Alone Into The Distance

by Stuart Mackay

darkened sky and started to walk towards the bothy, he was actually grateful of the snow as it made it slightly lighter than it normally would have been at the time of year.

  Paul walked towards the bothy, the falling snow hampering his progress, he walked passed a tree, its leaves but a distant memory however the tree was full of birds, either Ravens or Crows, all he knew was they were black and it looked like they were watching him walk by.

  He reached the bothy and opened the door into total darkness, he thought there would have been a hiker or 2 but there was no-one, he brought out a torch and shone its light around the sparse room, he noticed the welcome site of a large pile of firewood and some peat in the far corner, he quickly started to make a fire in the fireplace. When the fire was going he took out a couple of candles and lit them before placing one on the window sill and one on a shelf, he went back to his rucksack and took out his air mat and let it self inflate, he unrolled his sleeping bag and placed it in front of the fire. He wasn’t hungry after the meal at the bar but took out a bag of crisps and ate them whilst warming himself by the fire; with nothing else to do he took out his e-reader, the light of the e-reader casting shadows on the ceiling.

  He must have fallen asleep as he woke up with a shudder as he heard someone open the door of the bothy, he turned off the e-reader and put it down, “hello,” he said into the darkness coming from the door.

  “Hi,” said a female voice from the door, “snows bad,” she added, he could hear her brushing off the snow from her jacket, she then walked over and sat down next to the fire, “I’m Jorid.”

  “Paul,” he replied, he then watched her as she took off her boots and placed them in front of the fire, as the heat hit the boots, steam started to rise into the darkness, “Jorid, is that Scandinavian?”

  “Norwegian,” she replied, “I saw your candle in the window, I didn’t think anyone would be crazy enough to be here in this weather, why are you here?” the question was asked with the sound of concern.

  Paul paused for a moment before continuing, “I’m, looking for my brother,” he looked at her as she ran her fingers through her blonde hair before flicking the collected snow into the fire.

  “Your brother was, here?” she asked again with concern in her voice.

  Paul nodded, “he sent me an email saying he was heading here, and then nothing,” he paused and looked at the fire, “that was 2 months ago.”

  “He has not been in touch?” she asked.

  “No.”

  “Do you have his picture?”

  Paul looked at her as if answering a question he never asked. “Yeah,” he reached over to his backpack and pulled out a picture of his brother and handed it to Jorid.

  She took the picture and leaned closer to the fire, her head sunk when she looked at it, “you are Tom’s brother?” she said after a while.

  Paul started at her in disbelief, “you know Tom?” he leaned closer to her, “how, when, do you know where he is?”

  Jorid handed the picture back to him and smiled weakly at him, “he couldn’t have made it,” she said in a whisper.

  “Couldn’t have made what?” asked Paul.

  Jorid stared into the fire, “you have to leave here, it’s not safe.”

  Paul stared at her and then backed away slightly, “who are you and how do you know my brother?”

  “It is not safe here,” she turned her head away from the fire to look at him, “you need to go, now.”

  “I need to find my brother, what do you know?”

  “Your brother is dead,” she turned back to stare at the fire, the hypnotic flames dancing away from the peat, “they must have got him,” she added almost reluctantly.

  “Dead,” shouted Paul, “wait a minute, who got him?”

  She turned to the door as if expecting someone to walk in, “lower your voice,” she pleaded in a whisper.

  “Look Jorid, what happened to my brother, please, I’m begging you, how do you know my brother, how do you know Tom?”

  “You have to leave; they will come for you, please.”

  Tom stared at her, “they?”

  She nodded her head before quickly turning to the window at the sound of a dog barking, far in the distance, her eyes widened as she turned back to Paul, “that’s them, go, now, while you still can.”

  “No, I need to know about Tom,” he replied folding his arms in the progress, the childlike act of defiance.

  Jorid shook her head, “there is no time, go.”

  Paul looked at her, “think of my family, what do I say about my brother, what do I tell them.”

  “God you are as stubborn as he was,” the dog started to bark again, slightly closer this time; Jorid shook her head, “do you really want to know?”

  “Of course I do.”

  “You might not believe me, but it’s true.”

  “Please, just tell me what happened to my brother.”

  She looked at the fire and then back to him, “and then you will leave?”

  “Yes, I’ll leave.”

  “And you will tell your family another story?”

  “What?”

  “You have to tell your family a different story,” she demanded.

  “I will think about it,” he replied.

  “Are you sure you want to know the truth?”

  “He is my brother.”

  Jorid sighed deeply before continuing. “The man, who is probably on his way here, killed your brother and others as well.”

  “Why.”

  She held up her hand to stop him, “we don’t have the time; the man and his family, they make sure that the bodies are never found, the flesh and organs are eaten, either by them or the locals, his sister runs the Stag Bar in town, do not eat there.”

  Paul suddenly felt sick, he didn’t hear the rest of Jorid’s story, his head was spinning at what he was hearing, “shit!”

  “Now,” demanded Jorid. Paul looked at her, “you have to leave now,” she turned to the window and the louder sound of a dog barking.

  “Police,” was all he managed to say.

  Jorid shook her head, “he is the police round here,” she moved forward and leant close to him, “I know you have questions, but you have to leave now.

  Paul stood up and grabbed his backpack and started to put it on, “are you?” was all he managed to ask.

  “I will stay here and try delay him, he doesn’t harm me,” she looked at him as he struggled with his backpack, “leave the backpack, it will only slow you down,” Paul nodded and put the picture of Tom in the inside pocket of his jacket, “when you leave here, go left, there will be less snow on the forest floor, after about 2 miles you will come to a river, half a mile on the right will be a bridge, cross the bridge and you will come to the road for Inverness, try and hitch a lift with any car going left.”

  “I,” he couldn’t think of anything to say, he stepped forward to hug her but she took a step back shaking her head.

  “Go.”

  He walked to the door and opened it, the first thing he heard was the sound of the Ravens or Crows, he then turned his attention and looked around himself, in the distance he could see a light and could hear a dog bark; he turned left and waded through the deep snow towards the treeline, once he reached the trees he reached into his pocket and put on his head torch, the full moon was hidden by the tree canopy, he ran as best as he could with the limited light. After about 10 minutes he stopped, turned off his head torch and looked behind him, he couldn’t see anything, he tried to listen for a dog barking but all he could hear was his beating heart, he looked to his right as he thought he heard someone say run. He turned the torch back on and started to run again, after a while he reached the river and turned right, running along the footpath towards the bridge, his speed had dropped due to the snow but he had the full moon and the white of the snow to run by. He reached the bridge and crossed it before coming to the road, he looked at the deserted road, there was tyre marks heading towards Inverness but there was
a fresh covering of snow on them. He looked at his watch and saw it was just after midnight, he shook his head at the realisation that nobody would be stupid enough to be travelling at this time of night and in these conditions. A noise to his left made him stand still in total fear, a few seconds later a rabbit hopped out the long grass and crossed the road in front of him.

  Snow started to fall again as he started to walk in the direction of Inverness, he had no idea how far it was but he didn’t know what else to do, so he walked.

  It was just after 2am when he heard something other than the crunch of his footsteps in the snow, he turned round gingerly at the approaching noise, he could see the bright headlights approaching and the flashing yellow light, he stepped off the road as it approached, snow filled his shoes as he sunk into soft ground. The vehicle stopped and the driver opened the passenger door, “what the hell are you doing out in this weather, you could die out here.”

  Tom looked at the man and the gritter he was driving, he smiled at the man, “girlfriend found out I slept with her best friend,” he lied to the man, “and now I’m here,” he said looking up at the sky, “women eh!”

  The man laughed at him, “hope she was worth it.”

  “It would do it again if I had the chance.”

  “Well you better get in; you don’t want to freeze to death before she has a chance to kill you.”

  “Thanks mate,” Paul replied as he got into the cab and sat down.

  “Heading for Inverness,” the driver said as he started to drive, “hope you’re not in a hurry, I’ve still to grit the road.

  “Inverness,” replied