Last weekend I went camping with two friends, Willian and Joana, and my girlfriend, Emily. We parked the car at a house at the beginning of a trail that passed through some waterfalls, caves and other tourist attractions in the forest of that region. We paid the owner for the parking for the weekend and headed towards the green tangle, heavy backpacks on our backs containing tents, clothes and supplies in general. After walking for a few kilometers, we reached a clearing and set up tents. There was a river a few hundred meters away, so we could shower, clean dishes and clothes when we needed to.
On the first day we stayed in the camp, tired from carrying weight for so many miles. We slept like a rock right after dark, after all we weren’t used to making that much effort.
On the second day we visited the waterfalls and caves. We entered only in the initial parts, afraid to explore too deeply those lightless stone prisons full of insects and venomous animals.
When we returned to camp, the sun was already setting and a full moon was up in the starry sky. We lit a fire and sat around it. After we had dinner, Emily shone a flashlight on her face and began to tell a story from the local folklore.
-When I was a child, my parents wouldn’t let me come to this place. They said it was because three kids, back in the eighties, had skipped school and gone swimming in that river. One of them began to drown and the two friends tried to help, but in desperation to save himself, the first child ended up pulling the others to the bottom of the river, drowning all the three. After more than a week of searches, they found their bodies already in a state of decomposition.
In the following years, people began to say that they heard the cries of children when they arrived to this region of the forest, that when they were swimming, they felt small hands trying to pull them into the muddy darkness of the bottom of the river. At nightfall, the children leave the river and look for their families, walking disoriented through these woods. They say that most of the time they just cry and run without doing anything, while at other times they try to pull anyone they find into the river, because they feel lonely living in that wet and cold place. Sixteen people have drowned in this river in the past forty years, so some parents have permanently banned their children from setting foot in this forest. - Emily paused for a few seconds and with a serious expression, after looking at the three around her, concluded:
-We are camping here because after ten years of curiosity, I can finally stay in this forest without anyone’s authorization and film when the children come out of the river and walk among us. – Emily turned off the flashlight with the intention of causing tension with the end of the story, but ended up looking a little silly because her face was still completely lit by the fire flames.
-Come on Emily, why tell this right before we are all going to sleep. – Willian said, visibly bothered by the story, clearly invented for parents to scare their children with the intention of preventing them from roaming the forest unsupervised. He was shaking and hugging his girlfriend, seeming to be trying to hide behind her.
-It’s just a local legend, it’s not real. – Joana spoke while running her hand through his hair.
- So, no one died? - Willian seemed calmer.
-The death part is true. But nineteen people dying swimming in forty years is not a lot, most of them probably got careless and swam on dangerous parts of the river. As for the children leaving the river, it’s obviously a lie, I’ve been here a lot and I’ve never seen anything.
-But you came here at night? – Emily refuted Joana’s statement.
-No, we came very early and left in the evening.
-There it is, the kids only come out at night, like today. – Emily crossed her arms confidently as she made the statement, as if she had proven the existence of the supernatural.
-Stop, Emily! I’m going to throw Willian in your tent and sleep alone if he keeps bothering me about this story.
-All right, all right. – Emily smiled proudly for having managed to impact someone with her story.
We went to sleep a little later. I woke up with Emily shaking my shoulder.
-Wake up, wake up. – She repeated in a low voice.
-What? What time is it? What happened? - I scratched my eye bewildered by my body still being in sleep mode.
-I heard a noise, I think it’s the dead children.
Emily had a serious expression, as if she had heard something concrete and believed in the legend.
- Emily. We’re in the middle of a forest, of course there are going to be lots of strange noises, there´s no way you believe in the fable of those drowned children.
-Stop being skeptical man, come on, let’s have a look. - She had gotten up and was unzipping the entrance to the tent.
-If you really think there are three murderous ghost children out there, wouldn’t it be better for us to hide here in the tent?
-Stop trying to get away from it, you already said you don’t believe in ghosts, so it doesn’t hurt to come take a look with me.
-All right, all right. – I put on my T-shirt, my flip flops and walked out of the tent with Emily.
-Listen, listen. – She put her hand next to her ear as if to amplify her hearing and made a sign for me to be silent and pay attention. Among the dozens of sounds that came from the forest, a wailing that sounded like children crying stood out among them. It came from the direction of the river.
-There is a strange sound coming from the river, but it must be some animal or the sound of the current.
-It’s the dead children, I’m absolutely sure! – Emily turned the flashlight on her face again, creating a ghostly air and deepening her voice while she spoke.
-I’m not William, it’s no use trying to scare me.
-Come then, let’s look for the children there. - She pointed the flashlight to the path that led to the river.
-Fine. – I walked ahead, already sure that I couldn´t convince her to give up the adventure.
Arriving at our destination, Emily waved around the flashlight to every corner of the river and forest. We were surrounded by absolute darkness, so with the exception of the places it illuminated, it was impossible to see more than a blurry few feet in front of us. The current sound was loud and muffled nearly every other sound we’d heard before, leaving us with little information about our surroundings.
-Let’s wait here, the dead children must appear. – She sat down on a log that served as a bench.
-We will be bitten by a spider or a snake in this darkness.
-There is no poisonous species in this forest, come on. - She tapped the log gesturing for me to sit there.
I sat there in silence, while Emily furiously moved the flashlight in all directions, trying to find something. After half an hour, I got a little bored and started kissing her neck. She pulled away from my kisses and said:
-No making out! Do you ever watch horror movies? A couple that makes out in scenarios like this dies 100% of the time.
I kept silent again, looking around to see if I saw anything strange, but nothing happened. Almost an hour later, Emily leaned against my shoulder and put the flashlight down for a bit. Her arm probably felt sore for moving that much. A few more minutes I heard a snoring, she was sleeping leaning against me. I adjusted myself better and rested my head on hers, also managing to sleep a little later.
-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! - I woke up hearing a loud and horrible scream.
It was already dawn, the sun was rising on the horizon and illuminating the parts where the forest was not so dense. I shook Emily, who hadn’t been awakened by the distant scream. As soon as she opened her eyes, I heard the scream again, it seemed to come from the camp. We got up and started running towards the sound, not exchanging a word to save our breath and run faster. We arrived at the scene of the screams; it really was our camp. Joana was on her knees, crying.
-Joana? – I called her name with a little shortness of breath due to all the running.
She looked at us and changed her expression of dread to one of relief.
-My God! I thought you two were dead. Where did you go in the morning?
- We fell asleep by the river.
She made a disapproving expression and didn’t ask any more questions. She then started shouting towards the forest:
-WILLIAN!!! WILLIAN!!!
Willian appeared after about two minutes and looked at me and Emily.
-They only slept by the river. – Joana explained.
-I was looking for you two, Joana got desperate when she found your tent open and empty in the morning.
We laughed, apologized for the misunderstanding and began to pack our things. I went down to the river to wash the dirty dishes before packing them. When I arrived to the log we were sitting, shivers went down my spine, as I noticed there were small footprints on the mud all over the place, like three small children walked around us the whole night.