[Part 1] Six of us arrived at remote and mysterious Loch Kaille. And something was watching.
*
Hearing my outcry, Leon and Coll turned back and rushed along the shore to my side.
By the time they reached me the pain in my arm had dulled and the angry red marks had faded to little more than pale pink blemishes.
Leon: “Kate, are you okay?”
Me: “I saw something by those trees.”
Coll: “A person?”
Me: “Yes. I think – I think they were watching me. I think they were wearing horns.”
Behind me, the rest of the group were wading back through the water. Aaron was way ahead, and he reached my blanket first.
Aaron: “What’s wrong?”
Leon: “Some perv in fancy dress was spying on Kate from the trees.”
Aaron grabbed his clothes from the pile and started to dress.
Me: “What are you doing?”
Aaron: “I’m going to go and check it out.”
Leon: “We’ll come too.”
Me: “Guys, wait.”
But Aaron, Leon and Coll were already hurrying towards the pines. As they went Aaron called back to me.
Aaron: “Stay with the others!”
From the shallows, Mona and Max finally reached my blanket.
Mona: “Did you see something, Kate?”
Me: “A person. Through my…”
I plucked my Hag Stone from where I had dropped it onto the blanket.
I needed to go after the boys. I reached for my jeans and pulled them on over my swimsuit.
Mona: “Didn’t Aaron say to stay here?”
I pulled on my shirt and slipped on my trainers.
Mona: “I really think you should stay with us, Kate.”
I started running.
I was through the treeline and into the forest in seconds. It was darker beneath the canopy, and it took a few moments for my eyes to adjust.
Me: “Guys?”
I couldn’t see them, but their path through the pine needles was obvious. As I followed their trail I heard voices shouting up ahead. I made for the sound, picking up my pace.
I stepped out of the trees and into a large clearing to find Aaron, Leon and Coll quiet and stationary. They were staring at a cavemouth, a dark and foreboding opening in a rocky forest rise.
Me: “What’s going on?”
Aaron: “We found a cave. The person you saw might be inside.”
Me: “You’re not going in there?”
In response, Aaron marched forwards. Leon and Coll were right behind him.
Once Aaron reached the cavemouth, he paused.
Aaron: “Hello?”
No reply so, without another word, he ducked inside. Leon and Coll followed.
Even though a voice in my head was warning me not to, I decided to enter as well.
Inside, a low tunnel led us to an open space, a kind of chamber. Holes in the cave roof let in shafts of light and we were all able to stand straight.
In one corner of the chamber there was an empty stove and piles of dirty blankets. Crow, pheasant, and songbird feathers adorned simple wooden furniture. There were hanging rabbit and rodent skins, dried herbs, jars of viscous liquids, but no person.
Aaron: “Wow.”
We each began to investigate the chamber.
I found a crooked shelf stacked with animal shells and fossilised spirals.
Coll: “How have we never found this place before? I thought we explored every inch of this forest when we were kids.”
Aaron: “Might be new. A fisherman’s retreat. I bet all these feathers are for fly tying.”
Me: “What about the dead animals?”
Aaron: “Fly fishermen use all sorts of weird stuff to make their flies.”
Aaron picked up an eerie feather doll from a table. It was a human-like figure made from feathers, dirty string, nails and a pinecone. He held it up for us all to see.
Aaron: “Look at this, guys.”
Leon: “I think we should leave.”
Aaron: “I didn’t scare you with all that witch talk earlier did I, bud?”
Leon didn’t reply which was all the answer Aaron required.
Aaron: “Okay, let’s go. It looks like whoever Kate saw is long gone anyway.”
I noticed Aaron pocket the feather doll as he spoke. Dread rose in my chest.
Me: “You’re not taking that, are you?”
Aaron: “A souvenir. To remember the trip by.”
Aaron strode back towards the tunnel before I had a chance to protest further.
Aaron: “Come on, guys.”
Keen to be anywhere else, we all followed Aaron out of the cave.
*
After leaving the cave we spent another couple of hours at the lochshore. I tried to enjoy myself but I was still so shaken by the figure I’d seen standing at the treeline.
Despite my unease, I didn’t tell the others about the red marks on my forearm. They’d faded to virtually nothing and I was worried I would sound insane if I spoke up. And, anyway, hadn’t Aaron grabbed me by the arm when we were crossing the river? Maybe I’d imagined the pain and the marks were from Aaron’s hand all along.
When I got home maybe I’d even pitch all this as a light-hearted feature to my boss for the site’s October content. The headline and strap could be something like;
In the Age of Internet Horror I Travelled to the Scottish Highlands in Search of My Very Own Creepypasta
– Reader beware this girl had a ‘mare!
I’d write the piece in a comic, Goosebumps-like tone and chuckle to myself at the thought of me ever finding anything about Loch Kaille frightening.
The lies we tell ourselves.
As the sun dipped towards the horizon, we all headed back to the campsite. I spent some time making the inside of my tent just so, and then I changed into some warm clothes.
I unzipped my tent flap and stepped outside. Four more tents encircled the log benches, and the benches themselves surrounded a crackling campfire. I rubbed my cold hands together and made for an empty bench on the opposite side of the fire to where Max was sitting.
As I sat, Max took a swig of his beer and gave me a creepy smile over the flames.
Thankfully, Leon soon came over from where he, Mona and Coll had been bunched around a little camping stove.
Leon: “Kate! We made sausage and beans!”
Leon handed me one of the mess tins he was carrying, then a fork from his pocket as he sat down next to me.
Me: “This actually looks half-edible.”
Leon: “I know! Mona and Coll really know what they’re doing.”
As we ate, Aaron emerged from his tent at the head of the campsite. He was carrying a small action camera, and he sat on a free bench near to the fire.
Aaron: “Guys, I’ve had a great idea. I’m going to record all of tonight on this little baby.”
Max: “You really want your drunken birthday party documented for all to see?”
Aaron: “I’ll delete it before we head back to the real world, but it’ll be hilarious to look back on tomorrow.”
Mona and Coll joined Aaron on his bench. Mona was carrying a portable speaker and Coll had a bottle of vodka.
Mona: “As long as my terrible dancing doesn’t end up on TikTok, I’m game.”
Me: “I think we’re safe. Leon has been pining over his lack of Wi-Fi all day.”
Leon’s gob was full of food but he still managed to give me the stink eye.
Aaron: “Perfect. I’ll set it up and then we can see out the night in style.”
True to his word, Aaron set the little camera up on a low branch at the edge of the clearing. Then we opened the vodka.
I’d hoped the alcohol would help me forget everything that happened in the afternoon, and it did.
The night passed in a blur of drinking, laughing and dancing. I had a pillow fight with Mona whilst we sat on Leon and Coll’s shoulders. At midnight we opened a bottle of champagne and I took a group photo with my camera.
The party continued until the early hours when there was a flash of lightning and the heavens opened.
Aaron rushed off to retrieve his action camera and the rest of us darted into our tents to escape the downpour. I collapsed into my sleeping bag and fell asleep instantly.
I’d managed to distract myself with the party but the antler figure followed me into my dreams.
I was back at the lochshore, watching all six of us assemble in the shallows, the water up to our ankles. Real me was rooted to the spot on the shore with the antler creature standing by my side.
As I screamed warnings that went unheeded, my doppelgänger walked up to Aaron and sank some kind of short jagged antler into his heart. He toppled and then my double moved onto the others.
As they fall, your scars will rise. So too will you rise.
That was what the creature whispered into my ear as I watched my friends die, as I watched the six marks on my arm flare into life with each of their passing.
As my double plunged the antler dagger into her own heart I jolted awake.
As they fall, your scars will rise. So too will you rise.
I sat up in my sleeping bag. My arm was throbbing and my chest ached. As I rolled up my sleeve I saw that one of my scars, the second from the left, was raised, painful and angry. The others were hardly visible.
I wasn’t able to dwell on it however because a hysterical scream sounded through the campsite. It was the kind of agonised howl you only ever hear when something is very, very wrong.
I crawled out of my tent and squinted as sunlight stung my eyes. Mona was kneeling on the wet ground outside Aaron’s tent, crying.
I rushed over to her side.
Me: “Mona, what’s wrong?”
Mona: “Aaron, he’s – I think he’s dead.”
Max appeared from inside his tent.
Max: “What are you talking about?”
He raised his voice.
Max: “Aaron, get out here!”
Now Leon and Coll arrived. Coll knelt beside Mona and she collapsed into his arms, sobbing.
Max: “Aaron?”
When Aaron still didn’t answer I exchanged a troubled look with Leon.
Leon: “Kate, wait.”
But I was already heading into Aaron’s tent through the loose tent flap.
Inside, Aaron lay face up in his sleeping bag. His skin was pale and he didn’t appear to be breathing.
I gently shook his shoulder.
Me: “Aaron, wake up. Aaron.”
No response so I put a finger to his neck.
No pulse.
I turned to where the group were all stooped and peering in through the tent flap. I shook my head and they all turned away, distraught.
I crawled out of Aaron’s tent and stood straight.
Leon: “How did this happen?”
Me: “He must have died in his sleep somehow.”
Max: “Aaron was super-fit. He can’t have just died in his sleep you dumb bitch.”
Leon: “Hey, watch your mouth.”
I put a hand to Leon’s side.
Me: “It’s okay.”
Max: “You must have checked wrong, let me try.”
I stepped into Max’s path, blocking his way.
Me: “No one else can go in the tent. Technically – technically it’s a crime scene.”
The group went silent, shocked by what I had just said. I raised my palms.
Me: “Look, I’m not saying anyone’s at fault, we just need to do everything right until we know exactly what’s happened.”
Coll: “Maybe it was an undiagnosed heart condition, you hear about them all the time.”
Max: “Well that sounds very convenient.”
Coll: “What?”
Max: “I’m just saying that it’s pretty obvious your girl prefers Aaron to you. Maybe you did something about it.”
Leon: “You have no idea what you’re talking about, Max.”
Max: “Well maybe they did it together then.”
Me: “Max, you need to calm—”
Max: “Don’t tell me to calm down. Twenty-five-year-old super athletes do not just die in their sleep.”
Leon: “Well what about you then? Kate told me what sort of person you are, what you did in the nightclub at Aaron’s twenty-fourth.”
Max: “And what exactly was that?”
Leon: “You got blind drunk, came on to a girl who clearly wasn’t interested and then started a fist fight with her boyfriend.”
Max: “That’s bollocks. In fact, if Kate can lie about that, she can lie about anything. Seeing a Peeping Tom by the loch, I bet that was just a lie to cover her tracks.”
Leon: “And I suppose she made up the cave we all saw as well, did she?”
Still on the ground, Mona wailed.
Mona: “Just stop it, all of you!”
There was a heavy silence. I drew a deep breath.
Me: “We need to contact the police.”
Leon reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
Leon: “Still no signal.”
Coll: “It’s the metal ore in the hills. You can’t use phones here.”
Max: “Fine. I’ll head back to the cars and drive out until I get a signal. I’ll call the police and then bring them back up here.”
Me: “Okay. That’s actually a pretty good idea.”
Max: “But none of you touch anything whilst I’m gone. If anything’s different when I get back, I’ll personally make sure you all rot in prison for the rest of your lives.”
Without another word, Max stormed away from the group and into the trees.
Almost as soon as Max left the clearing I remembered the pain in my arm.
I turned away from the group and pulled up my sleeve. The raised red mark on my forearm was bleeding.
It was finally impossible to refute what I had known deep down ever since the antler figure had Marked me. Six scars, six people. The Marks on my arm were linked to the six souls of our party. And it was the creature that had made it so.
As Aaron died, one of my Marks came to life. As Aaron began to decay in his tent, so too did one of my scars begin to fester. To fester and bleed.
We needed to escape this place.
*
More to follow but being away from the loch, it weakens me. For now I must rest.
– Faux