Stephanie cleared her throat and said to all of us, “So have you all begun preparing yourself for a one-day trek to the forest?”

We all gave her a shocked stare. Well, not everyone, just me and Clara. Mason and Michael were still busy eating their food and just gave thumbs up.

Clara put her hands on her forehead. “I swear you are dragging me there against my will.”

Stephanie took a bite of her food and said, “No A an nor ang yo uill rekkl enyow ak.”

Michael said, “I did not understand what you just said.”

Clara gave Steph an annoyed look and said, “Babe, first eat the food and then say what you want to when your mouth is not preoccupied by food.”

“Hey, I know that.” Steph said.

"Yeah, I know you know.” Clara said while grabbing her water bottle.

Mason laughed about it. I told him, “Don’t; you do the same as Steph.”

Mason rolled his eyes. I told Steph, “I don’t exactly have any stuff about camping and all that. So-”

Steph interrupted me, “Don’t worry about, I will take care of that. Bring food though, lots of food.”

“And..?” I asked her. Michael gave her a questioning look. Well, I am not the only one confused here.

“Ahh... I will text you all about it. Everyone share your number in here with me.” She said while passing her phone to Mason. “It’s easier this way for everyone.”

~~

Ok, blankets, extra clothes, water bottles, a power bank, some packed food, and other stuff that Steph asked me to bring are in here, in my bag. Technically prepared and mentally well, my mind is still processing that part. I bid Jones goodbye; he told me he would come to my funeral and also visit my graveyard regularly. In short, he did not provide me any encouragement or support when I told him about my one-day trip to the forest. Steph asked all of us to arrive at the Cliffnyer bus stop, from where we would head to our destination, ‘Haltin National Park’. I am sure someone once told me to be wary of that forest, but here I am with some of my other friends, going against their advice, even though I am past my age for people to call me ‘a teen in his rebellious phase.’

I arrived at the Cliffnyer bus stop along with Michael. He was on cloud nine when it came to this trip. Mason arrived later. If someone asked me to differentiate between my best friend and a five-year-old, my answer would be they both are the same. After some moments later, we saw a joyous tall girl hand in hand with a droopy shoulder-length-haired girl arrive. Opposites attract has been proved to me.

Clara said, “Why did I agree to this?”

“We all did, Clara.” I told her.

Steph ignored Clara’s whining and said to all of us, "Ok, so I hope you guys have got all the stuff I asked you all to bring?”

“Yes Madame.” Mason said. We all nodded in agreement.

Clara was adjusting the giant bag she had on her shoulders. “I can already feel the weight of these bags crushing my shoulder. When is this going to even begin?” Clara said.

“It will begin soon; we gotta catch the other bus off to the forest area.” Michael said while glancing at his phone.

Steph clapped her hands. “Oh right, come on, let’s get moving; the bus will arrive soon.”

We waited for 10 or 15 minutes. After that, our bus arrived. Steph ushered us into that bus as if we were her 7-year-old kids. But given the fact we both were going to follow her around for the whole day tomorrow and the next half day. So it has some truth to it. Mason sat next to me before Michael could even ask me about it. He complained about it about Mason. He told him, “Michael, dude, you sit with him all the time on your way back from college. So relax.”

Michael sighed. Steph glanced at the three of us and smirked. "Oh, don’t worry, Michael, relax. Come on, sit over there.” She told him while shifting her focus towards the window.

Michael muttered, “Fine.” But the look he gave Mason was not really something he would appreciate.

“Don’t give me that ‘Bombastic side eye.’” Mason said to Michael.

Clara pulled Michael's shirt’s sleeves. He leaned towards her side when she asked him to come closer. She whispered something in his ears, and that was enough to make his face turn into shock and pink in a few moments.

Mason titled his head towards both of them, saying that it was blocking the path from where the passengers could move across seats. He asked them in a loud whisper, “Heyy, what are you both whispering?”

“NOTHING!” Michael said it out loud, but he was facing straight up front. So it was hard to tell whether he was mad or not.

Steph gasped and put her hand on Clara’s shoulder. "Clara, were you just now flirting with him?”

Mason and Clara chuckled. Clara said, “Nahh, I am not. I just told Michael to not fret about it too much.”

“Fret about what?” I asked Clara.

“That should not concern Chris.” She told me and then shifted her attention to the stunned girl sitting next to her. “Besides, why would I flirt with others when I have literally have divine woman sitting right next to me, Dear.”

Steph mouth opened wide. She finally mustered some words, "Y...Y..You”

Alas, she never was able to complete her sentence, even though we gave her some time. Even Mason remained silent for 1 minute straight, unlike his usual behavior of never keeping silence.

Mason told me, "Well, our guide ran out of words today.”

“Shut up!” Steph told him out loud. The passengers sitting in the bus gave us a troubled look towards us the second time. Last time it was due Michael. We all gave them an apologetic look.

“Dear, we should keep our voices low, or else they will yeet us out of the bus even before we can start this trip.”

Steph looked at her with wide eyes and took a large breath in and loudly whispered to Clara, which was loud enough for all of us to hear, “You should be the one keeping silence. You are the one who started this in the first place!”

Michael said, ‘Yes, I agree with her.”

Clara scoffed, “Are you sure it was me when the one fretting one was you?”

Michael pointed a finger at that straight-haired girl and said, “No… Just don’t.”

I glanced outside the window. The trees were passing before I could catch their glimpse. It looked like forest green and brown silhouettes and some cars speeding the bus. The bus we were in was also fast compared to the bus in cities. There was not much traffic in these forest-like areas in contrast to the city, where the vehicles were at their moderate speed. The bus playing a song from the radio had perfectly blended into the background noise for my friends bickering over some series plotline.

I glanced at my phone and began staring at the map. Steph had shared a map of Haltin’s forest. I still did not understand how to read it. Only got the part where she explained that some places are best camp sites and that some are off limits for civilians. Our plan was to travel to camp site places and then make our camp there for the night. Mason had suggested the idea of swimming in Halcyon Lake, but Steph gave us a big No.

“We will only pass by that lake perimeter and nothing more.”

Mason gave her a sullen look. Steph sighed but explained further, “Yes, I know you don’t like it. But I had been instructed that the lake is actually not to be used for swimming purposes. You want to go fishing; go ahead. But don’t put your feet into the water.”

Michael asked, “Why is that? Is there an alligator or giant snake in that lake or something?”

Stephanie gave him an exasperated look, stating, ‘Seriously, dude?’.

Clara said, “That’s all you could theorize? In that lake there might be some parasites like leeches that could sneak into your body and then suck away your insides even before you know it.”

I cringed, “That’s some serious theory over there. But that is also a real thing happening out there.”

Mason interjected, “For real, dude??”

"Yes, it is. We just don’t know.” I told him.

Steph groaned like a frustrated mother who was already almost done with her children before the start of the trip. “Oh, god stop. Listen, I don’t know why that is, but that lake is not safe at all for anyone, especially at night.”

“Is everything alright with that lake?” I asked her.

"No, not at all. My uncle who works there in its forest staff told me that you should be grateful that he allowed us to camp in the first place. Going into that lake means no coming back.”

Adam’s words echoed in my mind. No, we are still searching for them. It was said they were last seen near the National City Park area.

Mason asked Steph, “Your uncle is a forest staff guy; is that not a scary job?”

The cop mentioned that police had gone to the forest too. We sent a team to search the whole forest, but there are no traces of those attackers in that area.

I could feel Michael’s eyes averting towards me. We both exchanged a smile. He slayed it, and mine was certainly not awkward.

Back then, Adam was not being completely transparent to me about the whole missing people’s situation. But now that I think of it, he is a cop, and I am just a meager college student. Obliviously, the higher authority keeps some things confidential.