Forgetting the Forgotten

I had spent too many summers here, but that was the thing, the forests here, they were great, and in so many ways, they were the best places for the chance to run away. I know that there were so many of my friends did not understand what it was that was here that really kept me coming back. I mean, most of my friends, they had no desire to be here, or around their families, and believe me, I absolutely understood that. Most of my friends had parents who almost never wanted them around. My best friend Eddie, he told me that his dad sent him out the door to basically find a place to hang out, while he went on another date but that was the thing, they weren’t really dates.

I had invited Eddie to come with, but I knew that he was going to turn me down. He really liked my older sister, but he was entirely too shy to talk to her, so I had to believe that a car ride, especially the one that we would take to get here, but I was always glad to spend the time that I had with my sister. I knew that there were not many more years that we were going to get to spend together. Soon she was going to be going to college, and already there were the boys who were lining up at the front door, and they were begging her to go on a date with them.

The funny thing was, she often looked forward to this trip as well, and that was simply because she wanted to get away from the boys who were lining up. And so, there would be a month of no boys, and the chance for us to go and discover the world. Did I understand the reason for coming up here to the cabin here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, but I knew that my parents knew what was best.

I wished that I had found places like this, and I knew that there were moments when all I really wanted was to just get away from the friends who were at home. It was a year ago when I met one of the best girls that had ever come into my life, but that was the thing, no one knew that I was going back, all in hopes that I would get to see her one more time. Her name was Jackie, and she lived just down the road, at the Jackson Cabin. Her grandparents had owned the cabin, and yet we had never seemed to line up our vacations until last year. I could not even bring myself to tell my best friends, Eddie or Scot.

This land was not quite the place that had been on my mind. I had always wanted to go and see the woods and the lands of Maine. But that was the wish. I had seen the pictures that Scot had shared with me after his family had gone there. I knew that I could easily have gone there and gotten lost, but I would have to live with the UP, just like I had for the past several years.

I did not want to miss getting to see Jackie anyway, but that is the thing, I was Kyle Palmer, and this was my summer. I knew that there were going to be those moments where we might see a bear, or a porcupine, or who really knows what. But I was there to offer the protection that I could to Jackie. It was not that she was not able to protect herself, because I was sure that she could. I mean there were times when I was sure that she could have kicked my butt clear to the moon. Did I understand why she was that way? No, but that was okay with me.

“So are you daydreaming about that girlfriend of yours?” My older sister Erica asked me.

“Does it really matter?”

”No, but I know that is why you were so excited to come back up here this year. By the way, I can help you with that.”

“I am not sure that I need any more help.”

“Every man needs help with women. It would just be better if they came to us women who know what we are talking about and can give you far better advice than any of the guys that you could ask.”

”Well, I didn’t ask them, either.”

It was nice that I knew that I could talk to my sister, and the fact that we were in the car with my parents and they were all cool with this talk. I never felt like I had to hide anything from my family, that was except for the love to tell these stories, but there were so many other reasons that I did not tell them about this. I knew that there was that chance that I could hit it big, and all I had to do was tell some stories.

It was here, in the woods, even when I was with Jackie, that I remember that love is not able to scare off the Sasquatch, but who was I to stop it. But she had insisted that we go out looking for it this summer. And that is where we went. I had no idea that it was going to show up, but sometimes we have to do the wrong thing, when we are really looking for the one creature, that so many people told us was not real.

“Help me, Kyle. It has me, and I have no clue where I am going to end up.”

I was running after her, but I knew that I was not going to be able to keep up. I had to hope that she was able to leave me enough clues as to the trail that they were taking. The moment that I had heard that scream, I knew that I had to hope that I could keep up. But I was losing the light as well. Why had we chosen to come out here tonight? Why did I not think to bring a flashlight? What was it that kept me from thinking about the things that I might need.

It was even worse that I had not taken the precautions to know that something that this was a possibility. She had stepped off the trail, and that was the thing, if I did not let her go over to what she thought was signs that the beast existed, and did not take the time to go over there with her. Do I know for sure that the beast could be stopped, even if I had been right there? No, I did not know anything.

As I walked the trail back toward my cabin, I had called my sister, trying to find some comfort, or some idea as to what I needed to do next.

“Are you kidding, you had to turn back? I would not have done that. How are you going to go and find her?”

”I do not know. I wish that I did.”

“We are going to have to go back out there. But we are also going to have to get the police and whoever else that we can, all in an effort to find her.”

”Can you call the police, tell them to meet me at the trail head? I might be able to lead them at least in the direction of the

“I will do my best. Do your best to find her. I know how much you care.”

”I will, I have to do all that I can. I need more help than my own two feet.”

The sad thing was, there were two weeks that went by, and Jackie’s folks, they came to the cabin every single day. Sometimes I thought that it was me that they were blaming, and they wanted to make me feel guilty that I could not keep up. But I had to believe that there was going to be some sign of her, or that we were going to find what was left of her.

I did not blame anyone, I just felt all alone. It was not a good thing that this was even taking place. I wished that I could have taken back those last few moments, that I would have been able to remember the things that I needed to, so that I could take them to the place where it happened, and where the thing had carried her off, but I wasn’t sure that it was going to matter, not now. Maybe not ever.

”How you holdin’ up, bro?” Erica asked, walking into the living room a number of days later.

“Do you think that someone else had their eye on Jackie, and that was the reason they dressed that way and they took her?”

”I guess it is possible. There could be a number of things that brought this about, but if they were looking to take her, I would have thought that the person who took her, that they would have at least tried to get some money and all. I don’t want you to think that she is even still out there.”

But that was the thing, I had always heard that there was this feeling, that those of us who are not family, that eventually we will forget the person who went missing. Did I really understand it, well, not really. But that is the thing, we need to understand that there really is no way to forget anything like that. It was not long before the rest of the world would move on. They would forget her, and they would eventually forget the forgotten.

Maybe that was what my problem was, I was not willing to let her be forgotten. Not that her parents kept in touch, and they were not up there the next year when we came up, and I had to believe that this place had become too filled with memories, but that is the thing, it felt like the world was forgetting, and I had no reason to think that it was good. I had no reason to want it to be good. But that was the thing, I do not think that anyone should be forgotten, not ever.

So maybe it was just hard, to know that I was here, even many years after my parents had quit bringing us up here to spend a month every summer. My parents eventually sold the cabin, and they had no idea that I was the one to buy it. I never told anyone in the family that I was coming up here, and that was the thing, I could not get the whole thing off my mind. Maybe that was why I started telling the stories that I did. I wanted to keep the idea alive that there was someone out there who could tell all about this beautiful woman who was out there. I knew that she was still alive. I was sure of that.

At one point, I wanted to raise funds to go out there and search again, to look for the things that we missed that summer as a teenager. But I was not sure that I wanted to bring the subject back up. So still, I took the trail that we had taken that day. I had no idea what it was that I was looking for. It was not that I really knew what it was that I was looking for. Still I was not going to say that I was not going to find something, and that was all that I could hope for.

About 45 minutes out onto the trail I met up with a man, and I looked at him. He seemed familiar to me. I had a hard time trying to place the face. Still, I tried the best that I could, to place that person.

“Good day to go for a hike, isn’t it?” the man asked, as I stopped long enough to be polite.

“Yeah, sure is.”

“The woods can be a nice place to find the things we lose.”

“I guess you could say that,” I said, looking at him, still trying to figure out who this man was.

“Have a nice hike, Kyle.”

”How do you know who I am?”

“That does not matter, all that matters is that you are never going to find her. She is gone.”

”Hey, what did you do to her?”

“Nothing, but the sad thing is, that you will never be able to find her, or what happened to her. You failed her, and she was relying on you.”

As he walked on, I knew that I was going to have to come to an understanding that this world, that he was the one who had done all this. And so I pretended to hike on, but I turned, and stayed behind him. I wanted to make sure that someone took the time to find out who this creep was, and why he had done his best to make sure that he ran across my path, and did so this day.

About 4 miles later, I saw him walk up and enter a cabin. And when I looked at the cabin, I realized the cabin was the one that Jackie’s parents had owned. I closed my eyes, and as I did so, I remembered, on the mantle in the cabin, there was a photo. It was all of Jackie’s aunts and uncles on her dad’s side. What in the world was he doing up here? He had avoided coming up here, Jackie had told me. She told me that he hated this place, so it seemed odd that he was there. And what was more, he knew who I was, which meant that he had to have known Jackie was here somewhere. I was guessing that she was there in that cabin, I mean, not even her dad could remember my name.

I pulled out my cell phone, and checked on the signal, because I did not want the call to cut out while I was talking to the police.

“911 what is your emergency?” The dispatcher asked.

”Hi, my name is Kyle Palmer. A number of years ago, I had gone hiking with my girlfriend, Jackie Jackson. While we were on that hike, Jackie got off the trail, she was supposed to be checking out something that she thought was tied to Bigfoot. While she was there, she was picked up and hauled off. The person was wearing a suit that made him look like Bigfoot. Anyway, I am pretty sure that it was her uncle who was the one who took her. She said that he hated being here, and would not come up here, and he refused to come up here and help look, but he hunted me down just a bit ago. I followed him, and he went back to the cabin her parents owned. There is some signs that a woman is living in that cabin with him.”

”Do you think that a crime has been committed, sir?”

“I do. I think that this man, Clarence Jackson, that he has kidnapped and has subsequently been holding Jackie Jackson, hostage.”

”Do you have any evidence of this, sir?”

“No, I do not. Not anything that I am sure can be used. Is there anyway that you can go and check to see if she is there?”

”All that the officer can do is a welfare check. He can ask about all this, but without evidence of a crime there is nothing that they can do.”

”Please, have an officer do that much for me.”

I stood there, still on the line with the dispatcher when the first squad car pulled up. I did not know what they were going to learn. I knew that they were going to have their hands full, especially if they saw any evidence that Jackie was there. But I also knew that there was not much that I could do, it was not like I had a legal reason to suspect him, but I had to hope that he was stupid enough to slip up.

I stood there and watched as the officer knocked on the door. I could see that there was motion inside the cabin, and there was someone who stepped out the back door, a woman, and what I could not tell, was whether it was indeed, Jackie, but it looked close.

“Are you still there, sir?”

”Yes, I am here. A woman stepped out the back door. It is like the man who answered the door forced her out the back so she would not be seen.”

”Are you serious?”

”Yes, ma’am, I am. She looks similar to Jackie, but I cannot tell for sure if it is her.”

”Just a moment, I am going to make sure the officer who is there knows about this.”

The dispatcher’s voice could be heard in the background, talking to the officer. He told the man to stand where he was, and the officer walked around the cabin. When he saw the woman, he walked up to her. I could tell, at first she was afraid. I saw him radio for another patrol to show up.

Within seconds 2 cars pulled up, along wth an ambulance. It was like they were all on standby. I was thankful for that, for sure, but I knew also that there was hope that she was eventually going to be okay. An officer came to me, and he took me over, and had me stand by the ambulance.

“We will need you to give a statement, but I think it is safe to say, Jackie is thankful that you took the time to keep on this. She wants you to be here for a moment before they take her to the hospital to check her out.”

”Okay, thank you, officer.”

If only I had done what so much of the world did, by simply forgetting the forgotten.

The End