My Trip to Sugarbush or The Hunter's Lodge Finale

[bdahunter]

I rolled out onto the bed below the window I’d just slipped through and looked around the bedroom which was illuminated by the high beams of my Firebird idling outside the Hunter’s Lodge. The indirect light through the window cast weird shadows across the ceiling of the cottage but it was enough light to go by as I made my way into the main room and worked my way to the front door. I found the entrance barred by a pile of furniture and building material as my stepfather had begun renovations the previous fall, the front door was not going to work. Back across the sunroom to the kitchen and the old kerosene lamp which I lit with my Zippo and the gloom pushed back a little further.
It was cold outside but even colder in the cottage which I found odd and I could now clearly see my breath with each exhalation. I moved back to the main room with the intent of going back into the bedroom and signaling Lori who was still waiting in the car but as I rounded the corner from the kitchen I saw the form of a man leaning up against the wall beside the old wall mounted telephone, I stopped dead in my tracks.
The figure seemed to be assessing me with cool detachment and I felt the temperature in the room drop to a new low as he looked at me with soulless eyes. Eyes is a misnomer because he didn’t really have eyes but rather they reminded me of deep grey holes that opened into nothing where his eyes should be, the hair on the back of my neck rose up under a layer of goose bumps. He was middle aged and dressed in a home knit jacket with a hunting dog leaping after geese flushed from some reeds, green, red and black on a grey background, his hands were large and calloused and he had a black and red checked cap on his head; where his legs should have been there was nothing but a faint shimmer.
He looked me up and down as I stood there frozen with fear and then he spoke to me. His lips didn’t move but I heard him clearly, he wanted to know who I was and what I was doing in his house, it was as though he talked in my head because there was no other sound but the 350 ticking over quietly outside.
There was no place to run and I didn’t think I could fight a ghost, for that is what he was so I thought back at him as hard as I could. ‘You remember me’ I thought ‘I’ve been coming here all my life, every summer since I was a little boy; I need shelter now and a place to sleep’ is what I thought in my head. The Hunter continued to stare at me for a moment and then I heard these words in my head, ‘We’ll see but you better not be lying to me’. With that eerie statement uttered he slowly faded away and a great weight lifted from me, he was no longer in the room and I could move again. I made for the back door and it opened easily, then I ran around the back of the cottage to the Firebird and Lori.
Lori opened the door and stumbled out “I’m so tired” she said.
What to do now? I had very little gas left in the tank, it was the middle of the night and the only shelter around was guarded by a (possibly) benevolent ghost. Should I tell Lori that I had just been talking with a ghost (or at least half of one) and have her think me crazy or should I trust to the benevolence of a spirit that had always guarded the family cottage? Lori helped make my decision for me as she quickly retraced my steps back into the cottage and I followed after her to keep her from harm. (how I was going to do that I wasn’t sure but my instincts told me I needed to be with her)
I brought Lori over to the fireplace and proceeded to try and start a fire to take the chill out of the cottage which was once again the same temperature as outside. I’ve been a Boy Scout all of my life and I can start a fire with practically anything but this fire would not light, I could get the kindling to burn but the main fuel would not ignite. I finally piled all of my kindling on and it blazed brightly but when I held my hands up to the flame, There was NO Heat! Once again, I could see my breath and I knew what that meant, the ghost was back. This time I could feel him but I couldn’t see him, he was very close though. Lori was shivering in her ski jacket and she turned to me and said with icy breath “Forget the fire, let’s just go to bed”
I abandoned the fire and opened up the blanket box, piling blankets and comforters onto the main bed. Lori stripped down to her thermals and jumped under the pile of covers, I wanted to do the same but the Firebird was still idling out in front of the cottage.
“You better turn off the engine or we’ll have no gas in the morning” said Lori logically. I didn’t feel the ghost around anymore so I thought it safe to make a dash out to the car. I left the kerosene lamp with Lori and made my way out and around the cottage with only my Zippo for light. Shut down the Firebird and headed back as quickly as I could without putting out the Zippo. I felt something move past me and into the cottage, right through the wall but I continued on, determined to get back to Lori.
Lori was sitting bolt upright in the bed when I got back but when I asked her if she was okay, she said she was fine but exhausted, so hurry up and come to bed. We were both dead on our feet with fatigue and I climbed into the warm bed and wrapped Lori in my arms, soon we were fast asleep.
Ghost or no ghost, I was tired in a bone aching way that would accept no refusal. We were both asleep in moments.
The dawn came quickly and the sun woke us both at the same time. With little fuss or discussion we both hurried about the bedroom putting things back in their place before heading out to the Firebird which roared immediately to life. I headed straight for Toronto until we had to stop for gas. Lori and I hadn’t uttered more than a dozen words to each other in the hour we had been on the road. As the attendant filled the tank with the last of my money I turned to Lori and asked her how she had slept.
“Fine” she said “Except for that creepy ghost”

[Yardog]

Great stories BDA, wish I could write about my past like that. How did lori see the ghost.
Do You think he built the cabin or died nearby?
Thank for the experiences.

[echostar61]

OMG, Excellent , You certainly have a true gift .
I do so enjoy your writings BDA

Terri

[portraitartist]

talented man you are... one thing to make beautiful pictures with a pencil or a brush - takes a real artist to do that using words.

[anne]

Brilliant

[ERnurse]

Very good read BDA!

[rip]

Originally Posted by portraitartist

talented man you are... one thing to make beautiful pictures with a pencil or a brush - takes a real artist to do that using words.

Yeah what Robert said !

[bdahunter]

Originally Posted by Yardog

Great stories BDA, wish I could write about my past like that. How did lori see the ghost.
Do You think he built the cabin or died nearby?
Thank for the experiences.

Lori saw the ghost while I was out turning off the Firebird, he didn't talk to her just hovered around and stared at her. The 'Hunter' as we nicknamed the ghost was shot in the cottage which he and his brother had built. Read 'The Hunter's Lodge' Parts 1 & 2 for more background info.
The next year we continued with the renovations to the cottage and we found an old sign, carved out of wood, in the back of the root cellar. The sign read 'Hunters Lodge' and my Nan Hunter said she'd never seen it before, notice that there is no apostrophe before the 's', possibly it was for 2 hunters who were also brothers and built the cottage. Our cottage was always referred to by the Wainwrights and Nan before us as 'Arden', so it predates Nan's purchase of 'The Hunter's Lodge'. Some of the older folks in the Village of Arden confirmed that our cottage was run by the two brothers as a guiding outfit called 'The Lodge' or 'Hunters Lodge'.
With all the renovations that took place, things changed pretty dramatically around the cottage and there haven't been any sightings of him since then, though my sister also so him twice on different occassions, once before my encounter and once after.
Reality is stranger than the mind of man can imagine.

Cheers,

BDA

[Dugday]

Totally kewl.........Very well written