Welcome back! Thanks for the feedback so far, I appreciate it and reply to them all (sometimes a little late if it ends up in the spam folder). Feel free to get in touch and don't forget to go to this address http://donate.nifty.org/ and donate to keep the site running. Enjoy the next part!
Chapter 2
On Saturday morning I was up bright and early. The twins were away for the weekend which meant I had nobody to hang around with so I decided to go off exploring some of the countryside around here. It had only been a week but as I'd had so much time off with the move I'd forgotten how annoyingly restrictive school uniforms were. It was nice to have a full day of not wearing a stuffy, collared shirt with a blazer over the top. Weekends were definitely made for comfy clothes so I'd thrown on one of my least favourite hoodies and some cargo trousers that I rarely wore. I didn't know what the countryside had instore for me so I didn't want to ruin any good clothes.
I also grabbed an old rucksack with what I thought were just a few essentials, even though my dad laughed at me for planning it out like an expedition through the rainforest or something. I packed an Ordinance Survey map and compass to make sure I didn't get lost, some binoculars, a camera, a pad and pencils in case I got the urge to draw something out there, and some food as I didn't know how long I'd be gone. When I was happy with my little survival kit I set off up the lane towards the farm where Josh lived as Sam told me there was a pathway that took you to the forest just past there. I was trying not to think too much about Josh but I decided I might as well have a quick look at his home as I walked past; it seemed only fair as he'd looked at mine. The road up to the farm was wide enough for whatever farm machinery they must have needed to use and was actually in good shape. I'd seen some rural roads that would shake your car to pieces if you ever tried to go along it but this one seemed ok, as long as you tackled it with a Land Rover or something.
As I approached I could see a big building behind some hedges on the side of the road which led up to the main gate. To the left of that was the main farm house and as I looked over I could see the cottage set back a little further. To the right, in front of the roadside building, was a big, concrete yard and stables off to the side. There were a couple of newer looking barns scattered around which, along with the stables, had probably been rebuilt and modernised over the years. The stables I could see across the courtyard had six stalls facing towards me; all of them had their doors open with a couple horses looking out over the tops. As my eyes moved along the building I noticed some movement inside the end stall and suddenly a familiar face popped up. Josh was quite a way off but I was sure he could see me so I waved to him hoping he'd come over but he disappeared pretty quickly. I was tempted to walk over but I remembered what Sam had said at school and decided to play the waiting game, even though it was eating me up inside.
I walked on and rounded a bend making the farm disappear from view when I looked back. The trees and bushes started thickening up but it was still quite light and the path was still wide enough for vehicles to travel down, not like the old spooky woods you'd see in cartoons. You could hear the wildlife all around but very little else, and it was a far cry from the cars and other busy town noises I heard where I used to live. Something made me stop further on as my brain didn't seem to like something my eyes were seeing. The pathway took a turn to the left but to the right were a couple of huge trees lying down like they'd fallen one on top of the other. Curiosity got the better of me and I decided to see what was on the other side of those trees. I managed to climb onto the first trunk and wriggle through a gap between the two of them, thanking my wiry frame for being able to squeeze through such a small gap. I stood on top of the lower trunk and could see the roots of both trees to my left. It looked like one of them hadn't just fallen on top of the other as there was an indentation in the ground further over where the top tree used to be. It was almost like it had been moved and placed on top of the lower trunk.
I scrambled down the trunk, which was quite a drop, then turned my back on the strange barrier, looking ahead to see what looked to be a slightly overgrown path, but a path all the same. It was like it had been here for years but someone had tried to hide it from the casual walkers in the area. I started down the path, being very thankful that I'd worn long trousers as it was getting a bit overgrown, and noticed a few more curious things along the way. Every now and then I'd see big depressions in the ground where large boulders had been before something had removed them. There were no signs of rocks that size around so wherever they were, they weren't nearby. If someone had wanted to move those then they'd need something on wheels to pull them along as they'd be far too heavy to carry but this path was way too small to bring any vehicles down here, especially trying to get past that tree barrier at the beginning. The strange thing about it though, like missing boulders weren't strange enough, was that there were smaller stones and rocks strewn around in random places but not depressed into the earth enough to make you think they'd been there for a long time.
As I carried on down the path the terrain to my right seemed to get higher and rockier as the path started to climb, until I came to a clearing where the terrain to my right had become a sheer cliff face. I decided to take a break and sat on a log that was conveniently placed facing the huge rock wall in front of me. I started munching on my sandwiches while studying the wall. It would probably be a great place to bring groups of kids for rock climbing or abseiling, not that I was into that as a sport but I could definitely see why that big chunk of rock could get some climbers excited. The more I looked at the rock face though the more I noticed some strange markings on it higher up. I couldn't see them too well from where I was but when I looked at them through my binoculars I was sure they almost looked like the holes you'd see in bowling balls and some big cracks in the rock, almost like somebody had made their own grips and hand holds but that didn't make sense as they were much to high up to reach and there were none nearer the bottom. I looked around the floor to see if there were any footprints, thinking that people may have actually been up here, but the ground was a bit too solid here to leave any. One thing I did notice though was that there were some areas where the ground was slightly sunken closer to where I was sitting.
I was starting to get a little freaked out by this path I'd taken, there were so many unexplained things that made me uneasy and I had the feeling I shouldn't be here. I suddenly heard movement in the bushes back the way I came and instantly froze fearing it would be some wild animal that would want to tear me apart. After what seemed like a lifetime there was no more movement so I decided to be brave and investigate.
"HELLO!!" I called as I walked over and instantly something crashed through the undergrowth moving away from me at speed. I, being the brave soul that I am, turned around and ran off back to hide behind the log that had doubled as my bench a minute ago, being sure to scream like a little girl to ensure that any other animals didn't mess with me. I stayed there for a small eternity, or probably about a minute then started to think rationally. Whatever it was, it was clearly more afraid of me than I was of it. It was probably a deer or something like that possibly attracted by the smell of my food (do deer like ham and cheese sandwiches?), then ran off when it heard me coming.
After I'd calmed down from all the excitement I carried on a little way along the path but it seemed that another barrier had blocked any further travel. It was almost like some gamma enraged beavers had built the mother of all dams across the path and there was definitely no getting past this way. I quickly pulled out my map and saw that this pathway met up with the other end of the path I hadn't taken earlier. I was feeling even more uneasy about my little adventure now as it seemed like someone, or something had made its own little sanctuary and I'd been invading it so I thought it best to head home before these gamma beavers or whatever they were returned.
I trudged back along the path I'd taken before and noticed this time that even though there were a lot of trees in this area, there were a few that had been felled, either completely at the roots like the wind had pulled them down, or they had huge cracks in them like they'd been struck by lightning. Normally I wouldn't have thought anything about this but given the other weird things I'd seen up here I'd say these were not as natural as you might first assume. I picked up the pace a bit to get out of there but when I arrived back at the two trees that were blocking the path I was slightly surprised by the way they looked from this side. It seemed like there was a third, smaller log I'd never noticed before wedged between the other two which made the gap I'd wriggled through before seem a little bigger. There were also some medium sized rocks jammed into the bark of the lower tree which almost seemed to make a little ladder. How had I missed that before?
I meandered back home past Josh's farm and, as it was getting dark; I could see a few lights on in the compound. The stables all seemed to be closed up for the night and there were a few lights on in the farmhouse. The cottage was mostly dark but there was one light on in an upstairs window. I saw a little head pop up in it and vanish again just as quickly. No prizes for guessing who that was.
The next day I decided to explore the other route on the trail to see if there were any other freaky things to worry about around here. I took the same route past Josh's place but it looked like everyone was out. I probably shouldn't be surprised that no one was home as it was a Sunday morning and they'd probably gone to church or something mundane like that.
As I approached the two giant trunks that were blocking the right path it did seem like there was a slightly larger gap between them than there had be yesterday. I kept telling myself it was a trick of the light but I couldn't shake that strange feeling that something wasn't right. I put it out of my mind as I followed the open path to the left which was definitely made for farm vehicles to pass down. Unlike the other path this one started to slope downhill and if I looked to the right all I could see was dense undergrowth climbing up the steep embankment to where I assumed the other path was. To the left though was an entirely different view. There were fields as far as the eye could see, some with crops in and others with animals grazing. All along this route there were stone walls separating the path from the fields and that got me thinking that maybe over the years the big rocks and boulders from the other path had been rolled down the hill to here and broken up to make the walls. It certainly seemed like the only plausible explanation and made me feel slightly more at ease with the other path. This was certainly a much more relaxing and scenic route than the one I took yesterday, I even took a few snaps with my camera; zooming in on the animals grazing to make sure they were normal and not the gamma beavers that had blocked the other path.
As I continued on the path started to climb again at a steady rate which made me assume it would be meeting up with the other path soon. As it levelled out I decided to take a break and sat on a little wall between the path and the fields beyond. I'd been walking for just over two hours and definitely needed to recharge my energy, especially with that last part being quite steep. I brought out the trusty ham and cheese sandwiches, again being sure to keep a lookout for any hungry deer this time. While I sat there I looked at the map to see where I was and I was surprised to see I was right near the end of the other path. I looked over to where the path should be and noticed the foliage was incredibly dense there and the dam, or whatever you want to call it, was really well hidden. You'd probably never know the other path was there unless you looked from above; it seemed very secluded and almost lost in the forest.
I checked the map to see how much further the path went and saw that there was probably only about an hour's walk left before reaching another farm at the end of the road. I carried on down the path and heard the unmistakable sound of running water and soon came to a fairly large stream which went under a bridge before the road opened out into the other farm. I decided not to go any further as I'd probably be trespassing. All in all though I'd really enjoyed my day out and was even more pleased my parents had moved us here. After admiring the view for a bit I decided to head home. The walk back was a lot faster, partly because I wasn't stopping to take in the view so much and partly because it was far easier on the downhill parts than the uphill had been so it only took a couple of hours. As the forest started to thin out and I approached Josh's farm I noticed a couple of cars had returned so assumed they were all home. I still couldn't wait for the day when I could just call in and be welcomed as his friend but maybe that was just wishful thinking. Still, it looked like they had a pretty cool setup there so I was determined to at least get in and have a look someday.