The wilderness is a place far away
from the worries of modern life. If you know what you’re doing, you should be
able to make a living in it. After a hunting trip for food, Mark returns with
the rewards from his hard work. He spent all last night building traps for
animals after studying their habits and placed his traps in the appropriate
areas. Once he prepares the meat and skin of the animals in his kitchen, he lets
it cook then he goes over to his living room. While looking over pictures of
his family and friends, he smiles and nods as if paying homage. The pictures depict
some of his loved ones hunting with him in some of them.
A knock at the door startles Mark. As
he gets close to the door, a letter slips underneath it. He cautiously opens the
door to see no one around. Certain that someone must be around, Mark looks
around the area with his hunting rifle in case of danger and finds no one. When
he gets back home, he reads the letter. It says,
“It's
time to stop your mourning
It's
time to wake to a new morning
Because
this is a warning you should know
So
you can be saved from your woes
You
know what causes you despair
Your
time for mourning has been fair
Now
rise from your sadness
And
taste the sweetness of gladness
The
Undertaker of Sorrows is coming after you
He
knows what you've been through
He
wants you to succeed
But
if you fail, he will do more than make you bleed
Your
ways have caused others harm
And
the state of your soul is cause for alarm
So
let go of what causes you sorrow
Or
the Undertaker will not let you live after tomorrow”
It’s been so long since Mark last
thought of what he was sorrowful for that he couldn’t think of anything that he
regretted or something that caused him sorrow. When he told everyone he knew
that he is going to stay in the wilderness for a while, they reluctantly approved
of his decision because normal life was getting to him back then. Untroubled by
the letter he goes about his daily activities. By the time he goes to bed, he’s
already forgotten about the letter. Even though he might’ve forgotten about the
letter, he still has a dream of a lone figure in his dream. The figure stands ominously
in the dark forest. When it turns around, Mark wakes up.
Mark shakes off the feeling from
his dream to go into his living room to see the letter nailed to the wall. The
Undertaker is obviously after him, but he still has no idea why. He thought to
himself why he would remember something that would sadden him and what good that
would do when he’s already happy as he is. A stitched-together newspaper is
placed under his front door. Again, Mark searches for the person who did it and
find no one.
The newspaper has the events that Mark
regrets. While Mark was working a construction job, part of the building fell in
streets which resulted in injuries and deaths. Mark wasn’t blamed for the
accident since the equipment was found to be faulty and someone else wasn’t
doing their job, however, Mark still felt guilty. During a hunting trip with his
family, Mark was about to shoot a deer, but then a man came out of the woods
with a knife in his sights. He had already pulled the trigger and shot both the
man and the deer, killing them both. Again, another accident that he couldn’t avoid.
Tears start welling up in his eyes as he ignores the last accident.
Wondering why the Undertaker is
putting him through this, Mark waits for an answer as he still doesn’t know why
the Undertaker is reopening old wounds. Another letter comes through the door.
He quickly opens and reads it. The letter says to, “Come home”. The thought
then occurred to him that he better get back home because his loved ones should
be worried about him right now especially since they have no way of knowing if
he’s okay. All this time he’s been thinking about himself and not the people
that care about him.
Feeling worse about his selfishness
rather than his sorrows, he packs his stuff to leave. Before he exits the door,
he remembers that the wilderness is a dangerous place especially with all his
stuff on his back. Another letter slips underneath the door. This one says, “I’ll
protect you”. Not wanting to keep his loved ones waiting, he trusts the letter
and heads off. At this time of day, there are predators in the woods along Mark’s
path.
While thinking about the first threat,
Mark hears a bear in the distance. He hides until he hears it squeal in
pain. Curious about what happened while being cautious, Mark goes near to where
the sound was and sees an eviscerated bear. Somewhat terrified but comforted at
the same time, he moves on. More sounds of danger echo on his path and he gets
closer to where he left his car. These are the sounds of wolves hunting for
their next meal. Again, he hides while readying his rifle. This time he sees
the wolves in the distance. It appears that he will have to take care of this
himself. Mark thinks that this won’t be too much trouble since he’s killed
three wolves on his own before, however, the wolves are skewered by a passing shadow
in no time. Mark lets out a discomforted sigh before moving on.
Mark has finally made it to his
car. He checks his fuel levels and sees that he’s running lower than he thought.
He looks up to see three people with guns and a gas can with gas in it walking into
the forest. One of them notices him near the car and touches the others to
notify them of him being there. The one with the gas can drops it as he points
his gun at Mark. The two men only take a few steps towards Mark before all of
them disappear. Startled, but not too afraid, he gets the gas can where the man
put it. As he picks it up, he hears screaming coming from the forest. This
makes him quickly fills his car before leaving to go back home. He thanks the
Undertaker only to have a piece of paper lodge into his windshield that says, “You’re
welcome”, written in what looks to be blood.
No comments:
Post a Comment