Time: 7am Location: real world Oregon
Hi this is just your 16 year old Diana here. It was an early morning in a small town in Oregon, and no one, I repeat no one was as excited to be here as I was. It was finally time, after the longest school year ever, to have a vacation. That's right, me and parents drove a whole 300 miles in order to get here for the best vacation of our lives, and as you can probably tell by now, me and my family were not exactly "normal" when it comes to vaca spots. Sure don't get me wrong, it was beautiful here...better than I even imagined it, but usually normal people liked to go to places like Florida and Tropical Islands, or just somewhere with a decent amusement park. We were not like that however, we saw the beauty and wonder in nature and things like that, not just some man made tourist traps. Honestly I had no idea if this place had that sort of thing or not, but I was resolved to the fact that even if there was we probably wouldn't be going there no matter how much I begged. My parents strongly believe that vaca time was the same thing as family time...I sometimes had a hard time agreeing with that fact. I mean don't get me wrong...my fam is great and all, but you know that saying "too much of a good thing"? Well that definitely applied...and I think that goes for most families after you have spent about 5 hours cramped in the back seat of your car next to a mountain of camping/fishing gear. I needed some alone time...so it should come to no surprise that as soon as we made it to the remote cabin we had rented out in the middle of the woods, I was first out of the car. I surveyed the land intently and took in all the scenery careful, as if I was trying to take a mental picture of the place so I'd never forget it. It was magnificent, trees as far as the eye could see, beautiful shiny green moss growing thick in the foliage as squirrels scurried across the forest floor going about their daily business, and our sturdy log cabin next to our shiny red SUV creating some contrast and making the picture complete.
"Diana honey, how about you wait for us after we get settled in, I'm sure you could use the stretch." My father commented as he exited the vehicle, luggage in hand.
"Ok, mind if I explore a bit?" I asked/begged.
"Sure, but you be careful ok." My father replied seriously.
"Yes dear, do try to use caution, we are not used to this area so it would be pretty easy to get lost, oh, here take this." Said my mom as she handed me my gps.
It was solar powered as well as had pretty much the entire worlds geography and roads downloaded to it. It was especially useful in a place like this, where getting a wifi signal to look something up might as well have been as rare as seeing 3 tailed mermaid falling out of the sky.
"I'm always careful, besides it is just a few trees, what is so dangerous about that?" I asked confused.
"Trees aren't what I'm worried about hon, for all we know this forest could be home to some dangerous wild animals, so if you go out, make sure your aware of surroundings ok Diana?" My father said in overprotective sort of way, almost suffocating actually.
"I'll be fine, stop worrying so much dad." I sighed deeply with a hint of frustration as I took off in random direction towards the forest.
"Forgetting something?" My mom chastised as she held my survival bag incriminatingly in the air.
I mentally faced palmed myself in the face at my forgetfulness, it was a family rule that if any of went into the forest, especially alone, we should always bring our personal gear with us just in case something happened. We took each others safety really seriously, and that's probably much more of a protection than a burden now that I look back at it.
"Thanks." I muttered still embarrassed about it as I continued on my way into the forest, the ground that was slightly wet from morning dew leavening the imprints of my feet in the muddier areas of our driveway as I made my way to the outer rim of the forest. Twigs and leaves now cushioning my feet as I approached closer, making my footprints disappear entirely as I trekked on.
It was pretty light out and I could feel the warm sun against my back as I ventured further into the forest, the cabin soon becoming a distant spec and then disappearing all together behind the the thick wall like foliage.
I took in my surroundings very carefully, trying to search out the least treacherous path to continue exploring on. It was a fairly hard task considering the rough terrain, but I managed to slowly make my way down a steep slope by grabbing hold to the various trees around as well as occasionally sliding down on my bottom, using my feet to slow my decent.
I was pretty tired by the time I reached the bottom, and I felt like it might be time to start heading back after I had a chance to rest, but I figured while I was down here I might as well at least attempt to poke around a bit. So, I shook off my slight exhaustion and began to look around once more, carefully watching my footing because there was a rather huge drop off not more the ten feet from here.
As I took in this interesting place however, I suddenly felt a chill run up and down my spine, the sensation was so strong that it almost made me want to puke. That's when I felt the whole area grow very cold as if I was in a place none of the sunlight's warmth could reach. Needless to say, by this time I was a little creeped out...and not even in a good way. I suddenly had this almost frighteningly powerful urge to run back to the cabin and never look back, but some other force...perhaps curiosity, urged me to stay. I was still quite uneasy, but the closer I got to the drop off...the more and more that feeling started to become muffled. Something in my head, in my deepest subconscious, was telling me I needed to get down there, I NEEDED to find a way a down there...
I slowly inched closer and closer to what I estimated had to be at least a 200 foot drop off, at an incline of no less than about 75 degrees. Finally I stopped about a foot shy of the edge and set my backpack down and searched through it until I found what I was looking for, my rope. Then I up my back pack back on and quickly tied the rope around the closest and sturdiest tree I could find, tying the other end tightly around my waist in a strong slip knot. I peered over the edge and quickly swallowed my saliva in a large audible gulp, as I descended further into the unknown.
It wasn't long till I was able to reach the bottom, frankly I was surprised my rope actually reached that far. In the end I ended up dangling a mere two feet from the ground below, and leaning up against the side of the slope for support, I quickly undid my rope and let my feet fall to the soft forest floor.
It was eerie down here...and the light was much dimmer due to how deep I was in the forest at this point. It still had that eerie cold feeling, but at least now I could just write that off as due to the fact it was so shady down here. I wasn't sure if was exactly sold on that line of thinking just yet though...
Despite all my misgivings however, I trudged forth determined to explore this mysterious place further. It was fairly thick with ferns and other various plant life though, which made it hard to even see anything really. After a while of seemingly pointless searching I felt almost ready to give up, I was getting tired...and I must have been out here for at least 2 hours. I knew if I didn't get back soon my parents would probably start to freak out, if they weren't already.
Unfortunately as I was going through this line of worried thoughts, I failed to look at my footing properly. And thanks to the heavily foliated area I had no idea that I was mere inches from a steep incline, and before I knew I was tumbling down it faster than a torpedo. Thankfully this little slope was much less steep than the ones previous, and much smaller. Thanks to this fact, after all I few short painful moments of rolling, my misery was over.
After a while I finally managed to stop seeing double and was able to focus my vision once more. Although I almost wish I didn't...because what I saw in front of my sent chills down my spine and made flinch back so fast I thought I might popes my back a little out of place
No more than a few short inches from my face, was a statue, but not just any statue...one that I recognized immediately...it was a statue of none other than Bill Cipher.