The Cursed Boy

Breaking into the Woods

One fine afternoon, seven boys were walking in the middle of an abandoned forest. They were from the heart of the state. They decided to do something fun in their summer holidays.

Yuvaraj said "we shouldn't have come here man, we're only 17, I don't even think we're allowed here"

Ashwin asked "what's the matter mommy boy, are you afraid that your mom might come and catch us"

"I'm not afraid sucker" yuvaraj said angrily "we're lost in the middle of the forest, don't you understand"

Ashwin thought of arguing but aravind stopped him "no man, he's right, we've been walking for 2 hours, yet we still haven't found the highway"

The other boys were Oli, lokesh, akshay and kiran. They were simply following Aravind and oli cuz it was their idea to break into the forest.

Lokesh said "why do you worry, kiran has a compass, he'll guide us, won't you kiran"

Kiran replied "yeah, but the problem is the compass isn't working"

Oli asked "how could a compass not work"

Kiran said "I don't know, but it's not working"

Akshay asked "why would you choose such a terrible place to come"

Aravind replied "hey, don't blame me, you guys said that you wanted to do something adventurous and fun"

Ashwin asked "ok where's the fun"

Aravind replied "it's not that bad you know" that's when they heard the hissing sound of a snake

Lokesh said "yeah playing with snakes would be fun"

Aravind said "I'm sorry ok, I randomly picked a spot to break in"

Oli was standing on the edge of a nearby cliff. He shouted as loudly as he could "ohhhhhh"

All the others saw him as if he was crazy. They stopped arguing and approached him.

"What happened Oli" the others asked him.

Oli replied "I think there's a cave nearby, just shout and hear the echo"

The moment he said that, kiran and adhwin started shouting "oh oh oh"

Oli stopped them "shit, not like that and only one at a time, take a deep breath and shout loudly"

Aravind gave it a try. They all heard the second echo from the eastern side of the woods.

Lokesh said "sound echoes from hollow surfaces"

Oli said "yeah it's on our way, we can give it a check if you want"

They had no other choice. They already didn't know where they were heading. So they decided to head towards the spot.

After 40 minutes of walking, they reached nowhere.

Kiran called the others "guys, my compass is working, it shows that we're heading south"

Lokesh said "but we're taking a straight route, how could it be?"

Kiran replied "we're heading east but the sun is on the other side, which means"

Ashwin asked "which means?"

Kiran said "which means we're lost again"

Aravind said "f**k let's kill him"

All of them laughed.

Ashwin called from behind "guys, I think we should follow the stream to get there"

They thought it was a good idea and started following the water stream.

After few minutes, they heard a distant animal roar. The sound was really deep and terrific.

Kiran paused "guys, should we continue this path"

Oli said "if we keep changing directions, we cannot reach anywhere"

When they neared the end of the stream, they were near the edge of a waterfall.

That's when they heard the roaring sound again but they had nowhere to run. The fall was atleast a 100 feet.

Ashwin said "guys, I think we need to jump"

Oli said "we don't even know if we would survive"

They thought about it a few seconds but the sound got closer, they had no other choice.

The first one to jump was Aravind because the others hesitated to go first.

The others spectated from the top if he had landed in the water or smashed by the rocks. Either way, they can't do anything.

It was smoky halfway through the fall, so they couldn't see anythin. When they heard the sound again, they started jumping one by one.

At last Oli and akshay were still standing on the edge.

Oli asked "what happened?"

Akshay said "it's too scary, I don't think I can do it. Just leave me here"

Oli shouted "look I brought you all here, it's my responsibility to take you home alive and also the others have already jumped"

Akshay said "we don't even know if they are alive, they could have smashed to pieces"

That's when the lion showed up from a tree behind them. It was sneering with its intrigue tooth allignment.

Akshay said "I think it's not hungry"

The lion roared at them with a bold vocal pitch.

Oli said "I don't think so"

Akshay asked "can we jump now"

They took a step towards the edge but the lion started sneering.

Oli said "I think it would get us before we reach the edge"

Oli was the strongest of the two. Without even asking anything, he just grabbed Akshay's arm and swung him several feet.

But unluckily, Oli's ankle twisted and he fell down. He wailed in pain. When he opened his eyes, the lion's face was right infront of his face.