Work Text:
09.17.2018
Place: Winisk River Provincial Park
Time: 6:10 PM
Shimon: Yo, how was your first day at work, Ray?
Ray: man. Better than I could een imagine.
Shimon: een? :)
Ray: the cold wind froze my fingers, but that was the only bad thing.
Ray: really.
Ray: thank you. Maybe this is the first time in years when I feel better.
Shimon: That's great. :)
Shimon: Also, be ready. In a week, you'll come with me to lead the first group.
Ray: Roger that
10.21.2018
Place: Weagamow Lake Police Station
Time: 7:10 AM
The notes found in the trash bin.
"Call Teo tomorrow"
"Complaint from Beaver House"
"Complaint from city center - 02/17/2018"
"Unreadable -mplaining again- Unreadable"
"Out of pins"
12.29.2018
Place: Weagamow Lake police station
Time: 3:28 PM
Recorded phone call between officer Edward Blake and unknown woman.
"Excuse me, is this the police station?"
"Officer Edward Blake, listening. What's your emergency?"
"Oh, this is terrible! I hear trees falling again in the forest right behind my house. It's definitely poachers; logging is prohibited here! I don't want my city to turn into a bald field!"
"Got it. Madam, I need to know your name."
"It's *illegible*"
"Can you please repeat that?"
"I said *illegible*. Please, can you come and do something? It keeps repeating every week! I know that a few of my neighbors sent reports to the police two weeks ago."
"Okay, I'll send a team to check."
06.12.2019
Place: Winisk River Provincial Park
Time: unknown
"Whew, the laptop battery's dead again. I really need to buy a new one. So this time I’ll put my thoughts on paper. Why not?
It’s been a year since I came here. I like this place. Or rather - this is the first place that truly feels like home. A quiet, peaceful corner of the world. I don't think I'll ever return to programming; I never liked it anyway. I don't want to complain, but sometimes I wonder why there aren't more ways to make money in this world.
But that's beside the point. This place is magnificent. I have never felt so much peace just from a location. It's like the rest of the world doesn’t exist - no loud cities, no rush, no panic. Poetic words, but that's really how it is. There's the endless pine forest, one tiny river - more of a stream, really - and, my favourite part, a lake. It called Kel's Lake. I don’t know who Kel was, some explorer, a politician, maybe no one important at all. But one day Shimon took me to a nearby oji-cree settlement, and an old man there told me the lake's name in their language means Eye of the Sea. I remember chuckling, because the lake is hardly ten meters across. I regretted that disrespect immediately; I still remember the look he gave me. He warned me not to be careless, that the lake is nothing but a sea of endless void. At the time I assumed it was just a local tale meant to spook tourists, and I even thought about using it myself the next time I guided a group.
Turns out it was more interesting than I expected. I've walked past the lake many times, but today I decided to take a more closer look. And, God, now I understand why they call it the Sea Eye. Not because of its size, obviously. But the depth. It is far deeper than anyone told me. The sky was especially clear today, and there was no wind, so the lake's surface looked almost transparent. I peered down, and yes... it really is a void. You can see the bottom, but it's impossibly far away. Sea-deep. Maybe this will be an interesting case for some geologist someday."
04.05.2019
Place: Beaver House Fire Station
Time: 1:00 PM
Respondent: Jeremy Robertson, pilot of the firefighting helicopter, registration AV-342-BP.
Interviewer: Sergeant Harry McLaren, Weagamow Lake Police Station.
“Okay, let’s begin. First, let me handle the formalities. Are you Jeremy Robertson, 39 years old, firefighter pilot, living at Beaver House, married to Geraldine Robertson, a school teacher?”
“All correct, sergeant.”
“Good. This shouldn't take long. Now - tell me: where were you on March 20th when the subject was found?”
“I was right here, sergeant, in the hangar. Nigel, the mechanic, can confirm it. He was fixing the wobbling landing gear when I got distracted... uh... I was eating a doner when the siren screamed.”
“What did you do next?”
“As usual. The dispatcher gave us the coordinates, and within five minutes I had 'Ren' in the air. The location was about fifteen kilometres east, near Winisk Park. I was told the fire had spread over roughly a square kilometre. Quite a problem - but that's what we were here for. It took a few hours to contain, maybe around three and a half. Then I was ordered to return.”
“And on the return -?”
“Yes. Well... Verner, the second pilot, was the first to see it. He spotted the white roof of the car - the sun was bright and reflecting off it. Honestly, I have no idea how the car got there. This is dense, unwalkable forest. If a person can't even cross those overgrowths, how could a car end up here? I'm still wondering, to be honest. But is it true that the car was empty?”
“It was. We're investigating how this happened.”
“Can I ask - the poor guy, Edward Barry, was he found?”
“He's Edward Blake. And unfortunately - no. No trace of him. That's why I am here. Tell me, when you spotted the car - was there anything strange nearby? Anything that caught your attention?”
“Nothing. Definitely nothing. Just the fact a car appeared in the deep forest. No broken trees, no burned clearing, nothing. I cannot say more. It's as if it was thrown here from the sky. I have no other explanation.”
“Alright. I noted that. The interview is over now.”
07.23.2019
Place: unknown
Time: unknown
Captured on 102.7 FM.
"*static*"
"*hisses*"
"-ted. Send the packa- *static*"
"*cracking male voice* Mary, I never, I never, I nev-"
"*static*"
"-ow much for the coffe? Coffe? Damn, Jerry, they doing to rob us, to rob us, to-"
"*sound of falling furniture*"
"*static*"
"*sound of scraping metal for the next two minutes*"
"*hisses*"
"*static*"
09.02.2019
Place: Winisk River Provincial Park
Time: 10:08 AM
Shimon: Morning. A quick note - I'll be here tomorrow around midday, got another group.
Shimon: Could you make me some coffee?
Shimon: My thermos broke.
Ray: No problem.
Shimon: Thanks.
Shimon: This one's gonna be a quick trip, a few old guys want to see the park without walking far. There and back again.
09.02.2019
Place: Winisk River Provincial Park
Time: 3:11 PM
Ray: Shimon, why aren't you picking up the phone?
Ray: shimon, answer me, please
Ray: Are you alright? No answers - okay, dude, I'm going to check on yall
09.03.2019
Place: Winisk River Provincial Park
Time: 1:25 AM
Recorded voicemail.
“God damn it, Shimon. Where are you? How did you manage to get lost in just a few square kilometers? Please answer me. Please, Shimon. I checked the whole route - I didn't find anything. Where did you disappear, man? Answer me, please, I'm begging you. I'm begging you to be alive...”
Ray woke up with a headache. He sat on the bed, rubbing his eyes, trying to wipe away the traces of the terrible dream. Leigh didn't know that he was having the same recurring memory she got after what is happened. But his one was older.
Ray ran both hands through his hair. He was still there - with the shotgun, the flashlight, rushing through the empty darkness of the forest in the rain, in night, trying to find any trace of his missing friend. The drops blinding him, the wet leaves threatening to make him slip and fall. And the dark tunnel of branches and shrubs before him, dark and endless.
-Argh...
He got up and walked toward the bedroom door. In the living room, the familiar hum of the server and the warm light greeted him, reminding him that he had a new life now. Those times belonged to the past.
Ray rubbed his temples.
-This should have ended...
He looked out the window. Edmonton - a place that had nothing in common with his former home, despite the tree line on the far outskirts. Ray shook his head. Even though he now knew who was behind his friend's death, and even though he definitely couldn’t confront an entire corporation, he couldn't just let it go.
Then he remembered Leigh trembling in his arms. At least he had managed to protect one person from that same terrible fate. He remembered - and exhaled.
“No... I need to face my fear. Shimon wouldn't be happy if I still shook every time I saw darkness or a forest. He would laugh if he knew I sleep with a kid's night light. Well...”
Ray pulled out his phone and dialed a number.
-Hi.
On the other end, someone asked bitterly what he wanted so early. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips.
-Just a quick reminder about the deal you agreed to a month ago. I will be at your place tomorrow morning, you'd better be ready. The beautiful nature of Alberta's endless forests is waiting for you.