The Night I found Freedom

The night I found freedom

Walking thorough the dense evergreen forest. The smell of pine needles and fresh rain is in the air. Autumns chill is slowly seeping into my bones. My right hip is giving me a tender moment, but I know there is a gift at the end of my travels.A Pheasant or partridge rustles out from under a juniper bush. It is startled by my presence in its otherwise perfect world. It spooks, and flies away like a flash.Who would think a partridge could make so much noise.Its getting dark before I realize how late it is. It seems like just an hour ago I stopped for lunch and a drink of water near a small stream. My canteen is almost empty, and I thought I would have hit the main road by now. It was just over that hill over there as far as i could tell from the gps before it drained on me. The cool evening air is refreshing, But at this time of year it becomes brutally cold very quick.Before i know it, the sun has set, and I still havn't found the main trail or the road.The trees are thick, but sparse enough that I can safely light a fire if I clean up the pine needles a bit. I pull my backpack off, and start collecting rocks for a fire circle. The animals in the area are active. I can hear squirrels, birds, even porcupine chewing away at bark high above me in the trees.It doesn't take long to get a fire going. Boy it sure feels good when the heat of a fire hits your clammy hands.

I soon realize I need water. In the distance i hear frogs. I load the fire up real good with lumber, and start walking toward the frog song. A deer runs away from me across a boulder that seems a cityblock wide. The sound of hooves on rock seems somehow surreal, spooky. I continue on , looking back at the blazing fire in the otherwise dark of night. Sudenly a shape gets between me and the fire. It is huge. I cant make out what it is, but assume its a deer or such.Its then that I realize I am carrying nothing but my canteen. The backpack I always have with me is aside a tree back at the fire. Suddenly the wildlife gets quiet. I can feel my breath warm on my cold cheeks. The fire is still roaring. I am grateful. I hear twigs breaking in the bush nearby. Damn deer! The frogs are much closer now, seemingly all around me.My foot slops into water. I have found whatever teh frogs are in. I pull the lighter out of my pocket and strike it lit. There is a gully with a small pond.With the meager light my lighter provides I soon find that water leads into it from a spring seeping from the rock i saw the deer on earlier. I fill up my canteen with the spring water and turn toward the fire in the distance.Suddenly the frogs go silent. No birds call, no sounds to be heard at all except my breathing, and something not too distant breathing too. Its big, whatever it is.. A deer? a moose? maybe even a bear....My imagination begins to get the best of me. How the fuck did I get lost this close to home? Ive been in these woods pretty much my whole life..I should know where I am for frig sakes.

The fire is starting to die down when I get back to it. I immediately get more wood, and load it up. It smells so good, Burning dried hemlock, pine, and cedar. I reach in to my pack and pull out some jerkey, and a tea bag.I pour enough water to fill a stainless tea cup, and put the cup on a rock beside the fire.I use a stick to draw the embers close to the tea cup.The tent i have in my pack is a hammock style that ties between two trees. I pull out my rope, and scout for two trees strong enough to support my weight, and easy enough to climb to keep me out of reach of whatever spooked the animals into silence. I climb a tree and tie my hammock in a safe place. Climbing back to the ground, i debate climbing the second tree..but its pretty dark, and I decide to make a monkeys fist knot instead and toss the knot through a crotch in the next tree.As I lunge with the knot toss... I hear a rumble. like a bear scrounging for food. I quickly bank the fire, and grab my tea. It tastes so good. Hot water infused with raspberry and apple tea. the rope is hung in the second tree. I secure it to a branch about 7 feet up, and climb up to the hammock to test it for angle and strength....perfect. I climb back down to get my pack with food supplies, take a quick piss and climb back to my hammock 12 feet up the tree.As i climb in, i see something out of the corner of my eye , circling the fire just out of sight. A branch snaps at ground level. I assume its a stick in the fire.I pull my emergency blanket out of the pack, and use the pack as a pillow in my hammock.After sleeping for what seemed only a few minutes I wake to a roar unlike any I have ever heard. It makes me scrunch up into a fetal position. I cant see what is making the sound. All i can see is deep orange embers glowing on the ground below.Suddenly the hammock lurches. Something has found my hanging rope.Another roar erupts from the darkness below , Then a howl much like that of a timberwolf. Another howl.... Branches breaking, and my hammock lurches again!! What the hell is going on. I scrounge through my backpack, but all I have in regards to a weapon is my pack knife. One of those ones that acts as a saw and a knife.At least I am high enough that whatever is down there cant easily climb to me.I hear something in the tree below me. It seems to be climbing.Do wolves and bear hunt together? I dont think so. Perhaps its my friend from home coming to torment me. Ha Ha Samuel.. You got me....I hear deep breathing from the trunk of the tree beside where im hanging in my tent.Suddenly the hammock lurches, and I fall like a pendulum of a clock, swinging from side to side still 5 or so feet off the ground. My heart races as I try to figure out what just happened. My head is downward with my backpack at my head. I hear something coming toward me as I smell the smoke from the fire just below me. At least its warm. I reach around and grab the camp knife. Thankfully it is within easy reach.

I cut a small slit in my tent to escape from, and hold it with one hand as I extract myself careful to not land in the fire. As my feet touch the ground i hear a grunt, and something hits me in the back of the head hard enough to knock me into the tree I was hanging in. My forehead is sore and bleeding. As I sit holding my head in shock I remember what happened. I look around warily to see what hit me. As I turn my sore neck to the right I stare directly into the eyes of what can only be a lyken. It snarls as it leaps, Catching my throat with its taloned hand and ripping me to shreds.The last thought through my head... What will my family do without me.........I awakened to the taste of blueberries in my mouth. My tongue stuck to the roof of my mouth as if i drank half a jug of rum . My memories of the night before were foggy. I hardly remembered how I got home to bed. Why was I wearing pants? My clothingwas a bit worse for wear..that’s not like me! Awe my jeans are ruined! What’s on my shirt? looks a bit like dried blood. The door bell goes off...Maybe thats what woke me from that strange dream!

When I opened the front door to see who is there, Its Samuel. He looks relieved to see me. :whusup dude?" I ask him, looking puzzled. "Your car is down at Dog Hill park. " he replies" It was tagged as abandoned two nights ago.""Wow wtf man," I replied. “How the hell do you not know?” he asked. “You ok?” I’m starting to wonder where the missed time went.

He came in and we sat down at the kitchen table. Everything was a bit foggy ever since I got lost in the woods. I must have hit my head. Sam, being the good friend he is rooted through my scalp looking for collateral damage. My hair stood on end, it felt pretty damn good!“Not even a scratch or bump or scar in there!” he stated emphatically. I was in limbo as to what had happened. I got up and poured us a drink of rum. Eclipse amber rum was my drink of choice. Ginger ale or Ginger beer as the mix. After one slug of rum, I made a terrible face . It tasted far too processed. Kind of like iodine or rubbing alcohol. “What’s wrong with my taste buds?” I asked myself out loud. Sam jokingly said I was probably going through menopause!

My last couple days are a fog, but from what i can picture, I must have fallen from the tree when a branch broke, and hit my head. I must retrace my steps and try to find my pack tent and supplies. Some of those survival items are quite pricy.Samuel gets me into his beat up old Dodge RamCharger , a vehicle few people even recall anymore, but wow were they ever powerful! We drive down to the Dog hill park, which is really just government land used mostly for camping, hunting and hiking.He stops beside my 2004 mustang fastback. We get out and check it over. It appears untouched, Except something pissed all over the tires."do you smell that?" I ask Samuel. "Smell what?" he retorts."I cant believe that you cant smell the urine man, it smells as if someone was eating asparagus or maybe skunk!""You're out of your mind!"We get back in his vehicle, and drive in the direction i had started hiking. His aggresive tires and huge ground clearance make light of the hiking I did a couple days ago! The roar of the 400 chrysler is mind numbing. The truck paws and rolls over rocks, stumps, downed trees, and small creeks with ease. We stop for a beer break, and to have a quick piss, when I smell that scent from back at my car. It makes the hair on the back of my neck,and my arms stand on end. I scan the area for a skunk, But all i see are some tracks on the ground that look washed out . Whatever left these tracks was big though. They are pretty deep in fairly dry windswept soil.