28. Hide first!

He finally relented, and began to row the boat down the river until we came out of the cave. Huge tree roots greeted us, arched, across the middle of the river and formed a kind of small gate, so that we had to bend down to get through. No green leaves, all white with tree trunks which I found unnatural. I was kind of shrunk to see the trees here.

Shashin moored the boat near a boulder, which almost took up half the river. "It's going to be dark soon, so it's best not to go too far," he said.

He was right, the light would be fading soon, and the forest would probably be completely dark. We walked through the forest. This place might be terrible, but if there were trails like this, I was sure people would have come here many times.

This forest seems to be dominated by Fitzroya spruce trees, with unnatural trunk sizes. I was sure they were very old. With towering stems and leaves that almost covered the sky, you couldn't see anything but the green leaves covered with white snow. Those trees finally weaved into each layer of soil, forming steep inclines and turns.

"Until we reach that point then we'll be back!" Shashin pointed to a tree that had a low branch, almost touching the ground.

I was having a little trouble following him. Although the path we took was quite easy, the mud caused by the melting snow which was probably due to frequent traffic made the road slippery.

Shashin sat on a fallen tree trunk, waiting for me. He looked around with a wary look. I just found it really annoying, why I couldn't walk as fast as him in this bad terrain.

Finally, I arrived. I rested my legs, straightened them and massaged lightly to get a bit more comfortable. It felt like these legs were still tired from the previous trip with Ane, but now I gave them more worked up.

For a moment, my attention was caught by the huge gaping chasm in front of us, the bottom was so dark that I couldn't see. "Deep," I muttered.

"Don't come near, or you'll be a broken egg," said Shashin.

Honestly, I wanted to hit him now. I just stared at him in annoyance, even as he tugged at the hood of my coat and carried me away from the brink, just like when I picked Mickey up and pulled him away from the bowl of fishcake. "Ouch!" It was annoying, because I was treated like that fat cat.

"Some people committed suicide, some went straight into the abyss, but he must have left one thing he was wearing at the time." Shashin pointed out a pile of belongings not far from us. "The rest, choose to drink poison or cut his veins, and Shaw would take the body in a rage."

Right after Shashin finished saying that, I felt like something was watching us. I turned around but found no one.

"Why?" he asked, taking in his surroundings.

"Don't you feel someone is following or watching?" I've actually felt it since we came out of the cave, but I felt like their numbers were increasing very fast now.

Shashin immediately pulled my hand to return to our canoe. He asked me not to go far and walked behind him. He prepared with a wakizashi, which I knew belonged to Yoru. No wonder he was often scolded by that perfectionist man.

Shashin jolted suddenly. His expression changed to a shock, gasping for air. We ran as fast as we could to the canoe, but when we arrived, something was already ahead of us.

They crowded near our canoe. Their bodies were the size of a child, with a shape resembling thick billowing smoke and pointed fingers and fiery red eyes. The man looked at me confusedly, and I didn't even know what creatures they were either.

"Hide first!" I suggested it to him.

We retreated back and hid behind the rocks not far from our canoe. I watched them closely, and I felt that I had seen them before but forgot where it was exactly. Not long after, the image of the burning shops, as well as the forest on the border of the village, made me think back. They looked similar, but were they really the same creature? I saw them at night, and it made my vision less clear.

We waited a long time, but they still hadn't left an inch. I was wondering what was so interesting about the wooden canoe, so they continued to wait for it and didn't take their eyes off that canoe. The tips of my hands felt numb. Even though I was wearing gloves, it felt like the cold still penetrated my gloves. I saw the snow that formed their little footprints, with black marks every time they stepped. 'Their bodies look as transparent as smoke, but they are making footprints. Isn't that weird?' I thought, confused.

"Hide first!" I suggested it to him.

Something fell onto the river's surface, creating a loud enough sound and ripples to make the wooden boat move. I turned back, and Shashin was on a fairly low tree branch, throwing stones at the river. While up ahead, I saw the creature become confused and panicked. Moments later, their bodies faded away like rising black smoke.

"Smart!" I praised them while patting his shoulder, who was even taller than me.

"Diversion," he said smugly.

I clicked my tongue but still gave him two thumbs up. "That's a great idea, really," I said again.

"They seem to be the inhabitants of this forest." Shashin said while looking around.

I followed him, looked around, but found only a few wild horses still roaming among the white snow. "I don't think so," and Shashin's expression immediately changed.

"What do you mean?" He looked at me.

"I'll tell you later," My curiosity about the canoe we were going to ride rose again. I asked Shashin to be careful not to damage their footprints. If only my camera or cell phone could work here, I'd take a picture of it. I noticed that the snow wasn't actually melting from the prints of their footprints. It was just that something black had piled up on the snow.