The Remote Highlands

Our journey begins today evening. A look around and I’m met with tall trees with wide branches blocking the sunlight from hitting the ground beneath. I tightly hold onto my camera gear as we start ascending the remote highlands. The crickets grow louder and the woods get thicker. The path gets narrower as Mara and I push the plants away from our faces, creating our path to reach the top.

“The forest ends a few miles from here. We’ll have an easy time climbing.” I tell Mara while I grip the tree trunk and pull myself up. I lend my hand to a tired Mara who looks at me with gratitude and a warm smile. As I pull her up, we both sense a shift around us. The forest is quieter.

I look at Mara for answers since between us, Mara has a good understanding of nature and animal behavior. “It’s just the crickets that stopped. It’s nothing.” She tells me. My nervousness must be quite evident as she pats my shoulder lightly and reassures me that it will be all right.

This bizarre trip to the hills is not my idea. But it is a tradition that I started on my YouTube channel. For every major subscriber milestone we hit, I planned a trip to discreet and unexplored locations which would rake up the greatest number of views. For gaining twenty million subscribers on my channel this month, I set a poll of different areas my fans wanted me to explore. All locations were remote and somewhat dangerous, but the remote highlands being trekked today was the worst due to the innumerable missing persons reports.

“The view is amazing. Look!” Mara exclaims, pulling me out of my thoughts. We’re at the top of the hills now and I look around at the most fantastic piece of nature. Urban jungle cannot be spotted at all from here. No scary animals or wild nature events can be spotted.

“This is the best time to do it. Pleasant weather and seems like the bears are hibernating.” I tell Mara.

“Keep your eyes peeled. You never know.” She tells me and smiles when she notices my concerned expression. This location is the one I had been dreading the most. Mara encouraged me to include it in the poll so we could get out of our comfort zones. She’s the one who inspired me to start my ghost hunting career and edited my videos when I had just started.

“I’m trusting you.” I tell her as I put my heavy bag down on the ground. Inside of the bag is my very trusted video camera that I’ve been using since the last ten years. I look around me and notice Mara sketching the beautiful landscape in her notebook. “You’re okay Maliah. I promise. It’s just an overnight stay. We’ll descend tomorrow morning.” She tells me without looking at me as she keeps drawing.

I take a deep breath remembering my yoga teacher’s advice to always focus on the breath. I pull the camera out of the bag and face it towards me. The forest becomes visible in the background once I stand up and my confidence comes back.

“Hey Spirit crew! What’s up! This is Maliah and there’s Mara being an 'artist'. And today, as promised, we’re at one of the most dangerous locations to ever be explored on this channel, or any channel for that matter – the remote highlands.” I say in the intro. Mara gets up silently and joins me.

“That’s right. As promised, you guys got us to twenty mill and now we have already ascended the hills and we’re standing atop, enjoying this gorgeous view.” She adds. “We should’ve filmed when we were walking up here cause you fell twice. That was the scary part.”

I look irritated at Mara and close the camera. “Really? You have to give them more ammo to make fun of me?” I question her. “You were the one complaining. I had to help you climb!” I add angrily. A brief spat begins between us which is not unusual. I have always been sensitive to criticism, especially over my physique. Mara, despite having this knowledge, always seems to forget about it as soon as I press record.

“I’m sorry. Okay?” She says but I’m not convinced she means it. I notice that time is running out and we had not done much filming in natural light before sunset. I turn my camera on again and set it on the tripod.

“Let’s just forget it.” I tell her and look at the viewfinder showing both of us in the frame with our backs toward the camera, enjoying the sunset. This is a sick shot.

After few comedic bits and some banter, we both decide it’s time for the main event. The sun has set and the forest is calm. Any small sound or movement could be captured on the camera. I turn on the night vision and once again place it so it’s showing the two of us and the forest that’s few miles below us. The sky is brightly visible.

I take out candles, lighter and an EVP recorder which can capture sounds from beyond. We both light the candles and place them in a circle. Mara looks at me, waiting for me to get in first. I take a careful step into the circle and sit down.

Mara holds the EVP while entering the circle and sits opposite me. We both look at each other with giddy yet scared expressions. It’s a mix of curiosity yet the potential danger that makes it so exhilarating.

“Okay. We’re in the circle now. Just a disclaimer that the ritual we’re about to do is highly dangerous and there’s actual reports of people going missing from these areas. So don’t try this at home.” Mara says. The irony of her words makes me lightly chuckle as I recognize she doesn’t mean it.

“Can’t believe we’re doing this.” I remark. Mara takes out a paper from the pocket of her blazer and holds out her hand for me to grab. I hold her hand and notice it slightly shaking but her eyes are glued to the paper as she clears her throat and begins saying – “Oh the dark witch of the woods. We come in peace and we promise to be honest. We’re here to learn your story. Show mercy on our souls and know that we will not hurt you. We’re just here to understand.” She says and crumples the paper and pushes it back into her pocket.

“You can let your presence be known to us by blowing out the candles or by speaking near this device that will help us hear your voice.” I add and look around skeptically.

After waiting for a while and having no luck, I decide to listen back to the voice recording. We both place our ears close to the recorder so no small anomaly goes amiss. But amidst the static we both hear an electronic sound. This sound is unlike anything we’ve heard before.

We both briefly discuss whether the recorder is damaged but we know deep down that this is a paranormal phenomenon. “It’s okay. Let’s listen back to this later when we’re editing.” Mara tells me as she puts the recorder in the bag when she notices that I’m hyperventilating. “I should’ve just gone to college. I’m not built for this.” I say out loud, trying to warm myself up as I feel my body get cold.

The clanking of the metal and the loud machine whirring rings through my ears as I struggle to forget the recording that we both just heard. I take one deep breath remembering what my yoga coach has told me uncountable times, that breath is everything. Inhale for four counts and exhale for six.

“That was crazy you guys. I’ve never heard that sound from that recorder and I’ve been using it since last three years.” I say looking into the camera with a nervous smile.

Mara smiles back at me reassuringly and we both hold hands. At the very least, this trip might make our friendship grow stronger.

Suddenly her eyes grow wide as she looks behind me. My hands get clammy as I slowly turn my head and look at the sky where a bright light seems to be descending towards us. I inch closer to Mara and out of the blue, the candles blow out. We both scream in fear when we notice the light getting closer and expanding like a portal. I take Mara’s hand and try to run but she stands frozen.

“Mara. We have to leave.” I yell at her but she stands shocked in fear and soon we’re both engulfed in white light.

***

The electric buzzing and machine whirring is extremely loud. My eyes don’t seem to adjust to the bright light. But I feel the lights dim so I slowly blink my eyes open. The scene in front of me keeps my jaw hanging as tall and slender grey figures with red eyes look at each other and look back at me in a metallic grey room with lots of equipment.

I’ve just been abducted by aliens. One of them approaches me carefully and looks me in the eyes. I struggle to move a limb in my body or look away from it and soon I go unconscious.

This time when I wake up, I’m met with bright sunlight and sound of crickets. I stand up and notice the forest is not quiet anymore and the hills feel lively with a gentle morning breeze. We must’ve fallen asleep after the ritual.

I look at Mara sleeping in the circle with scattered candles everywhere and my bag is right outside the circle. Everything is exactly where it’s supposed to be.

I look behind me at the camera, and notice that it’s still recording. I move towards it to check the footage from last night.

I save the file instantly and rewind the video to the ritual, rolling my eyes at cringy jokes and uncomfortable stalling. But I suddenly notice the light that I thought was a dream. It inches closer and envelopes me. But only me. In the footage, Mara is no longer frozen in fear but smirking as she, in a second, morphs into a grey alien and walks into the light.

“Hey.” Mara taps me on my shoulder, causing me to drop my camera. I turn to face her and her eyes are red like the aliens and she’s smiling, but her smile is no longer warm or human-like. It feels like an imitation.

“You’re not to tell anyone about this. Or else.” She says and shows me her hand which transforms into an alien limb with nails as sharp as a knife.

“Your job is to make humanity comfortable for our arrival. My galaxy is to arrive soon in next ten years. You have a chip inside that no machine created by humans can detect. We will always know where you are and what you’re doing. So, make sure you do as we say.” She tells me resting her spiky hand on my shoulder, her sharp nails close to my neck.

“Why me?” I ask her shakily.

“You have influence. There are many in power that are also controlled by us.” She tells me menacingly. She motions with her eyes for me to pick up the camera. I do as she says and turn my camera on. She withdraws her hand as it becomes normal in a second. She puts my merch cap on my head and smiles at the camera I’m holding, resting one hand on my shoulder.

“Fulfil your promise. Keep the milestone tradition alive. One day we might capture an alien.” She tells me.

I hesitantly press record and notice the red light blinking at me, reminding me of the fact that from now on, my whole life will be monitored and that the best friend I trusted, used me as a pawn. All I can do now is inhale for four counts and exhale for six……..

“Hey Spirit crew! What’s up! I’m Maliah and this is Mara and today, as promised, we’re at one of the most dangerous locations to ever be explored on this channel, or any channel for that matter – the remote highlands.”