Where the Trees Watch – Chapter 6
The Firewatch Tower in the Northern Ridge
The station remained silent after Walter finished speaking. Wind brushed softly against the wooden walls while the lantern flame flickered across the old maps hanging around the room. Outside, Blackwood stood hidden beneath thick fog and darkness, though every now and then Ryan thought he could still hear faint whistling drifting somewhere far between the trees.
No one seemed eager to speak first.
Ryan Mercer leaned against the old table near the center of the station while Walter quietly poured coffee into chipped mugs that looked older than Ryan himself. Mason sat near the door checking batteries inside one of the camera lights, though his hands moved with visible tension now. Claire stood beside the wall map studying the northern section of Blackwood carefully.
Finally she looked back toward Walter. “You mentioned a firewatch tower.”
The ranger nodded once.
“Tower Four.”
His voice carried immediate discomfort the moment he said the name.
Claire stepped closer to the map. “That’s where the disappearances happened?”
Walter slowly pointed toward the northern ridge marked near the edge of the forest reserve. A faded circle had been drawn around one isolated section deep inside the mountains.
“Every missing person entered Blackwood within ten miles of the tower.”
Ryan frowned. “Why was it abandoned?”
Walter hesitated long enough to make the room feel colder.
“Because the last ranger stationed there disappeared.”
The lantern crackled softly.
Claire folded her arms. “When?”
“1997.”
Ryan exchanged a glance with Mason.
“That’s almost thirty years ago.”
Walter nodded silently.
“The ranger working Tower Four radioed the station late one night during a storm.” His eyes drifted toward the windows again. “He sounded terrified.”
Something about the ranger’s expression made Ryan feel uneasy before Walter even continued.
“He kept saying something was circling the tower in the trees below.” Walter swallowed hard. “Then he said he could hear whistling coming from the forest.”
Outside, the wind shifted softly.
Ryan suddenly became very aware of the darkness beyond the station walls.
“What happened after that?” Claire asked quietly.
Walter’s fingers tightened around the coffee mug.
“The radio transmission cut off.” He looked toward them slowly. “Search teams found the tower empty two days later.”
Ryan frowned. “No body?”
Walter shook his head once.
“No footprints leaving the tower either.”
Silence settled heavily inside the station.
Then Mason finally spoke for the first time in several minutes.
“They found something else though.”
Walter’s eyes narrowed slightly toward him.
The guide ignored the look and continued anyway.
“The walls inside the tower were covered in scratch marks.”
Ryan looked between them. “Scratch marks from what?”
Neither man answered immediately.
Claire stepped closer impatiently. “Seriously?”
Walter finally sighed heavily.
“Something had been trying to get inside.”
The station creaked softly overhead.
Ryan stared toward the dark windows while cold uneasiness crawled deeper into his chest. Everything about this story sounded insane. Moving forests. Voices in the trees. Smiling figures in fog.
Yet none of them felt like normal ghost stories anymore.
Because whatever stood outside earlier…
had been real.
Then, suddenly—
a whistle echoed directly outside the station wall.
Everyone froze instantly.
The sound came from only a few feet away this time.
Long.
Slow.
Almost curious.
Claire physically stepped backward from the windows.
Mason immediately killed the lantern nearest the door.
The station dimmed further into shadow.
Walter slowly lifted the shotgun.
Outside, soft footsteps circled through the wet gravel surrounding the building.
Not hurried.
Patient.
Ryan held his breath instinctively while the footsteps stopped beside one of the windows.
Then something lightly tapped the glass.