The Fifteen Hundred

[ASGetty ((Zovo))]

Prologue

Jared stared up at the near vertical walls of the ravine. The blue sky above, but a narrow stripe in his vision, was bordered by pine boughs and naked stone. He ran his right hand through his damp jet black hair resting his left against the moss-covered wall of the canyon. Shivering uncomfortably in the wind-blown mist dashing through the gorge he adjusted his stance on the slippery stones just beneath the crystal clear waters in which he stood.

“This water’s damned cold.” Jared noted.

“Least you didn’t fall down.” Kyle countered, wringing out the sleeves of his shirt and tying it around his waist. Sure, he’d probably be colder for a while, but the warm sun on his skin would serve to warm him up faster than the soaked cotton fibers of his flannel.

“Yeah,” Jared chuckled. “You look pretty miserable. Shoulda seen yourself, flopping around like a fish. Makes me wish I’d brought my camera.”

Kyle sneered back. “Still plenty of opportunity for you to take a dive.” Mischievous smile, “I’m just saying.”

Jared ignored the threat looking skyward again, “I’m betting you’ve got about ten minutes before the sun clears that ridge and we’re back in the shade and you’re freezing your ass off.”

“Probably right.” Kyle conceded, “If we’re gonna see this thing we should get moving.” He put his energy into sloshing forward through the ankle deep water.

The Windy Gorge waterfall was supposed to be a sight to behold. A mile and a half up-stream from where the narrow canyon met the old highway at right angles just before dumping into the river, the waterfall plunged seventy-five feet down sheer cliff face to bounce once into absolute serenity. The falls were a product of spring runoff from the snowy mountain peaks to the west and only flowed with any enthusiasm for about two weeks out of the year; a process which had repeated without fail for eons, slowly and methodically carving out the Windy Canyon.

Seeing the falls was said to amount an almost spiritual experience; to stand in the presence of nature’s majesty, watching the ancient waters plummet into the crystalline pool, surrounded on three sides by moss and lichen covered walls of stone so close together you almost touch either side with arms out-stretched. The waters ran ice cold, glassy in their smooth unbroken motion over ancient tumble-smoothed stones; the only sounds available were the whispering winds the persistent roar of the falls, and somehow over all of it, the sound of sunlight tickling the scattered deer ferns. Even for those familiar with earth’s more eccentric aesthetic it was a humbling, almost mystical feeling.

Jared had made the trek upstream a couple of times in years past, only to find the circumstances less than accommodating. The first time he was too early. Though the stream ran lazily to the river’s edge, the falls at the canyon’s head was still mostly frozen and that water which fell did so in random exaggerated droplets. The icicles were impressive, to be sure, but it was hardly the life-changing shift in perspective he’d expected.

The second time the weather was trash. Damp and foggy, by the time he reached the falls he couldn’t see five feet in front of his face. He had approached as close as he dared, since the water became perilously deep closer to the waterfall itself. The rocks were slippery, and getting underneath the waters punishing flow would sure prove detrimental to his health. Jared had heard the wind, had heard the roar, but never saw the waterfall itself; nor the visions and epiphanies he’d been seeking. Worse, he’d twisted his ankle on the hike back to the car, which made for a less pleasant drive home. One reason he’d brought Kyle this time around.

Kyle was ambivalent. A city kid all his life, he’d never really understood what Jared saw in the wilderness. Why he was always spending time among the old growth forests in the hills and constantly badgering him into going hiking. Jared had even tried bringing his girlfriend’s camping. Which looked like a great plan on paper; out in the wilderness, in the cold, campfires, rustic smoke smells, doing manly things in a manly context where showing off seemed appropriate for once, sleeping bags, nighttime animal noises, etc. Only Jared’s version often included ten mile hikes with sixty pound backpacks; not the easiest sell when it came to high school girls.

Thanks to an old friendship between their parents, Kyle and Jared had known each other as long as either could remember; they often referred to one another as cousins in the presence of a third party though no blood relation existed. Unfortunately, Kyle could never understand this aspect of his longtime friend, nor could Jared comprehend Kyle’s apathy. Blame it on upbringing.

No, Kyle knew why he was here; to make sure Jared came back in one piece. His stomach rumbled as he continued to push upstream. The water was deeper here and Kyle let out a little shriek as his man-parts descended below the waterline. “Oh, shit, this is cold!”

Jared only smiled, taking the time to roll up his pant legs for some reason before plunging into the waist deep water. “We’re almost there, I can hear it up ahead.” He didn’t even seem to notice the ball-shriveling cold; and Kyle knew it had to be worse for him. Kyle was already wet from having slipped earlier, he was already halfway to sterile; Jared jumped in dry. Something was wrong with that guy!

Kyle pulled himself out of the deep water after a dozen yards and looked back at his friend, following with a small pack held high and dry above his head. “Hey, you got any food in there?”

“A Power Bar or four. Why? You hungry?”

“Am I hungry, he asks. Dude, you dragged me out of bed at ten in the morning. All I’ve had to eat all day was that bagel from Starbuck’s and it was so stale I couldn’t eat half of it. Besides, I gotta put something in me. I’m getting the coffee-shits.” Kyle shivered like crazy. The shade had encroached and covered the canyon floor; he could still get a little sun on his upper body if he hugged the north wall. He did so, regretting having not given his already damp shirt the same treatment Jared gave his pack.

“Alright, yeah, hang on.” Jared pulled himself out of the deep freeze, his pant legs still rolled up, ridiculously, to his knees. One thing about Jared, no matter how much it seemed Kyle bitched and moaned, he could never get a rise out of his friend. Jared always seemed relaxed, focused and, sometimes, recklessly oblivious. He pulled a foil wrapped protein bar from his pack and handed it to Kyle. “Don’t eat it too fast, alright? It’ll hit your stomach like a brick and I’ll be dragging you outta here.”

Kyle removed the foil and bit into the putty like substance therein. It tasted vaguely of cocoa, coffee, rice and . . . sand? There had to be sand in this thing. “You eat these all the time?”

“I don’t know about all the time. But pretty regular, yeah.”

“I’ll bet you are.”

Jared’s shoulders jumped once as he made a sort of mirthful snort at his companion’s wise crack.

“Loud here.” Kyle said, his voice raised over the roar echoing among the canyon walls.

“Yeah,” Jared said back, his tone even. Kyle read his lips more than heard him speak, “Should be just around this bend.”

Kyle rounded the corner and stopped dead in his tracks, staring gape-jawed at the scene before him. The waterfall plummeted earthward in an alabaster blur, crashing into a crack in the stone walls below and rebounding into the pool beneath. Sprays climbed skyward on windy updrafts creating rainbows by the dozen which shimmered in time with water droplets clinging to the sparse livid green plant life. The waterfalls itself seemed to plunge into the pool with the skill of a high-dive champion, causing few ripples on the glassy surface. The water before the pair of them was crystal clear magnifying their depths so the dozens of feet below appeared as though within easy arms reach. Directly beneath the falls the transparency revealed only blackness below. Kyle could only imagine how deep it might be.

“This place could get me so laid.” Kyle said, his cadence slow and dumbfounded.

Jared stood with his hand son his hips, staring up at the crest of the falls, a serene smile played across his face, droplets gathered on his eyelashes and hair and twinkled in the sun. “I knew there was hope for you, yet.”

Kyle only nodded still staring into the black abyss beneath the pounding water. Something caught his eye, a quick flash of gold like something metallic deep within the darkness, and then it was gone. “Hey, did you see that? I think . . .

[Woeful]

I saw something.” Kyle pointed towards the base of the falls.

Jared’s smile dimmed slightly. “Dude, why do you always do shit like that? This view is totally epic.”

“Seriously I saw something.” Kyle beamed with excitement, as if he were drawn supernaturally to . . . to . . . whatever that was.

Kyle hopped over to the left of the waterfall for a better view. The water was dark and foreboding at the base of the falls, as if light had not reached that spot in centuries. Kyle looked up at the morning sky and wondered if the light would be better on the other side of the pool. Kyle jogged back to Jared skipping over the rocks and through the shallow water.

“Can’t you just enjoy the view?” Jared shouted over the thunderous water. “No way, there is something in there.” Kyle shouted back as he jogged and skipped over the swallow water over to the right of the falls. There, where the waterfall met the pool was a tiny light, flickering in and out. Kyle pointed excitedly at the waterfall and pool. Kyle shouted but the noise from the waterfall was not easily overcome.

Jared was totally in his element. At least partially dry and not miserably cold, the waterfall and all of its majesty opened up his mind. He watched an individual droplet start almost imperceptive at the top of the falls, saw it catch a tiny ray of light and held that ray as it fell gracefully, arcing away from the crush of water at the base. Hundreds of drops per second fell. Each drop was like a tiny pearl. It was there for an instant, to be enjoyed for a moment, and was gone. Each droplet was doing the same fall downward but also taking a slightly different path to the bottom. Jared found a metaphor for life in these tiny nooks and crannies of nature. The power of the water, the grace of a droplet, the sudden stop at the end, duality on nature’s terms. Jared’s spirit began to fill.

Kyle forgot the waterfall for a moment. His focus was in the pool and what was under the waterfall. The water churned, the ripples lapping over the rocks to the lichen banks, each drop of water and each pound from the falls seemed to obscured Kyle’s view. “I ‘have got to have it.” His decision made, Kyle wrestled with a plan. “How best to get in and see what’s there and get it out?” Kyle thought to himself. “I have to stay away from the falls, that water might hurt.” Mentally he mapped out a path through the pool. Best to enter from where Jared is, he thought and jogged back to his friend.

“I’m going in,” Kyle shouted, “watch my stuff, and stay out of my weed.” Kyle dropped his pack, shorts and jacket, and stooped to untie his heavy hiking boots, all the while glancing back to the darkness and where he thought he saw the flash. He burnt the location into his memory and hoping to catch another glimpse.

“Seriously Kyle you’re nuts. That water is barely above freezing. I’m not coming in to get you, man.” Jared shouted. “You’re killing my buzz.”

“Don’t worry, I will be in and out no sweat.” Kyle’s inner confidence was high as a member of a state champion swim team; a little cold water would not deter him. “Besides, it’s what? Ten feet deep max.”

“Just don’t be stupid, I ain’t carrying your ass back.” “You ever been in water outside of a swimming pool?” Kyle ignored Jared and continued to unlace his boots. Jared slumped to the rocks wiggling his pack off, and peered deeply into the area that had drawn Kyle’s excitement.

Seeing nothing, Jared shouted. “Hey just hang on and watch the falls.” Jared looked at the pool beneath the waterfall again staring deeply at the black water. “I’m not seeing it man.”

Just as the words passed his lips and the vibrations were still fresh on his tongue, a glint of gold light flashed in Jared’s eyes. An exclamation was about to escape his breath, when the flash was gone, darting seemingly to the right. Jared’s heart jolted. "There it is.”

“Where?”

“There man off to the right a little, I think it’s moving.” Jared was rising off the bank, pointing.

Kyle quickened his pace, tossed his boots over his shoulders and took huge steps into the icy water. When the pool was about ankle deep, there was a steep drop off. Kyle hesitated a second and plunged into the pool. His dive was a perfect shallow dive driving him forward like a dolphin. His slender frame barely made a ripple. In a second he should be above where he had last seen the glint.

Kyle entered the water, and instantly knew his mistake. The cold water snatched his breath away. Millions of needles were pricking his skin sending every nerve on fire. The sound of the waterfalls and the pounding of the water were gone. Instant blackness covered his sight. Everything had been replaced by agony. Kyle’s mind held on for moment or two. "I got to get out." Straining with all his might, a push brought him to the surface of the pool right beneath tons of falling water.

The stain of the cold on his muscles and the disorienting affect of the falling water caused a moment of panic. The water pushed and tumbled Kyle out of the water fall towards the bank of the pool.

A yellow light flashed in Kyle’s mind has he began to lose consciousness.

Jared watched his graceful friend dive, waiting for the “damn this is cold moment,” that was sure to follow. Jared looked up at the waterfall and then down again and waited. Seconds passed. Nothing. Jared stared at where his friend dived his friend’s white tee shirt should be easily visible. Nothing. A heavy knot started to swell in the pit of Jared’s stomach. “Kyle damn it are you there?” Jared shouted in his angry voice that was used to run the dog off the carpet at his mom’s house. Seconds passed. The seconds started to feel like hours. There was not even a ripple in the pool. It was like the waterfall had stopped. “Kyle god damn you, come out!” Jared’s voice was reaching octaves were more feminine than masculine. Still the water didn’t move. No golden light, no white tee-shirt, no ripples. “Mother god damn fuck Kyle,” Jared stomped into the water towards the deeper pool. The water was no longer cold against his feet and legs. Instead his feet felt numb. Jared’s face turned from red to ashen. Kyle lay face down in the water, floating a few feet from the bank.

Jared’s reaction was swift and immediate. Half lunging and half diving, he reached his friend grabbing a hand full of hair on the back of his head.

Jared began to back up, dragging Kyle’s dead weight. His legs felt heavy and wooden, Jared lost his balance and fell backwards in the shallow water. Jared recovered his balance and slipped his arms under Kyle’s arms and around across his chest. Straining with Kyle’s weight, Jared continued backwards to a large stone setting barely above the water. Checking Kyle’s pulse was more difficult, but he found a weak but steady beat in his carotid artery.

The cold water combined with the cold air hit Jared squarely spurring action. He had to get dry and warm. He also had to Kyle warm. Stripping off the wet clothes was the first priority, eventually he would need to build a fire. Jared untied the laces to his hiking boots, cutting his fingers loosening the laces. The rest of his clothing went toward the bank, leaving him naked with his friend.
Next Jared began removing what was left of Kyle’s clothes. Removing his white tee-shirt and black boxer briefs would have been strange in any other situation. Once the clothing was gone, Jared climbed the rocks to his pack. His walk was part crawl, Jared’s legs were unsteady and he couldn’t feel his feet. Jared's pack contained some basic survival gear, and if Kyle had weed he must have a lighter. “God I hope he has a lighter.” In the narrow confines of the canyon containing the hidden pool, wood, especially kindling was scarce. Lichen had covered the banks making everything damp and un-useable.

Inside of Jared’s pack he had an old light weight blanket that he and Amber Joyce had used in the 10th grade. Even a few years removed the blanket still held especially strong memories. Wrapping Kyle inside the blanket and fiercely rubbing his wet skin seemed ironic. Wrapping himself inside the blanket with Kyle was beyond irony, bordering on being downright absurd. The shattering of teeth and uncontrollable shakes overcame his homophobia and the memories of Amber Joyce's . . .

Kyle wasn't breathing.

[Jenny (Reffy)]

Memories of first aid lessons came swimming back easily even through the foggy brain and tense panic. They'd both done a few lessons at their school including CPR but it wasn't going to be easy and the teacher had explained that it usually didn't work. She'd also said that the feeling of breaking ribs was something you'd never get over.

Still, it was worth trying. “Come on you idiot.”

Still shivering Jared pulled his friend further on to a flat piece of ground; cold fingers complaining as they were put under strenuous tension. With fingers laced Jared started the compressions, counting under his breath. For every ten compressions he'd blow air in to Kyle's mouth as per the instructions, with the patients head tilted back.

Even now his friends lips were slack, cold, and motionless. The thought of that and the feeling had Jared's stomach flip a few times over. He wondered if he'd throw up. Your mind was a horrible place some times. He knew he'd thought about the death of friends previously, his family, his dad, his friends. It was something the human mind liked to bring up and always he'd find himself fighting the thought and knowing what he'd do and how he'd do it … but now, actually in this situation, he didn't really know what to do.

Minutes drifted by. The waterfall just to the right of the pair continued to pound and crash in to the pool like before but now everything was different. The sun continued to dip towards the horizon. Birds continued to sing and rush passed. Even the grass and moss continued to grow. But all of this was no longer serene. Not to Jared. His mind was adsorbed by thoughts of how to get his friend down from the waterfall and back to humanity and when exactly he should stop the CPR.

He knew if he stopped the CPR then he'd given up. How long exactly could he keep going anyway? It was exhausting just to keep up with the compressions. How many had he done now? Fifty, one-hundred, more? His arms ached, and his stomach. Everything ached. It wouldn't have been so terrible bad if they hadn't also been hiking most of the day.

“Come on you son of a bitch!”

A few final shoves was all Jared could muster before he stopped and came to rest back on his heels. The sun had nearly gone behind the mountain. Sitting in the shadows it was now freezing. His dead friend was all that could fill his vision. Nothing else existed on this planet except the dead body that rested within a few inches of his knees and fingertips.

Until now he'd managed to hold back the tears but now they came. Just how would he tell Kyle's family? How would he get the body back? There would be no phone signal up here. It'd be difficult getting a crew here. To get the crew Jared knew he'd need to head back to the rangers huts they'd seen nearly three miles back. That would mean leaving his friend's body here … a thought he just could stomach. They'd seen bears here before – or at least, evidence of bears here. There were footmarks. The thoughts of his friend being eaten, even if he was already dead, came unbidden into his mind.

The sickness swelled. Tears rushed over his cheeks and along his jawline, or curled around to tumble from his lips, as his eyes puffed up to the size of coconuts. His shoulders slumped down as his chest heaved with the sobs. It hurt to stay kneeling on the floor but what other option was there?

His mouth dried then as words caught in his throat. Was it right to say something? Should he? Kyle was never big on religion, although his family had been. They'd want a proper funeral.


“Kyle?” his voice broke with the question. The scratchiness of his voice echoed back despite the thunder of the waterfall. “I ...” he stated but couldn't continue. It wasn't fair. It was his fault as well. He'd been the one to suggest the hike.

Shaking his head he knew he'd need to deal with the guilt later. Other things would need to happen first. “Let's be sensible, Jared.” He answered his own panic unable to deal with the life-stealing silence left behind. There was no bickering any more or verbal retort.

“Sensible would have been to stay home.”

A chill ran down Jared's spine. The voice sounded reedy and not completely whole. It echoed easily around the area; overpowering the sound of the waterfall despite the thunderous tone and the gentleness of the voice. It was weird and it was badly timed. It couldn't have been more than twenty paces behind him, which would have put it out in the water.

Jared forced his limbs to regain movement; to turn, quickly, and seek the location of the voice. This action was not small challenge as he tried to push the warmth in to the furthest reaches of his body, willing them back in to action after so long sitting still. A tiny portion of him hoped it was another person who could help him get Kyle's body down and back to the town. The other part wondered who on earth would be up here and why they hadn't helped when his friend had been pulled from the water.

He turned; landing clumsily on his bottom as his shoes slipped on the wet rocks.

Nothing but the waterfall greeted him and the shadows that even now crept towards his flung out legs. The sky was turning blue and gradually purple the further out he looked. The area about him a was a mysterious twilight that made it hard to define anything from the next. The rocks were part of the trees which in turn formed part of the waterfall. Man nor beast moved in the stillness. Just the sound of the water still roaring.

“Hello?” Jared shook his head, unable to shake the eerie feeling.

“Hello ...” the reply came. Not an echo, Jared was sure of it.

“Where are you?” He asked, feeling peculiar. “Can you help?” He added, urgently.

“Depends on how you define help.”

Still he could not see the person who spoke. His eyes cast about, eager to find the source, each moment that sloshed by making him more nervous than the last. It didn't sound like a human, that was a definite. It was too gentle and soft but hollow like the movement of wind through leaves. Yet such a delicate sound was not drowned by the waterfall. In fact, it was the opposite, as each time it uttered a single decibel the sound of the waterfall all but disappeared.

Unsure how to react Jared got angry. Angry at the world, at the situation, and most of all at losing his friend. “What is that supposed to mean? Will you help or not? I need to get my friend back to the village. Maybe they can save him!”

He stood up then, shifting on the slimy rocks, eyes now hunting in the dark for whatever was out there. It was a shock when he finally found what he was looking for. Out in the water, just above the water, floated – like it was swimming – a length of gold. It looked like liquid metal as it shifted. In some aspects it looked like water flowing, while others a snake; whatever it was the golden object was constantly changing.

“What are you?”

“What are you?” The golden thing seemed to smirk.

“Don't play games. Can you help?” Jared pleaded, desperately gesturing to his fallen friend.

“Why should I?” It slipped closer to the shore, hovering over nothing but thin air.

“You were what killed him!” The frustration came back, ragged in Jared's voice and terse.

“It is not my fault his curiosity got the better of him.” The strange object floated just before the shore, never touching the rocks or the moss that clung near the water's edge. “So, how do you define help?”

“I define help as ...” he paused and then hesitated, “as something another does without pay or complaint in assistance of another in need.”

“And you are in need?”

“I need your help, yes. There is no other here!”

“Except your friend ...”

“And he's dead because of you!” Jared shouted and the golden thing moved back, curling around the waves that lapped the shore.

“What if I told you that you could bring him back?” The thing hissed, obviously uncomfortable at being threatened.

“You'd be lying. I told you not to waste my time.” Jared dared to move forwards to follow up the threat. “Find a way to bring him back or fuck off.”

“Then I shall fuck off …