Spook Light

Todd was an avid outdoorsman and reader of science fiction. As he sat, listening to the peaceful evening and occasional fish jumping in the river, his gaze wandered around his location. Even as worried as he was, he couldn't help but relax and enjoy the evening. As much as he didn't want to believe, he now had to admit to himself that the Spook light must have had something to do with his situation. It was the only explanation he could come up with. Now, he just had to decide what to do next. He wasn't inclined to travel far from his current location, because even though the area as he knew it was gone, he was positive he was in the same place on earth, or at least on an earth-like planet. He was as near home as he could get, in any event.

The next morning after a great night's sleep, Todd fixed his breakfast, cleaned up and secured his gear. He took his rifle and pistol and began exploring the area to see if he could find anything at all to either help him with his daily living, or to explain whatever happened to him.

Todd took the entire day for his exploration, stopping only to eat a quick lunch he brought with him, or to look at something he found interesting. On his way back to camp, he shot a small deer for his next few meals. He knew it was out of season and almost hoped a game warden would come along and arrest him for it. During the day, as he walked about, he harvested several plants he knew to be edible, including wild onions and a few mushrooms.

The late afternoon and evening were spent dressing the deer, putting much of it on to cook over his fire and beginning to dry the remainder. In spite of his strange situation, Todd was strangely happy as he worked.

*****

Meanwhile, Sally, his next-door neighbor, was sitting on her porch crying. Her mother came out and found her. She sat in the swing beside her daughter and wrapped her arm around her shoulders. "What's wrong sweetheart," she asked.

"Todd's been gone now for three days, and I miss him. No one's even looking for him any longer. Oh, Mom, what if something awful happened to him?"

"Oh, honey. I'm sure they're still looking for him, but there just doesn't seem to be much evidence to go on. They think now he ran away or something."

"No, Mom. He didn't. I just know it. Something bad happened to him, or maybe the Spook light got him. I don't know, but I bet he needs help. What can I do? I can't just sit here."

"Look honey, I know you have a crush on him but that's no reason to go off half-cocked like this. Everyone's doing all they can do to find him, I'm sure."

Sally jumped up from the swing and ran into the house. As she was leaving she said, "I have to help. I'm going to go out there and wait for the light and see if I can figure something out. No one else has done that."

Sally's mother followed her into the house and said, "Now you wait a minute there, missy. You're not going anywhere. You just sit tight and let the police handle this. It's their job anyway."

Sally continued packing things in her large camping backpack until her mother took it from her and put it back into her closet. "Listen to me, young lady. You're not going anywhere. Now, come on and help me finish supper. Your father and brother will be back from the field soon, and they expect to eat."

*****

That night, it rained and the wind blew strongly. Todd's tent didn't stand up to the wind well, and he had a miserable wet night. The next morning, he crawled out of his nearly blown down tent and spent several minutes trying to get a fire started. He finally succeeded and made a pot of coffee, which he drank before preparing a venison and fried wild onion breakfast. While he was eating, he decided, as pleasant as the gravel bar was in nice weather, he needed to move his camp so weather and storms didn't have as great an impact. He worried if the rain had continued and river rose, he would have lost everything, maybe even his life.

His first order of business after laying out his wet things to dry in the sun was to cross the river and check out the cave. He had never been inside because the owner, at least in the world Todd seemed to have left behind, had his entire acreage posted 'No Trespassing,' and was a fanatical asshole when faced with trespassers. All he knew about the cave was hearsay.

Todd walked downstream about three hundred feet where he could wade across the water that, at its deepest point, came to his waist. He then walked back upstream to the bluff in which the cave sat. He looked at the narrow ledge that led to the opening of the cave with a little fear. Its width varied from about two feet near the center to nearly three feet near the cave opening. Finally, he decided to suck it up and moved slowly and carefully out onto the ledge. He might not have attempted the walk, except he knew If he fell he would land in the deep water and could swim out. He didn't relish the thought of the nearly 20-foot drop if he did fall, however.

When he got to the wider part of the ledge, Todd let out a relieved sigh and moved faster to get to the cave floor. He slowly entered the cavern and stood in the opening as he looked around. The floor was dry, and it appeared as if the cave was about 20 feet deep and maybe that wide. The entrance was maybe fifteen feet wide and not as high as the roof of the cave. There was an overhang over the mouth of the cave that hung over the river a few feet.

While he stood in the cave entrance, he heard some mewing coming from a pile of rocks near the rear wall. When he got there, he saw an adult Bobcat laying partly out of the pile. Its hide was torn in several places, and he could see flesh of open wounds. The female cat was dead and the three kits in the nest were mewing, from hunger, he assumed. They were nuzzling at the dead mother's teats, trying to suckle. Todd didn't know much about bobcats, but he thought the kits looked old enough to eat solid food. There was evidence nearby that either they or the mother had eaten several rabbits and rats.

After he handled the spitting kits for a moment, Todd stood and completed his exploration of the cave. There was some indication humans used it occasionally, as there was a place that clearly showed a fire had burned, and there was a small pile of dry wood nearby.

The back of the cave had a pile of rock that had obviously fallen from the ceiling, but the part of the cave nearer the river showed no sign of cracks or falling rock. Todd decided he would move into the cave and unless he was rescued, or found a way home, he would close off the front to make it more weather tight and warmer during the winter.

When he left the cave, he took the dead bobcat and threw her into the woods on his way back to the more shallow area where he crossed the river. Todd spent the rest of the day moving his gear into the cave and catching some fish for his days food. He also fed some of the fish to the small bobcats. They were tentative at first, but finally ate most of what he put in their nest. He even used one of his camping cups to put some water out for them, but they didn't drink as far as he could tell.

The next day, Todd began making the cave more homelike. He moved all the rocks he could lift from the rear of the cave to a spot near the front. He was exhausted when he got all the rocks he was strong enough to move placed where he could use them for his wall. He took his largest pot down to the stream and filled it with clay to use as a mortar for his rock wall. He knew it wouldn't stand up to rain very well, but he was building the wall about four feet inside of the mouth of the cave at its narrowest point. There was no indication that rain came in that far, with the nearly ten-foot overhang above the cave mouth, and the direction of the opening (to the southeast). This part of the country very rarely had an east or southeast wind, and when they did come, they were not very strong.

It took over a month for him to complete his wall and a stone fireplace he built in it. The cave was very dark now, but more secure and weather tight. By the time he was finished with the wall, the bobcat kits had tamed down and appeared nearly half grown. They played around and got underfoot almost as domestic cats did. They even followed Todd when he went hunting or foraging for edible plants, or more rocks for his wall. Nearly half of the rocks in the wall came from outside the cave, and were a stone cold bitch to get into the cave. He used his rope and built a small basket to use to lower them from above, and then used another piece of rope to pull the basket back under the overhang so he could unload it.

Todd left two small window openings and the door opening in the wall. He planned to make shutters and cover the tied branches with hide to make them airtight, or more nearly so. He didn't look forward to staying in darkness, but at least he would be warmer that way in the winter.

In all the time he had been there, Todd had never seen or heard another human. He had wandered several miles around what he now considered his home, foraging, hunting, and just exploring, looking for another human. Once, he walked the four miles to where his parent's farmhouse stood in what he was now calling 'another time'. He was strangely content, but did miss someone to talk to and be with, especially on the rainy days when he couldn't be outside as much. At least his cats kept him company then.

*****

During this time, Sally moped around, missing Todd. She had been almost throwing herself at him for two years, but he treated her like a younger sister. She just knew if she persevered, he would see her as wife material. After all, she was only a year younger than he was, and they had many of the same interests.

Her family kept a close eye on her for several days after she initially said she was going to leave and search for Todd, but by late summer, they stopped watching her as closely. Sally began to gather things together she thought she might need if she found Todd. She put some nails and small tools in her pack, a couple of smaller tarps, fishing gear and ammunition for her .40 caliber Glock. She also packed clothes and cooking and dining utensils, along with her sleeping bag.

Finally, the perfect opportunity for her to take off hunting Todd arrived. Her family went to the county fair and left her home alone, so she took the opportunity to leave. She shouldered her pack, wrote a note to her parents and headed out. On her way past the garage, she stopped and grabbed an axe, hatchet, some penicillin kept for sick animals and a couple of bow saws. Her pack was almost too heavy for her to carry, but she managed.

It took her almost four hours to walk to the Spook light. When she got there, she dropped her pack and leaned back against a tree to rest. She drank a large amount of water from one of her two canteens and closed her eyes. Strangely, there was no one there this evening. She supposed they were all at the fair. She closed her eyes to rest a moment and drifted off to sleep. She awakened when she felt a strangely cold feeling come over her. She opened her eyes and found herself surrounded by the light.

Sally almost peed her pants when she saw the light. She grabbed her pistol and sat with it in her hand, but saw nothing besides the light to scare her. Soon, the light moved on and she relaxed and drifted back into a restful slumber. She never heard her mother and father yelling at her as they watched in horror while the light surrounded her and she slowly faded from view. For years to come, they berated themselves for not making her go to the fair with them or for not coming home earlier to find her note.

Sally woke the next morning to birds singing and the sun hitting her in the face. She stood to move away to piss when she noticed a change. The road was gone. The trees were larger and the fence was missing, as were the no trespassing signs.

Sally felt fear course through her body for the first time. Well, not really, she had been scared the night before, too, but this was different. This fear continued. Where was she? Was this what happened to Todd, too? What should she do now?

When Sally's family got home from the Spook light, they rushed into the house. Once again, a frantic family called the Sherriff to report a missing child. Again, a search was started, but met with no success. Of course, when they showed the deputy the note and told him what they witnessed at the spook light he totally disbelieved them.

The next morning, once again, the paper had a frontpage headline: "ANOTHER YOUNG PERSON DISAPPEARS AT SPOOK LIGHT". This time, the tabloids picked up the story and had a field day using the family's description of the light and Sally fading from view. Crank phone calls became so bad they had to change their phone number.

The first morning Sally was "gone," after eating some of her food, she made the same decision Todd made and began a trek toward where she hoped to find her hometown. She took nearly the entire day to make the walk because she wasn't as comfortable using a compass as was Todd, and because she was already scavenging for food.

She was just coming into sight of the bluff in what, to her, also, was the city park when she heard a shot nearby. She took off toward the sound of the gun, not even thinking what might happen to her if it wasn't Todd.

Todd heard Sally crashing through the brush and turned from dressing the deer he had just killed. He held his rifle ready to shoot if the crashing was a danger to him, or another animal to preserve for the upcoming winter. He wasn't having much luck tanning leather, but he thought he had smoking/drying meat down pat.

Todd shook his head. He was sure he heard someone calling his name. His heart leaped at the thought, but he discarded the feeling. There was no one here. He was just hearing things. All at once, he saw a girl moving toward him at a fast walk or slow trot.

Sally saw him standing with his rifle and again called, "Todd! I found you. I knew you weren't dead or a run away. We've all missed you so much. Are you okay?"

Todd stood in shock for a moment, and then moved to meet Sally. When she got close to him she almost leaped into his arms and gave him a tight hug. She clung to him as he tried to push her away so he could look at her.

"Sally, what are you doing here? How did you get here? Do you know the way home?"

"I went to the Spook light just like you did, Todd. I just had to find you. I don't know if we can get back or not. Do you?"

Todd sighed and said, "No, Sal. I don't know how many times I've been back to where I think the light is, but I've never seen it. I have no idea how to get back. Don't you think I would have come home if I could?"

Just then, one of the bobcats came out of the woods and saw Sally. It snarled and began stalking toward her. Sally stepped back in fright and grabbed her pistol as she said, "Oh, God, there's a bobcat."

She was trying to aim for a shot when Todd grabbed her pistol and said, "Don't. She's just protecting me. She doesn't know you. As far as I can tell, we're the only people in the world now. I'm the only human she's seen, for sure. Come on, I'll introduce you."

Todd took Sally's hand and led her over to the spitting bobcat. He squatted down and Sally did the same. He held his hand out and said, "Come on, sweetie. I want you to meet Sally. She's good people too." He handed Sally a small piece of fat that had stuck to his hand from the deer and said, "Here, give her this."

Slowly, the bobcat inched toward Sally and took the meat from her hand. After it swallowed the small offering, it carefully sniffed Sally's hand looking for more, and then licked her fingers.

Todd stood and headed back to the deer. As he walked he said, "Well, come on. I need to get this deer back and begin working it up."

"Where are we going, Todd?"

"Back to the bluff. I'm living in the cave now. That's where I found the cats. Their mother was dead and I finished raising them."

"The cats?"

"Yes, there are two more around here somewhere. They go about everywhere with me now except swimming. They don't like the water. I have to carry them across the river when I come to this side or they yowl enough to wake the dead. They seem to think my canoe is their personal ferry now."

When they came in sight of the bluff, Sally saw the wall Todd built across the front of the cave and said, "Wow. Did you build the wall across the front of the cave, or was it already there? I don't remember a wall or the remains of one back home."

"Yes, I built the wall. I don't even know if we are back in our time stream or somewhere else. I think I heard years ago that there were the remains of a wall in the cave and they even found some human remains there. Supposedly, several bones were unearthed when Jackson built his little picnic area there. He cleaned up the mess in and around the cave, too, from what I heard."

As soon as they got across the river, Todd walked up to a banked fire with drying racks over it. He put the deer down and began slicing it thinly and hanging the meat over the smoke to dry. He also put on a large pot filled with water and cut meat up in it. After that was done, he threw in some wild onions and what looked like potatoes.

Sally quickly shed her pack and moved to begin helping Todd with the work. As they worked, they talked. Sally told him of the uproar when he turned up missing and gave him the up to date news on his family and the happenings in their little community. She said his parents were holding up well after his disappearance, but had tightened the reins on his siblings in reaction to it. She said many of the local parents kept better track of their children because of his disappearance.

The young couple worked well into the night on the deer, giving the three cats the bones after they got most of the meat off them. After the last of the meat was on the drying racks, they cleaned up and ate their supper.

After cleaning up from the meal, Todd sat beside a large log and pulled a long hickory stick from beside it. He was using a piece of flint to smooth and shape the wood. Sally watched him for a moment and then asked, "What are you doing, Todd?"

"I'm trying to make a bow and arrows. I have knapped some poorly shaped arrowheads and hope to do a good enough job with this to use it hunting."

"Why? I see you have your rifle and pistol."

"Yeah, I do, but if I keep using them, I'll run out of ammunition before long. So far, you're the only human I've seen around here, and I've been lucky not to find any larger predators, but I want to save what ammunition I have for emergencies such as an attack by hostile men or a vicious animal. I learned how to make a simple bow in the scouts, so I think I can do an adequate job. I've been saving tendons to make the bowstring. What I really need though is some horse hair."

Sally watched Todd work for a moment longer then asked, "Do you have a place to go to the bathroom?"

"Yeah, I have a basket under some rocks inside with a trash bag in it for use when I'm inside. I dump the mess and clean out the bag every day. I also dug a trench over there. Just go down the path and you'll see it. Scratch some dirt over things when you're done."

Todd watched Sally as she took off down the path toward his slit trench. When she came back she sat on a rock to the side of Todd and watched him work."

Todd looked up at Sally and asked, "Why did you come here, Sally? Why did you put your parents through what mine went through when I disappeared?"

He saw moisture appear in the corners of Sally's eyes before she spoke. "You mean you really don't know? How could you not know why I came to find you?"

"Uh, because I don't?"

"Damn it, Todd, think for a change. I love you, you asshole. Why do you think I always hang around you? I had to find you or at least try. Didn't you notice I never dated anyone else? Don't you remember how special we were to each other? I came to be with you, and I left a note for my parents. I'm sure they will be hurt and upset, but I need to be with you. You mean you don't like me, even a little?"