The night was colder than I had thought it would be. I hate the cold. The wind-resistant parka that Travis gave me as a gift was helping, but I was still sitting cross legged in front of the fire. I gave him so much crap about that damn jacket, telling him I would never have need to wear it, but here I am. I just hope I can see him again.
Liz was tending to a now traumatized Zara. We had no idea what was going on, but for whatever reason, it was affecting her the most. Always so head strong and stubborn, apparently the revelation of what’s happening is finally getting to her, and the mental imagery of the possibilities were too much to handle. There was still no sign of Avery. I hoped with everything in me that she was okay, but if she didn’t show up by morning, we may have to move on without her. I hated the thought, but I didn’t see many other options.
This whole thing started off as a final getaway for the old crew. Liz would be leaving for Officer Candidate School in the U.S. Army, Zara taking a position in Paris for the next year, Avery tending to her upcoming wedding, and me leaving for Chicago in the next month, we knew that we would be moving on in our own lives. Being best friends since our freshman year of college, we knew it would happen eventually, but when the day finally came, it seemed so surreal.
We thought of a spa weekend, but shot that down due to not everybody having the sufficient funds. Horseback riding was brought up, but Avery declined due to the excessive weight she already carries on her chest. Apparently, the potential bouncing seemed hazardous on her back, so yeah. Liz came up with the idea of a four-day camping trip. Just the four of us, backpacks strapped to our shoulders, braving the wilderness.
Our significant others thought that this was the funniest thing. Four city girls, alone in the wilderness, no experience, no supplies, just relying on their wits. Ethan, Avery’s husband to be, suggested going to an amusement park or something similar. That one sounded like fun to me, but Liz and Zara both jumped into a fit when the boys doubted our keen survival abilities. I charged in with the fact that this weekend wasn’t about proving anything to the boys, and it was all about us having a good time together before we all parted. I was outvoted three-to-one, since Avery decided that proving to her new husband that women are capable of doing man things was more important.
I’m not denying that it would have been nice to prove the four of them wrong, but I was more interested in having one last girl’s trip. Not doing something like this out of spite. But I’m sworn to uphold the vote, which is why we are in our current predicament. We could be getting shit faced drunk and riding roller coasters, but apparently, we’re sitting in the dark and hoping our friend turns up by morning. I don’t think any of us are going to get any sleep tonight.
This whole thing started off easy enough. We parted ways with our significant others’ back in the city. Travis gave me my jacket, saying that the Catskills can get pretty chilly at night. I made a joke about the jacket being useless, but thanked him again for the unconventional gift, which I am more than grateful for as of right now. He also handed me a thirteen-inch orange handled machete, which he said his father had given him. He wanted me to have it for our trip, that way it felt like he was there with me.
I strapped his machete to my belt and gave him a kiss. I told him that carrying a machete seemed a bit extreme for a four-day hiking trip, but I appreciated his gesture, and told him that I felt much better that his machete would be carrying his spirit along with me. That machete is currently sitting on my lap, unsheathed, and ready to be unleashed. I’m not proficient in machete related combat, but oddly enough, it feels like he’s here walking me through all of this, and for that I’m more at peace.
When we got to the start of the trail, we took the obligatory selfie. Yeah, four girls, ready for an epic adventure, might as well take a selfie. Had I known that would be the last piece of photographic evidence of the four of us together, I would have made sure to send it to as many people as possible. But that is neither here nor there.
Avery started having trouble about halfway through the first hour of walking. I don’t even know if we had hit the mile marker yet. The girly ass Avery wasn’t used to anything this active, and I think in her head, she made this out to be easier than it was. Yes, sweetheart, this is going to be hard. You’re going to get sweaty. The wilderness won’t take your Master Card. There are no bathrooms.
It honestly looks like she went to some outdoor outfitter store and bought what she thought would look cute, as well as what society deemed an adventurer to look like. She was equipped with cargo shorts, a green button-up shirt, and a bucket hat. Cute, sure. She could probably model outfitter gear professionally. Especially with her dirty blonde hair and ginormous rack. I would bet my savings though that Ethan packed her bag for her, and she didn’t have the slightest clue about what any of her gear was used for.
Zara went a little more casual, though similarly, I feel like she was underprepared. She was wearing denim shorts, a little too tight around her butt, and a sleeveless tank top, which left a lot of skin exposed. On top of that, she would be running the risk of some serious panty chaffing after a few hours of walking. Even if she fell victim to the elements, she would play it off as if she was completely fine. That would be the death of her one of these days.
Liz, who arguably had the most experience, wore a long-sleeved spandex t-shirt with cargo shorts. She had a very short boyish haircut, so that kept the creepy crawlies at bay, or at the very least noticeable. She took the lead for most of the trip thus far, taking control of the map and the distance calculator. Always so headstrong.
“Guys, hold on. I need a smoke break,” Avery said, throwing her pack onto the ground and slumping up against a tree.
“I thought you quit smoking,” Zara said.
“I did. For Ethan. Ethan isn’t here,” she said, digging into her bra for a pack of cigarettes and a lighter.
“Avery, sweetie, I love you, but you might need to do a little bit of multi-tasking. We haven’t covered much distance, and we need to make sure to make camp before sunset,” Liz said.
“She’s right. We’ve haven’t made much ground,” I said.
Avery looked as if she was going to die. Suddenly a weekend at the amusement park didn’t seem like such a bad idea. She was sweating, which for Avery is an unheard-of phenomenon, and she didn’t look to be holding up very well. Not to mention I could smell the wine seeping through her pours, so I know she was probably hitting the bottle the night before. Everything was a party to Avery.
“Why can’t we just make camp here for the night?” she asked.
“Because, we’ve barely even gone down the trail,” Liz chuckled.
“Seriously, come on. It was an early morning. We’ve been walking for a while. Why not just rest here for the night and hit the trail super early tomorrow?” Avery asked, fighting for breath. You would swear she was running a marathon five minutes prior to this interaction.
“Fucking hell, Avery, just get up and let’s move. Give me two more hours of walking, then we’ll stop and make camp. Is that okay?” Liz asked.
We waited for Avery to finish her cigarette, and after a few minutes of arguing, we got her to her feet and convinced her to go a little further. Sadly, our efforts were in vain, and she only made it another hour down the trail before she just couldn’t go any further. Can’t lie and say that I didn’t see that coming. At the end of the day, Avery usually ends up getting her way, even if she has to whine you into submission.
We camped up near a small lake. It was honestly pretty cozy. It was nice and quiet, only hearing the subtle sounds of wildlife, and enjoying a nice cool evening breeze. We sat around shooting the shit for a few hours until the sun went down. Liz cleared out a small area of dirt to start a fire. We talked mad shit about our partners, and how they thought we wouldn’t be able to do something like this, and Zara fed us a few scary stories that her grandmother used to tell her based off of Middle Eastern folklore.
After passing around a blunt, we went into our tents for the night. I know a lot of people complain about not being able to sleep in the outdoors, but after the early morning we had, and the walking that we did, drifting off to sleep wasn’t even remotely hard for me. Liz built the fire up a little more to give us a little bit of additional light, competing only with the cloudless sky. The crackling from the wood offered the perfect amount of white noise to get me into the perfect lucid state for a good night’s sleep.
“Baby,” I heard coming from the trees.
I checked my watch. It was 4AM. It was still pitch-black outside. Was there somebody outside? I couldn’t differentiate who’s voice it could have been. It was loud enough to wake me up, but from what I could tell, it didn’t seem to have woken anyone else up. Baby?
“Where’s my baby,” the voice said again.
I heard it clear as day. It wasn’t close, but at the same time not incredibly far. I sat up and looked through the mosquito net of my tent. None of the others were moving, so they were still in a dead sleep. Was there someone else nearby? We didn’t go as far as we were expecting during the day, so it was possible that there were other campers nearby. I’m pretty sure we would have seen them at some point.
“Can you help me?” the voice said, this time coming from further in the trees.
The voice seemed to get further away each time I heard it. Despite that, it was also really easy to decipher what it was saying. It was a woman’s voice, but I’m afraid I couldn’t give any more information than that. She didn’t sound like she was in a panic, or in any kind of frenzied state. She seemed to be talking it a calm voice, but I’m only basing this off of the one sentence she was saying at a time.
Logic would have said stay in the tent, but before my head caught up to the rest of my body, I was halfway through unzipping it. I felt almost compelled to exit, but a lot of that seemed to be coming from my bladder, which needed a serious draining. I grabbed the machete from behind me and unsheathed it. I figured if I was going to go out in the middle of the woods at this hour, I should at least bring some sort of protection.
I tiptoed out of the tent and over to the tree line. I didn’t hear any sort of movement, so I couldn’t tell where this person was. My eyes were still adjusting, so my vision was trying to filter out darkness. I could only tell that there were trees in front of me, and that there were tents behind me. Or maybe it was the other way around.
I ducked underneath some tree branches that hit me in the face. I could feel the pine needles underneath my bare feet, which were cold. It had just dawned on me that I didn’t exit the tent with shoes on. Shit, a flashlight would have been helpful too. I was going at this blind. Eventually I was able to get to a point where I was able to stand up straight again.
“Hello?” I spoke.
I didn’t say it very loud, but in the silence of the wild, it sounded like I had shouted it. I took a single step forward, then felt a small hand grasping my pinky finger. I turned to see what the hell it was through the darkness. It just pulled on my finger. I realized that there was someone grabbing my finger with very small hands.
“You shouldn’t have spoken to it.”
I pulled my hand free and moved backwards frantically. The light whisper of the child’s voice in the darkness was probably the most terrifying thing that I had ever heard in my life. I wanted to run, but the fact that it was a child made me think twice. What if it was a child in distress? Shit, Jake, in the middle of the night out in the forest? Get your shit together girl!
“GIVE ME MY BABY BACK!”
The desperate scream directly in my ear caused me to fall backwards. My back hit the ground and my machete went flying to the side. That was definitely something. I could still feel the hot breath of the woman’s voice on my ear. I crawled for the machete, but was really only getting my fingers pricked with pine needles and other dead shrubbery.
Through my blind state, I felt my fingertips hit the rubber from the handle of the machete. Things had gone deathly quiet. I was petrified, too afraid to move, and trying my hardest to scrape the machete against the ground and over to me. I was able to get it to where it was sitting comfortably in my hand again.
I lay there in the dirt, waiting for the ability to move again. My head was telling me to get up and run, but it just wasn’t an option for me. I could hear footsteps around me. Light footsteps, but they were circling me. I wanted to beg for mercy of some sort, but I didn’t know who, or what I was speaking to, and didn’t even really know what was happening.
Suddenly, the world around me seemed to stop moving. Something in the air was just different. My surrounding area became a touch brighter, but still not enough to be able to make any logical conclusions about anything. However, the dozen or so black silhouettes standing shoulder to shoulder in front of me were more than easy to notice.
In the blink of an eye, all of the shadow figures were gone, and the darkness surrounded me again. It was like nothing had happened. Then, within second, the area became illuminated mildly yet again, this time revealing the same dark silhouettes towering over me from the trees. The lifeless bodies of so many people hung there suspended, right over me, surrounding my immediate vicinity.
“Please help,” came the voice of a very frightened child.
All of a sudden, I was met with the loud agonizing screams of Avery. It was daylight. I was laying in the dirt in only my pink and white baseball tee, no pants, no shoes, no socks, holding the machete. There was nothing surrounding me except trees. I was so confused. Just seconds ago, it was dark outside, but now I could vividly see the sunlight through the canopy of the trees.
I stood up, finally able to move now that I could see what was in front of my face. It turned into a regular forest again. I ran towards Avery’s voice. I was no fewer than three-hundred-feet in the trees. I had absolutely no idea how I had made it that far inside. Last I remember, I wasn’t far from where we made camp.
I got to the camp site, where Avery sat on the ground holding her ankle. Between her toeas were cherry red coals from the firepit that smoldered in the shape of a footprint. Zara exited the lake, not wearing a single stitch of clothing, and Liz emerged from her tent, which was collapsed on top of her. I guess I wasn’t the only one that had a weird night.
I ran over to Avery. She had stepped directly in the hot coals. Her foot was already starting to blister. Zara looked around confused for her clothes, and found them on the shoreline around twenty feet from our camp. This wasn’t normal.
“Shit, this fucking hurts,” Avery cried.
I’ve seen Avery cry before. Lots of times, actually. Not like this. This wasn’t one of her wore the same dress as someone else to the club kind of cry, or even the boyfriend found out I was cheating on him kind of cry. This was the kind of crying that came with actual physical pain.
“What the fuck happened?” Zara asked.
“I don’t fucking know. I woke up with my foot hurting,” she cried some more.
“Why am I naked? And wet? What the fuck happened?” Zara continued to look around at the varying states of disarray.
“Flying fuck, Liz. What the fuck did you make us smoke?” I asked.
“Nothing. It was shit I got from the dispensary,” she said, trying to collect her thoughts.
Avery’s foot was looking bad. Her toes were starting to blister together. The burns were extensive enough, and for once I don’t think she was being dramatic. She definitely couldn’t walk on it. We didn’t have any ice. I rubbed her foot lightly with some antiseptic and put one of her clean socks over it. Probably wasn’t the best way to take care of it, but I was going with what we had available in the one first aid kit that we had between the four of us.
“Lets just go back,” Avery said.
Liz gave her a face that was worthy of being punched. She acted as if Avery didn’t just step in hot coals. I love Liz. She’s my best friend, but even I’ll admit giving her that “this is ridiculous” type face was uncalled for. I know she wanted to have a girl’s adventure weekend, as did the rest of us in most capacities, but this injury was serious enough, and we had three more days of this trip planned.
“Liz, it looks pretty bad. Maybe we should just call this one a loss and go back,” I suggested.
“It’ll be fine,” she said.
“Liz, she’s blistering. She won’t make it another three days walking on it. I’m sorry, but she needs medical attention. We didn’t make it that far. It’s a lot easier to go back the way we came,” I snapped.
“She’s right. Liz, it’ll only be a couple hours of walking before we get back to the car. We can find something else to do before we all leave. But Avery needs to see a doctor,” Zara said, pulling her shirt over her head.
Liz sighed. I have no clue why she was so determined to finish out this hiking trip. I was enjoying it too, but after what just happened, I was far from interested in braving another night out here. Plus, Avery was in pain. I thought that alone would be reason enough to go back. It sucks we had to call the weekend off early, but our hands were kind of tied. Liz stayed silent for about a minute, but then started to pack up what we had.
I kept what I had experienced to myself and I gathered my belongs and put them in my bag. I wouldn’t even know how to address it. I also had no clue what the three of them had gone through. You don’t just wake up with your foot in a fire, or naked in a lake, or with your tent caved in on top of you. I was positive it was the result of something that we had smoked, but it all felt so real.
It took some work to get Avery into her hiking boots. It took even more work to get her on her feet and to get her to carry her pack. We started taking the route back to where we parked the car. It was a long freaking walk from where we camped. Avery was crying and limping the whole time. That was to be expected, but stopping every ten minutes so she could rest her foot was making our efforts counterproductive. I was sympathetic towards her, but even I was getting a little annoyed by it, despite seeing how much pain she was in.
We stopped after about two hours of walking to have lunch. We were trying to get back as fast as we could, so he saved our dehydrated meals, and instead just ate power bars. We had two each. No need in being too cautious. We had three days-worth of food left, and we should have arrived at the car within the next couple of hours at the pace that we were moving. That fucking blueberry power bar hit the spot just right.
We hobbled with Avery, Zara and I taking turns assisting her, while Liz stayed a good ways ahead, acting as a guiding point for us to follow. Avery collapsed yet again, leaning up against a tree, resting her back against it. That’s when I realized; it was the same exact tree she collapsed on the day before. Fucking coincidence from hell. Her cigarette butt was still sitting in the dirt where she extinguished it.
“Okay, so we’re about a mile away, give or take,” I said.
“You think you can handle one more mile without stopping or complaining?” Liz asked, looking down at Avery.
“What is your problem, Liz?” Avery asked, fighting through tears.
“My problem is that we are always having to put a stop to things because of you,” Liz barked.
“Liz, not cool,” I said in my calming mediator voice.
“I didn’t ask for this Liz,” Avery said.
“You always find a fucking way to make every little thing about you. Everything. Since fucking college. Seven fucking years of you ruining everybody’s good time.
“Hey, lets all just relax,” Zara said.
“No, come on Liz, give me your best shot,” Avery demanded.
“Okay, how about yesterday? You started complaining the second we started walking. How about today? You didn’t get your fucking way yesterday, so you made sure that you got it today.”
“Are you suggesting that I intentionally crippled myself?” Avery said, obviously appalled by the accusation.
“Liz, stop,” I said, with a much sterner voice.
Liz, who for fucks sake, I still love, made a monstrous move. Using her hiking boot, she stepped down on Avery’s foot. She screamed and cried out in pain. Liz just pressed on, keeping her foot on hers. Zara screamed at her to stop. I tried to ease her off of Avery, but when she refused to budge, I panicked. Before I knew it, the back of my hand had flown across Liz’s face. She fell backwards and landed on her pack, then wiped blood from her lip with her shirt.
“What is your fucking problem?” I asked, going back to tend to Avery.
“You fucking bitch,” Avery said through the tears.
I cradled her in my arms. That was completely uncalled for. I looked at Liz on the ground. I’ve never been so shocked by her behavior, or appalled by her actions. I don’t know what the fuck got into her, but I’ll be damned if she’s going to take this kind of approach to a friend. I know that’s some big talk coming from someone who just backhanded her best friend across the face, but I never claimed to be perfect.
Zara and I helped Avery back to her feet and started walking. Liz eventually stood back up and caught up to us. She stayed silent. We all did. Maybe the boys were right. Maybe we weren’t cut out for something like this. I won’t lie, a spa weekend didn’t sound horrible. Less than twelve hours in the wilderness and we’ve already resorted to embracing our primal instincts. It was time for us to get the hell out of there ad back home.
Awkward silence continued for another hour. We kept walking. Avery got a touch of tunnel vision and managed to keep on going, despite the pain that she was in. What should have taken us about an hour, turned into two. Two, turned into three, and three, turned into four. The sun was beginning to set in the direction that we were walking in. Finally, our silence was broken by Zara.
“No, this isn’t fucking right,” Zara said.
“What isn’t right?” Liz asked.
Zara bent down and picked up a cigarette butt from the ground. It was the same exact tree that we had stopped at earlier. How the fuck could that be? It was four hours since the last time we had passed this fucking tree. I was so confused, and my spirits were completely broken.
“No, we stayed straight on the same fucking trail, how the fuck did we end up back here?” Liz asked.
“We have to keep going,” Avery said.
“I don’t know how much longer we can go. The sun will be down in less than an hour,” I said.
The sun was setting relatively fast. When we left camp this morning, I assumed we would at the very least be driving back home by know. That wasn’t the case unfortunately. I didn’t want to be stuck in the woods for another night, but the dangers associated with getting a partially crippled girl through the woods in the dark was a high-risk factor.
“Okay, let me just check the map,” Liz said.
Liz pulled the map out and observed the surrounding. It all looked the same to me, and honestly with the sun going down, it looked even more the same to me, if that makes any sense. Liz was making full circles trying to figure out an alternate route, because apparently the same exact way we came in wasn’t working out for us.
“I don’t want to spend another night out here,” Avery whined.
“Its okay. We’ll figure it out,” I assured her.
“Okay, so if we make a round outside of these trees, we can eventually get to where we parked,” Liz said.
The trees that she was referring to were off in the distance. We were in one of the clearer parts of the forest, so it looked promising enough. At this point I would be willing to try literally anything. I wanted this pack off my back. I wanted an iced coffee. I wanted to sleep in a bed.
“How much of a detour is this?” I asked.
“It would take us a few more hours,” Liz said.
Everybody’s hearts sank. We had freedom at our fingertips, yet we couldn’t embrace it.If we took the detour, then we’d have a better chance at making it out, but we’d also be stuck spending another night out here. I was so fucking tired, I could honestly fall asleep outside again, even though it wasn’t my ideal scenario.
“Fuck,” I whispered.
“Okay, lets just start walking. If it’s getting too dark and we aren’t close enough to where the car is, we’ll make camp. But we’re almost out of daylight,” Liz put a sympathetic hand on Avery’s shoulder. “We’re all going to get out of here. I promise.”
We began walking yet again, and as predicted, within an hour we had lost all of the sunlight. It was such a luxury now that I was thinking about it, and I was beginning to miss it when it was down. Funny how quickly you can lose site of the little things when you’re pressed against the ropes.
“What’s that?” Zara asked, pointing off into the distance.
Out past the some of the trees was a small structure. It looked like a cottage, or a shack of some sort. Quite the catch too, because none of us seemed to be able to see it before she mentioned it. With all of the trees, rocks, and water that we’d passed, you would think a manmade structure would be the very first thing on all of our radar. Even in the dark, with visibility at a minimum, this was one of the greatest things that I had ever seen.
We made our way there, hoping to find somebody that could offer some level of assistance. Unfortunately, the small cabin was abandoned, and by the looks of it, had been for quite some time. Despite that loss, it was still a victory. If you’re ever stranded in the woods, trust me, celebrate all victories. Even the little ones.
“Do you think we should knock?” Liz asked.
Zara pushed her way in through the door, not caring about potential dangers that awaited on the other side. I followed shortly after her. She threw her backpack on the ground and then sprawled out on the floor. Liz scanned a headlamp that she hadn’t been using for some reason along the walls of the cabin. The place was dilapidated, with cobwebs on the walls, and missing panels from the architecture. As bad as it looked, it honestly felt like a four-star condominium.
Liz lit a fire in a wood burning stove, which helped to warm us up. After stopping our trek for the night, the cool air was starting to make my sweaty clothes even colder. Plus, the fire just added a tremendous psychological boost. Before we knew it, we were all laying on top of our sleeping bags devising our course of action for the morning. We decided to make a go at first light, and we wouldn’t stop until we got to the car.
Avery’s foot wasn’t looking great. I asked her questions about her wedding to keep her mind off of the pain. It seemed to help her out a little. I even got a few smiles. Zara used the wood burner to cook our dehydrated meals. My lasagna tasted surprisingly good for something that was bought in the camping aisle, and Avery really enjoyed her macaroni and cheese. All in all, not the worst night. Not yet.
Avery managed to fall asleep. It was nice to see her so peaceful. Today was a rough day for her. It was a rough day for all of us, but we had the luxury of both of our feet working properly. I was happy that we would be home by tomorrow night. As girly as it sounds, I was really looking forward to cuddling up near Travis in our big bed. Never been one for to be super sappy, but I missed him. Even in the short amount of time that we’ve been apart.
Liz stripped down into her sports bra and underwear and then hopped into her sleeping bag. I still had a few choice words for her. This matter wasn’t dropped. I don’t know what came over her in the past two days, but we would have a lengthy discussion about it. This wasn’t like her.
“Guys,” Zara called from an adjuring room. She was visible through a partition in the wall. I didn’t want to get up, but I did before I got too comfortable. Liz stood up from her sleeping bag and followed me towards Zara. Avery was clocked out, so I didn’t want to wake her.
“What is it?” I asked.
Zara pointed to the wall. It was dark, and the only real light I had to see with was from the open wood burning stove. I got close to the wall, leaning over a decaying countertop. My blood ran absolutely cold. This wasn’t happening. There is no possible way. Liz examined it too. Normally, she would have something to say, but for the first time in my life, I think I found her speechless.
On the wall were four newspaper clippings. Each of them was dated for April 17th, all of which read “Search Called Off” as a headline. The 2024 thing would have normally been the thing that concerned me, but the fact that each of our names, date of birth, physical description, and photographs were used in the newspaper clippings made me want to pass out.
A loud scream came from the next room. The three of us rushed out, only to find that Avery was gone, and the door was wide open. Her sleeping bag still remained over the threshold. I grabbed the machete and ran outside. Nothing but blackness for as far as the eye could see. Liz ran outside and into the darkness. I lunged for her and wrapped my arms around her. Avery was nowhere to be seen, and nowhere to be heard. Liz going out looking for her was only putting herself in jeopardy.
“Liz, stay,” I ordered.
“Avery,” she said frantically.
I used all of the force I had to bring her back inside. I wanted to go find Avery too, but I’ve officially acknowledged that we’re dealing with something out of our control. What was once rational, is now out of the window. I know there is something strange going on. It isn’t just me, and it isn’t in our heads.
Zara bent over holding the four news clippings clutched in her hands, sobbing out of fear. Liz confronted the terrified Zara. I placed the machete in my lap in front of the fire, then put on the parka that Travis gave me. The night was colder than I thought it would be. I hate the cold.