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River shakes his head, confirming he wouldn’t really. I hope.
‘Dax slept inside the tent, leaving the door unzipped in case he needed to flee. I set my sleeping bag just outside the door. It went tent, a foot of dirt, me, couple more feet of dirt, the fire, then pitch-black scary as fuck forest.’
‘Descriptions like a painting, got it,’ I say, genuinely able to visualize this entire scenario. The way he smiles at my reactions says he’s enjoying those as much as he is telling it. I have to say, he’s hooked me, quite possibly in more ways than one.
‘Something woke me just after I’d nodded off, and I jolted up, grabbing the spotlight and shining it around the outside of the tent. Dax woke too because apparently, I’d “screamed like a girl” and scared the fuck out of him. I remember exactly none of that, probably because I was trying to restart my heart before I died of fear. Once we realized nobody was there but us, we started to settle and just sat by the fire. I say sat, but really we kneeled there, ready to run for our fucking lives. Then it happened,’ he says, just like you would if telling a scary story around a campfire. ‘The sound of footsteps started—’ He stomps his feet on the deck below us for dramatics. ‘And no matter how I shined that damn spotlight, I couldn’t find a person.’
‘Bigfoot?’ Laney asks.
‘No,’ River says without hesitation. ‘Sticks were snapping, and leaves were crunching, and still nothing. We stood back to back, each with a spotlight in one hand and our hiking hatchets in the other, looking for where these footsteps were coming from. How could we hear them and not see anything? My fight or flight senses were on high, and bravely I ventured away from Dax a bit, yelling for whoever was messing with us to “stop being cowards and show themselves!” We must have stood there for ten minutes, saying absolutely nothing, just listening for a response from something we couldn’t see but could hear.’
‘This is straight nuts,’ I tell him. ‘I would have died of fright.’
‘Right when we’d convinced ourselves we were losing our minds, at the same time, somehow, something hit me in the shoulder blade. I spun to face Dax. “Did you just throw shit at me?” I hollered. “Did you just toss another rock?” he roared back. “If this is your idea of a joke, I will kill you, Riv,” Dax threatened, but I knew he didn’t mean it. Remember, we’re exhausted and scared out of our minds in the middle of a dark forest where no one else should be,’ River explains.
‘I’m telling ya, people are the scariest monsters on this planet,’ Laney says.
‘Especially if they’re in the middle of the fucking forest at night,’ River says. ‘I was triple scared now. Terrified. We were still days of hiking from where my dad was picking us up, so if something happened, we’d be in real trouble. There isn’t exactly cell service in the middle of nowhere. Dax and I were so worked up that I was ready to murder whoever this was, and Dax was ready to kill me as he suspected I was pulling some prank on him. “Show yourself!” I screamed it so loud this time that it echoed back at us. If anyone was in those woods that night, they heard me. Seconds after the words left my lips, a huge crash occurred behind us. We spun, looking across the fire towards our tent. Dax shined his spotlight that way, and a giant branch – must have fallen fifty feet to the ground – landed directly on top of our tent.’
‘Whoa… you could have been killed!’ I exclaim, completely invested in this story now. ‘Both of you! What did you do?’
‘We fucking ran until we could no longer physically run, then we hobbled into civilization and called my dad to pick us up like a couple of pussies.’
‘Did you research this after?’ I ask. ‘Has anyone else had this experience before?’
‘Yeah, Jade,’ Laney says, not impressed with my suggestion. ‘Loads of hikers go missing every year when an invisible camper throws a branch onto their tents after tormenting them for nights. It’s like a Blair Witch thing. He made this up.’ Laney still isn’t a believer, but I think he’s telling the truth.
‘I didn’t make it up,’ River says. ‘When we got home, I did research it. There are quite a few stories like this from other hikers in that area. People hear things and see footprints but never actually see anything. Hikers have gone missing in this forest.’
‘Pretty sure hikers go missing in every forest at some point,’ Laney says.
‘You’re right, but this trail in particular has some creepy, spooky vibe. We hiked back a few days later with my dad and another friend – armed this time, just in case – to get our stuff. We weren’t messing around either; we probably would have shot a guy if someone had shown up. But nothing weird happened while they were with us, so now it’s my “I saw a spaceship” party story.’
He is so freaking interesting. I could sit and listen to him talk all night long, and as slow as he’s now working on the last quarter of this death burger, I think I might.
15
RIVER
The burger was a bad idea. I need to learn how to say no. But noooooo, I had to go and eat a giant, flaming hot burger in front of two beautiful women, and now I feel like I literally might die. If I don’t, at minimum, I will spend some time in my bathroom this evening. I peel my hoodie off over my head, sitting it on my lap because I feel like I’m on fire.
‘What are you doing?’ Jade asks, instantly concerned. ‘It’s freezing out here?’
‘Is it?’ I pull my shirt away from my chest, creating a breeze. ‘I’m hot.’
‘How could you possibly be ho—’ She stops mid-word as she touches my arm. Suddenly she stands, sliding her hand to the side of my neck. Her touch sends chills through me, but I try to stay calm so she won’t notice.
‘Getting hotter,’ I say jokingly. My mouth can’t keep anything cool.
‘She’s in mom mode,’ Laney says.
‘Mom mode?’ I ask as Jade pulls her hand from me.
‘I’m not in “mom” mode, but you are super hot.’
‘I know, right?’ I try to seem smooth, but the fact that I’m sweating like a snowman in a desert is probably giving me away. Right now, I am not ‘hot’.
Jade smirks. ‘As in possible fever hot.’
