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On that day, the wind stopped blowing through the trees.
The birds no longer chirped in their nests and the sky had hidden its face in the clouds. A particular part of the forest was closed off. Behind yellow caution tape something gruesome was waiting. A murder had occurred. The town of Shilo was a pleasant tourist stop in the Northern part of Canada. Famous for its docked paddle boat that sat at the bay. It once had carried lumber and passengers through the river to the interior of the continent; it had been converted into a museum exploiting Shilo frivolous history. Not that there was one.
The town's sheriff was out of town for two months, leaving the deputy in charge. The deputy, Gary, was more than excited to not be doing paperwork for the month. A sensitive man. He put his hand to his mouth as he overlooked the scene of the crime. Almost gagging, Gary knew that he’d have to stay confident if he ever wanted to be in charge.
Their local forensics team, which only consisted of two people, carefully examined the remains. “Judy be careful with that,” said Gary. The plastic bag slipped out of the girl’s rubber gloves. “Oops!” The evidence sloshed to the ground.
“Sorry, I’ll get that.” He made his way past an old fire pit,
“Remember you’re not cleaning up roadkill, this is a crime scene, you have to handle everything with care,” stammered Gary.
“Sorry Gar, I’m a little new at this. We’ve never had a murder here before” she said in an uneasy voice. “Christ,” he said rubbing his unshaven chin, “who would do such a thing?”
“A monster,” said a low voice from behind the two of them.
Gary glanced around startled. A tall black man in a police uniform stood there.
“Oh, Maurice? You're here already? I thought you were taking care of that old lady who got her cat stuck in a tree.” Maurice sighed, “Obviously there are far more important matters at hand than a cat. You know anything about this yet Gary?” Judy pulled out a clipboard from her plastic suit pocket. “Don’t ask him I’ve got all the details right here!” Gary swiped the clipboard from her. “Rude!” Grunted Judy.
“Looks like we’ve got two people in the hospital over the age of 20, from an unrelated incident not far from here. No witnesses so far and…” He stopped right there.
Gary squinted at the paper. A grim look came over his face. The others waited intently to hear what he had to say. “One found dead at the scene, a boy… of 14 years” his voice was quivering.
Sharp eyes of blue stared a hole through thick-framed glasses, right into Gary’s forehead. She looked at the police report then back at him, back to the report then back at him. She made an upset face “Gary what the hell is this? It reads like some slasher film script! And it happened here of all places - in the middle of the forest? You’ve got to be kidding me!” She stormed around the police station for a moment.
Gary was in a short state of shock from the scolding.
“Goodness! I understand your upset Dell, but I need your help in solving this.”
She came back over to the reception desk where he was standing.
“You, - you need my help? My, my how the tables have turned, of course I’m going to help you. Do you think I’d let you of all people go off and try to solve a murder all by yourself?” She huffed. Her hair was obviously greasy judging by the state of her twisted ponytail. Dell was probably the hardest working cop on the entire force; she always got everything done on time. And pushed everyone else into doing their job too.
“Alright what do you think I should do?” said Gary hoping for an answer.
“You need to keep everyone here calm while I solve the murder” she said.
“What! You can’t do that alone!” Gary yelled. “Who else could there be to help?”
“Definitely not you!” she said turning back the report in hand “what? And look at this; you got Maurice and Judy covering the crime scene? Maurice is super religious, and pretty sure Judy keeps some of the dead animals she operates on”
She spat, as Dell continued to read the police report.
“What about Renee? He hasn’t done anything since he’s got here.”
Gary had a point, “seriously? He just sits there eating donuts at the desk all day”
She said, edging her eyes over to a bulky dark-haired man sitting in the corner reading the paper. “The first thing he said to me when he came from Quebec, is that he hated the English language, In English” Dell whispered to him.
Gary was at a loss for words and ideas; they were in the file cabinet room now, none of the police in Timberland capable of solving a murder. Let alone handling crowd control. Gary stared at an old newspaper clipping.
Just at that moment he had an idea, “Hey Dell look at this!”
She walked over to him to see what he was blabbering about.
“Why don’t we get ourselves a detective?”
Dell just looked at him, she was angry, but slowly got the idea.
Quickly Gary pushed past Renee who was already at the reception desk.
He phoned up the RCMP, managed to get someone on the line and explain their situation. The other end of the line was quiet for a moment before a voice told them They knew just who to call.
On that day, the wind stopped blowing through the trees.
The birds no longer chirped in their nests and Ginger had gotten no sleep last whatsoever. It was early in the morning. Earlier than when she usually got up. Leaving her stagnant bedroom behind she went downstairs for a cup of coffee. It was something she so badly needed right to forget about the slowly creeping headache that was making it hard to think. When she got downstairs to the kitchen she peeked through the windows and saw that the sun was slowly rising.
The familiar chill of high school made her realize that for the rest of the week it had been canceled due to the tragic event that occurred two days ago.
She held the mug in her hands and thought about it. For Ginger what happened still didn’t really feel real to her, but since what happened last night. She wasn’t really sure anything was real anymore. That’s right, something happened last night. The reason she felt so tired and the reason she had no sleep… It was all because of what she did that night.
Ginger remembered all at once. She steadied herself against the countertop and nearly dropped her mug. Take a deep breath, she thought. The sun was coming up and Ginger could see it again coming through the kitchen window. So bright, so pale.
It was nearly 4 o’clock when she finished writing her school report on wood bugs.
After neatly folding it away into her binder she cleaned up her desk making it look neat and tidy. Turned off the lights and left the room. She walked downstairs, picked up a bottle from the floor, walked out the front door, and tossed it in the recycling.
Her coat and boots were already on. Around the back of the house there was a small nook in the bottom of the porch. There a backpack and sleeping bag awaited her.
With the supplies she was ready to leave. Striding down the road to the dead end that marked the beginning of her path and the start of a trail. Ginger was going camping.
There was a wetness in the air that made the day not quite clear. Mist was only visible much further in the distance, but it could spread in closer. Ginger wasn’t about to pack a flashlight. In fact right now she felt free of any worries she might have had before. It was almost like the fresh forest air had washed away all her problems leaving little to nothing left. Passing a gnarled stump Ginger had discovered the old hiking trail. Today this spot would no longer show up on a map of the area since it was deemed unsafe after a major storm two years ago.
This part of the trial she would have to walk along to get to her destination.
Luckily it wasn’t washed out like the other parts.
Now on the path she took big strides north next to the mountains south.
After walking for about 25 minutes, Ginger stopped and took a swig from her water bottle. She took a moment to gaze at her surroundings. Remembering to take deep breaths in the forest was something she did to clear her head and calm herself down. It felt good to breathe in some fresh air since she’d been stuck in that stuffy little bedroom of hers for hours. Yes, this was a good idea I’m glad I’m doing this
she thought.
Unknown to Ginger a drastic change in the weather was approaching soon. She kept walking but was getting tired now. How far had she gone since stopping at that tree? Ginger didn’t know. Slowing her pace the trail around became overgrown with roots, ferns, and trees. Maybe she took a wrong turn. She pushed through more and more bushing and branches until coming out of the brush into a green mossy open space. Tall grasses sprung up as she trudged down into the grove. Her boots felt heavy as she pushed through the grass. Ginger was taken aback by the natural beauty of this hidden meadow. She tried to be as quiet as possible while getting closer to the edge of the space. There was a small divot at the end that lost all the grass and was blanketed in a large carpet of bright green moss. Ginger crouched down and felt the moss with her hands. It was very soft. She trudged closer then slipped on a mossy patch of rock. Ginger braced herself as she tumbled down through the bushes. Luckily, she landed on another patch of moss.
Disoriented, she slowly tried to get back on her feet.
Gazing up, Ginger was shocked at what was sitting silently in front of her.
She jumped; her backpack cushioned her against the damp ground. Is it alive?
No, of course not, don't be silly. Ginger cautiously leaned up and stared at it. It had to be some kind of puppet if it wasn’t alive. Though whoever made it was probably trying to scare people away. Why would someone leave a creepy scarecrow out in the middle of nowhere? She didn’t have to ask herself why because she already knew. Its body was black like it was wrapped in tape, it had white hairy arms and a creepy white head that looked anything but human. Ginger also saw that it was covered in overgrown roots and moss was spreading up its arms and along its body. How long has this thing been sitting here? She reached out and touched its long arm. Despite the chronic rain this place was plagued with it was somehow completely dry. Ginger was disappointed that she forgot her camera. This was exactly the kind thing she liked to photograph. Maybe she did bring it. Ginger turned around and searched through her backpack. There was a small noise coming from behind her. She ignored it but couldn’t find her camera. Wait. It was looking at her. The head had tilted slightly in her direction giving Ginger a very creepy eyeless stare. The thought of it coming alive and chasing her lingered in the back of her mind. She should go now anyway. Ginger would have to remember to come back here when she had her cam- huh? The scarecrow twitched. She tried to get up, her eyes fixated on it. It twitched again. Slowly, and slowly Ginger tried to stand up. The right arm began to shake. Every part of her body was screaming for her to run away, but out of sheer morbid curiosity she tried to stay. It ripped its arm right out of the moss and ground. The gangly limb reached out to Ginger and she narrowly avoided it.
The scarecrow- no, the creature turned its head towards her as she crawled up the ditch. Its black sockets blank with expression, Ginger didn’t understand what it wanted or why it was here. Finally she stood up. Her legs were still shaking. It watched her and pulled its other arm out of the ground and using both pushed itself up from the undergrowth. Ginger gazed at it; it was very tall, almost looking like a mal-nourished person. It gazed back. “Wh-Who are you?” her voice was all shaky. The creature didn’t respond. “Are you in a costume?” she asked. No response. Ginger rubbed her forehead. What am I supposed to do now? … I wish there was some kind of guide for dealing with bizarre problems like these. Hm, I should make one.
What? The creature had also begun to rub its forehead. Like her. Eyes fixated on it she pulled her hand away from her face. It did the same. Ginger thought about it for a moment and came up with a theory.
She raised both her hands. The creature did the same. She lowered one arm and waved the other. It copied her. She stopped and leaned closer to it. Not surprisingly it leaned closer to her also. Ginger was getting a bit freaked out at all this that hadn’t realized what time it was. She checked her phone. “Dammit” she said under her breath. Ignoring what was in front of her she left the meadow and found her way back to the overgrown trail. Something was coming. She turned around and sure enough it had followed her here. She jolted away from it. Why the hell is it following me? Ginger tried to shoo it away hoping that she could scare it somehow. All it did in response was mimic her again. “Go away,” she said. It stared blankly at her. She kept walking trying to pretend it wasn’t there. Ginger assumed that it would leave eventually. Or if it was some kind of hallucination, it would just fade away. The sound of crunching leaves behind her caused her to turn around once more and see it standing there. “I said GO AWAY! Can’t you understand that?” she barked. The creature tilted its head at her. Seeing this, Ginger grumbled and kept walking and sure enough it kept following her.
Ginger gazed up at the sky solemnly. The clouds had gotten gray, and the wind blew cold at her coat. She stopped and turned around. The creature had its dark sockets fixed on her as she picked up a stick and threw it at them in frustration. Ginger pulled at her hair and grumbled. Its head tilted towards the stick and it picked it up. She calmed down and watched it inspect the stick. It held out its gnarled hand to her. “What? No, I don't want that. I want you to leave me alone” it wouldn’t move.
Ginger sighed “Ok,” she took the twig. The creature stared at her before bending towards the ground and scooping up a rock. It held it out to her. “No, that’s not a stick… that’s a rock” it held the rock closer to her. Ginger shook her head “that’s a rock not a stick. What’s wrong? Can’t you talk? Or is your mouth sewn shut?”
It slowly opened its mouth and then closed it. Ginger twitched “ok.”
“Here, see this? This is a stick” she pointed at the pebble it held, “that is a rock. Do you understand?” She tried to talk slowly wondering if that helped. It perked up its weird ears and dropped the rock. It reached out for the twig in Ginger’s hand.
“What? You want this back?” she had an idea. “Then go get it!” Ginger threw the stick as hard as she could away into the forest. Then ran away as fast as she could.
Out of breath she stopped next to a tree and leaned against it. Finally rid of that bizarre creature she kept moving on, only to turn the corner and bump into it again. “Oh come on” she growled. It stared at her blankly and reached out its hand. It still held the stick she threw. Ginger decided that trying to lose it was useless. Despite it following her she continued on to her destination.
Halfway there and that thing is still following me. She glanced back to see its dark lanky body strolling along behind her. Creepy, but kind of cool she thought. They stepped out into a clearing that led to the edge of a cliff. Ginger was finally here. She dropped her backpack near a tree and took out a small folded up piece of paper. The creature watched as she approached the edge of the cliff. It decided to keep following her. Ginger looked at the paper and unfolded it, it was a note. She set it down on a patch of dirt between the grass. She put a rock on it to keep it from blowing away. “Maybe I should have laminated it,” she thought out loud. The creature was still staring at her, its face blank as ever. Ginger stared back deep into its black sockets, it seemed kind of sad. She shook herself away from it and continued to look over the edge of the cliff. She closed her eyes. Took a small step forward. Then another. Once more she forced herself to take another step until. Something tugged at her wrist. She felt a soft grip around her hand. Like someone with mittens was pulling her away from the cliff. She opened her eyes to see small white dots appear in those black sockets. “Okay” she said to the creature and stepped away from the edge.