Bog off the beaten path.

My bike to work everyday passes an old field that is basically a bog, a kind of swamp that looks like an open grass field but make the mistake of walking there and you will never be seen again. The mix of constant water flow, clay, peat and grass makes for a good preserver but a bad example of steady land. There have been numerous incidences of people disappearing here, people who want to explore the unexplored end up victims of this place. I see every now and then an old man who seems to know how to navigate the land inspecting the place for new victims or undiscovered artifacts, I never really have spoken to him as most of the times he just keeps his head down.

It was a warm night in the middle of summer that I was heading back home from work, I could see lights coming from the field and stopped to see if it was the local authorities looking for a reported lost person. Thing was that the lights looked like they were free floating above the land, flying about here and there. I could not figure this out and thought they might be fireflies, the thing was that we did not get fireflies in this part of the region. The flies we got were the typical mosquitoes and other bog type flies so this sight was new.

I stood there looking at the scene before me, mesmerized by the flowing lights and there was a light mist above the surface that was forming. I began to feel like I was being watched and started looking around to see if there was anyone near me but there wasn’t. I turned back to see the lights were now gone and there was a mist above the bog that obscured everything, I got back on my bike and rode home. I did not look back to see if there was anyone there but the lights stuck in my head, I would have to ask someone when I get the chance.

The next morning as I was passing the bog I saw the old man and I stopped to see where he would go and if I could talk to him. Since it was a Saturday it was my off day so I waited to see the old man make his way to a platform that was built on the edge of the bog, I rode to the place and see if I could ask him about the other night. As I was riding I could see that he was looking at me approach his place, the path to the platform was on solid ground but rough so rather than risk falling I got off my bike and left it by a tree and walked the rest of the way.

“Helloo there young one, what brings you here,” the old man spoke as I approached. I introduced myself to him and greeted him.

“I was passing this bog last night and saw there were lights that looked like fireflies and there was a mist. Would you know what that is?”

The old man looked at me with a sad smile and spoke, “those are souls that are trapped by the bog here, this place not only holds their bodies but also their souls. I hope you weren’t planning on taking a closer look.”

“No, I would not dare. My nan warned enough not to try. It’s just that I usually ride to and from work through this place and that was the first time I saw those lights. I was late because of some work so it was a rare time that I rode in the night.”

The man nodded and then spoke, “your nan has taught you well. Next time you see those lights ignore them and if you hear someone calling out, please don’t try to help just go home and call the authorities. This place has a history of inviting people to their doom.”

With that I left him and made my way to my bike and then to town, I had some chores to complete and by the time I was done it was night again and I dreaded passing the bog again after the warning. As I rode past the bog the lights were not there and neither was the mist, but as I reached the middle of the passage and I heard something. I slowed down to listen more closely and that was when I heard it. I was like a clear whisper; some was calling out. I stopped to see and all instincts told me to get back on the back and leave but curiosity egged me to see where this was coming from. There was a low wall that acted as a barrier against the bog so I stood a few steps back to have a closer look around.

The voice was still a whisper but now I could hear it, it was a woman’s voice, but it spoke a different language. My hair stood on end, and I got the feeling of someone looking at me, I turned to see but could not and that was when I heard the sloshing of water. I turned towards the source of that sound and could see the water at the clearing a few feet from where I stood moving. I took a step back and began looking around, this time I saw a figure standing on a patch further away from me, it was dark, but I could make out the figure and it was a woman. She stood there looking at me, my veins turned to ice, and I was frozen where I stood.

I could not make out her features, but I knew it was a woman, the whisper came back and this time it was a question. I did not understand it, it was a different language, and I began to shake my head. The whisper became louder, and I tried to move, the figure also began to move towards me. I wanted to run but my feet felt like stone pillars, and they would not budge, the figure moved closer, and I was panicking now. Tears were coming out from eyes, and I tried to speak by the words drowned in the fear that coursed through my body. It stopped at the barrier wall and my body was trying to move forward while my brain was pushing back, I was stuck against my will, and I wanted to run.

It was then I passed out from the shock or fear, I could not actually tell and woke up some time later. I tried to see where I was but could not recognize the place, standing up I realized I was about 10 feet from my bike. It was as if I was trying to walk to where the barrier ended and enter the bog. I must have tripped on a root or something and fell, whatever it was it saved my life. Brushing my self and retrieving my bike started to ride home and I heard the whisper again, this time I used whatever energy I had to ride faster. There was no fucking way I was falling for that trick again.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A walk to a dinner feast

Image
I walked a set path on the park I knew so well, there on the path was bench with a stranger sitting with a newspaper. I wondered what the paper said as this stranger was engrossed so deeply, I walked past him and he did not even notice me. I walked on and on to the sunset and path of the breeze so sweet. I began to wonder who that stranger was, dressed in a black suite and a top hat out of place. I could not remember his face as it was a blur every time I tried to remember, all I could think of was a smooth face of a stone I once had as I child. I walked to the end of the path that led to a junction and a decision to go either right or left, I will go left today. That would take me to the little café that sat across a road that met the end, the trees swayed me on and there were a few birds that called out. I smelt the sweet scent of autumn in the air and the clouds above coloured themselves from blue to orange as the sunset. A colour that reminded me of a Van Gogh painting but of a d...
Read more

Old streak of Blood and Silver

Image
  “Is the camera recording?” spoke Archer to the camera man behind him. Isabella, who was the recording, held up her left hand with the thumbs up sign. The equipment was much lighter than what she used when they started, this gave her more room to move and follow Archer through their investigations. I was following both through their shoots, being the back up to Isabella I would normally be carrying the extra batteries and infrared camera for shots that needed them. We were just a 3-person crew going to places few would try to, this time round it was an abandoned silver mine. The gold ones did not have much to show, and they were mostly covered by the famous ghost investigators, with also the hope of finding some undiscovered gold along the way. We chose this one because the owner reached out to us, he mentioned that there was a ghostly lamp that would move through the tunnels. I followed Archer into another tunnel; he would shine his light around to check if the tunnel was s...
Read more

I cannot bleed anymore

Image
  The flies in my room kept buzzing around forcing me to wake up and run behind them, trying to swat them or just plain drive them out. The room I was given sits near the dumpster hence all the shitty flies. How they keep coming in despite me closing all the windows and is beyond me but there they are, this motel is for junkies who are too zonked out realise the number of them. The stink within the room is just as unbearable, the toilet hasn’t been cleaned since the day it was first used. I was waiting for Alex, and he was really late, and just to add misery the bed was a WMD on its own. I saw bed bugs galore when I first lifted the sheet that covered the mattress and then the stains from times unknown. I sat on the only thing I could clean, a simple wooden chair, and waited for the call. The phone rang and I picked it before the second ring, the voice on the other end was a woman. “Hello, are you Alex’s family?” I looked at the number and it was Alex’s number but who was this ...
Read more