National Treasure

a man lost in the forest stumbles across something remarkable

I scrambled up the loose shale, clutching rocks and tree roots for purchase on the slippery ground. When I finally made it to the top, I was breathless and sweating. Not to mention, hopelessly lost. In the middle of a national park with no cell coverage.

I stood in the twilight, panting and gulping water from my canteen. I knew I should be conserving water, but my parched throat and tongue didn’t listen to my brain on that one.

When my heartbeat had settled to a more normal pace, I screwed the top back onto the canteen and looked around.

There wasn’t a lot to see. I’d parked toward the middle of the park to do the hike that took you out toward the eastern edges of the reserve land, followed the boundary for a while before looping back toward the center.

Way off in the distance I could see moving lights. A freeway, possibly. Or some other major road. Too far away to be of any use to me tonight, even if I could figure out the right direction to go in the woods.

But there…. What was that? A flicker of brightness caught my eye and I turned in that direction. Was I imagining things? No…. There it was again. A faint flash of yellow. Coming from somewhere close to the base of the hill. And then, as I watched, another light sprang out of the darkness. Then another.

I didn’t think about it, just plunged down the hill, slipping and skidding and grabbing at things willy nilly to keep from tumbling head over heels. Once I hit the trees it was more difficult to know if I was going the right way. I could no longer see the lights, but trusted they were there. I used the compass app in my phone, hoping it worked even without WiFi and would guide me.

Finally, I reached the bottom of the hill and flatter ground. It was full dark by now and little moonlight filtered through the thick tree canopy. I used my flashlight to keep from tripping over roots or falling into holes, but it was still tough going. Surely I must be near the lights by now.

And then I stumbled upon them. A clearing opened before me and I found myself looking at a tiny village built around a small body of water. It wasn’t a lake or even a pond, but was larger than a puddle and I could hear water chattering over stones nearby, so knew it was being fed by some nearby stream or creek.

“Hello?” I called. “Is anyone here?”

The light in the nearest cottage flickered out. And then the lights in all the other cottages went dark.

“I’m just lost,” I said loudly. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

But the cottages stayed dark.

“Okay,” I said. “I know when I’m not wanted.”

I decided to stay anyway. It was late - my watch said 10:54pm - and I needed to rest. I drank the rest of my water and gobbled one of my two remaining protein bars. I refilled my canteen in the “pond” before settling down to sleep under my windbreaker.

When I awoke, the sun was inching over the horizon. A young woman with long dark hair crouched over me, trying to ease the canteen from my shoulder without waking me.

“Hey!” I sat up and snatched back the canteen, holding it to my chest.

“You don’t want to drink that,” she said in a low, accentless voice.

I looked at the canteen and then at the pond that seemed to shimmer with an internal glow. “Poison?”

“You could say that.” She gave a funny shrug and took the canteen from me, pouring its contents back into the pond.

I looked around. “What is this place?” There were no settlements of any kind on the map I’d taken from the visitor’s center at the park entry.

She didn’t answer.

The village was quaint, rustic, like something left behind from two or three centuries ago. The cottages were thatched and each had its own vegetable garden running alongside. Clotheslines were strung with drying laundry and from somewhere I could hear wood being chopped.

“You should go,” she said, pointing to a faint trail into the woods at the far side of their settlement. “You’ll find the main trail about a mile that way.”

“I’ll need water,” I said. “If that’s funky, where can I fill my canteen?”

She led me to the creek I’d heard chattering the night before and I filled the canteen under her watchful eye.

Then, I left.

But once she’d left her post at the edge of the woods, I doubled back and, keeping an eye out for anyone else, went to the pond and scooped up some of the eerily glowing water in an empty sandwich bag. I fled back into the woods and once I’d found the main trail once more, I paused to look at my contraband. It didn’t look poisonous, but there was something eerie about it.

I dipped my pinky finger in and put it into my mouth, sucking off the moisture. My entire body tingled in a delightful, almost sexual way. I sucked another few drops, feeling that same, orgasmic sensation, then stopped. I should wait to see what effect it had before taking - or not - more.

It was hard though. That sensation was too delicious not feel again.

I placed it carefully back in my pack and followed the trail back to the parking lot and my car.

I glanced in the review as I backed out and froze. The face looking back at me was not my familiar 45-year-old face, weathered and beginning to crease around the eyes and mouth. The face that looked back at me was younger, a handsome memory of the man I used to be at twenty, perhaps.

Had I found the fountain of youth in the depths of the national park?

Writers Cramp winner 26-2-26