"Sean, get off of me, please..." Lou begged into the couch's worn leather cushions. He was lying face down in the living room of his apartment with his room mate sitting on his back. Sean was a well built man, with strong muscles and square shoulders. He stood a fair 5'11, though with all of that bulk you would expect something taller. His physique was offset by a thin face and angular features, creating a resemblance between him and a beautiful elf. A pair of square framed glasses perched on his nose, framing deep black eyes. Thick locks of black hair rest on his head, complimenting his ebony skin. Sean had an almost charmingly childish smile, one that tended to attract attention from the opposite sex. He grinned down at his helpless house mate, knowing the boy couldn't move with his small stature.
"Suck it up, squirt. You make a good couch," Sean leaned against the cushions, still resting on Lou's back. The smaller resident just grumbled some swears, unable to pull him off of his back. Sean turned on the cheap pawn-shop TV they owned, and began setting up some shooter game. Lou, knowing full well that he wasn't going to be rescued or released any time soon, turned his head to watch the game.
A knock sounded from the apartment door, though Sean didn't even shift in his seat. "The door's open!" He yelled, earning a grunt of disapproval from his unwilling captive. The door swung open, revealing Marley. Her eyes traveled across the room until they came to rest on the pair on the couch. Lou met her eyes and silently mouthed 'help me'. In any other circumstance Marley would have jumped at his cue, and Sean would already be on the floor with his arms pinned behind his back. Instead, a smirk appeared on her lips.
"You were supposed to meet me for coffee," She informed her friend, dropping her bag on the kitchen table and walking to the couch. "I know," Lou grumbled into the couch. "I got caught up. There was a really cool piece of graffiti, and--" Marley cut him off as she sat on his legs, squishing him down more than he already was. "I get it. But this betrayal will cost you," she informed him, earning a fist-bump from Sean, as well as a controller to join the game.
Sean was a good friend to both Lou and Marley, but he was closer in personality to Marley. Both were strong headed, stubborn and loud mouthed, though Marley was by far the most gruff. Sean was always charming ladies and gentlemen alike. He had a bit of a silver tongue.
Lou guessed there would be no escape in the foreseeable future, so instead he turned his attention to the game. "I do not know why you play such a violent game," he grunted, his words strained thanks to the heavy college student sitting on his back. "That's the whole point, dumbass," Marley replied once she killed Sean's avatar, earning herself a glare from both residents. "Fine. Can I get up now? My legs are numb," Lou complained, making another weak attempt to pry Sean away. After a brief exchange of glances between the gamers, they grudgingly stood up to allow their captive to sit.
"Thank you," Lou mumbled as the others sat down again on either side of him. "And I really am sorry about forgetting," he added to Marley, not wanting her to be mad. She just sent him a small smile. "It's cool, nerd, you only made me look like a lonely sop in front of a dozen people," she looked at Lou with a sly smirk, proving she was just teasing him. "And I think getting sat on by this behemoth might be punishment enough," she added, jabbing her thumb at Sean. "Behemoth?!" Sean replied in outrage, his voice raising at least three pitches. Marley only replied to him by grabbing his shoulder and shoving him completely off of the couch. That action earned a grin from Lou, happy to see his tormentor in discomfort, even if it was only temporary. The wounded beast just slipped back on to the cushions, a salty expression on his face. The others all knew this was a momentary state. Sean was terrible at holding grudges.
As expected, within seconds he was grabbing a third controller for Lou and changing the game to something more appealing for the softie.
Sean and Lou's apartment wasn't an comfortable place. The windows were blotted and the paint on the walls were peeling away. The furniture looked like it was taken from a poor band's drug den, and smelled like it, too. They tried to keep it clean, tried being the operative word. Lou's photographs and camera trinkets were strewn on every table top. Sean had a tendancy to leave around his books and writings, usually nudged under coffee cups. He was studying biology at the local university, which was always a surprise considering his appearance. He wanted to be a high school teacher, for some bizarre reason his friends could not understand.
"So Lou told me that you met a ghost who styled herself after Ripley from Alien," Sean commented, putting his controller down as he lost a round of the game. Marley nodded in reply, a bit caught up in the game that she had yet to lose. "I don't know if she looked like Ripley, but she was definitely undead," she dropped her controller when she actually did lose, sending Lou a sour look. "This is why we don't let him play," Marley said to no one in particular.
"But why would a zombie board up their own window? Isn't that the opposite of what a zombie would do?" Lou continued with the former string of conversation, though he gave Marley a polite and infuriating smile to her loss. "Maybe it's to darken the room, or something?" Sean suggested, beginning a new round of the game. "You know, those little light box things? That show the stars?"
"No way a professional astronomer would use a cheap observatory," Marley answered, sounding very matter-of-fact. She always got snobbish while talking about astrology in any way. It had been her home territory ever since she got that telescope in 8th grade. After that it had been all 'This constellation' and 'that supernova.' Neither Lou nor Sean could complain, since the former talked about little other then books and photography, while the latter's favourite subject was usually the girl he had picked up the night before. "Well, then, I don't know! Maybe she was trying to make it atmospheric?" Sean suggested, though the idea was as stupid as it sounded. "You said it was facing the lake? Maybe she hates water or something."
"She hates water, so she boards up a window to block a river? You couldn't even see the lake much from there," Marley pointed out, getting up to grab food from the kitchenette when she lost the round. The behemoth on the couch scowled, clearly a bit annoyed that she was able to poke so many holes in his idea. Of course, there were so many holes already that it may as well have been a net.
"And what about that map?" Lou piped up, smiling as he won yet again. "That lake has been uninhabited for as long as I can remember. There are literally no possible inhabitants..." he paused, thinking about the situation, "I suppose it is possible for astrologers to get access to the lake, but I find that highly unlikely. I would guess only ecologists would get permission, or possibly chemists."
The mystery hung in the air as the room occupants fell quiet, like a closed book just out of reach. Sean, however, was less dumbfounded then the rest. "It's probably no big deal," he pointed out as he lounged back on his side of the couch. "You two are acting like it's some big conspiracy. If you think it's such a big secret, just break into the lake."
He said it so nonchalantly, as if it was a regular activity for him to break into places illegally.
That's when a spark of an idea lit in the other's minds. They made eye contact, a silent argument taking place, while Sean sat oblivious. Finally, Lou spoke. "No way, it is a terrible idea."
"Terrible? It's brilliant!"
"As brilliant as Napoleon's plan to invade Russia!" He snapped back. Sean stared over at the other boy, clearly a bit confused by the metaphor. On the other hand, Marley had heard this analogy many times before and was happy to elaborate for clueless Sean. "His plan failed."
"Ah. I still think it sounds like fun. It's a big area, I doubt they have enough park rangers to go around."
"Does that mean you'll come?" Marley asked Sean, glancing over at her large friend.
The boy scoffed, shaking his head. "Are you kidding? I'm not an idiot. Plus, I have a date."
"Of course you do," Marley said, rolling her eyes. It wasn't exactly rare.
"My point is that I do not want to go to jail for trespassing," Lou snapped, interrupting the others. He was at the edge of his seat, now jumpy and riled up. He didn't get into arguments often, mainly because he was a bit of a pushover. He had been pressured by Marley into joining the internship, by Sean into sharing an apartment, by his parents to not go to university for photography. It wasn't that he was unhappy with how any of the situations turned out, but he hadn't chosen them. But on occasion there was something he really, really didn't want to do. This was one of those situations. It was a plan that could get them arrested, and that didn't even touch the fact that the heavy metal everywhere could potentially hurt them. It was just a bad plan.
Still, Marley seemed all for it. "Lou, it's an adventure! A real one! Don't you want that?" Her friend vigorously shook his head, completely against it. Despite all of their talk of going on wild journeys, of visiting worlds like Narnia or Earthsea, or traveling across the ocean like in Treasure Island, Lou had always kept the grounded knowledge that it would never happen. On top of that, this seemed less like an adventure and more of a substitution: Something that was trying to be an epic quest but really wasn't.
"This is not a real adventure. It is just you wanting some cheap thrills," Lou told her sourly. Marley sighed and stood up, walking in front of him before crouching down, giving him the higher ground. "Lou, we aren't going to get caught. I promise. It's just a bit of fun, and..." she trailed off, her argument growing progressively weaker.
"And you can take some sweet pictures," Sean piped up.
Well, that would be something, Lou thought silently. No one was allowed in that area... he could take exclusive pictures, and no one else would have been able to do the same.
His expression changed from firmly against to uncertain, and Marley jumped at the chance. She popped to her feet, grabbing her coat and bag from the table. "So it's decided, we're going!" She strode over to the coffee table, beginning to pack up Lou's assorted photography equipment. "No, I never said that," he protested, though it sounded only half-hearted, and he wasn't trying to stop her.
"I promise we'll stop anywhere you want for as long as you want to take pictures," Marley bribed, throwing the camera bag onto his lap once she had packed it up.
Finally, Lou swayed. "Okay, I will do it, on one condition," he began, catching Marley's interest. "If we even catch a wiff of park rangers or police officers, we are out of there."
Taking a giddy jump up from her spot on the floor, Marley nodded. "It's a deal!" She quickly grabbed Lou by the hand and yanked him to his feet. "We're going, come on!" She pulled him from the apartment, and it was all he could do to pick up his camera bag before they disappeared out the door.
•●--■--●•
The air was cold and crisp so close to the mountains, and the skies now darkening of their usual shade of grey. The mountains stretched before Marley's red rusty car like the jagged talons of a bird. Trees ran up the sides of the slopes, the autumn season painting the landscape in dull golds and browns.
The roads towards the hiking trails was deserted of any life, minus the occasional bird who had yet to fly south. The eerie quiet set Lou on edge, the once familiar car path feeling cold and foreboding. He sat forward on his seat, or far as his seat belt would allow, as if he would need to jump up and run in any given moment. Marley was calm at his shoulder, leading them down the dirt path with confidence.
He didn't know how she did that. She was so rarely nervous of anything, even with the odds stacked against her. He remembered one time in highschool when he had accidentally broken his teacher's prized model of the Royal Globe Theater. He had been so terrified of what his teacher would do. Yet, Marley was there, steady as ever. Not only did she take the blame for it, she did it so confidently that she didn't even get a punishment. Lou wanted to be like that.
Finally, Lou's thoughts halted when they drove into the empty car lot at the end of the hiking trail. It was the only illuminated part of the trail, a sad little information desk in the corner and a few signs warning of bears or moose. The lot was at the base of the mountains, among the lush forests that surrounded it and crawled up the base. Lou loved these mountains, but with them all set in a pitch black coat of paint it was foreboding.
Marley cleared her throat, causing him to jump. "You're as twitchy as a rabbit," she commented, sliding out of the banged up car and unkindly slamming the door shut. Poor Lou winced at the sound, but exited as well.
"This is a terrible plan," he said for the millionth time in the last hour. Unfortunately, his protests were getting ignored more and more, so he doubted his last comment would make any impact.
"Hey, I might have a flashlight in the trunk, want to grab it?" Marley suggested as she leaned through the window of her back seat, shuffling through a random assortment of garbage and discarded clothing.
Lou rounded the side of the car, his sneakers crunching the crisp autumn leaves beneath of him. This time of year it was growing cold, and the mountains added to it in a steady rush of wind chill. The sky had nearly darkened completely, so no warmth would be coming down from the sun. He could feel damp frosty air biting through his sweater, threatening to come in. And thanks to their location between the ocean and the Rockies, it rained constantly, leaving patches of wet ground every few feet.
He popped the trunk to probably sort through a similar waste to the back seat, attempting to find a light source. But to his surprise, the trunk was tidy and neat, though it was probably the cleanest it had ever been. The only thing inhabiting the trunk was a pair of old backpacks, so he dragged one over and zipped it open.
As Marley had suggested, there was a flashlight... Or, two. One was a simple light, the kind you could probably find at any hardware store. The other was a heavy duty flashlight, the ones that are held from a handle on top and can flood a huge area in light. From what he could see there was also a blanket, a couple water bottles, and a bag of trail mix.
Lou looked at Marley as she pulled herself out of the car window, shrugging a sweater over her shoulders. "You planned this," he accused, leaning forward on the trunk edge and shooting her a glare. His friend's eyes went wide and she shook her head, but it was so obvious that she was trying to suppress a grin that it ruined the innocent effect. "Plan this? Me? I could never do that..." She shrugged helplessly and walked around to his side. Lou didn't reply.
She had done it again. She had manipulated him perfectly in the palm of her hand, and he had fallen right into it. All of his protestations at the apartment had fallen on deaf ears. She had already made her choice. The wind whistled through the mountains as he silently boiled. Why should she have the right to manipulate him like that? He said no and she should have dropped it, not conspire to do it anyways. It wasn't fair, and he always fell into these traps.
When most people were angry they yelled and broke things. When Lou was angry he sat there and remained quiet. It always made it an ordeal to figure out whether he was mad or not. Of course, Marley always knew.
"Look, honey," she began, wrapping an arm around his shoulders, giving his shoulder a tight squeeze. "I know you don't like it, but I promise, everything will be alright. 'Kay?"
The small boy hesitated, but they both knew he never held grudges. "Yeah... Okay..." And with that, he slung the second pack over his shoulder and held his camera bag close as if he was afraid to lose it.
Marley gave a small 'whoop!' And the flashlights from her own bag, offering one to get friend. "It will be pitch black on the trail, we will need a lot more then just two lights to stay grounded," Lou warned as he took the flashlight, the simple variety while she took the floodlight. She nodded in reply, and turned to the trail.
The trail, nicknamed 'the drop' by many avid hikers, was probably not the safest choice of routes for the dead of night. It had many cliffs and edges, even so low down on the mountain's face. Unfortunately, it was also the closest trail to where they were headed, and Lou would rather traverse up a slightly dangerous path that he knew by heart then spend an extra three hours hiking from an easier trail.
The well used path was harder to follow then expected, with the worn dirt hard to differentiate from the more unkept forest around. Patches of orange leaves littered the ground from a couple maple and birch, occasionally covering the path and threatening to send the pair off in an accidental direction. And unfortunately, much to Lou's dismay his flashlight did little in the way of helping. It could illuminate certain spots well enough, but he had to be able to see them in the first place to point the light. It was a good thing that they brought the floodlight, because it worked surprisingly well, illuminating the trail and surrounding fir trees.
Although he probably wouldn't admit it to Marley, the trip might not be so bad after all. He stopped every dozen yards to snap a picture of the trees or the path or the sky. His friend tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for him to choose his settings to take a picture to his liking.
"Lou, babe, we're not going to get there until morning at this rate," Marley called as he stopped to take pictures of a nest belonging to birds who headed south months ago. He thought it would make a pretty picture, but evidently Marley did not agree.
"You said I could stop to take pictures whenever I wanted," he pointed out, before going back to taking pictures of the nest. She didn't reply. The path became hushed other then the quiet clicks of Lou's camera and the occasional hoot of an owl or chirp of a cricket. After a minute or so of the silence, Marley spoke up again.
"You're delaying, aren't you?"
Lou visibly winced from his crouched position, and he turned his head to look at her from the corner of his gaze. "No..." He said, pronouncing the word slowly and unconvincingly. But of course he was, this was a bad and dangerous idea. Marley only snorted in reply and stretched her arms above her head, as if calling him out was exercise.
"Alright, we're going," she said, hooking a strong hand around his forearm and pulling him down the road, giving him barely a second to grab his camera bag from where he had left it. She towed him down the road.
Lou sighed, letting her drag him along as he swept the path with his flashlight. Tall pines, a small clearing with assorted boulders and a hiking stop... He knew where they were.
"Uhm, Marley, you might want to slow down, we're coming to a--" his words were halted by a yelp and he felt her fingers slip from his arm. That was followed by the sound of twigs snapping, leaves being disturbed and thumps on cold hard ground. After what seemed like a century he finally heard a loud thump at what must have been the bottom of the slope.
Lou snapped out of his stupor and swung his flashlight to where he had felt Marley disappear to, the steep bluff he had walked beside many times before. Unfortunately, his sad little flashlight couldn't quite reach the bottom. His heart skipped a beat, his stomach dropping as he started to panic.
This was his fault. She hadn't known about the cliff because he hadn't told her. She had fallen down, probably scared out of her wits, and cracked her head on a rock. Or maybe she had landed funny on the fall and simply snapped her neck, which at least was quick and painless. Or maybe she had fallen down fine but had been impaled by a sharp branch, and was just sitting there bleeding out, slowly dying.
Then something interrupted his thoughts. A grunt from the bottom of the cliff, followed by a collection of swears that could have easily been from a crusty old pirate. Finally, the speaker actually articulated a sentence that didn't include a dirty word.
"A drop? Is that what you were going to say?" Yelled a familiar voice. He breathed a sigh of relief and sat down on the cold hard ground, feeling like the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders. He had never been so happy to hear the vaguely angry voice of his best friend. He saw a light flicker way down the slope, illuminating a figure, which he guessed was Marley, and the surrounding area. The light moved, as if she was taking a look at her new position.
"Hey, Lou? You might want to get down here. I found it."
"It?" He called back down, but there was no reply. He stood up to begin the climb down, when he felt something grab him from behind. Strong arms wrapped around Lou's waist, nearly scaring him to death. The arms lifted him from the ground, probably too easily, causing a scream to escape his lips. He vaguely heard Marley yell up her concern, but he was panicking and barely heard. He struggled, trying to claw the arms away from him, but stopped when he heard his assailant laugh. Fear turned into anger as he twisted his head to glare.
"Sean! What are you doing here?" Lou hissed, crossing his arms and trying to look annoyed, despite being held two feet in the air. The dark-haired boy laughed again, his glasses skewing from all the movement. "What? I thought you'd be happy to see me?"
Lou was about to answer when Marley's voice again came from the bottom of the bluff. "What is going on up there? Lou, are you okay?" She yelled, sounding surprisingly worried. "Put. Me. Down." The small boy growled to his friend, before being dropped unceremoniously onto the hard earth below him. Without even bothering to stand he turned back to the cliff edge.
"I am fine! Sean followed us for some god damned stupid reason!" He called down, sounding angry in contrast to Marley.
"What? What was the screaming, then?"
"He scared me."
"Jerk. Will both of you just get down here?"
Lou looked up to glare at the hulking behemoth before him. "Just why did you follow us?"
"Maybe I just enjoy your company."
Lou thought about that for a moment, before raising an eyebrow that was probably unseen in the dark.
"The date was a fluke, huh?"
"Yep."
The small boy sighed, rolling his eyes. He honestly wasn't that mad, he just didn't like being tricked, but it seemed to happen a lot. That's probably karma, or irony, or something similarly cruel.
"Well, come on then. You may as well join us."
So, Lou sat down and shimmed himself to the edge, and began to slowly and carefully bring himself down the bluff.
It wasn't an easy path down, and multiple times he nearly took the painful shortcut Marley had taken before. His boots skidded across stone ledges and fallen logs alike, an assortment of pebbles slipping to scatter down the slope. Thanks to the darkness, Lou had to put his flashlight into a pocket of his bag and attempt to do the descent practically blindfolded. With his eyes particularly useless it seemed like his other senses heightened, though that was probably silly. Of course Sean was having no problem at all, even without the light. At least Lou thought he wasn't having trouble, as he had yet to hear any stumbles or cursing from him. In fact, from what little he could see the large boy was climbing down with the skill of a squirrel. Which is to say, easily.
One thing he did notice was how quiet it was, other then he and Sean's climbing. He would have expected to hear owls, maybe, or scurries of small rodents. But it was surprisingly quiet.
As the floodlight at the bottom of the slope edged closer to them, Lou was able to make things out. Though the pointed light mostly kept Marley in shadow, he could just make out her bouncy hair. He had yet to see what was so interesting that was down here, but he hoped it was worth the hellish climb down.
Sean found his way to even ground first, with Lou following not to long after. Marley walked over to the boys after they were done picking twigs from their hair and dusting wet leaves from their backsides, and slugged Sean right in the arm.
"Ow! What was that for?" The behemoth whined, rubbing the injured part of his arm, which would display a nasty bruise by morning. "I never did anything to you."
"Lou is an extension of me," Marley explained as if stating a scientific fact. She hugged the photographer around the shoulders, keeping one arm there protectively. "Therefor, you scared me, too. Now quit whining and let's go."
Lou wasn't going to protest about the extra protection, so he just shrugged at Sean and let his friend lead him away. His eyes swept the dim bottom of the hill.
At first, he wasn't sure what was so important that he had had to the ground was damp, thanks to water from recent rains running down the slope and sinking into the ground. It made the ground slippery and sticky, his shoes creating soft shluck, shluck, sounds in the mud. The trees loomed over them as usual, moss covering their lower trunks from the damp ground.
It just looked like the forest... or it did, until he noticed thin lines he hadn't seen.
In the dark, it looked almost like a silvery spider web stretching between the many trees. It shone in the flashlight's gleam, like metal.
Lou half expected a giant harry bloodsucker to suddenly crawl along it, hissing and spitting acidic venom. It took him probably too long to realize it was a fence.
"Oh. Oh." He hadn't realized how close they had come. He thought they would be walking at least another hour.
Marley nodded in the dark, her face barely illuminated by the residual light. She head a big smile plastered across her lips, her brown eyes wide and excited. "Well, we're here! Time to get a move on!" She left Lou's side, walking the rest of the distance to the great wire fence. He noticed for the first time warnings of trespassing. Fines. Imprisonment.
Why did he get roped up in all of this?
"Marley, maybe we should just go home..." Lou spoke up, shuffling his feet in the mud.
"Come on, don't chicken out!"
"I am not! I just--"
"Don't worry, dear, we'll protect you," Sean interrupted as he strolled up to the fence as well. Marley turned to shine the light at Lou, still lagging behind.
Why had he gone out the door this morning?