Except for the person leading the way, who saw it as just a job and did not share the enthusiasm of the others. The 40-year-old guide was used to frequent river crossings and did not find them stressful. He saw them as a routine, just like the surrounding scenery and the exuberant enthusiasm of his charges. Unlike the guide, the young people who hired him to take them to the "bear's corner" were thrilled with the views of the surrounding mountains, the gloomy cliffs looming over the river, and the river itself. So they walked with the indifferent guide in front and the two happy young men behind, expressing their wild enthusiasm at every opportunity.
Although the young people had only met the guide a couple of days ago, they had known each other for a long time. The two girls had studied together at university and looked very similar, except for their hair color - one was a blonde, the other a brunette. The two guys worked together at a mobile phone company, where they had made a good career starting as simple managers in a store, where they had met the girls over a year ago. Now they worked together in the innovation department, where they collaborated on a project. But work was like school, and all four of them preferred active leisure, constantly coming up with various adventures. This time, it was a mountain hike to the wildest places, for which they had hired a guide recommended by friends. They had formed two long-established couples and enjoyed spending time together like this.
The time was approaching evening, and in the canyon, it was immediately noticeable as it started to get darker, and the wind picked up. Although it wasn't hot to begin with, the canyon was high up in the mountains, meaning they had long passed the two-thousand-meter mark above sea level.
"We need to pick up the pace," the worried guide said, turning to the group of young people. "There's a good spot for camping further ahead, and we should try to make it there before it gets dark."
"Alright, let's do it," replied one of the guys, noticeably standing out with his height and muscular build. The rest of the group cheered, and they picked up their pace.
They arrived at the camping spot just as it was getting dark, which was a very short time in the mountains. The sun had already disappeared behind one of the mountains, and darkness was setting in rapidly. The guide immediately started a fire, sending everyone else to collect firewood before it got too dark. There was a small pile of twigs and branches left by previous campers for starting the fire.
The group of four guys quickly gathered a fairly large amount of firewood, mostly twigs and branches from the abundance of trees in the area. The guide built a brighter fire to make it easier to set up the tents, and everyone got to work. They all cooked dinner together, preferring not to divide responsibilities. The campsite was filled with noise and laughter, and even the initially indifferent guide was drawn into the lively atmosphere, not even noticing how he began to joke and laugh with everyone.
Finally, dinner was ready and spread out on a tablecloth laid out on the ground. Everyone settled in around it, taking up spoons, and there was relative silence for a while, broken only by the constant sound of the nearby river. The group had traveled a considerable distance, which had clearly increased their appetite, and in this relative silence, the only sounds were the clinking of spoons and the satisfied groans of satiated people.
"Oh, what's that?" Suddenly exclaimed the blonde, freezing with a raised spoon and turning her head towards a dark hollow just off the campsite by the river.
"What are you talking about?"
"Don't you hear it? Someone is speaking," she extended her spoon pointing towards the hollow.
"And what is your imaginary friend telling you?" one of the guys laughed, but his joke was not supported, and everyone listened carefully.
"Actually, he's not speaking, he's whispering," said the healthy guy. Everyone turned to look at the guide.
"What? This is the first time I've encountered something like this, we should see what's there.." he said, staying in place.
Now everyone heard the whisper that had previously been drowned out by the noise of the campsite, it was somewhere at the level of the river noise, occasionally merging with it. Everyone was seized with irrational fear of the unknown. What kind of whisper was it, who was whispering, was it a person? A whole bunch of questions flashed through the minds of each of those sitting behind the tablecloth, they instantly forgot about dinner. It seemed that the voice was whispering some curses, the voice sounded terrifyingly and mournfully, but the words were impossible to distinguish. Therefore, the content could only be guessed, but in any case, the whisper sounded ominous. Everyone listened, trying to make out what the voice was whispering, and all froze in awkward tense poses, listening to the darkness.
"Let's not just sit here, we need to find out what it is," said the girl who first noticed the sound. "Maybe someone needs help."
"Well, then he would just call out, not whisper some... incantations," the guide replied.
"W-what incantations?" asked the jester, who clearly wasn't in the mood for jokes right now.
"I have a feeling it's something creepy, for sure," nervously responded the guide.
"So, are you just going to sit here and shake, or are you going to pull yourselves together? Are you men or what?" suddenly snapped the brunette.
"I didn't sign up for this..." the guide declared.
"What do you mean you didn't sign up for this? You specifically signed up to talk about local horrors," retorted the brunette.
"This isn't any local horror, I'm telling you, it's the first time I've seen... uh, I mean, heard this," the guide said.
"Listen, come on, we've been sitting here for a while and nothing scary has happened, it's just a whisper..." the blonde held onto her friend.
"Wait a minute, do we have a good flashlight?" The strong guy stood up decisively.
"Yes, I have one," said the guide, also standing up and going to his tent, from where he soon returned with a flashlight in his hand.
The guy who was the first to stand up reached out his hand, and the guide handed him the flashlight. He clicked the switch, checked how the flashlight was shining, then went to the pile of wood and chose a branch that was more or less suitable as a club. "So, who's coming with me?"
"I am," said another guy immediately standing up.
"We won't stay here alone," the girls exchanged glances and nodded at each other.
"Got it, so we're all going together. Or are you going to stay here?" he asked the guide.
"Together, then," he replied, and also started picking up a club from the wood pile.
After a short delay, during which everyone armed themselves with whatever they could find, they slowly, in a nervous group, moved towards where the whispering could be heard. A determined, sturdy man with a flashlight led the way, and the others huddled behind him. Bringing up the rear was a guide who nervously looked around. They had to travel about ten to fifteen meters to reach the clearing, and it seemed that if they got closer, they would be able to discern what was being whispered. However, as they approached the clearing, the sound of the river grew louder, and the whispering remained indiscernible. The clearing itself ran parallel to the river's channel and apparently filled only in the spring during heavy snow melting; at the moment, it was dry. The bottom of the clearing was somewhere at the river's level, but the shore was significantly higher, so the clearing was deep with crumbling edges.
The place from where the whispering was coming was located near a pair of large boulders that formed an arch narrowing down towards the bottom. The top of the arch was made of a pile of stones, like some sort of entrance leading somewhere. That was where the whispering was coming from, below the entrance. They walked slowly towards the arch, the bottom still not visible, but the dark abyss was already noticeable.
"Is there a cave there?" the jester asked quietly.
"There was never a cave there before," the guide replied just as quietly.
Finally, they arrived at a spot where they could see the bottom, and the sturdy man illuminated the bottom of the arch with his flashlight. A collective cry of horror erupted from everyone present. In the light of the flashlight, they all saw a real devil! It was crouching, and when the light hit it, it raised its black face with horns and snarled. At that moment, everyone screamed.
The sturdy guy didn't realize that he was standing on the very edge of the crumbling edge of the hollow when everyone screamed, he jerked suddenly and the edge crumbled. The guy partially fell into the hollow, managing to hold on with his hands to the edge. As he leaned against the edge, the flashlight naturally fell out of his hands. In short, with the sudden movement, the flashlight flew off, someone fell through, everyone screamed even louder and rushed back to the campfire. The sturdy guy crawled out of the hollow and ran after his friends from a low start. They all ran to the parking lot, huddled around the campfire, and looked in horror in the direction they had come from, standing on the other side of the fire. For what seemed like an eternity, nothing happened, the devil clearly wasn't interested in their souls, the fire continued to burn, and a barely audible whisper could still be heard. They stood there, watching...
"And what are we going to do?" the blonde finally couldn't take it anymore.
"What do you suggest?" the sturdy guy asked.
"For starters, we should check the data. I saw, uh... the devil?" the jester asked.
"Only a blind person wouldn't have noticed him," replied the sturdy guy.
"Is it normal for devils to be here?" the brunette asked, looking at the guide.
"There are no devils, so they don't exist here or anywhere else," nervously replied the guide, holding a cross in his hand.
"Why didn't you see him?"
"I saw everything, but they don't exist," the guide cut him off.
"That cave, maybe it's some kind of passage?" the jester started to speculate.
"Where is it going, to hell or something?" the sturdy guy asked skeptically.
"What other options are there? Maybe that devil is like a gatekeeper or a guard, or I don't know, something like that, that's why he's not following us, guarding the entrance."
Everyone fell silent, staring back in the same direction and contemplating the jester's words. After a while, almost everyone began voicing some sort of assumption about what it could be, each one more absurd than the last. But no one moved from the fire, thankfully they had gathered plenty of firewood. As no one came after them, they eventually settled on one side of the fire, still watching the clearing, but nothing happened. No one slept, and no one even went to the bathroom, as they were all frightened and afraid of being left alone. So they sat all night, concocting various theories until the stars began to fade. The whispers, by the way, occasionally faded away. They sat until it was completely light outside and the edge of the sun peeked over the mountain. At some point, everyone looked at each other and stood up together.
"Well, we have to go see," said the obvious healthy one. "In the daylight, he shouldn't be dangerous if he hasn't left."
"Where to?" asked the blonde.
"Well, obviously back to hell, probably," speculated the jester.
"Yeah, he's put in his shift and gone to rest," the brunette said sarcastically.
"You're not thinking right, what if he hasn't left?" said the guide, still clutching his crucifix.
"Well, there's only one way to find out," said the healthy one, raising his club.
Everyone armed themselves again and slowly made their way to the clearing in the same order. They carefully approached the edge and looked down. And again there was a sound, a joint sound, but this time it was laughter, although very nervous. And what was there to laugh about? Down in the arch, squeezed between stones, sat a goat, or maybe a billy goat. The stones apparently crushed its lungs when the goat fell between them, and now it couldn't even bleat. As soon as they appeared on the edge, the goat raised its head and tried to bleat, but it made a hissing sound that could be mistaken for a whisper. It was actually black, and, of course, had horns. As the guide explained later, sometimes cattle were driven through this gorge, but it was not entirely clear how the goat managed to fall between two stones and go unnoticed by the shepherds.
The friends freed the poor animal from its predicament, but now they had to decide what to do with the goat. In the end, they decided to take it to the nearest village they passed at the beginning of the hike. They also decided to return, after a sleepless night and nighttime adventures, and their enthusiasm had faded. They began to pack up their camp with the intention of heading back. Periodically, explosions of laughter erupted over the dismantling camp, as everyone remembered what they had done and what conjectures they had made about the devil. Meanwhile, the "devil" happily bleated and nibbled on the emerald grass at its feet.
Indeed, sometimes the world is not as it seems...
And they had to experience firsthand that fear can make things seem worse than they are.
