by Doug Backus
He would have his chance now, for the path he was walking suddenly came to an end and a vast field of rich soil gleaming from the night’s frost lay before him. He stared out over the place he once called his sanctuary. In a few moments time, it would be his resting place.
Chapter Three
It had not changed a bit. The east and west sides of the field were still divided by a long range of birch trees that jutted out from the woods, stopping about a hundred yards into the field. To the east of this was another pocket of trees which resembled an island surrounded by dirt rather than water. That was his destination.
He walked slowly up along the line of birch trees. They were beautiful. The moonlight made their bark glow in the dark almost like a beacon for lost travelers. He came to the end of the range and crossed over the field to the island. He hesitated momentarily before walking into the dense bush. A short way in, he found the slightly overgrown path that he and Mary had worn into the ground over the years they had come to this place.
In the distance, he saw the oak tree that he was looking for and hurried toward it. He smiled when he looked up and saw that their fort was still there. Wasting no time he began to scale the tree’s endless branches. When he reached the bottom of the fort he pushed open the trap door and pulled himself in. Two stumps, that were once used as seats were all that remained inside.
Deke sat down and caught his breath. Looking around he saw the hole in the tree where they used to hide their binoculars and wondered if they were still there. He reached in and found them, a little rusted but not in bad shape considering the amount of time that had passed. He felt better already. He was home again and could now do what he came for. He could still read what he and Mary had carved into the tree but never finished, “Mary and Deke – Soul,” he flicked open his pocket knife and finished it “Mates Forever.”
It might not have meant a lot to some but he became overwhelmed. He gazed up into the moon, swiping at the light mist that formed above him with each breath he took. He had come all this way in hopes of getting answers from her. Was she alright? Was she at peace?
Deke paused and reached out to touch the jagged carving in the tree.
Most importantly, did she forgive him? He knew there was only one way to find the answer to these questions.
It was the perfect place for his life’s path to end and his new one to begin. He wanted it this way. It would end as he had lived most of his life, alone with his thoughts. It was comforting to know that at this moment he was as close as he could get to the only person who had ever understood him. It felt right, although he did have the distinct feeling that someone was with him, watching him. Perhaps there was someone there, for he could hear a faint sound. The sound was growing louder. It was an unusual noise, kind of like the soft slap a wave makes when it hits the sand.
Deke looked out over the field in the direction the sound was coming from. At first he saw a dim light but it quickly faded away leaving him slightly blinded. It took his eyes a few minutes to readjust to the dark before he saw it.
What was he looking at? Whatever it was, Deke was sure that it hadn’t been in the field prior to his arrival.
It looked as though a large mound of dirt had suddenly appeared in the middle of the field. He stared so intently at the object it almost seemed to move.
Deke fell backward into the fort when he realized it was not his eyes playing tricks on him. It was moving. It began to stand up. He could only make out a silhouette but it was huge. The sun was slowly beginning to rise but it was still too dark to get a clear view.
Deke nervously swallowed and fumbled for his binoculars. Perhaps he could get a better look using them. His hands were trembling making it difficult to focus but when he held his breath, it seemed to help. Still, the binoculars did not provide him with a much better view. He could only make out a shadowy figure that appeared to have long wavy hair.
His curiosity took over. He had to get a better look. He quietly inched his way down the oak tree hoping that the sweat forming on the palms of his hands would not cause him to lose his grip. He reached the last branch of the tree, the branch that you had to jump up to reach or drop down to get off. Deke hung from the branch for several seconds before letting go. He winced when he hit the ground crushing the leaves under his feet. He stood there frozen, straining to hear if anyone was coming toward him in search of the noise.
So far, so good, Deke thought to himself after several minutes.
Getting down on all fours he began to crawl. He could see a cedar tree on the edge of the field. It looked like a good vantage point. Every instinct he had was telling him to turn back, but his arms kept dragging him closer.
It took time but eventually Deke found himself peering through the thick cedar branches. He had hoped the cedar would have provided better camouflage, but it would have to do. He had a clear view now and instantly felt a cold shiver run down his spine. Why had he allowed himself to get this close?
Deke was petrified, afraid to move. The creature was now standing and it appeared to be about eight feet tall. It had the body of a man but its legs were covered in a thick fur. Broad boar like tusks protruded from its jaw in a downward direction. Its long black hair slowly swayed back and forth, even though there was no wind.
Deke slid himself backward while lying flat on the ground, praying that this thing would not hear him trying to make his escape. His plan had not included the assistance of anyone or anything else.
“You can do it, just move slowly,” he said to himself.
It was too late by the time Deke realized that he had forgotten to take the binoculars off. As they scraped noisily over the top of a rock, he cringed and quickly looked toward the creature. It was staring right at him. Its pearly white eyes glowed in the pre-dawn light. Its skin was black except for some type of white script written on its chest. Its hair, which was pushed back behind its long protruding ears, sparkled like diamonds but as Deke’s eyes focused, he could see that it wasn’t diamonds at all. The tiny sparkling dots were eyes. Its long black hair was made up of snakes.
Deke could feel his heart pounding against the ground. Fear took over and he jumped up and began to run. Crashing through the woods he could hear breaking branches behind him and knew the creature was gaining ground. Suddenly, he veered off the path and found himself running through dense bush. He wondered to himself why he had done it. It was almost as if he had been pushed.
A blood curdling roar sounded out behind him. He felt like his heart was going to explode. He continued running all the while feeling that something was guiding him. Nobody was there, but as he ran Deke found himself feeling a sudden urge to turn in a different direction. Coming through a thicket he saw the field ahead of him. He didn’t want to look back. He had nowhere to go, nowhere to run. The creature was right behind him. He could hear it breathing. No, it was laughing.
“What are you?” Deke screamed while running into the open field.
He would not get a response, only the feeling of a sharp shooting pain through his shoulder from being pushed to the ground. His head hit the dirt first and he screamed aloud when something tore into his face.
Deke Brolin rolled over and grasped at the item protruding from his cheek. He did not have time to see what it was before he instinctively closed his eyes and covered his face in a feeble attempt to protect himself from the creature whose prey was caught.
Chapter Four
Deke opened his eyes and looked around. Everything was blurry. He could feel a sharp burning sensation in his cheek and opened his clenched fist to look at the item that had caused him the pain. It was a small spearhead made out of white stone, somewhat resembling quartz. It was quite a find. He just wished he had found it, rather than fallen on it. He was slowly coming out of his daze remembering what had happened. He couldn’t see or hear any signs of the creature that had been pursuing him but the surrounding darkness made it hard to see.
Ever so slowly, his eyes began to adjust. A
strange feeling overcame him, perhaps brought on by fear combined with the darkness of the damp cave he was sitting in. Deke had no idea how he had ended up here. The smell of the cave reminded him of an old knapsack he had left his wet clothes in for over a week. He was patting the ground trying to get a better grasp of his surroundings when he noticed the walls of the cave slightly glimmering from a single beam of light that permeated the darkness. He decided to follow it hoping it would lead him out.
Wobbling slightly, Deke rose to his feet and began to make his way along the sheer rock corridor. Strange carvings of creatures began to appear on the walls of the cave. They resembled nothing he had ever seen before, except for one of them. He was sure it was the thing that had just chased him.
Becoming unnerved he moved further down the wall looking at more of the strange creatures. He wondered who had etched the drawings into the stone. They were so detailed, they almost appeared life like. The walls of the cave appeared to be the same type of stone as the spearhead. It must have taken ages to complete them, he thought. Whoever had carved them had taken the time to write words beside each one. Perhaps it was some kind of ancient language. He certainly didn’t understand it.
Deke continued toward the light wondering where he was and how he had gotten there. Perhaps he had fallen into an underground cavern that had been hidden from sight just as the creature had pounced on him.
When Deke reached the mouth of the cave his body began to shake. He was standing on the edge of a cliff and a vast terrain stretched out before him. Deke was overcome with a mixture of fear and, a sense of wonderment. How had he arrived at such a breathtakingly beautiful place? Vast mountain ranges stretched as far as the eye could see. The mountains surrounded a lush valley that lay thousands of feet below him. There was not a cloud in the sky. Deke surmised that the sun peeking out over the west side of the mountains meant it was the beginning of the day.
Waterfalls cascaded down the mountains in every direction eventually molding together to form one, which emptied into a large lake. The only ripples in the lake were caused by the pounding water as it fell to its final resting place. It was a stunning sight which was only enhanced when beams of sunlight appeared to turn the water into a sea of stars that sparkled on the lake’s surface. Unfamiliar trees and vegetation surrounded the entire area. The trees were enormous, towering hundreds of feet high.
From where Deke was standing, there was no way to get down into the valley. He deliberated for a while, admiring the view but finally decided to return into the darkness of the cave and find another way out.
Deke cautiously walked back in, eventually passing the place he started at. It was becoming darker the farther he ventured into the cave and that made Deke uncomfortable. He was still wary of what might lie ahead.
Even though the air seemed slightly warmer, the hair on his arms rose as if warning him not to go any further. In most situations Deke would have heeded this warning and turned back but he didn’t think he had much of a choice.
With no light left to guide him, Deke began to feel the walls of the cave while slowly inching forward. Occasionally, the walls felt damp and furry but he chose to believe it was moss. He knew that moss needed some sunlight to grow but convinced himself that at some time there must have been enough to suffice.
Deke stopped momentarily to catch his breath. He was beginning to reconsider travelling deeper into the depths of the cave when without warning something grabbed him by the arm. It felt coincidently like moss and it was dragging him further into the cave.
The creature he thought!
Deke broke free and ran blindly through the darkness toward the entrance. He could sense whatever it was, right behind him. The further he ran the lighter it got but there was still a long way to go. His pulse quickened with every step he took.
Suddenly, something grasped his shirt. Deke screamed in terror, believing that the creature he had just escaped from was once again upon him. He strained to break free, using all the strength he could muster but it was not enough. Panic was the only thing that provided him with enough energy to try one last time. It worked. The creature’s grasp relented and Deke ran, banging into the walls of the cave as he tried to escape. He cursed to himself when his foot caught a stone causing him to fall firmly to the ground.
“I have to make it!” he said to himself.
Deke clawed at the ground attempting to regain his footing, but his fall had allowed the creature to grab him again, this time by his ankle. Once again, he found himself struggling to escape the creature’s grasp. Deke could see the rock he had tripped over. It was just a few feet away. He reached out, stretching his fingers in an attempt to roll the rock into his hand.
Deke could feel the jagged stone cutting into his fingertips as he scratched at the rock, desperately trying to move it toward him. After several attempts he finally felt it in the palm of his hand. He firmly clenched it and thrust his arm into the darkness, toward his captor. He heard a low grumble, a thud and then silence. He had connected. Deke scrambled to his feet and ran, trying not to look behind him but unable to resist the odd glance.
It seemed like an hour but in mere seconds Deke found himself standing on the ledge of the cliff again. Blood was dripping from his hands. He quickly checked himself and confirmed it was not his. Looking around in fear, he wondered where to go next.
He was alone and frightened and contemplated jumping into the large lake below him but he knew the fall would cause his demise. Even if the lake was deep enough, nobody could survive a jump from this height. Deke’s stomach was churning up what was left of his last meal.
“Calm down!” he thought to himself. “Calm down and think!”
Deke frantically looked around, desperately trying to find a safe way off the cliff. Then, in the distant sky he saw a small dot which seemed to appear out of nowhere. Deke strained his eyes in an attempt to determine what it was. It appeared to be flying or at least floating in the sky in front of the farthest mountain he could see. It began to glow a bright fiery orange and grew larger the longer he looked at it. A quiet tranquility came over him, if only for a moment. It was simply beautiful.
The moment would not last however, for behind him he could hear strange grumbling sounds. Deke turned abruptly. There was nothing there. He remained transfixed on the cave’s entrance waiting for what he knew was coming.
“What is happening? This must be some sort of nightmare!” Deke desperately thought. “It can’t be real!”
Maybe he was sick. He was feeling very warm, even feverish. “I could be hallucinating.” Deke reasoned, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
Suddenly a creature quite unlike the one Deke was expecting, leapt from the darkness of the cave toward him. It had crimson red eyes that appeared shiny and drawn. It was yelling something that he could not understand and appeared to be raging mad. Deke could see it had wings but they were slowly disappearing, molding into the creature’s body. Its flesh twisted and distorted as it continued to move toward him. It was almost rolling now. Deke was in shock, too frightened to move. He was burning up. Sweat dripped down his nose and fell to the ground. He could hear every drop crashing upon the rocks below him.
His instincts to survive consumed him. He turned to run toward the edge of the cliff, forgetting that he had nowhere to go. He had not expected to be met with the wall of fire which stretched out before him. With nowhere to go, Deke just stood there, frozen in time, helplessly awaiting the inevitable. It would be the creature that reached him first, throwing him over the cliff.
Chapter Five
Flames were covering the sky above him, and he was falling to his certain death. Deke closed his eyes and wished he was back at home. He thought of his old life and especially of his father. He wished his dad hadn’t left him at such a young age. That he had not died. That he could have been there to teach him the ways of the world. The memory of his father was so vivid, that Deke was certain he could hear his father’s voice calling out his name
. Deke opened his eyes and was astounded to be looking right at him. It was his father! His father, who he had watched die, was desperately holding onto him as they plummeted to their death.
“Deke, imagine your bird!” his father yelled.
Deke couldn’t hear a thing through the wind that whistled around his ears. “Deke your bird, remember your bird!” screamed his father.
Deke looked down to see the trees, water and jagged rocks approaching at a rapid pace.
Did he say imagine your bird? What was he talking about and how did his father ever come to be here?
His favorite bird was a falcon he had named Ralph. He had found Ralph near a creek behind his old house, where he had grown up. The falcon, while diving for prey, had misjudged a tree. The bird’s wing slammed into a branch, and it fell helplessly to the ground. Deke had run to the falcon’s aid and spent the better part of the summer nursing it back to health. He had released the falcon in the fall and as if to say thanks, Ralph insisted on hanging around, dive bombing anyone who came in close quarters with him.
As he thought of Ralph, his father’s face began to twist and distort, his nose took on the form of a beak and his eyes flipped backward in his head only to be replaced by round yellow ones. Claws instead of hands were now gripping Deke’s body. Deke pushed away in fear and continued falling faster with the ever changing figure closely pursuing. It wouldn’t be long now, he thought, bracing himself for the impact.
After several seconds Deke opened his eyes, wondering why he had not already felt his body crash down upon the rocks. He was astonished to see he was now flying over and in between rock caverns. A large falcon was gripping onto him, struggling to keep them both afloat.
