Page 6 of Hoof It

Six

Chapter 5

Darcy

W e managed to pack up everything I owned and get it all out of the house without any issues. He wasn’t home, nor did it look as if he’d been there for a few days. I called our landlord and let her know some of what had happened, and that I planned to move out. Mrs. Walker is a sweet older lady that reminds me of my grandmother. She was understanding and didn’t blame me for wanting to leave Mat. We talked for about an hour on the phone and she allowed me to break my lease.

I also had to call the electric, water, internet, and cable companies and have all of the utilities that were in my name disconnected. Lexi laughed until she cried when I told her that Mat was in for a hell of a shock when he eventually goes home and realizes that he can’t use the television or take a hot shower. I was feeling proud of myself for the first time in a year. With Frankie and Lexi’s help I was able to get a lot of adulting done.

Planning out our trip to Maryland was the easy part. All three of us have saved up vacation time, so we all put in requests at our respective jobs. We packed enough for a week, organized all of our camping gear, loaded up into Frankie’s Wrangler, and said goodbye to Indiana.

We drove for as long as we could, but when there are three women in a vehicle for that long, you’re bound to stop every couple of hours. Someone always has to pee. We did manage to make it to Cosca Regional Park around nine p.m. The ten-hour drive took us about thirteen hours with all of our bathroom and food stops.

Thankfully, Frankie called ahead and the rangers were feeling generous enough to let us check in and set up late. There were no plans of getting a hotel or sleeping in the jeep tonight.

Frankie drove the Jeep as close to our site on the lake as we were able. As we pulled up to what we thought was our campsite, Frankie turned in her seat to look at me. “Darce, can you get out and see what the sign up there says?”

By now, I’m sick to death of this car so I happily agree. I unbuckle and jump out, walking ahead of the Jeep towards the sign post Frankie meant. “I think this is our site guys,” I turn and call out.

Frankie shoots me a thumbs up before putting the car in park and killing the engine, though she leaves the headlights on.

Both women jump out of the car as I walk back to them. We work together to unload all of our gear. I pause a moment and stare out at the lake and take a deep breath of the freshest air I’ve tasted in months. I love the way the forest smells, I always have. The pine mixed with the sweet decay of grass and leaves is one of my favorite scent combinations.

“Ugh, I can’t believe how long it took us to get here. Now it’s too late to swim. We still have to set up the trail cams.” I turn towards Lexi and Frankie and they nod their heads in agreement. I look back towards the lake one last time before I start setting up my home for the next week.

A loud splash echoes out into the quiet night, stealing our attention as we whip our heads around. After a moment of no movement, I turn to look at them. “We all heard that, right?”

Lex has a huge grin on her face as she nods enthusiastically. Frankie is walking back to the jeep. “Let’s get the cams up first before we finish the tents. I wanna put them up in a couple of different spots around the lake as well as in some of the trees.”

Lexi and I stop what we’re doing to take a few cams from Frankie and start setting them up around our site. An hour later, it’s dark as fuck outside and we’re all sweating and tired. We put up all of our cams, while Frankie got our hotspot up and running. I’m just finishing setting up my tent when Lex walks up to me and gives me a hand. Working together, it only takes us a few minutes to get my temporary home set up the rest of the way.

I’m exhausted, but I desperately want to get in the water. Deciding to just go for it, I quickly strip out of my tee shirt and athletic shorts before I’m stepping into the cool water. Lexi isn’t far behind me. Meanwhile, Frankie is looking for firewood. I submerge all but my head underwater, only because I don’t want to go to bed with wet lake hair. The cool water feels amazing and quickly washes away the sweat that coated my entire body.

I float in the water for a while. The soft sounds of the forest are comforting. For the first real time in over a year, I’m able to fully relax every inch of my body. I feel the muscles in my shoulders finally loosen. I don’t even care that they’re going to be tense in the morning from sleeping on the air mattress on the ground. Right now, I feel incredible.

I open my eyes and bring my legs down so that I’m treading water. Slowly, I let myself spin and take in the lake; it looks bigger from the shore than it does from here. I swim towards the center, to where we thought we heard something splash earlier. I know that I’m probably not going to see anything, but I still want to be in that area. As I scan the shore line, I see a small shape sitting just out of reach of the waterline. I can’t stop myself from swimming towards it.

As I get closer, I realize it’s a decently sized basket. A brown woven basket, and it’s full of blueberries and small strawberries. They look fresh, as if they were recently picked. I turn towards the lake and call out, “Guys, come here.”

It doesn’t take them long to meet me.

“Look, this was just sitting on the shore. The basket looks handmade, and old. But the berries look like they were just recently picked.” I motion to the basket.

Frankie crouches down beside me and shifts the berries around. There are some loose leaves mixed in. She pulls a handful out of the basket and brings them up to her nose before taking a big sniff. “They seem to be okay.” She pops a strawberry into her mouth and chews it slowly.

If the groan she makes is any indication, they’re as good as I’m hoping. I reach into the basket and pull out a small handful before popping them into my mouth. Almost immediately, a burst of tart sweetness hits my tongue. The flavor explodes further as I chew slowly. I join in with the groans my friends are making as they each chew their own handfuls. They’re easily the best strawberries I’ve ever eaten.

I dig through the basket and see that there are blueberries of various sizes as well. I pop a few in my mouth and the tartness of the juice hits the back of my throat as soon as I bite down on a couple. It causes me to lose my breath for a second and I cough. Lexi reaches over and pats my back until I wave her off, indicating that I’m okay.

“Holy shit.” I clear my throat. “Those are the best god damn berries I’ve ever eaten in my fucking life.”

Lexi and Frankie nod their agreement as they finish chewing. “Should we leave the rest here, or take them with us, and hope that who, or what, ever left them will come back?” I ask.

Lex has a silent conversation with her girlfriend for a moment before answering, “Leave the basket here. We have a couple more cameras. Let’s set one up close by and see if anyone or anything comes back for them.”

I nod my agreement and stand up. Together, the three of us walk back to our campsite on the other end of the lake. As we walk, I pull my hair up into a messy bun on top of my head. When I near my tent, I lean down to unzip it so that I can grab some clean clothes to put on. It’s still technically summer, but out here in the forest with the sun down, it’s becoming chilly. The last thing I need right now is to catch cold. In the forest with the sun down, it’s a lot cooler than the muggy 80 degree day we’d been having. Thank god I remembered to bring joggers and a sweater this time

My gaze falls upon a nice stack of wood for a fire, so I squat down and assemble several pieces in the hopes of starting a fire to help me warm up. A few moments later, I’ve just managed to get a small spark in my tinder pile and am moving it slowly towards the firepit when I’m joined by Frankie. She kneels down next to me and starts to gently blow on the small flame, helping it to spread to the rest of the dry wood.

Once the wood catches fire, we scoot backwards and enjoy the small bit of heat that the flames are already putting out. A small shiver of delight runs down my spine knowing that I was able to start the fire with minimal help from anyone. I can’t contain my joy and I grin up at Frankie and notice she’s looking at me with the same proud smile my mom would, were she still alive. A twinge of sorrow squeezes my heart briefly, but I shake it off before my mood plummets.

Lexi walks up and plops down onto the ground between the two of us. She rests her head onto Frankie’s shoulder. “So, what’s the plan now that we’re here?”

I drop my head onto my shoulders and exhale, thinking. “Tonight, we sleep. Tomorrow we grab our packs and explore the woods a bit.”

I glance over at them and both are nodding in agreement with my tentative plan. “Alright, with that settled. I vote we head to bed.” I stand and brush the dirt off my pants. The other two do the same and we head into our tents. I remove my joggers, but keep my hoodie on before I snuggle down into my sleeping bag.

Laying in my tent, I take a deep breath and listen to the quiet sounds of the forest surrounding me. I can hear owls screeching as they hunt their prey. Something small flies past my tent, and I assume it’s a bat. Elsewhere, I can hear small ground animals moving around as they settle in for the night.

For most girls who live in the city their whole lives would be freaked out by the various sounds of nature at night. But not me. I grew up camping with my mom after my dad took off. She made sure that I still had a fun childhood. I’ve always found the woods to be peaceful at night. I feel at home in places like this. I always have. Nothing will ever change that.

A smile curves my lips up and my eyes drift closed to the sounds of nature. I doubt I’ve slept for very long when I hear the zipper of my tent going up. I rub my eyes and sit up. Lexi’s form is silhouette by the moonlight and she looks almost ethereal as she steps into my tent and motions for me to come out. I struggle to get my legs out of my sleeping bag, and manage to stand without falling down. I snatch my joggers off the tent floor and shove my legs in as I walk outside. Frankie is hunched over her laptop pulling up the trail cam feeds.

I walk up and squat down to Frankie’s level. I look up at Lexi questioningly.

“We heard footsteps just as we were falling asleep,” Lex whispers. “We hurried up and put our clothes back on before Frankie ran out here to check the trail cam footage.”

I’m suddenly wide awake. Yeah, it could have been nothing, or even someone out on a late-night walk back to their own campsite. But still. We’re all holding out the hope that it is the goatman.

Lexi and I quietly sit back and wait as Frankie pulls up the video. Out of the corner of my eye, I see movement across the lake. I slowly turn my head to see what it is. The moment that the figure registers, I’m on my feet moving toward it. A hand latches onto my arm and pulls me to a stop.

“Lex, look! He’s over there by where we found the berries!” I excitedly whisper.

Lexi’s nails dig into my arm as she sees what I do. “Frankie!” she whisper yells. “Frankie, across the lake!”

Frankie turns her head and her jaw drops when she sees it. Her hands fly across the keyboard of her laptop as she pulls up the live feed from the trail cam goatman is closest to. Her gasp tells me that she sees him on her screen. I don’t want to move out of fear that the movement will spook it. But I desperately want to see it up close. Without realizing what I’m doing, I raise my left hand and wave, hoping it will see and somehow know that we’re friendly.

I could swear that we make eye contact from across the lake. Lexi turns and walks back to her girlfriend. Once I’m alone again, I turn my full attention to the figure across the lake. An arm raises, the hand open into a wave for a moment before it fully turns and disappears into the forest.

I stand for a few moments, my eyes transfixed on the spot where the goatman disappeared into, hoping that he will come back out of the woods. Lexi eventually makes her way back to my side and forces my attention her way.

“You gotta see the footage that Frankie has. Come on.” She gently pulls my arm and I silently follow her lead.

Frankie has a single photo pulled up on her laptop screen. I rush closer to where she’s sitting so that I can see it better. My jaw drops to the ground as I take it all in.

“It’s really him. Goatman isn’t just a legend,” I whisper in disbelief.

“Guys, this is incredible.” Frankie finally speaks and breaks the silence. “I can’t believe we were able to get actual photographic proof of its existence.”

I continue to stare in silence, taking in every single detail of the goatman. It has dark hooves and powerful lower legs covered in wooly fur in various shades of gray and black. Its torso is humanoid with slender arms jointed like a humans, although the arms are covered in fur as well. Dangling from the tips of its fingers is what appears to be some sort of mask, I think. Sitting atop the thick neck is a long, narrow face and straight jaw covered in light colored fur. Atop his head is dark hair. Poking out of the dark colored hair are dark, rounded horns and small, slightly pointed ears. The ears are both pointed towards where I’d been standing when we saw it. Its eyes are beautiful, despite the photo having been taken in night vision.

My hand reaches towards the laptop screen, as if I’m trying to touch the goatman. I feel a magnetic pull towards even the still image.

Just as my fingertip meets the screen, Lexi speaks up, “Darce, are you crying?”

I’m startled out of my reverie and pull my hand back from the computer. I reach up and swipe a few tears away from my face with my sleeve. I turn my head towards Lexi.

“I’m fucking amazed. I’d hoped we’d find evidence of its existence. I never dreamed that we’d see goatman in fucking person or get such a clear photo! I can’t fucking believe it. At all.”

I fall to my ass from the squat I’ve been holding for the last few minutes. I’m still in awe that not only did we manage a clear photo– and I’m assuming video– but I connected with the goatman personally. I saw it see me. We waved to one another. Another round of tears fall from my eyes as I take in the past half hour.

Frankie and Lexi move around near me as I continue sitting, trying to fully absorb everything.

“I know you’re excited and in disbelief that we finally managed to see a cryptid after years of hunting, but we need to try to get some sleep tonight. Or else we won’t be able to search the woods in the morning. If that’s still the plan?”

I look over my right shoulder and Frankie is crouched just behind me. I nod once and she shifts to help me stand up. Once again, I dust the dirt off my sweats and walk back to my tent. My mind is reeling, and I’m not sure if I’ll be able to get much sleep tonight. But I have to at least try.