Fathers Legacy

Father's Legacy
By Sarah Buchanan

You want to know what happened here, don’t you? This is going to be a hard story for me to tell. I don’t know if I’ll be able to remember it all. I still can’t believe it. I can’t believe that I survived it.

Well it all started back in the city. We were getting ready for our big trip out of the city to get in touch with nature. It was our escape from the fast life. Plus I was really looking forward to getting back in touch with my roots.
I had grown up in the mountains, in peaceful serenity, well the good parts of it. I never thought what happened could happen out here. Nothing could have prepared us for this.
Jimmy and Jenny were both really excited about the trip. They had never had a chance to leave the city. They grew up there, their entire life. It really was an adventure for them.

We had packed up all of our camping gear and loaded it in the car. Getting out of the city was hell as usual and I hated driving in the city, but I was the only one with a license.

Jimmy and Jenny sat in the car trying to keep calm. They were twins you know, obviously not identical twins, but twins none the less. They always did everything together. When they approached me about this trip I agreed to it thinking it would be fun.

I had not been outside of the city for about 5 years or so now. When I lived out here in nature, all I wanted to do was escape from it. Living in the city can change your perspective of things.

Anyways, on the way down here we stopped at this one rest stop. It was nightfall by this time and I told Jenny not to go to the restroom by herself. Rest areas have never been safe in my mind.

The reason I bring this up is because something strange happened. On our way out of the restroom, we ran into this strange man. He said to us, “Aren’t you girls a little far from the city?”

Jenny being the perky girl she is said, “Yeah, that’s the point, besides she grew up in the country.”

The man then looked at me and said, “You folks be careful. Nature does not like to be messed with.”

That just gave me the creeps. I did not trust that guy one bit. That’s when I rushed Jenny to the car and drove out of there.

That night we pulled into a motel and got a room. It was to be our last night sleeping indoors for a little while. I was enjoying the moment, while they were ready to go out in the woods. Still that guy’s words stuck in my head. Why would it not be safe? I know there are all sorts of creatures out in the woods, but it should be fine. We have all of our protective stuff and I knew those woods pretty well. I tried to shake it off and get some sleep, for I had long day ahead of me.

Once we got to our destination the next day we checked in at the camp lodge. I double checked with one of the rangers to make sure we had everything we needed. I was being extra cautious.

He said, “Well ma’am I think you’ve got enough here to last you at least a month.”

They were all really friendly at the lounge. While there, I also grabbed a topographical map of the area. I figured it would come in handy when trying to find a place to camp or just climb.

Neither of them had ever gone rock climbing and that was one of the things they had wanted to do. I circled all the good places on the map that the ranger told me about.
During this Jenny and Jimmy were just looking around outside in awe. They had never seen a place with so little concrete and trees so big. It was so peaceful and serene compared to the big city life that they grew up with.

On my way out a mysterious guy stopped me and said, “Here take this with you. If anything happens use it.” It was an ancient knife. I took it and left.

Apparently, there had been some mysterious workings happening in the woods. Not that many people were willing to head out in the woods, especially this time of year for some reason.

To Jenny and Jimmy it was just beautiful out, an adventure waiting to be had. There was no way we could have known that all of this would happen. I’m sorry it’s just really hard to talk about. I don’t mean to cry.

Where was I, oh yes, going into the woods. Well we headed up the trail enjoying the beauty that only nature could provide. Not too far along the trail I heard a scream from behind me. It was Jenny. Apparently a spider crawled on her, but Jimmy killed it for her.

They really weren’t used to this environment. That’s when I was beginning to wonder if they’d be able to make it out here for as long as we had planned. We continued on the trail, until we found the opening for our first camp site.
It had started to get dark and this was the only opening around the trail for awhile. It was on a cliff over looking the area. I finished setting up my tent just in time to be able to see the sunset. It was a peaceful moment, which Jenny and Jimmy ruined with their camera.

I guess they just had to capture it on camera. No one back home would believe them otherwise and they weren’t really that good with descriptions. It was so nice being able to fall asleep to the sound of the river.

The next morning Jimmy and Jenny woke me up. They were all packed and ready to go to the next destination. Our next destination was off the trail. This journey involved a lot of climbing and physical activity.

The further off the path we got, the more I felt at home. Nature was my home, but for Jimmy and Jenny nature was not so nice and pleasant. They had thought it would be like all the pictures they had seen in the brochure. Any sort of movement in the woods would scare them.

We made it to our next destination right before nightfall. This night would turn out to be one of the worst nights out here. That was the night of the big storm.

When we had gotten there, I told Jenny and Jimmy to be quiet. I stopped and listened. I heard nothing; this is when I told them to set up their tent fast. The one thing I learned from my father was that in nature, when it gets quiet, find cover because it’s about to storm.

As soon as we got our tents set up, it did just that. All we could do was sit in our tents and wait it out. This would make for a long night. I had, had trouble sleeping that night so I was reading a book. That’s when I saw the weirdest thing. Someone or something, walked past my tent. It was not the figure of either Jenny or Jimmy. 

The person or thing was moving too fast for me to really be able to tell what it was. I sat in my tent quietly, watching for it. It passed by a few more times, but stopped once the storm did.

As soon as it was light out I went to check on Jimmy and Jenny. I could not find them anywhere. I started to scream for them. The thought that crossed my mind was that whatever I saw last night got them.

Then I heard, “Beth, we’re over here by the river.”
I looked down and there they were. Both of them looked at me and smiled and signaled for me to join them.

When I got down there, Jimmy said, “Look what we found.”
It was a canoe, very old-fashioned looking canoe at that. My first thought was that it belonged to the person who passed my tent.

As I looked at it checking it for damage Jenny said, “Can we use this to go upstream?”

I replied, “No.”

Jimmy said, “Why not?”

I laughed and said, “Because you can’t use any boat to go upstream. However, we can use it to go downstream.”

They both sort of blushed with embarrassment and tried to play it off like they really knew that. Then I led them back up to our camp site with the canoe. When we got there everything had been gone ransacked.

I was not sure who or what had gone through all of our stuff, but I was not about to wait around to see. At that time, I got them to pack up all of the stuff as fast as they could and load it up in the canoe.

We then proceeded to head downstream. The water was nice and calm for most of it, which made it easy for me to teach them how to row. Eventually they did get the hang of it.

As darkness fell upon us once again I had them pull over the boat so we could set up for another night. At this point I noticed that the trash bag was empty. I asked Jimmy, “Where’s all your trash?”

“It’s all biodegradable isn’t it?” Jimmy said.

I was so aggravated with him, especially as I noticed he was smoking and throwing his cigarette butts into the woods. Luckily for us the ground was wet.

That was when he and I just got into it. He did not appreciate the true beauty of it all. He could not possibly comprehend the power of nature or its ability to fight back against those that offend it and hurt it.

Sorry, I’ve always hated those who have damaged mother earth. I’m sure you know what I mean. But, anyways, after the fight he and I went into our separate tents and went to bed. Poor Jenny did not know what to do. She was always stuck in between him and me.

That night she slept in my tent because apparently Jimmy was chain smoking like crazy. She hated it when he got like that.

I slept peacefully that night, but when I woke up Jimmy was gone. All of his stuff was still there, including his cigarettes. Jenny and I looked for him for hours, but could not find him.

During the search I thought I had seen him or at least seen someone in the woods. There was someone or something out there and I don’t know what or who it was. Whoever or whatever it was, was big.

Jenny and I shared the same tent again. She was so distraught over her brother missing. I held her close to me that night so as not to lose her too and to comfort her. The two of them had never separated for more than a minute their entire lives.

When I woke up, Jenny was not next to me. I jumped up and out of the tent, worried that she had disappeared as well. When I got out of the tent she was standing out their, looking into the woods. I went to her and gave her a hug.

She then said, “I can’t feel him Beth. I can’t feel him at all anymore.”

I just looked at her and thought; nature must have gotten angry and got its revenge. Apparently I thought this out loud.

Jenny then looked at me and shouted, “You did this? Where is he? What’d you do to my brother?”

I looked at her baffled that she would accuse me of such a thing. Of course I had gotten mad at him that night, but I would never kill him.

I said to her, “I was with you the entire night, how could I have done it?”

She said, “No you weren’t. You stepped out one time during the night. I remember waking up and you weren’t there.”

I still don’t remember getting up that night. Maybe I had slept walked, but I know I did not kill him. Jenny ran off into the woods.

I screamed after her saying, “Jenny, it’s not safe in the woods by yourself. Please come back to me. Don’t you leave me too.”

She was gone. That’s when I decided to pack up my stuff and head back to the ranger station. I knew it would take a couple of days to make it back, but I had to do something.

The days and nights were long. At night I noticed the same figure outside of the tent passing by. It would pass by a few times every night. Needless to say I did not get much sleep at night, but still continued on to try to make it to the ranger station and report Jenny and Jimmy as missing.

As you see I never made it that far. This was to my last stop and today I was going to be at the ranger station. You guys found me first.

Last night was the worst night. It felt as if something bad was going to happen. The figure passed by a lot more than usual. And it lasted all night. Even during the day I still saw it and was afraid to leave my tent.

The first sign of the figure being gone I peaked out of my tent. That’s when I saw him. He was a tall rough looking man with deer skin on his back. He had long dark hair and a naturally tan complexion. It was like an image of a Native American, except in person. Almost like my father once was.

I just looked at him and he looked back. And as mysterious as he had come he left. Then I got out of my tent and that’s when you all heard the scream. As you see I threw up when I saw them.

I don’t think that man did it. He seemed more like he was protecting me. He did not seem like the type of monster who could do such a heinous thing. I mean the way they’re cut up and hanging from the trees is just horrendous.

Yeah, that’s the knife the man at the lounge gave me. What do you mean it’s the murder weapon? I’ve had that knife with me the entire time. Wait, what are you doing? You’re arresting me? You can’t possibly believe I’d do this to my friends? I loved them. Yeah there were times when we did not get along, but we always made up.

What? I did not kill my father. He killed himself when he married that woman who was not mom. She killed him. My father framed me. That’s who that figure was. He framed me for this murder to get back at me for hating him.

Author's Note

It's a work in progress. I've been told it would be better as a novella rather than a short story with more back story involved. Started trying it out as a screenplay, but then got distracted by life.