had been so nearby. I decided then to never let them know what really happened. I don’t think they could forgive themselves.
It was a bear attack. That’s what everyone thought. It seems as if most of Kevin’s body disappeared after we left the campsite. A depressing mood fell over the entire town. We hadn’t had a bear attack in years. So many people mourned for a teenager unable to finally experience an adult life.
I had hoped everything ended in those woods. A few days after I arrived home, I found out how foolish that hope was.
In the middle of the night, I heard terrible noises outside. I carefully walked to the back door to peek outside. I saw small shapes moving around in the dark. I quickly ran back into my bedroom to hide under the blankets like a child.
Our trash cans had been raided that night. These creatures were just animals though, right? If I stayed inside, I would be safe. Again, I was proved wrong. The second night I came downstairs to see the back door ajar, even though I knew I had locked it. That simple act was a warning.
I started putting out food for those nighttime creatures. It lasted well into the winter until they finally stopped coming around. But since it started to get warmer again, I’ve heard chattering in the dark. I don’t want to risk missing a night, so the offerings are happening again.
I fully regret feeding that raccoon that night. The only silver lining was Carly and Amanda were spared the truth. The animals haven’t been after them. Just me. But if I miss just a single night, I fear they may be next.
Please don’t make my mistake and feed the wildlife. Once you start, animals change. They stop fearing humans and see us as nothing but a source of food.