Forest Of Forever Dead

CHAPTER 3

The mission was simple.

Sey would somehow convince my parents to let me go, gather a group of people who are willing to spend spring break camping out in a forest in the middle of nowhere for 7 days, we would spend said 7 days trying to possibly uncover a crime, and then go home and continue on with the rest of our lives. Very simple.

With spring break only 3 days away, I expected to not find a group and have to go as a duo, but Seyra somehow gathered four people from our class to join us on this 'trip.'

Steven, the certified class clown of senior year, and the only one out of the three that I had a mutual friendship with. (I think?)

Belladonna, one of the more well-known girls in our school. Out of the many people I pictured who would willingly participate in something as 'weird' as paranormal investigating, it's safe to say she was not one of them. I've tried to talk to her before, but she ignored me every time.

Louis, the 'artsy' kid. I don't have much to say about him. Also, I think he hates me, probably.

Michael, a computer geek who knows his way around equipment and possibly the only logical one in our group. Sey says he's quote unquote 'qualified enough.'

And after much thought [5 minutes of planning] and consideration [another 5 minutes of going over the plan], convincing all of our families and many arguments on tent arrangements, I sit huddled up in the backseat of Sey's car, looking out the window. I gave up front seat privileges so the extremely carsick Mike wouldn't throw up everywhere. Sey owes me for that one.

The ride from my house to Hollow Deeps Woods was about 2 hours long, 1 hour and 40 minutes with Sey's deathly driving.

I blinked in confusion as the car came to a halt in the middle of the trees. We'd been driving through the trail of the forest for about 5 minutes now, and we weren't exactly expecting to stop so soon.

"Damn it." Seyra cursed under her breath, slamming her hand against the steering wheel in frustration. "What happened?" Mike asked, his face etched with worry.

"Car got stuck in the mud." Sey explained. "We can't go further. We could try to back the car out when we leave, bu-"

"But then..." Bella interrupted. "How do we get to our camping location?"

"Walk."

"Oh."

"Are you sure we're allowed to be here...?" Mike asked sheepishly. Sure we'd ignored the sign that said 'DO NOT ENTER: PRIVATE PROPERTY.' in big bold letters, but that doesn't make us criminals!

"Yes."

"I REALLY don't think we are-"

"Loosen up, Mike." I groaned.

"Alright, everybody out." Sey bellowed, unbuckling her seatbelt.

Mike JUMPED out of the car as soon as Sey gave the signal, only to slowly sit back into his seat with mud covering the entire lower half of his pants. "So... not a good idea."

"OI! DON'T YOU DARE GET MY CAR DIRTY!" Sey practically pushed him out, making him fall straight into the mud. I snorted.

I tried to get up to take a look at the situation outside, but recoiled at the weight of a head on my shoulder. "Steven, wake up." I hissed.

"I say we leave him." Bella suggested.

"I second that." The mud-covered Michael added with a thumbs-up.



After trekking through what felt like an entire swamp while carrying our baggage and having our pants rolled up knee-high, we finally reached some sort of dry ground.

"OH THE HEAVENS!" Steven plopped down onto the grass, laying flat on the ground. It had taken about an extra 10 minutes to wake him up, and I really wish we hadn't.

An involuntary smile appeared on my face before my gaze latched onto a wooden sign that was barely hanging onto a branch.

"Guys." I pointed to the sign, taking a step towards it. It was barely readable, but engraved onto the wood said 'FOREST OF FOREVER DEAD.'

"Forest of forever dead?" Louis repeated. "Sounds corny."

"In my personal opinion, I like it." Sey said, clutching at the straps of her bag. "Same." Bella added. "The trail continues that way." I pointed to an opening between the trees, behind the sign.

"Yes, we can see it." Louis rolled his eyes. I ignored him and moved the vines aside to make the trail accessible. There wasn't enough space for everybody to walk beside each other, so we went one by one.

Despite being the last one to follow, I couldn't shake the feeling that something or someone was behind me.