Something in the Forest

Looking back, I’ll admit that going out to the swimming hole so late was probably a mistake. It was a clear, hot day with plenty of light, even along the densely-wooded path we walked to get out there. It didn’t take us long to get there, either, maybe twenty minutes…even with the twins in tow. So, we shouldn’t have felt so uneasy when we got out there. If I hadn’t been a kid hell-bent on getting myself into trouble, I’d probably have turned around. I ignored that sense of wrongness around me, though, and chalked it up to Uncle Phil’s vague warning on the road and Aunt Susan’s reluctance to let us go out here at all.

Like a lot of kids, though, that queasy feeling was gone about as soon as the fun kicked in.

Let me set the scene for you.

Like Aunt Ruth said, the swimming hole was about a mile west of the house on a path that was so well blazed by Robert and Uncle Phil that you didn’t even need a map and compass to find it. It was nestled in a basin of rocky outcroppings where a rather large creek wound downhill before tumbling over a waterfall. The way the terrain was shaped, the rocks tended to stay dry, allowing them to be climbed and used as improvised diving boards. The water was deep enough that you could climb all the way to the top of those rocks, dive off, and still not have your feet hit the bottom—if only barely. At some point, Robert and Uncle Phil had added several ways to use rope to arc oneself out over the pool below like Tarzan. Though, to be fair, maybe George was more like it, all facts considered.

The waterfall was probably the best part of the swimming hole, though. It wasn’t even much of a fall, maybe a few feet drop into the deep pool below. That wasn’t what made it fun, though. It was also at the bottom of a winding downhill stretch of creek whose bed had been worn smooth into the rocks over the eons. The end result was a sort of natural water slide that ripped down the hill before dropping you into the pool.

So, now you have sort of an idea just how a bunch of kids, including a pair of ten-year-olds, managed to find ourselves a little later coming home than intended.

We were having a blast, but Robert suddenly froze at the top of that natural water slide. He looked down at the shadows, stretching out ahead of him and casting the pool below in deepening shadows. Then, he spun around to the west and started cussing. It was out of character for Robert, who almost never did things like that, and I turned to see what he was looking at.

All I could see is that the sun was already sinking below the trees. I strained my eyes, staring into the shadows, and still couldn’t see a darned thing moving around out there. “What’s up,” I asked Robert.

“We’re late,” Robert shot back then stood over the edge and shouted at the other youngsters below. “That’s it! Everyone out of the pool! It’s time to go home!”

The twins didn’t seem to know what was going on, but Becky sure did. She gasped and rushed over to drag the pair out of the pool. “Tim,” she called. “Alice! Time to go!”

I didn’t know what was going on, either, but I still leaned over the edge to get my sister’s attention. “Out of the pool, Ruth,” I called down. “We gotta go!”

“I heard it all the first time, chucklehead,” Ruth called back.

“Don’t you sass me!”

Robert took the fastest route down, a running leap off the rocky outcrop we’d jokingly nicknamed The High Dive. I quickly followed and still beat him out of the swimming hole. He may have been the star football player, but I was already a two-time state champ on the local swim team. I heaved myself out of the pool and held out my hand to Robert. I didn’t even get the usual rivalry. He just said, “thanks,” and let me help haul him out.

We rushed drying off and getting our boots and shirts back on while Becky and Robert kept glancing to the west and looking uneasily at the deepening shadows. I still couldn’t get my mind around what was going on.

Robert was always the calm one. He was the guy whose team rallied around when things were looking bad, and he’d already announced he was enlisting in the army, shipping out come September. He was solid, and I hadn’t seen anything scare him in years.

Then, there was Becky. Okay, so Becky was scared of rats…and spiders…and, well lots of stuff, but never the woods at night. She didn’t just like camping, she adored camping.

I grimaced and looked at Robert as he was throwing on the backpack he’d brought with him. “What,” I asked jokingly. “The twins still scared of the dark?”

“Nuh-uh,” Jonathan and Jeremy objected loudly.

“We’re not scared of anything,” one of them insisted…I think it was Jeremy.

Robert shook his head. “No, it’s nothing like that,” he said in a rushed voice.

“What is it then,” I asked. “Just gets real cold at night?”

Robert sighed and glanced west. “Something like that,” he said, his normal confidence returning to his voice. “Let’s just get a move on.”

We were on the path back to the house in no time. Robert took the lead with me following right behind him. Ruth walked right next to me, and Tim picked up the rear guard. I didn’t know why at the time and chalked it up to the cold, but…I noticed that Becky and Alice kept the twins in the middle and refused to let them wander near the edges of the path. Even Tim didn’t seem to dare to lag behind, but kept up right behind the twins. It was like how some wild animals crowd together and keep their young in the middle of the herd. It sent a chill up my spine.

As that mood set in, it seemed like the path just kept getting longer. The growing darkness certainly didn’t help. I tried to keep myself in check. Robert and I, especially, were way too old to still be afraid of the dark. As we walked, though, I couldn’t help but notice that the woods weren’t just quiet…they were dead silent. No birds. No bugs. No small animals rummaging around in the brush. Nothing…just total silence with the growing darkness beginning to crowd in around us.

It was almost a relief when, finally, I heard a twig snap off to my right. I turned to see what made the sound just in time to see…something disappearing behind a large tree. It was hard to see in the deepening shadows, but it looked almost like a person moving. I only saw a flash of a shoulder, an arm, and a leg; but, what I saw still gives me goosebumps. I leaned closer to my cousin. “Uh, Robert,” I said quietly. “I think there’s someone out there; and, well, it doesn’t look like he’s wearing any clothes.”

“Shh,” Robert replied. “Don’t look at it. Never look directly at it.”

“It’s probably just some homeless guy.”

“Do you really think you’re going to get a homeless guy running butt-naked through the Rockies?”

I shook my head. I couldn’t really think of anything to say to that.

“Just don’t look at it, alright? It can’t do anything if you don’t look at it.”

“What am I supposed to do? Pretend it’s not there?”

“No. Don’t do that, either.”

Ruth started to turn when another twig snapped, off to our left this time. Becky reached forward and firmly turned her head back to the trail. Robert and I picked up the pace a bit, as the rest of my cousins crowded further in around us. Becky even grabbed Ruth and started keeping an arm around my sister’s shoulders while still holding one of the twins’ hand.

The sound of snapping twigs grew more frequent…to the left, to the right, behind us. At one point, we all froze at the sound of a something dead ahead. Ruth and I joined our cousins as everyone huddled together, looking down at the ground…even Robert. Whatever was out there even terrified him, and that made a lump form in my throat. I wanted to scream but I couldn’t.

I heard a sniffle next to me.

Ruth was shaking like a leaf and crying quietly. I took her from Becky and put my arm around her shoulder.

All the while, the sounds of movement ahead kept going…dragging feet on the path, kicking of dry leaves, and breaking of sticks that could only be deliberate. Whatever it was, it was like it wanted us to look at it, to get curious enough to look up and find out what was making the racket. There was a frustrated pause, and the shuffling started coming closer. “Oh god! Oh god,” I heard Ruth whimpering.

We all huddled even closer, and I shut my eyes tight when whatever that thing was stopped…right in front of me. It could have been my imagination, but I could swear I heard a sort of gurgling sound. Then, there was a deep sigh followed by running footsteps that crashed into the woods.

Robert was breathing heavily as he went around patting heads. “One, two, three,” he counted. “Four, five, six, seven, and I make eight. Okay, Bill, we’re not far from the edge of the woods. On the count of three, I want you to take Jonathan and your sister. I’ll take Jeremy and Alice. Everybody, we’re going to make a break for the house. Tim, Becky, I need the two of you to hold onto the back of my shirt or Bill’s so we know you’re not falling behind.”

I nodded.

“Okay,” Tim and Becky cried, almost in unison.

Ruth started sobbing. “What was that, what’s out there,” she blubbered.

I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I was on the edge of losing it, myself. If Robert hadn’t been there, I probably would have.

I picked up one of the twins, hoping it was Jonathan and not Jeremy. A ten year-old isn’t exactly a fly weight, but there was enough adrenaline pumping through my veins at the time that I barely noticed. I took Ruth’s hand and whispered, “okay, let’s go.”

Robert took a deep breath. “One, two,” he started then hesitated for another breath before barking, “three!”

Robert and I took off as fast as our legs could carry us and a ten year-old boy while half-dragging a thirteen year-old girl behind us. Thankfully, it wasn’t long before we saw the lights of the house through the trees. It was like whatever was out there was still desperate to get our attention, though. The crashing through the woods continued off to our left for a while before coming out onto the trail behind us. It didn’t seem to try to catch up with us though. It just…paced us…like it was trying to scare a group of kids half to death.

I’ll be honest…I didn’t think we were going to make it.