Black Snow: No Sleep

The following is the typed copy of Jacob Conley’s written journal, which was found in the snow near the top of Mount Everest on January 12th 2012.
== December 20th 2011 3:23 PM ==
Flight just landed in Kathmandu. 16 hours; 7,431 miles; and two extremely annoying, loud, drunk, middle-age women later. I wish I could have ignore their constant chatting on the way over, but an iPhone’s battery only lasts so long. Plus I’ve already seen Mission Impossible (the in-flight movie) too many times.
I managed to get to my hotel easy enough. The taxi driver understood English, maybe a little too well, he talked the entire drive. He talked about all the fun and enjoyable attributes of the wonderful capital of Nepal. I tried to explain that none of it really matter because I was going to spend little to no time in the actual city. The purpose of my stay is the climb Mount Everest. Sounds dangerous, doesn’t it? Yeah, I know. I got the whole speech from my mom. No matter how old I get she still treats me like a child. The whole purpose of the trip is because of the danger. 
I’m going with my best friend PJ. See, he’s done this all before, and he returned and told everyone his amazing story of his climb to the “Top of the world.” A few drinks later and I agreed to do it with him. His speech about me, never doing anything exciting, and living my whole life inside, and being alone all the time, was persuasive and hurtful, but I’m too good of friends with PJ to punch him. So that’s how I am where I am now. 
Oh, and the reason for the journal. It was PJ’s idea, he wants us to look back on this trip and remember all the exciting details. Well, PJ, I hope reading through this book is everything as exciting as you wanted it to be.
== December 20th 2011 6:15 PM ==
Ugh, this suit is so uncomfortable. PJ wanted to take me to a restaurant that he went to the last time he was here. The problem is that its black tie and I didn’t bring any ties. So, he made me where his extra one. Who brings two suits on a mountain-climbing trip? Whatever, he’s taking so long to get read. Maybe we’ll miss our reservation and we’ll go to a bar or something.
== December 20th 2011 11:47 PM ==
HALLEJUAH! After the horrifying experience of wearing a suit for two and a half hours during a four course meal PJ and I resided at a local bar, where I striped myself of my jacket and tie and proceed to down four beers in the course of 20 minutes. I’m typing this on my phone so I’ll have to write this into my journal when I have a chance. I just wanted to document the night before I forget it!
== December 21st 2011 4:09 PM ==
I’m so pissed. Because we were out drinking all night, we missed our group to go up. See, we were part of a group of people with a tour that was going to lead us up, because we’re not very experienced mountain climbers. It’s the same thing PJ did his first time here. But we missed the fucking group. However, PJ claimed he knew where the group took a break, and he said that he knew a short cut on how to get there.
The only problem is that we had to go up places of the mountain that were too steep to climb. Well, I guess on a positive note I learned how to actually climb up the mountain, with ropes, picks, and everything. I guess it took too long to climb or something because when we got up here the group was gone. There’s no way I’m heading back down, I’ve already told PJ that. I’m not spending another grand on a new group that leaves in 6 days once the other one returns. I’m not spending money on another 6 nights in a hotel. We have supplies, PJ knows the way.
We’re going to keep climbing and that’s final.
== December 21st 2011 8:16 PM ==
I’m pretty sure my feet are bleeding. I know I’m in shape enough to do this, I guess the bad start of the day threw me off. Anyway, I’m exhausted. We did so much climbing today; I’m really surprised that we didn’t catch up to the group. It’s a lot colder up here than I imagined. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not stupid. I knew it’d be cold. I did my research, PJ made sure of that. He hounded me for an entire week before we left. He wanted me to be an expert on climbing and mountains. Just thinking about the endless nights I looked at those books and Wikipedia pages makes my head hurt. 
I’m wearing a parka and plenty of sweaters, and we have a fire, but I still feel really cold. It’s weird, I almost feel like the breeze is swelling from my insides, shaking my core. Like there’s a breeze through my bones. The funny thing is, even though it’s constantly below freezing and it snows from time to time, we still saw a river today. It was going down the mountain. PJ said that it was from the snow higher up melting and running down the mountain.
We filled up our water bottles there, but there were still some parts of it frozen. Like a thin sheet of ice on top of the rushing water. There are some things in nature I just don’t understand. Oh yeah. Even though PJ said not to, I brought my phone. He said he wanted it to be just him and me, alone. Just two friends bonding on the adventure of a life time. I think he just said that to make light of the fact that we lost the group.
Still though, maybe he was right, maybe it was rude of my to bring my phone, but it doesn’t even matter the sub-zero temperature is killing its battery. It probably won’t even last the entire climb up. I think I’ll just turn it off, save the battery. Who knows? Maybe we’ll need it later.
== December 22nd 2011 8:46 AM ==
I could barely even sleep last night. The winds are so strong that they nearly rip the entire tent off the ground. PJ slept like a rock, other than him going to the bathroom every hour. I was up the whole night and never heard him, but without fail, the tent would be wide open every hour or so. I almost froze to death. I mean, seriously, how does one to the bathroom five times in one night? At least I think it was five, it may have been more.
I asked him about it but he said that he never once got up during the night. Apparently he brought with him some over-the-counter sleeping meds. These little pink tablets that he crushed up and took right before heading to bed; he was out like a light. That much may be true, but I still think he did keep leaving for the bathroom, how else could the tent keep opening up. I didn’t do it. I think he’s just embarrassed about it, maybe he has diarrhea. I’ll respect him enough not to mention it again.
I mean, even though I had the horrible sleep that I did, PJ demanded that we woke up when the sun rose. I don’t understand why. Sure, if we wake up later, it’ll take more time to climb, but we have enough food and water for at least 10 days.
== December 22nd 2011 9:02 AM ==
I was so out of it this morning and I burn our breakfast. We were going to cook some bacon and eggs, but I wasn’t paying attention. I dropped the pan that we were cooking it in. My vision was kind of blurry and I picked up the pan on its side and not only did that cause the food to fall into the fire, I also burnt my hand. PJ was furious, not only did we waste food. We’re taking more time to eat which means we “waste daylight”.
I though being on this trip with him would be fun, but he’s taking everything way too seriously and keeps bossing me around. If the entire trip is like this, then I’m just going to turn around and climb down off the mountain. This trip couldn’t possibly get any worse.
[there was something else written, in blood, which was obviously added later]
"WRONG!!"
== December 22nd 2011 1:08 PM ==
No sign of the group yet. We’re half way up the mountain and there’s no sign of anyone actually. When I did all my research on Mount Everest, it said that there were a bunch of camps scattered throughout the mountain, but we haven’t seen any yet. I asked PJ and he said that we were going on an amended route to catch up with the group. This used parts of the mountain less traveled. Even so, I’m suppressed we have seen any. 
We haven’t seen anybody, at all. Its offsetting, the whipping winds mixed in with the dead cold silence. It makes you feel so alone. I don’t even have PJ to talk to. He’s always far in front of me, going at a pace that I can’t keep up with. I ask him to slow down, but he keeps saying,“We have to keep going," and "We have to find the group!" 
I’m worried he may have gotten us lost.
== December 23th 2011 7:50 AM ==
Woke up early this morning; to make up time for yesterday’s blunder. PJ’s been acting strange. Normally I wouldn’t hear the end of his constant nagging about a fuck up that bad. But he hasn’t said a word. Not that I’m complaining. Well… I kind of am. He said that this would be a bounding experience but we have been talking to me almost at all this whole trip. I’ve tried talking and making jokes to lighten the mood from the whole “We’re fucking lost” thing but he doesn’t even glance at me, let alone say anything. In fact the only time I’ve heard his voice is when he’s ordering me around, and last night. 
I could have sworn I heard him talking to himself… This doesn’t seem like PJ at all.
== December 23th 2011 8:12 PM ==
I’m shaking. Just thinking about it makes me start to subtly weep. I’m scared. I’m distraught. I can’t think straight.
We found the group, or atleast what was left of them. Judging from the numbers of tents most of the people were gone. The ones we found were dead…slaughtered, blood everywhere, guts ripped out of bodies cast aside and sprawled out on the icy rock, snow soaked red. 
One poor guy… looked so much like my younger brother. He even had the same pale-blue eyes. He was completely ripped into two, layed out on the snow. His organs lying frozen to the ground. His face, was that of terrorm agony. He looked so much like my brother... All of their stuff was there. 
The person…no… the thing that committed this ungodly act of brutality had no intention to steal their items. No, it had no other goal than to reap, to massacre these people. And PJ? That bastard had the largest grin on his face that I’ve ever seen! He enjoyed the horrific view. It was entertainment to his now apparent twisted and sinister mind. He wanted to keep going! He wanted to get us killed too! I was not staying with him another moment! 
I left him there. I headed back down by myself. My phone was gone when I looked for it. I guess he found it and took it away from me. He’s turned into a damn lunatic. I’m not sleeping tonight. No way am I not letting PJ or whatever killed those people get to me.
I’m not closing my eyes until I’m on a plane heading back home.
== December 24th 2011 1:20 AM ==
PJ’s dead. I killed him.
I heard him coming. I crawled out of my tent, startled and staring off at him in the dark. I told him not to come any closer, and he didn't for a while. He just stared at me. I couldn’t see his eyes; I just saw the blackness shrouding his face, letting him blend into the night. It was silent. Not even the wind could be heard. The crackling of the fire subsided and it was just silent. Until he spoke. I really wish he didn’t speak
He told me that there was something up here with us, on the mountain, something awful. Its purpose was nothing more than to kill and torture souls who dare attempted to climb the mountain. It fed on people, consuming them in the most grotesque ways, sucking on their insides, gouging out their eyes, knowing on their crimson stained bones. The last time PJ went up, it found and killed his whole group. But he called out to it, made a deal witu it. He said he would bring someone up to take his place and he’d give them to it. He said he’d do it every year until the day he died. And he chose me. 
He went back and convinced to climb up with him. He was going to let it kill me and then he’d go back down and do it again. He even had the nerve to say that he didn’t know who had the worst end of the deal: me, because I get devoured by a hell-beast; or him, for having to make the climb with some new meat every year. I couldn’t let him do it. I charged him. I knocked him on the ground and started beating him. I hit him and hit him until my knuckles bleed and I kept going. The cracking in my knuckles was muffled by the flesh pounding into bone. 
To make sure he was finished I pushed him of a nearby ledge. He hit the ground with a satisfying crack. His lifeless body sounded by shadows and black snow.
It’s done, over. PJ’s dead and I’m too far from the top for the creature to get to me.
I’m getting of this mountain and warning every one of the horrors that are up here.
== December 24th 2011 11:54 PM ==
What a hell of a Christmas Eve this has been. No problems on the way down so far. I think I’ve finally gotten a hang of this hiking thing. I’m about half way down the mountain and at this rate I should be home and surrounded by my family in no time. I miss my mom and dad so much. I need nothing more right now than a loving embrace from my family. I’ll have to call my brother and tell him I love him. But I’m getting a head of myself. I’m way too excited to climb down.
I went almost all day without eating until now. I’m wolfing down this sandwich. It’s really good and about the single best thing I’ve had since I’ve been up here. My dad taught me how to make them. I just got really lightheaded. I guess all my hiking has really caught up to me. I feel so drowsy. I can barely keep my eyes open. 
Fuck… something just fell out of my sandwich. A Little pink pill...
[Written in blood]
MERRY CHIRSTMAS!
Category:Diary/Journal