Have you ever just woken up in the morning and know from the first second you open your eyes that it was going to be a shitty day?

  Ya, that's what I was feeling right now.

  The morning sun was blaring into the window by the bed and seemed to be especially gunning for my poor eyes. My alarm hadn't even gone off yet; it was set to about an hour before the hike. But even when I turned my head, sleep refused to come back to me. Probably because the second I was awake I felt…off.

  Not in a sick way but just in a general badish kinda way. Like I was feeling under the weather but not enough to justify a day in bed. In all honesty, I would have welcomed waking up sick, which would have given me a perfect reason not to go out with a group of strangers on a hike. But as much as my gut twisted itself into knots, it wasn’t quite enough for me to cancel on James and Carol. Not in good conscience anyway.

  Dad might have messed up here or there raising me, but the one thing he drilled into me was being a man of my word.

  I let out a sigh as I forced myself up from the soft embrace of my cheap bed. After a bit of staggering, I made my way into the main room of the RV where after a moment of debate I opened up one of the cabinets and started to root through it. It took a few seconds but eventually I found some generic pain pills that I had gotten my hands on a few months ago, and popped one into my mouth. I wasn’t sure if it would do anything but it was better than nothing. Besides, they were almost out of date.

  I took a moment to just sit and relax on the worn-out couch. For a second, I thought about getting out one of my wordsearch books or maybe just my old deck of cards for a fun little game of solitaire. But a revisit of the nausea from before killed those ideas before they could grow. Instead, I just sat on the couch and did my best to just…uncompress.

  It was easier said than done.

  The shit feeling started to go away as my mind cycled through the various hiking and camping tips that I had learned over the years from my dad and a few on my own. It wasn’t anything that I really needed for the upcoming hike but it helped keep my mind busy. Just as I was finally starting to feel more like my usual tired self, a loud beeping erupted from my bedroom. After a second of confusion, I realized that it was the alarm I had set to originally wake myself up, which meant that the hike would be in an hour or so. In other words, it was time to get ready.

  After a carefully crafted and well-balanced frozen meal, some decent chicken tenders with a side of soggy fries, I went to get ready. I got an old school backpack I had lying around and put in a few used bottles of water and a few cheap gas station snacks that I could spare if I got hungry. With that done, I went and grabbed some clothes that I didn’t mind roughing up. I made sure to grab a nice warm jacket since the last thing I wanted to be was freezing my ass off while walking through the woods.

  As I took the first few steps out of my home, I felt the cold try and fail to assault me. The RV might have been cheap but I had made sure that it was insulated after two years of living in the dang thing. The layers of clothing I was wearing were also doing a great job of keeping me warm and I let out a sigh as I adjusted the backpack hanging off my back.

  Looking around the trees, I kinda expected to feel that faintly familiar dull pain in the side of my head, but nothing came. It was a pleasant surprise, one that I was more than welcoming of after the weirdness of last night, but that bad feeling in my gut still persisted. For another moment, I considered just calling this whole thing off and packing up and heading out. Things had been off ever since I arrived at the forest and a decent part of me wanted to nope right out of here.

  Then I thought about the excited, if annoying, look on James’ face when I had agreed, and the happily surprised look on Carol’s when I had doubled down.

  Letting out another sigh, I started to walk down to the other campsite.

  “Ed! Glad ya could make it! Come over here and I can introduce ya to everyone.”

  Despite the shitty feeling not quite being gone, I gave James a smile as he welcomed me. Their camp was the same as it had been when I passed it the other day. Though the walk over here was definitely different compared to a drive. Good practice for the hike, I guess.

  Five decently large tents sat in a circle around a campfire with some kind of grill sitting over the top of it. Each of the tents was rather nice looking, the kind that were meant to be used for years rather than the cheap ones I’ve often seen at supermarkets that probably only lasted a few days out in the wild before tearing. The surrounding equipment was a foldable table, a few outdoor chairs and other scattered things. James and his friends clearly spent a good amount of money on gear.

  Speaking of friends.

  I recognized both James and Carol but the other four people were completely new. As I looked them over, James ushered me forward and started to introduce me. “This is an old friend of mine. Jefferson has known me since we were kids! Best friend I could have ever asked for!”

  Jefferson looks like he was around James in age, old but not quite fully old man old. He wore old and worn clothing that had clearly seen plenty of work. The man smiled as I saw a mischievous look behind his glasses as he offered me a handshake as he spoke. “So this is the young lad that Jamey boy was talking about. Good to see more youngins out in the woods!”

  The next man Jame introduced was a tall man with dark skin and he had his hair done up in a single large braid. He looked like he was in his early thirties with an easy-going smile and some new-looking clothing that did not seem like it would be great for a hike. “Pleasure to meet you Edgar. Name’s Wallis, I work with Mr. Hously. Nothing too special, just some accounting at a bank. Always wanted to go on a nature hike and Mr. Hously was more than willing to bring me along.”

  I nodded my head and was about to say a few words before James ushered me to the last two members of the group. One was a woman who looked around my age. She had nice brown hair and had a country gal look going for her. Rather well-defined body too, clearly no stranger to some hard work or exercise. The guy next to her looked a bit younger, probably either late teens or early twenties, with a very slouched and nervous posture. His messy hair and loose-fitting clothes gave off a nerdy feel. Despite the difference in lifestyle, the two shared enough features that it didn’t take much guesswork to see they were probably siblings or maybe cousins.

  “And these fine youngins are Jesse and Tom! Jesse just started working with my wife at a horse ranch, heard nothing but great things about here!” James’ words brought a shining smile to Jesse, who let out a laugh at his words.

  “Thank ya mister Hously! I ain’t got much to say about ya wife but good stuff too! And this here is my younger brother Tom. Bit of a shut-in, but I was able to drag him out of our parents' house for this trip. Nice to meet’cha Edgar. Love the name by the way.”

  I blinked a bit at Jesse’s words as she all but grabbed my hand and gave me a rather hard handshake. She talked like she was from the South but didn’t have the accent that James did. That and working on a horse ranch of all things made me think that she just had a thing for cowboy-type movies or something. It was kinda off-putting considering that her brother looked like any other northern that I had seen in my time up here.

  Despite this, I just smiled at her and did my best to match her energy for the handshake. “Pleasure to meet you to Jesse. And thank you for the name comment, my father was a big fan of Edgar Alan Poe.”

  Jesse smiled even wider at that before speaking again, “Oh, I remember reading some of his stuff in high school! Wish I could say that I remember it but most of it went into one ear and out the other. And ya got the same accent as Mister Hously as well! Ya, also from the South? Mom and Dad have some family down there, loved spending my summers helping with their farm.”

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  Ah, that would explain the southern vocab.

  I spent the next few minutes chatting with Jesse as the girl asked me a bunch of questions about my home growing up. Tom had yet to say a single word outside of a grunt or two. I suppose that Jesse was speaking more than enough for both of them. Didn’t mind it too much though, someone had to fill in the silence after all. But before the conversation got a bit too deep James started speaking once more, this time to everyone at the camp.

  “Right ya’ll listen up! Houndsmith’s hiking trail goes on for a good few miles. Make sure that ya have plenty of water and some snacks too. Nothing too meaty though. There are a few bears out in these woods. Just be careful and keep an eye out for everyone. The trail should end in a small clearing next to a lovely lake. We’ll stop there and rest before coming back for dinner. Everyone ready?”

  I, along with everyone else, gave a few words of agreement, besides Tom who just grumbled something under his breath and Wallis, who decided to grab a few more water battles before agreeing. And just like that, we started walking along the gravel road heading off to the entrance of the trail. Carol seemed to take the lead as James took up the rear where I was.

  Just as we were starting down the road, James pulled up to my side with a smile before whispering, “Jesse’s a nice girl. Pretty sure she's around ya age as well! Try and help her out a little on the hike lad. I think you two would get along!”

  I gave the older man a simple hum as he chuckled and pulled away. Jesse was…nice but I don’t think I could handle that type of energy for too long. Not to mention that any kind of relationship we could have had was doomed to fail, considering that I had no intention of staying in the area for too long. Though if she was interested in a small little fling, then I wouldn’t be opposed to something…

  Eh, knowing my luck that shit wasn’t going to happen.

  The cold winter air felt great on my sweaty face as I all but slammed my but on the ground.

  Before me was a large and beautiful lake that looked like it belonged in a nature documentary. The place seemed untouched by any kind of pollution, with bright blue water surrounded by groves upon groves of trees. The clearing that we found ourselves in was small but nice, with a large number of wild flowers spread all over.

  Shame I was too tired to appreciate it all.

  The Hike had been a little under two hours. A decently long amount of time, but not something that I hadn’t done before. Apparently though, I was more out of shape than I thought I was, as by the time we arrived my legs were begging me to stop. My only solace was that I wasn’t the only one who had been ready to stop.

  Tom was all but lying on the grass, staring up at the sky with the distant look of a man regretting his life choices. Wallis was also struggling as the darker-skinned man chugged a bottle of water. James and Jefferson looked winded but still seemed to keep going strong. Really, the only ones that didn’t look like they had hiked a rather large amount of miles were Carol and Jesse, the latter of whom almost looked disappointed that they were stopping.

  “Right, everyone,” James began as he seemed to finally catch his breath, “We're here! Get some rest and enjoy the peace. Ya won’t find a better place to see nature’s beauty. Well, head off in about two-ish hours and be back in time for an early dinner. Those steaks I got in the cooler should be perfectly marinated by then.”

  Everyone gave various noises of agreement as the party spread out slightly and started doing their own things. Jesse seemed to be all but dragging her brother to get a closer look at the lake. Carol and Jefferson were setting up some chairs as the two talked about something that James and Jefferson had done when they were kids. Wallis had finally stopped attempting to drown himself with his water bottle and appeared to be drawing something in a small booklet as he stared at the surrounding flowers and woods.

  I just kept myself seated on the hard ground and continued to ignore the uncomfortable feeling of sweat. But it didn’t take long before I was able to stand up and start walking around the clearing. It was a lovely place, one that I could understand why people would walk such a long distance to get to. It reminded me of the clearing that Dad would take me to when we went out camping in the forest he had been a ranger for. It left me with a sad feeling of nostalgia.

  My solitude didn’t last though, as I heard someone walk up behind me and a slight turn of my head revealed James. The older man was holding some kind of book as he stopped beside me and gave me his usual wide smile before speaking. “Heya there Ed! Thought ya might like this. Been spending the last few years putting together a small book about all the places Carol and I like to visit. Houndsmith’s got a long history! It was one of the original forests established back when they first started making them. Lots of stories happen here.”

  I blinked in slight bewilderment as the older man all but thrust the small book into my hands. At his expectant look, I decided to humor him as I opened the book and found pages full of cut-out newspapers and pictures, along with a few handwritten notes. It was quite extensive too; clearly James had put a lot of hard work into this.

  It didn’t take long before I was actually fully following along as James talked about some of the stuff on the pages. The man was passionate about this; it was kinda surprising he was an accountant of all things, rather than a forest ranger or something else along those lines. The man had been to most of the national forests in the state and there were a few pages dedicated to some national forest down in Tennessee that James had spent his youth exploring before moving to Minnesota.

  Currently, I was flipping through some of the pages about Houndsmith, my eyes skimming over the material as I listened to James talk about how he had proposed to Carol at some forest that had a waterfall. But I paused as a page flipped to reveal the images of a smiling woman. The page wasn’t colored but it seemed to be for a track competition. The images showed both a rather toned and attractive young woman and an equally attractive and healthy-looking man. Both of them were holding up some kind of medals as they smiled for the camera.

  I quickly looked at the article that went along with the pics and felt a pit form in my stomach as I read.

  ‘Benson Fetters and Lily Marshal, two star track athletes at the Houndsmith University, go missing in Houndsmith National Forest. Rescue services have been forced to give up the search after two weeks of finding no traces of the two young athletes. It is believed that while the two were away from their friends, a wild bear caught them. We pray for the poor families of these once promising youths.’

  I feel myself frowning as I read the article. It went into a bit more detail about the lives of the two University Students. Both of them were prominent members of the college’s track team, with apparently some belief that one or both might end up in the Olympics. Benson seemed to have come from a well-respected and rich family but there wasn’t much on Lily’s family. Apparently, she was mostly raised by her father after her mother had died. Though it seems like her father had died in a car accident not too long before she went missing.

  Either way, I still felt uneasy as I finished reading the article. People who went missing in these types of forests and Parks were sadly common. Nature could be as cruel as it was beautiful and in large swaths of land and woods, it was inevitable that something like this would happen. I know Dad had been in his fair share of searches for people who had gotten lost in the forest he had worked in. I hated it when they would fail to find the people. Dad took it almost personally if they weren’t found.

  “Ah…I see ya found one of the sadder things I put in there. Hate to see promising folks with bright futures just disappear. As much as I love places like this, it’s important to remember that nature is a deadly mistress when she wants to be.”

  James' words snapped me out of my little mental fog as I turned to the older man. He was looking at the page with a somber expression, one that I had often seen on my Dad when he was in a depressed mood. In fact, the last memory I had of my Dad’s face when I went off to college was of that expression…

  I once more snapped out of my thoughts as I gave James a sad smile. “ I’m well aware of how forests like these can be dangerous. My Dad was a Forest Ranger before he died. He stressed to me just how bad things can go if you're not prepared.”

  James looked towards me with a surprised expression before it turned into a strange mix of excitement and somberness. “Ya Pops was a Forest Ranger!? Oh, how I wanted to be one of them so badly when I was a kid. Always dreamed of exploring deep woods and finding treasure and other things. Sadly….thing just didn’t work out that way.”

  The information didn’t surprise me. It fit with the mental image I was forming of the older man. I almost wanted to ask what had happened that prevented him from following his dreams but thought better of it. Instead, I got James to once more start talking about his proposal to Carol, an endeavor that ended up dragging the women in question over to discuss and argue about in detail.

  Maybe…just maybe…it was a good idea to go on this hike with these folks.

  I needed this far more than I was willing to admit.

  By the time everyone was getting ready to head out, the sun had reached its zenith and was now starting its descent from the sky.

  The rest of the time spent in the clearing had been rather nice. I had spent some time with Jesse and her brother, the latter of whom I had finally heard speak when he said ‘Thanks’ after I handed him one of my water bottles. Though he did give me a weird look when I asked for the empty bottle back, I wasn’t going to waste good plastic.

  Jesse was still a bundle of energy as she talked about the times she had gone fishing when she had been in the south during the summer. I, in turn, told her a bit about the few fishing trips my Dad had taken me on. He had never been much of a fisher; in fact, the last of those trips ended with him getting a hook stuck in his thumb and a trip to the hospital.

  Fun times.

  But as we all got ready, I paused as I felt nature calling. “Give me a minute! I got to take a piss before we started hiking again. Sorry!”

  I didn’t really listen to the group responses, though I’m pretty sure James made some kind of snake joke. I was a tad bit busy heading to the edge of the clearing to find a good place to let out the waters in peace. Spent a bit longer than I would have liked looking but I did find a nice, large tree to hide behind, not too far from the clearing.

  After a quick zip, pull, shot, and shake, I was ready to head back. But as I went back around the tree on the other side I had walked around I felt my foot catch on something. I barely caught myself as I fell to the ground. I grimaced at the pain I felt in my palms but other than that and a bit more dirty clothes, I was fine. Dusting myself off turned to look at what I had tripped over.

  And saw a corner of a box sticking out of the ground, partly under the tree.

  I blinked in confusion at the sight, but that didn’t stop me from taking a closer look. It didn’t take long to see that it was some kind of chest that was somewhat buried in the ground. My curiosity now piqued, I started using my hands to dig away at the dirt.

  It wasn’t an easy task but eventually the soil gave way to a wooden handle, which I took and started to pull the thing out of the tree roots. After a few good tugs, I nearly fall on my ass as the chest comes free. Letting out a tired sigh I dusted the top of the wooden chest off. It looked like some antique that you would find in an old store.

  Eventually, the top of the chest was cleaned off enough that I saw words engraved into it.

  ‘Beware the Unknown, for there is safety in ignorance. But should you be a Seeker of it then take these tools and prepare. Quaerite, Discite, Sustinete.’

  …What the fuck…