Outside That Door

by Jennifer Robins

  “Come on; I think the clearing is just ahead.”

  The area looked like it had been the bed of an animal, long since departed. The weeds mingled with the high grass lay flat on the ground. A large boulder sat low to the earth, nature’s table for them to use. Carl hurried to it and took the backpack off to set it there. The sun beat down upon the stone, warming it with its rays, a perfect place to settle for a quick rest. He pulled the zipper down on the side of the pack, reached in for a bottle of the water. “Here ya go.” With an extended hand he offered it to Beth. She took it from him, twisted off the top and took a long drink. He waited patiently for her to hand it back so he could quench his own thirst.

  She looked up at the sky. The sun, almost overhead, marked the approaching noon hour. It felt good to sit on the sprawled out rock and soak in the heat from the bright ball of fire in the sky. The peace of the forest closed around them while the sound of the wild hummed through the trees. An occasional bird chirping on a nearby branch of one of the tall evergreens broke the eerie stillness of what once was a public park.

  Carl took a granola bar from the pack, broke it in half to share the chocolate-flavored morsel with his tired wife and frightened companion. “We need the energy. I don’t know where this path is taking us. We could be out here for a while.” He drank from the bottle again. “At least until we find someone—that is, someone who knows what’s going on.” He stood. “Come on, let’s go.” He took her by the hand and pulled her upright. The backpack took him a few seconds to mount on his back again before heading forward into the overgrowth of the endless forest.

  The same hawk, or maybe another one like it, circled overhead making sounds that echoed through the trees scaring off the other birds from the limbs where they perched. So many took off from one area that a swishing noise could be heard as the flock took to flight. Beth looked up as she crouched down with her hand up, like she wanted to cover her head from them even though they were far above her. Carl looked back at her and chuckled.

  It appeared they were getting nowhere, although the mountains looked closer, so they were progressing toward what they thought should be the place where the offices of the park would be. The sound of a stream caught their attention. Even the smell of fresh flowing water filled the air. “We’re coming close to the area I saw yesterday,” he told her and spiked up his pace to a trot he knew she could keep up with. Beth had no trouble staying close to him, even though it meant a faster step.

  Suddenly they both froze in their tracks. Carl held his hand back to stop his wife from going any further as he watched a long black snake slither across the open path in front of them. The sound of the movement had them both at bay. The sight of the fast-moving reptile paralyzed them in their tracks, and then a wild rabbit jumped out from a nearby bush. Beth had her heart leap up in her throat. Her right hand pressed hard against her mouth preventing her from screaming out while the other hand held fast to Carl’s jacket.

  Once the frightful creature had passed, Carl took Beth’s hand to lead her to the river. The clearing held the brightness of the shining sun, while only a few white clouds filled a part of the pale blue sky to be reflected in the ripples of the river water. Rocks and boulders lined the banks with trees scattered behind them and continued to climb up the sides of the mountains. Pine trees reaching high above the earth, along with many dogwoods, filled the back drop of the wonderful scene laid out before them. The unfamiliar landscape made them a little edgy. Neither of them had ever been in a wilderness environment before.

  “Look here. There’s a clearing by the water. It looks like something has been dragged into the river from here. A canoe maybe. Look at the narrow scraping. Either a canoe or some wide log.”

  Her eyes went in the direction he pointed. “Yes, it does appear like something was dragged into the water. I’m not sure about a canoe. Did we ever have canoe boating up here?”

  “Not that I know of, but I suppose it’s possible. They have everything else.”

  “Yeah…but canoes? With all that rushing water, I don’t see how.” She went closer. Her open hand spread over her eyes to shade them from the sun while she looked across the river. “Is there a place on the other side like this? You know where this so-called canoe would go?”

  “No, I don’t see any, at least not from here. If it’s a canoe, they may have put it in the water to ride it downriver somewhere.” He pointed to the right of them, the way the river flowed. His eyes grew wide. Beth put a hand on his jacket and held tight. The sound of drums in the near distance had them concerned. He took her hand and pulled her down to the ground. Both of them sat on their heels, looking out from the bush in front of them, shocked by what they were hearing. “Drums…like Indian drums… Could it be?” Carl whispered.

  Beth shook her head. “What the heck?” She crouched down even further. “This is scaring the crap out of me,” she said softly. “I wanna go back to the cottage—right now. I have a really bad feeling about this.” She started to stand, but he pulled her back. “Stop, Carl.” She tugged at his hand to pull it away from her and then stood. “If you want to wander around out here in this freaky place, that’s up to you; I’m going back.”

  As she pulled away from him, she started back the way they came. He grabbed her arm. “Okay, we can go back, but we have to find someone out here who can help us.”

  “Yeah, you can go right ahead. I’m staying inside. This whole thing can’t last much longer.” She tugged at her jacket collar to pull it up closer to her face. “I’ll never understand any of this, but I have to believe it’s some kind of fluke that will end soon.”

  She moved forward, pushing the deteriorating fall growth out of her way with her hands while kicking at the branches in her way. Carl followed right behind her trying to keep up with her as they moved quickly along the same path they came from.

  “You talk like this is some kind of dream, Beth. Let me tell you, this is no frigging dream—it’s for real.” With her some feet ahead of him, he had to shout a little so she would hear him.

  Once they came to the clearing with the large boulders, he stopped her. “Let’s take it easy—sit down, have a drink of water.”

  Her heart raced, her hands took on a sweat, but she sat as he took the backpack down and opened it. It was suddenly very quiet. Only one little bird in the tree near them sang a fall melody that echoed out among the thick forest. The orange-colored leaves from the tree branches let loose and took flight to the earth below, while the heat of the sun warmed the chill of the cool fall day. The smell of the season in the air along with the strong odor of something burning circled around them. It reminded Beth of her father’s friend’s farm where they would go in the fall and help burn leaves out in the fields. But this wasn’t the farm, and it sure wasn’t the park any more either.

  After a short pause in their journey back to the cottage, they were on their way again.

  In her hurry, Beth stumbled on a vine growing along the path. Down she went, face first, with her hand out to brace the fall. Pain shot up from her wrist to her shoulder. Carl rushed to rescue her as she tried to push herself to her knees. She let out an agonizing groan when he helped her to her feet.

  “Are you all right?”

  “No, I hurt my wrist—my arm. It really hurts.” She slapped at his hand holding her other arm. “Let me go—I just want to get out of this…whatever it is.” Tears burned her eyes.

  “All right, take it easy. Just lean on me, and try not to be so upset. I know how nerve-racking this is, but we have to keep level heads.”

  “I’m scared, tired, cold, and now hurt. What do you expect I should be like—a happy camper or something?”

  “All right.” He let go of her. “Let’s get back to the cottage, and then I’ll have a look at that wrist. You probably sprained it when you fell.”

  The sounds of the forest seemed to return in complete harmony of wind blowing softly through the trees, and the far-off noise of the flowing water of the rive
r. The sky overhead remained its clear soft blue, with only a few foamy white clouds drifting slowly by. The worried twosome went on, making their way back. Carl took the lead, so Beth could grab hold of him if she had an encore. She had the injured hand tucked securely in her jacket, while she held the other one out just in case she stumbled again.

  The way back held evidence of being trampled on before, so they knew they were on the right track. The one old oak tree they knew to be very close to the cottage was just a few feet ahead. It had a distinguished look with carved, unidentified symbols on its lower trunk, so large they could be seen from a distance. Carl remembered seeing them earlier. They were getting close.

  “We should see our place by now,” Beth said as she looked past Carl’s shoulders.

  “Yeah, I know, but I don’t see it yet. Maybe it’s a little further—a few yards more than we thought. With all this growth around, it’s hard to tell.”

  They both stood still, looking ahead while a large hawk screeching overhead caught their attention. It circled over them as though to object to their presence. Carl grabbed her hand. “Come on.” He pulled her up alongside of him, and they hurried on.

  As they passed the large old oak tree some many yards from it, they stood still. He left her side to search the area. He went on several yards from her, turned, and came back, shaking his head.

  “This is where it should be.” His arms stretched out wide with his palms held upward. “Where is it?”

  “Oh, Carl, are you sure we’re in the right place? This is my first time out in all this, but you should know—you made this trip before. Is this the right place, or did we miss it?” She looked around, turning her head in both directions.

  “This is where it was, Beth—I know for sure. Look at those logs over there. They are the logs I put by the back door for our fire.” He pointed to a stack of wood just a few yards from them. “I’m sure this is it.” He shook his head and blinked hard. “This is crazy.”

  Beth clamped her hands together like in prayer. “What are we going to do now?” She came closer to him. “We need to look around—over that way. It’s got to be here somewhere. It didn’t just disappear.” Her hands began to shake as she spoke, and she could feel the blood drain from her face.

  “All right; you stay here while I have a look. Don’t move from this place.” He went off, leaving her standing there, hands held together and pressed up tightly to her chest.

  With little opening among the wild growth, Carl almost disappeared, but Beth could hear the rustling of the bushes as she watched them part in his passage until she could not see or hear him anymore. Her eyes darted back and forth, expecting the worst. It seemed like an eternity waiting for him to return, but at last, she saw the movement of the brush again. He was coming back. She wanted to call out to him, but something held her back from doing so. Afraid there might be some other being out there who would hear her, she remained silent. But she could hear her heartbeat.

  In great anticipation, she put her hand up to her mouth, stood straight up on her tiptoes to peer in the direction of the movement coming closer. In a soft voice, she whispered his name but then put her hand over her mouth. Why couldn’t she see his head? He stood six feet tall. Are those bushes that high? she asked herself as she looked on.

  Suddenly, out from the bush walked a small doe, her head held high as she made her way out from the thick growth. Beth stood in an area with less foliage, cleared somewhat to allow the deer to wander in. Beth froze, not knowing what to do, she held back a scream. The sudden appearance of the deer had her heart thumping wildly and her breath coming fast. The doe looked up and saw her. First she stiffened and then ran off. Now Beth let out a cry: “Carl.”

  Through the wild of the forest he came rushing to get to her. She could see his head with his bright orange cap, a welcome sight. She ran into his arms and he held her close. “Are you all right?”

  “I saw this deer, and it frightened me,” she said, her head buried in his chest. He only smiled when he heard what the problem was. He raised her head to kiss her but still held her to comfort her. His lips gently pressed on hers, gave her some assurance they would be okay—he would be there for her.

  “Did you find the cottage?” she asked as she pulled back from him.

  “No, I didn’t find it. It’s not here—not anywhere here.” His brows came together in a worried manner. “I checked all over… It’s gone.”

  “Carl, what now?”

  “I don’t know, but we can’t go off the deep end. We’ll have to find someone, some place.” He took his cap off and ran his fingers through his hair. “I don’t know.”

  She began to cry, but he took her by the arm and led her to a nearby rock to sit on. “Take it easy, Beth. We will find our way out of this—trust me. There has to be someone around this crazy place who can help us. We just need to find them.” He squeezed in next to her and put his arm around her shoulder. “All right. Let’s just sit here…give this some thought.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The sun traveled its long journey west and now sat on the edge of the top of the mountains, ready to descend down behind them. It spread a pink glow across the sky to enlighten the few clouds resting high above the rounded peeks. With night approaching, they had to find cover somewhere safe. The flow of the cold river had them making their way along the banks hoping to find another clearing. Beth held tight to her jacket, pulling it close to her face while Carl led the way. With the light diminishing, they had to hurry.

  “Look, there’s a clearing just ahead. Let’s look for cover,” Carl urged.

  They moved to a large boulder to rest. The clearing was flat without many trees.

  There they ate one of the granola bars Carl had packed away, washing it down with water from the bottles they brought with them.

  Time had slipped by over the long day. There was no way to tell how long they’d been searching, traveling. They had used the sun as a guide of time. It had cooled so much, their breath was visible steam on the air. Carl nudged her along as they started out again after a short rest. Beth complained of being tired, but Carl pushed her to press on.

  “We need to find shelter for the night before it gets too dark,” he told her as he hurried her along. “I remember some old caves around here. I think they are up to the left. In fact, I’m sure of it.” He took her hand. “Come on, let’s go.”

  While moving along through the thick maze of trees, the hazardous bushes—some with thick thorns—he had to make sure they didn’t come across anything to hinder their progress. He needed to move many branches out from the path they were on so neither of them would take an injurious fall. The light of the day grew dim. They had to move along at a much faster pace with hope to find shelter soon.

  He thought they would find one of the caves he knew of. He had visited them a few times on past trips to the park. It was one of the interesting things there. He only prayed there would be no occupants to prevent them from using the earthy shelter for the night.

  After seeing that bear wandering around, he had cause to wonder if any of the caves would be unoccupied. Extreme caution remained a necessity and he knew it, but he kept that possibility to himself so as not to frighten Beth. He didn’t need for her to resist going further. There would be no way he would let them spend the night out in the open.

  Searching for a cave he knew as being open to view from a distance but which now might be covered with all kinds of growth could present a problem. Yet he knew it was there, it had to be, so he worked his way in the direction to the right with his nervous wife right up close behind him. Any little sound had her clutching at the back of his jacket, her eyes darting all around in anticipation of something jumping out at them at any moment.

  The glow of the sun kissed the tops of the mountains as it descended down away from view. The sky grew darker to let the sign of a few stars overhead come alive to shine over the earth. Just ahead, it looked like an opening of some kind. Carl hurried Beth alon
g, thinking this could be what they were searching for. When they got closer, he stopped with his hand on her arm to hold her back.

  “It’s a cave. Wait here while I check it out.”

  “No, I’m coming with you. I’m not going to be left here alone.”

  “All right, but stay behind me and don’t talk; don’t make a sound.”

  The opening had vines hanging down over it, but they could see a few feet inside. They approached with caution. A branch cracked under his feet… He stood still for a moment to make sure it didn’t rouse some creature. Then he motioned for her to get down as he lowered himself to squat to his heels and reached behind to hold Beth at bay. Slowly he lowered the backpack to the ground and opened it to retrieve a flashlight. The night closed in on them—they had to get to a safe place. He aimed the beam into the large rounded arch to the cave. The opening had to be at least five feet tall, close to the same in width.

  “I knew this cave had to be here. Looks like a large place inside.” The beam of light from the bright silver cylinder in his hand struck the inside of the cave. “It’s good this flashlight works. I was a little worried about it since our watches stopped. Strange. I’m going closer to take a better look.” Then he admitted, “I need to make sure there’s nothing in there.” He stood. “You stay down and don’t move from here.”

  “Be careful,” she said in a soft voice. “Hurry back.”

  He glanced back once as he made his way toward the darkened cave with the flashlight aiming a beam of light several feet in front of him. Crawling along his path could be anything that would jump up and bite him or plain scare the crap out of him. The weeds were high and anything might be unseen under all of them. Surely the light would scare off anything in his way…he hoped.

  When he came to the opening, it suddenly looked much larger than it did from a distance. Anything could live in there, he thought as he slowly approached. He bent down a little to hold the light so it would enter the cavity. Solid rock walls went deep while the floor or base consisted of nothing but dry dirt. He swung the light around the inside walls, the base and as far back as he could see. It appeared to be empty, but there was some burnt wood on the one side close to the entrance. Someone had been there earlier, much earlier by how it looked. Next to it a hole had been dug out and filled with water. This would be a good place to stay for the night, he thought as he turned the light around to make his way back to Beth. Carl found her the way he’d left her, crouched down waiting nervously for him. He reached for her hand to help her up. “It’s okay; let’s go.”