Meet Me in the Middle

Chapter 17

After a long-haul flight and a car ride later, they had finally arrived at their research site. Cassie lugged her backpack around as they got out of the car, they were lucky to have had accomodations pre-planned by the institution so getting to and from was a breeze to say the least.

The group hiked a little over a mile through the forest. The tall, redwood trees lined their path as one of her groupmates, Matt, took pictures along the way. The scent all around was akin to pine, an earthy almost lustrous aroma coming from the century-old wood.

She placed her palm on a nearby tree, feeling the soft grooves and miniscule parts of the wood crumble under her fingertips. It all just felt like home.

They descended down into a nearby hut, a dilapidated one at that. The structure was rusted and worn down, with the windows lacking glass and the wood chipping away at the seams. A sign hung from the front, "Hollow Angel's Guard House". She barely read through the sign, struggling to make out the shapes of the letters before an old man, dressed in a uniform akin to policemen walked out, a small smile present on his face.

"Hi there, how can I help y'all?" he spoke in a posh, almost formal accent as he stared the group down; looking questionably at Matt still taking pictures.

"We were tasked to do research here, we got a permit but we really don't know the place too well" Gregory Heath, their leader, replied. Holding up a piece of paper to the old man.

"Sure thing, y'all down to look at some trees or somethin'?" he joked, but Gregory nodded making him stop chuckling.

He gestured for them to follow him, traversing down the hilly path towards a more woodsy area of the forest. Once settled, the team got to work; with Cassie doing the best she can to help. The group set up camp for the day, their belongings scattered all around the dirt floor.

"This place had been somewhat of a logging site way back then, but them environmentalist people decided to build up the forest from scratch." The old man stated, the group paying close attention to his stories.

"What's that smell?" Matt asked no one in particular, pointing his nose to smell whatever piqued his nostrils

"It's a forest, it smells like wood, duh" Rosa answered him, writing down the grooves of a nearby father tree she had been observing.

"No, it smells-" Matt continued to speak, putting his finger up; deep in thought. "-burnt"

Cassie thought it out, carefully sneaking in her own smell search. She nodded, it did smell burnt. The forest had a regular woodsy smell earlier, but it felt weird that this particular part of the backwoods smelled like it had been burnt.

"Oh that smell?" The old man perked his head up. "There was a building that burned down years ago, the forest got dragged in with it. Took the firemen days to put it out, I tell ya"

"An abandoned building? You have to show us!" Oliver joined in, putting down his microscope.

"I'll stay here, to guard our stuff" Cassie said, suddenly feeling dread creep up on her. Something felt all too real, and deep with this place; the smell not comforting her in any way.

The old man hesitated for a bit, but with a bit of probing; the group walked carefully to nearby field. The exterior of the building immediately met their eyes, still standing tall and proud in spite of the room looking like it had collapsed on itself and the walls blackened out.

Cassie sat down on a piece of log, closing her eyes to feel the fire they had started's warmth envelope her like a glove. The snow hadn't caught up to Oregon yet but the chilly wind and the weather forecast said otherwise.