Narrator Point of View
Daniel was still wondering what the lady meant as he kept driving to his destination. Just a few more minutes more and he will be at the check in zone. He had reserved a few permits for different spots. He planned on seeing everything if he could. The day was still bright when he arrived at his destination. It was a more popularized location which he wanted to try out first before going into full camping gear mode.
He placed his reservation ticket on his windshield to be visible and grabbed his backpack. The place looked very well maintained. There were even areas where he could possibly shower. He walked to his camping spot and set up. The first night was a breeze. He got up and grabbed all his items to walk. He had a bottle that filtered water if he ran out of his water bottles. He was hiking through the trail taking pictures and on some occasions he would come across another hiker. They would greet him quickly and keep walking. It was peaceful and fresh.
He came across a cliff that was high enough to look over the lower part of the mountain. He took a picture and decided to begin his recording to document himself. He set the camera up on a tripod and began speaking as if giving a presentation.
Daniels Point of View
Hello, It's Daniel. I apologize for the awkwardness throughout the video. Alright, let's begin. I'm standing on a cliff. What you see behind me is on a peck of the Appalachian Mountains, it actually expands a lot more, but I'll spare you the details because we're not here for that. Standing here, it feels like everything is in constant zoom in and out mode. The wind is felt on your skin with a slight pressure. Picture cold hands lightly pressing on you, but covering the majority of the surface in the direction that the wind is traveling from. And make that feeling like waves that spread through the area. The noise while walking can be easily recreated, but the feel is different. Let's touch some areas now. The surface is rough and we can use bark from trees to recreate it in the office, but the difference is this accumulation of dust. It's not packed as much on the top half as it is on the bottom. Most likely due to the wind speed. Let me close my eyes and see how my ears feel. The breeze takes away some of the sound. Okay, so that's what I have for describing the place. I will continue to describe the senses we can try and replicate in the office."
I felt odd talking to the camera, but it's how I will get reimbursed and how I convinced my boss to give me two months off. This place seems very peaceful. I guess I can keep walking around and try to do some activities, like jump things and even go for a swim if I can. I don't know what that lady was talking about. It still bothers me. How can I let someone randomly affect me like that? Oh right, since that spooky thing happened. I guess I'm still processing that.
I looked around and saw that I was completely alone. It was an odd feeling because I just saw some hikers a few minutes ago. I guess I should get used to this. I sure do miss getting food delivered and making fresh food. The only things I brought were trail mix and a few more perishables. I guess I'm not as adventurous as I thought. I'm already finding things I find a pain.
Narrator Point of View
Daniel made it past the first days exploring and recording his activities for his job. He wanted to give the users of his product a very real feeling. The body suits were made of thin fabrics that released pulses of electricity. It was small enough to target a centimeter wide area. However, it didn't have a strong charge to cause harm to users, but Daniels' company was looking to find the limit so that it felt real enough to make one believe they were in that place.
By the third week, Daniel believed his team would have sufficient data to begin to work on the prototype. He decided to send his progress to receive feedback of what they would like more input on or description. He drove to the nearest city with wifi and made his uploads to their cloud system. While he waited, he called his mother to check in before she sent out a search and rescue.
"Hello honey, how is your trip going?" answered Daniel's mother. Daniel let out a breath of air and said, "I'm fine mom. I just finished my first assignment. I'll be moving on to my next. So I won't be able to be reached for some time again." His mother inhaled and exhaled, then she responded, "I'm just worried about your safety. Sorry for being overbearing, I wouldn't be if Kyle was with you." Daniel didn't respond right away, then he said, "He's got responsibilities I don't have. Maybe when I get back you can set me up with that girl you always keep bringing up." His mother shrieked in excitement. "Oh honey, I'm so glad you finally decided to take the next step in life. I was beginning to worry that maybe you were going to come out of the closet and I've been pushing this girl on you." Daniels gasped and said, "What! No! I'm just antisocial!" He exclaimed. Then he proceeded to talk, "Only on one condition." His mother settled down and said, "what is that?" Daniel said seriously, "You stop calling me honey or anything remotely endearing. I can't imagine a girl thinking it's cute for a grown man to be called that." His mother quickly agreed and said, "sipped, no more honey from your mother." He chuckled a little because he knew his mother would have a hard time keeping that promise. They said their goodbyes and he had a smile on his face.
He had also updated Kyle about his conversation with his mom and Kyle congratulated him. He also thought he was in the closet, but didn't come out to say it. Daniel was embarrassed his antisocial behavior was perceived that way, but he didn't date. It made sense that even his best friend suspected him. It was actually a bit funny too.
Daniel began to drive to his next location which was north. The woods were massive and they seemed never ending when he got to the very top. It was getting late and he was told not to hike in the dark, but his last video took longer than he expected because he decided to free range rock climb. He fell a few times because he didn't have any experience. He knew he would regret it once he sat down.
As he was walking through the forest and back to the camping sites he saw a shadowy figure from the corner of his eye. He looked over and didn't see anyone. He waited a little bit to see if there was someone there, but he didn't see anyone. He kept walking down the hill and heard twigs and foot steps behind him. Daniel turned to look around, but didn't see anyone. He felt the same way he felt that night. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He then heard a small whimper from a distance. He was going to ignore it, but he changed his mind and stepped off the trail to follow the whimper. He heard a whisper in his ear, "turn back." Daniel looked around and didn't see anyone. He let out a breath and swallowed his spit. He could still see the trail. He wasn't that far from it. Then he heard the whimper again, and followed it. He turned around a large tree stump and on the ground he saw a golden retriever caught under a branch where his pawn nail got stuck. It looked like he must've climbed over the large branch, slipped and got his nail caught.
Daniel's Point of View
What kind of special person brings a dog into the woods and lets it run free unattended? Poor dog, it's probably frightened. I get close to that dog and see it's nail is half way off from his paw. It must be in pain if it moves. The branch is split like a trap holding him in place. I put my foot down on one end of the branch and pull up the other. The dog slowly pulls his paw out and licks his wound. Then I let go of the branch slowly so he didn't get scared. I look around to see if anyone is even looking for him. When I look back the dog is gone.
Another weird thing that happens, but what's more odd is this red door that is now in front of me. I don't recall seeing it there before. As I walk closer to the door I check if anything else is around me. I don't see anyone in sight. The door is bright red, how can anyone miss it? The handle is golden. There's a golden door knock in the shape of a ram. The eyes are actually peepholes. I'm probably going to regret this, but my curiosity is killing me. I look through the peep hole. From the peephole I see this large city miles away, with flying objects. It looks like it's crystallized. I pull back and try to go around the door, but there's nothing but forest and stairs connected to the door that go up to six feet. I go back to look through the peephole and see the city. My curiosity is making me go against my better judgement. Part of me is telling me to turn back, go back to the trail, it should be that far off. The other part is to open that door. What if I just open the door, but don't walk in. It's just to have a better look. Yeah, that seems a little safer. I slowly open the door and look. Wow, it's really there, it's an entire city. I think I discovered a portal to a new place. I should record this. I reached for my bag when I suddenly felt something pushed me through the door.