“What do you mean, ‘we’re lost’?” Vanessa’s voice was more petulant than scared which was, Kelly told herself, a good thing. Scared Vanessa was much less likely to keep walking.

“I mean, I don’t know exactly where we are, but we’ll be fine as long as we keep following this path,” said Kelly. “It has to lead somewhere and it’s better than wandering aimlessly.”

“Fine,” said Vanessa. “Let’s just go. I’m tired.”

Kelly gave her a smile she hoped was encouraging and turned to lead the way. A light layer of fallen leaves crunched beneath her feet, and from behind her came a stream of muttered complaints.

“Come to Japan with me, she said. It’ll be fun, she said. We can go shopping and sightseeing and, oh yeah, just one little overnight camp out in the middle of a haunted forest.”

“It’s not haunted,” said Kelly, rolling her eyes.

“It is,” said Vanessa. “You know they call this place the Suicide Forest. It’s probably haunted by the ghosts of all the people who get murdered here by crazed serial killers.”

“If that were true, it’d be called the Murder Forest, wouldn’t it?”

“Fine then. It’s haunted with all the ghosts of people who committed suicide after getting dragged here by their so-called friends and—what is this?!”

Kelly stopped and looked back. Vanessa pointed toward the ground.

“It’s just fog,” said Kelly.

“Fog does not just lie on the ground like that.”

As Kelly watched, the fog grew denser, rolling thickly over the earth only to thin and dissipate around knee height.

“That’s just creepy,” said Vanessa. “It’s not natural. I can’t even see my feet!”

“Don’t worry. It’s not thick enough that we can’t see—“ Kelly froze. Dread stole the words from her lips. She turned and found her fears confirmed.

The path was gone.

“What is it,” asked Vanessa.

Kelly looked up to the canopy. The light was failing. They needed to keep moving.

“What’s wrong,” asked Vanessa.

But the path was gone. For the first time since realizing that she didn’t know where they were, Kelly felt lost.

A chill wind rustled the leaves of the trees and sent a shiver down Kelly’s spine.

“Excuse me.”

Kelly jumped at the voice. Vanessa yelped.

They turned to find a man with a shock of disheveled black hair, rectangular lensed glasses, and a sheepish smile holding an old-fashioned lantern.

“Pardon me,” he said with a bobbing little bow, “I didn’t mean to scare you. Are you all right?”

“No, we are not all right,” said Vanessa. “We’re lost!”

The man nodded understandingly. “Yes. I thought that might be the case. Hardly anyone comes this way you see, except the rangers.”

“Are you a ranger?” asked Vanessa.

“I used to be.”

“Used to be?”

“I am,” the man paused a moment, “no longer active,” he said.

“Oh,” said Vanessa. “Retired.”

“You could say that,” the man smiled.

“You’re not old enough to be retired. You can’t be that much older than us.”

The man laughed. “I did not retire due to age. I was a volunteer here while I went to graduate school. I became inactive only recently.”

“Are you Japanese,” asked Vanessa.

“I am.”

“Your English is very good.”

“Thank you. I find myself with a lot of time to study these days.” He looked between the two of them and cleared this throat a little before speaking again. “Pardon me for intruding,” he said, “but am I right in thinking you have lost your way?”

Kelly hesitated a moment and Vanessa plunged ahead to fill the void.

“We’re completely lost!” Vanessa pointed at Kelly. “She dragged me all the way out here and she doesn’t have any idea where we are!”

“That’s not fair,” said Kelly. “I’m sure it has to be just a little farther down the path.”

The man nodded sympathetically. “Yes,” he said. “There is a campsite down the path, but I’m afraid it’s still quite a ways away. You won’t make it before dark.”

Vanessa groaned and turned to Kelly. “So what are we supposed to do now? You want me to walk through this crazy forest in the dark?”

“We don’t really have a choice,” said Kelly. “At least we know we’re not totally lost.”

“No. We’re just hours and hours away from anywhere. Why can’t we just—“

“If you have no objections,” said the man, “you could come share my campground. It’s only a few minutes walk away, and it’s big enough to easily accommodate four or five tents.”

“Oh, we couldn’t impose,” said Kelly.

“No imposition,” said the man smiling. “It’s a large campground and I am alone tonight. My friends are coming tomorrow.”

“You’re here on your own?” asked Vanessa. “Why didn’t your friends come with you?”

“Ah. They are busy and I am always here.” He turned a little. “Come,” he said. “It’s just this way.”

Kelly and Vanessa exchanged a glance then followed him through the forest. The low fog curled thickly amid the tree trunks, muffling their footsteps and hiding the ground they walked on, but the man moved forward with certainty.

It wasn’t long before they emerged into a large clearing. Bright moonlight shone down through the deepening twilight turning the carpet of fog into billowing silver.

“Please feel free to set up your tent anywhere you like,” said the man. “I’ll start a fire so you can make something nice and warm for dinner.”

“Thank you,” called Kelly, but the man had already turned and walked away.

Kelly and Vanessa made quick work of setting up camp. It was odd hammering stakes into ground they couldn’t see, and even odder to cook over a fire shrouded in mist.

“It looks like a volcano or something,” said Vanessa. The man laughed and smiled amicably. They passed the evening pleasantly. Vanessa asked lots of questions about Japan which the man answered without complaint. All too quickly the time came to say goodnight.

“Well,” said the man, “it was very nice having someone to talk with. I am glad we met. I hope you have pleasant dreams. I’m sure the morning will bring great clarity.”

“I hope so,” said Vanessa. “I can’t take much more of this fog.”

The man laughed.

“Good night,” said Kelly.

“Good night,” said the man, bowing a little. He turned and walked away.

Kelly and Vanessa ducked into their tent, and went to bed.

--------------------

The morning dawned clear and bright. Kelly was awakened by the sound of movement and voices outside the tent. She shook Vanessa’s shoulder.

“Wake up,” she said. “I think his friends are here. We should go say hi.”

Vanessa made a muffled mumbling noise. Kelly shook her again.

“Wha-?” Vanessa scrubbed at her eyes. She spoke through a yawn. “What is it?”

“His friends.”

“Whose friends?”

Kelly rolled her eyes. “The man last night. The one you grilled about Japan.”

“Oh,” said Vanessa sitting up. “His friends.”

“Come on. Hurry up. We should go say hi.”

“Why?”

“Because they’re his friends and he was nice when he didn’t have to be and we’re taking up space in their campground.”

“Right,” said Vanessa. “Okay. Just give me a minute.”

Kelly and Vanessa threw on some clean clothes, raked their hands through their hair, scrubbed their faces with damp towels, and popped out of the tent.

“Hello,” said Kelly brightly. “Are you friends of—“ Kelly realized she didn’t know the man’s name.

Standing at the edge of the campground was a group of five or six Japanese people clustered tightly together. They spoke among themselves in low voices.

“Sorry,” Kelly tried again. “We don’t mean to intrude. We’ll just pack up and get out of your way.”

The Japanese people all nodded at each other. Then one of the women broke away and approached Kelly and Vanessa.

“Hello,” she said. Her accent was much thicker than the man’s had been the night before. “We…sorry. We thought this place…our place.”

“It probably is,” said Vanessa. “We were just borrowing it overnight.”

The woman shook her head.

“Sorry,” she said. “My English… I speak only very little.”

“It’s all right,” said Vanessa smiling. The woman smiled back nodding.

“We come here…special…”

“It’s a special day?” asked Vanessa. “Like a birthday or something?”

The woman shook her head. “No. Not…” She turned to the others. “英語で命日ってなんだっけ？”

Her question was met with more head shaking. She turned back to Kelly and Vanessa.

“It’s anniversary… My friend…”

“Oh, an anniversary! How sweet!” Vanessa smiled.

“No, no. Sorry. My English. It’s…” The woman turned to her friends again. “自殺は英語で何？”

Again the others shook their heads. She sighed and thought.

“My friend,” she said, “very sad. Very worried. He die. Killed.”

“Killed?” Vanessa’s eyes went wide.

“Sorry,” the woman shook her head. “Killed self. Here in forest. He loved the forest. We come here today to…remember.”

“Oh that’s so sad,” said Vanessa.

The woman nodded. “Yes,” she said. “Very sad. We are all very sad. We come here to remember and…apologize. It’s been…one year.”

“Oh, that kind of anniversary,” said Vanessa. “We won’t get in your way. We’ll be out of here before you know it.”

“No, no,” said the woman. “Please. No hurry. We can still remember with you here.” She smiled gently.

Vanessa nodded. “Can I ask? How old was he?”

“Not old,” said the woman. “Like us. We went to…university, graduate school, together.”

The hairs on the back of Kelly’s neck began to stand on end. She felt as though she was being watched.

“That’s nice,” said Vanessa.

The woman nodded. “Yes. It was nice. He was very nice. Kind. We miss him. I have a picture…”

“I’d like to see, if you don’t mind,” said Vanessa.

“Of course.” The woman smiled and reached into her purse. She handed a photo to Vanessa.

Vanessa took it gently, looked down at it, and shrieked. She dropped it as though it was on fire.

“Vanessa!” Kelly reached down to pick up the photo. “What are you doing?” She turned to the woman as she stood. “I’m so sorry,” she said.

“Kelly,” Vanessa hit her on the shoulder. “Look at the picture! No, wait! Don’t look at it. No, look at it and tell me I’m not crazy!”

“What are you talking about?”

“That’s a picture of their dead friend,” said Vanessa, her eyes wide and dark with fear.

“Yes. And?”

“Look at it, Kelly. Just…look.”

Kelly looked down at the photo in her hand. Her eyes widened.

There in the photo, clear as day — a man with a shock of disheveled black hair, rectangular lensed glasses, and a sheepish smile.

A chill wind rustled the leaves of the trees and sent a shiver down Kelly’s spine. It whipped through the brush and between the people standing in that clearing and it carried whispered words in a gentle voice.

“Until next year.”