//------------------------------// // Chapter 4: A Quiet Forest Walk // Story: A Kinder World // by PandoraFox //------------------------------// (Sometime before...) I drove my car into the state park parking lot, my thoughts still on the events of that morning. Another argument. It was unassuming at first. I was invited over for lunch, celebrating my father’s birthday. I went because… I felt obligated, I guess? But almost as soon as I got there, I was “invited” to help clear out an old storage shed that I never even used. What was the point of that? “I don’t know why I even bother sometimes…” I don’t know what my parents were thinking, treating me like a tool. They may have brought me into this world, and housed and fed me as a child, but that was only the bare minimum. They had no right to assume they’d get anything in return if I didn’t want to give it. Not that I’m a selfish person or anything! It was just the way they expected my full cooperation in things I wanted no part of, for no other reason than “because I want you to.” It left a bad taste in my mouth.  I had to just deal with it as a child, but since moving out I’ve been speaking to them less and less just to avoid getting wrapped up in another cleaning day or generic community event that didn’t benefit me in the slightest.  It was like that all throughout my childhood. Always doing what they wanted, never asking me for my input, nor accepting it if I provided it. As frustrating as they were to be around, I always hoped that one day they’d actually reach out to try to repair our relationship, but as of now, they’ve shown no interest. They still never made an attempt to really understand who I was. It’s like they didn’t even want to know me.  Do I even know me? At that moment, I realized my hands were shaking from the force with which I gripped the steering wheel. I took a deep breath and carefully released my grip, ending my rage fuelled mental tirade.  Stepping out of the car, I breathed in the cool afternoon air of the serene woods. This forest was where I went to cool off, to take a break from the world and be alone for a while. I certainly needed it now. If I didn’t leave when I did, the mostly passive aggressive argument would’ve turned into a full on shouting match. Anger has always been a toxic emotion for me. Made me do things I didn’t want to do, things I knew I’d regret. If I had the ability to shut off the emotion forever, I think I would do it. I sighed. Somewhere deep down I knew that my parents meant well in their actions, despite their shortcomings. I could see their little get-togethers as just attempts to reach out to their estranged children, only for us to sulk off and ignore them. Sometimes I just wished the world was less complicated… I took another deep breath. “But enough of that now, I came here to relax and get some alone time, right? No need to work myself up again.” With that in mind, I grabbed my pack full of supplies from the passenger seat, slung it over my back, and walked into the forest. The land around me quickly became filled with large spruce trees and speckled with bushes and other foliage, enveloping me as I followed down the trail that I knew like the back of my hand.  Well… mostly.  But I knew that if I ever got lost, I’d have my phone available with GPS on. I knew that it worked for sure out here, since I’ve had to use it a handful of times in the past. “Hmm, what am I feeling up for today?” I thought as I pondered a few of the different areas I had visited in the past, before settling on heading towards the more mountainous, rocky region. It’d be a couple hour hike both ways, meaning I’d be back at the car just before sunset. Plenty of time to cool off.  With that in mind, I walked off in the direction that I knew would lead me to where I wanted to go. It had been about an hour since I began my journey, and the forest was as lovely as ever. There was something about the quiet simplicity of it, the way that everything fit together seamlessly into the well oiled machine of nature. The way that some people wanted to turn areas like this into industrial wastelands for the sake of profit was despicable. Overall, it had been an enjoyable walk so far, and I had mostly cooled off from the events prior. There was something I had just noticed about it though: my sister hadn’t shown up to lunch. Not that that was surprising, she hasn’t shown up to any event hosted by my parents in years. It was more that her absence made me realize that I haven’t talked to her in a while. Although we are siblings, we didn’t typically hang out unless it was also around our parents. Since she’s stopped showing up to things, we began slowly drifting apart. It’s not that she’s a bad person or anything, it’s just that neither of us are the kind of person that reaches out to those we’re not particularly close to. “Once I’m back from my hike, I should really give her a call. It’s been far too long…” I took a long swig from my water, before deciding to take a short break. The area I was in was just starting to transition to rocky terrain, the forest thinning out and giving way to more stones and boulders. I picked a suitable boulder and hopped on top of it, then closed my eyes and listened to the peaceful forest around me. The forest was quite active today. I could hear a number of birds singing in the trees above and a light breeze rustling through their many leaves. There was some movement in a bush nearby, assumedly occupied by a small critter of some sort. I added my own part to the symphony of nature by whistling out a small tune. “Man, this moment is perfect. Only something of astronomical proportions could ruin it…” … And then exactly that happened. Suddenly, the ground began to shake, slowly at first but quickening by the second. An earthquake! “Ack— what am I even meant to do out here! there’s nothing I can get under, and I’m surrounded by things that could fall on me!” After panicking for a moment, I settled for hopping off the rock and curling up next to it, protecting my head and neck. The boulder was hopefully large enough that it wouldn’t be dislodged by the quake.  The earthquake continued on, shaking the environment around me. I could hear trees creaking, birds scattering, and— something I hoped I misheard. A landslide. It sounded somewhat far away, but was distinct enough to hear it for what it was: a significant amount of rock sliding down a mountainside, colliding with other rocks and any obstacles in its way and generally making a big mess of things. The earthquake was already starting to settle down, but the landslide was still going strong. Suddenly, a loud definitive ‘crack!’ pierced the air, and the rockslide began to settle down. “What was that? It sounded like the ground splitting open…” Somewhat shaken but no worse for wear, I stood back up and assessed the damage to the area. It was fairly significant, with several large branches having snapped off of trees and fallen to the floor below, and some trees were looking more crooked than they were before, but otherwise I felt very lucky that it wasn’t any worse. That landslide though… I had two options. One, just go back the way I came, make it back to my hopefully still intact car, and drive back home. Or… I could investigate whatever the hell just happened as a result of that rockslide. “Ok, I know I shouldn’t, but… I’m already all the way out here, right? Might as well.”  My curiosity got the best of me, and I started my way down the path towards where I heard the avalanche. It took around fifteen minutes, but I finally made it to the site of the landslide. A large pile of rocks of various sizes, shapes, and shades of gray had rolled down a decently far away cliff and decimated the land below, pulling out trees and flattening foliage on its way. Everything seemed typical to what I was used to seeing in photos and videos of landslides, at least until I looked closer at the cliff face a distance away. It looked like a large crack had formed in the side of the mountain, about twenty feet tall, revealing a dark, open space behind it. “Is that… a cave? Huh, I didn’t even know there were caves around here…” My curiosity got the best of me yet again. “Oh, I’ve gotta see this.” It took a moment to reach the cliff, what with all the rocks in the way, but soon I stood in front of the cave’s entrance. It towered over me, creating a jagged cut through the side of the mountain. The darkness ahead was all consuming. “AH!” I yelled, testing out the echo of the cave, and heard it reverberate for far longer than I was expecting. “Damn, this is a big cave…” I thought out loud, and heard that echo through the cave as well. I smiled at the potential for crazy audio effects I could do at just this one spot. “I wonder if it's better further inside…” I pulled out a flashlight I kept in my bag, then started walking further into the cave. The main chamber was enormous, towering over me like the ceiling of a grand ballroom. I began whistling again, and was amazed at the sheer amount of time it took for the sound to dissipate.  I began to mess around with it with various snaps, claps, and random sounds, before I noticed something further into the darkness. A tiny light, barely visible against the slivers of sunlight still seeping through the entrance of the cave. “Huh? What is that?” I began to walk towards it. Turns out it wasn’t tiny, just decently far away. As I got closer, being careful to avoid tripping over any rocks or ledges around in the cave, the light grew to reveal that it was actually— what? About twenty feet away, I could see… something. It looked like someone had taken a knife and slashed a wound into the air itself. It was around two feet tall and simply hovered in space, shimmering with ethereal light. I was stunned. “How could something like this even exist? What??” My face wore an expression of shock and confusion. Even still, it was beautiful. The inside looked like a combination between a kaleidoscope and a lava lamp, if both were on steroids and pulsated with colors I couldn’t even comprehend. There was something about it that was even more peaceful than any view of nature in the world outside the cave. And for some reason, I felt compelled to get closer to it. As I did, I could feel something strange happening. It was like my very soul longed to get closer to the rift. It was an immensely surreal experience, but still I kept walking. “What am I doing?! This is insane…” The feeling grew stronger as I grew ever closer, my soul practically reaching out of the confines of my being. Deep down, I knew that something was wrong, but it wasn’t enough to overpower the desire to get closer. And closer. And— Suddenly, without warning, without cause, and without reason, the world faded into nothing.