Monday, April 26, 2021

The Invisible Trail by Roy Klipping Chapter 9

 



Chapter 9

Then from the light of the fire I could see what looked like two people. Relieved it wasn't a bear I hollered out, “Hello there!”, but they just kept walking. I stood up and walked closer in the direction they were and again called out, “Hello there!”. Again, they didn't respond or even slow down.  Puzzled I stepped closer, trying to maybe catch their eye but they didn't seem to even look my way. I thought it was strange they wouldn't have come over especially with me having a fire. I walked over closer to the trails edge and as I watched them walking away, I noticed something strange. They looked blurry to me kind of like when you look at something over an open flame, that kind of wavy look. It seemed like it was right in front of me as if I could touch it. Again, I was puzzled not knowing what to think. Maybe I got smoke in my eyes earlier but dismissed the thought because I had just been reading the maps and papers and they weren't blurry.  I looked back toward the fire and everything looked fine. Then I looked back toward the trail and it was blurry. I was thinking maybe it was fog from the temperature dropping but it still was weird. I was right at the edge of the trail and this had me really feeling uneasy. First the whole flash of bluish light and the explosion or whatever that was, then the two people that totally ignored me, and now this blurriness that seemed to be right in front of me. I reached out my hand and slowly tried to feel if it was a foggy mist. When I put my hand forward, I totally freaked myself out.  My hand seemed to disappear in front of me.  I quickly pulled my hand back and jumped back, then half stumbled over to my tent and fire. I just kept looking in that direction trying to tell myself it was only a thick fog, but then I started to really think about what I had just seen. If it were fog, then how could I see the trail and the two people walking past.  I stood there for a few minutes then sat down on the log, my eyes fixated on the trails edge and whatever that blurry stuff was.  I wanted to crawl in my tent and try to go to sleep. Maybe by morning everything would settle down and it was just me jumping to conclusions.  I looked all around me then I noticed the stones.  I reached down and slowly touched one. They weren't hot or anything, so I grabbed them both and placed them in the satchel along with the papers, then tied it shut and placed it next to my tent. I must have sat there for another couple hours when I decided everything would be okay once morning came. I took one more look around and then threw on a few more pieces of wood on the fire, climbed into my tent and zipped it shut. I was sure this was going to be the longest night of my life,

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