Small town tend to have their own unique charm. The diner where you can get the best sweet tea in three counties. The yearly chicken run where the chickens don’t actually run but instead ride in RC cars controlled by the humans running alongside them. The kind old man who offers cookies and reads stories to kids from his porch every Saturday. None of that was what set Forest Grove apart from other towns. No, what set Forest Grove apart was the inhuman wail that randomly echoed from the trees that gave Forest Grove it’s name.
There was nothing particularly terrifying about it. It was never followed by screams. Townspeople never went missing. There were no strange lights or sightings of creatures. Just that unpredictable wail.
It was impossible to really describe to anyone that hadn’t heard it. There was a metallic quality and an oddly high pitch at the end that led many to believe it wasn’t human. That, and the fact that the sound has been reported for over 100 years.
The police have long since stopped investigating and the townspeople have stopped calling. Sometimes the odd visitor or two will panic until met with the gentle smile of a local who simply says it’s just part of life in Forest Grove.
Today though, the town will have thier answer. Maybe. Hopefully. With my trusty GoPro, thermal imaging app on my phone and supplies for three days, I’m going to find out what’s making that noise once and for all. I’m not coming out of the woods until I do. Or until my parents get back and I do have school on Monday. I guess most 16 year old girls left alone for the whole weekend would throw a party or at least invite a boy over. Not me. Nope. I’m all about a good mystery and it doesn’t get any better than this one.
I hefted my pack on my back and set off. Today was the starte of the biggest adventure I had never been on and I knew I’d find the answer. Granted plenty of people with better equipment and more time had tried before me but maybe it was the Blair Witch effect – all this thing needed to actually show up was a kid with a camera. Although I really hoped it happened without the whole dying thing.
Just in case I had backup. Jordy was my best friend and he had eagerly- willingly-reluctantly signed up. But he swore he was not spending the night in the woods. He planned to go home and sleep in his own bed every night. And considering his home was about ten feet from the forest and not across town like mine, I was cool with that. Plus if he slept at home it drastically increased my chances of hot coffee every morning.
As the thought of coffee entered my mind I heard it.
The wail.
Today it was so loud I nearly had to cover my ears and the leaves on the trees ahead of me shook. Birds didn’t scatter like they always did in the movies though, they were as used to the sound as the rest of us.
“Are you sure you want to go looking for that?” Jordy said coming up beside me. I noticed his was much lighter equipped than me with just a simple messenger bag that likely carried his mini laptop.
“Well it hasn’t killed anyone yet.” I said with a shrug.
“That we know of.” Jordy pointed out.
“No one has ever gone missing or died of anything but old age and boredom in this town. Who could it be killing?”
“Maybe it gets people from out of town. Maybe people come to it. Stupid people like us.”
“What? You saying it calls for a pizza and then eats the pizza guy?” I imitated the mechanical wail adding ‘large pepperoni’ with my cellphone to my ear.
“You never know man.”
“We will. After this weekend, we’ll know.”
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