Kergerson Lake

Since I moved to the rugged Northern California coastal mountains, I haven't found myself regretting it. The area has access to all the natural neccesities of life: food, water, shelter, creative stimuli, clean air. With the right skills, one would never have to leave the mountain. The forest truly is a giving entity.

Luck is mine, because I get to call a great little plot of land my home. Even more luckily, there were already two cabins built before moving here, taking shelter to a whole new level. The lofty limbs of old growth Douglas Firs would keep me drier than the meadow, but a cabin. That's a luxury.

Speaking in sake of reality, only one of these cabins could even be considered livable. The other cabin, which is positioned near the small beach by the pond, is geologically know as Lake Kergerson. There was the ultimate abandoned cabin. It seemed as if it it had it's own mossy roots in the ground. It's equipped with rotted beams, broken stairs, unfinished floors, rusty wood stove, broken windows and an inevitable uncomfortable feeling.

I go to the pond often. It's a beautiful sight, surrounded by girthy Tan Oaks, Madrones, and Douglas Firs. So many inhabitants; ducks, turtles. snakes, and an occasional Blue Heron. It's a true gift to be able to escape to. Often times the water is reflecting the forest and the sky, lending a viewing perspective that is otherwise impossible.

Sometimes, when I go to the pond, I take a little strole in the house, look around, kinda just wonder; What, and why? Many of our neighbors have been up on this mountain for a while, they all seem to remember this building as something that's always been there. I've always had a soft spot for mystery, uncovering long unknown facts. It's thrilling.

One thing I've learned about Kergerson Lake, there's somethings I'd rather not know.

Unfortunately, I had found something in that cabin. I found an old metal army box coated with rust. If there were any words on it, they have been completely consumed. I brought this box to the shed, used a combination of hammers, pries and random picks from our tool selection to get this bad boy opened.

I never stopped to think, what if there's something in there.. that I would've been better off leaving it in the walls, pretending I never saw the corners popping out of the boards.

Like I said, I never stopped to think of those things. When I got that old metal to crack, I didn't stop. Such a strong scent rushed out, like phantoms escaping a dungeon. A smell so foreign to me, it was like ancient fungus, exploding spores all over my senses. At the time, it made it more intriguing. There I was looking at two holy grails and some other hard to identify trincets, rusty silverware, pieces of cloth, some... hair. A little weird.

First thing that catches my eye is what I first thought was a shit load of money. I was right, it was money. It wasn't anything like what we use today, it looked extremely old, when I went to grab it, it turned to dust in my fingers. I don't know about the federal currency history, but I can tell that was a big stash back in the day. Thousands and thousands of dollars. Hell if it wasn't dust, it would've put me in a good place now.

When you find things, it's like a rush. Trying not to touch, I'm looking and inspecting everything as fast as I can, which is a hard task.

Moving through, the thing that kept pulling at me, a journal! Cracked crinkly, water damaged, a little moldy, black leather bond journal. I would never read another person's journal without asking: but, the mystery.. this person isn't around anymore to feel embarrassed about anything I could read in here, or the collection of different types of hair.

I was about to read a life changing story.

I open it very carefully, the threads on the bind pop with the slightest amount of excitement. On the inside cover:

Garrett Kergerson

1917

I flipped to the first page and started reading, I wouldn't be putting this journal down until there was nothing left.

She says she loves me. Says we'd be together forever, says "take me to California"

Her daddy won't stop talking my ear off about the timber "It's booming Garrett you go to California, you'll never think about money again, take my little girl, make each other happy!"

I didn't say no. Says she loves me, her daddy bought us this piece of land, it's horrible. There's no money.

Says she loves me, she left me.

Come here try to make a buck for my lady, this happens.

I didn't want this to happen, but this happens.

Damn truckers, damn contracts, damn companies! They made me lose everything I ever got.

Comes here to make money, have babies, build cabin. These damned timber companies got every law and judge on their side! Damned timber companies keeping me from making a dollar. Kergerson's a poor man, living off the ground, not being able to leave. Watch the damned rigs hauling money down this mountain, Kergerson watches them every damn day. He's gonna get that money.

Says she loves me.

I watched her leave me on the back of one of them rigs. She jumped right in, just left me. Now, everyday I watch dem bastards, I watch them everyday, Kergerson doesn't miss a single one.

The one who took her, he laughed, I watch him the most.

He didn't know the surprise on his way home that day. She didn't know he was never coming home. I'm like the animals, they don't see me, they don't hardly know I'm here, but Kergerson's always watching.

I'm watching, watching from the hill near the lake, here dem bastards come, here THE bastard comes. I can't stop smiling. Joy is me. Here it comes.

Down the hill they go, the steep incline would kill anyone without brakes...

Have you ever heard revenge? It sounds like a big rig rolling down nearly 1000' feet of canyon walls. I know dis type, they don't care about each other. I've seen it, I watch.

One gets hurt, one gets in an accident, they go home to tell their boss, they don't help each other. Dem bastards make money, they don't care.

I sit and listen to the rolling truck, bringing down tress in it's tumble, I also listen to the sound of the rest of those trucks making it home in time for dinner.

I follow my trail I share with the dear. I love the dear. With this win, I won't have to kill one for a while.

I get to the truck, grab all his money, and bring the body back to the cabin, prepare it, wrap it, sink it in the pond, ready for retrival. People don't understand how I survive out here. If only they knew.

It turns out, this practice yields great results. These damn timber companies don't know where their drivers are going! I'm making enough money I may be able to leave some day.

Kergerson listens to them talk, they are scared. I've gotten more than 5 now, I'm gaining weight, getting stronger.

These damn timber companies, damn companies. They take all the tress, they take them all, they take the money, they take my lady, they take all the trees out of the forest.

Dem bastards.

These companies don't give a damn about their peoples.

So I decided to have more fun with them, I'll hide in the trucks, surprise them.. Only if I know I'll be the last thing they see. Kergerson makes for a great last sight.

When I look in the pond, I hardly look like a person. I'm starting to look like an animal, an animal of it's own, something I've never seen.

I wonder which one she's bunking with now, which damn trucker is going home to my wife! If I were capable, none of them would go home.

They're sending less of them truckers, once they've been missing a dozen of dem, not many people want to come up here. I don't want to kill the dear.

I let a clean month go by, Kergerson hears stories "it was just a mountain lion passing through, running from the fires down south"

Kergerson sees the trucks double, coming more and more, making more money.

These big rigs, once their going down a hill, it's hard from dem truckers to stop the damn thing. Perfect, I pick five corners, they won't see it coming.

While they're busy cutting trees, Kergerson is busy making it all their last days. Boulder two, boulder three, boulder four.

Putting those rock barriers on those corners was my most couragous act.

The sound of revenge didn't cease for an hour, nobody made it off the mountain.

Whoever was with my women is never seeing her again.

It was beautiful, until it was over.

Dumb. Dumb. Dumb. Dumb.

People will be coming when NOBODY comes back from the job. I can't get them people out in time, I can't clear them rocks out of the road, they'll know a person did this if they see them rocks.

God dammit. Dumb. Dumb. That was twenty trucks! Surely people'll come searching by tomorrow.

I'm not sleeping tonight, I'm not eating.

Start with the damn rocks, make it look like nobodies trying to kill nobody out here, it's an accident, complete accident. I can't take all the bodies... Than they'll be looking for somebody. Gotta be like an animal. Take one, take two. I know I need more, Kergerson's been so hungry, but he can't get caught. No more truckers will be coming up here for a while. I at least will take all their cash, maybe this is my big break.

God dammit.

I got to working. Rolled all the rocks away, no sign of intent. Grabbed the second closes body, prepared it and sunk it in the pond, the relief to have food again, the feast I'll have tonight! I had to hurry to get the second, but Kergerson did it. Right before the dark of night.

Kergerson is proud of himself today, my feet getting warm by the fire as I think about how to prepare tonight's dinner.

Tomorrow will be hell, tonight shall be heaven.

The smell of a meal is intoxicating, makes me drift away...

Time to enjoy dinner after a long day, nuff with the story telling

Back to the box, my only friend, I will save the blank pages for another good one

I thought that the horror was over, but my suspicion urged me to turn the page..

I hear something walking in the woods..

two legged things...

Many two legged things, they're shouting, coming to me.

God. Damn it. God damn smoke. God Damn it.

Dem bast

That was it. Some crimson stains speckled all over the pages.

Standing in complete shock, there were still so many things I was curious about. No amount of research could answer my questions. So, I found myself left to my own assumptions.

This iconic lake, named after a horror, maybe to remember to never come back.

Kergerson, I assumed, was shot in his home, while putting his beloved journal away that night. How the army box was placed in the walls, is a mystery to me. Maybe somebody else had found it, and decided to hide it from others? Maybe the search party had no interest and found a place for it? Maybe when Kergerson collapsed, the journal fell in, and his body closed the box? I will never know.

What I do know is, where there is serenity, insanity lurks close by.