I suppose I should preface this by saying that I love my brother dearly. He’s the sweetest, kindest, bravest man I’ve ever known and he’s always been there for me. But… He has a unique talent for ignoring things that he doesn’t want to know. For example, the fact that I woke up next to a man who’s name I can’t remember, and am now trying to gather my things as quietly as I can while pulling on my little white socks.. Is something he would definitely pretend he wasn’t aware of.

In a similar way, I don’t think he acknowledges that the town we grew up in, the very one he still lives in, doesn’t exist. It’s ‘that tourist town in Maine somewhere’ that everyone remembers visiting, but can’t quite remember exactly where it was or what it was called.  Vacation photos of landmark signs are always inexplicably blurry or accidentally photo-bombed out. I visit for the holidays every year and I usually stay from November to January.

So, how do you find a town that doesn’t exist? Well.. You get lost. Really lost. Drive until your GPS stops working and nothing looks familiar. When you realize you don’t know where you are, just keep driving. Don’t turn around or look back, put no thought into it at all, it’s not hard to do, the town will draw you to it in a strange sort of way. You just have to let it. 

The forest will feel endless and the roads will turn to gravel, that means you’re close. Also, make sure you turn left. Continuing straight will lead you astray and you’ll never find it then, while turning right means you will no longer exist. I only know that because it happened to friends of mine. I saw them turn the wrong way, but honestly, I can’t recall anything else about them, not even their names. I only remember the ‘feeling’ of knowing them, and it gives me a bad headache every time I think about it. So.. Yeah. Just make sure you turn left okay?

When you arrive, it will dawn on you all at once that you are now ‘somewhere’ and it will be difficult to remember how you got there. Don’t worry though, it’s really a very normal town. It has a population of 6504 people, according to the welcome sign, and everything you could ever need is located at the center of town. This time of the year you should probably be warned that the locals are especially friendly. 

It started snowing early this year and everyone is going overboard with their Christmas lights. I don’t say that in any negative way, it’s absolutely magical walking down the street under the glittering lights and hearing carollers singing in unison in the park. The town overall is warm and welcoming, sometimes I wonder exactly how many of the townspeople realize they aren’t on any maps? 

Millie's Diner is the best café to dine at, it’s on the corner of the Main Street. But, it’s currently undergoing repairs… Which brings me back to my point. My brother, Charles, is an officer/park ranger. His job sort of covers both aspects, though I’ve never actually bothered to ask what his ‘official’ title is. He dropped out of art school two years ago and decided he wanted to be in law enforcement. Don't ask me why.

A few weeks ago, he was involved in an incident while off duty. He was at the diner after work with his friend and something bad happened. He wouldn’t give me many details, but he was hurt and I got the impression that someone died? As a result, he was placed on leave. Now Charles loves his job, so being suspended has had a detrimental impact on him and he’s hardly left his apartment since.  

Which is why I decided that I was going to try and cheer him up a bit. I picked up some supplies from the store and headed home. However, when I got there, the front door was slightly ajar. It’s not like him to just leave the door open like that but at the same time, it’s not exactly unusual for others to do that since the crime rate is virtually non existent. 

“Charles?” I called, as I pushed my way into the apartment with groceries in my arms, “Are you awake-“ I stopped. The house was dim and I realized he was not up yet. However, there was a figure standing in the hallway. It was the shadowy silhouette of a woman wearing a dress. She was just outside of Charles’s room and she withdrew her hand from the door handle as I approached. When she looked over to me her eyes shone in the darkness and I felt an initial chill run down my spine. 

It took a moment for my brain to catch up before I understood, she was sneaking out just in the same way I had been earlier. “Oh.. OH! Don’t worry, I didn’t see anything! I’m just.. Going to go!” I called softly as I retreated from the apartment strategically. My brother is 6’1” and 195 lbs since he started working out. He’s got a strong jaw, light brown hair and soft gray eyes the same as mine. I had a giggle with myself noting that he hadn’t shaved in days and the stubble probably made him look quite rugged despite him really being a teddy bear, it shouldn’t have surprised me at all to see a girl leaving his room. 

I went on a little walk down the street with my shopping while I waited for her to leave. Mrs Jones, my brother’s nosy neighbor, scowled at me and I smiled back at her giving a little wave. She’d always been a grump, not sure why. When I reached the edge of the forest behind the apartments I turned around and hoped I had given the girl enough time. If she was still there, I guessed I would just awkwardly invite her to join us for breakfast.

Thankfully when I returned she was gone without leaving a single trace. I put on some obnoxiously loud music and started cooking breakfast as I sang along. I had hoped that the noise would be enough to force Charles to get up and it was. “Good morning! Did you have a good night?” I teased with a wink. 

He blinked back at me slowly, his hair was messy and his voice still thick with sleep as he grumbled, “What are you doing? Turn the music down…”

I rolled my eyes but obliged the request as he moved off to the bathroom. When he came back he looked somewhat more alive after having showered, if not mildly perturbed. “What’s with that face?” I asked playfully. 

“It’s so itchy.” He complained referring to the cast on his arm, his brows knitting into a frustrated exasperated expression. 

I laughed then, “That didn’t stop you from getting some action though did it?” I taunted. 

He sighed, shaking his head, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” 

“The girl! Charles!” 

“What girl?” 

“Fine, fine, forget it.” I let him off the hook, if he didn’t want to talk about it I wasn’t going to force the issue. I could tell he wasn’t in a good mood but I tried to counter balance it with optimism. Unfortunately he poked around at his breakfast like a depressed school girl and barely ate anything. 

“We’re going out to do something fun today.” I announced.

“I don’t want to go out anywhere Clair…“ he responded bleakly. 

“Well that’s great, because I wasn’t asking you. I was in fact, telling you that that’s what we’re doing today.” 

I could see him struggling with himself. I knew he wanted to be a good brother, but I was also very certain that he did not want to leave the house. “Where are we going?” He asked finally. 

“Since you like the outdoors so much I was thinking we could go on a hike!” 

“You hate hiking..” He said skeptically, looking at me with a raised eyebrow. 

“I do not!” I lied. “Plus, I bought a super cute outfit for it. So we have to go.” 

He seemed to think it over for a long moment before he answered reluctantly, “..Okay but, you know it’s cold out there right?” 

“I know that, Charles.” I assured confidently.  *** 

As it would turn out what he meant by ‘cold’ was actually: ‘extremely f*cking freezing’. When we set out on the short 6 mile hike I was full of enthusiasm and hope, by the time we reached the 2 mile marker however, I was more than ready to give up. Charles walks like he’s at work and on assignment to get somewhere within a certain time frame so I struggled to keep up the entire time.

When we stopped for a rest I put my hands on my knees and hung my head in defeat. My breath steamed up the air immediately around me and I could hear Charles chuckling at my expense. 

“We can turn around at this point if you’d like Clair?” He offered, at least he was smiling.

“Oh nonono. No. We’re almost there right? I can do this!” 

“It’s another 4 miles round trip.” He corrected me.

“4 miles?” I repeated back incredulously as I wiped the frozen sweat off my brow, “And you patrol this route every day?”

“Not every day, every couple days, it’s not a popular trail.” He assured, not that it made me feel any better. 

“Right, onwards then.” I said, regretting every word as I started off again. Honestly it was kind of eye opening to see him like this, I hadn’t realized how fit my brother had gotten, or how much he had changed since the last time I saw him back in January. He seemed more stoic now, something must have happened. As we walked he pointed out natural features of the landscape. He tried to teach me how to identify the way the snowfall built up on specific slopes that could be dangerous and which peaks belonged to which mountain. 

Most of it went over my head, I didn’t understand anything, it all looked like frosty forest to me. Though I was delighted to see a Northern Saw-whet Owl, which was pretty much the only bird I could identify. Eventually we discussed trivial things, I told him about the three guy’s I’d been dating and he told me about how his job had been going.

Apparently some hikers were killed in the mountains in May and his friend, Eric, had been called in to help out which is how they met. I was glad that he had a new friend. You see, my brother is really popular in the town. Walking down the street with him is a nightmare because every second person wants to stop him and chat.. But he’s kind of shy, so the superficial friendships he has don’t run too deep. I blame our parents for that. However with Eric he seems to have a real friend, even if they are a bit mismatched. 

Eric is a reserved person and a little scary really, also maybe slightly too edgy for Charles with his full arm tattoo. Still, they seem to get along well so I guess that doesn’t matter. The only problem is that Eric is in town infrequently. Charles informed me he doesn’t live there, he just comes around to help out when he’s called. Which makes sense since I had never met him before. Although I’m kind of curious to know how he keeps finding our town? Ordinarily only locals can find it more than once. 

Anyway, Eric is still around. He’s working with the Sheriff’s office to get Charles reinstated and he’s hopefully going to join us for Christmas. Though I feel like I should mention that he’s kind of… Pretty? But in an unsettling sort of way? His teeth are a little too perfect and sharp looking. And his right eye.. Charles said he lost it in an accident and it’s a prosthetic, but I don’t know, it really seems to see things. His left eye though is gorgeous, luminous blue with long dark lashes, I was almost jealous because of it the first time we met.

I guess overall it’s just nice to see that they’re friends and if Charles trusts him then that’s enough for me. 

“Hey Clair.. can I tell you something..?” Charles asked, interrupting my thoughts, he sounded anxious and that in turn made me nervous. 

“Yeah of course, you can tell me anything.” I responded honestly, I doubt there’s anything my big brother could tell me that I wouldn’t accept. He really means the world to me. When I was 15 our parents kicked me out of the house. Charles was only 17 then and he said if they forced me to leave he was going to as well.. Which is exactly what he did. He dropped out of high school and worked full-time in a minimum wage job to support us. I know it wasn’t easy, it nearly ruined his life. But he never complained. He’s never judged me for any of the things I’ve done, so I’m sure as hell not going to judge him for anything. 

“..I think.. I believe in the supernatural..” He said quietly. 

This caught me completely by surprise and I laughed, I swear I didn’t mean to. I just thought he was going to confess to something like being gy, or doing drgs or burying a body in the backyard you know? Something more controversial? I felt immediately bad because I noticed him tense up and I realized he was being serious. 

“Sorry sorry! I didn’t mean to laugh, I just.. Expected something worse?” I tried to reassure him. “What made you suddenly believe in that kind of thing?”

He seemed hesitant to tell me more now and I felt my stomach turn with guilt, “..I’ve seen some things…” he said vaguely.

“Things like what exactly?” I prompted more softly to show my support. 

“I sort of got cursed shortly before you showed up, and I shot the witch that did it at Millie’s. That’s why I’m unofficially suspended from work. She was only a 16yr old girl..” He trailed off and I didn’t know what to say.

“The town you live in doesn’t exist.” I blurted out. 

“What?” He asked, confused.

“I’m saying I believe you because this town doesn’t exist. It’s not on any maps and I bet if you think about it right now you won’t be able to remember what it’s called.” I explained quickly. 

Charles paused for a moment and I could tell he was trying to think of our town's name, “If it doesn’t exist how do you find it again to visit?”

“I just get lost… The town calls me to it?” I was trying not to sound too crazy, “How did you find it again when you came home from Oklahoma?” 

“…I don’t remember? I just did..?” He said thoughtfully. He appeared to be almost relieved and I wondered if knowing gave him some comfort. 

The conversation lapsed into silence as we both contemplated our own experiences and that’s when I noticed her… Standing on top of an embankment not far ahead was a woman wearing a black dress with fluffy trim at the bottom and on the sleeves. Her hair was long and ice white, tied in a high ponytail. She was extremely out of place in the snow, and in her hands she held what appeared to be a medieval longbow. 

As I watched she slowly took an arrow up, spinning it in her fingers before nocking it up and drawing back the string. She closed one eye as she took aim at us and I felt panic rise in me from the very bottom of my being. “CHARLES!” I shouted and he turned to see what I was talking about just in time for an arrow to fly past us at incredible velocity. 

The arrow hit the ground beside us with force enough to send a spray of ice in all directions. I’m not an expert in archery, but that arrow to me looked unnecessarily massive, it was in no way a simple game hunting arrow. It looked like it was designed to pierce armor and I didn’t want to imagine the damage it would have done if it had hit. I couldn’t contemplate why anyone would be firing such a thing at us and I stood in shock, too terrified to move when Charles grabbed my wrist. 

He pulled me along and before I knew what was happening we were running headlong back down the mountain. Another arrow hit a tree just ahead of us, knocking all the snow out of it with the impact, and I saw she was pursuing us. I felt blind panic, there was nowhere for us to go! Anywhere we ran would leave footprints creating a trail straight to us. 

I had no idea what direction we were going and my lungs burned, if it weren’t for my brother’s grip on my arm I wouldn’t have been able to keep going. Truthfully I wasn’t sure that we were even still on the trail at that point. The snowdrift was harder to move on and I could hear a strange hollow kind of sound. Cracks were shooting out across the snow ahead of us as we ran and I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. This was dangerous snow. Had my brother not realized? 

“Charles…! The snow…! The SNOW!” I tried to warn breathlessly but he didn’t slow or stop. 

“Keep running!” Was all he said in response. 

I glanced back to see where the girl was and saw that she was disturbingly close. How she was able to move so quickly across the terrain was beyond me, but at least she couldn’t run and shoot. There was a soft ‘whump’ kind of sound and I felt the ground beneath my feet start sliding out. I stumbled and Charles heaved me along as the embankment supporting us began to give way completely. 

Behind us the woman seemed surprised as the cracks in the snow extended out and the powdery top layer slipped. I saw her go down in a mass of hair and black fabric as the terrain fell away taking her with it. I’m ashamed to say I felt relief as she disappeared. This must have been my brother’s plan all along. He knew where the snow was weakest and strategically took us over it knowing it would eventually collapse.

Nonetheless we continued to run until we reached another trail and then we stood gasping for breath. My legs felt like jello and I had a significant bruise from where Charles was holding me, but I didn’t really care.

“How did you know we wouldn’t get swept away as well?” I asked all but wheezing as I sucked in more air.

“I didn’t, I just hoped.” He admitted which made me feel sick and I’m sure his stressed expression mirrored my own. “We have to get back. I don’t know what that was.” 

Honestly, I didn’t know what it was either, and it remains the scariest experience I have ever had with a stranger on the mountain. 

Chapter List/More

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