Behavior Report 16

Dearest Love,

A living nightmare is standing in pitch darkness with a stranger that smells like a rotting animal and two monstrous wolves outside scratching at a door to get in and eat you. There were no cues as to what surrounded me, and I was afraid to reach out for fear of what I might touch.

A spark flashed, lighting our space like a miniature lightning storm. In that instant, I saw the man kneeling and scraping two stones together. Light flashed again and I quickly looked about. A third spark confirmed my investigation. We stood within some sort of cave cut into the tree. There was only one way, well, two if one counted the door, but that was blocked by the wolves. Our only path forward was into some unknown cave. Eventually, numerous sparks collected onto a torch that caught flame and lit up our immediate surroundings.

The man cleared his throat. “Ah. Finally.”

The torch burned on the ground while he adjusted his cape. He continued to clear his throat until he gathered an enormous amount of phlegm that he spit out via a horrific coughing sound. A pile of unlit torches as well as an axe and a knife rested next to the door. I grabbed a torch and lit it from the flame of the other. I waved the light around the room. We were surrounded by wood, evidently chewed, and hollowed out by some insect or thing with flat teeth. I envisioned a massive termite casually chewing through the wood to make our cave.

“Excuse me,” The man said once he finished coughing. “I can’t run like that without coughing. Are you okay?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Good.” He paused and then his voice lowered to a stern, flat tone. “Why didn’t you run? Did you not see those monsters? Why did I have to drag you? Do you not want to live?” He didn’t allow me to respond. Then, his voice changed again, this time more friendly. “Never mind. Let’s go. Get away from these dogs. I have a spectacular place you are going to love. You are going to be amazed, I promise you.”

“Oh. Okay.”

He picked up the torch and walked into the cave. My Love, I was stunned. He spoke English, well, and in the span of seconds, managed to get angry with me and then brag about himself. His voice went from calm to anger back to calm. I didn’t know what to think about him. I didn’t know what to ask. I didn’t know whether I should follow him, shoot him, or become his best friend. With the wolves outside the door and walls all around, I made the only decision I could. I followed him.

“What is your name?” I said.

“I am Aleksei Lesovik. Alek. Call me Alek. My friends call me Alek.” He turned and reached out his hand to shake. His palm and fingernails were full of dirt.

“Frank. A pleasure meeting.” I took his hand and then said, “Alek. Is that Russian?”

“Yes. Yes. Russian.” Alek’s smile displayed more voids than teeth. The pecan-colored remnants were placed in odd positions, twisted, and warped like poorly sawn lumber. “You are very good. But you must also know that I am American. My parents were Russian. Moved to the States when I was very young. Very young. Little boy. Come. I’ll explain everything once we get to our destination. Please come.”

The path wound back and forth for no reason I could sense. I was reminded of the times when I would split firewood as a child. Sometimes the bark would fall off and I would find odd lines left from bugs that ate their way through the wood. Alek said nothing as he led me through the twists and turns. His cape dragged along the ground and his stench followed.

‘Is this guy a friend,’ I thought in the absence of any of them. ‘He seems easier to beat than the wolf outside.’ I wanted one of the boys to appear to offer some levity.

Our path dipped precipitously and expanded into a massive damp, cool space where the light of our torches could not touch the edges. Alek’s torch wound around, lighting sconces along its way. Our world changed from a shadowy nightmare to a fire lit dreamscape. Light spread up a ceiling that rose hundreds of feet over our heads into a massive dome. Tooth and claw marks were left all over the wood, leaving me to wonder if the same animal that carved the cave also created the amphitheater or if it was a family of these creatures. I was certain of one thing; my guide could not have done any of it.

Two cloth couches, yes couches, were facing one another in the center of the room, separated by a hastily hewn coffee table with a broken leg. Their faded and worn upholstery had seen better times. One was wrapped in sprawling dark purple fabric with mahogany wood accents spiraling in the front of the arm rests. Its back rose like a rainbow in the center and wrapped around the armrests in a delightfully rich movement. The other couch looked like moss-covered burlap nailed to blocky rocks.

“Welcome. Quite a place, eh?” He gestured for me to take a seat on the purple couch.  

Alek was about as tall as me, yet much thinner. He took off his cape, that upon closer inspection was some sort of mesh fabric filled with pieces of bark that was easy to see through, but from afar appeared to be as solid as the side of a tree. He likely found several purposes with the cape from camouflage to fighting off the weather to serving as protection from an errant wolf claw or tooth.

He took residence on the green couch by dropping himself onto the cushions like a felled tree. He wore an olive-colored shirt and pants with plenty of errant leaves and twigs stuck to them. There was something familiar, yet different about his clothes – there were spots on his arms where patches were once sewn on, the fabric was heavier than most dress shirts, and the collar could have been buttoned high around his neck.

Alek put his feet up onto the coffee table by dropping them like lead weights. Tall, black, scuffed boots wrapped tightly around his calves and over the top of his feet, but were worn through on the bottom, exposing two black heels.

“Sit. Please,” he insisted.

My mind and body were so confused by my surroundings that I couldn’t decide whether to run in fear or to sit and hold a conversation.

“I insist. We have nothing to fear now. We are as safe as can be. I promise you.”

I decided to take off my pack but keep my rifle and sat down in a position that could easily jump to attention with cause.

 “That was a close one,” he said. “Very close. Some might even say that we barely made it out alive. That will be a story worth telling.”

Sincerity speckled in his deeply set eyes that were surrounded by dark sooty lines. He could have been one of George’s companions in the coal mine. A strong nose elevated into a flat plateau above gaunt cheeks and a greasy beard, thatched with small twigs and leaves. Emerald moss collected upon the long whiskers around his mouth.

I smiled and said, “Yeah, that was–”

Suddenly, a howl rolled out from a tunnel on the opposite side of the space from where we entered. The sound eerily crawled about my skin. I jumped to my feet.

“Don’t you worry. That is just the wind. That tunnel goes to a bad place, a dark place. Very bad. But it’s far away. Please, sit down. Sit. We are safe, very safe here. No danger can come. We are in the safest of places.”

 “Where are we?”

He raised his arms as if to praise God. “This place is amazing, isn’t it? Massive. Very big. I found it some time ago, all by myself. Probably no one else could have found it, but I did.” He sat up and put his feet down. “Please. Sit. Those noises are from the wind.”

“It sounded like a howl.”

“Yes, but not from the wolves. That tunnel goes deep into the forest, underground, where there are all sorts of caves, lots of caves, probably the most caves you’ll ever see in your life. The wind blows through and makes that noise.” He paused and then calmly said, “Please. Sit.”

I slowly sat down.

“You’re in the Cauchemar Forest. Not many get here.”

“The cushion mar–”

“Nightmare forest, pronounced like ‘cushion-mar’ but spelled differently. It’s French.”

“Nightmare?”

“Yes. Yes. Lots to be feared in this forest. Some say it is the most fearful forest anywhere.” He leaned forward. “I have faced some of the greatest demons any man can face. But I’ve faced them all and lived. I may be one of the bravest men ever to have lived.”

A part of me wanted to laugh while the other wondered if I should run. But where would I go? I decided to change the subject. “Your shirt. It looks like a uniform, but not like mine. Are you part of the war effort?”

Alek leaned back and looked at his uniform. “Infantry.” He rubbed off some dirt.

“Infantry? What Division?”

“You are an infantry man as well.”

“Yes.”

“Your rifle.” He pointed. “It’s different. Stopped using Springfields, I see.”

“It’s an M1.”

“Ah.” He looked longingly at my rifle. “Looks like you can kill a lot of Hun with that.”

Something inside clicked as soon as he said, “Hun.” The uniform. The tall, knee-high boots. The length of his beard. All of it collected into an answer. “You fought in the great war?”

Mossy hairs parted in his beard to reveal a painful smile. “Many years have passed. The length of my beard is no different than the rings on this tree.” Suddenly, a look of terror spread across his face like a grass fire. “Are you here to get me for desertion?”

“No,” I said quickly. “I’m not here for you at all.”

He held his hand to his chest with relief and then looked off into a space with a blank expression. I didn’t want to pull him from whatever thoughts raged inside his head. Just when the silence was beginning to feel uncomfortable, Alek stood up swiftly.

“I’ve got just the thing to show you! You will love it. Everyone I know loves it. You must follow me.” Alek stressed the word “must” with a swing of his fist and then headed toward the wall behind my couch. “Leave your things. You won’t have room to carry them.”

I stood and said, “I can’t stay.”

Alek stopped and turned back to me. “Can’t stay? Well, you can’t go either. Do you think those wolves are just going to let you leave if you are nice to them?”

I looked toward the opposite tunnel, the one Alek said led to underground caves. “Couldn’t I go that way?”

Alek followed my eyes to the hole and then began to slowly walk toward me with a bend in his shoulders. “That leads to an entirely different world,” he said in a low, eerie voice. “A dark world. A bad world. Very bad.”

“What? Is everything really small?” I laughed.

His eyebrows scrunched together in a painful way. “No. Death. Destruction. Fear.” Each word left his mouth slowly.

My smile faded.

Alek continued. “There is a great river down there. One that flows through the forest.”

“How big is it?”

“It’s not the size. Not the size at all. It is what it contains.” Alek’s voice deepened the more he spoke.

“And what is that?”

“Hel.” He allowed the word to hover upon his lips in a whisper. “A monster so brutal, so awful that we must avoid her at all costs.”

The longer Alek spoke, the more his body contorted into an almost gargoyle shape of pain and suffering. I didn’t believe his did this for theater, but of experience. The message was received – I could either take on the wolves and die or take on something more dreadful and die.

“What can I do?” I said. “I need to keep moving. I have orders.”

Alek’s posture straightened immediately. “You must not worry. No worry. I can be your guide. Don’t let those wolves scare you. Don’t be scared. There is more beauty than fear in this forest. Your timing was bad. Very bad timing. That is all. Bad timing.”

“I appreciate your thoughts, Alek, but maybe I should leave the forest and walk around.”

“But your journey will be twice as long. Very, very long. You’ll take too much time. Too much! Yes. Very long and too much. You’ll never get to your orders and get in big trouble, the biggest of trouble.” He held up a thin finger as if to point to a thought above his head. “I can lead you through. I’ll be your guide. I’m a great guide. The best! I have plenty of places just like this if we run into danger. We can hide. I have food. I have beds. Lots of food and beds. You’ll be comfortable and safe. I’ve led many people through, safely and comfortably. Please. Please. Stay.”

Before I could respond, Alek said, “Aha! You distracted me. Let me show you what I wanted to show you. Then you can decide. Leave your things, there is no room where we must go. We will come back.”

He turned and walked to the wall. His hands dragged along the wood until he found a spot and began to climb. “It’s tight. We must leave everything behind, everything. But it is safe. Very safe. No danger. Very worth it.”

Using the bite marks in the wood, Alek climbed the wall and into a small hole near the ceiling. His shoulders rubbed on either side of the hole as he crawled through and disappeared into the darkness. I was none too interested in crawling into such a space. I joined the infantry specifically to avoid cramming myself into a tank or airplane or ship.

“Are you coming?” Alek’s high voice fell flat against the wood. “Please come. You will like it.”

I surrendered and climbed into the tight squeeze. Instead of climbing where I could take handfuls to pull myself up, I had to wedge myself and push up with my elbows and legs. The effort was exhausting and seemed to have no end in sight after several minutes.

“Keep coming,” he said. “You’ll see light soon. Almost there. Very close.”

My muscles shook from the strain. The pain grew a little worse each time I pressed my elbows and knees into the walls to urge myself upward, but the fear of falling back down kept the pain out of my mind. Below, the light of the hall shrank into a small dot and eventually faded into darkness.

“You’re almost there. Very close. Keep climbing. It is all worth it.”

Alek helped to pull me out of the hole once I reached the top. We stood upon a branch that was about twenty feet wide with a crest at the center. Beyond the edges I could see the forest floor several hundred feet below us. Leaves covered any view above.

Alek led me on a walk away from the trunk. The branch forked and we took the left route if you could call it that. Our path thinned the further we proceeded away from the tree, but even at its thinnest, it was still many feet wide. Hundreds of leaves of unbelievable sizes grew along the limb. The smallest were about the size of a car and the largest were as wide as a house. At the end of the branch, Alek climbed onto a leaf and sat down.

He saw me hesitate in joining him and said, “It’s safe.”

I put my foot out and lightly pressed the skin of the leaf. Slowly, I added weight, fearful that I may add too much.

“It’s safe,” Alek said again.

The leaf held my entire weight without a care. I sat down near Alek. 

He pointed outward and said, “Look at the beauty.”