Chapter 2
Caleb
Iam patiently waiting for Lucas to wake up so we can head out.
I woke him an hour ago but one thing I learned in college is Lucas is like a bear and he needs time to fully come to terms with the fact that he has to be up early.
I have already delivered his coffee thirty minutes ago and I can hear him wrestling with his bags in his tent.
I am pouring over the maps and the trail heads.
I am really looking at the density of the forest. I have been researching for the past eight years for all the information I can find on the Big Foot.
I know many people don’t believe in the paranormal, however most people haven’t seen what I did when I was camping with my dad all those years ago.
Senior year my dad and I decided to head out and take a camping fishing trip.
He was always trying to make me man up. He didn’t realize just because I loved nerdy things didn’t mean I wouldn’t love to fish and camp.
It was the only weekend we actually got along my entire life.
My mother left him when I was five and he fought for those weekends with me and my brothers just to piss her off.
My older brothers, twins, were the perfect sons in his eyes.
Both took off for the military after graduation and he was left for one year with disappointment, also known as me.
Thankfully my mom never treated the three of us any different.
My brothers and I are pretty close because she taught us to be proud of our differences but to love and support each other.
They think I am crazy for believing that there is more out there.
Aliens, Loch Ness and Sasquatch. Things that can’t be explained.
However they weren’t there that night when we were camping. They didn’t hear the scream in the mountains, or see the large figure through the trees. They didn’t watch as it came closer to me and the fire before turning and tearing through the forest.
I did though. And after initial shock I got up and ran to the direction it had gone.
I saw the indents where it had stood. The path it had left through the bushes and the way the tree bark was shredded from its hands.
Never full foot prints though. Not enough evidence.
When I woke up my dad he was pissed. Explained that many animals could have made the path.
That deer brush their antlers against the tree.
I got angry and asked him to explain the large animal that came closer, the blurry picture on my phone, thanks to my trembling hands.
He brushed me off. Said I always had too big of an imagination.
He warned me not to tell anyone of my tall tale.
The only person besides my brother that I told was Lucas.
While attending college in the Tri Cities, Lucas had been my roommate.
His family was from back east but he wanted freedom and convinced them to let him apply for some schools in Washington.
From what he has said they didn’t think he would actually leave.
I know he comes from old family money but he doesn’t tell alot of people. He definitely doesn’t act like it.
When I got drunk while playing Left 4 Dead with Lucas our second year of college I finally admitted my dark little secret. That I was into paranormal things. The silence after was deafening. I waited for him to laugh his ass off or worse ask to break our lease. It was a very sobering moment.
He didn’t laugh, he didn’t freak. No he surprised me and turned off the game. Started asking questions. Wanting to know all the details about the night I was a Sasquatch.
We started hiking after that. Chasing the stories.
Every year we come back to this campsite and wait.
I know that most animals have migration patterns.
If the Sasquatch is like other animals they will come back through here.
However if the sasquatch is, as some believe, are more human than animal then the one I saw that night probably stays close to home. This camp ground is its home.
Or so I believe. I found a group of Sasquatch believers here in Washington on facebook.
There are a few that are really out there but there are a lot that truly believe.
Even a couple that have stories like mine.
Lucas and I have made it a mission to find solid proof that Sasquatch lives here in Washington state.
I realize I am still just sitting here staring into the fire waiting for proof of life from Lucas.
I getting the sensation that someone is watching me so I look up to see a petite woman with a large backpack staring at me.
Her brown hair is pulled into a high pony tail.
I can’t see the color of her eyes but my stomach feels like I drank too much tequila and I want to get up and walk over there right away.
Before I can she gives a little wave , turns and heads towards the path up the mountain.
“Lucas!” I shout loud enough I can hear him groaning in the tent. Good I want his ass up now. We are following that girl. My heart says I need to know her now.
“Jesus I am up okay.” Lucas comes out to the fire where I am now standing and starting to clean up so we can leave.
“What is the hurry?” His blonde hair is all over.
And he is pulling his sweatshirt on. I used to hate how casually he could look good.
Thankfully I have grown into my awkward body and filled out.
Lucas made me hit the gym so we could be prepared for endurance on our hikes.
“Did you see that girl?” I stop and look at my best friend. He is still trying to wake up so I am not surprised when he just shakes his head and yawns again.
“Nope but she must have been something for you to holler my name like you are my mother.” I ignore him and go back to making sure I have everything picked up and the food placed securely in the bear bin provided.
Lucas must notice I mean business because before long our camp is cleared out, our bags are placed on the picnic table and the weather proof map we have prepared is in his hands.
“Okay man lets go.” He smiles at me and I can’t help the smile that covers my fave. I can feel it. Today is the day something big happens.