It is 7 in the evening on Thursday. Jason, Jerusha, Kayla, Austin, Raj and I, Ria, sit at the table in Dev's backyard. We all go to the same school. We live in San Francisco, California. Yesterday at lunch all of us discussed how boring and miserable we all were becoming. We were worried about this since months. So, we decided to escape this situation. Dev, the Indian-American like raj and I, decided we all have a meeting at his house where he will present his 'master plan'. So here we are, waiting since an hour for him to come out of his bathroom. "I am going to try to drag him out" says Austin with a frown, "I don't even care if he is not wearing anything." Suddenly I imagine how horrendous it may be if Austin did what he said. "I'd rather wait for another hour than see a show like that." I say. Just as I finish saying that, Dev comes out, with something that looks like a map. "Were you drawing that map or something? What the hell took so long man?" says Jason. "I hid it in the bathroom somewhere a month ago, and could not remember where I put it. That is why I was in there for so long" replies Dev. All of us are 16 but Dev is so short that he looks like a 12-year-old compared to us. But he still is the only one who manages to solve every problem we have.
"So, ladies and gentlemen, brace yourselves, for the master plan!" Dev says and spreads out the map he had on the table. The title said 'UADA MOUNTAIN.' The name made me jump a little in my chair. I hope no one saw me jerk like that. I literally froze! Raj looked equally nervous while the others were clueless. "do I see a mountain?" says Jerusha. "You sure do Jerusha. This is an awesome place to trek! It is so cool!" Dev almost jumps up and down in excitement. "This mountain is one of the best we have in California for trekking! We all need to go there, no matter what." "Are you out of your goddamn mind?!" Raj almost shouts. " There are hardly any people who ever survived the trek. Even the survivors are reported to have died horrifying deaths. the name literally says haunted! I'd rather stay miserable and boring than go there and die." Before we can even stop him, Raj leaves.
"Is whatever raj said true, Dev?" says Kayla with a look that would have been funny if not for the serious atmosphere. "It is partially true. but whatever he said was in like old times. Then they didn't have any GPS or blah blah that we have now. There is no way and I mean absolutely no way for us to be lost. I want you guys to trust me." "I don't even care. I'll convince raj to come along and we all can sneak out of our homes tomorrow night." Says Jason. "No darn way. Our parents are going freak out dude! They are definitely even going to call the police!" I say, "also that place is deadly haunted. What if something happens to us?"
"aw don't be stupid Ria. There is nothing like ghosts and stuff. Are you a 7-year-old? That is not even the problem. The actual problem is how are we going to sneak out? It is not as easy as you say Dev." Says Jerusha. Dev remains silent for a while and says, "we will lie. We will lie to our parents that we are going on a trip to san Jose to just visit all the places like we did last time." I almost forgot about our last trip. We all went to san jose for the weekend and Austin drove so fast, Jason ended up puking. "ugh, I already feel guilty." Says Jerusha. "yeah me too" kayla says. "Adventure has its own negatives ladies." Says Jason with smirk. All this time I am just freaking out and completely confused. I read about this Uada before and I had nightmares for days. But something in me does not allow me to say no to this. Suddenly, I feel thirsty for all the adventure and fear we had ahead of us. I was excited, despite the fear. "I'm in" I say. "Me too" kayla says. "I'm driving" says Jason. "I'll let you do that and I'm in too" says Austin. We all stare at Jerusha for a solid 5 seconds and she finally says, "ugh! fine I'm in." A cheer goes up among us. Now, all we have to do is convince raj, pack our bags and start off for something that we may not return from. I am so excited!
