“Find anything?” Dave asked.
“Nothing exciting. You?”
He shook his head. “No way into this place. It’s locked up tight. I don’t mind admitting it’s a little disappointing.”
“Why don’t we see if we can find the clearing in the woods?” Lucy said, hands on hips.
“Dave stared at her for a second, then shook his head. “We’re not paranormal investigators.”
“What’s happening?” Dani said as she joined them.
“I wanted to go and see if we could find this clearing in the woods. Dave isn’t keen.”
“I’ll do it,” Dani said, glancing into the trees. “Although, I don’t know where we’re supposed to start looking.”
“Well, let’s just see if we can find a trail. If we don’t, we can turn back.”
“This isn’t why we came here.” Dave snapped.
“What’s your problem?” Dani said.
“Nothing, but we’re losing sight of why we came here. We have a whole town to explore and you two want to go chasing ghosts in the forest.”
“Sounds to me like you’re scared of what we might find.” Dani snapped back.
“No, I just don’t want to waste time on this.”
“It will take an hour, two maximum. It’s not like we can do much else up here. You said so yourself, we can’t get into the hotel.”
“I take it the rest of you agree?” Dave said, annoyed by the turn of events.
“You can stay here if you want to,” Dani said, sneer turning into a grin. “If you’re not up to it, that is.”
“I’ve been all over the world and visited some places that many human beings have never set foot in. I’m sure I’ll be fine in a bloody forest.”
“Well let’s stop bitching and start moving,” Dani said, striding towards the rear of the house.
Lucy followed, then Kelsie and Dave, who was grumbling under his breath.
The land at the back of the hotel was mostly piles of dirt left over from the construction of the hotel, much of it compacted and had already started to regrow grasses and weeds.
“Looks like they were in the process of renovating this part of the hotel when it was closed down,” Dani said, staring at the rutted ground.
Beyond, downhill was the river and the bridge which spanned it. The sign beside it readable even at a distance.
“See?” Dave said as they stopped beside it. “Now maybe you’ll listen to me.”
They stood as a group and stared at the words, white on red.
STOP!
RESTRICTED AREA
Absolutely NO access.
Lethal force authorised beyond this point.
“Lethal force? Holy shit,” Lucy mumbled.
“I tried to tell you. Do you want to get shot just so you can go rambling in the woods?”
“Come on Dave, you were the one who convinced us there was nobody here anymore.” Dani countered.
“But that sign says lethal force authorised. I’m not sure that’s a chance we should be taking.”
“You didn’t seem to mind when you were cutting the chain of the gates barricading the town yesterday.”
Dave’s cheeks flushed a pale pink against his white skin. “Well, that was different.”
“Whatever,” Dani said, striding across the bridge.
“Lucy laughed and followed suit. Dave stood hands on hips, teeth gritted as he watched the two girls walk without fear to the other side. He glanced at Kelsie, who stared back at him, torn between fear and curiosity, she genuinely didn’t know if she wanted to cross or stay.
“Screw it,” Dave grunted, tired wooden boards groaning as he crossed the bridge. “Sooner we go, the sooner we can get back and explore.”
With the decision made for her, Kelsie followed, pausing to take a photo of the hotel from the bridge, its ominous form adding to her sense of foreboding. Leaving the hotel behind and following her friends into the cool shade of Oakwell forest.
II
Rather than instil fear, the group’s first impression of the forest was one of peace and tranquillity. The array of greens and browns were easy on the eye, the trees stretching skyward dwarfing them as the progressed. Sunlight filtered down in diffused rays, as butterflies and bees darted about their business. Although restricted from the public for such a long time, the trail was clear and wound from the opposite side of the bank as it cut its way through the forest. Leaves crunched underfoot, branches cracked as they were stepped on, birds sang endless song. The only artificial sound was from Kelsie’s camera as she snapped more photos of the scenery.
“Well, this is terrifying,” Dave grunted.
“Jesus, can’t you just stop talking for five minutes?” Dani fired back.
“I’ll do what I want. You don’t tell me what I can and can’t do.”
They went deeper, the atmosphere growing more and tense. Even the sunlight seemed to be struggling to get through the canopy, and in turn made the shadows deeper, subtly changing the vibe of the place from tranquil to sinister.
“Hey, look at this,” Kelsie said, jogging ahead and off the trail, orange and brown leaves crushed underfoot.
The others joined her, Staring up at the tree.
“You think this is…from that night?” Kelsie said, craning her neck.
Nobody replied. They were all familiar with the story of the tree which Henry Marshall had displayed several of his victims, nailing them in place upside down, leaving them to agonising deaths. Others had been attached to the branches with barbed wire. The specific tree had never been identified in the feeding frenzy by the press afterwards and had been a subject of some speculation as to if Henry Marshall was even responsible for the atrocities at all. Kelsie ran her fingers over the bark, over the holes in the wood. The tree itself looked somehow out of place there amid the forest. Its bark was almost black, its branches thick and gnarled. Brown fungus grew up one edge, and a hollow in the front was wet with moss and dead leaves. Rather than stretch for the sunlight like the other trees, this one seemed content to remain in place and shy from the golden life giving sun, happy in the shadows, an ancient monument to a time long passed.
“Come on,” Dave said without conviction. “I know what you’re thinking, and it’s impossible to say if that’s the same tree. The odds are against it.”
“How do you explain the holes? They look a lot to me like nail holes. And there are a hell of a lot of them.” Kelsie replied, stepping back from the group to take more photos of the imposing tree.
“Let me see,” Dave said, walking to the tree and leaning close to the wood. Something changed in him then. It was an expression they had seen before. The frown, the downturned mouth. Whenever there was something he was uninterested in, he would do all he could to dismiss it out of hand. However, when something caught his attention, he became the Dave they could see now. Serious, focused. Interested.
“Okay, you might be right. I’ll give you that.” He said as he walked around the tree. “These holes are certainly spaced apart to the right dimensions, the holes the right size for the size of nails that would be needed to hold up so much weight.”
“You think this is it?” Lucy asked. Taking a step away.
“I don’t know. All I’m saying is it could be.”
“I’m not sure I like this,” Lucy said. “It makes it all seem so much more…”
“Real,” Kelsie said, lowering her camera.
“Yeah, more real.”
“I’m trying to imagine how it must have looked. In the rain, in the dark, all those people attached to it, screaming, bleeding. God, it must have been awful.” Dani said. “Maybe we shouldn’t be here.”
“I said that from the start,” Dave snapped, pushing his glasses back up his sweaty face. “We should have headed back down into town.”
“You didn’t have to come,” Dani said, unsure why she was so angry.
“Come on you two, give it a rest, please.”
“No, Lucy. He’s
been driving me crazy with his crap ever since we got here. This isn’t his group. We’re equals and he goes around acting like some kind of an egotistical prick.”
Dave looked at her then stepped back onto the trail. “Say whatever you like, I’ve been around long enough not to respond to petty name calling. I was just trying to be the voice of reason.”
“Nobody is stopping you from having an opinion, just stop forcing it on everyone else.”
“Fine,” Dave snapped. “Let’s find this bloody clearing if it’s so important to you.”
He strode off up the trail, head down, arms pumping as he delved into the forest. The others followed, almost having to jog to keep up.
“Dave, come on, slow down, we need to keep together,” Lucy shouted after him. “Just slow down we can’t -”
The clearing appeared almost out of nowhere. The trees, so dense and tightly packed, suddenly stopped, giving way to a blazing ring of sunbathed land. Dave was a few feet in, hands on hips, staring straight ahead. There was no denying the way the atmosphere had changed. The entire feel of the forest had shifted. Gone were the bird songs and beautiful hues of nature, replaced by an absolute black silence which seemed to seep into their bones. The ground at their feet was dry and barren, a perfect circle of dirt. Even knowing the stories of what had happened here, nothing could prepare them for how it felt to experience it. It was more than just the quiet, there was a palpable feeling of being unwelcome, a vibrating malevolence in the very atmosphere of the area. Dave stared, eyes wide, cheek twitching as his eyes scanned the circumference.
“Jesus, do you feel that?” Dani said, her words seeming to come without any resonance or tone.
Dave nodded. Lucy had moved close to her, and hooked her arm through the crook of her friend’s elbow.
“I don’t think we should stay here,” She whispered.
Dave said nothing. He still stared, a single twitch from his cheek as he took in the flavour of the atmosphere.
“I never expected it to be like this,” Lucy muttered. “I mean, even when we were talking about it, I didn’t…..”
She stopped speaking, letting her words linger and fade. She swallowed, tasting copper in her throat from the supercharged air. It tasted like blood.
“Still think there’s nothing to it?” Dani said, staring at Dave.
He didn’t answer. He swallowed, throat bobbing as he continued to stare, a light sweat forming on his face.
“I’m not sure what it could be yet,” he muttered. “Maybe some kind of convergence of natural energy, I don’t know.”
“But you admit you can feel it?”
He nodded. “I don’t think anyone can deny the atmosphere in here is…off.”
“I feel sick,” Lucy said.
“I think we’ve seen enough here,” Dave muttered. This time, there was no argument. No fight.
Lucy turned back towards the trail. “Where’s Kelsie?” she said, looking back at the group.
“She was definitely here when we arrived, wasn’t she?” Dani said.
“I don’t know,” Lucy replied. “I don’t remember.”
“Maybe she went back to the trail,” Dave said, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
It was then, that a phantom gust of wind rocked the trees. They groaned and swayed, their deformed trunks, twisting back away from the edge of the clearing shuddering as their leaves rustled, surrounding them in noise which felt incredibly loud after the absolute desolate quiet which had been before.
The group drew closer together, standing back to back in a rough triangle as the sound subsided.
“What do we do?” Dani whispered.
The wind rolled and rocked as if in direct response to the question, the sounds made by nature almost sounding like sinister laughter.
“We should leave,” Dave said.
“We can’t leave without Kelsie.”
“We don’t even know if she came with us. She might be back down the trail for all we know.”
“Come on, Dave, we know that’s unlikely. She wouldn’t separate from us.”
“I can’t stay here.” Lucy cut in. “I just can't.”
She started towards the path in the woods. Almost immediately, the wind pushed her, going against the direction of the swaying trees, a probing force which felt like it was comprised of thousands of groping fingertips. She shrank back against the group.
“Why are the trees doing that?” Dani gasped. “It’s been a flat calm all day.”
“I don’t think the rules apply here,” Dave muttered, again wiping the sweat from his face with a forearm.
“I’m scared,” Lucy said.
Earlier, such a confession would have resulted in Dave giving her one of his opinionated lectures, explaining to her the dozen valid reasons why she had nothing at all to be scared of. Those words, so often met with rolling eyes and frustrated glances between her and Dani would have been welcome, the stubborn reassurance perhaps giving some kind of hope. Instead, Dave said the worst thing she could imagine coming from his mouth.
“I’m scared too,” he said.
The silence which had smothered them when they arrived at the clearing was now a distant memory. The trees rocked and swayed violently, more reminiscent of being caught in a February gale than a calm spring morning. The symphony of sound was accompanied by that sickly warm breeze which continued to touch them with disembodied fingertips. Probing. Probing.
“We need to go,” Dani said, turning towards the path to the forest. The trio froze, staring at their exit, a pathway blocked by a man who stood on the edge of the circle and stared at them with venomous intent.
III
For a few seconds, Dani was sure the man on the path was an illusion, something created by whatever force existed there in the clearing. It was when she realised the others saw him too, that she was able to acknowledge his existence in the physical world. His features were hard to make out. He wore a long grey overcoat and a hat pulled down low over his ears. He had his head down against the wind and his collar up. Face draped in shadow, he stared at the group.
"Who are you?" Dave shouted, struggling to make himself heard over the wind.
"You need to come with me, right now."
"We’re looking for our friend. She's missing."
"Goddamnit get out of the clearing, now!"
"Not until you tell us who you are."
"My name is Kimmel, and you should be paying attention to what I tell you."
"Why?"
"Because I've spent more time in this place than anyone alive. I think that makes me the nearest thing you have to an expert. Now get out of the damn clearing."
They moved as one, a tight, huddled unit unable to comprehend what was happening to them. Even Dave, the eternal sceptic, wore the frightened, glassy look of disbelief. The trio joined Kimmel on the path, distancing themselves from the clearing. The change in atmosphere was immediate, the oppressive discomfort replaced by the natural ambience of nature. Lucy and mega stood arms linked, each supporting the other. Dave leaned on a tree and vomited, shoulders hunching with each retch.
"It’s normal to feel nausea. Cough it up." Kimmel said as he lit a cigarette.
"Our friend, Dani began, then stopped, lip trembling.
"We’ll find your friend."
"You don't seem so sure."
Kimmel said nothing and took a deep drag on his cigarette. "Nothing up here is." He said, blowing smoke into the air as he walked away down the path.
"What the hell is going on up here?" Dave said, wiping an arm across his mouth.
"What makes you think it has anything to do with me?"
"Why else would you be out here?"
“That’s my business,” Kimmel said.
"Are you with the army?" Dani cut in.
"Formerly. I’m retired sent packing early with a gold watch and a handshake. Now my question to you is, what are you doing up here?"
"We belong to an urban exploration group."
> “What the hell does that mean?”
“We visit abandoned locations, report back to the followers on our website. Upload videos and pictures of what we find.”
“And people like that?” Kimmel said, looking at Dave.
“Absolutely. We have over three thousand subscribers. Countless other casual visitors. It’s big business.”
"And of all the places in the world, you choose here?" Kimmel said, not hiding his anger.
"It has a history. That's what we look for when we scout potential locations." Dave fired back, seeing Kimmel’s questioning as a personal attack.
"Well, you listen close. Whatever it is you were hoping to find isn't here. I can guarantee you that."
"Trust me, you don't need to convince us. As soon as we find our friend, we're getting the hell out of here."
Kimmel didn’t want to respond to that. He as certain they wouldn’t like what he had to say. Instead, he took a drag of his cigarette, grimaced, and tossed it on the floor, crunching it under his boot. "Goddamn air up here makes everything taste like shit."
He spat on the ground to emphasise his point, then looked at each of them in turn. "When did you last see your friend?"
"I'm not sure," Dani said, looking at Lucy and Dave. "We were all distracted. I don’t remember."
Whisper: The untold stories Page 12