Dear Diary: It’s Me, Jessica: Chapter 18 (Book 3)

By the author of Dear Diary: It’s Me, Jessica: The Second Year

In case you missed the last chapter, you can find it here.

Dear Diary,

It’s me, Jessica.

“Good morning, everyone,” HAM Guy said as he handed me Mom’s laptop and took a seat next to Rae and across from me. We were sitting at the prep table enjoying the heat from the outdoor oven after we finished breakfast. “Fully charged.”

“Thank you. Any news on the radio nets?”

“Still nothing coming out of the West Coast. HAMs from the North and South have not heard from anyone either. Up North, they have already had killing frosts, and some in the high altitudes have had snow. Down South has been pretty quiet. I did hear from City HAM Guy. He says after your little stunt with cutting the aerostat loose, they packed up and were gone by next morning.”

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“Any idea where they might have gone?” Rae asked.

“Nope. Have not heard anything odd on the radio nets either. Jamal is asking for another trade meet-up.”

“I will talk to Jack,” Rae said.

“Talk to me about what?” Jack asked as he came around the corner to join the rest of us at the table.

“Jamal wants a trade meet-up,” HAM Fuy replied.

“Oh. I think we can arrange that. Get a day and we will make it happen.”

“Anything on your game cameras?” I asked.

“Can I use that laptop?”

I nodded, opened the lid, and started the computer. After a moment, I logged into Mom’s account and handed it to Jack. Jack took out three micro data cards. He picked out one and slipped it into the card slot. After a moment he clicked on a window that opened and slid the computer around so we could all see the monitor.

“This is the camera I put in a tree at the end of my drive, with it pointing at the road.”

“Is that Rae?” I asked.

“Yep, that is me. I was the test case.”

“Yes. I have the camera on the Infrared, or IR, setting. When something trips the camera motion sensor, the IR light comes on and the camera starts recording. I have it set for thirty-second videos.”

On the monitor, we could see Rae walking by the tree where the camera was. The image was in black and white, and Rae looked like she was walking in front of a flashlight.

“The IR light is not visible to people or animals, so she does not even see it. Dark is all she can see.”

Jack pulled the laptop back to him, selected another video and played it.

“Here is your cat, Jessica,” he said as he spun the laptop back around. “Look how she walks down the street and then . . . there. She stops and looks at something behind her. But look at this,” and he pointed at the left side of the screen.

There seemed to be another light on the pavement.

“Jack, is that another IR light?” HAM Guy asked, studying the monitor.

“You are correct. Whoever it is has IR goggles or na IR scope. He can see using the IR light in the dark and unless you had similar goggles or a scope to see his IR light, you would never know he was there. I think he was following the cat from a distance when the cat triggered the camera. He could see the game camera IR light and stopped before he could get in the picture.”

“So he knows there is a camera there.” HAM Guy said it as a statement and not a question.

“Yes. And the second one.”

Jack removed the micro data card and slipped another one in.

He clicked on the window that opened and slid the laptop back for us to see.

The video started. On the right side, there was a bright light looking right at the camera. We could not see anything else.

“He tripped the camera on the edge of the camera view but looked right at it. His light basically blinded the camera from seeing anything.”

The light disappeared, but there was nothing on the video screen.

“He ducked out before the camera could recover from his light. Never got a good look. The third one. Here is the weird part.”

Jack removed the micro data card and put the third one in. He played the video and slid it around for us to see.

It was an empty street with a house.

“I don’t see anything,” I said looking harder at the screen if I was missing something.

“I know. Something triggered the camera, but there is nothing there.”

“Could a leaf on the wind or something like that have triggered it?” HAM Guy asked.

“The first time I used a game camera, I made that mistake. I had a micro data card full of thirty-second videos of a weed fluttering back and forth in the wind. These cameras are better. Motion detector AI or something like that. Keeps down on recording weeds, small tree branches, and leaves but still picks up on things like cats, deer, people, and the like.”

“Okay, that is weird. But could just be AI hallucinating,” HAM Guy mused.

“That is not the weird part.”

“What is the weird part?” I asked.

“Look at the time hack.” Jack tapped on the upper right corner where there was a clock showing 0134 and the date.

Jack pulled the laptop back and ran another video.

“This one was taken two minutes later.”

It was the same street, the same house.

But a pile of rocks sat in the middle of the street.

Part two

I set out for Four Corners, turning off the road from our community, when I spied a pile of rocks on the right side of the road. Out of habit, I unslung the rifle across my back and held it across the saddle with one hand, my other hand still held the reins. There was a game trail just off the road. I was about to continue on to Four Corners when I thought I heard something coming from the woods. I peered down the game path, when I thought I heard what sounded like laughter.

Jack would have been upset with me as I led my horse to the game path and into the woods.

The path snaked through between the hills in the lower-lying areas. The path must have been used frequently as it was well worn. Again, I thought I heard the sound of laughter, but it was hard to tell.

Rounding a bend, I rode into a clearing. There in the middle was a small fire pit made of medium-sized rocks and what looked like a small lean-to made of branches and pine firs. A boy crawled out of it and stood up before me.

“Hi,” he said with a bright smile. He looked small, but his voice was deeper than should have matched his body. I then realized he only looked small as he was wearing what looked like a men’s jacket. The sleeves had to be pushed up for his hands to come out and the hem of the jacket came down nearly to his knees. But he was about my height.

“Hi,” I said back. “What are you doing out here?”

He cocked his head to one side and looked at me with a puzzled half-smile.

“This is where I live.”

“By yourself?”

“Why, yes.”

“Where are your parents? Family?”

“Oh,” he looked down at the ground and then quietly said, “They are gone.”

I was about to ask what had happened to them, but thought better of it and changed the subject,

“My name is Jessica. What is your name?”

He looked up and smiled again,

“Michael.”

I nudged my horse a little closer to get a better look at Michael.

He was my height. Short, sandy hair. Bright blue eyes. His face was clean and round which struck me as odd. Most everyone these days of lots of physical work, lean eating were on the thin side. He was not thin. But I would not call him fat either. He must not have lost what Mom would have called ‘baby fat.’ To a degree and thanks to Mom and Dad’s making sure I ate enough at the beginning when the power went out, I still had some of my ‘baby fat’ in my face. Michael must have been eating well. So I asked him. “You have plenty to eat from around here?”

“Oh, yes. There are rabbits, squirrels and there are some fish in a creek not far from here. And there is that town just up the road.”

“You have been to Four Corners?”

“Oh, yes. It is a nice place with nice people.”

“I am going there now. Would you like to come with me?”

“Oh, no. I am fine.”

“Okay.” There was something off about Michael, but with his family gone, he might be experiencing some kind of trauma. I have seen a number of people since the power went out who had seen bad things or experienced a degree of trauma themselves. I thought it best not to push it.

“Well, I need to go to Four Corners. But would you like me to stop by some time to say hi?”

“Oh, yes! I would like that, Jessica!” His smile was bright again.

“Okay, Michael. I will stop by to say hi, maybe tomorrow.”

I waved as I turned the horse around and headed back down the game trail for the road.

Michael waved back.

Part three

“No, I have not seen a boy like that. You Collins?” Tom looked at Collins after I described Michael to them at the Four Corners East gate.

“Me neither. Only people we have seen are the usual regulars. You, Rae, Katie, or her group. Mr. Miller or the other farmer from out that way. No one new and certainly not a lone boy.”

“Yellow Teeth Bob did mention a few chickens and rabbits have gone missing over the past few days. Maybe this young boy is getting past the night watch,” Tom suggested.

“Have to mention it to the night watch,” Collins nodded.

“Well, aside from the chickens and rabbits, and he has a weird habit of putting small piles of rocks at the end of driveways, he is harmless.

“Rocks,” Tom asked.

I explained it to them.

“He seems a little off. Said his family was gone.”

“Oh. Yeah,” Tom said, looking at the ground, and sighed. “We will be sure to pass that along too.”

Part four

Returning home from Four Corners later that afternoon, I was tempted to stop at the pile of rocks and head down the game trail to visit Michael again, but I felt like I would be intruding. I traded for some chocolate to take him tomorrow, along with some breakfast corn muffins and maybe some lard bread.

After I unsaddled my horse and picketed her out in an area where she could graze, I put the saddle away and went out the kitchen sliding glass door to the patio to find Mom, Dad, Walt and Joanna sitting around the prepping table playing cards.

“I found our rock pile joker,” I announced as I took a seat.

The card playing stopped as everyone looked at me in surprise.

I explained the situation.

“Oh,” Mom said when I finished. “That poor boy. We should try to get him to come into the community.”

“Yes,” Joanna agreed. “Namely before winter. We don’t get much snow, but I do not like the idea of that young man out there in the cold.”

Everyone else nodded in agreement.

“I will tell Rae and Jack when they come for dinner,” I said.

“Oh, you just missed them. They stopped by to borrow the pull behind to go to the Millers. They said they would likely have dinner there, and knowing Mrs. Miller, she will insist they spend the night rather than ride home after dusk,” Dad said as he resumed playing cards.

“What are they going to the Millers for?” I asked.

“Organization for the October Fest. Who has what, who is bringing what, who needs what, and of course transportation to Four Corners,” Walt replied and discarded.

“This year looks to be another good year,” Joanna exclaimed. She then put cards on different decks and declared, “I am out!”

Everyone else sighed or groaned as they began to count up their cards.

“Why do you always make me play this game? I never win,” Walt muttered.

“Why, dear, you never win,” Joanna said, smiling sweetly and patting his cheek.

Part five

Mom just pulled out breakfast corn muffins and put a loaf of lard bread into the outdoor oven when Rae, Jack, HAM guy, Sampson, and the puppies came around the corner.

“We have the rock joker,” HAM guy announced holding up his laptop computer in triumph.

“You have Michael?” I asked.

“Who is Michael?” Rae asked me.

“The boy I met on my way to Four Corners yesterday.”

“Explain,” Jack ordered.

I explained the encounter with Michael.

“What does he look like?” HAM Guy asked, even though I told them.

I repeated my description of Michael. When I finished, Jack, Rae, and the HAM guy all looked at each other, then at me.

“Honey, I think we are talking about two different people,” Rae said.

“Show her,” Jack said.

“Okay,” HAM guy put his laptop on the table and fired it up.

“When Rae and I went to the Millers yesterday, we had Sampson and the puppies with us. Once we got out of the community, they picked up on something. It was on the road going towards the Millers. About halfway to the Millers, Sampson and the puppies indicated toward the woods. When going to Rae’s to meet up with her to go to the Millers, I picked up two of the game cameras on the way. When Sampson and the puppies went toward the woods, I got an idea.”

“Ready,” HAM guy said and set the laptop in a position for us to see and pressed a button.

Like the previous videos, it was black and white but we could see the IR light and the silhouette of a person walking on the road. Then another IR light off to one side totally illuminated the person. It was a man, with long dark hair and a dark beard. He stopped immediately and turned toward the IR light off to one side, his own IR moving with his head. He was wearing some kind of goggles. He walked off to the one side, and disappeared. A moment later, the other game camera IR light went out.

“I disabled one of the game camera IR light, but the motion detector still works even in the dark. He took the one game camera but did not find or even look for the other one.”

“That is not Michael,” I said with a degree of determination.

“I know,” Jack said simply. “And that has me curious.”

Part six

This time, we went on foot.

I insisted it was not necessary, but Jack insisted we go fully armed.

I almost missed it. There was no rock pile present. Just the game trail.

We humped it in, slowly and quietly, weapons with live rounds in the chambers, but safeties on.

We came to the clearing where I met Michael.

There was nothing there.

No stone fire pit.

No lean-to.

There was no sign of either ever being there. Nothing but a clearing covered in multi-colored fall leaves.

“Sampson and the puppies are not getting anything.”

“But the fire pit, the lean-to, they were both here! He was here,” I insisted.

A cold, strong wind picked up and blew through the clearing, scattering the leaves in all directions. A small pile of rocks appeared where the fire pit had been.

About 1stMarineJarHead

1^stMarineJarHead is not only a former Marine but also a former EMT-B, Wilderness EMT (courtesy of NOLS), and volunteer firefighter.

He currently resides in the great white (i.e. snowy) Northeast with his wife and dogs. He raises chickens, rabbits, goats, occasionally hogs, cows and sometimes ducks. He grows various veggies and has a weird fondness for rutabagas. He enjoys reading, writing, cooking from scratch, making charcuterie, target shooting, and is currently expanding his woodworking skills.