Walking the Ruins

A smile, and a pair of eyes in the dark

My path into the valley leads away from the lake. I take one last look at the water, the water that has been my safe point of reference during all the months since we moved into our house at the lakeshore. Then I continue, following an old road leading through the woods towards the mountains. There are fewer ruins here. The region was apparently not as densely settled as the lake's northern shore.

Towards evening, I reach the first slopes leading towards the summits. Looking up one of them, I see a large building, like an old hotel. It should provide a good view over the valley and a place to spend the night, so I start ascending towards it.

Up close, the building with its dark, empty windows looks austere and forbidding. But there's a smaller house beside it, which seems peaceful and harmless. I enter it and find a small but dry room. It's one window still has its panes and offers a view over the valley. I decide to set up my camp there.

After having rolled out my sleeping bag, I go back outside. There is a large ledge in front of the hotel, some kind of terrace, covered by mighty stone slabs. Only a few shrubs have found their way through the cracks. I walk to the edge and gaze down onto the valley below. It forms a wide expanse of flat ground framed by to chains of mountains. Most of it is covered by trees. The river approaches from the south and east, its meandering path towards the lake seeming to lack a sense of direction. My eyes follow its course back into the valley, and I see a familiar sight.

Thin, fine tendrils of smoke, hardly visible in the haze of the evening. But there's no doubt. It's smoke.

At the base, the tendrils are thin, and they widen as they rise, finally merging. Obviously, the must be more than one source.

Getting there will take several hours on foot. I can't see the smoke's source, it seems to be hidden behind a small hill, which looks like a finger reaching from the mountains towards the river. 

Later, I light a fire, making sure to use the driest wood I can find. I don't want to produce my own column of smoke. It's good to know about the fires up in the valley, while I appreciate the feeling that their originators know nothing about my presence here. I want to keep it that way, for the time being at least.

I place a kettle with water onto the fire. Once it starts boiling, I add some herbs, mostly dried nettles. They used to call that herbal tea, once upon a time. Back then, it wasn't my favorite. And even now I watch the floating leaves with a definite lack of enthusiasm, dreaming of hot chocolate.

I gnaw at a piece of dried meat, hard as wood. Its Rose's specialty, but it takes some getting used to. Like everything in this weird world.

I wonder what Steve and Jenny are doing now. Have they continued into the valley, as I do, or did they turn back to our house?

It would be nice to have the two of them sitting at this fire now.

My thoughts turn back to the columns of smoke. If I remember correctly, I saw them today at the same spot as when I first discovered them, that winter morning. In my mind, I see a campfire, where people gather each night for dinner. They talk, laugh, sing, share companionship, and tell stories.

I smile, moving my eyes from my own fire towards the forest. Against its dark background, there is a pair of luminescent eyes, probably a fox, staring back at me with obvious interest.

When I've finished my tea, I go back to the house to lie down. The exhaustion that was has never really left me today, invites slumber quickly.

I dream.

I sit at one of them, safe in the company of the people around me. At my side, there is a young man with black curls and blue eyes. He listens with rapt attention as I tell him about my adventures with Kevin, Rose, Jenny and Steve. One of my stories is the one about our expedition over the lake and towards the valley. When I get to the part where I run away from the others, after that drunken night, taking the canoe, I hear him laugh. It's an indecently snorting laugh. I feel irritation rising inside me and turn my head towards him. I see a bear grinning back at me. It is missing an eye.

And in the background, I hear the laughter of the gods.