The Body in the Woods

Doctors say a walk in nature helps the spirit, the mind, and the body. It is supposed to be relaxing being in fresh air. To get my circulation going and do something out of the norm, I decided to do as doctors suggest and go for a walk.

Not far from where I live, there's a massive patch of woods. I'm surprised that urban development hasn't flattened it yet for some condos or housing so close you can reach out and wipe your neighbor's butt. I decided to go and see what it was hiding among its mighty giants.

I had been walking for 15 minutes, taking bark samples and digging up glass bottles from decades before I was born. Sometimes I really enjoy looking at the worn labels of the soda products. Finding several bottles in one trip in near perfect condition is extremely rare. Given how far I am from anyone, a house must have once stood in this patch of woods. Maybe the family owned it and that's why it is still wooded.

I had just found an old brown "Bleach" jug when I saw the first shoe. It was absolutely pristine. The black and white wingtip loafer stood out among the dead brown leaves. I reached down and picked it up. It was too new for it to be left there, the leather was still shining in the sun. I looked around and listened hard for a clue of another person close by. I spotted the other shoe.

I walked closer, my curiosity might be about to get me killed. The shoe's mate was attached to a pair of black pleated pants. I followed the leg up to the rest of the body. He laid there like he was asleep. He couldn't have been much older than me and yet his clothing was from the 50's. His hair was dark brown and slicked back into a pompadour. His face had every vein exposed across his ashen pallor.

I took a step closer and nudged his foot with mine. His ankle crunched as it moved. He was definitely dead. I took a deep breath and slowly backed away. Overhead I heard a whoosh of air. I looked above me and saw a committee of vultures staring down at us from the trees.

I turned and ran away. I flung myself through the trees back the way I came to get as far away from the body as possible. My lungs were on fire with the need for oxygen but I was not taking a chance of stopping. Whatever happened to him, whatever he was, whoever did that could still be around. I refused to let it happen to me.

I was almost to the edge of the trees where my car was parked. The bright blue color gleaming through the trees was heavenly. Before I could explode from the brush, a dark blur slammed me to the ground. I was winded from my frightened run so I almost blacked out when I hit the ground. I laid in the leaves, afraid to see what threw me back. Between breaths, I looked up to see him standing over me. Intelligence and knowing filled his dead features. His eyes were bloodshot but sparkled with the knowledge of millennia.

"Give it back."

Had his mouth even moved? I looked around me to see what he was wanting. What did I have of his? Surely not the now broken glass in my bag. I saw it as he took a step closer. He was missing a shoe and I had taken it with me in my flight. I let out the last breath I had in my lungs and handed him the shoe. His fingers were ice when they touched mine. He gingerly took the shoe and walked back the way he had come. The committee was still circling overhead.

I didn't wait around to see what would happen next. I refuse to go back into nature unless it is a well-used area.