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spacedogfromspaceThe Vanishing
Chapter 3: Christine
Nyota comes across a strange campsite and meets and even stranger person.
The official search went on for five days. The weather stayed mercifully clear, and hundreds of volunteers aided in the search each day, but nothing was ever found. It was almost as if Jim had never even been on the Ostrander Lake trail. Some speculated that this was actually the case, that whoever had supposedly seen him at the trail-head that Monday was mistaken, that they had seen someone else. But that sighting was reported by a close friend of Jim's, who dropped him off at the trail-head. Unless Jim had foregone the trail and went down Glacier Point road on foot for some unexplained reason, he had to have been on the trail, and vanished without a case.
"What do we do now?" Leonard asked, standing in Nyota's hotel room after the search was called off. He looked tired, and not just from the physical exertion of walking around in the woods for five days. Nyota had a feeling he hadn't slept much either, awake with worry.
She sighed. "Well..." she trailed off. She too was exhausted, and she was having a hard time finding her words. Instead, she communicated her point by pinning Jim's missing poster and all the information she had collected this far up on the wall, alongside all the other pages from the other case files.
Even though she already knew that Jim had joined the ranks of these cold-case disappearances, pinning his picture to the wall made it real. Her knees buckled and she felt out with a hand for her chair, guiding herself into it without looking away from the wall. Leonard followed suit, scrubbing a hand across his weary face. They sat in silence for a long while.
"So that's it?" Leonard asked, breaking the silence after what seemed like eons. "We just pack it up, go home? Accept that he's just *gone?" *
Nyota sighed, rubbing at her tired eyes. "That's what a wise person would do," she said, and Leonard caught the implication that she was not a wise person.
"What are you going to do?" He asked.
"What I always do," Nyota replied, jutting her chin towards the wall, which was one red string away from being a conspiracy board. "I'm going to keep looking."
She prodded ahead of herself with her hiking poles, testing the marshy ground. It wouldn't do for her to get stuck and have to wait around for rescue. She stepped up onto an old log, keeping careful balance as she walked along it, avoiding a particularly wet patch of the marsh, swinging her hiking poles through the tall grass, eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary.
The search had been off for a week by now. Leonard stayed to keep searching for a few more days, but eventually had to leave. He had a job, and it was his week to have his young daughter, so with reluctance, he left.
Speaking of jobs, Nyota had been ignoring the numerous calls from her boss. He had been trying to get a hold of her since her second day away, when she missed her shift. Once getting back to Yosemite, she had been too distracted to arrange for anyone to cover any of her shifts aside from the very first one, and her continual absence without notice was clearly causing problems. She stopped getting messages a couple days ago, when her inbox filled up and would take no more. She didn't listen to a single one.
The light started to fade as the sun lowered in the sky, the shadows of the trees and mountains lengthening. She decided to stop for the night, before it got too dark to set up camp. It would be her third night out in the forest, camping alone in the wilderness. She had her spot tracker on, and remembered every once in a while to hit the button that sent her location to whoever she specified. Like in the old days, her location went to Janice. It was a good system. If Janice didn't get any updates for too long of a time, she had her most recent coordinates and her path thus far to give to search and rescue. And if she found herself in dire trouble, she could hit the SOS button, which would transmit her location to the local authorities and search and rescue would be on its way. It was a comfort to have, as a lone hiker and camper off the beaten trail in the wilderness, but she knew it was a comfort to Janice, too, who had always worried about her when she went out on her searches.
She set up her small, lightweight tent that she had picked up at a nearby camping and fishing supply store, started a small fire, and ate her modest and bland dinner. Then, she strung up her remaining food in a tree— her least favourite task —but the last for a short while at least. Tomorrow was the day she had agreed to meet Janice at the trail-head to go back to the White Wolf Lodge. As she stamped out her fire for the night, settling into her tiny tent, she hoped that when she got back to her cabin she'd have something new to add to her wall.
She packed up at the crack of dawn, wanting to get the most out of the day before she had to be back at the trail-head. While most of the day would be spent heading towards the trail-head, she had planned her trip as a loop so she wouldn't have to retrace old ground. Gear packed up and protein bar in hand, she set out in the early light, ignoring as her pants dampened in the dew-covered grass. The birds were especially active in the mornings, she noted, but the woods were full of sounds all day long. Birds were constantly calling, squirrels were always arguing, rabbits and foxes rustled through the underbrush. The sounds of nature were her constant— and only —companion.
Until they weren't.
Something felt off to her as she walked, but it took a while to realize why. She was bathed in absolute silence, the only sounds were her own footsteps and breathing. She stopped in her tracks, looking around. Her stomach turned into a pit of dread. Something wasn't right here. Nothing was ever right when the forest was silent. A spike of anxiety jolted through her as her mind reeled, thinking of what might be lurking nearby. A mountain lion, perhaps? Was she being stalked? Had a bear just made a kill, ready to come after her if she stumbled too close to its dinner? Or was it something worse? Something she wasn't meant to see? Something nobody was meant to see? Would she become the next to vanish? If she did, who would come looking for her with the same fervour that she looked for the others? Did it matter if anyone looked? For all her searching she had never found a single person. She had never made a difference before, so what was she doing out here now? She had left this life, she had a job, and an apartment in San Francisco. She had a new start, so why was she here again? Just to become one of the vanished.
She forced herself to calm down, stuff her runaway thoughts into the back corner of her mind. Seeing nothing of concern in the immediate vicinity, she forced her legs to move, assuring herself that if she just kept going the birds and squirrels and foxes and bugs would resume their ambience. But they didn't. She could hear her heart beating in her ears, she felt alone in her head, and she had to fight to keep from curling into a ball on the forest floor, or running through the bush in a blind panic. It took all her concentration, but Nyota kept herself at a steady walk.
When she pushed through a tangle of bushes, she stopped in her tracks. Something had changed again. The forest was still silent, she still felt a looming feeling of dread creeping up on her— the sensation that she was being followed, or watched —but now something had changed in the scenery.
There was a cabin. If it could be called that. It was little more than a peat-covered lean-to like structure. The door— again, if it could be called that —was ajar. It was a large chunk of bark that was set intentionally aside. Clearly it was less of a door and more of something to lean up against the entrance, offering a little extra cover from the elements.
Nyota walked carefully toward it. "Hello?" She called, but her voice was quiet. She couldn't bring herself to speak too loudly when the forest was so quiet, and when she hadn't been able to convince herself she wasn't in danger.
There was no answer, whether it was because nobody could hear her quiet voice, or because there really was nobody to answer her. She briefly considered calling out again, louder this time, but decided against it. Her quiet call was so loud against the silent backdrop of the forest that she was sure if anyone was nearby, they would have heard her.
As anxiety continued to creep up on her, the sense of danger growing. She became reluctant to try and continue her journey, convinced that she would encounter something bad— perhaps even deadly —if she continued. She decided to take shelter in the abandoned-looking shelter, where she could feel slightly more safe while she waited for the danger to pass, and for the forest to resume its normal activities.
Stepping up to the entrance of the lean-to, she ducked her head down to look inside. It was a sparse shelter, one wall at a 90 degree angle to the ground, the other leaning against it at an angle, a wall and roof combined. It was built of sturdy spruce boughs, packed with peat and mud for insulation. It was dark inside, but enough light got through the small gaps in the walls that she could see without too much issue.
She bent down to enter the lean-to. The walls were not high, and she was too tall to stand up straight inside the structure. She was distracted from the feelings of doom by the inside of the structure, which didn't look so abandoned after all. In the back corner, on the side with the sloped wall, was a sleeping bag. It was old, faded, and torn, but didn't have the layer of dust and dirt and pine needles atop it that would be expected from something long abandoned. The vertical wall featured some crooked shelves, which displayed an odd array of items. A particularly large pine cone, a broken open geode, and a number of small figurines whittled from wood. A wolf, an owl, a stag, and a few Nyota couldn't confidently identify. A wolverine maybe? Below the shelves were a set of imperfect baskets that looked like they were painstakingly woven from green twigs. In the baskets were scraps of cloth— no, not just scraps of cloth, but actual garments of clothing. This piqued Nyota's interest, and she knelt down on the packed down layer of pine needles to investigate.
"It's rather impolite to enter a stranger's home and riffle through their things without their permission, don't you think?"
Nyota let out a strangled yelp, instinctively whipping around to face in the direction of the voice. In her awkward crouched position and startled haste, she ended up losing her balance and tipping backwards, landing on her butt. Her arms shot out behind her to catch herself before she fell completely prone, and she stared up at the figure in the doorway, who was back-lit by the bright morning sun, their features obscured in the shadow.
Unable to speak due to the shock, Nyota just stared at the silhouetted figure, the sound of her own pounding heartbeat slamming in her ears. After a moment, the figure stepped into the shelter, and suddenly their features became visible.
It was a woman. At first she looked young, perhaps Nyota's age or a bit younger, but the longer Nyota looked at her the older she seemed to appear. There was a certain ageless quality to her face that gave away no hints to her age. She was shorter than Nyota, able to stand up straight in the shelter comfortably. She had fair skin with cool undertones, and shockingly white hair in a wavy bob that held itself in a floating, voluminous fashion that seemed impossible to achieve, especially out here in the woods. She wore a pair of worn jeans with holes starting in the knees, and an oversized grey plaid flannel over a simple faded beige t-shirt. Nyota was transfixed with the woman's face. Her pale skin was smooth and clear, despite her obvious lack of makeup. She had a small mouth with thin, pursed lips, and a sharp nose. Her eyelashes were dark and thick, blinking slowly over eyes of amber. Nyota had never seen anyone with eyes so yellow.
"Well?" The woman said when Nyota still didn't say anything.
Nyota felt blood rush to her face. "I— I'm sorry, I didn't know anyone lived here," she babbled. "I'm sorry," she repeated.
The woman cocked her head to one side, baring her teeth in a cold but amused smile. "You're quite a ways from the trail," she said in her low voice. It had a strange resonance to it, almost like a purr. "Are you lost, girl?"
Nyota bristled, and rocked herself forward on to her feet, dusting off her pants in what she hoped looked like a casual action. "I am not lost," she insisted.
"Hmm," the woman studied her with those yellow eyes. "Then what business do you have so far out in the woods?"
The accusatory tone in her voice made Nyota frown. Eyes narrowed, she retorted, "I could be asking you the same thing."
The yellow eyed woman chuckled, and Nyota noticed for the first time that her teeth had a vaguely unnatural sharpness to them. "A clever one, are you?" She crossed her arms, leaning casually against the wall.
Eyeing the sharp white teeth and the long canines, Nyota sputtered out, "I'm heading back to the trail-head. My friend is supposed to pick me up there in a few hours," she said, warning the strange person that if anything happened to her, someone would notice her absence very soon. She just wished she hadn't sounded so frightened while saying it.
The woman smiled, shaking her head. "I don't mean to frighten you," she said. "I mean you no harm. I just want to know why you're intruding in my home. Why are you here, girl?"
Nyota relaxed, slightly. The woman was intimidating, but she sounded genuine. "I... had a bad feeling, like something dangerous was in the area," Nyota said, grimacing at how ridiculous it sounded. "It sounds stupid, I know, but the forest went completely silent, like it does when there's a predator or something weird going on, and I got scared. When I saw your shelter I thought it would be a good place to hide until whatever it was passed." Her face was so hot with blood that she was certain that her flush was visible, even against her red-brown skin that usually did a good job at hiding such things. When the strange woman just looked at her with amusement, she tried to change the subject, asking, "do you live here? Like, long term?" She grimaced, regretting her choice of phrasing. It felt insensitive.
But if Yellow Eyes was offended, she didn't show it. "This is my home," she answered. "I live here year round."
"Oh," Nyota blinked, wondering how she survived the winters.
"It doesn't get too cold around here. Barely any snow, if any," Yellow Eyes said as if she had read Nyota's mind.
"Uh, right," Nyota stammered. "Why do you live way out here? If you don't mind me asking," she added in a rush.
"I'm an employee of the National Parks Service," she answered. "I keep an eye out for signs of poaching. It's a problem in this area."
"Oh," Nyota said dumbly. More of her anxiety washed away. This wasn't a dangerous, antisocial wild person after all. Well, with a job requiring her to live way out in the woods on her own, she may be antisocial, but certainly not dangerous or wild. Just an experienced and passionate outdoors-person.
After a long silence, Yellow Eyes moved aside of the entrance to the shelter, gesturing with her head for Nyota to come out. "You should be on your way, so you aren't late for your friend," she said, then gave her a wry smile. "Don't worry. I've lived in these parts long enough that I can assure you that there's nothing here to pose a danger to you."
Nyota felt a flush creep up her neck again, embarrassed at how frightened she had been, and for no real reason. "Right, yeah," she said as she stepped back out into the sun, her back sighing with relief as she was able to extend to her full height again. "Thanks, and... sorry for the breaking and entering," she said, her tone light but her apology genuine.
Yellow Eyes smiled at her, shaking her head to dismiss it. "It was just entering, really," she said, and Nyota relaxed at her joking attitude about her intrusion. "Now go on, girl. You've got a ways yet to the trail-head. You'd best start walking now if you want to be on time."
Nyota nodded, thanking Yellow Eyes again, then scampered off on her way, trying to ignore the ghostly silence of the forest and the feeling of amber eyes on her back.
After she had been walking for about half an hour, she realized that her feelings of dread had washed away. It was then that she noticed that at some point, the bird song had resumed, and life had returned to the forest around her. She sighed in relief, then stopped in her tracks and cursed out loud. Why hadn't she told the stranger about her search for her missing friend? As someone who lived out in the forest year round, watching for strange activity, she may have valuable insight into the disappearances that have been occurring in the park for years. But she had completely blanked out and forgot all about why she was here.
Nyota was tempted to turn around and go back to the stranger's shelter to ask her questions, to do the investigating that she was meant to be doing, but had to talk herself out of it. She had wasted enough time, and if she went back she definitely wouldn't be at the trail-head in time to meet up with Janice.
So she continued on, checking her GPS while she was still relatively close to where she had encountered Yellow Eyes, noting down the coordinates so she would have a hope of finding her again. She resolved to return later, maybe tomorrow or the day after, ready with questions and an open notebook. Yellow Eyes had to know something. But still, something unsettled Nyota about the woman in the woods. Maybe it was her unnaturally yellow eyes, or her teeth that were slightly too sharp. Maybe it was the sparse lean-to that she called her home, or the radius of silence around the area. Something was off about her, but Nyota chalked it up to eccentricity. Of course it would feel odd to converse with someone who lived alone in the woods for long periods of time. That didn't mean there was anything wrong with them, certainly nothing dangerous.... But still.
Nyota shook her head. She couldn't dismiss her feelings of unease, but she could dismiss her imaginative speculations. She wasn't going to let baseless thoughts prevent her from returning to the one person in the area who might actually be able to help her. To help Jim. And maybe even Shahaab and all the others. Nyota squashed down the hope that rose in her chest. It was too much to hope for that this one person was the key to mountains of closure.
It was a relief to be back at the White Wolf Lodge. After three days and nights of scouring the woods, she was looking forward to the amenities of civilization. The first thing she wanted to do when she returned to her room was to crawl into her bed— infinitely more comfortable than the forest floor —but she resisted, knowing she should shower and change into clean clothes first. Bringing all her grit and grime into the soft bed was a thought that made her cringe.
Her clothes were full of dirt and were crusty, both from dried mud and the tree sap that got all over her as she bushwhacked through groves of evergreens. It being pollen season made it even worse. Yellow dust clung to her clothes, and stuck in big solid patches where clouds of pollen descended on her before the latest sap patches dried.
She had thought that her clothes were bad, but she gave herself a shock when she glanced at herself in the mirror. The reddish tones in her skin were replaced by yellow as pollen clung to her skin, adhered by the oils on her face. Now that she saw it, she began to feel like her very pores were filled with pollen. Perhaps they were. Her hair wasn't unscathed either. Yellow flecks adorned her jet black hair, sticks and leaves and pine needles were trapped in her micro braids, and her hair looked less black and more greyish brown from the amount of dirt in it. Grimacing in the mirror, Nyota silently thanked Janice for not looking at her like the swamp monster she appeared to be when she got into Janice's truck. Janice was the accepting, non-judgmental type, the only type that allowed themselves to call Nyota a friend.
After removing as much debris as possible from her hair, Nyota stripped off her filthy garments and stepped into the shower, turned up as hot as it would go. She intended to scour the grime from her body and her very pores, and felt that only the hottest water would achieve that. She spent a long time in the shower, firstly because it took a long time to remove the grit from her skin and wash the dirt from her hair, and secondly because the hot water felt therapeutic on her aching shoulders and joints. She relished in the hot water and steam long after she was satisfied with her cleanliness, only getting out once the hot water began to run out.
She dried herself with a clean, plush towel, and wrung as much of the water from her hair as she could manage, leaving it damp. It would dry the rest of the way on its own. She donned a pair of comfortable and spacious flannel pajamas, brushed her teeth, and fell asleep the moment her head hit her fluffy and much-missed pillow.
When she awoke again, the sky outside her window was dark and starry. She checked the time on the light-up display of her digital watch. Ten thirty-two. Her nap had lasted a few hours longer than she had expected it to. Realizing that she had skipped dinner and was sorely missing a warm meal that didn't come from a vacuum sealed package, she pushed herself up from her bed, threw on a sweater and her leather jacket on over her pajamas, and left her room to see if Janice was still awake.
The manager lived in a cabin next to the hotel, so Nyota walked out into the crisp cool light and crunched down the gravel pathway towards it. The lights in the cabin were on, trickling out into the night between the slats of the Venetian blinds. Nyota clicked up the wooden steps onto the porch in her hard-soled slippers, and knocked neatly at the door.
From within the cabin came the sound of a chair scraping on the floor as it was pushed back from a table, followed by footsteps approaching the door. The deadbolt clicked back and the door opened as far as the chain would allow as Janice peered out. When she saw who it was, she quickly shut the door again, then reopened it after rattling the chain from its hook.
Janice looked ready for bed. Apparently fresh from the shower, her bushels of straw coloured hair were wrapped high on her head in a white towel, and she wore a thick, plush pink robe, cinched tightly around her waist.
Nyota gave a sheepish wave. "Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you," she said, but Janice waved her off, stepping aside and gesturing for her to come in.
"No, no, not at all," she assured her, shutting the door after Nyota. "Come sit down. You were so tired when I picked you up that you didn't tell me anything about the last few days. I've been anxious to hear if you'd found anything."
Nyota grimaced as she sat down. Janice stepped into her small kitchen and didn't see the look on her face. Between her nap in a warm clean bed and her hopes of finding a hearty meal, she had forgotten that she had turned up nothing in her search. When Janice returned to the table, she set a bowl of hot potato soup in front of Nyota, distracting her from her failed search once again as her eyes lit up.
"Saved some just for you," Janice said, nodding at the soup.
Nyota's stomach rumbled and she picked up the spoon, flashing Janice a grateful smile before digging in. "How did you know?" She asked through a mouthful of potato.
"You haven't been gone long enough for me to have forgotten your habits," Janice said wryly. Along with Nyota's soup, she had brought herself a mug of tea, which she sipped at timidly before setting it aside to cool some more. "So," Janice said after a moment. "How did it go? Did you find anything?"
Nyota's good mood melted away again, and she ate her soup with less enthusiasm. "Not a single thing," she admitted in a defeated sigh. "Honestly, I'm starting to wonder what I'm doing out here again. After finding nothing in any of these cases, what do I think I'll find now? It's all a waste."
Janice smiled sadly at her and reached out to place a comforting hand on Nyota's arm. "You're looking for hope," she said gently. "And that's never a waste."
Nyota sighed. "I know, but... I was moving on. Maybe I shouldn't have come back. I wouldn't have, if it wasn't..."
Janice nodded. "If it wasn't personal," she answered, knowingly. Nyota nodded.
"What should I do?" She whispered.
Janice hummed. "Do what you need to do," she said simply. "If that means go home, go back to your new start, then do that. If you need to keep looking for a while longer, do that."
"Is it bad if I want to keep looking? If I feel like I need to keep looking?" Nyota asked.
"No," Janice said. "If you need to keep looking, keep looking. It's not a waste to try. And who knows, maybe you'll come across something different."
Something different.
Memory jolted Nyota to her feet. Of course! How could she have forgotten. "That's it," she whispered to herself, a breathy chuckle escaping through a slowly growing grin. Her sparkling eyes darted to Janice, who had an eyebrow raised in confusion and perhaps concern.
"What's it?" She implored cautiously.
"Something different," Nyota said excitedly. "I don't know how I forgot it, maybe I thought I had imagined the whole thing, but when I was out in the woods this morning I did find something different. A lead." She laughed, partly in relief and partly in mania. "I'm going right back out there tomorrow morning."
Janice blinked. "Well, don't leave me hanging. What did you find?" She asked, Nyota's excitement proving to be infectious.
"I ran into someone out in the woods. She lives there, a park ranger," Nyota explained, her tongue running quicker and her hands talking more than usual in her excitement. "She's been out there year round for years, keeping an eye on the poaching situation. Maybe she's seen something, maybe she knows something about what's been happening to all these missing people!"
Janice gave a shallow smile, and Nyota didn't fail to notice the nervousness in it. Her hands stilled and she trailed off, giving Janice a curious look. "What?" She asked. "What is it?"
Sucking air through her teeth, Janice thought for a moment, then shook her head. "No, it's nothing," she said, rather unconvincingly.
Nyota narrowed her eyes at Janice, who avoided her gaze. "Janice, what is it? Tell me," she insisted. She had the sinking feeling that something was off here. Did Janice know something she didn't?
Janice sighed, shoulders slumping. "I just hate to see you get your hopes up over this," she said with reluctance, but sincerity. "I mean, if someone has really been out there for years, and knew something, wouldn't they have spoken up by now? Especially if they were a park ranger. I just... don't think she'll have anything that you don't already know from the reports and previous investigations." She grimaced. "I'm sorry, I just don't want you to get too excited when there probably isn't anything new this person could bring to the table."
Nyota sank back down in her chair. "Yeah, you're right," she sighed. She bit her lip and tapped idly at the table for a moment, her mind flipping through her thoughts quickly, like she was scanning a mental Rolodex. Janice had a point, but there was something about Yellow Eyes that struck her as different. She had a feeling that this mysterious woman in the woods saw things. Saw things differently than everyone else. Even if she didn't have any new information— which Nyota still thought she did —she might be able to help Nyota in a new investigation, or at least give her a new perspective with which to search.
"You okay?" Janice asked, ripping Nyota back out of her thoughts. When Nyota raised a confused eyebrow, Janice shrugged. "You were pretty spaced out there, that's all."
Nyota shook her head. "I'm okay," she said. "I still think that ranger can help. Tomorrow I'm going to go find her." A grim smile grew on her face. She was going to solve this case. All of them. Once and for all. And she wasn't going to stop until she had.
Nyota marched through the trees, stepping high to avoid tripping on the undergrowth of the trail-less landscape. She wielded her GPS in one hand, a compass in the other, and a crumpled map with crude lines marking her path was sticking out of a pocket. Her face was set in grim concentration. She was glad she had thought to mark the GPS coordinates the day before, when she realized she would probably want to find Yellow Eyes again. She just wished she had thought to take them sooner, when she wasn't already a twenty minute walk away from the unmarked and well-concealed camp.
With a careful eye on her compass since leaving the trail, she managed to find her way to her noted set of coordinates, where she stopped to let her pack down. She rolled her shoulders, which were still stiff from her three day traipse through the bushes with all her gear on her back. Her pack was much lighter this time around, as she planned to be back at the White Wolf Lodge by nightfall, but her shoulders and back protested anyway. Pulling a bottle from the pack, she stood up straight and glanced around at her surroundings as she took slow sips of the still-cool water, coming up with her next course of action. She knew the general direction of Yellow Eyes' camp from where she was, and how long it should take her to reach it, but she hadn't noted any landmarks the day before that would help her in pinpointing its location. She hoped that she would find some trace of her previous passage that would lead her back— footsteps, snapped twigs, flattened brush.
Deciding her break had gone on for long enough, Nyota dropped her water bottle back into her pack, gave her back and shoulders one last stretch by lifting her arms high over her head, then finally donned the pack and continued on her way.
It hadn't rained in the last few days, which was good for Nyota's three day excursion, but not very helpful in leaving a trail to follow back to Yellow Eyes' camp. But she was able to walk on with some semblance of confidence, nearly tripping on a rock that she had nearly tripped on the day before and finding a few snapped twigs that assured her that she was on the right track. But what really clued her in that she was nearing the camp was the blanket of silence that encompassed her. It was a near sudden transition between the hustle and bustle of the wilderness and the uncanny stillness in the air, almost as if there was some sort of line, some threshold that she crossed over in which no sounds could be made. She found herself clearing her throat just for the sound, to make sure she even could make sound. She knew it was silly, she knew she could still make sounds, but the supernatural quality of the silence and stillness still made her feel like she had to check.
Despite how unsettled she was, she ignored the chills running down her spine, the goosebumps on her arms, and the hair on the back of her neck raising, and continued on without pause. Though instinct told her something was very wrong here, not to mention dangerous, logic told her that there was nothing here that would harm her. Though she did have to wonder at the same area being eerily silent two days in a row. She thought about Yellow Eyes' barren camp and how it wouldn't provide much protection against large predators. Perhaps Yellow Eyes had some sort of deterrent to keep animals away from her settlement. Maybe she had something emitting a sound that was out of human range of hearing, but was audible to the animals and kept them away. Nyota decided that that must be the case.
As she was thinking about how such a device might be powered way out here in the woods— batteries, perhaps? There was no sound of generators —she stumbled upon the familiar lean-to as if it had popped up out of nowhere. Evidently, the camouflage of the place was impeccable. She was sure she would have walked right by it if she had been passing it only thirty feet to the left or right. She was lucky that her path practically lead her right into the side of it, where she couldn't possibly miss it.
She stopped walking as soon as she saw the lean-to, which only put her about ten feet away. Thinking about getting caught red handed in her trespassing the day before, she was weary about getting too close unannounced. This was closer than she had planned, but it would have to do.
"Hello?" She called out. Her volume was that of her usual speaking voice, maybe only slightly louder. She felt unable to speak any louder in such a quiet place. "Are... is anyone out here?" She asked awkwardly. When nothing but silence answered her, she had no choice but to stand, fidgeting and waiting in hopes that Yellow Eyes would return soon. She was reluctant to move, not wanting to get caught snooping around again. Though she felt like she should call out again, she decided against it. Speaking out in the uncanny quiet made her stomach drop in fear, and besides, if Yellow Eyes returned, she would see that Nyota was there waiting without needing to be hailed.
"Why have you returned, girl?"
Nyota felt her soul leaving her body as she spun around, finding herself facing Yellow Eyes, who was only a couple paces away, standing close enough to touch, with her her arms crossed in her greyish brown flannel and her white haired head cocked to the side in suspicion.
Reeling her soul back into her body and rushing to regain her composure, Nyota sputtered, "stop calling me 'girl,' I have a name, you know." She reached back to adjust her hair, not because it needed adjusting but because she needed to fidget nervously without looking like she was fidgeting nervously.
The startlingly yellow eyes moved, morphing from narrowed suspicion to wry amusement. "Well, I can't use your name if you don't tell me what it is," she said coyly, her crossed arms dropping to her sides as she started to walk slow circles around Nyota, forcing her to spin to avoid turning her back on the pacing woman.
Nyota felt a hot flush creeping up her neck, part from embarrassment and part because despite how terrifying the woman was, she moved in a silent grace that Nyota found breathtaking. "Nyota," she stuttered out, trying not to lose her balance as she slowly turned to keep up with Yellow Eyes' circling. "My name is Nyota."
Yellow Eyes paused, mid-step but perfectly balanced, as her eyes briefly glazed over the way eyes do when the minds behind them turn inward. "Nyota," she said slowly, rolling the name around on her tongue, as if tasting it. Nyota shivered, and her breath caught as Yellow Eyes suddenly snapped her attention back to her. "A good name," she said, nodding. "Strong. Genuine."
"Uh, thanks?" Nyota said, cringing at the questioning inflection of her voice that she didn't intend to include. Yellow Eyes, however, took no notice. She just watched Nyota. Looking her in the eye. She wasn't staring, certainly with no intensity, simply casually regarding her, but Nyota felt as if her mind was being read, or her very soul scrutinized. She blinked and looked down at her hiking boots, breaking eye contact.
"So, what's your name?" Nyota asked shyly. There was a long silence, and eventually Nyota looked back up, half expecting Yellow Eyes to have vanished into thin air for all her silence. But she was still there, still watching her with those bright, wild eyes, head tilted in curiosity.
"Call me Christine," she said, finally.
Nyota nodded. "That's... a good name," she said awkwardly, trying to compliment Christine's name as Christine did hers. Christine grinned, a laugh in her eyes as if Nyota had inadvertently told a joke. Nyota's eyes flashed to the sharp white canines that seemed just a little too long. Christine was silent again, and Nyota was at a loss for what to say. She considered asking Christine why she was staring at her, but after a long awkward pause, Christine beat her to the punch.
"You haven't answered my question, Nyota," she said, her voice low and resonant, causing Nyota to shiver again.
"I... What question?" She asked, her heart starting to race. Did Christine speak and she just completely missed it? That would be embarrassing, and a terrible impression.
"I asked," Christine said, starting to circle again, "Why have you returned, girl? Nyota," she corrected.
Nyota relaxed a bit. It was the question Christine had greeted her with. Less mortifying than just not hearing her. "Oh, right, sorry," she said, cursing at how flustered she was, and how flustered she sounded. "I came back because I think that... I think maybe you can help me."
Christine paused in her pacing again as she considered. "Help you with what?" She asked after a moment.
"With, well..." Nyota struggled to find the words, cursing herself for not having rehearsed a script. Of course, she hadn't planned on being this nervous. "I... People keep going missing in the park. I investigate the cases and all the trails have run cold and you live out here and maybe you've seen something or you know of something that can help me," she blurted all at once, cringing at the desperation that leaked out of her voice.
"Missing people?" Christine said, the surprise in her voice surprising Nyota. Christine's eyes glazed again as she thought for a moment, before her gaze turned outward again and she continued her pacing around Nyota. "People don't realize that it's wilderness out here. They don't understand what wilderness is. So, they leave the trail, and find themselves out of their depth. They get lost, they get hurt, they get attacked by bears or mountain lions or dogs. They fall in rivers and drown. It isn't difficult to go missing out here," she said.
"I know that," Nyota said. "There's always people who go missing in national parks and turn up battered from the elements or dead, but the ones I look for... their bodies are never found. And some of them didn't even go setting out off the trail, at least not on purpose. They'll just vanish from a group of hikers. As if into thin air," she shook her head. "I mean, out of all the people who go missing in places like this, one or two who are never found isn't out of the ordinary, but... something different is going on. There's too many that disappear in strange circumstances and are never found, no bodies, no bones, nothing. And I've been looking for so long and... and I've never turned up anything. I need answers." Her voice cracked in the end, and she realized she had been ranting, and working herself up. She bit her lip to try and keep from crying.
Christine was silent again for a long while, and though Nyota was looking down at her boots again, trying to get a hold of herself, she could feel those yellow eyes on her. But they didn't feel like they were probing her this time. That yellow gaze felt... warm. Like sunlight.
"I understand," Christine said after a long, long silence.
Nyota looked up at her in surprise. "You... You do?"
Christine dipped her head in a nod. "Yes. I am aware of these... vanishings."
Face brightening, Nyota's heart leapt. "Do you know what's happening to them? Why they're never found, or why they disappear so strangely?" She let her eagerness get the best of her, but she didn't care. Until Christine shook her head.
"If I knew anything, I would have reported it to the forest service and the police. I assure you that I wouldn't withhold information that could help in an investigation," Christine said, patiently.
Nyota felt that blasted flush crawling up her neck again, and was glad she didn't blush very visibly. "Right, yeah... Sorry, I got excited, those were stupid questions," she said, rubbing her temples and thinking about what Janice said.
"Not entirely," Christine said, voice pondering. "I can help you," she said, decisively.
Nyota shot her a confused glance. "What?" She asked. "How? You just told me that if you had anything that could help, you would have reported it already."
"Oh, uh, no," Christine said, her cool and calculated demeanour breaking for the first time as she found herself a little flustered by the miscommunication. "I mean, I'm available to help you. Going forward," she clarified. "If you want that, of course," she blurted quickly as an afterthought.
A tension that Nyota didn't know was there vacated her shoulders. In her eyes, Christine's momentary embarrassment over the miscommunication changed her from a predator in a human body into, well, a human. But she didn't have much time to reflect on this, as the weight of Christine's words hit her. "You're offering to help?" Nyota asked, certain that she had misheard. For a complete stranger with a job to do to agree to help her investigate cold cases was not what she had expected when she set out that morning.
Christine nodded, a single bob of the head that caused her short, wavy hair to bounce as if it were made of springs. "I am," she confirmed. "I've been part of this place for a long time. I know of these disappearances, and like you I also haven't been convinced by the usual explanations. I think it's time I looked for some answers, too."
Nyota smiled. She had come out here seeking answers, which she hadn't gotten. But she had found the next best thing: an ally with even more of a lay of the land than she did. And possible access into the Park Service's records, but that was something to be brought up later. For now, she extended a hand out to Christine. When Christine glanced down at her hand before looking back up at her questioningly, Nyota proposed, "partners?"
"Oh," Christine said, eyes flashing as if she had just understood something. "Yes, of course." She clasped Nyota's hand, and they shook firmly. "Partners."
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