Word Count 2,508
Trigger Warnings: slight profanity, mentions of blood
Note: this is a story I’m trying to write for a college class called “Novel Writing.” It’s not my best work and I’m trying something different.
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“Alright boys, we’re here,” casually says Hayden while turning off his 1995 Toyota Forerunner. He opens the driver door and steps out of the vehicle, slightly wincing as he grazes his arm off the side. The ground was uneven. Small, dull rocks protruded from the ground. Petite tufts of grass littered the stone and dirt encrusted landscape. Large pine trees stood above their visitors, looking out past the horizon with their knotty eyes crying sappy tears. Some of the trees had a small trace of pine beetles due to the reddish-orange hue on the needles.
Adam and Eli exited the vehicle as well, stretching their legs in the process. Adam goes up to the lake. The water was murky. A small school of rainbow trout swim by in quick succession.
“Is the water supposed to be this dirty?” questioned Adam.
“Not really. It’s probably from all the snow melting in the spring,” answered Hayden. Adam nods. Adam begins grabbing the tent from the back and tries to find a spot to set it up.
Meanwhile, Adam and Hayden notice and in figuring he had the right idea. Might as well set up and get the small stuff out of the way. Once the stuff was out of the vehicle, they searched for small bits of firewood. Hayden had already brought a significant amount to last for a couple days but it was mainly kindling they were lacking. Hayden was itching to get their campsite set up so he could find a spot to go fishing since a majority of the lake’s edges had lake scum floating atop the water or had cattail galore.
After Hayden finished helping Adam and Eli set up, he walks to the edge of the lake and looks around. Big Bear Lake was a place few people knew. It was one of the many small bodies of water nestled in the dense forest of Mount Shasta. Some of the water spots were either overflowing with water to the point where the campfires were submerged or reduced to a puddle due to the lack of rainfall and melted snow. One such place was Little Bear Lake. One would think the logical evaluation would be ‘if there is a Little Bear, there must be a Big Bear’ and would go searching for it. But that was not the case with most, only a few. Hayden was one of the few. Hayden had made sure to pack enough food to last a good chunk of the evening as well as have some food for tomorrow morning. Last time Hayden was up at the lake with friends, he had miscalculated to the point where they ran out. Once that happened, he and his buddies had to leave early. They could have scavenged the landscape for a bite to eat but that didn’t have the proper knowledge to know what was edible and was toxic. They could’ve tried to find other hikers or campers but there was no one to be seen. There wasn’t any signal either so trying to call someone was out of the question.
As Hayden was thinking about this, his head began to hurt. Eli notices this and walks over.
“Are you doing alright?” asked Eli while stroking the three hairs on his chin.
“Yea, I’m fine. Just a little dehydrated. I didn’t drink anything on the way up here,” said Hayden. Eli grabs a bottle of water out of the cooler and hands it to Hayden. He also grabs a small packet of Tylenol out of his pocket.
“Take these. Hopefully you will feel better afterwards,” says Eli while slowly walking away towards Adam to help him set up the tent. Hayden had forgotten most of what happened last time he went camping. He had tried so hard to forget the events that his brain decided to grant his wish. Now, every time he tried to think about the terrible events which happened a few years ago, his memory shut the door to his temporal lobe. He created the feeling of not knowing why but knowing they were terrible memories.
“This time will be different,” Hayden muttered to himself.
Adam was walking around the campsite, looking for a stick to sharpen. Finally, he had found the perfect stick and began to sharpen it with his pocket knife. Eli was doing a bit of exploring himself except he kept running into spiderwebs.
“Aah!” screamed Eli as he walked right into a spiderweb that was connected to two trees. Adam looked over and began to chuckle. A spider scurried down his arm. Eli’s eyes widened. Then it jumped back onto the tree. Eli hurried a different direction but ran into another spiderweb. He began wiping the webs off of him while panicking. Adam laughed yet again. He finished sharpening his stick. His goal was to use it as a torch. He would harvest leaking sap from the pine trees and place it around the tip of the stick. Then he would place a small bit of moss, found throughout the forest, on the sticky sap. This would be used as a source of fuel, he hoped. Eventually, Adam would take his encrusted stick and place the tip into the campfire. He could’ve tested it out to see if his idea would be a success but finding the large patches of sap that wasn’t already dried was a tedious task.
“What are you trying to do over there, Adam?” asked Elli while continuing to wipe the spiderwebs from his arms. Adam glanced over at Eli.
“I’m trying to make a torch for tonight.” Eli chuckled. He walked over to Adam and got close enough to whisper in his ear.
“I have an idea,” Eli whispered, then leaned back so Adam could see the wide grin on his face. Adam quirked an eyebrow.
“What?”
“Do you know how Hayden keeps avoiding the question every time we ask him why he’s scared about the wendigos?”
“Yea….”
“Well, you should tell him a story about it. Just freak him out a bit. I’ll act scared and chew on my fingernails.”
“I see we are on the same track. I was already planning to tell a spooky story. We are camping in the woods alone,” Hayden says. “Also, what does this have to do with the torch I’m making?”
“Well, I feel like Hayden won’t be completely convinced with your story. I’m saying a good half hour after you tell the spooky storm, you should barely light your torch with the lighter in your pocket and run down the trail screaming.”
Adam laughs then strokes his chin. “He can still see the light on it though.”
“Well, there’s a small stream running through one of the campsites just down the road. Put out your torch in there.” Adam nods his head showing he understands.
“Are you two trying to mess with me again?” Hayden asked while crossing his arms.
“Of course we are,” Eli says.
“No, no Eli. You’re supposed to say ‘no we’re not’ so he doesn’t get suspicious,” Adam exclaims in a boasted tone of sarcasm. Hayden shakes his head.
“Let me guess. You’re going to tell a story then wait to where I don’t want to hear anymore of it and try to grab my sides? You do realize I have a gun on me.”
“We aren’t going to do that. We aren’t that stupid. Well maybe Eli.”
“Dick,” Eli says, nudging him in the side. Adam laughs. The three of them stand there in a minute of silence. Finally, Adam opens his mouth to speak.
“I know I’ve asked this several times but why are you afraid of the wendigos? We are in the middle of nowhere so there is no one around to hear us.” Hayden turns his head away.
“You’re going to get the same answer. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Well I tried,” said Adam in a low tone of voice while shrugging his shoulders. He thought eventually he would cave in to his constant questioning. He knew Eli wanted to ask the same questions but was a bit more sensitive than him and didn’t want to push someone’s buttons. He and Eli have talked when they weren’t with Hayden. There were some theoretical answers. Maybe since he believes in the supernatural, maybe something happened to him. Maybe saying its name triggered some kind of bad moment. Whatever the case was, he wanted to know.
Hayden walked away from the group. Unconsciously, he was walking the small trail that looped around the lake. The sun was still high in the sky so he wasn’t pressed for time. From time to time, the tree branches rustled from the magpies. He spotted a rabbit hopping slowly near the lake’s edge. He let out a large sigh, breathing in a fresh breath of hair. This was nice. He would eventually go back to the camp once the sun began to set, but for now, now was a time to take it all in and focus on himself. The lake’s edges still had a lot of scum floating on its surface. On the other side of the lake, was a spot where there was no scum or cattails. It looked like an ideal spot to fish. At this point though, he didn’t want to go back and grab his gear. He would do that first thing in the morning. Right now, Hayden just wanted to go for his walk and be left alone with his own thoughts. A slight breeze began to form. A small scent of pine was apparent. At least the wind wasn’t blowing hard. He really didn’t want random bugs and other crap flying into his face. The wind started to whistle then it died down.
“I found you,” a whisper said in Hayden’s ears. He jumped back not knowing where it came from. His eyes scoured the landscape but he couldn’t see much due to all the trees and a slight break of sunlight blocking his peripheral vision. Maybe this was Adam trying to screw with him again. ‘No,” Hayden thought to himself. He would’ve heard the crunching of pine needles and sticks in the background. Adam thought of himself as sneaky but trying to stay quite was a different story. He was a big guy so trying to sneak was not his forte. Eli, on the other hand, was skinny enough to bounce from tree to tree. He has spooked Hayden a few times unintentionally to the point where it can’t be helped. Eli just walks too quietly. Hayden took Eli out of the equation because even though he is scrawny and nimble, he is out of shape and a bit more sensible than Adam. After Hayden ruled out his two friends, he went back to figuring out where the whisper came from. He let out another sigh and mumbles something under his breath.
“It’s just my imagination.” Or was it? A small crunch came from in front of him. Then another one was heard. It sounded as if there was someone coming towards him. Hayden stood still, afraid to move and make any sound. The crunches gradually came closer and closer and closer. Soon, he felt something next to him and the crunches stopped. There was nothing near him. The birds still chirped and the fish kept letting off air bubbles from inside the lake. His skin went cold. He yelled in front of him.
“Stop messing around guys!”
No response. He yelled again. “Really, you guys need to stop. You’re taking this too far!”
Again, no response. The breeze picked up again and an iron smell introduced itself to Hayden’s nose. Then a little pain came from his arm. He looked down and found a cut had formed. A stream of blood dripped off his arm, making a petite splatter on a rock near his feet. Each splatter let out a minuscule spray of blood which hit his exposed feet. His feet were in sandals.
“What the?!” Hayden said with a look of confusion. He was curious. He took his finger, poked at the bloodied cut, and put his finger in his mouth. He was expecting the taste of blood. Instead, it was the taste of… nothing. Wait. Nothing? Hayden was confused. He could feel the thickness of the blood on both his arm and his finger. He collected some spit in his mouth and swished the remaining blood around. He didn’t taste it but he could feel the blood/spit mixture dancing on his tongue and escaping through the small holes that separated his teeth. He spit out the mixture and watched as it hit a nearby tree with force. It splattered. The blood from the cut began to dry as well as the small blotches that hit his foot.
He turned around and broke into a jog towards the camp. The crunches came back and appeared next to him. Then another whisper spoke.
“You can keep running but we’ll always find you.” Hayden took it up a notch and went to a sprint. The front of his sandals kept turning over and hitting the course, dirt ground. Even though the crunches stopped after the whisper, Hayden kept hurrying towards camp in a full sprint. He saw Adam and Eli in the distance. As he began to slow down so he didn’t have to explain to them why he was sprinting, he took a tumble and scraped his knee off the trunk of a tree. He winced. The cut had reopened during the fall.
Adam and Eli hurried after seeing Hayden trip. “Are you okay?!” both exclaimed then glanced at each other in surprise. Hayden was holding his knee with ease. He pulled himself back up using a nearby branch as .
“Yea, I’m fine.”
“How did you fall?” asked Eli.
“ I tripped over one of the rocks.” Hayden said quickly. “Did we pack band-aids?” Adam let out a snort.
“Band-aids aren’t going to fix that scrape. You’ll have to clean that before it gets infected.”
“Yea, I know, Captain Obvious! I want them for the cut on my arm.” Both Eli and Adam look at Hayden’s arm then at each other.
“Hayden,” Eli slowly begins to speak. “ There isn’t a cut on your arm.”
“Yea there is. I got it over there.” Hayden points at the trail.
“No there isn’t.” Hayden looked down at his arm to see the cut had vanished. He looks down at his feet and there isn’t any blood.
“Did you hit your head on the fall?” Adam says giggling. Hayden didn’t want to explain what happened so he told them a blatant lie.
“Maybe I did. Also, were you two messing with me earlier?” Eli responds.
“No we weren’t. What made you say that?”
“Just curious. You two do have a habit of pulling pranks on each other.” They both smirk and walk away. Hayden, however, glances at his arm. A small taste of blood touches the tip of his tongue.
Images not mine. Credit goes to source.
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