>>1385985When we finally settled for the night, I was sure I would be out before I hit the ground but without so much as a glance I was told to wait, he was going to get firewood and start dinner. Sitting myself under a tree I watched as he walked off, leaving me alone in the dwindling light of day.
Sitting there, listening to the fading sound of my grandfather walking further and further away, I couldn’t help but notice how strangely suffocating the woods were. Now I had spent days camping before, sometimes with friends and other times alone, but this seemed different. Maybe it was the quiet, where the simple act of turning your head to the side seemed to echo through the trees, maybe it was the way the evergreens, burdened with snow, seemed to blend into the growing gloom, forming strange and inky shapes in the dim light. Whatever it was I started to get nervous, that kind of unease that comes when you feel like you’re being watched, even though you think you’re alone.
Before my mind started to walk down those dark roads of thought, my grandfather came stomping back through the treeline, bundle of broken branches under his arm. He set about showing me how to start a fire without matches or a lighter (he’s old-fashioned like that) and soon enough we had a nice little campfire going. It wasn’t until the heat off the fire hit me that I noticed how damn cold it was, my hands stiff and slight shivers going over me.
"We should reach the cabin by about this time tomorrow if we keep up this pace. Before we go any further though I want you to understand something; things are different out here and if I tell you to do something I expect you to listen, understood?"
I nodded and told him my dad had given me the run down before I left
"Oh? How much did he tell you?"
"Just to listen to whatever you said and to stay safe" I replied, unsure of where he was going with this
"Ah, alright then"
