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I grabbed my coat and the wool blanket before heading out the door. They said it might get cool, but the ground always got wet, so I never left without both of them. The sun was just setting behind the hill, meaning the path would already be dark. That didn’t bother me, though. I could always see the path.
In the fading light I noticed someone, a few someones actually, meandering down at the end of my driveway. The neighborhood was small, but I didn’t immediately recognize anyone. But it was a Friday night. Maybe one of my few, and distant, neighbors decided to have a party. I didn’t detect any party atmosphere, though. The people passed by, all quiet, as if they didn’t see one another at all. I wondered…could they be…?
I shook off the thought. It might only be a handful of people, but that was still too many.
I popped the trunk of my SUV and grabbed a bottle of water from the supply I kept in there for my travels. The coat, blanket and water fit snugly into my backpack, and I swung it over my shoulders. Warm air hung over the valley, with a haze covering the sky. Still, the first stars penetrated through, bringing a wide smile to my face. I set off into the woods, following the trail I’d discovered years ago. One that changed my life after moving into the picturesque cabin in the woods at the base of the hill. Ha! It was called Hobbler’s Hill, but at nearly four thousand feet tall, it loomed over the countryside.
Through breaks in the treetops, more stars popped through the haze. Time was running out.
I picked up my pace, the trail appearing before me in my mind as if through night vision goggles. The times I’d walked it during the day, I’d noticed the changes over time. The old, thick oak tree stretched farther into the meadow. Sections of the path washed out after a heavy rain. Fallen leaves gathered in thick piles.
At night, it was always the same as the first time.
The hitch in my side didn’t slow me down. My chest bubbled with anticipation of what was ahead of me. A touch of fear tightened my throat and kept my feet moving away from what was behind me.
I heard footsteps, grunts, and gasps for air. Only once had I had a follower on the trail. Just one.
I couldn’t distinguish individuals from the noises that broke through the otherwise silent forest. I’d seen three, maybe five, people at the end of my driveway. Even that felt like too small a number to account for what was happening behind me.
Still, there were no voices. That calmed me. If it was a mob formed to attack or stop what was about to happen, they surely would yell to give themselves courage. Mobs always needed a shot of courage to keep up their momentum until they were big enough that inertia took over. Local lore said that had happened on the hill just over a century ago. They’d bounded up the mountain with pitchforks and torches onto the platform, where nothing happened. Nothing except Jonesy, a seven-year-old boy, went missing. They searched the woods the next day and found no trace except a hat he’d been wearing. They blamed a mountain lion they hunted and killed the following week. I can’t say how many believed it, but there hadn’t been another mob since. None that was recorded anyway.
The group following me wasn’t a mob, then. Probably. But could they all be followers? The thought terrified, and excited, me.
I stepped out into the notch on the mountain, huffing from the hike. The not quite level stone triangle, with the apex facing into the mountain and the base a sheer cliff, took my breath away.
Every time.
The cliff opened onto a panoramic view of the land below and the sky above. On the other two sides the rock had split, creating a perfect set of stadium-like benches that disappeared about twenty feet up, the tops hidden by years of soil, moss, and grass that threatened, but never overtook, the stone below. Above the seats, the forest kept its distance. The ground sloped up and out, the tree line mimicking the triangular shape of the platform. When seen from above, the notch looked intentional. It was like a piece cut from a cake by someone who greedily scooped up more than their fair share.
It was natural, though. That’s what all the scientists who’d studied it had said. Of course, the ones who’d found out differently never said a thing. Not in this world, at least.
I made my way out to the front edge. The brilliance, the sparkle, the immensity of the night sky sent a shiver down my spine.
A footstep pulled my attention away. At the edge of the trail stood a young woman, perhaps a few years younger than me. Her gaze was in my direction, but went past me out into the stars.
A follower.
Warmth filled my chest, and I smiled at her. She didn’t react, but I hadn’t expected her to. Not yet.
I spread the blanket out on the rock, about ten feet from the edge, and plunked myself down in the middle. Shifting my pack, I pulled my water bottle out.
The woman shuffled to a bench, but before she’d sat, two men appeared, the same dazed, yet determined, look on their faces.
Three followers! I felt charged, as if the earth itself surged through me. Hair stood up on my neck, and the water in my hand hummed like a glass about to burst from an opera singer’s voice.
More people poured out of the forest onto the platform. Soon I’d lost count, amazed as the benches filled and the platform itself was dotted with others kneeling or sitting. They were just shadows in the dark now, nearly indistinguishable from one another. Silent. Watching. Waiting.
I downed the rest of the water, the wool blanket crackling when I put the empty bottle back into my bag. I could feel the static electricity building, along with the palpable energy in the air.
Someone sat next to me on the blanket. I turned to them and saw an older man, perhaps fifty. The dim starlight couldn’t hide the sparkle in his eye, the genuine smile he gave me. Another returning follower. We said nothing, but understood each other. How, why, or even how many times he’d come to the platform didn’t matter. We were both here, about to witness—no, participate—in something unbelievable.
That’s when the show began.
At first, there were only a few streaks, fast and faint, announcing the start of the meteor shower. Then, a flood of earth grazers streaked the sky, leaving an afterimage of hundreds of white lines broken by a single orange-yellow orb that persisted.
It dropped from the sky like a falling star aimed directly at the platform, growing larger until it hung just at the edge, wide enough to encompass the entire notch. It roiled like fire made of electricity around the outside while the inside turned a soft blue light.
My blanket companion and I stood. He stepped forward into the light while I shoved the blanket down into my backpack. The crowd of followers streamed forward, and I waited as they filed past me. I could easily see them then. They were of all ages, races, and genders. One or two caught my eye as they went, an unspoken connection stronger than any born of blood passing between us.
When the last had disappeared into the blue, I took a step forward, but paused when a figure came out. He looked to be in his twenties, with long blond hair falling haphazardly across his shoulders. “Will you be staying, Jonesy?” I asked, already guessing the answer.
He laughed. “I saw you waiting out here and came out to make sure you came in.” He held out his arm for me. “This time…” His mouth hung open and his eyes were wide.
“It’s going to be amazing, isn’t it?” Again, a question I already knew the answer to. So many followers, new and returning. Whatever waited through the portal pulled on me like the gravity from a black hole, only I was already inside, unable to escape the event horizon even if I wanted to.
I hooked my arm through his and we plunged into the blue together.
Author Notes:
This was a freewrite based on the prompt “follower”. I wrote it quite a while ago, and edited it a bit today. Forgive any errors you might find, I’m working on just a few hours of sleep!
The concept was influenced, or is an homage, to the characters in Close Encounters of the Third Kind who were drawn to Devil’s Tower. Cosmic forces aligned, pulled on their deeper essence, called them to a unique moment in the universe. They were willing, or they wouldn’t have come.
Anyway, I like to imagine the adventures to be had through a portal like this. Maybe one day I’ll get my chance.
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