by Tobias Wade
She touched her hand to my face, the pad of her fingers soft and feather-like on my skin. I couldn’t help but relent. She always affected me in that way. I sighed, nodded and undid my seat belt. “Fine, I’ll do it. For you. Right now, though, I’m aching for a Baby Ruth and a soda, you want anything?”
Elise shook her head, her short hair bouncing against her cheeks. She smiled as she spoke. “No, I’ll just steal some of your soda if I get thirsty.”
I chuckled. “Nothing new there. Be back in a bit.”
The bell above the door rang and I looked up to it. It had been a long time since I had heard an actual bell in a convenience store, but there it was. I smirked and slowly walked forward, my eyes scanning the store. There was a different layout for each store you entered even while named the same. The candy aisle was on the other side of the place and I made a beeline to it.
I took two Baby Ruths out of the cardboard box as I was sure Elise would want half of mine, might as well get her one too. I went to the back of the store and stared through the glass doors. When did there become six different kinds of coke? As I tried to decide between them, a conversation from over by the Slurpee machines made its way to me.
“Joe has been seeing shit up there for years. I don’t blame him, when you’re alone all day and night you’re bound to see something just so you’re not bored.”
“I dunno, this time he seems pretty damn sure. He says he even got pictures. Says it was those bitch—or birch things we use to tell stories about.” I turned to see the two men who were talking. Rough and tumble looking, maybe loggers, or just your run-of-the-mill hunters. The older and shorter of the two adjusted his cameo hat as he stifled his laugh.
“Then he can send it on to some college and then they can put his ass in some hospital for the crazy.”
“Don’t have to be a dick, Don,” the second man said and picked up his drink from the shelf of the machine. “I’m just saying what he told me. That’s all.”
I furrowed my brow at the conversation but didn’t spend much time thinking about it. There was always some urban legend stirring about in rural towns.
I went to the cashier and handed him a ten. He tried to start a conversation but I just nodded along without really responding. He gave me my change and I headed out into the parking lot and stopped dead in my tracks.
At the passenger side of my car stood one of the men from the store. Don. He smiled at Elise, a shit-eating grin if I ever saw one. I could see her laughing at something and felt my blood start to boil. I stalked over to the car, opened the door, tossed the soda and the Babes on the seat, and placed my forearms on the cool metal of the roof.
“Can I help you?” I didn’t even try to hide the anger and Don noticed.
“No sir, just the lady here asked for some directions.” His bushy brows fell down over his eyes slightly. I bent down to take a quick look at Elise and she glared at me through the window. I glared back for a moment before I stood straight.
“Right, well I’m sure my wife and I can find our way.” I didn’t wait for a response before I sat down into my seat, and cursed as I felt the Babe Ruths squish under me. I pulled them out, tossed them at the console and started the car. The soda had found its way to the floor and I fought with it trying to get my foot on the gas without it under the pedal or under my foot.
“Keith, what’s wrong?” I looked over to her as I shifted the car into reverse, but said nothing. I clenched my jaw and backed the car out, partly hoping that Donnie boy found his way behind me. Sadly, I made it out of the parking lot without a cameo cap on my back bumper.
Elise didn’t talk to me again as after ten years of being together she learned my moods well enough. I knew that I shouldn’t be mad, or acted the way I had, but the anger sat in my head like an old friend. For years I had worked on getting a handle on it, at the urging of Elise. Sometimes though, especially when she talked to some other guy, I felt it rise up.
I munched on one of the candy bars as I stared out the windshield, looking for a sign.
“What was the name of the place again?” I asked and used my tongue to pick out a peanut that had lodged itself between my teeth.
“Miller’s Lodge.” The coldness in her voice made me turn and I found her leaning against the door, her head against the window. I could see from the reflection that her eyes were turned to the trees that sped past. The rest of the drive was very quiet.
We got to the cabin; it laid deep in the trees with a twisting driveway that probably came close to half a mile up a steep hill. The car barely made it up. I had to admit the view could almost be called worthy of coming for, but I still felt outside my comfort zone and it did little to ease my temper. Little would, and knowing that made me even angrier.
Grudgingly I took our suitcases into the cabin, carrying them all at once which wasn’t the brightest idea I’d ever had. I pulled my shoulder, which was just more annoyance. I swore and dropped them off in the bedroom. Elise stood behind me when I turned around. Obviously her own anger had started to grow.
“This is how it’s going to be? You’re gonna be a raging prick the entire trip?”
“Sure, a trip that I didn’t even want to come on. Waste of money and fucking time.”
She held up a hand and walked down the hall. “I had hoped you’d calm the hell down by leaving work for a bit. Guess that’s too much to expect.”
The front door slammed.
“Goddammit.” With a heavy sigh I sat down on the bed andflopped back to stare at the wood ceiling. She was right and that didn’t anger me. I was being a raging prick and over what? Some old guy talking to her? For a time, I tried to think of when my life had turned into this nightmare. I never would have guessed that I’d be who I am, an angry and stressed-out man; a shadow of the man I had once been. The man she fell in love with.
Click-clack
The noise came from outside, and I turned my gaze to the wall. Sounded like wood smacking on wood. I didn’t know enough to say if it was unusual, but the sound had been oddly close. I pushed the thought aside and got up. It was probably nothing.
Elise sat on the porch swing, her head turned to the trees in front of the cabin. Her brow was down, arms crossed and the corner of her mouth twitched just a little. She had her own temper which made mine seem pale in comparison, probably because she only got mad for a reason.
“Elise?” I said and took a step forward, as cautious as a bomb tech. She acknowledged me with a flick of her eyes in my direction. “Look, I’m sorry.”
“Sure.”
“No, really. You’re right. I have no excuse, just… everything is stressing me out and you know I don’t do well with that. How can I make it up to you?”
She turned to me, still angry but I could tell it was by force of will now. “You could start be not acting like a jerk. There was no reason for you be like that at the gas station. None. Do you really think I’d drop my panties for some eighty-year-old mountain man, Keith? Do you not trust me anymore or something?”
“I do—I mean I didn’t think that at all—“
“Then why did you flip?” She bit the inside of her bottom lip for a moment and then shook her head. “I just… I don’t feel like I know you anymore. You’re a damn firecracker with a fuse that changes length by the hour.”
“It had nothing to do with you. I just came out, feeling like I didn’t want to be there and it annoyed me that he was there. I’m sorry.”
“We need to do something about this, I can’t… I won’t live on the edge of a knife with you.” She stood and came to me, her hands laying on my shoulders. “I love you, but I’m not going to be your screaming match partner. I’m tired of it, Keith. I understand that work is crazy, it’s why I wanted to come out here. This wasn’t for me, it was for you.”
I nodded. “And I appreciate that, I do. I’ll try to keep myself on a tighter leash. That foul mood is gone.”
“Is it?” She asked and ti
lted her head up to me. “Because if it isn’t I’m gonna kick your ass out into the woods for the weekend.”
“I believe it.” We kissed, a mix of sorry and caring. For the moment there was a patch covering the problem, but I knew it would take more than that for her to forgive me completely. For now, we could move on.
The rest of the evening went fairly well, dinner was microwaved meals that we ate in front of the fireplace, talking and laughing like we did when we first started dating. My work was forgotten, my stress gone; it was just me and Elise.
But while sitting there I heard the click-clack of wood hitting wood nearby. Elise heard it too this time and we both got up and went to the window. Clouds blocked the moon, making it impossible to see anything in the darkness of the forest. We sat there, listening to the bangs that went on for what seemed like an hour before they finally stopped.
“What does that?” I broke the silence first and looked to Elise. She shook her head. “I mean, is there an animal that does that kind of stuff?”
“I don’t know. I can’t think of one. You locked the doors, right? The car too?”
“You think someone is out there?”
She shrugged, rubbing her arms. “I don’t know, Keith. There could be, or it’s miles away and someone is just throwing stuff around. Sound acts weird out here sometimes.”
We went to bed soon after, Elise falling asleep quickly in my arms, but I didn’t feel quite so safe. It started up again about an hour after she fell asleep. Clack-crack. More wood breaking. I quietly slipped from beside her and went to the window.
The trees were only a few yards out from the cabin and I could see nothing but silhouettes in the darkness. The sounds seemed to rubber band back and forth, and I finally opened the window and stuck my head outside to try to hear better.
The sounds stopped as soon as I opened the window. The night was quiet and still, as if everything had just stopped at the sight of me. I stood at the window and watched the darkness for about fifteen minutes until I noticed something.
At first, I thought it was a play of moonlight on some bush, but then it moved. A face so white that it looked like it emitted its own glow. It moved from bush to bush, always facing me.
It continued moving farther and farther back into the trees, its movement spider-like—disjointed but quick. Eyes that were black holes watched me the entire time until it slipped beneath a low branch of a tree and disappeared. A few moments later the click-clack sounded once more and it was quiet again.
I stood there, staring out into the trees, frozen in place. My brain kept coming up with ways to explain it away, but nothing seemed to really fit. Every time I blinked I saw that blank white face. It looked like a mask. That was what finally got me away from the window. Someone was messing with us. I slammed the window and went into the living room where I brooded until day broke through the windows.
“What are you doing out here?” Elise asked with a yawn. “You feeling all right?”
“No, I’m not.” I sniffed in anger and then looked over. “Someone was outside the cabin last night.”
Her eyes widened. “Who?”
I shrugged. “Hell, if I know, but they were wearing a mask. I bet they’re the ones making that damn noise too.” I stood and went to one of our bags and removed the handgun that was buried underneath my clothes. I had decided to wait until she was up before I went out looking for the bastard.
“Keith, what are you going to do with that?”
“What does it look like?” I threw my jacket on and headed out the door. To be honest I didn’t know what I was going to do. I just needed to do something—anything—because that damn mask spooked me. I went down the steps and rounded the cabin. Elise appeared at a window in the back.
“Don’t do anything stupid, all right? It was probably just a joke.”
“You hear me laughing?” I said and went to the bushes. “Hey, assholes!” I called out into the woods. “Come out here, let’s have a good laugh at what happened last night.”
No sound came other than Elise slamming the window. I looked back to see her glaring at me through the glass. I turned back to the woods and stepped in.
I walked for some time, until I could barely make out the path I was taking. I stopped next to a large tree and rested against it. The only sounds were birds and cicadas chirping into the sunny morning. I stayed there listening for a while for anything that could lead me to discover what happened last night. After twenty or so minutes I gave up and started heading back; that’s when the smell hit me.
It wafted from somewhere farther in the undergrowth. It’s a hard smell to describe, but if you ever got a whiff of spoiled milk that would probably be pretty close to the stench. I don’t know why I decided to investigate, but on I went through the underbrush until my boots sank into some kind of muck. I looked down and recoiled at the sight.
At one point the muck had been the back half of a deer. The front half looked almost completely intact, while even the bones in the back looked almost like… noodles. I had never seen anything like it and was so engrossed that I didn’t hear the footsteps behind me until a hand touched my shoulder.
I jumped back and had the gun out of my holster as I struggled to my feet. On the other end of the gun was a man I had seen before. Don. He had a shotgun cradled in his arm and had his other hand in the air.
“Whoa there, son, no harm coming from me.”
“What—what are you doing out here?”
He cocked his head. “You’re that ass from the gas station, ain’t ya?”
“You stalking us now?”
“Christ you city shits are nuts. Naw, I ain’t stalking you. Mind if I put my hands down?” I nodded slowly and he dropped them with a sigh. “We’re out here looking for a friend of mine.”
“We?”
“Yea, bunch of buddies and me. Joe didn’t show up last night for our weekly poker game. Ain’t picking up the phone either so—shit, what happened to that poor bastard?” He had turned as he spoke and saw the deer soup I had come across. “Jesus, you do that?”
“What? No, I just found it.”
He eyed me for a moment and then turned completely toward me. “What you doing out here?”
“What business is it of yours?”
“Whatever, buddy. You see Joe? He’s a heavy guy, gut out to here.” He motioned out a foot or so. “Got a big black beard too.”
“He also big on scaring vacationers?”
“What you on about?”
“Saw someone outside my window last night in the bushes. Came out to see if I could find out who it was.”
“Naw, Joe stays out of the woods at night lately. Been seeing shit.” Don crouched down and stabbed at the muck with the tip of his shotgun. “Maybe he weren’t going nuts. Never seen anything like this.”
“This is insane. Your buddy was skulking around my cabin last night wearing a white mask. He probably did this too. What is wrong with you people?”
“Now listen here, I don’t know what happened to you—“
“Yo! Don!” a faint voice called, followed by a high-pitched whistle. “Come ‘ere!”
Don looked back at me. “That’s Tanner, must’ve found something. I suggest you go on back to your wife and stay out of the woods for now.”
“I’m going with you.”
“Like hell—“
“I want to know what’s going on, plus it can’t hurt to have an extra set of eyes to look if he really is missing.”
“You just want to shoot him.” Don said with a chuckle and then shrugged. “Feel like doing that too, so whatever. Come if you want, just don’t get lost. I’m Don by the by.”
“Keith.”
He nodded and I followed him through the woods. He whistled every few minutes and Tanner replied back. Using that we found ourselves in front of… well, it’s hard to describe. A shrine is the best way to put it, made of wood and vines; it towered above us and
spanned three large trees. The branches and logs made a shape between the trees, but nothing I recognized. In front of the trees was something that looked like a cave, propped up with more wood, as if someone dug it out. The smell of rot and mold was almost overpowering.
“What the hell is this?” I asked. I was answered with a shrug.
“Hell, if I know, it weren’t here a few weeks ago. Joe and me were out for spring gobbler and came right along this trail,” Tanner said as he skirted the edge of the hole. “You ever see anything like this, Don?”
“Heard stories from the old folks, but nah, never seen this crap before.”
“What kind of stories?” I asked and swallowed dryly. This was feeling less and less like a prank, but at the same time I didn’t know what else it could be.
“Just stories, you know? Campfire bullshit. They say there are things that live out here, make tunnels and such under the entire forest. Called them Birch faces or some shit. But this… this gotta be a prank. It’s too close to what they used to say, even down to the rotted smell.”
“You think your buddy did this?”
“Joe has the discipline of a toddler, he wouldn’t spend the time for even half this work.” He looked once more at the cave and the trees and then turned to Tanner. “Come on, let’s keep looking. We can report this to the rangers after we find Joe.”
I followed them as we rounded the structure and headed off deeper into the woods. After a few yards something crunched under Tanner’s boot and he stooped to pick it up. It was a camera.
“Don’t Joe have one like this?” Tanner said turning the grey digital camera over in his hands. “Battery is dead.”
“Looks like his. Must be in the right place. Joe? Joooe?” Don called and we started to spread out calling for Joe. We were a few yards apart when the ground beneath me gave way with a loud crack. I hit the ground and laid there, the wind knocked out of me.
I was in a tunnel. Everything around me was a dim grey with only a few feet in either direction bathed in light. I stood and looked up, the hole I fell through feet above me, just out of reach. I swore.