It was only the first week of summer and Denzal already had a migraine. For the past few days, he had to scold teenagers for littering, arrest thugs for selling drugs, and trice, had to save some kid from falling from a small cliff. Thankfully, he was known by the locals to be ruthless with the rules, so they were quick to reprimand anyone who tried. Though, it didn't help that the other rangers were so laxed and so blind to spot these things. One ranger in particular, was tricked by teens twice, into walking onto a leg snare trap. Sometimes, he wondered why even he signed for this job in the first place.

Denzal prayed everyday to any kind of god to give him one decent day on the job. Today, he was on patrol duty walking through the hike trails and shortcuts, keeping a watchful eye on the tourists. Those who've known him greeted him in respect. He checked the time wondering he was on lookout duty. It was only five more minutes, meaning he should start heading to the lookout tower. He was stopped, however, by his intercom.

"Ranger Wright to Ranger Greyfield. Come in Ranger Greyfield," hissed his intercom.

He picked up up the radio. "This is Ranger Greyfield copy, over".

(Please forgive me that I don't know the radio languages)

"Oh hey, Denzal!" Denzal groaned at the first-name basis. "Yeah uhh, Chief Williams requested you to meet her in Headquarter? Said something about  changing the shifts and schedules".

"I'll be there. Ranger Greyfield over and out".

He hurried back to the lodge where Headquarter was. At times, he often avoided that place around midday or afternoon. Lots of rangers and janitors go there to mingle and take coffee breaks, and it's always packed with people. If he was lucky, he was able to sneak inside without anyone calling out to him. It's even worse if it's one of the tour guides, who are almost always loud. Everyone would try to hang out with him due to his reputation. At least Wright was decent enough to use inside voices.

He entered the lodge and sighed in relief that only a few rangers were present. He went straight to the briefing room. There stood a scruffy, sand haired man and black-skinned women in a mossy-green jacket and a golden badge on her chest, engraved with the words, "Chief Ranger". Her hair was tied in ponytail dreads and her face gave off the impression that you're punished into extra runs. Chief Harriet Williams was the person that offered Denzal the ranger job and he was forever grateful for her kindness and offer. She's also the only who knew about his past and gained lots of trust from him.

"Chief Williams," he saluted.

"At ease Greyfield," she said in deep tone. "I'm sure you've heard from Wright that your schedule's been changed".

Denzal did not like how she phrased her words.

"The thing is, one of our rangers, Ranger Davis, had a few complications. I was informed that he had a small accident with his foot and he's currently recovering in the hospital".

"What does that have to do with why I'm here?"

Williams looked uneasy. "About that, we needed a replacement for his daily tour guide job and the only one who's clear next week is...".

"It's me, isn't it?" he grumbled. He knows Davis's schedule too well that it involves guiding tourists. He looked at Williams's eyes, questioning why she didn't choose anyone else.

She seemed to notice the silent question. "Greyfield, I know how you hate being around others but I couldn't find anyone free next week. There aren't any reasons to not appoint you. The new schedule is only for a week so it won't be too long".

Denzal grumbled, relenting about her final decision but he was still annoyed about his assigned role. How was he supposed to entertain a bunch of tourists with the "beauty of Zen-sation Park"?

"Hey, if it makes you feel any better, I could do most of the speeches," Wright suggested. Denzal raised an eyebrow but couldn't deny that it would be better if he was with a partner. Williams was convinced as well so she allowed it.

As he walked out heading for his assigned watchtower, he groaned again, questioning why summertime was the worst period of the year.

****

For three days, Denzal continued to do his normal schedule while mentally preparing himself for Monday. While Wright was good choice for a "temporary" partner, he wished he would tone down his chatter a bit. In two more days, he would come face to face with a crowd, with half of them probably not interested in a tour. Since it was summer, there were bound to be kids from six-year-olds to thirteen-year-olds, teenagers who'd just want to show off on media, plus be troublemaking rulebreakers, and adults and elderlies, who would be the most sensible of them, though sometimes the latter would be frustrating to assist.

For now, he's trying to savor the time he has with his schedule. It was weird for him, as someone who blocked off all sense of his emotions. Shaking his mind off, he continued to rake the leaves. It was 05:30 in the afternoon, pass closing time. The last of the tourists were escorted out and all that's left were dried leaves and litters. One of the reasons Denzal was still respected, despite his emotionless exterior, is that he took on extra work to help others. The sanitation workers shifts started from four o'clock to six o'clock. They appreciated his help, but Denzal didn't care, just wanted to get the job done.

As he gathered the last of the leaves, he placed the placed the rake back in the shack. He headed home, ignoring the "thanks" and "see you tomorrows" from the workers. What was the point of "compliments" when they're just words? Nothing but letters spoken from the mouth. Plus, not every compliment is genuine, just an instinct from random people. A skill from blocking your emotions is to read others. A lot of rangers kept theorizing on how Denzal's intuition was always on spot. The most ridiculous theory was ESP.

He trudged through the hiking trail people would use to see the lake behind. The sun was setting and he saw many hidden critters scurrying into their dens, from his footsteps. The cries from bats became louder and dark clouds were gathering near the lakes. Guess it's about to rain. He kept seeing the usual swaying trees and blinking lights from watchtowers and lamps, and a silver wind-

Wait what?

He almost missed the silver wisp slithering away through the trees. Denzal has never seen any animal that shiny or silver, though, it's unlikely  an animal would take that appearance. It could possibly be a prank by a hidden teen. He cautiously approached the area but saw nothing except dried twigs and bushes. He searched through the bushes as well and dried logs. You can never be too careful.

"Ranger Greyfield, Sir?"

He turned around, seeing the other ranger flinch at his deadpanned look. Denzal didn't realize how long he's been searching. He looked at his watch; about eight minutes. He turned to the ranger.

"Sorry about that, Ranger Fern," he greeted. "I thought I saw something shiny move around here. It's gone, for now".

"D'you think it might be a teenager's prank?" the ranger named Fern asked.

"It's possible but I think I was seeing things. From what I saw, it looked like a, literal, silver smoke".

Fern didn't look convinced, giving out concerned looks.

"Maybe we should send a search party?"

"No, it's not necessary but make a note in case it happens again".

"...what if you were... hallucinating?" Fern asked tensely.

"I assure you, I'm in perfectly good health," he said indifferently. "I'll let Chief know if I'm down with something. Good evening".

Ranger Fern saluted as he left, though, Denzal couldn't help but contemplate on what Fern implied at the possibility of him hallucinating. He shrugged it off. He took medical check-ups every two weeks and if he saw anything wrong, he would know. Another silver swish lept out of sight. Denzal halted, fiddling in his pockets to find something. He then held a Streamlight Stinger flashlight. He should've used this in the first place.

He carried trekking uphill, though this time with with more caution. Every time he saw a flash of silver, he would shine his light on the spot. He didn't believe he was hallucinating or sick, or it was prank but one thing he knew, is that it wasn't normal. After what felt like an hour, he reached his paddock. His cabin looked untouched and peaceful, being lit up by the lamps and the sound of trickling water from his pond. After taking one last inspection, he was ready for a goodnight sleep.

He didn't even change his clothes. This night was even crazier than his job.