The road trip to Harnsey

The forest

Ophelia Sommers
"No beauty without intelligence"

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The morning sun broke through the tent flaps far too early, casting thin lines of light across my face. I groaned and rolled over, burying my head deeper into the pillow, trying to fight the inevitable pull of consciousness. It was quiet except for the occasional rustle of sleeping bags and the low murmur of voices outside—some of the other students must already be up. My eyes flicked open, and I was immediately met with the sight of Zach stretched out across his sleeping bag, still dead to the world.

Typical.

I sat up, yawning and rubbing the sleep from my eyes, and carefully stepped over a tangle of limbs, heading out of the tent for some fresh air. The morning was cool, the air crisp with the scent of pine and damp earth. The campsite was slowly coming to life, the other tents scattered across the field like small, brightly colored islands amidst the sea of grass.

Molly was already up, leaning against a tree with a mug of something steaming in her hands, while Sierra and Damien were huddled around one of the portable camp stoves, half-heartedly attempting to make breakfast.

"You're alive," Sierra said with a grin as I approached. "Thought you might sleep through the whole day."

"Almost did," I replied, grabbing a piece of toast from Damien's makeshift setup. "So what's the plan?"

"Nothing on the schedule," Damien said, buttering his own toast. "We figured we'd explore the forest, see what's out there."

Molly joined us, stretching her arms above her head. "Yeah, just wander around, maybe follow one of the trails. See where it takes us."

"Sounds good to me." I glanced back at the tent where Zach was still out cold. "Should we wake up Sleeping Beauty?"

Sierra rolled her eyes but smiled. "You know he'll catch up eventually."

Eventually, Zach did drag himself out of the tent, grumbling about how mornings shouldn't exist and how the sun was personally out to get him. After a quick breakfast, we set out from the campsite, the five of us ready for whatever the day would bring. The trail that led into the forest was well-trodden, marked by wooden signs with arrows pointing in various directions, but none of us had any real idea where we were going.

"How about we take the longer loop around the forest?" Molly suggested, reading one of the trail markers. "It loops back to camp in about two hours."

Damien shrugged. "Works for me."

We followed the path as it twisted and turned, winding deeper into the woods. The trees stood tall around us, their branches high above, creating a canopy of green that dappled the sunlight onto the forest floor. Birds chirped in the distance, and the occasional snap of a twig underfoot was the only other sound as we walked in relative silence.

"This place is kind of nice," I said, taking a deep breath. The forest smelled fresh, untouched, like it had been waiting for us to discover it.

Zach walked beside me, hands shoved into his pockets. "Yeah, but I'm getting serious Blair Witch Project vibes."

"Don't start," I warned, nudging him with my shoulder. "We're not getting lost."

"Yeah, we'll see."

And of course, just as Zach predicted, things didn't go quite as planned.

After an hour or so of walking, the group had split up a bit. Molly and Sierra were ahead, walking faster to explore a small clearing they'd spotted, while Damien trailed behind, taking pictures of whatever caught his eye. Zach and I stayed in the middle, wandering at our own pace and talking about nothing in particular.