We kept finding people inside the trees. PART ONE When we…
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We kept finding people inside the trees. PART ONE
When we found the first one it was quiet for the rest of the day, some made jokes whilst others were too afraid to grab their gear from by the tree line, let alone enter the forest. I was part of the latter at first, part of the few that didn’t see the first to be discovered, I saw the chainsaw though. For a few nights I couldn’t get the image of the teeth jammed with blood drenched hair out of my mind.
But after a while it became what it had always been.
Work.
“Well, shit.” Mikel said.
Rain had managed to fall amongst the thick roof of tree leaves, few drops ran down the man fused to the freshly fallen log’s forehead and into the open wounds where his nose and forehead respectively once were.
One of the local surgeons had gotten a quarter the way through the thick of the base before unintentionally slicing into the man’s body. We knew the procedure. Once whatever surgeon local or American had found one. Myself and Mikel were to chip away at the surrounding wood to separate as much of the person from it as possible then they’d be wrapped in tarp and would be picked up by night by who we all presume to be the higher ups.
Mikel climbed on top of the abnormally large tree, carefully chipping the grain around the elderly man’s head.
“Tricky isn’t it.” He called down.
“Hm?” I replied.
“Y’know, rain makes the exposed wood brown, n’ the poor fella’s brown too… hard to differentiate” mikel said, he wasn’t wrong. I thought for a moment about how in that exact moment, just enough water had soaked into the wood to match the exact colour of his skin. It wasn’t too hard to separate the wood from the fatty parts of the body, the stomach and thighs. Once you got your chisel in between flesh and wood, it would come right off, like scraping a thick layer of paint off an old wall.
“You know where Barry is?” I shouted up to mikel
“I think he’s gone into the town, supply run.” Mikel responded.
“Typical… didn’t invite *me*.” I sighed.
“Why’d you ask anyway.” Mikel said.
“Need him to grab me another chisel think this one-”
I was cut off mid sentence when I heard a shout from behind.
“**Desgraçado**! Stop!”
Myself and Mikel snapped our heads to look at the source, it wasn’t just one man but a group of the local fellers fighting to keep the shouting local back.
He said something else in Spanish, I’m not quite sure, before I called out to Matheas (One of the few english speaking locals) who spoke to the shouting man calmly.
“Mat? What’s going on?” Mikel called out.
Matheas let out a short sigh. “I… I’ll have to tell you later.” He looked to the man in the tree then to the shouting one. “You guys should go. Help finish the one from the morning.”
Mikel shrugged, jumped off the tree and nodded for me to follow as we headed out from the forest.
“What’d you think that was about?” I asked.
“Dunno. Could be one of those religious types.” Mikel quipped.
“Like Barry.” I responded.
“Yeah, a little more crazy than that though.” He smirked.
“You think that’s the reason… Spiritual shit?” I asked.
Mikel shrugged as we arrived at the tree body that was discovered this morning.
“No clue.”
We both looked at the half freed body, his face twirled in a perpetuous state of despair. His eyes, slightly covered by wood grain, looked not to the horizon but to our camp.
“I’m not trying to make this about race again…” Mikel said, unassured.
“Okay…” I shot him a look.
“Don’t look at me like that.” He shot back.
“Fine.” I said taking a swig from my canteen.
“It’s weird he’s the first white one, right? Like if they all looked like locals it’d be strange, but less strange. Maybe it was a curse put on just them, but this guys as white as my balls.” He took a chisel to one of the man's hands.
“As wrinkled as them too.” I took the other hand, after chipping away some of the surrounding wood it finally fell free. I stopped to look at it, his middle finger had an imprint of a ring no longer there.
I thought about why he had it, maybe he spent so much money on his wife’s he couldn’t afford a bigger one for himself. Maybe it was a gift from a boss he hated. I was deep in thought, looking away from the hand now and assessing how much of the tree would be salvageable when I heard glass break.
I looked down first, to the freshly broken beer bottles whose liquid found its path in the scattered dead fall. I looked up from them to Barry, his eyes watering and his chest quickly rising and falling.
“That’s- That’s…” He stuttered out, barely catching his breath through sniffs. “That’s my fucking *dad* man.”
#entertainment
source
When we found the first one it was quiet for the rest of the day, some made jokes whilst others were too afraid to grab their gear from by the tree line, let alone enter the forest. I was part of the latter at first, part of the few that didn’t see the first to be discovered, I saw the chainsaw though. For a few nights I couldn’t get the image of the teeth jammed with blood drenched hair out of my mind.
But after a while it became what it had always been.
Work.
“Well, shit.” Mikel said.
Rain had managed to fall amongst the thick roof of tree leaves, few drops ran down the man fused to the freshly fallen log’s forehead and into the open wounds where his nose and forehead respectively once were.
One of the local surgeons had gotten a quarter the way through the thick of the base before unintentionally slicing into the man’s body. We knew the procedure. Once whatever surgeon local or American had found one. Myself and Mikel were to chip away at the surrounding wood to separate as much of the person from it as possible then they’d be wrapped in tarp and would be picked up by night by who we all presume to be the higher ups.
Mikel climbed on top of the abnormally large tree, carefully chipping the grain around the elderly man’s head.
“Tricky isn’t it.” He called down.
“Hm?” I replied.
“Y’know, rain makes the exposed wood brown, n’ the poor fella’s brown too… hard to differentiate” mikel said, he wasn’t wrong. I thought for a moment about how in that exact moment, just enough water had soaked into the wood to match the exact colour of his skin. It wasn’t too hard to separate the wood from the fatty parts of the body, the stomach and thighs. Once you got your chisel in between flesh and wood, it would come right off, like scraping a thick layer of paint off an old wall.
“You know where Barry is?” I shouted up to mikel
“I think he’s gone into the town, supply run.” Mikel responded.
“Typical… didn’t invite *me*.” I sighed.
“Why’d you ask anyway.” Mikel said.
“Need him to grab me another chisel think this one-”
I was cut off mid sentence when I heard a shout from behind.
“**Desgraçado**! Stop!”
Myself and Mikel snapped our heads to look at the source, it wasn’t just one man but a group of the local fellers fighting to keep the shouting local back.
He said something else in Spanish, I’m not quite sure, before I called out to Matheas (One of the few english speaking locals) who spoke to the shouting man calmly.
“Mat? What’s going on?” Mikel called out.
Matheas let out a short sigh. “I… I’ll have to tell you later.” He looked to the man in the tree then to the shouting one. “You guys should go. Help finish the one from the morning.”
Mikel shrugged, jumped off the tree and nodded for me to follow as we headed out from the forest.
“What’d you think that was about?” I asked.
“Dunno. Could be one of those religious types.” Mikel quipped.
“Like Barry.” I responded.
“Yeah, a little more crazy than that though.” He smirked.
“You think that’s the reason… Spiritual shit?” I asked.
Mikel shrugged as we arrived at the tree body that was discovered this morning.
“No clue.”
We both looked at the half freed body, his face twirled in a perpetuous state of despair. His eyes, slightly covered by wood grain, looked not to the horizon but to our camp.
“I’m not trying to make this about race again…” Mikel said, unassured.
“Okay…” I shot him a look.
“Don’t look at me like that.” He shot back.
“Fine.” I said taking a swig from my canteen.
“It’s weird he’s the first white one, right? Like if they all looked like locals it’d be strange, but less strange. Maybe it was a curse put on just them, but this guys as white as my balls.” He took a chisel to one of the man's hands.
“As wrinkled as them too.” I took the other hand, after chipping away some of the surrounding wood it finally fell free. I stopped to look at it, his middle finger had an imprint of a ring no longer there.
I thought about why he had it, maybe he spent so much money on his wife’s he couldn’t afford a bigger one for himself. Maybe it was a gift from a boss he hated. I was deep in thought, looking away from the hand now and assessing how much of the tree would be salvageable when I heard glass break.
I looked down first, to the freshly broken beer bottles whose liquid found its path in the scattered dead fall. I looked up from them to Barry, his eyes watering and his chest quickly rising and falling.
“That’s- That’s…” He stuttered out, barely catching his breath through sniffs. “That’s my fucking *dad* man.”
#entertainment
source
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