(GE Copy)

Chapter 1: The Precurser Unto Purpose

“The first words you use are seldom the ones you want to, but are often the ones that others needed to hear in order to swollow the pill up ahead. For people have been known to devower entire beasts whole without a second glance yet squabble to a simple, loving, truth.”

“No one's gonna see us, come on.” His voice certain, typical of Zack to have an abundance of confidence, at least until it flopped. It usually did. “Aaron, come on” He insisted, covered by the blanket of night.

“You haven't even seen Sophie, have you?” Aaron legged behind. Switching hands to hold the plastic handles of their night away.

“She's migratory, ten seconds, tops, bottle of sarsaparilla and a sub from a restaurant we never heard of, waiting for us at the summit.”

“She kinda just pissed off up the trail.”

“She probably took a shortcut, like we should be doing.”

The two climbed for what seemed like an age of it's own, stumbling over apparently nothing in the dark cast night, so very far from home. Wind blew though the trees like loud pins raining onto the cement, so vividly onrushing. “I think I'm getting a second wind.” Aaron announced, patting Zack’s back as his confident friend now gasped for air; his sweat visibly percolating under the moonlight.

“Cool, could you pass it my ways?” Already admitting the fault of his hasty ascent up the hill.

“Wouldn't need to if you weren't rushing us all the way...” Aaron reprimanded, combing the already dark strands of hair from his eyes. Standing still along the path, the sound caught his attention. “You hear that?”

“Something freaky?” Jumping up, Zack's head jotted about, finding neither mystery nor their missing partner.

“The air... It's so crisp.” It was the clarity which his ears were not accustom to; sharp, loud, peaceful. The breeze was refreshing even, moist but brisk. His heated core relished in this natures’ air conditioning. Looking back on his path, Aaron gazed, the slight line of town lights peeking over the treetops below them. “I swear you can hear the town from here. There is an engine running, it's kinda muffled, sounds like it's on the highway... Heading north.”

Freshly rejuvenated, Zarchery turned to go, his head still cranked in Aaron's direction. “I envy those ears some times. I cant hear shit over my blood pumping” Staggering away, “Give that second wind something to work off.” The strain audibly overcoming his speech. Kicking off his recuperation with a poor ignition, Zack nearly stalled again; his poor unadept legs faltered under their owners ambitions.

Aaron, still basking in his view, called out. “You know if no one is gonna see us... We could be taking our time.” He reasoned, happy with what he had.

“No ones seeing us if we keep moving, now keep up the pace.” Zack instilled, blowing his gaskets from fifty feet away. It sounded as though he was turning in for a derailment but caught himself, again.

Aarons sights still fixed back as though it was the last time he'd see this sight from this angle. He was getting tired of having things whiz by him, like the times before, when a force should wisp him from his joy. When he knew better, but turned away. He felt the pull to tare him from this sight, but rejected it. He was going to enjoy it, for this moment was special.

Zack called from above the tree lines of the zig zag, where a cut was made by locals “You can see more from the top.” But they wouldn’t. Where Aaron was, right now, was the best seat in the house.

Looking up, Aaron called out. “You know, some times I feel like I'm just going to end up being one of those guys that walks into the woods and doesn't come back.”

“Come on. Giants Head isn't really going to sweep you away.” Smirking to himself, missing the proposition given to him.

“No, I mean, one day I'm just going to be one of those guys that you never hear from again.” Returning his gaze back out to the line of lights. Zackery actually had to try to hear Aaron for once. “One day, just walk out, distracted, enlightened, whatever it is that happens to them. No gang violence, no pissing off some girl’s dad... Just, walk out into the woods, and find another world... It's really nice out, I love it.”

“See, what did I tell you? You'd love it here. You're always stick in the ass being responsible and shit. How are we going to see any weird shit if we're always tied to our fathers apron strings? Frick all moms can do about it. --And here you wanted to get permission...”

“And your dad could do us both in.” The lustre of his vista now diminished as his captivating moments wisped away. “All I'm saying is I see myself going full incognito in a few years. Maybe eaten by a bear... Just, one of those guys that disappears. You think it’s an accident, or do they just kinda, leave, you know?”

“I'm not gonna tell you that you're wrong,” Sitting himself down at the top of the cut, “But you're really not that kinda guy. You're a nerd, with enough junk in his garage to put my Brother out of business.”

“Been a nerd for so long because I don't get out enough.” Aaron shot back. “What kind of words do I need to say to tell you, I'm having the time of my life up here, it's freedom, it's...”

“...Yeah, it is.” Zack agreed, nudging a stone down the rocky path. “You could have had this years ago.” He sympathized, propping his arm and weight over his arched knee, staring between the brown bangs that draped forward.

“And why didn't you?” Aaron walked towards the rough shortcut. “I've known you since we were eight. This the first time you’ve broken out too.”

“Probably because I have no self respect for myself... And my Dad would have skinned me so hard they wouldn't be able to identify me with a DNA tester.” Retracting himself from the edge of their steep incline. “Don't think too hard into it.”

“He still can, and will.”

“But not tonight.” Zack turned for the road. “Tonight we take back our independence, camp out under the stars, I think this shit is beer, I grabbed from my Brother's old stash.” Adjusting the bag straps from his indented wrists. Circulation returned painfully. “And we're gonna see some weird shit whether it's real beer or not.”

“You got that out of an old junk heep!” Aaron contested, scurrying up to Zackery. His heel slipping out from under him. “It must have been there three years.”

“Booze don't go bad. He told me himself.” Zack assured himself, more than Aaron. Had the whole fake smile and everything. Lets hope beer doesn’t go bad after all.

Empty, extirpated, cleaned out for the evening; the old camp grounds closed during the night, silent as the grave. The no overnight camping sign illuminated as they passed by it. At last, one final peek separating them from a weeks worth of beef jerky, potato chips and stale cans of regret. If anything was to be believed, a bottle of sarsaparilla and a sub sandwich of unknown origins laid there too.

“Well, she's not here.” Aaron announced, making a pacing around the summit. “It's uh... Empty, kinda eeiry.”

“Aint it great!” Zack exclaimed. Aaron could tell he was being disingenuous but didn’t have the heart to call him on it “...Yeah, she's not here, huh... Pitch a tent and start without her?”

Patting his friend firmly, Aaron smirked. “You know just how to say it.”

Processing the information, Zack shot out. “Oh, come ON! You didn't have to make it sound like that.”

“You also didn't have to say it like that either.” Reaching into his bag to find wherever he put his peach rings.

“Oh, blo... No. No... Look, I don't have to prove my manliness to you, maaaan...” His sarcasm speckling from his lips in a demeaning voice. “I don't have to prove myself to you, or anyone else, especially after a wise remark li...” Rustling beside him, a figure with iridescent green eyes emerged from the bush, beside the now shrieking Zack, who... Yeah, didn’t really prove his point too well.

“Glad you could make it.” Aaron welcomed. “What happened.”

“Had to take a leak.” Sophie explained, munching the camp supplies. Broken twigs and pine cones falling from her long untangled bright brown hair, near magically. Probably all the conditioner.

“When have you had the decency to do that behind doors?” Zack asked, hand stretched out.

Putting the jerky in his hands, “Probably since you went through puberty and knew what you were looking at.” She remarked, flinging the bag over in front, kicking the contents clean across the monument. “Mringals?” She offered, mouth stuffed.

“Got any nuggets?” Her eyes slanted, and sneered at the sound. Putting the bag onto the ground, and scoured until she bestowed one box, still warm and wafting a lovely aroma. “Wow, these... You can't get these in town, where'd you... Oh... Sophieism.” Zachery concluded.

“Don't get too excited.” She cautioned. “People spend a lot of money for a box, sometimes just the box, thought we'd eat fancy tonight and use this container instead.”

“It's just McDolands, isn't it...”

“Hey, guys. Look at this.” Aaron called. His distant voice already bordering the edge of the lookout “You can see Penticton.”

“You've been up here, right?” Zack inquired, stuffing his palms with the laymen ‘nuggets’.

Aaron pointed, barely visible under the moon. “Wow... You can see the lights off the water. It's like when you're in a car but you can just stop and watch it.” The shimmer glinting from the lake.

“Oh!” Zachery pointed out, almost clipping Aarons head. “The houses across the lake too... I wonder.” Turning his head to the west. “Can we see your house?” Almost expecting to see the answer from so far away.

Still engaged with the sight, Aaron confessed. “Kinda scared to, remind me that were kinda close. Right now I wanna be so far away from there that I forget it even exists...”

Feeding himself yet another morsel. “You got a great home dude,” Zack uttered, crushing the food in his mouth. “Awesome parents, maybe a little over the hill, but...”

“You don't even know what that means.” Aaron glanced in disbelief.

“It's old and wacky right?... Hold on, I'll go check for you then.” Walking out. “I'll tell you in the morning if it’s that concerning for you.”

Aaron somehow doubted that, watching Zack make like a hoser and take off. “Don't fall off no damn cliff, the lines are there for a reason.”

“You worry too muchAAAH” Aarons back completely sweat over. He should have known something would happen. Running over, he sneered at Zack who was laughing up a storm. “You're as bad as your mom for being a worry wort.” Zack teased, still on solid ground. “Woke you up though, didn't it? Freaking landed on a jumping cactus.”

“Serves you right.”

“If I wasn't stuffing my face, I'd be laughing.” Sophie added in.

“You're talking, ain't ya?” Zack glared to the peanut gallery.

The night weighed on. The stars danced between thin and sparse illuminated clouds, like ribons wavering in the distant winds overhead. Though a slight breeze passed them, above the wisps and trails of clouds were much less tranquil. “This stuff tastes like a cats asshole.” Aaron spat out the tin aged barrel of swill.

“Still feels like there's a barb in my finger.” Zack fretted, hands working diligently to remove the thorn, teeth and all.

“There's actually about sixty.” Sophie added in nonchalantly. “Each barb has a great deal of spines that face inward. Hence barb. Their consistency is very stiff which acts to detach once the threat has been deterred, ergo the tiny spines in your fingers from being ejected poorly. I'm surprised you can't feel more.”

“Smart ass” Zack remarked, shaking his hand, as the numb sting set into his hand and grating teeth made it rosy and rare.

“People admire intelligence in others as a idolistic quality... People also prefer bimbos, but I'm not gratifying that desire tonight.”

Piping in, Aaron concluded. “People can't actually identify things that are closer than about an inch away as two separate pressures. I forget the name of the study, but you can do it with two pine needles right now if you want.”

“Interesting,” Sophie astonished, “I'll note that for later.”

“I rather not get any more poked than I already am.” Zack defended.

The gas lantern flickered throughout their night. Everyone now sufficiently stuffed, to the argumentation their stomachs. Zack made his return from a short scouting expedition and a quick leak during this time. Sitting down, he gazed into the enchanting glow of their camp light. “Well...” Aaron pried. “Did you see anything, or what?” Already knowing the inevitable.

“Few houses, not sure which is yours or not. Kinda wanted to grab the binoculars and see if I can't do a little... Late night neighbourhood watch.”

“Fine... I'm done being isolated.” Aaron stood, stretching his joins back into position. “Now I'm just curious.”

Passing the binoculars, Sophie wished them well. “Have fun bumping around in the woods.”

“Careful what you wish for,” Zack reminded. Taking the lenses “It's my ass on the line out there.”

“That's what I said.” She replied dryly, as though making a humorous jest that didn’t come through very well.

“Can't believe I fell for it again.” He admitted, wallowing behind Aaron. The light of their settlement dimming over the western dale. “I'm just trying to say something, and it gets thrown back into my mouth like it's something else.” Their footing came onto a powder coat over the sheer rock. Below them the stone steepened with a notable plateau at the bottom. Below that, who knows.

“Don't think it's gonna get any better than this.” Aaron instilled, the nagging worry slipping through his voice. “Mind your step.”

“Always babying.” Zack mocked, candidly skidding on the slick powder of dirt under his feet. Aaron grabbed the neck of Zacks shirt and yanked him back from the dark void in front. Looking down quite firmly, “Hooouullll.” His windpipes unconstipated, “That's a little more than I bargained for... Gimm-me them-m there T-things, yeah.” Using the bifocals to stare into the abyss. Not that he could see anything with or without them. “That's uh... A long way down alright.” Finally regaining his balance.

Shaking his head, Aaron was beside himself in a voice of bold clarity. “I have the feeling that in a few years, you'll be one of the kids at the zoo who falls into lions cage and gets consummated with it's digestive system.”

“You mean it's litter box?” Sitting his ass down on the ledge where it was safe.

“Nah, they'd probably have to shoot it first, likely end up buried with the giant pretty murder kitty.” Still pissed at his friends blatant neglect for mortal safety.

“So, this is why our folks don't trust us alone.” Zack’s eyes still eerily jotting to the abysmal pitch landing below. Picking up the binoculars for a look out into the dark before retracting them, “Heck, I can’t see shit over my life flashing before me.”

“What's that like?” Aaron asked, retrieving the lenses.

Disappointed, “Pretty mellow actually...” Zachery confessed “Like being on a cloud while a thousand little brain cells are screaming in the other room.”

“Must not have been serious enough, try again.” Lightly placing his hand on Zacks back. Magically, like a cat, it crawled away from the limp hand, curled aside, and clung to the embankment firmly. Aaron smirked. “My house must be somewhere but, I don't know. I see a lot of other cool stuff. Eye's finally adjusting. Neat lights, guess that one there is a car. Maybe a hiker.”

“Where?”

“Big white light, there... Above upper Simpson, I think. Off in the back, looks like there's a mining road, probably leads to the back of the Trout Creek. Never really seen any of it, be a nice hike actually. We should do it some time... Oh... I see why you can see flippity doo da with these things, you touched the fucking focal dial... No... Wait, I just made it worse.” Focusing intently, Aaron stared into what he saw. Perhaps too intently.

“Well, I can't really see much.” Silence overcame them, but instead of peace there was a heaviness in the air. To even the emotionally numb, it began to creep into Zack who looked over at Aaron. The binoculars fell taking Aarons arm stiffly down a peg with it’s fall, barely hooked on his elbow with the strap. Zack Swiped the hanging spyglass.

“Dude, you're freaking me out, what did you see?” Gazing though the looking glass himself.

Aaron tried to convey it, his mind hosting the conversation to himself, unable to mutter the words he scarily could form in the first place. “It...”

“Car? Person?”

“N...”

“Spit it out.” Zack ordered,

“Walking. It's walking. I saw it. It's there, I saw it walking over there.”

“An animal? Archaic rock monster?” The unanswered frustration turning to sarcasm. “Aliens? The Texas Wife Sealers From Arkansas TV cast?”

“It's a woman, glowing, everywhere, long hair, white, everything.” Aaron’s dry voice like a gust of wind, without depth.

“Looks like a Ghost.” Sophie recalled above them, binoculars in hand.

“E'squeeze me?” Zackery inquired.

“Later. Looks like it's... Ah hell, these things don't work worth a crap.” Retracting the lenses from her chocolate smeared face “Looks like it's heading up the hill. Might be looking for it's body, maybe a loved one... Could just be having casual ghost hikes, looking out at the ghost squirrels and ghost babies.”

“Thanks for making it morbid.”

“You'd be surprised what people dump in the middle o...” Scampering up the hill, Zack silenced the grim mouth. She bit him. She definitely bit him.

“Frrr”

“Had it coming...” She reprimanded. “Babies, baby strollers, half drank bottles of whisky, half filled bottles of processed whisky.”

“That thing...” Aaron pipped up. “Was a Ghost then, after all?”

“Could be a wraith, apparition, spectre or a phantasm.”

“And how would you tell the difference.”

“Depends on whether it tries to eat, talk, scar the crap out of us, or does the Macarena when we get close enough to it... If it was a Whojack, we'd already be dead by now just by observing it...” Checking her pulse “I'd say we're fine.”

“How do you know all this?” Zack begged, holding his twice bitten finger.

“Movies... Urban Legends. Once searched online the difference between a psychopath and a sociopath, ended up just watching the Teletubbies. Scariest shit I've ever seen in my life. There was also this one religious sermon I went to once...”

“What does tha...”

“Hold on! He was talking about the trinity and it was an interesting discussion about what a spirit is. People mostly consider the soul to be something that floats around but it was described more of a conduit between you and their deity, a sort of wire that sends power to the meat sack that we're all using right now. It got pretty weird after that. People sure have some weird analogies for the things they can't explain.”

“And that has what to do with anything we're talking about?”

“Firstly, my credentials that you’ve challenged. You know, we only call it a ghost because we have no idea what it is, and secondly... I forgot actually. No, wait, secondly Ghost hunting shows got really boring after that. Now, if they were hunting for spirit wires, that would be unique premise.”

“Well, now we're in one.” Aaron announced, seated firmly to the ground, an air of intrigue cultivating from his lips as they regained depth.

“No,” Zack contested. “We saw one, well, you did. Mission accomplished. Spotted a Ghost, just about died off a cliff, ate until we wanted to throw up in the middle of nowhere. I'm calling that one hell of a night. I'm gonna go back and drink some of that cat's-ass-in-a-can” Dragging himself further up the hill back to camp.

“Guess you're right, but...” Taking his bifocals back, Aaron continued, “There it is, right there in front of us... Answers to questions we've had since kids.” Zack stopping at the thought. “There's more to this life than the flesh and stone we're sitting on our whole lives. It's unique, it's special...”

“It's too freaky, I'm a small dose kinda guy” Zack returned from the distance.

“It’s like a forgotten voice calling me to it. To remember something, like a truth that is deeper than myself. Like a longing, it’s... Primordial, before time itself... It’s more than me.”

“Your call.” Sophie retracted.

“His call?” Zack contested. “The Ghost can speak for itself.”

“It does, and so does Aaron.”

Aaron felt the discomfort of pea sized rocks digging into his skin and ankles as he had crossed his legs. He shifted himself to stabilize the binoculars with his elbows to his knees. Looking back out into the abyss of nightfall and the partial overcast that blotted out the already ink soaked hills.

“Are you... Gonna be alright?” Zackery asked.

“How about you?” Aaron returned in advance. “I'll be fine, but...”

“I... Sure, I guess, it's just kinda weird that you'd sit here, trying to look for some creepy ass... I don't even know if it's a ghost, everyone else has seen it. I haven't. Don't want to.”

“Then I gotta ask, it's just kinda weird that you would rather not.”

“I'm cool with adventure... I guess... I never really realized how real the world is... It is real, right? The Ghost?”

“You feel something that tells you, maybe I'm overthinking it, who knows but Sophie said the same thing looking at it.”

“You described it, and she said it look... Sounded like a Ghost.”

“That's not the point. It's weird that you rather not find out.”

“Seems pretty rational. Being scared makes you safe, not... Babysitting scared but... When you look down the cliffside and realize that you almost kicked off there, you get this gut feeling that signals you to fall back on things.”

Thinking on it, Aaron’s void gaze across the pitch and moonlit needles put a quiet damper between them, as he intently considered it. “Doesn't that excite you?”

“In a few years, you will be the guy who goes missing in the woods, sooner if you keep talking like that.” Scratching his head as he leaned himself to go again, without Aaron to drag behind him. “If you're still around, I suggest getting some banana chews before Sophie gorges herself on them.”

Looking back to Sophie, Zack booted the crunched can. Their last half hour put Zack in a rut. His stomach was upset in the very least from the quick douse of piss that came from the old beer stash. Shaking his head, “I don't know how you stay in shape.” Her mouth continuously working.

“I don't eat much at home,” Sophie reasoned, her pace considerably moving to a crawl. “We have healthy meals, their small, nutrient rich, pungent... I wanted to find out what it's like to over do it.”

“Wouldn't that shrink your stomach more than anything?”

“Not unless you vomit” Popping her food laced tongue out, waving it with a gagging motion, half holding her ruse together by force. “Honestly, I'm glad to be out here more than anything. I never understood why people spend their time chasing after brands, and factitious reciprocals of ephemeral joy. It's stupid really, and frankly I still don't get it. All I got is an ache in my belly, and a mask over the social awkwardness of trying to be like the kids on TV. No fun in an ice cream headache, sitting around boring myself to death with tv, or letting myself go with what I eat. All this self-indulgent crap is pointless. Why all the kids our age fawn over this shit is beyond me. Absolutely ludicrous.”

Kicking back, Zack’s pleading voice called up to the stars above them. “Are we just hipsters? Trying to be something better than them, or is there something to it all?”

“That's what I'm saying, there isn't...” Putting the last of her snacks in the bag.

“And being hipsters?” Zack’s eyes glimmering with the vague illumination.

“Who cares. Just a label,” She said, scooting her legs out in front of her. “Like everything else people admire excessively. If I could learn something from it, I'd be like them. I learn nothing.”

“You learn lots. Nothing that important though, I guess... Mostly what not to do. That what you're getting at?”

“Don't know, just trying to find meaning.”

Above them was the freckled cheeks of the heavens, like a vast open well of stars. Swirling however more slowly than the eye could capture. Their own eyes wavered to focus on the tiny dots; wincing as they blinked to keep their dry eyes open on the convention of celestial bodies overhead and the wild winds which wept them warm tears down their cold stoic faces. Zackery’s eyes glimmering much more, called to his youthful lamentation. “They say in a few years, we’ll all be different. We’ll just magically transform into someone else like there’s no choice in the matter. One day, just, poof... You know?...” His mind making off with him. He lifted to remove a rock from under his shoulder, looking towards the dark. “Should... I go check on him?” A silent response shrugged it off, unconcerned. “Yeah, I'll make sure he hasn't chased the dragon off the giants nose.”

“Chased the 'ghost'...”

“It's fine,” Aaron solemnly arrived. “Can't see much of her anymore, kinda lost sight” Sitting down by the lantern, pumping a touch more fuel into the chamber.

Relieved, Zack confirmed, “Got it out of your system?”

“Hardly...” Making his rest beside the two. “Still can't wrap my head around it. Just... Right there, felt like I was ten feet away, just dead focused trying to make out the details on her face...”

“You're in love aren't you?” Zack put out, smirking. “You're freakier than I thought.”

“Take off.” A grin widening up his cheeks, which took the marble face from Aaron’s voided expression. The night passed them by before the vista of their first real act of freedom. One where the crickets called and the pins rustled amidst the green guardians. From wince the dark of the earth adjusted to moon’s broadcast and from the mundane existed a world both bold and dim. It passed as a strange fluid motion, naturally as the minutes and the hours, as though one should take note to how unimpeded it was in tranquility, but knew not how truly special such a time of peace like this really is. Outside of them, however, there exists no night where nothing ever happens.