I’ll try and keep this short and sweet, but there’s a lot to cover.
I’m one of those people who loves to be active. Not like exercise is a personality trait or anything, but it’s definitely a big part of my life. I’m a runner and swimmer. Sometimes, I play soccer with old colleagues during the summer. But most of all, I love backpacking. Being in the outdoors, seeing what Mother Nature can offer. My brother, Alex, goes with me every time. We go nearly every weekend, but its a requirement we at least go every month. I’d like to call to it a family tradition between 2 brothers. We’ve invited our mother to go with us, but it’s always an adamant “no”.
After our father passed, she was always wanted to stay home. I try to get her out, but it’s like she’s banished herself to the confines of her bedroom. She rarely even works anymore. Alex, more times than not, lends her money so she can buy groceries. My Home Depot job is barely sustainable for me, so I can’t offer her much. I check on her daily, just to make up for it. It hurts to see her so despondent, but I can’t tell her to snap out of it. Hell, I’m still healing a year and a half later.
Alex was the one driving to the park this time. Mendocino National Park is our regular spot (Sidenote, we live in California. We’re VERY familiar with the area). We usually take turns driving every trip, but he insisted on doing it this time. A content silence filled the cab of his truck. The radio was turned on, with an Oldies station playing “Don’t Fear the Reaper” (this is important later). Alex drummed his fingers on the steering wheel to the beat of the song. “Have you checked on mom recently?” Alex’s grip on the steering wheel shifted as he reached for his phone. “I should call her, before we get out too far.”
“She’ll be fine. You act like she’s a toddler or something.” I grinned at him, but he didn’t offer the same sentiment. Alex shot me a nasty glare. “She’s not far from it. The woman can barely take care of herself anymore.” He sounded more resentful than I wish he had. Not just resentful, but bitter. Alex looked like he had been revving to say something else, but I cut him off.
“Hey man, chill out. No need to get so defensive. I’m just saying. She’s capable of doing her own thing, so just let her.” Alex didn’t comment, so I assumed he was pouting. He reached to the radio knob, and turned the music up louder. Buck Dharma’s voice claimed dominion over the tension. I sunk down into the seat, and exhaled slowly. Alex leaned back. We didn’t talk for the rest of the way there.
Once we passed the Mendocino Park sign, Alex seemed to have lightened up. Still, he didn’t speak with me. To his credit, I wasn’t speaking to him either. I was worried about setting him off again, and being this far out in the middle of nowhere… I didn’t wanna risk pissing him off so he would ditch me. He was humming to some other song on the radio now, borderline singing at this point. Soon, he parked and quickly unbuckled.
He smiled at me and already hopped out of the driver’s seat. I followed, and got our gear ready. I’ll skip the nitty gritty of getting our stuff organized. Just know that we have a lot to carry, so it took a good hour to even leave his truck. And, it was Alex’s job to get the sleeping bags and tent. But, you’re not here to read about how to unpack junk. I’ll skip to the good bits.
When we got the the park, it was almost dusk already. So we set up our tent right away. Alex made an effort to tie up our food and hide our more expensive gear (I spent a fortune on our portable cook-top and Crockpot). After getting all that out of the way, we were hungry and made something that I would’ve considered a prison meal. Canned meat and vegetables, and Alex’s nasty ass granola bars. (Seriously, he said it was dessert but it literally had no real sugar or chocolate).
Obviously, we were getting ready for bed by the end of “dinner”. Alex claimed his sleeping bag and told me to find mine. Of course, it’s the one thing we forgot back in his truck. Or, HE forgot. I called him out on it, and he just got defensive. Can’t take the blame like a child.
“Give me the stupid flashlight. You’re such a dick, seriously. Can’t even say sorry?” He scoffed at me. I’ll remember my words everyday, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget them until I die. Those will be some of the last words I ever get to tell him.
I hiked to the parking lot. I already knew it would take somewhere between 30 minutes to an hour, if I was fast enough. It was lonely, and I was just left to deal with how pissed I was. I knew that Alex could’ve just genuinely forgot. There was a lot, but that was HIS job. It wouldn’t kill him to be considerate of anyone around him. His brother, his mother, not even his own father.
The woods were thick and had some of the worst trails to follow. The darkness shrouded the way for most of the time. The flashlight barely helped me, but I knew the way for the most part. Left, left, right, straight. The flashlight caught the road signs, and pointed me towards the parking lot. Shadows hid everything else, and I couldn’t exactly tell where I was.
I heard something shift in the underbrush. In my anger, I forgot about the animals in the woods, and the copious amounts of animals that could eat me alive. I reached for my pocket and touched the knife I had. It wasn’t anything special. A Swiss army knife with a corkscrew, a screwdriver, and multiple other things. It was dull, but knowing it was there made me feel less terrified of some bear eating my guts.
I stepped up the dusty hill, and met the empty parking lot. There had been quite a few cars before dusk but now?… None. Guess no one really wanted to go camping on such a nice night. I turned off the flashlight to save the battery, and let the lot lights guide me to Alex’s beat up truck. A coyote howled in the distance, and I jumped. I thought maybe Alex was just as freaked out as me. Being alone in the woods…
He deserved that though.
I get to his truck, and pull on the handle. The door didn’t budge open, and a bolt of anxiety went through me. My dumbass had forgotten the keys to unlock it. All this walking for nothing. All this stupid hiking just to go back and do it again, then walk about in the middle of the night and maybe get eaten by an animal. I could scream. I could have just punched Alex right in the fat-
The car turned on for a moment. The roar from the dying engine caught me off guard, and I forced myself away. I scrambled in the air, and tried to control my racing heart. Alex had one of those “start up with the key fob” kind of trucks. How practical.
“Alex, what the hell? You think you’re so funny!”
I glanced at the forest entrance, waiting for his response. He didn’t say anything, but I could hear him moving near the treeline. He kept stepping back and forth, acting like I couldn’t hear him, trying to scare me. Good for him, I was spooked and ready to go to bed. I was getting fed up, and I finally kicked his door.
“UNLOCK IT!”
Don’t Fear The Reaper screamed from the radio, blasting my ears. I covered them quickly. At this point, I was ready to just go home. This trip was a bust, I should’ve known, considering we got into that little fight before we actually got to the stupid park. After all this, I just… I wanna sleep and never talk to Alex after this.
I heard footsteps grinding across the pavement. I inhaled and turned on my heels.
I faced my dad, brown eyes decaying out of the sockets of his rotting skull.
Geiststories 
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