Blackthorne Ravine

3,577 words

Blackthorne Ravine
By: Ronovan

Some of what I‘m about to tell you I know because I was there when it was told, but some of it had to be pieced together later. I’m not much of a story teller, and I don’t really say much very often, so this may take awhile, but I felt this needed to be put out there, just in case anyone else had this happen to them.
Lake Welton is a small place to live. I mean we don’t have a lot of people, but we‘re big enough to have all the modern things like an outlet mall and Big Bob’s Burgers. So, we’re not exactly backwoods. We all pretty much know each other, and for the most part we are likely related to every third person we meet. Makes dating interesting. This story is about my cousin Rema and her best friend Corey.
It was the last Friday night before school started back. We were all doing our traditional last lakeside cookout and skiing party. When it got dark out, most of us headed up to the cabin cause of the bugs. I can’t stand mosquitoes. Rema and Corey stayed down at the fire by the lake to toast some marshmallows; those two seemed immune to the bugs. They never got bit.
“I still don’t know how I ended up in there.” Corey shook his head bewildered as he stuck another marshmallow on his stick. His blonde hair sort of glowed when a campfire hit it, especially on a dark night like that one. Clouds were covering the moon, so there wasn’t much light shining off the lake either. The fire was about all they had to see by.
Rema was one of them black haired girls with big eyes. She never had her hair out of a ponytail, which was fine by us cousins, it made for a better handle. She was kind of on the skinny side, but the boys liked her, even if she never gave them any time. I always thought she had a thing for Corey. They had been best friends since they laid eyes on each other. “You fell, that’s how. I mean, really, if you fall off a flatbed truck onto the parking lot, what do you think they are going to do to you?” Rema had a way of speaking that rubbed people the wrong way. She didn’t mean any harm, it was just she was up front about everything. Corey was about the only one that she never ruffled none.
“But I don’t even remember falling. Waking up in the hospital was a bit freaky. And then the first thing I see is your big old eyes staring at me. Now that was scary.” Corey ducked, knowing something was going to be flying his way. He barely dodged a soda bottle.
“Gee thanks. See if anyone shows concern for you ever again.” She would be the last to admit it, but I had seen the way she looked when she first saw Corey laid out in the hospital. She had been scared.
Corey turned to get some more marshmallows, and that’s when Rema saw it. Corey was wearing one of them white tank top type shirts, the ones without sleeves or a neck. “What is that?” Rema’s voice was a bit higher than normal, from the surprise at what she had seen.
“What?” Corey said, as he turned back around.
“No. Turn back around.” Rema grabbed Corey’s shoulders, and moved his shirt over a bit, so she could see his back.
“Hey! What do you think you are doing? I’ll tell Clint on Monday, if you don’t leave me alone.” Clint Lincoln was the most recent boy interested in Rema, and Corey always teased her about whoever that most recent one was.
“Whatever. When did you get this tattoo?”
“I don’t have a tattoo.”
“Umm, I think I know a tattoo when I see one.”
Corey stretched his head around and could see the ink on his back. He pulled that shirt off fast, and now I can’t imagine Rema ever gasping, but she did. “Corey, your whole back is covered in a tattoo that looks like a treasure map.” Rema actually backed away a bit, and held her hand up to her mouth.
Corey stared at her over his shoulder. He knew when she was playing, and when she wasn’t. She was serious. He couldn’t see it all, but he could tell something was there. “Get it off.” He ran down to the lake to try and wash it off. Rema couldn’t do anything but stand there. “I don’t see it anymore. I think it came off,” Corey yelled out to her from the lake.
When he came back up and turned around, well he was in for a disappointment. “It’s still there.”
“No.” Corey took off for the cabin. We were all up there watching some baseball when he came tearing in there with Rema right on his heels.
“Mom. There’s something on my back.” He was real excited. His Mom looked at his back when he turned around, but there wasn’t nothing to see. It wasn’t like those two to play tricks, but we thought maybe Rema had been up to something.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t see anything, Corey.” His Mom had his shoulders in her hands, and was looking him up and down. She tried, but couldn’t even find a speck of sand.
“But it was all over. Rema saw it. I could see part of it. It was like a big tattoo of a map or something. I thought I washed it off in the lake, but when I got out, Rema could still see it.” You could tell from his eyes that he wanted her to believe him, and at the same time he was kind of eased she hadn’t seen anything.
“I think Rema has been playing a trick on you, Corey.” Rema’s dad was a practical joker. Never fall asleep until he does first and even then keep one eye out for him.
“I didn’t. I swear it was there.”
“Well, you two head back down to the lake, and put the fire out. Then come back up here. It’s getting late.” No one argued with Corey’s mom. She ruled the cabin, and pretty much anywhere else she happened to be.
Of course they headed back down to the lake. “I swear, Corey, it was there. I mean, you saw it too.”
“I know. I don’t get it.” Corey was sort of staring at the fire up ahead as they walked down the hill. He just couldn’t understand what was going on. He had never been one to see things before.
“I’ll kick the sand on the fire while you get the marshmallows and stuff together.” Rema liked to get dirty, and she liked to kick things, so this was always her favorite part of the fire.
“Let’s hurry; I don’t really want to be down here any longer than we have to, now.” Corey was creeped out but good.
Rema glanced up at Corey at the sound of that bit of, not exactly fear, but something. That’s when she saw it again. “Corey. It’s back.” You know, sometimes people can pick words that will make things not sound so bad. Well, Rema could have done better this time.
“What?” Corey stretched around, and could see it too. He stood there real still, and not saying anything else. He just stared at Rema.
Rema was thinking. Rema did that a lot. She sorted through stuff, and figured out what the deal was. Her eyes started moving again after a few moments.
“Okay, you got something. What are you thinking?” Corey knew when Rema came up with an idea better than anyone else.
“Turn around and face the fire.” Of course Corey did. Rema walked around behind him. “Okay, now turn around with your back to the fire.” She walked around and looked at his back in the fire light. “Yep. It was the only thing that made sense.”
“You going to let me in on it?”
“It’s the fire light. Looks like only light from a flame makes the tattoo show up, kind of like a black light.”
“You are kidding me? How did it get on me in the first place?”
“I think it had to be in the hospital. It’s the only time you have been unconscious enough for someone to do that and you not know it.”
“Should we tell my parents again?” Corey didn’t really want to tell them. They had already made him feel kind of silly as it was.
“No. They would just think it was a trick or that you had a tattoo done without telling them.” Rema was right. Corey’s parents were kind of strict. They were what you called conservative, not crazy or anything, just they thought if you came into the world with certain parts and looking a certain way, then you shouldn’t feel like you could change it. You were like that for a reason.
“Then what are we going to do? I don’t want to spend the rest of my life wearing sweaters around a beach fire.”
“I think we follow the map. I know that picture where it begins. It’s out near Listers Field. I mean the map is there for a reason. We might as well follow it. Maybe we will find who did it and they can tell us how to get rid of it. Maybe it’s not permanent.” She was trying to sound hopeful. She knew Corey was on the borderline of crazy and nuts. But if anyone could keep him calm, it was her.
“Okay. Makes sense to me. Let’s get out of here.” They made quick work of the fire and all. Now you might wonder why I know all of this. Well, Corey was my best friend. I spent most of that next day with him and he told me all about it. He knew I wouldn’t laugh or nothing, because, well, I get laughed at from time to time and don’t like it much, so I don’t do it to nobody else.
I was there the next day when Rema showed up in her sunshine yellow Bug. That thing was the most recognized car in town. Like Rema needed anything else to give her attention.
“I don’t think you should go out there. Listers Field is one of them places dad always says to stay away from. And if the Police Chief says to stay away then I think you should stay away.” I wanted them to know that what they were planning to do was not a good idea.
“You worry too much. We’ll be fine. Should be back by midnight. If not, send out the cavalry.” Rema smiled as she spun the tires on the loose rocks at the edge of the street. I should have stopped them. I should have told someone. Can’t be changed now. The rest of the story is what I found out later, but my dad is pretty honest. I knew those two better than most did, so I can imagine what all they did and said after they left Corey’s house.
“I hate this place.” Dad had always told us, from as early as I could remember not to go to Listers Field. We pretty much did what he said. Only Rema could get Corey to go there.
“Stop whining. This is for you. We have to find out what that is on your back.”
“It’s a map.”
“Smarty pants.”
They parked along that cutoff road that can be a short cut to the main highway, but no one takes it because it’s just creepy out there. Rema had recognized the beginning of the map because of the big hat looking rock that’s out there.
“Well, let’s get this over with.” Rema was the take charge type. She pulled out a candle and lit it. “Okay, take your shirt off and turn around.”
“Glad it’s not a cold night.”
“Hush. The map looks easy to follow. Just it’s in a spooky place is all.”
“My back is spooky?”
“Well, yeah. It has a freaky map on it. Doofus. But I meant that where we have to go is in a spooky place.”
“I know, poofus.”
Don’t really know how fast they walked or anything like that, but at some point Rema stumbled. “Great!”
“You okay?” Corey helped pick her up off the ground.
“Stupid root got in the way. I think I twisted something.” Rema walked a bit funny on her right leg. Most of her weight was on her left, you can tell things like that if the ground is soft where someone has been walking.
“Lean on me a bit then. I’ll be your right leg for now. We can head back to the car now, you need a doctor.”
“No way. I am not giving up now, especially after getting hurt.” Yep, she was a stubborn type.
“At least you saved the candle.” Corey looked at the flame still flickering in the dark.
“Yeah. I would hate to have to light it out here. Awesome!”
“What?”
“The matches are gone.”
“Did you leave them in the car?”
“No, I had them in my pocket because I was afraid the candle would go out or something. Not in my pocket anymore.” Rema felt around her cutoff blue jean shorts.
“How close to the end are we anyway?” Corey didn’t like the dark or closed in spaces much. He wasn’t claustrophobic or anything. Everybody gets weirded out sometime.
Rema held the candle close to Corey’s back. “Not much farther. Did you hear that?” Rema looked around.
“Hear what?”
“Like a twig snapping. Someone stepping on it.”
“Probably a rabbit?”
“I hope. You know, we don’t even know what’s at the end of this map. I mean what it’s for.” Rema finally thought of that. Kind of late, but it had to be thought of at some point.
“I know. I have been wondering about that.”
“There it is again.” Rema stood still and listened hard. Corey held his breath.
A snap jerked both their heads around. “Let’s get moving. I can’t take this much longer.” Corey was never one to hide if he was really worried about something.
Corey slowly walked along, and Rema hopped beside him until finally they came to Blackthorn Ravine. “This is it. End of the map.” Rema stared down into the darkness.
“I don’t see anything that would tell us what this is all about. What time is it anyway?”
Rema pulled out her cell phone and flipped it open. The light from the screen flashed over her face. “10:30. We better start going back I guess. Maybe we can come out here in the daylight, now that we know where we are.”
“Check the map and see how to get out of here.” Corey turned so she could see his back.
Rema did another of those gasps. “It’s fading.”
“What?”
“The map is fading. It’s gone.”
“Great. I guess we head east and that should take us at least back to somewhere.”
“How can we tell east? There is no moon, and clouds are covering the stars.” Rema always had a way of stating it plain.
“Anywhere is better than here. Rema. The candle.” The flame got smaller and smaller.
“No. No. We need it.” Corey had never really heard panic in Rema’s voice before. But as that last flicker poofed out and darkness surrounded them, there was no doubt Rema was freaking out.
“It’ll be okay. We can use our phones to light the way. You have yours out already. Open it up and we’ll use it first.”
Rema flipped the phone open.
If I had been awake I could have heard the scream. As it is, I think I must have heard something cause I woke up just after 10:30 that night. You see our house isn’t far from Listers Field. When I woke up I knew something was going on cause Lancelot had his ears perked up. He slept under the window on one of those fancy cushions you get at the pet stores.
It didn’t take long for things to start happening after I woke up. I saw my cell phone flashing across the room. I always kept it on quiet when I was sleeping. I got up and looked. It was a message from Rema. I opened it up and there was nothing. It was a picture of what looked like nothing. Just black. But I could see some type of shape in there.
Now, I don’t normally get to wound up about things, but this got me going. I went and woke up dad. I told him what was going on, all about the tattoo and Listers Field. He was dressed, and out the door before mom even got out of bed. I went with him.
Dad found the car real quick. But that’s all he did. He didn’t go tearing into the woods like I would have done. He knew there was no way of finding them in the dark with no idea which way to go. He called it in to the station and then started calling Corey and Rema’s parents. Before long, more cars showed up. Parents and police. The place was lit up bright.
They had to keep Rema’s dad from taking off into the woods. Dad took my phone and gave it to one of his men. That guy knew electronics and computers like no one. He whipped out that laptop. Sent the picture to his email. Then did things to that picture so that within a few minutes it looked like daylight.
“Chief. Take a look.”
The picture wasn’t much to look at. All you could see were these eyes. They were evil. The face wasn’t much to make out. It was dirty, and covered in hair.
Dad told the parents that they should go back home, and wait for him to call them later. He said they were calling in a helicopter to at least start trying to look for them, but they wouldn’t be going into the woods till morning. They were going to bring in the dogs, and a local hunter that was good at reading tracks.
Everything I know about what happened when they went into the woods came from that tracker. He saw where Rema fell and started hopping. He saw where they stopped and listened for something. And at the end, at the ravine, he saw where something had landed hard in a bush off to the right of the path and what he called scramble marks on the path. He figured Corey got hit by whatever it was and knocked down first. Rema must have fallen without Corey to help her and she tried to get away. He had given the phone he found to dad, it was Rema’s. That short cut road has been blocked ever since that day. Corey’s dad tried to buy Listers Field and have it bulldozed down to dirt, but it didn’t happen, least not yet.

“Hey, Joker! This should torch good.” The boy was probably at least 17, and not exactly one you take home to mother.
“Awesome! Tate, take a look at what B found.” Joker threw more wood on the fire. The old warehouse was starting to get smokey from all the burning. The Hounds were at it again. Doing damage and having fun doing it.
“That’s like a real old desk. Good think you have that float to bring it in with.” Tate was younger than the other two. Joker was 20 and had no future as far as he was concerned, so he saw no reason for anyone else to have one.
“Yow!” B jumped as something stuck him.
“What’s up, B.” Joker wasn’t really concerned, but it was taking away from their torch time.
“Something cut me man. Got my back good. Things been itching all day.”
“Probably something to do with that place we stayed last night. Or passed out! Yeah! That was a good night. Man we slept half the day away.” Joker liked wasting time.
B took his shirt off and looked at it. “Dude, this is my best shirt. Ripped and bloody now.”
“Yo, B, what’s with the tat, man?” Joker was staring at B’s back.
“Joker, I can’t afford no tat yet. You know that.”
“Tate, what do you see on B’s back?”
“Looks like a tattoo of a map.”
“No way.”
“Serious, man.”
“Must have happened when we were passed out last night. But who would have done it?”
“Who cares? It’s cool. Thing looks like a treasure map. I say we follow it, and get some treasure.” Joker was excited. Money before torching any day.
“Where do we start?”
“That looks like that hat rock outside of the town across the river.” Joker squinted.
“Let’s go.” B was ready to find out what the tattoo was all about.
“I can’t guys, not now. Have to head out on vacation at like 7 AM.” Tate headed for the warehouse bay door.
“Bring back some sand, man.” Joker laughed in an ugly way.

“And you say that’s the last time you saw them?” The police detective stared into Tate’s eyes.
“Yes, sir. The last time.”