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Ingrid stood to her full height and rubbed her eyes, certain that what she was seeing was an especially vivid hallucination brought on by her fading fear and rising confusion.
It wasn’t.
It was a massive bug with logs on its back...but it didn’t take note of her; indeed, it didn’t even seem to be alive. As she looked upon it, she realized it was all one color, and most likely made of stone. Her gaze turned upward to a mossy arrangement of logs stretching towards the heavens in some sort of spiral and tapering off at the top, just short of the trees skirting the edge of the clearing. It reminded her of a strand of DNA.
She was somehow drawn to it, feeling a strange sense of relief as she approached, letting her hand smooth over one of its great pincers—it was definitely made of stone—and close around the bronze knocker of the vine etched door.
She didn’t know what she was going to find on the other side of that door, or even if she was going to find anything; It didn’t even look manmade.
Still, she couldn’t just walk away; she had to know more, if she could; besides, who would be living in a giant stone bug all the way out here?
“Uh--”
She got her answer in the form of a woman a few inches shorter than herself, with smooth, dark brown skin and flowers in her braided black hair. She wore a robe decorated with clouds against a black and dark blue landscape. Her freckled face was set in an expression of such utter tranquility that Ingrid couldn’t help but relax looking at her.
It was at this point that the young hiker realized that she’d ended up talking to strangers after all...but she was glad it’d turned out to be this woman.
“Is everything alright, love?”
Her smile and the sound of her voice made something inside Ingrid melt, though she wasn’t sure what.
“Er, well, I—ah...”
She cleared her throat, exhaled deeply and started over. “I, uh...I was on a hike with my friend and... there was a bear and I... yeah.”
“Say no more,” said the older woman, extending a hand towards Ingrid, who didn’t have to think too long about accepting it, and leading her further into the bug.
Much like the surrounding grounds, the bug-house was very much alive, even with just the two of them in it: vines snaking up towards the first rounded ceiling, growing around planters jutting out of the walls filled with flowers—some of which didn’t seem to have come from this world, much less this state; giant circular windows near the ceiling with views of the evergreens outside; a staircase with a mossy carpet leading to an ornate circle carved into the wooden floor with an almost impossibly wide tree stump in the middle, with a few round green doors surrounding it. The ceiling opened up directly above the stump, and Ingrid could tell it stretched higher than anything she’d ever seen, even without going up there.
“Holy shit...” Ingrid said aloud before she could stop herself.
The other woman chuckled. “We get that a lot. Now, er...”
“Ingrid.”
“Miss Ingrid, you say you were chased by a bear?”
She looked askance. “Well...not exactly ‘chased’, but I’d rather not cross him again.”
“Absolutely.”
“So... can you, like, point me towards a safe way back to the information center? My group’s probably worried about me.”
“I’ll do you one better.”
Still holding Ingrid’s hand, the woman led her to a round, faded green door just underneath the massive staircase, pushed it open, and revealed a long, cylindrical alcove that lead Ingrid to believe they were within one of the back legs of the bug...and at the very end of the largest part of the leg was a pool of glowing green light with little white fluffies floating over them in the middle.
The pool didn’t necessarily dominate the room, but it was still quite large. At regular intervals, a ripple spread from the center, bounced off the wooden edge and collected back in the center, with enough force to send a tiny droplet into the air for a few seconds before gravity sent it back with the rest of the water. Ingrid could’ve watched it forever if she didn’t have somewhere to be.
“This tunnel...” the woman said, pointing to a part of the wall adorned with freely flowing sigils. “...will take you within a stone’s throw of the center.”
As Ingrid wondered why it couldn’t take her right to the door, the woman pressed a small, mossy looking ball into her hand. “It’s rather dark in there, so squeeze this to light your way. It will come right back to us after you come out the other side.”
Us? “Er...thanks for your help. I won’t tell anyone."
“I trust you.”
After looking back and nodding one last time, the younger woman squeezed the little moss ball, and, to her surprise, it lit up to a bright, verdant glow and sprouted wings like those of a dragonfly before lifting itself out of Ingrid’s hand and flying in a figure eight for a few seconds until the end of the leg lifted upwards and stretched wide into a stone tunnel veering immediately to the right. It flew a few inches past the opening and stopped, obviously waiting for Ingrid to follow it further in. Reluctantly, she did.
Fortunately, the path was actually quite straightforward, in a manner of speaking—while there were no diverging paths, the little ball of light led her through many twists and turns, probably so she couldn’t just follow it back to the house.
Well, hey, the forest seems happy, Ingrid thought to herself, just as she noticed that the tunnel was becoming effused with a light that wasn’t the little ball zipping to and fro in front of her.
Before long, she had come out of the other side, surrounded by trees, the information center in sight, just like the older woman had promised.
“Huh...” she said aloud, still utterly confused by the events of the past few minutes, but still relieved that she knew where she was. As she walked towards the center, eager to see some form of civilization again, she risked a glance over her shoulder, halfway worried that she would turn into a pillar of salt...
But there was nothing there, other than the trees and squirrels and birds; the tunnel and the little ball of light had disappeared entirely. They may as well have not been there at all.
Ingrid figured she ought not to think about it for too long; her fellow Singles™ would never believe it if she told them.
The important thing was that she was safe, she was halfway home, and she could forget this whole trip ever happened.
As she walked through the wooden double doors, she saw the rest of the group gathered in a circle in the corner of the main lobby, heads bowed, murmuring into their folded hands.
Ingrid came up behind Josh, who was tucked in the corner, and loudly cleared her throat.
Josh looked up from his prayers and jumped to his feet, his eyes shining in a way Ingrid thought was heretofore impossible.
“Ingrid!! Thank God!!” he cried, nearly tripping over the others as he ran towards her, coming dangerously close to giving her a decidedly un-Christian hug.
“Uh...” he stopped himself just short, and stepped back, clearing his own throat. “We’re...glad you’re alright.”
The others mumbled their agreement.
“Where were you, though, seriously?? I went to go pee and when I came back you were gone!”
“Oh, sorry. I saw a bear and...”
I trust you.
“...and a park ranger came and helped me out. Turned out fine.”
“Oh. Well, good!” Josh replied, patting her gingerly on the shoulder.
“Did...did you talk to a park ranger after I turned up missing?”
Josh looked hurt. “Of course, I did! But there’s only so much that rangers can do with bears, so...” he gestured towards the prayer circle. “But I think we’ve all had enough of forests and bears for one day. Let’s go home.”
…
Now that the group was once again whole, they returned to Josh’s father’s RV and began the long trip home. Ingrid slumped against her seat near the back and tried to tune Josh out as he sang the praises of not only the forests but also the trees that God had made.
Ingrid, next time someone invites you to go hiking, just say you’re allergic to bears, she admonished herself as she reached into her backpack, rooting around for one of her granola bars; in all the excitement of the afternoon, she had completely forgotten how hungry she was.
What the...??
She blinked as her hand closed around something small, round and textured that she did not remember packing that morning.
She dropped the object back into her pack, and, as naturally as she could manage, got up to go into the bathroom so she could investigate undisturbed.
Once the door was shut behind her, she unzipped her bag, found the foreign object and pulled it out to examine it properly.
It looked something like a walnut, but walnuts weren’t usually painted gold or full of holes. It was held together by a clasp and opened up right down the middle. Inside was a tan piece of paper wrapped around a solid green mass. Ingrid unfurled the paper and read the inscription thereon:
Hide me away and you’ll find them.
Ingrid furrowed her brow. Find...what, exactly?
It was at this moment that she realized the green mass the paper came with looked like the one that sprouted wings and led her back to the info center.
“Hm...”
She put the little walnut back together, hid it away again, washed her hands and left the bathroom.
Now was not the time to do any sleuthing. The others might get suspicious.
And wasn’t looking out for each other—and looking in on each other—part of this game of theirs?
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