Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-5782324-20140328192835

This is my first pasta I've ever published.

“Huden Kvern, or the skin-grinder, is a Norwegian creature which lives in the forests of Norway. This creature is highly dangerous, but rare because it was hunted back before New World exploration. Not much is known about this creature, but some have reported sightings of it or attacks on themselves or others, saying it had no teeth, but would grind their skin, sometimes pulling flesh off of its victims.”

These were the words of Alfred Frandsen, our tour guide talking to us during our field trip to Øvre Dividal National Park in Norway. We had a yearly trip every year at Portland High, usually somewhere like anywhere as far as Colorado. This year was different though. The new principal had a lot of money and wanted us to go to Norway, so he paid for 15 kids, including me, for a three day trip. I always wanted to go to Norway, the place of my heritage.

The trip was during February. My friends Marshall, Chris, Henry, and I were going on the trip, along with some others. As we boarded the plane, the principal gave us a creepy smirk. We weren’t creeped out about that, mainly because he did that a lot, especially to me.

“I’m pretty excited about this trip,” said Marshall.

“I guess,” Henry replied.

“The only reason I came was because of you guys,” Chris said, solemn. “I never wanted to go here.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Well, my brother Clark went to Norway back in 2002. He told me some creepy stuff happened there. Paranormal things, like doors opening and tapping at windows.”

“Ooh, so creepy!! Definitely not those animals out in woods.” Marshall replied sarcastically. “Just trying to scare you probably.”

The plane ride was silent most of the way. Everybody was quiet, mainly because the pilot was pretty strict and wanted quiet because he was in a bad mood. Most of my classmates fell asleep during the ride. I couldn’t manage to sleep. I don’t know why, but I had homesick already. I had never been this far away from home, and I also wasn’t too excited to ride on a plane.

After hours of riding on the airplane, we landed at Oslo Airport. We got there about 10 p.m. and got to the park about 11 p.m. Our teacher, Mrs. Jackson, told us we would tour the park about noon tomorrow. The cabins were close together and had a mess hall and a bath hall. The cabins ranged from numbers 1-17. The cabins looked old and some had rotted wood.

My pals and I decided to take Cabin 5. We also had to bunk with Joel, another kid from our school. I’ve talked to Joel before, and he’s a pretty cool guy. The cabin was very cold and felt weird. Just the feeling inside the cabin wasn’t right. The cold feeling, being homesick, and such made the cabin uneasy. I fell asleep around 2 a.m.

I didn’t sleep good that night. I don’t know why because I don’t remember any nightmares or anything at all. I was the last to wake up out of all of the cabin. I woke up about 9:30a.m., and we all ate about 10 o’clock. The awaited trip was about to begin. We all hiked to Nordkalottruta, the main trail, and met our tour guide Alfred Frandsen. He was a tall, fat man. He had an orange beard, and was bald. He had what looked like a Boys Scout uniform that looked horrible.

“Hello kids,” he started. “Welcome to Øvre Dividal National Park. This park was established in 1971, and is very nicely kept.” His voice was very deep, and was somewhat disturbing.

We walked about halfway through the forest, and saw lots of wildlife including moose, caribou, and rabbits. The guide explained to us what each animal was, and discussed the plants with us. We stopped about 2 p.m., and headed back to camp. He would ask us if we had questions. Most of us weren’t even paying attention and talking. Someone finally piped up.

“Are there any...um...urban legends around here?” he asked. I recognized it was a kid named Joshua. He is big into the paranormal stuff.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“Well...” Frandsen said, “There is one. It’s called Huden Kvern.” By this time, everybody was silent.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“What is it?” I asked.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“Huden Kvern, or the skin-grinder, is a Norwegian creature which lives in the forests of Norway. This creature is highly dangerous, but rare because it was hunted back before New World exploration. Not much is known about this creature, but some have reported sightings of it or attacks on themselves or others, saying it had no teeth, but would grind their skin, sometimes pulling flesh off of its victims.”

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“Have you seen it?” Henry asked.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">Frandsen froze in terror. “I have no comment.”

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">We got back to the camp about five. We ate dinner, and discussed what the tour guide did today.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“What did he mean ‘No comment’?” Marshall asked, puzzled.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“He’s hiding something. I can feel it in my bones.” Chris replied.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“Why you think that?” I asked

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“Well, there’s so many red flags. He froze, had no comment, and has a weird looking mark on his leg.” I remember this now. Our tour guide did have a rash-looking thing on his calf.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“What you geeks talking about?” said a familiar voice. It was Lewis. He was that stuck-up, school bully. He hated everyone. He was with his friends, Jacob and Zach.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“Why are you asking?” I said, angrily. I hated Lewis so much, because he ruined my chances with a girl named Jessica.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“Woah, just asking. Don’t get your jockstrap in a wad.” Lewis said.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“Just leave us alone, dude.” Henry said.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“Or else what?” Zach yelled. By this time, everyone went silent.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“I’ll take all three of yall,” I replied.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">That’s when I broke. I took all three of their scrawny-tails single handed. I forgot it was a school trip, so my punishment was to be in solitude that night. At least I taught those guys a lesson.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">That night was awful. Eerie sounds, cold and damp conditions, and complete darkness filled the room. I thought the punishment was unusual, they could’ve given me write-offs or detentions I had to serve later on. But this was too much. I couldn’t sleep at all, and I was scared out of my mind. I didn’t deserve this.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">At around three in the morning, I heard a slow, long scratch on the window near me. I froze in terror. I didn’t want to look out the window because I was freaked out. I suddenly heard loud thumping from the walls, to the roof, and on the other side of the house, like something was climbing the scale of the cabin.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">All of sudden, I heard a huge bash from the door. It was trying to break in. I got up, and my adrenaline kicked in. I tore a piece of rotted wood off of the floor, ready to whack at whatever came through that door. The door broke easily because it was old and rotten, and burst in was a weird, medium size silhouette.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">It was a beaver. I was relieved to see it was just a beaver, but the ruckus probably woke somebody I would think. I shooed the beaver out, and tried my best to repair the door with the pieces that broke off. I sort of fixed, enough to lower suspicions of counselors. No one ever came, so I laid back down. Exhaustion got the best of me, and I fell asleep at around three-thirty.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">Mrs. Jackson came to get me about nine to get me up for breakfast. I went to the mess hall and sat with my friends. I noticed that Chris wasn’t there that morning.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“Where’s Chris?” I asked.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“When we woke up, he wasn't there.” Henry replied, with a scared expression written on his face

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“I looked around the cabin, and very little in the woods, but no signs.” Marshall said.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“That ain’t good” I replied.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">That day, we planned sort of a competition. We split into teams and did a scavenger hunt. Remarkably, me, Marshall, Henry, and Joel were in a group along with Joshua. The scavenger hunt took place in the forest. We had to find clues to the next location, and whoever met back with all of the clues first won the game.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">The first clue stated that the clue was in “a place dark and slimy”. The cave. We past it during the our trip around the park. We ran through the forest to find the open cave. It was right next to a steep, rocky hill. We went in, and walked through the cold, damp atmosphere to find the note on a stone. We also noticed a group was lying near a rock, as if hiding.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">It was, with no surprise, Lewis and his gang, along with another kid I never knew.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“It’s you again,” started Henry, annoyed.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“We don’t want anything to do with you guys. We only want Greg.” Lewis replied. Him, along with Zach and Jacob, had bandages on their bodies. Zach had a cast on his wrist, while Lewis had a leg brace.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“Just leave us alone, yall brought it on yourselves,” I replied, angrily.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“Oh yeah?” Jacob yelled. “Well you’re not getting out of here alive, because-”. Before he could finish, something wrapped around his leg, and dragged him down.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“Holy crud!” Marshall exclaimed, surprised. The thing that dragged Jacob down was weird. It was mostly hairless, but it had patches of black, rugged fur. Its arms were longer than its legs, making its arms drag the ground as it walked. It had no teeth, but had a mouth that looked of an old man without his dentures. It was bloody, like it just had a tasty snack with long, sharp claws.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">The eyes though. They were a jet black. The eyes looked as though they could stare right into your mind. It had no pupils, retinas, or anything, but you knew if it was looking at you. Below the eyes were wrinkles, making the eyes look baggy and droopy.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">This thing was the Huden Kvern, described by the tour guide. It was attacking Jacob, and was clawing at him. It also started to grind at Jacob’s left arm. We all stood there in fear. The thing finally tore off part of Jacob’s arm, the flesh off the forearm. I finally did something; I couldn’t just let him get killed even though he deserved it. I picked up a nearby pebble and threw it right at the Huden Kvern, nailing him in the jaw. He stopped, looked at me for what seemed like an hour, and ran off quickly.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">After all of this, another group of classmates came into the cave. They were horrified. One of them was sent to get the teacher and the others went to help Jacob. We all did as best as we could to help, but we couldn’t do much. We were just teens. What could we do? By this time, Jacob was unconscious. After five minutes, the park nurse and the teacher were back, carrying bandages and first-aid kit.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">It was a group effort to get Jacob back to the camp ASAP. Halfway there, Jacob woke up. He started to scream, but was hushed by the nurse.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“But Greg, why?” Jacob asked, puzzled. “You should’ve just left me to die.”

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“I couldn’t live with myself if I did,” I replied. “I’m not evil, you know.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">We, along with the other groups gathered back by the guide, got back to the camp around sunset. Frandsen made an announcement when we got back, stating everyone needed to stay in their cabins for the night, and that we were leaving early the next morning.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“What about Chris?” Marshall asked.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“Unless we or the park rangers can find him, he will be left behind.” he replied loudly. “We will continue to search for him, and send him back if we find him.”

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">That night, rangers monitored the area, armed with guns. We were all forced to start to pack up, and stay in our cabins until we left that morning. In our cabin, we all packed up most of everything. We kept out our cots and such so we could rest. Suddenly, Joel’s phone started to ring. It was Zach calling. He put the phone on speaker.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“Hello?” Joel said.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“Joel, we need to find Chris.” Zach said. “Lewis and I think that ‘thing’ has Chris. Alive or dead, we need to find him.”

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“But how are we going to get out of camp?” Joel asked.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“Here’s the plan.” he started. “We have to, around twelve, silently get out from the back. We’ll meet behind the bath hall. We’ll then head down to the cave. That must be his little hideout or something. We’ll try to get Chris, alive or dead, and book it. No matter what, Chris needs to be found before we go home.”

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“Alright, see you at twelve,” Joel said. He hung up. We tried to get some shut-eye before twelve. None of us could get any at all. It was finally midnight, and we easily snuck out of the back window. The trick was to get to the bath hall, as there were two rangers close by. Luckily, they moved on to a nearby cabin. When we got there, Lewis and Zach were both back there.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“What took yall so long?” Zach questioned quietly.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“Rangers were nearby,” Henry replied.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">We then, speedily but silently, went through the woods and found the cave. I led the way, holding a dim flashlight in one hand and a large stick in the other. Each of us had a weapon, stones, sticks, etc. We never noticed that the cave was that deep. We probably walked a good three-quarters of a mile. We finally hear a soft, eerie moan coming from somewhere in the vicinity.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">"It’s close by,” I whispered. I looked around with the flashlight, and we found a hole large enough for us to fit through. I looked down with my flashlight. It was a good twenty-foot fall from there to the floor.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“This has to be it,” Lewis silently said. “We’ll use our rope to get up and down there. Only thing is that one of us has to hold the rope.”

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“Or we could use that boulder,” I said. There was a gigantic boulder nearby, heavy enough to hold us more than likely. Together, we rolled the boulder near the hole and put it on the rope. We then, one by one, slid down the rope. I was first, and then it was Henry, Marshall, Joel, Lewis, and finally Zach.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">The stench of the place was horrid. It smelt of rotten flesh and sulfur. It had to be its cave. I just knew it. I used my flashlight to look around the place. There was patches and streaks of blood along the stone walls. The streaks got more and more frequent as we went along. We were getting closer to it. Finally, we got to a large part of a the cave.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">The sight was awful. The bloody streaks led to different bodies. Each of these bodies had bits of flesh ripped off of them and scratches. They were either lying on the ground or hung from the ceiling. Then there was one body, held down by large stones each on his hands and feet, lying there bloody and scarred. It was Chris.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“Chris!” I yelled without thinking. Chris responded with a short moan. This was interrupted by a loud shriek by the Huden Kvern. It lurked out of its hiding place and stood about two feet from Chris and a yard from us. It stared at each of us one by one, slowly twitching its head as it changed from one to another. It seemed like hours before something happened. The thing leaped at me.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">I moved just in the nick of time for it to miss. He looked back and ran after Henry. Lewis smashed its ribcage with his stick. We heard a crack and a squeal of pain from it. The hit didn’t stop it. It got back up and hopped on Zach. The thing tore and clawed at his skin. It just about ripped of his flesh, but Marshall threw a stone at him. It then fell off of him.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">It was still fighting like nothing ever happened. Yeah, it was bruised and bloody, but it kept going. I finally got its attention by throwing my flashlight at it. As it ran towards me, I got into a batters position with my stick. Right when it leaped at me, I hit it clean in the head and knocked it out. Finally. We didn’t have to deal with it for a while.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“Quick! We don’t have much time,” Lewis remarked. “Joel, Marshall. Yall help Zach. Me, Henry, and Greg will get Chris.” We rushed over to Chris and moved the stones off of his limbs. We definitely knew then that Chris’s hands and feet were demolished.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“Chris, wake up!” I yelled. No reply.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“C’mon man!” Henry said nervously. No reply. Finally, Chris let out a small moan.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“Is...it...dead?” he asked.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“I doubt it,” I replied. “That’s why we need to hurry.”

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">We lift him up the rope to Marshall who was up there already. He also pulled Zach up. As Lewis was halfway up the rope, we heard that familiar loud screech.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“Hurry!” Henry yelled. I could sense the thing coming closer and closer to us. Lewis go to the top, and Henry started to climb up. The thing then hopped on my back and threw me to the ground. It dug its claws into my skin, and it started to grind at my bicep. I struggled to get it off of me. I finally kicked it off of me and got up, ready to fight it again. The grinding caused a dark purple bruise to appear on my arm.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">It ran towards me. I got ready to smack it with the stick, but it dodged the blow. In retaliation, he swiped his claws at my face. It left a mark on my cheek. I ran towards its den and bashed its head with a stone. It lay there still. I stabbed it multiple times in the stomach with a stick to make sure it was dead. I then heard a yelp from my friends.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">“Come on!” Lewis yelled.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">I ran to the rope, and climbed it to get to the top. We ran out of the cave to realize it was about four-thirty in the morning. We hurried back to camp to see everyone was eating breakfast at the mess hall. We quickly ran into the the mess hall, and yelled for the nurses to come quick.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">The teacher got the nurses and rushed us to the bath hall. They cleaned us up in there and told us to clean up. We showered while the nurses gave special attention to Chris and Zach. After we got done, Mrs. Jackson gave us an earful. She then told us that we were very brave to go after Chris but were to receive punishment for leaving without permission.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">We still left at regular time we were planned to. We got back to the airport in America late at night. We stayed the night at the airport terminal. That Saturday morning we were picked up by our families. Luckily, the teacher explained everything that happened to us.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">Weeks later, my friend Chris called me. We chatted about what happened in Norway in the past. He then told me his parents took him to the E.R. because of a huge bulge in his forearm. Chris then went on to say they took x-rays of it to see what it was. They had to surgically remove what looked like a huge chicken egg, partially hatched, to barely show an ugly, hairless thing with black eyes.

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">

<p style="color:rgb(212,212,213);">Let me know what you guys think, along with suggestions/constructive critisicm for later writings. <ac_metadata title="Huden Kvern: My First Pasta"> </ac_metadata>