I Remember, Once...

III.

Most of the camp was awake, by the time the sun had risen. That cold, blanket of fog was still present, making the whole camp seem somewhat oppressive. Yet again, Demona was the first person by the camp fire, although she seemed to be more like her more usual self. In fact, she was stoking the fire with more wood, while cooking food for everyone. The only sounds she was making were the gentle, humming sounds, of some unrecognizable tune. When asked about it, she smiled gently and said it was something that her grandmother used to hum, while cooking. Something that Demona described as ‘coming from the old country’. Wherever that was. I didn’t know what she was cooking, but it didn’t smell very appetizing, to me. There was an oddly earthy smell. Like that of freshly unearthed potatoes. It was combined with that of a smell, similar, to eggs. Almost sulfurous, yet sickly sweet, at the same time. I declined a bowl, of the steaming mixture and chose to eat the oatmeal, from my supplies.

It must have been sometime around mid-morning, when I noticed a restlessness settling in some of my colleagues. The same feeling was starting to affect me, I had to admit, although, not to the same level that it seemed to be affecting some of the others. The fog had lifted, a little, so I began to gather a group to retrieve the equipment from the clearing. The eagerness of some of them was almost alarming. They seemed to have a ‘need’, to go into the forest. As though they had some great purpose, that required them to go. Some of them appeared to be sweating and behaving almost feverishly. I chose four of the least maniacal looking, and gave instructions that the others were to break camp and make their way down the valley, should the fog clear.

We made our way back up that small trail, towards the clearing. Following the trail markers, that we had left, was easy enough. The bright colors stood out clearly in the gloom laden forest. Although the fog was still settled just beyond the treeline, within the forest, there was no fog. Despite this, things still looked dark and eerie, in the shadows of the trees. In fact, to my eyes, it looked like a different area, altogether. Things seemed darker and more ominous, somehow. It seemed that we were in a much older, archaic, ancient woodland. Despite the cold temperatures, you could feel the life that surrounded us. It was not a welcoming sensation. The behavior of some of my colleagues, was beginning to alarm me. Sometimes, they would wander off the trail, either alone or in pairs, and return. Humming the same, strange tune. If I wasn’t mistaken, it was the same tune that Demona had been humming, by the fire. We had been walking for some time, when I became convinced that the trail was longer than it should be. Surely, we should have reached the clearing by now? Why was it so dark? More importantly, where was my equipment?

I played that question to myself, over and over, in my head. That was when I became  aware of the fact that I was now very much alone. My breathing became sharper and more rapid, and I became acutely aware of how cold it had become. Checking my watch, I could see that it was barely gone lunchtime, in the more civilized world at least. Why was it so dark? It was by no means night, but, it seemed more like dusk. I ruled out the shade, from the forest, itself. The shadow seemed, somehow, too ill-defined, for that. Something like a poorly applied charcoal, across an artist's parchment. The atmosphere, had taken on an altogether eerie air. Along with a sensation that I could only describe as ‘unwholesome’. I became quite dizzy, as I spun one way, then the other, trying to see where my team had gone. Fearing to call out, in case some fell beast had taken them, I walked back down the trail. 

The only sound was the snow and leaf-litter, crunching underfoot. Trying my best to be as stealthy as possible, only seemed to result in exactly the opposite! With the growing darkness, which was unusual, I could feel a panic starting to rise within me. At some point, I thought that I had wandered off the trail, but, found myself following a trail, through the trees. It didn’t take me long to realize that it was not the trail we had been following, but, some way off in the distance, through the veil of trees and bushes, I could see some light. Not the same light that you get from a break in the trees. This was an orange-tinted light. Like that from an old candle, or oil lantern. Or the kind of flickering light, from a log fire. Maybe the rest of my colleagues had seen the light and made their ways there. It was a possibility I had to check.

As I got closer to the light, I could see that it was coming from a small wooden lodge. The roof was steeply sloped and covered in a thick layer of snow. It looked like the sort of image that you would get from the writings of the Grimm brothers, or an Anderson tale. The sides of the building, were an odd-looking color, that was difficult to see clearly. I dropped to my knees, behind some twisted, blackened branches, when I heard a noise from the far side of the building. When I saw the two figures, I almost called out. It was a good job that I chose to remain hidden, where I was. The two figures were a pair of my colleagues, but they were no longer wearing the clothes, that I had seen them in. Instead, they now seemed to be dressed in some kind of brightly colored, traditional clothing. That wasn’t what kept me silent. It was what I saw following them.

My two colleagues, looked as though they were under some kind of mesmerism, or hypnotism. Their faces were devoid of any kind of emotional context.  Their eyes, looked glassed over, unblinking, despite the cold. What was behind them, sent a shiver through to my very core. Just a few steps behind them, was what I could only describe as a ‘darkness’. A thick, shimmering, animated darkness. Its surface undulating, as it moved, making lines of reflected light appear and disappear, like temporary stripes. It was like an amorphous creature of black crude oil. Again, just a few feet behind that creature of darkness, was another figure. This one was far more human. Mostly.

At the very best, one could describe this being as ‘bipedal’ and ‘humanoid’. It walked as if it had an overly crooked back, that prevented it from standing fully upright. Indeed, once it had made it to the door, of the structure, I could see that it was using a stick, to help it along. Its attire, was probably best described as ragged and was very dark, in color. As it passed a window, you could see that it was mainly composed of materials in shades of gray, black and, I think, a dark red or brown. Something that seemed to be well suited to going unnoticed, in the forest at night. It made me wonder if this was the being responsible for the damage to the camp? As this hominid creature passed the threshold, of the door, it turned and looked back into the forest. It cast its gaze left and right, pausing at intervals, as though it were trying to focus on something. I feared that it had discovered me, at one point, when it seemed to gaze directly toward where I had secreted myself. After a few moments of this behavior, the creature shuffled into the building, with the two creatures of darkness, and the door closed behind the strange trio. I sat there, hidden in that blackened thicket, as long as I dared, before I decided to move in closer, and peer in through a window.