Pack a torch

 

Russel a man in his late thirties, got lost in the rockies for several weeks.
That was many years go. People say they see his clothes hung up in trees during the summer months and cabins in the region get midnight visits by something trying to enter.
These were attributed to Russel.
As the same hotspots and clues were always found, as if the man was still alive trying to make contact with humanity again.
Alas his body itself was never seen. And people never describe more than a shadow.
And strangely no tracks through the snow at the altitudes where snow rarely melts. In 1991 there was a seach party two weeks after his disappearance, this story is about that experience.

Gareth, Aaron and Jane firends of Russel, left Toronto morning August 23rd 1991.
Chatting as they drove in Gareth's old kombi van on that early morning. An inviting blue dawn raised the mood.
"No early snows to speak of, and no news of any avalanches either" Aaron stated pushing optimism.
"Yeah he could easily still be alive out there somewhere" Gareth said.
"That's the hope. He was due back a week ago however and he is not exactly new to the great outdoors."
A few hours of hush as worst case scenarios sunk into their imaginations. Jane the great injector of harsh truths, Aaron the dresser and appeaser and Gareth usually optimistic by nature.

They arrived at the carpark where Russel's car had been towed from.
A small shelter maybe 30 meters in size with a front door and a few thick windows.
"Park ranger's not coming in today apparently." Came a voice from beside the cabin.
It was a council worker who had been digging a small rainwater trench running outside the lower half of the carpark. He was already leaving on his motorbike though.
"No problem I already have a note here we can leave in the cabin, to let him know we are here."
Gareth replied.
"Ok Make sure you guys got a torch nights are dark out and there's something strange in them there woods."

There was some light snow on the ground which was not abnormal for late August. But no close to indicating any danger for campers in terms of the cold, and it was already showing signs of melting.
Aaron gathered a little in his drink bottle crouching briefly. They were on the track.
"How far up the track was he camped? Or how far did he usually camp up there?" Jane asked Gareth who knew Russel better.
"Years ago we once made it a few kilometers past the lake at the end. It's atleast seventeen kilometers from here".

"Not supposed to go beyond the lake. Atleast thats what the Alonquian tribes say."
"Oh yer because bigfoot gonna eat them right Aaron?"
Aaron just smirked.
Gareth said "The wilderness is really different at night, it can play tricks on your mind, we usually always camped in July"
"Russel must have thought himself immortal coming out here by himself in mid august!" Jane said
"Although the real danger are just bears right?" she added
"I don't know the stags get pretty big here" Gareth retorted

They approached some bare shrubs with a piece of orange material flying in the wind just a few meters from the track.
"Must be from his hunting vest" Jane observed.
"It could be from anyone" Aaron said quickly.
Jane packed it away in her jacket pocket.

They walked over foothills almost prairie like flat lands foothills and more foothills.
Then like a great gate rising up composed of thick tall douglas fir and blue spruce.
"Finally we get to the forest" Aaron said.
As they breached the fringe something pale sat watching them.
"Look it's a lizard." Gareth said.
Aaron said "But it's so pale, I've never seen anything like it before."
"It's probably albino" Jane downplaying their fascinations.

Kilometers in they set up their camp in small clearing so they could potentially get some moonlight, if one needed to relieve oneself post midnight.
A small fire and some comfortable moss to carpet the underlayer of the tents.
Yet the night was uncomfortable. There was a barely audible moan that almost went from animal to human and back, the best way to describe it, is the noise of a hungry stomach and a faint dog growl.
Loud enough to perturb them all. silent enough for them to nod off eventually.

The next day progress was slow, another strip of Russel's hunting vest was found on the side of the track and the forest track despite protecting them from the glaring sun, seemed to fork and give false paths to nowhere, in which case they's have to double back.
Jane optimistic and the boys compeltely sombre. That is until they reached the lake.
Emerging from the forest like cheerful children. Jane thought so.

They fished and talked and felt at ease. The noise inside the forest wasn't heard here, it was in exact contrast to the shady confusion of the forest. The lake was pristine a magical sight that seemed wasted as so few would actually pass by to see it in real life.
With a campfire and fresh food they slept better than they could at home. Optimism returned.
The next day they awoke to a cold morning. A light snow and low fog.
Something had changed the weather.

They made their way passed the lake and into the low mountains. The day grew grey and exhausting. They hiked up the inclines often using their hands to pull themselves over rocks or to balance themselves. Their high spirits were now being tested.
They got to a flat space on the side of a low mountain by dusk and decided to camp once again.
"Fuck it" Gareth cried out.
"What's wrong" Jane inquired.
"It's back"
"what's back?"
"Jane he's talking about the noise." Aaron said
They went through the motions of unpacking with no real expression, disappointed and a little scared too.
The noise came and went sharpening on a forceful breeze that would blow so hard against their tents that the lining would cave inward in a sinister way, making the material look like a face. 
It was too much for Jane and she went to sleep in Gareth's tent. Aaron was there a few minutes later obviously hearing the new sleeping arrangement, and joining out of fear.

It seemed darker than the forest. The noise stopped around 3.30am. They started to hear foot steps not far off. Gareth opened the tent and they all piled out, they hadn't been sleeping.
They shone their torches in the direction of the noise and there it was. On the edge of their little camp site.
A human man hairless and pale, something that reminded Gareth of the lizard. Leaning forward as they witnessed it grinning at them.
"It's Russel" Jane said as if ignoring it sensing them.
"No it's not" Gareth said under his breath. Shock paralyzed them. The outlandishness of the visitor told them that there was no such thing as safety, that the supernatural existed and could manifest whenever the time was right.
They shivered.
The creature leaned in further sniffing with a non existant nose and a dog skullish grin.
It took two steps back and vanished into the dark.
"It was a ghost" Gareth said.
Jane insisted "It was russel somehow"
Aaron looked at them both as if a child.
" I can prove it was a ghost" Gareth said.
Walking over and shining his lantern on the patch of snow the thing was standing on.
"There's nothing there." 
Needless to say noone slept that night.

In the morning after a few attempts at sleep they set off for home.
Pretty shaken and very tired.
They had almost reached the lake that idyllic place that seemed so safe and welcoming.
"I know it was Russel, I saw the line on his arm. That's what made me say it."
"Why didn't you tell us last night then?" Gareth inquired aggressively.
"It's true Gareth I saw it too, the shock of his appearance stopped me from being able to identify it." Aaron conceded
Gareth looked down "Next piece of bad news you guys got, keep it to yourself"
"Is it bad news?" jane asked
"Yes, that thing is something from legend. He could not survive out there in the cold naked like that. Whatever that thing is, I'm pretty sure it's not something he would have wanted to have become."

"But its still August maybe he went mad and became emaciated" Aaron said
"Summer hasn't touched this place Aaron."Replied Gareth.
They hung their heads and once again unpacked their things to make camp.
As darkness took over the sky the three dreamed of the creature in the dark, ushering them away from their camp. Whispering in a foreign language. It wasn't the skin or nakedness that had dug its way into their minds, it way it had peered into them. The symmetrical grin which exhibited teeth that tapered, whose sharp ends were hidden as if by courtesy. A knowing in the dark eyes. A certainty and yet a sinister playfulness.

They dreamed of the pale creature observing their tents from the outside. Gareth was the first to wake instinctively waking the other two.

" I dreamed there was a racoon playing with that creature not twenty meters from our tent down there by lakeside."
They shone their torches and to their terror there was something moving down by the lake.
A Racoon turning over rocks looking for something. 
Across the lake there was a figure illuminated by slight glow, it was slowly waving. They all knew it was the creature. Standing transfixed and begging for the thing to disappear.
The first subtle sign of light was coming into the sky. As the sky brightened softly the figure vanished.

The three of them clambered to pack up the camp. Panicking and dropping things in rush.
They skipped breakfast and kept a quick pace until they got back to the parking lot.
The forest was calm no sign of any wildlife though. Also thye didn't spot any more pieces of clothing as they hurried along.
It was  dusk again as they reached the kombi, this time though they would be able to drive home and spend their night sleeping in beds.

They referred to their experience as true darkness. It had marked them deeply, first week back they spent a few nights sleeping in the same room together just to rehabilitate themselves from the shock. The story that would later be told was they had witnessed a shared hallucination. In the realm of humans most dangers are predictable. In the natural world we tell ourselves it's no different. However some might believe there was something odd out there in them there woods.