The Redwood Ship [Part 13]

Day 19 at the Cabin

Not dead, surprise surprise. Was going to post yesterday but my laptop crapped out on me. And when this thing's battery dies I have to completely recharge it to use it again. It was a guy shooting out there by the way. he knocked at the door after shooting some more and I had a brief conversation with him through the door. Said his name was Rowan and I told him it's not hunting season. He proceeds to tell me he hasn't been the one firing the gun, that he's actually lost. Don't believe that for a second. I said the dirt road leading from the gravel driveway leads down to the proper road. He asked for a ride, I refused.

Eventually he left. The way he walked away sounded weird. Like he was stepping in several places at once while going over the gravel. Never saw him, didn't want to really. But now, we can get to what was really eating me since that nightmare. Yesterday I removed the picture from the wall. That strange lighthouse. There wasn't a secret passageway or anything, but there were some papers shoved into a small gap between the planks. They read like a log book and it feels as though someone cherry picked these specifically. The dates are sporadically spaced apart, some papers have as much as half ripped away. I looked over them for most of yesterday, trying to figure out their importance. But nothing stuck out.

Hand is still messed up. The first aid kit only has normal sized bandaids so I've been trying to use those with varying results. It's stopped bleeding for the most part, just pus and scab now. The green as seeped into my veins. I'm trying not to think about it. Put a glove on over the bandages to keep them from falling off, hope it works alright. When I got bored with the mystery logs I got around to finishing Moby Dick. Then I slept, with my laptop still charging. I swear I plugged it in around noon, but when I checked that evening the plug had fallen out or something. Second thing I'm doing with that money is get a new laptop.

This morning it was charged, thank God, and I started typing up what I could remember from yesterday. While I was typing it I reminded myself of creepy that Rowan guy was. I swear I recognized his voice from somewhere, but I was too focused on the possibility of him holding a gun to the door. I have a gun too, took it from my car, now it's just sitting upstairs next to Hampton I think. It's going under my pillow for the rest of the time I'm here. Maybe that's paranoid, I kept it in my car for that exact reason, but now maybe I do need it. There's so much weird shit out here, I need to keep my head. I just need to hide it away now and then, because I have not stopped taking my stuff and I will not stop. It calms me down. Enough.

You know how animals like caribou and mountain lions can sound like people dying when they scream? I think I just heard that out on the deck. Somewhere above me. This sudden and gut-wrenching scream. Scared the hell out of me, obviously, and when I looked up I didn't see anything. Really need those binoculars. I heard a crack though and as I was idiotically trying to see what was in the trees, I failed to notice how a branch was getting closer and closer until I couldn't get out of the way fast enough. I think I have a damn splinter in my eye now, hurts like nothing else. Worse than the throbbing in my hand. I can still kinda see out of it, but it hurts. Didn't hear that scream again.

I went for a walk. A very careful walk not towards the cliff and cave. Gun in its holster. It felt nice to have it against me, missed that feeling. A feeling of safety. There were tons of crows or ravens, whatever corvids, there were tons of corvids on the path today. I could tell they were eating something off in the tall grass. Scavengers. I watched them for a while, trying to see what they were eating without disturbing them, and one looked up at me. When it tilted its head I saw that it only had one eye. Looked like the other one was just gone, ripped out or something. Felt a silly kinship with the bird and gave it a nod. It bobbed its head in response and kept watching me. It started freaking me out so I continued out past what I've gone before.

I wasn't too worried about finding my way back. I knew I was going west, I always know where west is, so I'd just have to turn around and head back the way I came. Easy enough. It wasn't that easy. I want to be sure I am understood when I say this next part, I do not believe in the supernatural. I believe in God, angels and devils, I do not believe in monsters in the woods or boogeymen under the bed. So I will say there was a man in the woods. He's about seven feet tall and his legs don't look right, and he was watching me from behind a tree. At first I thought it was a hallucination, nothing new, but then I saw it again. And again. And again. He kept popping up behind trees just out of view in my peripheral, always in the same position. Leaning out just enough from behind a redwood, one leg sort of out along with half of his face. I kept telling myself it was nothing. Just my head messing with me.

I got to a point in the path where a redwood stood in the way and the path branched left or right. I looked between my options for a second before looking up at the tree. He was standing behind it. I saw his eye, pale like the moon, widen when he realized I had caught him. He immediately ducked behind the trunk. Like a child playing hide and seek. The air filled with the sound of faint chainsaws, like a million mechanical cicadas, and I took a step away from the tree with my hand already resting on my gun. He stepped out from behind the tree at the same time. His head was bobbing up and down and I realized that sound was coming from him. Like he was laughing. I ran. He crawled after me.

Only once did I look back and it was to aim at him. A shot resounded in the air and I knew I hit his torso, but he didn't slow down. I almost stumbled on to my face but I was able to catch myself and run a bit faster. I didn't lock the door to I went straight inside then bolted the door. I waited for a thump or something to hit the door, but nothing did. It was dead silent outside, the only sound inside being my heavy breathing. So ya, I'm sleeping downstairs again and making sure the trapdoor to the deck is as locked as it can be. I'm not gonna think about this, I'll take my medication and have some booze then lock myself in the bathroom. I checked out my eye in the bathroom mirror. There's blood, but not an alarmingly amount. I've had hemorrhaging in my eyes before. I could sort of make out where the branch had hit, a small cut on my iris. It should heal within a few weeks as long as I don't mess with it. I'm going to drink myself to sleep in the bathtub. Til next time.