The mountains loomed far away, silent giants that stretched long shadows over Whispering Pines as dawn began to break. Ray had spent all night without sleep, uncoiling his mind over the stranger's words, Eleanor's cryptic notes, and that cold, unsettling feeling something ancient and dangerous hid in the edges of town's wilderness. Eleanor ventured out into the unknown, and Ray realized that her discovery had awakened the interest of something or someone lurking at the edge of the mountain.
Ray hadn't planned on returning to the station this early, but his need for answers wouldn't let him rest. Detective Sam Bishop was already there, coffee in hand, flipping through the latest report updates with bleary eyes. Ray caught his gaze as he approached. Surprise and concern started to wash across Sam's face.
"Ray, you look like hell. Everything all right?" Sam asked, eyeing his friend warily.
Ray sank into the chair opposite to Sam, rubbing his face. "This isn't a normal case, Sam. I talked with someone last night, a man who claims he has some acquaintance with Eleanor and her. interests. He dropped hints that whatever it was Eleanor was up to, it was something we didn't think it was.
Sam's brow went up. "Who is he?"
"Tall, dark hair, intense. Didn't give me a name, but he knew Eleanor well enough to leave her cryptic notes, little riddles. He said Eleanor wasn't the first to go missing. And if we don't figure this out… she won't be the last."
Sam wrinkled his nose, setting down the coffee. "So, this guy's a threat?"
Ray shook his head slowly. "I don't know. He felt more like… a messenger. Like he's warning me to stop before I find out too much."
Sam settled back into the chair, thinking over Ray's words carefully. "So, what's the plan?"
Ray pulled out the postcard from his pocket, showing Sam the words scrawled on the back. "He left me this—"It watches from the mountain's edge.".
Sam studied the card, his frown deepening. "The mountain… do you think he's taking us up there?"
Ray nodded. "Eleanor might've gone up there alone. Maybe she thought she'd find whatever answers she was looking for." He paused, the weight of the situation pressing down on him. "We need to search the mountain, see if there's any sign of where she went.".
Sam whistled softy. "That's a hell of a place to start looking. Those trails go deep and if Eleanor did find something up there." He let it drop, no need to finish.
Ray and Sam drove toward the mountain base by mid-morning. Narrow road was lined with their dense branches, weaving together to provide a canopy cover for most of the light to be blocked out, leaving everything in an eerie half-shadow. Ray just couldn't shake the feeling that something was out there, lurking within the trees, waiting.
As they rode and walked along the trail, Ray's thoughts slid into the more or less solid plans he made to find Eleanor walking this path alone. What led her here? What might she have looked to find? Each step down into her fear, her curiosity, her seeking after whatever darkness she sensed in the world around her.
Hours were spent climbing the trail, and senses heightened, waiting for some indication that might yield Eleanor's presence. The higher they went, the more oppressive the silence became; nothing was heard except for the crunch of leaves beneath their boots.
Just as Ray was starting to have his doubts about the whole endeavour, Sam stopped dead, pointing off down a small trail that ran off to one side. There, concealed behind a scattering of boulders, lay a worn leather journal. A rustle of leaves covered its cover. Ray's heart leapt as he took hold of it, brushing fingertips over the familiar handwriting scrawled on the first page.
It was Eleanor's.
Ray stared at Sam, his eyes glinting with excitement and terror. "This is her journal. We may have just found our first real clue."
They sat down on a fallen log. Ray shuffled through the pages of her journal, reading Eleanor's writing. Most of it was filled with 'musings on life and the mysteries of the town and the natural world, but later entries were darker and more frantic. Her writing became disjointed; she scribbled erratically, almost frantically.
"I've seen it. Shadows among the trees. They watch, silent. But they're real."
Ray's eyes narrowed as he read, his pulse quickening. Eleanor had seen something-something that had followed her, haunted her. There were more entries, some filled with cryptic symbols, others with phrases that barely made sense, until one line stood out, scrawled in bold, trembling letters.
"I am not alone here."
The last pages were blank, it was like Eleanor was interrupted before she finished her thoughts. Ray closed the journal, and his face was ominous with his features sharpened with question at Sam.
"She was onto something," Ray said low and serious. "Something out here was watching her."
Sam flicked a look around and then upwards at the thick tree cover. "So, what now? We keep going?"
Ray stumbled, his eyes up at the mountain above them. The path went on, curving higher and deeper into the shadows. Every instinct screamed that they were stepping into something they didn't bloody well understand, something that might suck them in like it did to Eleanor.
"That's not a good idea," Ray said to Sam, his voice steady but resolute. "Yeah. We keep going. What ever Eleanor found, we need to see it for ourselves.".
The forest must close in; silence grows heavy, almost stifling. Ray still clings to Eleanor's journal while questions and doubts flow across his mind.
---
What had Eleanor learned up there in the mountains? And was Ray or Sam prepared for what lay ahead?