This is a narrative constructed by the jotted-down notes in my journal regarding my experience of complete subjugation by the whims of the underestimated strength of nature. I wrote this not to understand what had happened, but to simply come to an acceptance of what did occur.
“Come on Josh! We need to reach the cabin before dark or else the wildlife may assume us to be a delicious deer,” I shouted while shaking my best friend’s shoulders. “Well, maybe not, but I haven’t been hiking in a while! Come on, come on! Let’s get going!”
Josh opened his eyes a crack while muttering “whhaaaa?” in a groggy voice. He had been snoring in my passenger seat louder than my classic rock music during the three hour drive to the Bear Mouth National Park. I tried asking him for directions in the middle of the journey, but his heavy sleeping must have droned out my voice to nothing but the dialogue of a character in his dream, so I ultimately just used my phone’s GPS and the process of trial and error for navigation.
Josh wasn’t unfriendly or anything. In fact, he was my best friend. He just claimed he stayed up too late the night before in preparation for the trip.
I was actually quite shocked to find that Josh enjoyed hiking. I haven’t been hiking recently, as I’d mostly been spending my days studying at a university back in the city which he also attended. However, from my impression he seemed to spend even less time outside than me, and mostly barricaded himself in his dorm while doing homework, surfing the internet, or playing online video games with me.
Despite my impression that Josh was directly opposed to the inconveniences of nature, he offered to take me to his favorite camping spot in the forests of Bear Mouth, in which he stated that his father owned a simple one room log cabin with an accompanying bathroom and shower. I was originally unsure if I would want to go hiking in such cold weather, but he said that the exercise and time away from the artificial light and noise pollution of the city would really help me relax.
Seeing as my semester had ended, I quickly gave in to Josh’s idea. After all, I did have a stressful semester, and perhaps strolling through a quiet forest with my best friends was all I needed to avoid the dreaded college burnout that many of my acquaintances appeared to face.
“You were the one who suggested this trip,” I mentioned to Josh as his groggy voice and fluttering eyelids returned to their natural awake states. “And I’m actually really looking forward to it. Are you ready to start walking?”
“Oh yeah, I am. Sorry,” mumbled Josh before slightly creasing his mouth into a smirk. “Let’s get going! The cabin is about a three mile hike once we reach the end of the blue trail.”
I groaned. Not only did we have to walk for the duration of a five mile hiking trail, but the cabin was also three additional miles further. My mind and body slouched downwards in unison upon knowing the amount of exertion I would need to do, but I think I convincingly hid my dread by giving a slight chuckle and telling Josh to lead the way.
The air was quite chilly, but I thankfully made sure to layer my clothes and wear my comically puffy jacket upon the insistence of Josh. It looks so stupid, but I’m well aware that I’d rather look like an orange marshmallow to some people than receive frostbite several miles from the nearest human civilization.
My talk with Josh was naturally just as pleasant as our hike. First we talked about the new video games we played, then about rumors going around campus, and finally we jumped into a deep conversation that we seldomly had.
After we had passed the three mile marker and taken a five minute rest break, I heard Josh start to formulate a question and ask “Hey, um, Alex?” However, his exhausted gasps and wheezes cut off his question for a few seconds before he finished his thought. “Alex, why do you think humans have gone astray from our natural roots?”
This caught me off guard from the typically lighthearted goofball nature of Josh who always preferred cracking a joke over confronting his problems head-on. “Well…” I pondered, “Actually, would you like to take a break first? I will gladly answer your question, but you seem a bit tired,” I observed as my eyebrows raised.
“No no it’s fine,” Josh spurted. “I go for hikes all of the time. I’m fine.”
Damn, Josh is full of surprises. I simply was not aware of his frequent hiking routines, and now I wonder where he even went. The only greenery in our city is the central park, but I consider hiking different from walking in a concrete jungle with a hint of nature.
“Well?” Josh pried. “Why do you think humans have gone astray?”
“We haven’t,” I replied, though I was a bit confused by such a question. “Humans have utilized nature’s gifts to develop our species. We have made mistakes in damaging the source of such gifts, but we haven’t strayed away. Humans love nature, and we are constantly paying reparations in order to restore it to its past glory.”
Josh paused. “We have taken advantage of nature’s gifts. Our reparations are not enough, and we owe everything to repair the damages our kind has done.”
The rest of the walk was silent aside from the sound of a light layer of snow squishing under the weight of our feet and the gasps of breath coming from Josh. For hours, we continued to walk, unsure of how to reignite such an unorthodox conversation. But just as the sun was about to completely set, I noticed a small wooden structure in the distance, which Josh identified as his cabin.
“Come on Alex. We both need some rest.”
Josh held the door open for me as I walked into the bare room with two single-person beds before he slammed it shut, protecting us from getting wet snow within the interior.
“You take the left bed, and I’ll take the right,” asserted Josh before collapsing onto his self-assigned bed.
My confusion regarding Josh’s assertive nature, though initially intrusive, gradually began to fade into the back of my mind as my head hit the pillow. Perhaps he was simply tired and grumpy after such a long hike. At least that was the only conclusion I could derive before my eyelids lost the will to stay open after my head was completely subjugated by the pillow.
My eyelids fluttered up and down throughout the pitch-black night illuminated only by the glow of the mocking moon. Tossing and turning under the thick blankets covering my fragile skin, I noticed the outlines of shadows on the walls contorting and twisting like the tentacles of the infamous kraken. The shadows of the tree branches grew and waned throughout the night, as if performing a dance prior to a harvest, and in my hazy vision, I thought I saw Josh’s eyes wide open, as if entranced by such a ritual.
Upon waking up, I rolled to my right to find the unmade empty bed that Josh slept in. Perhaps he had gone outside to find some firewood, as my exposed skin already felt as if it were frozen in a great arctic icebergs, but why would he leave without telling me?
After further examination, I noticed Josh’s unscathed puffy blue jacket still hanging from the coat hook by the door. I don’t know why he would leave, but perhaps he had brought another jacket, as venturing into the snowy lifeless environment was a torture primarily experienced by only our primitive ancestors. Thankfully, he closed the door mostly closed before leaving, but the frantic wind appeared to have propelled the door into a slight wedge due to the non-existent strength of the limp deadbolt lock.
I hurriedly put on my puffy jacket and fully opened the door only to find Josh not within my immediate eyesight. The forest seemed animated, as if dancing with perfect cohesion to the changing directions of the wind, and the falling snow performed an unpredictable dance before gracefully landing on the ground.
Thankfully, the snow and trees seemed to align with my desire to find my friend, as clear footprints were visible in the snow leading behind the cabin. To my knowledge, Josh at least had the sense to wear shoes.
The footprints marched rigidly forward into the heart of the forest, which lay hidden by the dense foliage of the evergreen trees, and I simply could not follow the exact trajectory of the footsteps, as the path was obstructed by the reaching branches of such trees, which appeared similar to the gate preventing a car from going down a road before paying a toll. As I swerved in a zig-zag pattern around such obstacles, I noticed that for the first time, the forest was not near silent.
As I walked through the agitated snow, I heard the whispers of mockery from the immediate surroundings, but whenever I stopped moving, so did the unnatural noises. As I trudged forwards, eyes darting around the remaining foliage, I noticed the once rising sun being replaced by shadows as the tree coverings made the surface level darker and darker.
The taunting whispers continued as I trudged through the growing elevation of snow and stepped on the severed limbs that had disconnected from the trees. I knew that I needed to turn around, but I also needed to find my best friend, so I continued to progress forward against my better judgment.
The seemingly hopeless journey instantly found a purpose as I heard Josh’s voice to my left. I rushed towards his unnaturally monotone voice to find him kneeling before a mammoth tree with his back facing me.
With his voice remaining unbroken, he stated “In reparation for our misdeeds, I offer my best friend Alex as a sacrifice. He is my only best friend, and I hope that this will appease you.” He opened his eyes and turned around before he stammered backwards with his mouth agape. “I’m sorry Alex, but my family needs to appease the forest.”
“What?” I stammered. “Josh, what are you doing? Why are you out here? Come on, you need to get back inside. Your cheeks are red! Did you even bring a jacke-” I was unable to finish as I felt a large wooden branch sweep under my legs, sending me falling to the floor.
“I’m sorry,” whispered Josh before he sprinted forwards, as if running from a monster.
My head stung as I lay on the floor while wondering what had happened, but I regained my wits when I saw the largest branch of the tree behind me rise slowly into the air. My clumsy roll to the left just barely propelled my body far enough away to avoid the branch from slamming down onto the portion of ground where I just was. A mighty roar bellowed from behind me as I got to my feet and sprinted away from what I assumed to be a tree.
At first I assumed that I had surely escaped, as I did not hear the giant-like footsteps I expected thundering from behind me, but my arrogance soon faded upon seeing the branches of the evergreen trees swinging like a viking berserker. Their once elegant dance turned into a flurry of aggravated stiff strikes, which appeared to flail in random directions. Not caring if branches collided with one another, they whirled rapidly in a desperate attempt to give as many blunt attacks to my skull as possible.
By a stroke of luck, as if mother nature wished to aid me from her own abomination, I noticed that the lower branches of the trees were nothing more than twigs which could do no damage, and through an exhausting endeavor, I managed to perform a frostbite-inducing army crawl until I lay flat on a paved road, in which a patrolling Park Ranger found me within the hour.
After providing me with a blanket and offering his remaining hot coffee, he drove me to the parking lot where my ex-best friend and I started the hike a little over a day ago. I wanted to tell the Park Ranger of the events that had happened, but my exhausted and confused brain could not formulate a decisive and believable account of the events that unfolded.
Today I’m typing this narrative as a comprehensive story of what I experienced, which to my understanding would be marginally more believable than the frantic notes I took in my hiking journal. Everything at my campus and my life returned to normal, minus the presence of Josh.
Seeing as I was his only friend, no one seemed to know about his whereabouts since we went on our camping trip, nor did anyone else seem to care. Though I tried to send him angry text messages demanding answers for what he had planned, I still hope that my ex-best friend is okay. Perhaps I’m just a fool who is too trusting in people who have wronged me, but he was a phenomenal companion until that day, and I simply can’t erase his good deeds from my memory.
I hope that no one will be forced to confront one of mother nature’s abominations as I have and I obviously do not wish to return. However, for the past few nights I’ve been plagued by vivid nightmares in which I confront the sturdy mammoth tree.
The forest demands that I pay reparations.