Ever since our college forced us to go skiing during P.E on a special ski base, i ended up falling in love with skiing. I found it relaxing to just slide down the snowy trail while listening to my favorite music, occasionally riding down a hill. It was fun to me, and probably me only, because most of the folks in my college group hated skiing. I decided to go skiing on my own sometimes, probably once in 2 weeks. Usually it all went pretty well, i listened to the music in my earbuds and just enjoyed the scenery.. but i wouldn’t be sitting here and telling you this if nothing out of the ordinary happened.
In order to understand where i go skiing, i need to tell you about our base. I live in Russian region, in a city that has one of the biggest industrial complexes in the world and in my country. And this ski base was made for the workers of the complex. We have several roads, some of which are made simply for strolling. We have 2 km road, 3,5 km road, 1 km road, and a 10 km road, for people who really enjoy skiing i guess. I usually go skiing on 3,5 km road, since that’s the one i am most familiar with. But i never went down the 10 km road. Of course, the fact that it is THAT long is already a little scary, since how many hours will i spend going from point A to point B? But i was prepared. I brought some bottles of water, incase i get thristy. Before going, i called my mother and told her that i won’t be available, so she won’t worry about my whereabouts. And so, with music playing in my ears, i was on my way.
While on my way, i listened to my favorite songs, mostly some relaxing indie music or some calm ambience. In moments like these, listening to music, looking around at beautiful trees covered in white snow, i felt like i was in my very own paradise where nothing can bother me. Due to stress that i got at home and at college due to my not so good grades and bad relationships with some annoying teachers, this was the perfect anti stress for me. But, since i was unfamiliar with the road.. i didn’t know where i was supposed to go. We have special arrows that help people who got lost get to the end of the trail, just so they understand where they need to go, and so they won’t end up on a wrong trail. Each arrow is colored differently, so if you follow the directions of arrows of same color, you eventually end up outside the woods with no problem.
While i was strolling, i noticed that the road is forked. I looked around for any arrows, and indeed i found them.. the problem is, arrows of same color were pointing in directions of both roads. This was the first time i saw something like this. But i thought that maybe i can pick any path, and two paths will eventually cross and lead me down one singular lane. I decided to go down the right path. Despite how odd all this was, i didn’t really mind going on a little adventure. It would’ve been more fun if someone was actually with me. Surprisingly i haven’t seen anyone on my way. On the road where i usually go skiing i saw many elderly people just strolling by me. But here, i was all alone. You’d think If i did go down an unsafe path, i would be stopped by someone, but i wasn’t.
On my way, i found more oddities, for example some trees were not covered in snow, and that sounds of birds started to get quiet and more further away. I decided to keep my cool, trying not to think about it too much. Not a big deal, i kept telling myself. I stopped to drink my cold lemon flavoured, when i looked back and noticed a path that was crossing with mine. I assumed that the left road lead to the lane where i was standing.. but that’s when i noticed a third road. Where did this one come from? It’s a well known fact that some roads may cross and that some roads have same beginning or lead to the same exit. But as far as I know, this road is not supposed to get crossed with any other roads. To my surprise, I even found arrows pointing at this illusive third road, when I took a look at the road where I was going, I swear that before I looked back, it was pointing forward, but now it was pointing backwards. Maybe I did get lost, but I knew what I was supposed to do in my situation, either sit where I am and not move, try to make a call, or go back the way I came, but I was so distracted, I forgot where I came from. I decided to ignore the arrows and go forward, but just as I thought I am doing some progress, I came back to the same place. I also noticed foot prints going to the woods, were they there before? Did someone also get lost here, and they were desperate to leave, so they took a shortcut through the woods? My brain just kept asking questions. But I sighed and decided to follow the arrows.
I was getting nervous, I even turned the music off, just so I can at least hear the sounds around me. It was getting really dark, I barely heard any birds around, which probably meant I was going deeper into the woods. The road was covered in fallen pine cones, and I swore that I saw more arrows on far away trees, pointing in different directions. I was starting to regret coming here and I was thinking of just dropping the skis and just run back or even through the woods in hopes of reaching the base, but It was stupid, and very risky, and who knows where I will end up if I’ll go in the opposite direction of where the arrows where pointing. I nearly tripped, when I realized that I reached a very steep hill. It looked like a trench and a very deep one. If I didn’t notice it, I would probably fall and roll down to the bottom. That’s not the kind of hill you would enjoy sliding down on. The arrows pointed downwards, knowing the situation I was in, I just decided to carefully go down, stabbing the ground with my poles so I won’t fall down and break something. I eventually, ended up at the bottom. The walls of this strange trench were tall and narrow. I wish I could take the skis off, but for some reason, I felt like they were nailed to my feet. I strolled down the path at the bottom of the trench and arrows led me deeper and deeper into the woods. I saw a new pair of footprints, going into the opposite direction of mine.
The deeper I went, the more stranger I felt. I felt like I was not safe here, I told myself that I shouldn’t have come here, I should’ve picked the good old 3,5. I took a sip of my water and sat down, my legs needed rest. Even if I was getting closer to the exit, I definitely needed to stop for a bit and calm myself down. I felt like no one is around to help and nobody will find me, I am going down an impossible road, something that is not supposed to exist. I got up and once again, I was on my way. Eventually, I reached the edge of the trench, I felt like I left an abandoned shrine, cause when I looked back, I realized that the trench.. is cut off. How can I explain this without sounding insane? Imagine taking a kitkat bar and cutting it in half with a knife down the middle, that’s what I saw. I was once again surrounded by trees, but something felt wrong. The birds went quiet, the woods were not covered in the snow, at least some of them weren’t covered. And I once again found foot prints on the snow that went different directions, from the road to the woods, and some of them were deep, were they so desperate to get out?
My thoughts got interrupted by sudden sound of breaking trees. I turned around, I noticed that far away from me some trees started to shake and move. I didn’t want to meet whatever was breaking these trees, I started to push myself forward with my poles, desperately trying to get as far away as possible. The trees were all covered in arrows pointing at the direction of the noise behind me, they were all pointing back. I knew that if I’ll follow the arrows this time, I might not come back, so I just pushed myself forward, breathing heavily, hoping that whatever is behind me won’t just grab me and tear me apart, painting the snow red. I found a hill on the road, and I had to climb it, I didn’t want to look back, I had to climb up the hill, slide down a hill and quickly get the hell out of here. I finally reach the top, but I couldn’t control my own neck, and I just had to look back and see what’s following me. I didn’t see too many features of whatever followed me, but what I could say, is that It was not human. I saw a giant hairy silhouette, it looked wide and muscular, I felt the vibration of the ground with every step it took towards me, I could hear it’s breath and strange grunts it made, it was strong enough to push and break trees out of it’s way. I shook my head, and instantly slid down a hill and I was going at high speeds. I nervously started cackling, I made it, I escaped, I am alive! I pushed myself with poles, trying not to lose speed. On my way I finally saw something in the distance.. lights.. LIGHTS! I am reaching the end!
I started to speed up and just as I was about to reach the exit, I tripped and rolled outside. I got up, my whole body felt immeasurable pain, my body was drenched in sweat, my throat hurt like crazy, and I was afraid that I’ll have to crawl to the base. But I decided to finally take my skis and run to the base. It was very dark for some reason, so I checked my phone, only to find out that I spent 7 hours. My clock showed 20:00, and my SMS informed me that my mother called me 17 times. I instantly called her and told her that i was ok, and i’ll explain everything when i’ll get home. All i could do is just laugh, realizing that i finally made it back alive and without a scratch.
Since i rented my poles and my skis, i gave them back. The man at the counter was curious where i’ve been, so i decided to tell my story and what I’ve been through. I didn’t care that i sounded crazy or that i made it all up, i just had to get everything out of my chest. After i was done, i told him that my mom is worried sick and i have to go back home. The only thing he asked me was my phone number, i found it odd, but i gave my number to him.
When i came back, my mother hugged me tightly and held me for a whole hour. I told her my story, despite how ridiculous it sounded, she understood that i was clearly not lying, and by the smell of my sweat she understood that i was really scared. I told her that i’ll probably take a break from skiing, for my mental health’s sake. After our talk i received a call from an unknown phone number. I was expecting a scam caller, but i recognized the voice on the phone, it was the man at the counter from the base. Apparently he wanted to have a small chat with me regarding my incident.
He told me that this is not the first time people went down this road. Some people end up coming back out, some people ended up getting lost but they would eventually be found.. and some do not come back at all. Nobody knew what happened to them, and they just disappear without any trace. We do not have any wild animals living in the forest, like bears and wolves, only squirrels and chipmunks mostly. But thanks to me, all the things that i told them, i think they finally have an answer. He thanked me for all the information that i gave you o him, and he sent me 500 rubbles, just as a way to thank me and compensate for the damage this incident caused me.
I eventually came back to the base and continued skiing there again. I just stay on paths that i know well, paths that i can trust. The 10 km road got blocked off, and nobody is allowed there. I’m gonna end this story by saying this, never go skiing in places you never been in or you are not familiar with. Who knows where the arrows might lead you to..