Horror Collections

Horrors of a Park Ranger

It was another long night searching through the dense forest. There was a new moon tonight, keeping the sky like a shade of the abyss. With the beams of our lights put together, though, the path ahead was completely illuminated. It was uncommon for children to go missing, or anyone to get lost in the forest of green, but it was unusual how late the report came in. At first, we assumed the mother had been frantically searching the woods for herself, but that wasn't the case. Apparently, the kid went missing three days ago, and while it was never a nice thought, those first few hours are the most important when it comes to finding missing people.

"Ranger Jenny, we have found the boy, over!" Ranger Miles called via radio. I grabbed the radio off my belt clip and raised it to my mouth.

"Where at, Miles?" I questioned. The other three park rangers beside me all came to a halt hearing that the kid had been found. We all waited with anticipation. It took Miles a few seconds, but he eventually responded.

"Near Redwater Creek. About twenty paces north of the bridge... You'll see us all spread out," Miles replied. He didn't sound like his normal self though. He spoke through quivering lips and it was as if his words were caught in his throat.

"On our way, see you soon," I said and placed my radio back on my hip. I nodded at the three to follow me as we carefully began climbing up a small hill, back to Leaf-Foot trail.

"So... " Ranger Thomas spoke up. "Do you think the boy is alive? I mean, Miles didn't say if he was or not er-"

"Probably not. I just hope that it wasn't a murder," Ranger Arnold cut him off. He was a lot older than any of us. Retired from the military but still wanted to serve the community. This will be his twelfth year working as a park ranger.

"How can you say that?! It doesn't matter how he died. That boy is someone's child, who was probably loved and missed by a lot of people," Ranger Claire said angrily. She was the youngest out of all of us. A new mother, too.

"The kid's parents called us three days after the fact! You should be mad at them, not me," Arnold said, his voice stern and irritated.

"I'm just saying you shouldn't talk like that," Claire defended her argument. I didn't want to step in. They usually bickered whenever Arnold said something that could be interpreted in a rude or demeaning way. The horrific fact about or jobs is that we are not strangers to death, and sometimes the cases run cold. It's not like it happened every day, and you truly never get over the gruesome fact, but you had to respect the lives lost within these woods.

"Will you both stop it!" Tom snapped at the two, who had continued arguing over whose fault the boy's death was. A sigh of relief slipped out.

"You guys are too soft to work here! When I served in the armed forces..." and we all checked out as Arnold went into his rant about today's youth.

The fire department had arrived by the time we hiked to Redwater Creek. The police were on the scene as well, and we were busy taking photographs of the area. My heart sank as I approached the yellow tape blocking off the north trail.

"Hold on," one of the police officers stopped me before I crossed under the police tape. "You shouldn't be here. We are opening an investigation."

"I'm a senior park ranger. If a case is being opened I need to know what is going on," I said. I noticed he grimaced when I said this. He nodded at the other three to head back to the main office of the park.

"Well, they shouldn't be here then. We will be closing the park until further notice," he stated calmly. This was fair enough. I waved at the two as they turned without questions. Claire seemed to hesitate at first, but I gave a reassuring nod. Though she was dissatisfied with my gesture, she followed the others back to the office.

"So what exactly happened?" I asked as I trailed behind the police officer. There was a huge spotlight aimed at one of the pines. This was an old tree, tall and beautiful, but peaks of crimson trailed down its enormous trunk. A fireman on a ladder carefully reached for what had stained the bark. I felt a pit open in my stomach, and it took all of my strength to hold down the rising bile in my throat.

The officer turned to me with a pale face and said, "We don't have a god damn clue how the body got up there."