Eteled & Austin Short Stories

Why Monday Was (Mainly) Henry's Fault

Context: They're friends

Place, time, and form: A large park, during the COVID pandemic, human forms

Personalities: Austin is kinda clumsy and Henry is a little vain- 

Austin's P.O.V

Kyle, Sam, Johnathan, Mike and I were walking through the reserve like any other day, until we saw Henry through the fauna. Naturally, I barreled into him at high speeds and we both tumbled to the dust-covered ground. 

"Watch the hair!" became the first thing he had said to me in weeks. We talked for a while until our group arrived at a large lake, its reed perimeter stretching for a walking distance of two miles. 

While our other colleagues were talking and Kyle and Sam were failing at skipping rocks, Henry suggested we go explore the area.

I agreed to his plan and we charged into the bushes. After several branches backlashing into my face (and I thought it only happened in movies) we came to an unstable rock-smattered cliff covered in warning signs. 

So we did what any sane person would do. We climbed it. 

When I say 'climbed' what I should have said was Henry ran up the death trap at high speed while I painstakingly crawled upwards, somehow ramming my hand into thorns and almost falling to my death an average of three times.

Once I had reached the top of the hill, we saw a family of five and a jogger walking towards us. Panicking and screaming, (and overreacting) Henry had a moment of 'utter genius' and promptly shrieked: "WE'RE TWINS!" and we ran off laughing with a fleet of confused looks trailing behind. (Because of the pandemic, we weren't supposed to be meeting up, and people might've guessed we were breaking the rules, so we pretended to be twins or brothers.)

After a minute we came to a fork in the path. I was certain we had to go left to meet back up with our group, but Henry was adamant that right was the way back. I ended up giving in and heading off along the path he'd suggested. 

I wish I could say that when we saw the waves of families, joggers, and adults we stayed calm. 

We didn't.

What happened involved both of us hiding underneath my navy-blue jacket and uncontrollably laughing maniacally. If I thought the confused stares before were waves, what followed was an ocean of weird looks and backward glances. 

"Our colleagues are going to be worried," I said after what I thought was about ten minutes of walking. "We should go back." 

To which Henry replied: "Don't worry, John was completely fine with us walking by ourselves. I asked him yesterday. Besides, he's got Mike." 

"But Mike isn't fine with it!" I said, becoming uneasy. 

"Then John will tell Mike it's fine, now come on!" After a few more moments of bickering back and forth, I spoke up with an (awful) idea. 

"We should go through the bushes."

"No, we should go along the path," Henry insisted. Somehow, he ended up agreeing to my ludicrous idea, and we plunged into the dense forest of danger. 

We (I) fell off miniature cliffs, got terrified of stepping on a snake and tripped a total of twenty-six times. When we finally arrived back at the lake, I came to a horrifying realization; we were on the complete wrong side. 

We waded through reeds, climbed up ledges and trudged through mud-covered water. At last, we reached where we had begun, where Kyle and Mike (where were Sam and John?!) were turning away from the lookout, about to leave. 

"Mike, over here!" I screamed as loud as I could. (Receiving a: "Don't shout in my ear!" from Henry.) 

We were in a lot of trouble. Sam and Johnathan had gone looking for us, and Mike and Kyle had been waiting there for hours for Henry and I to return. 

Later, Henry admitted to PURPOSELY getting us both lost by PURPOSELY choosing to go down the incorrect path. 

So in conclusion, the entire misadventure of Monday was (mainly) Henry's fault.