"Chance Woods"

[Peterdea]

Chapter 1: We’re Here




The car finally rolled to a stop and I took my earphones out. I looked out the window. The forestation looked pretty thin, but there was no doubt it got thicker as it got deeper. Luckily there was a track we would be able to use, and hopefully it wouldn’t be too hard to follow. But then, I also hoped this weekend would be an adventure, not just a guided tour through some trees. I wanted to get down and dirty. I wanted it to be fun, but difficult at the same time. Hikes weren’t meant to be a walk in the park (pardon the pun).

“So we’re all aware of the dangers, right?” Jen asked for what felt like the thousandth time since we had decided to come to Chance Woods, which was a week ago. “We’re aware that a group of people about eighteen years old, like us, went missing here a couple years ago, right?”

“Yes, Jen, we’re aware of it. We were aware of it the first time you said it,” Sam said to his girlfriend as he opened the car door and stepped out of the driver’s seat, the grooves in his huge biceps flexing as he did so.

“And we’re aware that these people never came back, right?” Jen continued also exiting the car.

“Yes, I’m pretty sure that’s what ‘missing’ means.”

I looked over at Holly, whom I still wasn’t particularly familiar with, but was extremely fascinated by. She was fast asleep in the seat beside me. She was one of Jen’s best friends, and I hadn’t met her before today. She was beautiful; all of her features were near-perfect. She had long, flowing dark brown hair, exquisite green eyes, tanned skin and an incredible body. An image of pure beauty at it’s finest. Since I was one of the only two single guys this weekend, I was hoping to get to know Holly a little bit better.

I woke out of my semi-conscious state and realised I had probably been sitting there admiring Holly for a bit too long.

She started and woke up due to a loud and sharp knock on the window.

“Wake up sleepy-head,” Jen’s smiling face appeared in the window. “It’s nearly time to move out.”

Holly blinked her eyes drowsily and looked over at me.

“I guess we better go, huh?” I said, and stepped out of the blue Commodore.

The fresh air was good after being trapped in the stuffy, claustrophobic car for five hours. I took the chance to stretch my back, arms and legs, sucking in as much of the cool oxygen as I could.

“Dean, here’s your bag,” Sam pulled my big hiking bag out of the boot of the car with one hand and effortlessly tossed it to me, making it look as light as a handbag. I was fooled, deceived by how heavy the bag really was. The upper half of my body was dragged down as I caught it, softening the thud as it hit the ground. I left the bag sitting there, since I we wouldn’t be leaving until the other two arrived.

Speak of the devil, a yellow Hyundai Getz roared up to the dirt car-park and halted next to the Commodore. Hard techno music was pumping from the speakers of the Getz, and Chad sat for a while, nodding his head to the tune, arm hanging out the window tapping the side of the car.

Kevin got out of the passenger seat, slicked his hair back and replaced his black and white trucker cap.

“I’m never going in a car with him again. Ever.”

“So why didn’t Kylie come, anyway?” Jen asked, referring to Kevin’s girlfriend.

“She had to work all weekend and couldn’t get out of it,” Kevin replied with a look of slight disappointment.

The techno music switched off and Chad got out.

“Dude, you know you loved it,” he said, taking off his sunglasses to check his reflection in the window, making sure his hair, which was jet black with three bleach blonde stripes going straight down the middle, was perfectly spiked.

Deep down, I didn’t know whether it was a good or bad thing that Chad was coming on the trip with us. Sure, he was heaps of fun, but sometimes he liked to take things too far. And I was fairly sure he’s borderline psychotic. Most of the time it seemed like he wasn’t all there. But you get used to it. After a while you learn that his craziness and his spontaneity were all just part of his persona. It’s what made him Chad. It was hard to imagine him being any different.

He popped the boot open, reached in and grabbed his own bag, leaving Kevin to get his own.

“What are we waiting for, ladies?” he asked, as if he had been watching us stand there for ages. “Let’s go!” He slung his bag over his shoulder and set off along the track into the forest on his own, leaving us behind.

Sam sighed. “I’m starting to think it’s gonna be a long weekend.”

 

[Peterdea]

Chapter 2: Setting Up



Chad had got a lot further ahead of us than I first thought. It felt like hours that we were trying to catch him. But then again, for all I knew it could have been hours. I almost panicked at one stage, especially considering the disappearances that had happened around these parts.

I always wondered what could have happened to the group that went out and never came back. I liked to imagine that something really cool and exciting happened to them, and that maybe I would be the one to eventually find out. I enjoyed the thought of aliens abducting them or something really out there like that. It was the way I’ve been since I was a kid. I believed in ghosts, aliens, monsters and all of those kinds of things.

I guess that’s what made me friends with Sam so easily. He always seemed so fascinated by all the ghost encounters I either made up or stole from other people. He never asked how I always happened to be in the right place at the right time to see or experience these stories, he just took it in and listened.

He was always fairly bulky. He would have been able to knock me out with one punch no matter when, where or why. The upside was that I was always safe from the people who hated me.

I walked up beside Holly who looked like she was struggling a bit. I was the furthest behind, then it went Holly, then Kevin and I couldn’t see ahead of that. There were a lot of bends in the track and occasionally there would be small hills that were not so much hard to walk up, but just annoying.

“Are you okay?” I asked Holly.

“Yeah, I’m fine, everything’s a little heavy though.” She replied without looking at me. She seemed to be amazed by the ground, she was always looking straight down.

Before long I realized that our conversation had ended before it had begun. I found myself simply watching her, almost as if she would do something interesting. That’s not to say she wasn’t interesting anyway, but nothing she did was out of the ordinary, which made everyone else here look like total freaks. She was just so normal compared to all of us.

I decided I should break the silence but I didn’t know what to say. Before I knew it, I was saying things before I thought about it.

“Would you like me to carry some of that for you?” I asked. As soon as I realized what I’d said my heart sunk. More weight on top of my already ridiculously overweighted pack.

“No, I’ll be fine, but thanks anyway.” Holy replied.

I was relieved that she turned down the offer. But I was also a little scared that she thought I was really weak. The feeling turned to nothing after not too long and then nothing turned into surprise.

“Do you see any of the others?” I asked Holly when I realized that I couldn’t see anyone ahead of me.

“No, we must be pretty far behind. I’m too tired to keep going on though. Would you wait here with me for a while?” Her voice was as beautiful as she was. And the words she said sent my heart racing. Even though it was obviously not a sign that she liked me, more a sign that she didn’t want to be alone in a place like this, my heart still went crazy.

“Yeah, that’s fine with me. If we take too long the others will come back and look for us, so waiting has it’s advantages for now.”

I was so excited. This was my chance to make a move. But I had no idea on how. What was I supposed to do? I still don’t really know to be honest. But I guess that leaves more doors to be opened.

We sat around for a fairly long time not really saying a word. I had a drink of water and threw the bottle to Holly when I saw her having some trouble finding some of her water.

“Thanks.” She said with a smile but not much enthusiasm. She drank most of the bottle and threw it back. “And sorry for drinking so much.”

Even though I was slightly unhappy that I’d already lost a full bottle of water I forced a smile.

She sat against a tree and looked up to the sky. I plonked myself down on another tree and watched her. I was hoping there would be no ‘competition’ for her. She was absolutely perfect.

I spent the whole time looking at her and examining her, just like before. I decided not to potentially ruin anything by talking and just enjoy the silence. It wasn’t long before I was asleep leaning against the tree.