Ariel Irene
The rockier terrain has made food harder to find, and we’ve gone back to keeping a nightly watch after noticing signs of mountain lions on our walk yesterday. We spent all night hungry, thirsty, tired, and pissed, and so far, today has also been a pretty miserable day. And to top it all off, we have no idea where Thaddeus is.
We’d been walking for maybe an hour this morning when we came across what looked like a high-stakes ropes course. The kind of thing you’d see at a summer camp, but with some of the bridges hanging over ravines, or frayed ropes, or rotten boards. I have no idea who built it, or how long it’s been here, but as we approached, we found a little overhang in the rock where someone had written a message: it looked like instructions for how to get across—scrawled in some kind of paint or charcoal on a part of the wall where the rain didn’t reach.
It’s the first evidence we’ve seen in ages that there were (or are?) other people here. I immediately started reading the notes out loud, but they were so specific and complicated that they made my stomach ache. Lilo was ready to give it a try with me, but when we tried to convince Thaddeus to come along, he just scoffed and said we should try to find a way around it. Said the notes didn’t make any sense and there was no way we’d survive, even if we did everything perfectly, so it wasn’t worth trying. Said he’d rather risk his life with the relatively known variable of the wilderness over “the unknown variable of this man-made monstrosity”.
Lilo and I disagreed with him, of course, but we couldn’t convince him. So we just ignored his sarcastic running commentary while we tried to figure out how to memorize or copy out the notes on the wall. After a while, he went silent, and we figured he’d realized that going around was a bad idea, but by the time we felt ready to start the first bridge, we realized that Thaddeus as gone. We have no idea how long ago he left, or where he went, or whether he wanted us to follow him.
Lilo Talei
I can’t believe Thaddeus ran off like that. I hope he’s okay! We’re making camp for the night in a little cave we found that we hope isn’t occupied by a bear or some other animal, doing our best to track him. It took us ages to even figure out which way he’d started walking—it wasn’t until Ariel noticed a raven sitting in a tree holding a button from his coat that we were able to pick up his trail. The ravens here are so curious. It really feels like they’re part of our team, somehow. Like they’re rooting for us.
So anyway, we started walking who knows what way, just trying to look out for broken branches or any other sign of Thaddeus. No idea how far away he is or where he thinks he’s going, all on his own like that. I know Ariel (and I, because I’m not going to pick another fight with her) came on a little strong when he suggested finding another route, but this feels like an overreaction. He’s been so steady up to this point. What came over him? We all agreed that the stuff written on the wall was insane, but this whole thing is insane, so what changed?
I hope we find him again. I can’t bear the thought of him dying alone in this wilderness somewhere.
Thaddeus Diggory
I’ve stopped for a brief rest, after walking for most of the afternoon. I have a little smoked rabbit left in my pack, and a small amount of water, and then I’ll need to go look for something to eat. I split from the girls earlier today. I have no idea if they’re looking for me, or if they decided to try and follow the convoluted insanity they found scrawled on the wall by that absurd chasm. I tried to explain my concerns, that there are simply too many variables to account for, even without the interpersonal tension they’ve carried the last few days. I can’t count on them to be rational, especially in a high-stress situation, and I cannot risk one of them flying off the handle halfway across. And even if they behave perfectly, they’re young and healthy, but at my age? There’s no way I’d survive a thing like that, even without the overly specific instructions and the threat of imminent death.
No, I like my odds out here much better.
Besides, I don’t like being teamed up on, and there was no way they were going to change their minds. They’ve been a little too buddy-buddy lately, a little too quick to take one another’s side without hearing my perspective. I’ll be better off on my own.
-
The sun set hours ago. I was able to make a fire, but nothing else. No food. No water. It’s like this section of the mountain is a barren wasteland. Perhaps there was some wisdom in trying to cross where we found signs of human life—human survival.
I’m waiting to find the bones that I will soon join if I can’t uncover food quickly.
You’re reading The Ravenswing Report, a rapid-fire, limited-run serial from Sara Dietz at Blinking Blue Line. To learn more and access the Table of Contents, click here.
They split up. Oh this is bad. This is bad bad bad.
Thaddeus! 😭