The Vortex At Pine Creek

  

Originally published on Yahoo Voices.

Logan and his younger brother Nathan loved riding their trail bikes. Sometimes they would ride up and down the dirt path which paralleled Pine Creek. The path was three miles long. It stretched from an area of slate rock down to a large pond at the bottom of the hill. A wooded area was on one side of the path and the creek was on the other side.

There had been rumors of large wild animals roaming the woods. But like any other rumors, these rumors became exaggerated as they were passed from person to person. Logan found these rumors hard to believe because he and Nathan had ridden their trail bikes through these woods for years and had not encountered any wild animals larger than a fox.

Logan was seventeen years old. He was an honors student and was entering his senior year at the local high school.

Nathan was a thirteen year old honors student and was entering his freshman year at the same high school.

It was a warm, dry summer day. Logan and Nathan were riding their bikes down the path alongside Pine Creek.

Logan braked his bike to a stop. Nathan stopped alongside him.

"Why did you stop?" Asked Nathan.

"Look." Logan pointed to animal tracks.

The animal tracks were in a small area containing a few shrubs and dirt. Logan got off his bike and walked over to the tracks. Each track consisted of three claws. The tracks led across the path and down the small slope into the creek. A densely wooded area lined the other side of the creek.

Logan looked up at Nathan. "Come over here."

Nathan walked over and examined the animal tracks. "Weird. What would make those tracks? A large bird?"

"I don't know. It would have to be a pretty big bird. I think it is an animal of some sort."

"Maybe a bear?"

"A bear track has three short claws and a heavy pad."

Logan took out his cell phone and snapped a few pictures of the tracks.

"You realize it could be a prank."

Then they heard a loud roar.

"I don't think so. Let's get out of here!"

They jump on their bikes and raced down the trail toward their home. The roar became softer and softer until they heard nothing.

That evening they were up in their bedroom. Logan got on the Internet and searched for animal tracks consisting of three claws. He stumbled upon a site named 'Reptiles Today and Yesterday.'

"It looked exactly like that!" Nathan was pointing to the tracks. "That's a T-Rex. Isn't it?"

"A T-Rex?" Logan paused, "Maybe the tracks are an elaborate prank. But what about the roar?"

"If the tracks are real, we should be able to find out where the animal went and where it came from."

"Good idea!'

The next morning they rode their bikes up the trail to the area where they saw the tracks. They found the tracks and followed those tracks toward Pine Creek. They walked up and down the edge of the creek but did not find where the animal came back on land. Then they followed the tracks back into the woods. There they found a narrow path of human footprints paralleling their race down the hill the night before.

"It hasn't rained for three days. All tracks should still be here." Nathan said. "but they aren't."

"This isn't making any sense."

"Look!" Nathan pointed to the transparent silhouette of a six foot tall reptile. "Let's get out of here!"

The boys hopped on their bikes and raced a short distance down the path. Logan glanced back and realized that the reptile was running through the trees without breaking any branches. "Stay still. It can't harm us. It's kind of like it's in another dimension or something."

The reptile was unable to grab them or any other object. It lost interest and began walking away.

They followed the reptile through some thick brush and down to Pine Creek, The boys did not note the circular ripples extending from the center of the creek to its edges.

The reptile hesitated before entering the creek. The boys followed the reptile across the creek and watched the reptile materialize into a solid form. It was a young T-Rex. It turned and saw the transparent silhouettes of the two boys. The boys ran and quickly realized they were transparent because they were able to run through trees. The T-Rex chased them to the creek but did not follow them across the creek. On the other side of the creek, the boys materialized into solid form.

For the first time, the boys were able to see the T-Rex and the T-Rex was able to see the boys. The boys also observed the expanding circular ripples in the center of the creek.

"What is that?" Logan pointed to the expanding circular ripples.

"I think it's some kind of vortex."

"It's more than a vortex." Logan responded. "It might be a vortex into another dimension."

"That's why we look like ghosts to the T-Rex when we are in it's world and the T-Rex looks like a ghost when it is in our world."

"Who is going to believe us?."

"Nobody." Nathan paused, "Suppose one of us walks across the creek and the other takes a picture with his cell phone?"

"Hang on to that idea. Why hasn't anyone reported seeing a prehistoric dinosaur or anything like it before?"

"Maybe they heard the roar and never saw anything."

"Or maybe the vortex opens and closes." Logan looked at Nathan. "What if the vortex closes while one of us is on the other side!"

"The vortex won't close!"

"You don't know that for sure."

"What if we throw a nice thick branch across the creek and take a picture of the branch. Wouldn't that prove to others that the vortex exists?" asked Nathan.

"A video would be better than a picture." Logan replied. "That way they could see that the branch is real and then they could see it become transparent as it travels across the creek."

Logan got on his bike. "I'll be back." He rode his bike down the path and returned a half hour later with a video camera.

Logan filmed Nathan picking up a large thick branch and throwing it across the creek. When the branch reached the center of the expanding ripples, it hung in midair. Half of the stationary branch looked real and the other half was transparent. Two minutes later, half of the branch fell into the creek and the ripples diminished to nothing.

For several moments, the boys stared in awe at the creek. They were attempting to assimilate what they just saw.

Now the water was calm and the vortex was gone. But Logan and Nathan had visual proof of what they experienced.

 

Logan walked back to his bike. Then he realized that Nathan was still looking across the creek.

"Nathan, Let's go."

Nathan did not respond.

"Nathan, Are you okay?" Logan paused, "What's wrong?"

Nathan shook his head from side to side and said, "Oh man! That could have been one of us!"