"You must be Hailey Collins. I'm Dean, this is Sam and Callie. We're rangers with the park service. Ranger Wilkerson sent us over. We wanted to ask you some questions about your brother Tommy," Dean says.
"Let me see some I.D."
Dean reaches into his pocket and pulls out his "I.D." "There you go." She glances up at him, before opening the door.
"Come on in."
"Thanks."
"That yours," she questions, noticing his car.
"Yeah," he nods.
"Nice car," she compliments before walking in. Dean walks in, and he glances back at us, mouthing, "oh my god" to us. I roll my eyes, following him in.
Once we're settled in, Sam speaks. "So, if Tommy's not due back for a while, how do you know something's wrong?"
"He checks in every day by cell. He email's photos, stupid little videos. But we haven't heard anything in over three days now," she explains.
"Well, maybe he doesn't have cell reception," I suggest.
"He's got a satellite phone, too," she shakes her head.
"Could it be he's just having fun and forgot to check in," Dean says.
"He wouldn't do that," a boy at the table states.
"Our parents are gone. It's just my two brothers and me. We all keep pretty close tabs on each other," she says making my expression soften.
"Can I see the pictures he sent you," Sam asks.
"Yeah," she nods, walking over to her computer. She pulls up the pictures, speaking. "That's Tommy. This is his last message," she says, starting the video.
"Hey, Hailey. Day six. We're still out near Black Water Ridge. We're fine, keeping safe, so don't worry, okay? Talk to you tomorrow." She stops the video.
"Well, we'll find your brother. We're heading out to Black Water Ridge first thing."
"Then maybe I'll see you there," she says. We're silent. "Look, I can't sit around here anymore, so I hired a guide. I'm heading out in the morning, and I'm gonna find Tommy myself."
"I think I know how you feel," Dean admits. I roll my eyes again.
"Hey, you mind forwarding these to me," Sam asks.
"Sure," she nods.
~ ~ ~
"So Black Water Ridge doesn't get a lot of traffic-- local campers mostly-- but, still, this past April, two hikers went missing out there. They were never found," Sam explains.
"Any before that?"
"Yeah. In 1982, eight different people all vanished in the same year. Authorities said it was a grizzly attack. And, again, in 1959, and again, before that, in 1936--," he nods, pulling out his laptop and opening it. "Every 23 years, just like clockwork. Okay, watch this. Here's the clincher. I downloaded that guy Tommy's video to the laptop. Check this out." He plays the video, and I notice something pass by his tent outside.
"Do it again." He rewinds, clicking three times.
"That's three frames. It's a fraction of a second. Whatever that thing is, it can move," I state. Dean suddenly hits Sam's arm.
"Told you something weird was going on."
"Yeah. I got one more thing," he says, shutting his laptop. "In '59, one camper survived the supposed grizzly attack, just a kid-- barely crawled out of the woods alive."
"Is there a name?"
YOU ARE READING
One More Time
Fanfiction"Please," Sam says. I look up at him, our eyes meeting. "Just one more time, that's all we're asking for." "One more time," I say, glancing between them. "One more time," Dean nods. "Okay."
