This is a story about my first camping trip, and how I lost all of my friends. I never went camping and I do not really have any motivation to go to the forest anyway. Even though I loved forests and nature, I never had courage to go explore my nearby woods all by myself. I usually just stay at home and play games, like Rayman Origins.
I got a message from my friend Clara, who wanted to take me and 2 of my other friends to the forest. Clara was a great person, with whom I had special kind of relationship. She was nice, caring, and we were friends since childhood. And we kinda started to feel more attraction to each other, but we were too shy to ask each other on proper date. Since I had nothing else to do other than try and 100% complete Rayman Origins, I decided to go with Clara and the others on a camping trip.
We met next to one of my friend’s houses, and Clara greeted me with a small hug. My 2 other friends, Jermaine and Lucas were busy putting stuff inside the car trunk. Jermaine is a car nut, and would always talk about car things. He especially loved racing, and he fell in love with Initial D when I first introduced him to it. Lucas was a person who suggested the idea of a camping trip, he liked nature and wanted to take some pictures with his new camera. Both of them bought everything that we needed for our trip, like food, sleeping bags. When everything was ready, I sat down at the backseat with Clara and we were on our way. The forest itself was located at the edge of our town, so I knew that we would be driving for several hours. Clara and I spent our time just chatting, while Lucas and Jermaine listened to the radio.
When we finally got to the place, the first thing I saw was a sign that said «Corniger woods». I stepped out of the car and I heard Clara suddenly gasp, so I immediately went to check on her. Infront of me layed a body of a deer with it’s guts splattered on the road. It was not a very pretty sight to behold, especially at the start of a fun trip with friends.
Jermaine: «Ok guys, let’s not let some deer corpse ruin our trip.»
Jermaine locked his car and went to the woods with Lucas. I held Clara’s hand and lead her to the same direction. I tried to look brave, but inside I was quite nervous, since I never been in the forest, and I don’t know what to expect. We went down a trail that lead deeper and deeper into the woods. I decided to ask Lucas why he decided to go camping here specifically, to which he answered.
«Well, I was always curious about this place. Plus, I heard this place is filled with animals, so I want to take pictures of them.»
So, he just came here to take pictures of animals? Well I suppose it’s a good reason to go camping in woods like these, but I still felt weird. We picked a spot where we can rest for a bit, a small area of the woods with not too many trees around. Perfect camping spot. We set up the tents and I sat down to rest. I checked my phone, it was 15:30. Clara sat down next to me.
«Hey, are you feeling ok? Is something wrong?»
«Nope, just a bit nervous. It’s my first time after all.»
«I am sure that you will feel better very soon. If you get bored, just tell me, maybe we can chat or do anything fun together, ok? »
«Thanks. I knew you can always cheer me up. I’ll probably be fine. Go help these books set up a tent, they are struggling.»
Clara smiled at me and kissed me on the cheek before going to Lucas and Jermaine, who failed to set up a tent. Clara had more experience with camping, since her father was a park ranger, so he taught her some lessons. I noticed a weird piece of paper on one of the trees next to me, so I got up and took a look. It was a missing person poster, a family of 4 have gone missing a year ago. Mother, father, daughter and son. The boy in particular looked like he was 5 years old. I decided to take a picture of the poster for later, just Incase I find them.
It was starting to get a little dark, so Lucas asked me and Jermaine to go looking for some wood to start a campfire. Lucas and Clara decided to stay in the camp, since Clara wanted to show Lucas how to make a proper tent. I sighed and went with Jermaine to the woods to get some twigs. Trees in these woods looked tall and quite old, but at the same time, perfectly untouched. While I looked around, I nearly fell into a lake, but thankfully Jermaine caught my hand. The lake was pretty, even though water was little green. I saw ducks floating in the distance, and I decided to watch them. I felt at peace, I never seen anything so pretty before. But Jermaine decided to ruin this peace by telling me that he found a corpse in the lake. I sighed and got up, what I saw was a corpse of a wolf floating. Never thought I’d see a dead body of a wolf, but here we are I guess. I told him that we already have enough twigs, so we should head to the camp.
On our way back, I felt little nervous, especially after what I saw in the lake. Jermaine thought that this could be a great opportunity to scare me, by making creepy sounds. I told him to stop, but after 3 minutes, he continued to do it again and again. I started to hear weird sounds coming from behind me, like some sort of gurgling and weird snapping. Thinking it was some sort of joke, I decided that enough is enough.
«Dude! Stop that already!»
Instead of Jermaine standing behind me, I saw a deer. Jermaine was supposed to be with me.. why is there a deer standing behind me all of a sudden. I started at the deer for awhile, until it just turned around and ran into the woods. I started to feel a little worried, I tried to scream Jermaine’s name but there was no answer. The twigs that he carried around were lying on the ground. I grabbed the twigs and ran to the camp. When I came back Clara and Lucas were already waiting for us. When Clara noticed that Jermaine is not with me, she asked me where he was. I told her that I had no idea. Clara and Lucas were as confused as I was. Clara noticed that I was in distress, so she brought me to her tent to calm me down.
I told her everything, she believed every word I said, but she thought that Jermaine is probably pranking us. Jermaine was a big prankster and when he sees an opportunity to cause mischief, he gladly takes it. So I thought that maybe he is just trying to fool me, and the fact that the deer was following me may just be a coincidence. Clara hugged me and told me that everything is gonna be alright, and even if Jermaine did indeed go missing, they can call the police and ask them to search the forest.
After 2 hours, we decided to cook some meals for us to eat. We listened to music and chatted. Since all of us thought that Jermaine was going to pull a prank on us, so we decided to play along and act like we do not expect it. We drank beers and sang until the sun went down. I felt much better, and I actually enjoyed myself. It was dark out, and Clara and started to feel sleepy, so we decided to go to our tents to sleep. Lucas on the other hand, felt like it would be a great idea to make pictures of animals with his camera.
«Luke, how about you take pictures of animals in the morning instead? It’s kinda dangerous to go around the woods at night. I don’t want you to get lost like Jermaine.»
«I can’t miss out on opportunity to take pictures of some night animals. After all, I came here for this exact reason! I heard that this place has a big population of mountain lions»
«So you are saying that you came here, just to take pictures of mountain lions?»
«Well, yes. Because I never took a picture of a lion before-»
Our conversation got interrupted by the sudden scream coming from the woods, that resembled a sound that mountain lion would make. Lucas instantly decided that he should go and find it. Letting Lucas go into the woods on his own is a terrible idea, so we went after him. With flashlight in hand, we followed Lucas into the direction of the sound. Screams of the lion made me feel uneasy, they sounded way too uncanny. Clara told me that if we will see a lion we have to stay calm and stand our ground. Lucas suddenly stopped and crouched down behind a tree, we crouched as well. He grabbed his camera and prepared to take a photo of the lion that was standing right infront of our very eyes. We stayed quiet.
Lucas snapped a photo of it one after another. I felt a little worried, because I was afraid it was gonna notice us. I tapped Lucas on the shoulder, but he didn’t stop. I noticed that the back of his neck got a little bit more hairer than usual. Lucas suddenly started to feel unwell and vomited strange goo. This caused the mountain lion to look at us. We got up, stood still, and observed the creature that was standing before us. It was all going well until Lucas suddenly started to run away, causing the lion the chase after him. I never seen a person run this fast before. Me and Clara ran after Lucas hoping that he won’t get torn to shreds. We tried to distract a lion by flicking our flashlight at it. It surprisingly worked and lion stopped in it’s tracks and ran away into the woods. We followed the trail of footprints leading to a large stone, where Lucas was shivering and holding his face.
We asked him if he was alright, but i noticed that despite literally getting chased by a wild predator, he smiled. I instantly felt like something wasn’t right, so I tried to look closely at him. The hair on his body started to grow on his hands and legs. Clara and I felt uneasy, but we tried to calm him down.
«Why does this feel? So.. natural? This feeling? It’s so amazing»
«You are not making any sense. What the hell is going on with you?»
«I think I belong here. This is my home. This place is perfect.. for all of «
Suddenly, Lucas grabbed his face and started to scream and make gurgling noises, same ones I heard when Jermaine disappeared. Lucas’s body started to change. Hair on his hair covered his hands which turned into something that resembled paws. He began to shrink in size and his ears got longer. Clara and I just couldn’t run, we were standing in place like our boots got nailed to the floor. When the noises stopped, we were not looking at Lucas.. we were looking at a rabbit. What was left of Lucas was his camera. The rabbit ran away into the woods, just like the deer.
Clara and I had no words, but what can we say, we just saw our friend transform into a wild animal. After that, I knew what happened to Jermaine. He turned into a damn deer and lost his mind. Clara and I took a look at the photos that he made. We came back to the camp, baffled by what we saw, afraid of what will happen to me and what will happen to her if we stay here for too long. We went back into the tent, but Clara decided that she would stay in my tent. Clara hugged and and started crying into my shirt. I couldn’t help but cry with her. I tried to calm her down, telling her that everything will be ok. Clara and I looked into each other’s eyes, unsure of what to do. They may be a possibility that one of us will turn into an animal too, but I had to save her and myself from this curse. I told Clara that we need to leave this forest as fast as possible.
Clara grabbed my hand and we ran from our camp as fast as we could. I was sure I was going in the right direction. I felt like the whole forest is watching me, I couldn’t look at this forest the same way. It’s not a forest, it’s green hell. The more we ran, the more I looked around. I tried to not waste any minute here, trying to get out as fast as possible before one of us joins Lucas and Jermaine. Clara told me to stop all of a sudden. I stopped and looked at her, I was terrified. Her legs.. they turned into hooves. She couldn’t walk and she scraped her knees. I quickly grabbed her and carried her in my arms, still trying to find the exit. I was telling Clara that everything will be ok. Clara put hands on my cheek and smiled, hair started to grow on her arms and and body. She kissed my cheek and said words that still echo in my head.
«I want you to get out. I am not sure if I’ll be able to make it out. I am not sure if I’ll be able to walk with legs like these. I want you to continue your life, it’s better if you just leave me here.. Just know that I love you. I am sorry for not telling you sooner. I will try to remember you, even if I won’t be human anymore»
With tears in my eyes, I ran faster and faster, trying my hardest to save her. But I was too late.. what was once a friend that I loved, became a wild boar.. she squeeled in my arms and started kicking me. I had to let her go. She sprinted towards the woods.. but before that, she looked at me. I didn’t know what to do anymore. The boar slowly disappeared into the woods. I sighed and with tears in my eyes I ran to the exit. And eventually, by sheer luck, I finally got out.
I immediately tried to open the door, but I forgot that I had no keys. I didn’t know what to do. I escaped the woods, but I have no way of coming back. Suddenly I saw red and blue lights at the distance, I waved my hands in desperation. The police car stopped next to me and officer stepped out of the vihicle. He thought that my car just ran out of gas, but I begged on my knees to just get me out of here. Officer realized that this may not be a simple gas issue, and he sat me down in his car and asked me few questions.
«So, kid, what happened? You look like you got chased by some maniac»
«I tried to find my way out of the woods. I went on a camping trip there. My friend wanted to take photos of mountain lions and nature. My friends did not make it out. The forest took them.»
«I am very sorry for your loss. This forest ain’t right, I tell ya. So many people disappear, and at the same fime, the wildlife in this place just increases in numbers. I remember when I was young, this place was like, just trees. And now, everywhere you look, a squirrel, a rabbit, a deer, a wolf. And at the same time, Igot many reports of roadkill animals next to this road. It’s like they don’t want to be there. Anyway, what’s your name son and tell me names of your friends so we can find them.»
«My name is Sullevan Armstrong. My friends are Clara Wheeler, Jermaine Smith, and Lucas Wells.»
«Alright. Now, let’s get you home, and we’ll interrogate you tomorrow, alright?»
After Officer told me this, I quietly looked out the window of his front seat. I took a glance at the corpse of the deer that was left on the road. But instead of deer, I saw a dead body of a man.. the father from the picture. And at the entrance to the forest stood 3 deers, 2 small ones and their mother I suppose.. they just looked at the corpse of the man.. who once was just a roadkill.