The Inauspicious Forest

Chapter Five: Inauspicious Forest

A small noise, a snap of a branch disrupted their short nap. Camren and Sabrina jolted up.

"What was that?" Sabrina asked while unzipping the tent.

Carmen peered out, her face of lethargy turned into confusion.

"What's wrong?" She noticed.

"Did we really sleep for that long?" She asked.

Sabrina leaned forward to see that the night had fallen. Did they sleep through an entire day? That was so unlike them, even after that hike. Sabrina couldn't stay asleep for longer than 2 hours without waking up. The pitch dark abyss urged Carmen to grab her flashlight; she shined it around the look for fire starter. Once she found it, Carmen lit the fire wood and sat down directly outside the tent. It was violently cold, you could feel the shaking of your lungs with each breath. Sabrina reached into her bag and brought out a small metal canister filled with soup.

"This probably isn't smart" She said while holding it, a fair distance above the fire. The heat it was emitting was perfect.

"I can't believe we lost an entire day to a "short" nap" Carmen was let down, she didn't have much time off. She couldn't lose her JOB and get kicked out of college. Though she felt like her only current purpose was to be in these woods. Which was not ideal. Sabrina soothed her by giving her a small shoulder hug.

Sabrina lifted the soup canister and handed it to Carmen, she smiled.

They enjoyed their nice little meal of the day, they sat around pondering where they would even start in this investigation. What if they got hurt? What if they got lost? What if they took such a long nap that they lost all of their time? That was just Carmen overthinking, but I think you get the point.

"I know it's dark, but I want to look around, for something." Carmen sat up and stared down at Sabrina.

"It's really late, but we can try for a little while." She said while closing the canister.

They grabbed their bags, flashlights and added a bit more lighter fuel to keep the fire going as a guide back to camp, after their small search.

Carmen and Sabrina ventured out toward an off road nature made trail. Sabrina was shaking in fear, she couldn't see five feet in front of her and that was with the flashlights. She shined the light up toward a tree and in seconds time for her to react, a strange shadow figure seemed to be peering around the side of an old oak tree. She jumped back and winced.

"What's wrong?" Carmen questioned.

"There's someone with us Carmen, I saw someone over there"

Carmen tiptoed toward the tree and swiftly spun around it and to no avail, no one was there. Carmen looked back at Sabrina while shining the flashlight to the tree.

"No ones there" Carmen giggled.

"Not funny" She said back.

"I know what I saw" Sabrina snapped.

Carmen defensively lifted her hands up and laughed.

Sabrina couldn't help but laugh, she wouldn't be surprised if she tricked herself into seeing something. nothing like some good old self sabotage.

When they had awoke from their innocent nap, it was four in the morning. Meaning that sunrise would come shortly. Sabrina and Carmen had been wandering around in the near areas with no real idea of what time it was, so as the sunrise moderately lit their way, they were relived. Carmen scanned the forest floor for evidence. Nothing but bare dead grass and a few occasional pieces of trash, until Sabrina lost her footing over something. She bent over and picked up a small fabric covered stick with a human like face, covered in a dark ooze. Sabrina winced in disgust and sat it down. Carmen walked over and looked at it.