It had been a year since I’d met Giampi. He was my first friend. Although he only introduced me to one of my friends, I wouldn’t have made any more if it wasn’t for him. He helped me with my phobia and helped me with my confidence. It would have been the ideal night to spend New Years Eve at the base but of course, my parents didn’t let me. Same thing happened with everyone in the squad. We were all shackled to our families.

We had made a group chat on WhatsApp and as my family waited on the roof for fireworks, I decided to text everyone.

“Hey,” I texted.

“What’s up bro! How’s New Year’s Eve treating you?” Fernando wrote back.

“Pretty boring, how’s it treating you?”

“Brooo this suuuucks”

“Hey guys,” Giampi texted.

I checked everyone’s profiles and it said they were all online.

“Alright, now that we’re all online, I would like to propose a way to celebrate New Years because we didn't get to celebrate with each other at all. How does that sound? Is everyone available?

“I am,” Jett and Fernando messaged

“Me too,” Mason texted.

“Me three,” Sebastian texted.

“Me fourth?” Giampi messaged.

“Sounds good, now to discuss what we should do…” I texted.

“What’s your big idea?” Sebastian said.

“Ehm. I didn’t really think that far…”

“LOL,” Fernando said.

Jett sent a crying emoji.

“Anyone have any ideas?” I asked

I was interrupted by fireworks. Beautiful bursts of pink, orange and red exploded in the sky, making loud popping sounds. I remembered how unpleasant loud noises were for me and put on my noise cancelling headphones. I turned them on and the sound faded away.

I looked back at my phone to see a message from Giampi.

“Happy New Year everyone! It’s 2019!”

“Happy New Year!” Sebastian messaged.

“Happy New Year, friends!” I said.

“You know, tomorrow is my birthday, guys,” Giampi said.

“Whaaat! No way bro!” Fernando texted, with a shocked face emoji.

“We need to celebrate that,” Mason said, his first text of the night. I was surprised to see he was still reading along.

“Then it’s settled,” I replied.

“Let’s go on a hike, how about that Christopher?” Mason suggested.

“Lion’s trail?” I asked.

“That’ll be fun!” Giampi said.

“Alright, let’s do it! See you guys tomorrow at 7:30!” I said.

I put my phone down and enjoyed the fireworks, with, of course, my noise cancelling earphones. My sister stood on the edge of the roof, her mouth open wide. She stared at the fireworks. I enjoyed seeing her happy. She did get on my nerves a lot but I loved her to death. My mom sat down next to me. I watched her lips move but I couldn’t hear her. I took off my headphones.

“Your dad went to bring up more beer, do you need anything?” I could barely hear her.

“No!” I shouted.

“Alright then.”

We sat there, staring at the fireworks. The loud cracks filled my ear drums. Each time there was one, I would flinch.

“Mom, is it okay if I go hiking on Lion’s Trail with my friends?”

She nodded. Her brown eyes glistened in the light of the fireworks. Her eyes reflected her kindness. I couldn’t imagine a world without her.

“Thanks for being with your family tonight. I know it's been hard for you not to spend a lot of time with your friends since they are your first true friends.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

“Aw, you look like you are feeling kinda emotional, sweetheart,” she said gently.

Out of nowhere I felt my eyes begin to water. I took off my glasses and hugged my mom. I began to cry into her shoulder. I didn’t know why at the time. Later I realized that I cried because I was happy; happy I had finally found friends. 

We stayed like that until the fireworks were over. I closed my eyes and fell asleep. My dad had to stay up there with me and sleep there too. He put a blanket over me. Never before had I slept so soundly.

…………………………………

I woke up on the roo, confused. I put on my glasses. I must've fallen asleep up here. How embarrassing! I thought. I got up and stepped over my father, who was snoring. I was careful not to wake him. 

I climbed down the ladder carefully, as I was still tired. It was 7 in the morning. I panicked and began getting ready, rushing around my room. I picked up everything I needed and ran downstairs. Mom was making breakfast. She handed me the plate. 

“Mom, I need to leave now! Can you take me?”

She nodded. “Bring that with you to the car.”

I followed her and got into the car. I ate as we drove. I watched the beautiful scenery as we got further and further from the town. The woods were green, and there were trees all around. We eventually ended up on a dirt road. I saw animals in the woods, eating, drinking water, getting ready for their day. 

We arrived at the start of the trail. It was a large opening in a field. There was a tree in the middle and a tree stump at the start of the trail.  I could see Mason sitting on the tree stump, Fernando and Jett talking nearby. Giampi was doing stretches and Sebastian was doing them with him. 

Mason wore cargo pants, a red, long sleeved shirt and black hiking boots. He had a long black backpack on his back with water bottles on the side. Fernando wore a green shirt, cargo shorts and black sneakers that were broken. He could stick his toe out of his shoe.. He had a smaller backpack that looked suspiciously like the one he took to school. Jett wore a Flash t-shirt, jeans and red sneakers. He also had a small backpack that looked like his school bag. Giampi wore a blue tank top, black jeans and blue sneakers. He had a backpack similar to Mason’s with water bottles on the side as well. Sebastian wore a red shirt with a pocket on it, mountain gloves, a cap, cargo pants and black hiking boots similar to Mason’s. He had a giant backpack that was definitely for pro hikers and I had no idea why he felt like he needed so much stuff.

I wore a long sleeve green shirt with a Mount Everest on it that read Let’s Hike!. I also wore black sweatpants, brown hiking boots and a knapsack.

“You’re late,” Mason said.

“Sorry!” I said.

My mom approached Giampi.

“Hey Giampaolo. I’m Christopher’s mom. I can trust you with my kid, right? At what time should I pick him up?”

Giampi let out a friendly smile.

“You can definitely trust me with your kid. He’s a great one. We should be done at 9:30.”

“Alright cool, thank you!”

Mom walked away waving at me. I waved back, a little bit embarrassed. She got into her car and drove off.

“Alright, shall we start the hike?” Giampi said.

“Before that,” I said, pulling off my knapsack, pulling out an envelope and handing it to him,”Happy Birthday Giampi.”

“I got something too.” Mason said as he got up from the tree stump.

He handed Giampi another envelope.

“Me too!” Fernando and Jett said.

They walked up to Giampi and handed him two envelopes.

“I got something as well,” Sebastian chimed in, handing Giampi yet another envelope.

“I’m going to say this guys, I’m a little shocked. I didn’t expect this from you all! What’s in the envelopes?”

“We know how serious you are about collecting books so we each gave you some money so you can fill up the rest of the shelves in the base,” I said.

“Thank you guys so much!” Giampi said, his eyes glistening.

He put the envelopes in his backpack.

“Shall we get going?” I asked.

“Let’s do it!” Jett and Fernando said together.

We walked up the trail. The trail would take us all the way to the peak of the mountain. It gave a wonderful view of everything that was below. I walked next to Mason.

“This is nice, isn’t it?” I said, looking and admiring nature.

“It sure is,” Mason replied.

We walked for a bit in silence, I wanted to bring up the men in the cloaks but I knew he wanted me to stay quiet. It was his business, not mine, but still I felt like I needed answers.

“Mason, please tell me about the men in the cloaks,” I pleaded.

“No, you’re not involved with them and I don’t want you to be, so I can’t tell you. Please change the subject,” he replied firmly.

“We’re in this together! They broke into my house!”

Mason stopped and sighed. “Fine. If you want to know about them so badly, I’ll give you a little information about them.”

“Okay great!” I rubbed my hands together. We had fallen behind in the group and they were slowly going out of ear shot.

“These men in the cloaks are a part of a cult.”
My eyes widened. “Really?”

“Yes.”

“What’s the name of the cult?”

“The Path.”

“Why are they targeting us?”

“They aren’t targeting “us”. They’re targeting me.”
“Why are they targeting you?”

“I made the mistake of stumbling onto one of their weird rituals and now I’m a target. I started reading about them after I saw them. Everyone thinks they have been inactive for at least 50 years, so there isn’t much information after the 1970s. The most messed up thing I read about them is that they also recruit kids. A famous member in the cult was an 11 year old kid. They seem to target the weak because-”
He stopped mid sentence to kick a rock. My eyes widened as he lost his footing and started falling. There was nothing but a huge drop there. I ran and grabbed his arm. I held him and tried pulling him up with all my strength.

“You’re heavy,” I grunted.

Mason was breathing heavily. He was dangling over the edge. I turned to my right to see if any of my friends were there. Instead, I was greeted to the presence of two figures in purple cloaks. The hoods covered their faces.

“Uhh Mason?” I asked.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“Look to your right."

Mason turned and looked. The figures in the cloaks stood there, staring at us.

“Pull me up! Pull me up now!”
“Got it, chief!” 

I pulled with all my strength and got him back onto the path. I turned to my right but the figures in purple were gone.

“What was all that about?” I asked.

“We need to catch up with the others, we’re not safe here,” Mason said.

He broke into a sprint and I followed. We called their names, trampling around the path making a lot of noise as we did.

We caught up to them out of breath.

“Where were you bros?” Fernando asked.

“There were some weird guys-”

Mason interrupted me. “We stopped to talk. That’s all.”

Giampi looked at me funny.

“Let’s keep going, I guess.” he said.

We kept walking and I whispered to Mason: “Why didn’t you let me tell them?” 

“Do you want more people involved?”

“No…”

“I’m sorry, this is my fault. I got you involved.”

“Don’t be sorry. I want to protect my friends. Speaking of protection, why don’t you go to the police?”

“I can’t. They won’t believe what I say. I’m a kid, why would they? Why would they believe that a cult that hasn’t been seen for 50 years would suddenly show up? It makes no sense.”

We continued the rest of the trip in silence. Once we got to the top we rested and ate lunch. While we ate I couldn’t help but feel like I was being watched. I’d look around but there was nobody there. After about half an hour we began our descent of the mountain, with no more problems.