The Campfire

It was well after sundown when five men made camp high up on the side of Mt. Mansfield. It was the end of October and the cold night air howled the Green Mountains. The men were tired, their bodies ached for rest and their arms clung to their chests; struggling for warmth. They wanted to turn in, but it was the 31^st, and there was a tradition to keep.

As the camp fire roared to life, the man who had lit it knelt for a moment warming his hands, then turned to the log behind him and sat down.

“Well then, I think we're ready to get started. Who wants to lead us off gentlemen?”

Another man answered from across the fire, “Come on Earnest, I thought rangers led the way?”

A third man spoke from the second's left, “That's Army rangers Forest, only thing park rangers lead are tour groups.”

All except Earnest chuckled, he instead spoke, “Well then Danny boy, I suppose you're volunteering then?”

Daniel nodded, “Don't see why not; gotta warn you though, I'm a tough act to follow.”

“I'll say, I was down wind of you the whole way up”, the fourth man, Richard, rebutted.

Daniel shot him a sarcastic glare, “Shut your trap and listen, it's my turn; you can talk on yours.” Daniel then got low to the fire and stare into it intensely. “It all began many years ago, not too far from here......

A young couple, not married a week, had decided to spend their honeymoon hiking the Green Mountains; two weeks of nothing but themselves and the great outdoors. At first everything was great, they'd seen a lot of wildlife, amazing vistas, and incredible waterfalls cascading into crystal pools of icy water. But on the fourth day the wife started to feel odd, she was starting to notice that the places they were hiking to seemed familiar, as if she'd been there before. When she asked her husband about it he said he hadn't noticed, but that he was sure they were staying on course. The next day she started to feel that the places they were going were even more familiar, but her husband again dismissed it. He had a map and a compass and was sure they were going the right way. He told her it must have been deja vu and they continued on. On the sixth day she the places they went felt so familiar that she was even able to predict what things would look like before they even got to them. Now the the wife was starting to freak out a little, but her husband knew that her parents had taken her hiking in the area when she was young and he assured he that she must have taken this same trail when she was young.

That night she awoke with a start, she could here something outside their tent rummaging though their bags which they had hung in a tree for safety. She unzipped the tent the tiniest crack, just enough to see out of and saw a dark figure take the map out of their bag and replace it with another.

The woman didn't know what to do, and in a fit of panic she through open the tent and leaped upon the invader and nocked it to the ground. Her triumph, however, was short lived and the figure flung her off of itself and backed away into the woods; but as it did the moonlight caught it's face, her face. She shut here eyes tight, not wanting to believe what happened and fearful of what would happen next. Finally, she knew she had to face that thing again and opened her eyes.

It, was the fourth day of her honeymoon, and everything had been going well.....”

Everyone around the camp fire gave a respectful clap and Daniel gave a mocking bow. “So, what did you think?”

Forrest scratched the back of his head and gave Daniel a quizzical look, “So I like the build up, but I don't quite get the ending.”

Daniels gave a knowing look, “That's just it, no one does. You see this isn't just a story, this is every day for a one Aylene Musk who's been in a New York mental institution for the last sixteen years since she was found wandering in the woods a just a week into her honeymoon mumbling things like, “it has my face” and “I know I've been here before”. After a few years of hearing her repeat bits and pieces of it they were finally able to put her story together, and that's not all. To this day no one knows what happened to her husband; he hasn't been found dead or alive.”

Forest shook his head, “Bullshit, that didn't happen.”

Daniel shrugged, “Feel free to look it up when you get home.”

The fifth man spoke up, “Yer kinda hosed either way 'cause the way I figure it you're either trying to excuse the bad ending, or you didn't make it up yer cheatin' by using a true story.”

“That's not cheating, do you have any idea how much work it took to turn that woman's ramblings into a coherent story?”

“I thought you said the people at the Asylum figured it out”, Earnest interjected,

“Ok, fine, do you have any idea how much work it took to turn the internet article about that woman's ramblings into a coherent story?”

Forrest smirked, “Hour, hour and a half.”

“It took a lot of time, ok. And don't call it an asylum, the preferred term is institution.”

“How about state home for the crazy, can I say that?”

“Forest.....”, Daniel grumbled.

“Ok, ok, I get it. So, who wants to here my twisted tale of torment and terror?”

Earnest nodded, “Only if there's more to it than bad alliteration.”

“Don't worry, there is. And you're all gonna want to lean in close for this one.”

Forrest huddled low over the fire, light from the flames dancing over his face malevolent grin. The others leaned in too, though more for curiosity’s sake than for any atmosphere they expected from the story.

 “It was early morning and a group of hikers had just woken, ready to face the day. They had been making good progress and that nights campsite would bring them to the halfway point of their odyssey. There were three of them, Ben; a hulking mountain man, Jack; a trail guide, and Jonny; their high school buddy who worked upstate. Now Ben and Jack spent most of their time in the great outdoors, but Jonny preferred not to roam outside the narrows of civilization. You see as a young child Jonny had been bitten by a copperhead and was sick for almost a week and ever since then avoided anywhere snakes might dwell, fearing that if he came across another, it would leave him worse than just a little sick. Now the notion was of course ridiculous, a snake from these parts might give you a stomach ache, but kill you? Out of the question. But none of that registered with his, because weather or not there was reason for it, the fear was real, and that was enough for him.”