Chapter Text
In Stranger Woods
An In Strange Woods Fanfic
By David Rainone
Chapter One: The Beckoning Woods
BRETT NARRATION: It is often said that magic is just science that we don’t understand. After all, what is magic truly except the control of matter and space-time? In stories of old, anything out of the ordinary was somehow related to magic or demons or to a god or goddess. The farther along that society progressed, the more that the unexplained became explainable. And yet, there were still moments and times when things could not be explained. In all of my years on this planet, I have borne witness to many the odd and inexplicable, but none of my encounters left me quite as confused as those that I was told about in the year of 2017.
It was an unfortunate happenstance that left me stranded in an airport and unable to be there in Whitetail, Minnesota on the day of the Final, when Peter James Howland, or Howl as we called him, led his motley band of enthusiastic kids into the woods to undergo a survival challenge. One that he would not return from. It was during this Final that two very odd and inexplicable occurrences happened. The first occurrence was when Howl mentioned that he had had a dream of his two dead sisters in a clearing that the group happened upon that would be instrumental in the survival of one of the teens. Was this a coincidence? A premonition? A warning from beyond the grave? The second occurrence was the strange arrival of a wolf. Now typically a wolf appearing in the woods wouldn't be seen as anything odd. Scary, perhaps. But not odd. The strangeness to this occurrence is not just the odd coincidence of a wolf appearing in the woods during a blizzard, but that it appeared at the exact place and time as two of the survivalists while a man, nicknamed, Howl presumably died a few miles away despite being amply prepared to brave the weather and the forest. The appearance was made even stranger as this wolf, a wild beast, appeared to guide the kids to safety only to disappear once they reached the search team that had been looking for them. Why would a wild animal appear to show compassion to two young trespassers alone on its land? Why was it alone when it is known that wolves typically travel in packs? Was it just a coincidence? Or was it more?
As it turns out, at the time, I had been given a clue that there was more at play here than just mundane but strange happenings. The clue came in the form of a torn photograph of a man, with the note ‘You can’t change what happened’ on the back. The note was from Howl to one of the survivalists, Peregrine, a young but determined young woman who had put the entire Final together as a way to work through the grief of losing her brother after his life was prematurely taken by the woods. At the time, I chalked it up as the final teachings of a man who knew that his story was coming to a close. We believed it to be about Peregrine's brother Jacob and his death. How she wasn’t responsible and that nothing, not even her desperate act of creating the Final, would bring him back. And in a way, that is what the note was about. You cannot change the past. Time is linear and Death, finite. But the note had a second meaning. That Peregrine was not responsible and could not change something that she would not know had even occurred for years later. What none of us knew or could even have imagined was happening deep within the woods.
[MUSIC FOR “SONG 1” BEGINS]
FOR DEEP WITHIN THE WOODS
A FORCE HAD AWOKEN
IT HAD WATCHED ALL THAT WAS AT HAND
IT HAD JUDGED THOSE THAT DARED ENTER
ITS GOAL, TO PROTECT THE LAND
AND THOUGH WE DID NOT KNOW IT
OUR FATES WERE INTERTWINED
THE FOREST WAS WATCHING
WOKEN BY A SOUL WHO’D DIED.
[Narration Continues]
It would be five years after the events of the Final, that we would come to know the true story of what had aspired in the woods that day. Of the magic that lay deep within the woods. And in an ironic twist of fate, the events that were to come were started with a mysterious letter.
I was sitting in my living room going over an article I was about to hand in to my editor one spring day, when my husband, a law professor at Yale, handed me an envelope. The envelope was thin, but old. The paper was scratchy and gray. A stamp from the year 1973 was in the corner. The letter was addressed to me but, oddly enough, had also come from me. To explain, after the events that transpired in the Final, I ended up as the sole caretaker of the cabin that had previously belonged to Howl, who was given it by his lover Gerda, a war photographer who had died in a bombing in Israel and who was also my great-aunt. The cabin sat on the property where Peregrine’s brother Jacob had died and was the site of a year of training by the survivalists as they learned the skills that would help them survive their expedition into the woods. The address on the envelope handed to me by my husband was the same address as the cabin that had become my vacation home and writing retreat. Upon opening it, I found a paper of similar properties to the envelope that encased it, with the words ‘There is more to the story’ written in neat bold handwriting. Needless to say, my curiosity was piqued and that day just so happened to be the final day of work before my husband and I were to go on a trip to celebrate the ending of another school year. We quickly changed our plans and decided that during our cross country road trip to visit a camp that my husbands old friends had started we would spend a few more days than we had originally intended to in our cozy little cabin in the woods while we tried to figure out who had sent the letter, why, and what it meant. Little did we know that both of our lives were about to get a lot stranger than they already were.
THESE TREES WERE PLANTED LONG AGO
WHEN HUMANKIND WAS YOUNG.
BUT WHAT WE HUMANS DID NOT KNOW,
THAT IN THOSE DAYS EONS AGO,
A DIFFERENT WORLD THIS EARTH HAD BEEN,
A WORLD THAT LONGED TO BE AGAIN,
FULL OF WONDERS NEVER CEASING,
UNTIL THEY HAD TO START DECREASING,
HIDING IN THE DARK,
FROM THOSE WHO WISHED THEM HARM,
ALL BECAUSE THEY THOUGHT THEM WRONG.
I’m Brett Ryback and this is In Stranger Woods.
When we got to Whitetail, we could tell something was different. You know that feeling when you return to a place after a while and even though it looks the same, it feels new? That was what the town felt like to my husband and me as we drove through it and towards the cabin. It felt… guarded. Unlike the first time I had arrived, when the town was ripe with sadness and bleakness hung in the air, and unlike my subsequent visits, when it felt like a town learning to mend. Now, driving through the streets, it felt like the town was on edge. The people we passed on the way in looked grim, tired. My attention turned to two frustrated looking men arguing outside their shop. I knew them as two of my prior interviewees, twins Bait and Tackle. I signaled to pull over to ask them what was up, but my husband put a hand on mine and shook his head, so I kept going and we soon pulled into our cabin. Despite the feel of the town, the cabin still looked as beautiful as ever. Being the start of summer, the plants were in full bloom, and the walk up to the door was filled with a wonderful aroma of roses, daffodil, lavender, and, in a carefully maintained section of the yard, a patch of mint. We had barely gotten our bags in when a truck came roaring into the driveway. I immediately started up my recorder and went out to greet Peregrine Wells.
PEREGRINE: Brett! I told them it was you! How was the drive? Didja get here ok?
BRETT: Hey Pere! The drive was good. Relaxing.
PEREGRINE: Good, Good. Oh, hello Professor! How are you?
JASON: Hello Peregrine. I am well.
PEREGRINE: [Fading out for narration] That’s great! I’m so glad you guys are here! Everyone is freaking out. With the town the way it is, and the whole thing with the logging company, and the tourists and the media, and then there’s the letters…
BRETT NARRATION: I first met Peregrine Wells five years ago when I came to Whitetail looking for information about my deceased aunt, Gerda Pulnik. When she died, I was her only living relative and, as I was trying to chase my family lineage, I was intrigued by anything she may have left after her passing. What I found was much more interesting than anything I had ever thought, and it all seemed to circle around Peregrine at the time. During the next year, as my investigation continued, I found myself inexplicably getting more and more connected to the town and its residents, until eventually I discovered that I found them to be like the family I had never had. Sure, I had my sister and my grandparents growing up, but, especially after the accident, we hadn’t connected in a way that really impacted me as greatly as the folks from Whitetail did. After my parents died, I shut myself off from my family. I fought with them constantly and always tried to do my best to keep my distance. Anytime I looked at them, all I could see were my parents. I even avoided mirrors for a bit, unable to look at my own reflection. It wasn’t until Whitetail that I really allowed myself to feel again. I had been so detached from my feelings and my reality that I had pushed away my family, and it wasn’t until I found myself caring for these kids and these families that I realized that by not processing my grief correctly, I had destroyed precious bonds. It took the building of my own little found family, to realize how much my actions had hurt my actual family. My relationship with Peregrine helped me eventually reach out to my sister and we were able to reconnect. Unfortunately, I will never get to reconcile with my grandparents, as they passed a few years before the events of 2017, but I hope they know how much I regret my actions and how I treated them.
As Peregrine and I caught up, I started to piece together what had been happening in the town since my last visit. Due to increased tourism and interest in the area, a resort company had decided that a bunch of land to the north of Whitetail was prime area to build their newest resort. They sent in their logging company to start clearing a sizable chunk of the forest to build the resort and well, as you can imagine, the locals and many conservationists were not happy. Since then the town has been in a bitter feud with both the logging company and their parent organization. It hasn’t helped that not only has construction driven away tourists and hikers, but has led to many shops being bought up by developers looking to turn Whitetail into a resort town. Much of the town is divided on the issue of whether to accept the resort, or to fight it. With all of this going on, an added mystery is now brewing as it turns out that I was not the only one to receive a mysterious letter. Every member of the Survivalists got one as well.
After our catch-up, Peregrine left my husband and I to unpack and unwind. Once we finished and were able to get a quick nap in, Jason started to make dinner while I went into town to get some supplies and to try to get more information from the locals. As I drove back into town, I had the strangest feeling, as if I was being watched, and the few people I saw as I walked towards the corner store seemed to be whispering about something amongst themselves. I entered and made sure my recording device was on just in case I ran into anyone I knew who might provide me with some information. I saw Bait and Tackle down one of the aisles and went to talk to them when…
LEXY: I wouldn’t do that if I were you.
BRETT: Lexy! How are you?
LEXY: I’m okay. But seriously, you might want to avoid Bait and Tackle for the time being. Especially if you have that thing running.
BRETT: Why?
LEXY: Peregrine hasn’t told you yet, has she?
BRETT: Told me what?
LEXY: A lot of the folks around here blame you for what’s going on.
BRETT: What?! Me?
LEXY: A lot of us blame you for a lot of things, Brett.
BRETT: Why?
LEXY:
WE KNOW YOU DIDN’T MEAN IT.
THAT YOUR INTENTIONS WERE PURE.
WHEN THAT PODCAST WAS RELEASED,
WE LISTENED TO EVERY WORD;
SOME OF US WERE SHOCKED,
SOME HURT,
AND SOME FOUND PEACE AND JOY,
BUT WHAT WE DIDN’T KNOW WAS…
YOU SHONE A SPOTLIGHT ON THIS TOWN AND THE FOREST AROUND IT
BRINGING INTEREST, BRINGING FANS, BRINGING MORE INVESTIGATION.
SUDDENLY OUR QUIET LIVES WERE DISRUPTED AND WE WERE FORCED TO FALL PREY TO THEIR JUDGING LENSE.
DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO LIVE YOUR LIFE IN A SPOTLIGHT?
WHEN THE WORST PART OF YOUR LIFE IS BROADCAST TO NO END?
WHEN YOUR ACTIONS ARE JUDGED AND YOUR FAILURES EXAMINED,
WHEN YOU’RE TOLD THAT YOU’RE AN AWFUL FRIEND?!
THIS TOWN AND THESE PEOPLE HAVE SUFFERED,
BECAUSE OF WHAT YOU PUT US THROUGH!
AND YOU JUST HAD TO RECORD IT!
WE BORE OUR HEARTS TO YOU!
IT WASN’T TOO HARD FOR SOME INTERNET SLEUTHS TO COMB THROUGH OUR ONLINE LIVES.
THEY FOUND THINGS THAT LED TO SOME AWKWARD CONVERSATIONS,
SOME OLD POSTS WERE BROUGHT INTO THE LIGHT.
THE FORUMS, THE CHAT-ROOMS, THE PAPERS, THE NEWS!
NO ONE WAS SAFE FROM THEIR EYES!
AND THEN THERE WERE THE TOURISTS.
THE ONES WHO CAME TO SEE WHERE JACOB DIED.
THE ONES WHO TRIED TO REPLICATE THE FINAL.
DO YOU KNOW HOW FEW SURVIVED?
DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE AND FAMILIES YOU HURT
WHEN YOU PUBLISHED THE SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES?
BRETT: Lexy I-
LEXY: [spoken] I’M! NOT! DONE!
[sung] THE WORST PART IS ALL THE PRETENDING.
EXCUSING AND FORGIVING.
BECAUSE NOW HERE YOU ARE AGAIN,
RECORDER IN HAND,
MAKING ME SING ALL OF MY FEELINGS TO YOU.
YOU HEARD THERE WAS MORE TO THE STORY,
THOUGHT YOU COULD MILK MORE FAME FROM THE STUFF.
UNAWARE OF THE ALL THE PAIN YOU CAUSED,
WHAT MORE MUST HAPPEN UNTIL YOU’VE HAD ENOUGH
[spoken] Get your food and go. And If you know what’s good for you, you won’t bring that recorder around me or the locals again.
BRETT NARRATION: More to come after the break.
______
BRETT NARRATION: After my confrontation with Lexy, I was shaken. When I finished the original edits of In Strange Woods, I sent what I had to everyone involved. As usual, there were some push-backs, and explaining how I had somehow produced songs was tricky; but in the end everyone agreed that, even though it was intimate and didn’t show everyone in the best light, that it was a good story and most of us thought it wouldn’t be so popular anyway. But they admired and respected the fact that I had taken a year to make this and didn’t want to stop me from publishing it. It took a few months but once it was discovered and became viral, not only did the town see a boom in tourism, but there was an outpouring of emotional support for the townsfolk. As I was busy on other projects at the time, I didn’t have the time to really go through and monitor every response, and as all creators do, I tried to avoid the more toxic part of the listeners. But after running the gamut of the press, I was unaware there were lingering negative associations. I was definitely NOT aware of any subsequent, correlated deaths. When I got back to the cabin, I immediately searched up deaths related to the podcast and came up empty. So I did what anyone would do and called Peregrine.
[Phone rings]
BRETT NARRATION: If anyone knew of deaths related to the final, it would be her.
[Phone clicks as Peregrine picks up]
PEREGRINE: Brett? It’s 2am. What’s going on?
BRETT: Oh, is it? ( A pause as he checks) Oh my god, it is. I’m so sorry. Did I wake you?
PEREGRINE: It’s ok, I was just about to go to sleep. What… What’s up?
BRETT: Well, this is kind of awkward, but I ran into Lexy today, and she told me about these deaths and some other stuff and…
PEREGRINE: (Interrupting) Oh, yeah. That. Listen. The podcast may have been a massive hit or whatever outside of Whitetail, and no one can deny that it wasn’t a positive influence on our town at first but, well, the long-term effects have been less than stellar. It’s not too bad, but there are certain people in town you should probably try to avoid. Like Lexy. She, well, she didn’t get very good reactions from people who listened. When the podcast went viral she started receiving hate mail and messages, and she didn’t handle it well. I mean, most of us got our share of hate mail and stuff, as I'm sure you did too, but Lexy just... didn't handle it well. And then, she got a message from someone who said she was the only ‘sane one’ because the Final was ‘stupid and dangerous’ and that the person knew of someone who had tried to do the Final after listening and died. There was no proof of what really happened, though. But Lexy took that and then every poor kid who got lost or died in the woods was suddenly trying to recreate the Final. We talked her off of it and she was doing better, but then the contractors and logging company and the company that is building the new resort came, and people started getting bought out of their businesses, and now a lot of people are moving or fighting to keep their business afloat. People are getting split up, and Lexy needed someone to blame. So she blames you. And me.
BRETT: So you two aren’t talking?
PEREGRINE: The last time we talked was when she came to my house screaming about the letter and how it was a horrible joke and I was a horrible person. Before that, we hadn’t talked in months. Mom buys the groceries now because she refuses to check me out. She almost got fired for it. Which... didn’t help.
BRETT: Has she talked to anyone else? Woodsley? Eric? John Francis?
PEREGRINE: She hasn’t talked to John Francis since they broke up. As for Woodsley and Eric, they talk occasionally but not much anymore. She shut us out. All of us. I’m worried for her. I- I miss my best friend, Brett.
BRETT: I’m so sorry. I didn’t know.
PEREGRINE: It’s ok. I- I can’t say that we don’t all share a little disdain for how the podcast turned out, and you know how we felt when we first heard it, but I don’t think she should blame you for everything. We all gave you our consent to release it. We knew if it went viral the reaction might not be the best to certain aspects but, well, I don’t think Lexy knew how much it would affect her and her life so personally.
BRETT: If I had known…
PEREGRINE: Hey, you spent a year of your life hanging out with teenagers working on this. And while yes, none of us were handling any of the events that well and in retrospect all us deserve a good whack upside the head, it was a damn good story. I, at least, am glad you published it. Yes, the music aspect was weird, especially with how you obtained them. But I’m not gonna lie, those songs HIT. I mean, of course they do, it’s not everyday you get to listen to a song you unintentionally sung that was pulled out of your subconscious and also perfectly encapsulates your grief, but hey, listening to it helped me work through some things. Especially when I made my therapist listen to it.
BRETT: I’m sorry, you did what?
PEREGRINE: What? It helped. You didn’t?
BRETT: No…
PEREGRINE: You should. Especially since your... ability... is very therapeutic. At least, if you record it and can listen back.
BRETT: True. That is why I started bringing a recorder with me everywhere I went.
PEREGRINE: It is?
BRETT: Yeah, when you can pull original songs out of people’s subconscious, including yourself, you tend to start carrying around a recorder. Composing music to fit was the hardest part, but Jason met someone last year who helped with that.
PEREGRINE: Oh?
BRETT: My recorder now alerts me to when my ability is being activated and also somehow stores it with music already composed. To be honest, I’m not sure how it works or how it was made, and it was part of a favor done for my husband because of this cult thing he got involved in and saved someone from but yeah. I have a fancy little do-dad now. And Jason has a camera that, well, makes some really sad movies. He’s trying to get it so that it can be used in court, but you know how the government is right now.
PEREGRINE: Yeah. It was quite a shock when it all came out about Atypicals and such.
BRETT: It was bound to happen anyway. I just wish it hadn’t happened as close to the podcast release as it did. I was hoping with the song element, people would think it was fiction, but once the whole atypical revolution happened and people learned of our existence and then did some digging…
PEREGRINE: Yeah. I know. That was quite an eventful year. It was bound to happen eventually. I’m just glad we knew beforehand thanks to you. Got me some extra social points in college.
BRETT: Ha. I bet.
PEREGRINE: Yeah.
( She yawns)
Well, I gotta sleep soon. I’ll see you tomorrow when we all meet up.
BRETT: Good night, Pere.
PEREGRINE: Night, Brett.
BRETT NARRATION: After the phone call, I felt a bit better, but I was still feeling remorseful and a bit guilty. I made a silent promise to myself that I would try and fix the damage I had unintentionally caused the town, the residents, and most of all, Lexy. Unfortunately, at the time, I was unaware of the magnitude of the damage I had caused not just to the town and its people, but to the surrounding forest and its own inhabitants. In the days to come, not only would I learn more about the forest and the world than I had ever thought possible, but I would learn about how even the best of intentions can have unintended consequences. Next Time on In Stranger Woods.