After her chilling encounter with the most notorious person in all of Falls Peak, Katie kept her distance from the others until the end of the week, not wanting to relive the scariest moment she could remember in recent times.
However, when it came to Friday night, she arrived on time at the designated meeting place, acting as if nothing had happened.
"Are you sure we can't just drive up to the waterfall?" She asked. "The woods are so big that there has to be a trail for cars. And plus these bags are heavy as shit!"
"There maybe is, but I wouldn't trust Kyle's bucket of shit to get us up there in one piece," Matt laughed as he unfurled his trusty map.
"Would you shut up about the car?" Kyle groaned. "It works, ok? But I can't afford any more gas right now and God knows how much we'd need to get up there anyway."
"I've always wanted to try camping anyway," Jess told them, much to the surprise of the group. "What? I'm not just a princess you know!" She laughed at seeing their startled reactions.
"Could've fooled me," Katie smirked.
"Alright, before you two get into a catfight before we've even left, what do you say we hit the trail? Matt, what are we aiming for tonight?" Kyle asked.
Matt consulted the map for a moment before answering.
"Alright well we could probably hit the top before dark, but that doesn't give us much time to set up the tents and stuff. And besides, we don't really want to run into those guys so I was thinking if we took the long way then we can stay out of trouble and be able to see more over the weekend?" He explained.
"What exactly is the long way?" A cautious Jess asked.
"Instead of going straight up, we'd kind of do a lap around the forest and head up the other side," Matt told her. "It would take a few hours longer but I think it's our best bet."
"But wait, aren't we trying to catch those guys?" Katie asked. "Why would we avoid them?"
"We wouldn't be avoiding them, we'd be flanking them. Right?" Kyle turned to Matt for assurance, something he never thought he'd do.
"That's right. Going this way just keeps us out of their direct path. There's no way they'd go this way because it's just not practical. Especially if they're carrying anymore bodies."
"Which is why we're doing it?" Jess was trying her best to follow.
"Exactly!" Matt cried.
"This is so stupid that I can't believe I understand it," Jess said to herself before turning to the others. "Alright, let's get going!"
*
As they slowly made their way through the woods, no one spoke, all deciding instead to save their breath for the uphill climb they would soon be facing. As Matt was the only one who really knew where he was going, he was the one leading them and although none of them particularly wanted to follow him, they all knew that it was their best option.
After around an hour, finally Katie asked if they could take a break.
"I'm dying here." She told them.
"Yeah, it's pretty hot," Kyle conceded. "But the sun should be going down any time now".
"We're still near the base of the hill. And since we're heading to the other side, the sun should be with us slightly longer. Sorry," Matt shrugged.
"Normally that would be a good thing," Jess laughed as she joined the others in sitting on a fallen tree to drink some water from her bag.
Other than Matt, none of the group had really known what to take with them so they'd just taken a bit of everything.
"What time do you want to crash?" Kyle asked them, receiving nothing but shrugs from the girls.
"It's the first night and we want to get a good spot and take our time with the tents," Matt answered. "I'd say maybe a couple of hours and then just before the light goes we can set up camp."
"Thank you Ranger Matt," Katie gave him a mock salute before standing up and informing them that she was ready to go again.
Although it seemed like they were now going downwards, they knew from the layout of the town that they had to go down in order to go up.
As above, so below.
This time when the group walked, they finally started to talk to each other. It was as if their drinks break had cured more than their thirst. Matt however, remained silently focused on leading the group.
"So you said that you've always wanted to go camping, right?" Kyle asked Jess, huffing as they walked through the surrounding green.
"Yeah, since I was a little girl. My family always talked about doing it but we never did," She answered.
"Why not?" He asked again.
"I dunno. Life just got in the way I guess," She shrugged.
"I hear that!" Katie puffed from behind them. "Trust me, I know all about it."
"Well at least we're getting to do this now," Kyle offered, hoping to lighten the mood. "I mean, it's probably not going to be the same as doing it with our families or our real friends but at least it's an adventure."
"It certainly is that. Although we've camped out in the woods a lot, my friends would slaughter me if I actually called it camping. So not cool," Katie laughed.
"You're right," Jess smiled. "I mean, my friends would kill me if I suggested we go camping. At least with you guys we all seem to be on the same page. Mostly."
"Yeah," Kyle agreed. "You know you're actually pretty nice when you aren't biting my head off every twenty minutes," He smirked.
"Oh yeah? Well you're pretty ok too. When you're not annoying me every twenty minutes!"
"I think you two are going to annoy me every twenty minutes," Katie complained, but Kyle and Jess could both see that she was smiling as she spoke.
As the group continued to walk and the sun began to set, they came into a clearing, sparking a memory in Kyle that he'd forgotten until now.
"Hey wait!" He cried out, running up to Matt as it all came flooding back to him.
"What is it?" Jess asked, slightly worried.
"I recognise this place!" He said excitedly. "This is the dark woods, right?" He asked Matt.
"Yeah, just over there," Matt confirmed, pointing to the next set of trees, just a few hundred yards away from them.
The dark woods were named as such because unlike the rest of the forest, the trees were much closer together and so when night fell, it was almost pitch black. This area didn't last very long but it was still etched in Falls Peak folklore.
"So I was thinking that we could just head through these and then there's a little hill at the other side. It should only take a few minutes to get up there and then there's plenty of flat ground for us to set up camp. What do you think?" Matt asked, addressing the group for the first time.
"I'm happy with that. I'm always happy to stop walking," Katie answered nonchalantly.
"Man, it's just so weird being here now!" Kyle cried, ignoring the suggestion. "When I was a kid we used to always be so scared of this place because it's where teenagers hung out. Now we're teenagers and it isn't scary at all," He chuckled.
"It will be when it gets dark though, so move!" Katie shoved Kyle forwards. Until then, he hadn't noticed that Jess and Matt were now quite a bit ahead of them.
Just like Matt had said, it didn't take them long at all to get through the dark woods and up the small hill. As Matt helped the girls set up their tents, Kyle took in the view from on top of the hill, making sure to take plenty of pictures of the landscape.
"This looks awesome. I can't believe this has been in my backyard this whole time," He said to himself before slamming a large stick into the ground, looking like a marker to anyone else who'd think to approach them.
"Whoa. Looking good there Gandalf!" Katie laughed.
"What? I didn't have a flag," He shrugged.
"You know this would be a pretty good place to set up a base in a war," Matt said, approaching Kyle having finished with Jess' tent. "We have all this space up here at the top and plus it'd be a great vantage point."
"Would it stop a Gorgoya?" Kyle teased.
"Ask me again tomorrow," Matt said without showing any emotion. "Do you want to go find some sticks for a fire while I set up your tent?" He asked, pointing at the crumpled heap that was Kyle's attempt at setting it up.
After a few moments of staring at his failure, Kyle answered with "Yeah that sounds good."
He didn't care how Matt knew how to set up a tent so well, he was just glad that he could.
*
Once everyone was all settled and Kyle had returned with a handful of sticks, he dumped them down and then dropped into his tent, exhausted. The sun was now almost totally gone from view, leaving the sky with an almost purple hue.
"Aren't you going to light it?" Matt asked.
"How the hell am I going to do that?" Kyle groaned.
"By rubbing two sticks together obviously!" Cried Matt.
"Matt, were you in the boy scouts?" Asked Jess. Matt nodded. It was only clear for her to see because he was sitting so close to her. The tents had been set up so that they were all in a circle.
"Of course you were," Kyle said, rolling his eyes. His gesture, on the other hand, was hidden by the oncoming darkness.
"Or we could just do this," Katie suggested, walking over to the pile of sticks and taking a lighter to it.
Nothing happened.
"You know, you're going to need something like –" Matt began to explain but was interrupted when Katie took out a perfume bottle and sprayed it onto the open flame, immediately igniting the sticks, and giving the group a rather impressive campfire.
"You were saying?" She asked victoriously.
"That's cheating. It's not real camping!" Matt told her off, even though he knew she wouldn't care. "And what are you doing?" He turned to Jess whose face was lit up by her cell phone screen, the tent illuminating her even more now.
"You want us to act normal right?" She replied. "I think if I didn't check in with the girls on our group conversation on a Friday night, it would be more than a little suspicious. Don't you?"
"Well good luck with that," Matt answered defiantly. "You never get a good signal out here. And by good, I mean any. I didn't even bring my phone with me."
"Are you nuts? You didn't even bring your cell phone to a weekend long camping trip in a forest you're convinced is dangerous?" Kyle couldn't believe it. He knew Matt was probably not all there but still!
"I'm becoming one with nature!" Matt proudly professed.
"Dammit!" Jess threw her phone to the back of her tent. Clearly, what Matt had said was true.
"How long do you think it would take to cover all of the ground in the woods anyway?" Katie asked, sensing that Matt was about to rub his victory in Jess' face. Something she knew wouldn't go down well.
"Days for sure," He answered, seemingly happier to talk about the woods again. "People don't realise just how big this forest is. It's like twice the size of the actual town."
"So we won't cover everything this weekend?" Kyle asked, disheartened slightly.
"God no!" Matt laughed.
"Great," Groaned Jess, still sitting moodily in her tent. "So what exactly is the point of this exercise again?"
"To prove once and for all that a deadly monster stalks our small town. Duh!" Kyle sighed.
"And also to prove there's a gang of serial killers wandering around like a team of Tarzans. Can't forget that!" Katie grinned.
Only when they thought aloud like this did it seem to finally dawn on them that they'd perhaps been a little naive in their planning, and their mission as a whole. Once again though, Matt remained excited about their mission.
"Come on guys, this is gonna be great!" He said, even clapping his hands in excitement. "We've got a campfire, we've got our snacks. This could be like a bonding exercise too, you know?"
"Are you serious?" Jess snorted.
"Of course I am! Think about it, if this was a school project, we'd all have complained about being teamed up together. But this was all by choice. I think it's a great start. It'll be good to get to know each other better!" Matt's excitement was now beginning to waver. It was becoming obvious that no one else was as excited as he was.
"Get to know each other?" Asked Kyle.
"Yeah!"
"In fairness, it's maybe not the worst idea in the world. It could be a long weekend otherwise," He couldn't help himself from looking over at Jess as he spoke. She was still clearly grumpy about her lack of contact with the online world. Although it wasn't bothering him yet, he knew it would eventually.
"So this is our bonfire moment, is it?" Katie grinned.
"Our what?" Matt asked, thinking the exact same as Kyle and Jess.
"Our bonfire moment!" Katie cried, as if whatever she was talking about was common knowledge. When no one answered, she sighed and explained her thinking. "You know that scene in every teen movie ever where the kids don't really like each other until someone lights a bonfire and then they unload all their problems onto each other and suddenly they're all best friends? That is a bonfire moment."
"Like Kyle said, I don't think that's the worst idea we could have," Matt shrugged. "Come on it could be fun!"
"Yeah right. Maybe we'll save that for tomorrow night. I'm exhausted so I'll see you guys in the morning." Katie told them. Although she probably thought they couldn't hear her with her tent zipped up, it was quite clear that she then said "If we don't get brutally murdered in our sleep."
"Well . . . I guess that's it for the night then!" Kyle laughed after noticing Matt's disappointment that Katie had turned in for the night, and also seeing Jess' relief that they wouldn't be revealing their deepest darkest secrets. It seemed like that was all there was left to do.
Without any arguments on the matter, they all poured some of their bottled water onto the fire to put it out before getting ready for bed.
"Should we have someone stay up?" Asked Jess. "You know, on guard or something."
"No. We'll be fine." Kyle assured her. It seemed to work as she smiled at him and said goodnight before closing off her own tent too. However, when Matt turned in, Kyle decided to stay up for a while anyway.
The "safe clearing" that they'd chosen looked a lot more menacing in the pitch black of night.
________________________________________________________________________________
And so we begin night one of the trip! All seems reasonably ok so far but we all know by now that things can sometimes go bump in the night!
Another fun little anecdote for this story is the inclusion of the "Dark Woods". As much as I'd love to take the credit for the name and description, it's actually a real place around the area where I live. It was given the name for the exact reason in the story and as youngsters, we were always told to stay away at night because that's where teenagers went. This was something I'd actually forgotten about for years until I walked past them with my dog. I then realised that at that point, I was a teenager and I didn't know a single person who hung out there. It may have been a myth, but the story still stood. Also the hill at the other side of the woods is also real, although a lot less menacing than in the story. Here, the hill is littered with rabbit holes and tunnels where hundreds of wild bunnies live! As a result, this place is known as rabbit hill. I think I was wise to leave that out of the story!
So I want to know if you guys have any places like this near where you live, or where you grew up? I love hearing personal stories like this so don't scrimp on the details!