The Woods of Stanridge Pines

Stanridge Pines was one of those places winter never leaves, as the altitude and nearby mountains kept the town in a perpetual snowdrift. Though “town” might not be an entirely accurate label. There was a main street with a smattering of amenities so folks didn’t have to make the three hour drive to a real city for the basics, but that was about it. All thirty of the residents of Stanridge Pines lived in a collection of cabins some thirty or forty-five minutes up the road past main street.

Bruce minded the curves as he drove up into Stanridge Pines. The road into town resembled a snake that had been frozen in the midst of its writhing after being decapitated. Bruce did not live in Stanridge Pines, nor had he ever visited, nor had he even heard of it until the weekend prior. His friend Kyle had stumbled upon it while looking for camping destinations, and it seemed like a good choice; They’d always wanted to do some proper mountain camping in the woods.

He drove down main street, and pulled into the corner store parking lot. He needed to stretch his legs after the drive, and a snack wouldn’t hurt. He parked and headed inside. The place was small. The selection was small. Even the man behind the counter was small. To Bruce, the man struck him as one of those mom and pop store owners who worked the counter ten years after they should’ve retired because their kids wanted nothing to do with the family business. Bruce found himself a snack and walked up to the counter to pay.

“That all?” the man asked in a gruff voice.

“That’s all,” Bruce replied. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet as he waited for him to ring up his purchase.

“That’ll be two dollars and 75 cents.” Bruce put the money on the counter. “What brings you up this way? We don’t get many people up this way.”

“My friend and I have been wanting to do some real mountain camping for months and he found this place.”

“Just camping?”

“Just camping.”

“There’s some guest cabins you can rent while you’re up there. I strongly recommend you look into them,” the man said, as he locked eyes and slowly and deliberately handed Bruce his change.

“Do you tell everyone who comes up here that?” He asked, shoving the change into his pocket.

“Only for their safety.”

“Their safety?” Kyle hadn’t mentioned anything dangerous about this place.

“Yep, there’s danger in those woods.” He leaned in closer. “I wouldn’t go off away from them cabins.”

“Thanks for the warning, I’ll let my friend know as well.” Bruce waved and returned to his truck. He’d have to have words with Kyle over this, though for all he knew it was just a general warning. No matter where you were camping it wasn’t smart to take it lightly. He and Kyle knew that from experience.

He gave the stuff in the bed of the truck a once over, did a few squats, and got in his truck. He put the key in the ignition and paused. While he was here he might as well look into those cabins. It wasn’t what they’d wanted but now that he was up here, he realized how cold it actually was. It wasn’t that he’d underdressed, it was just colder than he’d expected.

He started his truck and started down the road. Only a few buildings down he found what he’d been looking for, a shabby building with a crudely carved sign reading “Cabin Rentals” above the door. He parked and headed in. The inside didn’t look much better than the outside. Bruce reckoned whoever had done the decorating was not an outdoorsman.

“Welcome! Are you here to rent a cabin?” The man behind the counter asked with a wide grin. He was decently younger than the man from the corner store, and Bruce couldn’t imagine anyone having that much enthusiasm unless it was the owner.

“Yeah, the guy at the store said I should.” Bruce motioned down the street as he answered.

“Well, he’s not wrong, our cabins are much safer and warmer than roughing it out in the wilderness.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice. How much a-” He was cut off by someone entering the room.

“Yo, Bruce, I thought that was your truck outside!”

“Yeah,” Bruce said, returning his attention to the man behind the counter, “anyways how much a night?”

“I see you talked to the old dude at the store too. Glad you’re already asking about a cabin, was worried you’d give me shit for wanting one.” Bruce sighed.

“It’s 75 a night,” the man said, ignoring Kyle. “How many nights will you be staying?”

“Just over the weekend,” Bruce replied, also ignoring Kyle. “We’ll be leaving Monday morning.”

“So three nights?” Bruce nodded. “That comes out to 225. Oh, and I’ll need some information from you.” Kyle sidled up and watched him fill out the paperwork. After he paid and got both directions and the key, the two men left.

“Thanks for paying. I owe you one.”

“Yeah, no worries. Now let’s get up there, we’ll talk more once we’re there and out of the cold.” Kyle nodded and the two men went to their trucks. Kyle followed Bruce up the road. Neither of them wanted to take risks with the icy, narrow road so the sun was low by the time they made it to their cabin. They brought their supplies inside and Kyle wasted no time starting a fire.

“It’s plain, but it’s nice,” Kyle said. He was taking a proper look around after settling in.

“I’ll take it over our tents.” Bruce was warming himself by the fire.

“Yeah, I don’t know what the hell we were thinking. It’s way colder than I thought it’d be.” Kyle joined him by the fire, as if mentioning it made him realize how cold he was.

“I thought I’d packed warm enough, but something about the cold here just cuts through everything.”

“Yeah, it’s weird isn’t it?”

“Oh,” Bruce said, “speaking of weird, did the guy at the store also tell you about how the cabin was for your safety?”

“He did.” Kyle rubbed his hands. “Scared the shit out of me. Like yeah, camping can be dangerous, but he sounded super serious about it.”

“So you didn’t know about it being that dangerous?”

“Nope.” Bruce frowned. Kyle yawned. “I think it’s time to turn in. Who knew driving was that exhausting?” Now that he mentioned it, Bruce was feeling quite tired himself.

“I think I’ll turn in too.”

The two men retired to their rooms. Fortunately, the cabin beds came with suitable blankets to stave off the cold, which Bruce was thankful for. He bundled up under the covers. It was warm, it was peaceful, and it didn’t take him long to drift off to sleep.

When he awoke, it was a little after six. It was earlier than he usually got up on the weekends but he had gone to bed earlier than usual, so whatever. He got out of bed and stretched away the last dregs of sleep. Kyle was still asleep, which wasn’t surprising. Bruce relit the fire and started cooking some breakfast.

“Morning.” It hadn’t taken Kyle long to wake up. It was probably the sound of food, Bruce thought.

“Morning.”

“Man, I'm glad this place had blankets,” Kyle said as he sat at the table. “It was kinda chilly even with them. Was it that cold for you?”

“I was warm enough.” He dished up breakfast and brought it to the table. “Sleep alright at least?”

“Yeah, wasn’t too bad even with the cold.” He dug into his food and so did Bruce.

“So,” Kyle started in between bites, “we just hitting the trail today?”

“I think so. The guy at the store said not to stray from the cabins but the trail should be fine.” Kyle nodded.

“If it was dangerous they wouldn’t have the trails to hike on.”

The two finished and cleaned up the dishes. They got themselves ready for the day before bundling up and stepping outside. The sun had risen considerably higher than where it’d been when Bruce had woken up, but it wasn’t much warmer.

The air was still. Bruce thought it must’ve snowed overnight as the snow coating the forest floor was pristine, undisturbed. The two men made the short journey to the start of the trail. Bright orange plastic had been tied around trees as a way to mark the trail.

They hiked in silence, just taking in the sights and air. It wasn’t the most arduous hike the two had gone on, just the coldest. Bruce remembered Kyle showing him this trail. It would lead them to the opposite side of the mountain, where they could look out over the city. It was a view they had both been looking forward to.

They’d been hiking for a few hours when they reached their destination. It didn’t disappoint. When Bruce had to drive into the city for anything it was all encompassing, the skyscrapers inescapable. Up here, it was so small, so insignificant. It was funny, seeing the city be the one surrounded by the flat landscape. Bruce took out his camera and snapped a picture. It was here they stopped for lunch.

“It was so worth not looking at pictures of this beforehand,” Kyle said as they cooked.

“Yeah.” Bruce kept looking out whenever the food didn’t need his attention.

“Can I get a copy of that picture when we get back?”

“Sure, just remind me when I go to get it printed.”

They ate in silence. Afterwards they packed up, double checked that they had cleaned everything up, and with one last look over the city, began the trek back to the cabin. The hike down was easier than the hike up. It was when they’d nearly made it off the trail when Bruce noticed something.

“Hey, uh, Kyle?” He called out behind him.

“What’s up?” He asked, walking up beside him.

“Where are our footprints from this morning?” It was probably just one of his pranks. Bruce had led the way up too so he could’ve easily done it.

“What do you mean?” Kyle walked up beside him.

“Look.” Bruce pointed to the snow. It was as pristine as it had been when they set out this morning.

“That’s weird.” If it was a prank Bruce didn’t expect that Kyle would immediately fess up. “We definitely passed through here on the way up.”

“Actually, are any of our footprints from this morning on the trail?”

“Uhhh…” They both looked behind them. There was only the one set of footprints they’d just left behind them.

“We’re sure this is the way we came, right?”

“It has to be, see that?” Kyle pointed to a spot some twenty or thirty feet ahead of them. Bruce looked and saw their tracks from earlier. They ended where the trail began.

“Okay, ha ha, great prank, Kyle.”

“This wasn’t me,” he said.

“Really?” Bruce looked at him. He shook his head. “I’m just supposed to believe that?” Kyle looked behind them.

“I think you have to.” He motioned for Bruce to look as well.

No tracks behind them.

“That’s concerning.” He looked at Kyle. The two men bolted to where their tracks still were and watched their fresh footprints. Neither of them dared to breathe or blink. They waited. Ten seconds. Fifteen seconds. Twenty seconds.

Then the tracks were gone. Bruce couldn’t say what happened, because he’d seen nothing. The tracks had been there and then they weren’t; it was as simple as that. He looked at Kyle, who was still staring at the spot the tracks had been.

“Did you see anything? I didn’t.” Kyle turned and looked at him.

“I didn’t either.” They ran back to the cabin.

“I think I’m okay not doing anything outside tomorrow,” Kyle said as soon as they got inside.

“Yeah, me too.”

They sat in silence, as if not talking about it meant it didn’t happen. Hours passed. Eventually, Bruce decided they should have some dinner, even if neither of them were feeling hungry. Dinner too passed in silence. There was nothing except the sound of silverware on plates.

“Hey,” Kyle finally said, “do you think that has anything to do with the danger on the mountain that old man was talking about?”

“Maybe, I don’t know,” Bruce answered. “Though tracks disappearing isn’t dangerous, just weird.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” Kyle looked away. His focus snapped back to Bruce. “But if that’s happening there, why the hell is the trail even marked? Why the hell are they advertising the hike when there’s something wrong up there?”

“I don’t know that either. Maybe the altitude is doing something to us. This is the first time we’ve both been up so high in the mountains. I don’t really believe they’d advertise the hike if there was something up with it.”

“You know what? I think you’re right.” Kyle slumped back on the couch. “Maybe it is just weird mountain air.”

“Tell you what, let’s go into town tomorrow and ask around.”

“I like the sound of that.” He yawned. “But for tomorrow to come I gotta sleep, and that hike was exhausting.”

“Yeah.” Without being wound up over the tracks, Bruce realized how tired he was feeling. It felt ridiculous. Tracks don’t just disappear while you’re staring at them. He laughed. He shook his head and got himself ready for bed. Like the previous night, sleep came easily.

He awoke around the same time as the day prior. He followed the same motions up through serving breakfast. He waited at the table for ten minutes. Ten minutes turned into twenty turned into thirty. He sighed, got up, went to Kyle’s door, and knocked.

“Kyle, you alive in there?” Nothing. He knocked much harder. “Kyle, I’m going to eat your bacon if you don’t come out.” Nothing. “Kyle?” He tried the knob. It was open. The room was a copy of his. It was clean, the bed was made, everything was in order, everything except Kyle.

He was gone.

Bruce threw on some coats and jammed his feet into his boots. He flung the cabin door open and looked at the snow. There were footprints. He followed them as they led him in a seemingly random direction. He followed them up the mountain, into the woods. He followed them until he couldn’t.

Just like yesterday, there was a point where they just stopped. He stood at that invisible boundary, in silence. He thought about what he’d do next. It was then another realization hit him.

The silence.

Nature was not silent. There was a cacophony of noise when you were outdoors. That was not the case here. There was nothing. Or was there? Bruce heard music. He thought he did at least. He strained his ears and began walking further up the mountain.

The song grew more intense, though not any louder, and he realized that he was not hearing it with his ears. He didn’t know how he was hearing it, just that it probably led to Kyle. As he hiked he started making out words in a language he didn’t recognize. He didn’t know how long he tracked the song. He simply gave himself to it.

He snapped back to awareness.

Looking at the sun, he thought he couldn’t have been out of it for more than an hour. He paused for a moment; he’d never lost time like that. He took a couple deep breaths. It was just the mountain air he told himself. The song now deafened his internal thoughts. He was almost at the source, almost to Kyle. He started moving again, and when he crested a hill it was there he saw it.

It was a circle, the snow ending perfectly at its edge. Twelve effigies were arranged in a smaller circle within. But what had caught Bruce’s attention was the centerpiece. It was a fifteen foot tall, pitch black hand and half a forearm, made of an unfamiliar type of stone. It was reaching for the sky, as if whatever it was attached to was trying to escape the earth.

It wasn’t modeled after a human hand. It had claws or talons, though Bruce didn’t care which. He turned and ran down the mountain, Kyle forgotten. His legs burned and his lungs fought to breathe, but he didn’t care. He didn’t know how he managed to navigate himself back to the cabin, and he didn’t care.

He grabbed all of his things and flung them into the bed of his truck. He secured them as best he could with his shaking hands before getting in and careening down the road that had brought him here.

He did not stop anywhere on the main street of Stanridge Pines. He did not stop anywhere on his way home. And he did not stop to ask himself what exactly he’d seen on that mountain.