When One Hikes

 December 20th, 1983 - Around 09.00 am

I’m about to lose it. 

These rich losers are some of the worst people I’ve taken on this trip. All they talk about is how they’ve hiked up Everest or through the Amazon. I wish I could’ve told them off but they paid up front. They paid extra. I would’ve loved to pass this up but not with how the winters have been. 

It’s gotten too cold for regular fires. It feels as if my family has to build bonfires anytime we want to get close to warm. All the animals went into hibernation and hid their slumbering caves well. It’s lucky that chopping trees is another form of workout. It ends up helping to keep us warm even under all the layers we wear. 

Whatever. Didn’t matter right now. I wanna get this over with to go home. 

I haven’t spoken to any of the people but I guess I should just make note of who’s here. Paulie’s told me I should do that in case something happens but nothing’s happened on any of these hikes before. 

So, there’s five of them. Three guys and two girls. The guys seem like sleezebags. The oldest of them is the guy who arranged this and paid for me to guide them. He was pretty condescending, acting as if he knew everything. If he did, then why was I there? 

The girls hung on his every word while the other guys just laughed to themselves. I think the guys had been the ones hiking in the past while these girls were just here to be here. 

I didn’t bother commenting on their conversations. I paid attention to the snow. To the trees and any kind of life. With everything being covered in snow, things became more dangerous. With the sun getting higher, we need to move and gain warmth before it begins to set. 

December 20th, 1983 - Around 01.00 pm

What is with these people? I didn’t expect to break so soon but these guys keep stopping. All they do is stop before wanting to go again. It feels as if this is the tenth time but it hasn’t even been long enough between stops. We were losing warmth and daylight. 

I looked at the sky earlier. Some birds had been flying around, which wasn’t so bad. It was nice to know they were still around. So far, they’re the only source of fauna I’ve seen. 

It’s weird to not hear much during the winter. All I’ve heard has been birds and our footsteps on the snow. Every now and then, I’m certain I can hear other animals around but I haven’t seen any. 

Hopefully, a couple more hours should get us to the peak they’re looking for…. The sun started its descent not too long ago which meant that it would get colder. As soon as we get moving again, I don’t want to take another break.

December 20th, 1983 - Around 03.00 pm

We reached the peak they were looking for. I can’t say why they wanted to pick this one, it was by no means the highest point and it didn’t have the best view but I guess I’ll just wait for them to be done. 

It’s a little strange, though. I was keeping track of the nature we passed. I didn’t think too much about it until we got here but when we hiked to the point, it got quiet. Like, really quiet. 

I didn’t like it. I wasn’t sure what was causing it but it didn’t seem right. There weren’t even any birds. 

I don’t think the others noticed it at all, they’re too wrapped up in their conversations. I’m considering turning. I want to tell them that we need to turn back but I have a feeling they won’t care. 

I wanna go home. It’s getting too cold. 

The sun is going down faster. I’m watching it and it’s getting darker. I can’t tell if it’s getting darker or if it’s just clouds but the sun is definitely descending faster. 

I’m going to tell them it’s time to turn back. 

December 21st, 1983 - Time Uncertain 

I don’t know what happened. I put my journal down, closed my eyes for a second, and now it’s a new day. It’s so cold. The forest looks different. It doesn’t look like the normal forest, not exactly. 

I mean, it looks normal but at the same time, it just doesn’t look right. Something is off. 

Like, the trees are tall but the tops aren’t tall enough and the leaves seem too… I don’t know. Pointy? Even from far away, I can tell that they just look sharp. 

Not only that but it got quieter. Way, way too quiet. 

The others haven’t noticed it yet. Somehow. The sun is in the wrong place. It might’ve gone backwards but that’s not possible. I want to yell at them. I want to shout that we need to go. 

I don’t know why I can’t. I open my mouth but it’s like nothing is coming out. 

It feels like all I can do right now is watch the forest. Wait to see what happens. Wait to see if there’s anything that comes out. God above, I hope nothing comes out. If something does, I pray it’s only good. 

December ??, 1983 - ??

Something came out of the forest. 

The sun stopped at peak and hasn’t moved for a while. The group hadn’t noticed. I have no idea how they can talk for so long and not run out of things to talk about. I was still keeping watch of the forest when I saw it. 

I don’t know what it is. It came out fast, grabbed the older guy from the group and pulled him off the ledge. His scream echoed while everything around the creature was silent. 

It didn’t make any noise when it moved, nor when its weird tentacle tongue thing grabbed the guy. I don’t think they even saw it. 

Even with the guy grabbed, the group just kept talking. They were acting as if nothing had happened. 

I can’t see the creature beyond the cliff’s edge. The guy’s scream stopped not too long after he was grabbed. I don’t want to get anywhere near that edge. There’s a chance it might not know I’m here. 

As of now, all I’m doing is watching the rest of them. They didn’t miss a beat from their conversation. 

I know that anything can happen at any time but I’m not risking my life for these people. There’s no point in trying to get these idiots’ attention, I’m going to leave. I’ll try to update when I can. 

* * *

I made my way to the bottom of the peak. That thing is an abomination of unknown proportions. It’s of unGodly proportions. 

I truly don’t know how to explain it or how to go into detail over what I’m looking at but all of its movements are inaudible. What I can only call its mouth is covered with blood. There’s multiple tentacles coming out from its back. At least, I think I’m looking at its back. 

It’s picking off the hikers one at a time. I have no idea what it’s doing with them, the only thing I can guess is that it’s eating them. 

I’m sitting behind a tree, waiting for it to go away. At least for any sign of the sun setting but it hasn’t. Not yet at least. If it doesn’t set, I’m not sure what to do. Will I just be stuck here? Will I just be running for my life from that thing? I don’t know. I don’t want to keep running. 

I haven’t even talked about what it looks like, not really. I should probably do that. Keep myself a little busy. 

All I can really tell is that it’s huge. Not as tall as the trees but it’s definitely taller than a human. Maybe as tall as one of those tram buses. They’re tall enough. It doesn’t have any visible eyes. It might, I couldn’t even tell if there was a mouth on that thing until I saw the blood. It might have eyes, ears, all that jazz. 

There’s no fur, no coat of any kind that you’d find on a forest animal. It looks leathery yet not leathery. It doesn’t look like fish skin or tortoise skin. It’s as pale as a tortoise, though. 

The tentacles on it are shiny. They reflect in the light. The best I can say is that. Maybe it’s supposed to be transparent but it definitely isn’t. Even with the attempts, the tips of the tentacles are nowhere near transparent or reflective. At the moment, they are stained with blood. 

I did see its mouth open. The thing like, opened in quarters. Like, it looked like when you open one of those boxes how two sides open first and then another two open. I have no idea what was inside but it sliced up the hikers like woodchippers slice up wood. The entire cliff wall had blood splatter on it. 

That’s another thing to mention! The blood fucking soaked into the wall. It was like a frickin’ sponge with the way the water was like, absorbed. 

Fuck. I want to go home! The only thing I can hope for is that it doesn’t find me and lets me go. 

December 30th, 1983

I’m home. 

I don’t know how, but I’m home. I don’t know how long it was or what happened but Paulie said he found me at the edge of the forest, eyes wider than the moon and skin worse than pale. 

He said I had just sat in a stupor for a while. He was asking all sorts of questions about what happened but I couldn’t bring myself to answer. I honestly can’t remember what happened. I left on that hike and woke up in bed under a pile of blankets. Paulie said he kept the fire going and took up the chores but…. I don’t know. 

I read through my last entries…. I think it might be time for us to make a move. I’m not sure where we’ll go but I know we need to get as far away from this place as possible. Something took those hikers and I don’t wanna risk falling back into that. Worse, I don’t want Paulie or the others falling into it. 

I’ll figure it out eventually. Until then, I’m not leading any more hikes.