The Disillusionists cont'd...

After dinner had ground to a halt, we followed a trail up the side of the hill, everyone except Alexis who was sullen and uncommunicative. Armed with flashlights, we left her alone in the camper and pushed our way into the woods.

Overgrown with alder, the old road had not been used in many, many years. At points the trail seemed to disappear into the trees. Eventually we found ourselves in a clearing - more of a rocky cap on the hill, where no trees could take root. In the orange light, we had an excellent view of the valley, a bit of jagged shore and a low, burning sunset. We sat there for a time, until the sun seemed to pop below the water.

Mike turned around and pointed out something I don't think any of us had seen before, which was the night rising. From this vantage point we could not only see the shadow of our hill spread against the valley below, but also a ring of bright purple light across the horizon as the edge of the atmosphere refracted the waning beams of sunlight. Below it grew an inky black with no stars and for several minutes we watched as this spectacular power sucked the red from the clouds and obscured the horizon. We stayed like that for an hour at least, barely talking, mesmerized by this beautiful void. Eventually we stumbled back down the trail, stepping into little pools of man-made light.

Alexis has never been alone in the woods before. She was a city dweller and 'interior' by nature. However, on this occasion she felt extremely claustrophobic inside the camper and set about making the space by the fire into a little room. She put a towel on the ground for a rug, pulled a cooler over for a coffee table and arranged the chairs accordingly. She sat and watched the fire with mild interest, like it was a television. She spun around at every noise behind or beside her. The cool night air crawled up her back and she found a blanket to wrap herself in.

She stared at the fire now. Felt it's heat against her face and realized she could move back a foot or two. She threw some more fuel on and wondered what was taking those guys so long. After a while she was transfixed. A moment later she was dancing.

Mike said to no one in particular, "Looking at those rushes, I think we're on to something..." He climbed over a fallen tree limb, "I'd like to do a wet version. If we find a more accessible spot we'll do it. You okay with that G?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Not really."

"Then I'm all for it..."

As they continued down the trail, something had changed. Mike thought of ways to incorporate scenes such as the night rising - he would have to try to get that on film tomorrow night. The others didn't seem so sure. Each fell into silence, a new aura of dread fell over them, distinct from the mist of the forest at night.