fiction story

                                                                            Lost In the Wilderness 

Last year was a summer I will never forget and has haunted me ever since. My friends and I had been talking about going camping. It was summertime so the weather was hot and perfect for camping. We were going through each other's schedules discussing what dates we should go. After we finally picked a date that worked for all of us, we decided next weekend would be best. Once next weekend came, we were on our way to our usual favorite camping spot. As the sun beamed through the car windows and touched my face,  music was blasting through the speakers. We were all talking about drama and laughing until our stomachs hurt. I was getting more and more excited as we got closer to our destination. Once we arrived and settled in, the sun started to set and the night started to approach as the air turned colder and the smell of campfire filled the air. 

We sat around the campfire playing card games and sharing a few drinks when my friend randomly suggested we go take a night walk in the woods. My other friends seemed excited about the proposal but I wasn't too sure. 

“Uhh.. I don't know guys. It's dark out there and we don't have service. What if one of us gets lost?” 

“DON'T BE A BABY!” my friend yelled at me. 

After the persuasion of my friends, I decided to go. My friends started to get drunker and drunker as we walked. “Hey! Let's race!” one of them said. 

“Yeah, let's go!” they all ran out in front of me while I tried to catch up to them. Eventually, they faded out into the darkness and I was all alone. All I could hear was the sound of my feet crunching the twigs beneath me. 

“Guys?” I said nervously.

 As I kept walking, the path split into two. I started to panic. The flashlight in my hand was slipping away from how sweaty my hand was from nerves. 

“Did they go right..? Or left..?” I said quietly under my breath.

 I sat there and debated which way to go for a good 5 minutes. So many thoughts were rushing through my head. 

“If I were my friend, which way would I go?”

I decided to take a left. As I kept walking and calling for my friends, I realized I had picked the wrong way to go. I decided to walk just until I got service or if there was any sign of my friends out there. I walked…and I walked…nothing. I walked for about an hour until I realized I was not gonna get any service. I panicked but tried to stay calm and think positively. I ran as fast as I could back to our campsite. I grabbed my keys, and drove out about 30 minutes to a rest stop that had service. 

I called my friends first in hopes of them having service. That didn't work. So the only option I had was to call the police. This was when I really started panicking. My breath got heavier and heavier as I dialed 911. They picked up the phone and I couldn't even believe this was real. I gave them the address of the rest stop and told them what had happened. Within 10 minutes, blue and red flashing lights blinded me as they pulled up to the rest stop. I got out of my car and told them what happened again. They didn't do much. 

“This is common.” The cops said. “We can't file a missing persons report within at least 24 hours of the person being missing. Your best option right now is to go back to camp and wait until the morning for daylight to look for them”

 I didn't really want to do that because I just knew something was off. But maybe they were right. Getting lost in the woods sounds like something my friends would do. 

I got back to camp and sat and thought. I just kept hoping they would come back. I was up all night. It was dark, lonely and scary out there by myself. The morning came and the sun shined through my tent. My head was foggy as I slowly got up hoping my friends were in their tent. They weren't. This was when I knew something had happened to them. I packed up my stuff, got back in my car and got service again to call the police a second time.  This time, they seemed to care more. 

“Since it's been 24 hours, we can get a search team in place and file a missing persons” The cops said. 

They called for backup and told me I should go home and they will give me a call back if they find anything. “But I wanna help! I yelled. 

“This is very serious and I know you are scared but you need to let us do our jobs.” 

On my way home I couldn't control my tears. I cried the whole way home hoping nothing happened to them. All day I was just waiting for my phone to ring. Keeping it right by my side. Later in the evening, my phone finally rang. I answered that phone call quicker than I've ever done anything in my life. “Hello” I said in a panicky tone. “Do you know anything yet?”

 “Hi, is this Hazel?”  

“Yes it is ” I said. “Hi Hazel this is the Pine Valley police department. Do you have a minute?” 

“Yes”, I said. “Okay, unfortunately there were no signs of your friends out in the woods. All we have is a shoe that might belong to them. Could you come by the police department sometime today?” 

“Yeah I'll be right there.”

 I grabbed my keys, slipped on my shoes and sped off in my car. 

As I walked into the police department, they greeted me at the door and took me to a dark, scary, empty room. They showed me a bag holding a dirty shoe. It was indeed my friend's shoe. It must have slipped off when they were running. At that moment, I knew this situation was going to turn into a case of potential murder or kidnapping. I dropped to my knees and sobbed. I've never felt emotions that strong before. The whole town came together to look for my friends. Missing person signs, multiple gofundme campaigns, etc etc. Time went on,and they were never found. And still to this day, I have no idea what happened to my friends that night in the woods and i’ve never gone camping again.