Chapter 1: Starting Out
I listened dully to the repetitive crunch, crunch, crunch of hiking-booted feet against forest floor. The air was hot and damp, reeking of dead leaves and mud, the sun scorching the back of my neck and making me sweat uncomfortably. The insufferably polite chatter of strangers attempting small talk rang in my ears, paired with the annoying chirping of a bird somewhere in the trees.
Why had I even agreed to come?
But as I glanced next to me, I already knew the answer.
Toby’s soft brown curls framed his familiar face winningly, his thin-rimmed glasses glinting in the sunlight. He was gazing intently ahead, listening fascinatedly to the droning of the foraging guide, his striking green eyes wide with interest. His strides were confident and firm, unlike my more wary gait, and his strong hands were tucked comfortably into his backpack shoulder straps. I had to remind myself not to stare, reluctantly dragging my eyes away from him. I wasn’t supposed to feel this way about my best friend. He certainly didn’t feel the same about me.
He glanced across at me with an apologetic smile suddenly, and my heart skipped a beat. “If I’d known it was going to be this hot -”
I cut him off, forcing a normal manner with a skill born of two long years of hiding my feelings. “Don’t be an idiot. It’s good for me to get out of the studio every once in a while. And I feel fine.”
He raised a disbelieving eyebrow. “You’re sweating even more than you do after shows. Have you been drinking enough water?”
I twisted round to show him the half-empty water bottle in the side of my rucksack. “Plenty. Stop worrying about me and enjoy the walk. I’m only here for company, anyway.”
Toby laughed quietly, shaking his head. “The things you go through for me, Stel. Thanks for coming. I would never have had the guts to do this on my own.”
I glanced away to hide my blush. “You’re my best friend. Of course I was going to say yes.”
He chuckled again, nudging me playfully. “Well, I’m saying thanks, anyway.”
We continued walking, occasionally talking together, but Toby was always focused on the guide’s information, and I was caught up in swatting away random insects and hopping over muddy patches of ground. The sun only got hotter, the air more humid, and the forest less appealing than ever. I checked my phone, leaving a sweaty finger mark on the screen. We still had another two and a half hours of this. Was I going to survive?
I passed the time by making up dance choreography in my head - a habit I’d had since childhood. The tiny figures twirled and jumped around in my head, the music inaudible to everyone but me, and the staging...sparse and incoherent. I was a dancer, not a stage designer.
The people ahead of us suddenly came to a stop, and the guide yelled out that we had reached the first checkpoint on our miserable trek. Toby joined the queue to refill our water-bottles, and I breathed an audible sigh of relief, glancing behind in surprise as a similar sound reached my ears.
The blonde boy grinned at me. “This is a nightmare, right?”
I blinked in surprise. “I thought I was the only one who thought that.”
“You’re not.”
He took a step closer, holding out a friendly hand. “I’m Carter. My parents dragged me out here.”
I laughed, shaking his hand and jerking my head at Toby. “I’m Stella. My best friend dragged me out here.”
“Looks like we’re in a similar predicament, then.” His grip on my hand lingered for a second, and I felt my heartbeat speed up.
Carter nodded at the guide, smirking slightly. “Lays it on a bit thick, doesn’t he? I’m starting to think he’s some kind of woodland Tarzan.”
Five minutes later, we were laughing like old friends, cracking jokes about the odd assortment of people around us and commiserating about the heat and dirt of our surroundings. I felt more comfortable and understood than I had the entire walk so far. Maybe this next two hours wouldn’t be so lonely after all.
“There’s some really cool ivy on the water station. I’ve never seen that variant before.” Toby returned, holding out my bottle and glancing curiously at Carter. “Who’s this?”
Carter introduced himself with an easy smile, nodding at me. “Stella and I share similar ideas about this walk.”
I quickly broke in to explain, dreading seeing a hurt look on Toby’s face. “Not like that. It’s just so hot and you know this isn’t the kind of thing I would have chosen to do. But it’s fine, I swear.”
Toby’s expression didn’t change, but he shot me a secret glance as we moved on that seemed to say, ‘I don’t believe a word you just said.’
We fell to the back of the group as we walked.
Carter barely seemed to notice Toby, asking me a host of questions that made me feel like the most interesting person on earth and completely dispelled my earlier gloom. Toby went back to listening to the guide, but his gaze seemed a little more distracted than before, and I couldn’t help feeling a bit concerned about him. Carter was nice, but evidently rather insensitive, completely the opposite of Toby, who always read into the smallest details of speech and behaviour. I found myself torn between laughing with Carter, and keeping an eye on Toby, a slight feeling of guilt rising up inside me.
My throat grew dry, and I paused, reaching back to grab my bottle. A sudden spike of anxiety ran through me as my fingertips met the empty mesh of my backpack’s side pocket.
“My bottle’s gone.”
The young couple just ahead of us stopped, looking back in concern.
“You’ve lost your water bottle?” The woman moved back towards us, casting her eyes searchingly over my bag. “Did you put it in the main compartment?”
“No, I definitely remember putting it in the side pocket.” I swung my bag off my shoulders to check anyway. But the bottle was nowhere to be found.
“It might have fallen out, or maybe you left it at the rest stop.” Carter suggested, and I frowned.
“I know I put it back in properly. Ugh. This is annoying. I’ll have to go back and check.”
“I’ll go with you.” Toby and Carter volunteered simultaneously, making me laugh.
“It’s fine. I’ll go on my own. You guys catch up with the rest of the group.”
Carter bent to help me with my bag, shaking his head. “No, don’t go alone.”
“Definitely don’t go alone.” The man’s brow furrowed in concern as he broke into the conversation. “Look, why don’t we all go? If it did fall out somewhere along the path, we’ll be more likely to spot it if more people are looking.”
The woman nodded in agreement, smiling gently, and I gave in. “Alright. Sorry about this.”
“It’s no problem at all.” She held out her hand to help me up. “I’m Hailey, by the way. This is my husband Scott.”
“Stella.” I smiled back at her, dusting my knees off and beginning to walk back down the path.
I kept scanning the sides of the path, searching for a flash of blue, or glint of clear plastic. Carter volunteered to run on ahead to the water station, but Scott was determined that we would all stay together.
Suddenly, there was a shout from up ahead. A tall, lean man stood in the middle of the path, waving madly at us. “Hey! Over here!”
I felt Toby’s hand settle protectively on my arm, sending a blush to my cheeks that I had to look away again to hide.
“Wait here. I’ll see what he wants.” Scott held his wife back gently, striding ahead to meet the man. After a few minutes of conversation, he waved at us to keep walking, a smile on his face.
As we approached, the man called out cheerfully. “I’m very glad to see you. I spotted what I thought was a leucoagaricus crystallifer, but it was a serenus instead. And then I realised I was lost. I’ve only just found my way back to the path.”
Close to my ear, Carter murmured, “Do you have a clue what he’s on about?” I giggled slightly, shaking my head and glancing at him in amusement.
Toby looked at us for a second, seeming to hesitate, an emotion on his face that I couldn’t quite place. Then he smiled suddenly, his glasses shifting a little on his cheeks. “Leucoagaricus crystallifer is a mushroom. It’s very rare. There’s only been a few sightings round here. The serenus variant is pretty common, though, so I can see why he’s disappointed.”
Carter nodded along politely, secretly raising a confused eyebrow at me. I wanted to laugh, but my guilt over somewhat abandoning Toby held me back. Things were getting complicated, and I wasn’t sure I liked it.
Finally, the water station came into view, and I spotted my bottle sitting on the ground a little way off, right where I had been standing with Carter earlier. “There it is. That’s so weird, though.” I ran to pick it up, frowning in confusion. “I remember putting it in the side pocket.”
Glancing up, I saw two women, one old and one middle-aged, hunched over a grey-haired man sitting on the floor. Scott was already making a beeline for them, Hailey following close behind. I caught a drift of the conversation. “...hip’s causing him trouble...painkillers, but they haven’t kicked in yet...should be alright soon.”
Carter was getting restless. “We should catch up with the group. They’ll be miles ahead of us by now.”
The tall man frowned. “Let’s not leave this poor friend in distress. We may be able to help him.”
Carter glanced from him to me in amusement. “Alright, I guess.”
It was several minutes before we were able to get moving again. Scott and Eli - the mushroom man, as Carter graciously christened him - supported Dave, the grumpy injured grandpa, on each side, half-carrying him along. Hailey had fallen into conversation with Marjorie, the older woman, while the younger, currently nameless, trailed behind us, silent and morose.
Carter began talking again, but I wasn’t really listening. The incident with my water-bottle had shaken me a little. I had a clear memory of putting it back in the side pocket. I even remembered Carter telling me about the time his football teammates put a firework in his water bottle at the exact moment I did so. How had it ended up back here, on the woodland floor? Was I going crazy?
Or had someone else taken it out?
I shook the idea off immediately. Why would anyone do that? It was stupid. I must have been distracted by Carter, and missed the pocket completely without noticing. That was the only logical explanation. All the same, I couldn’t help feeling a little uneasy as we got deeper into the woods again.
The main group was completely out of sight and earshot by now, and the temperature was beginning to grow cooler as the sun started to set behind the trees. Dave hadn’t stopped complaining the entire time, and even Eli was beginning to look weary of him.
Against Scott’s better judgement, Hailey was sent ahead to see if she could hear or see any sign of the others, and we paused again to let the three men rest. Dave was carefully lowered onto the floor again with a dissatisfied grunt, and Scott and Eli caught their breath against some nearby trees.
“How’s the hip feeling now, Dave?” Marjorie’s sweet, kindly voice piped up suddenly as we waited for Hailey’s return. She was met with another grunt in response, and chuckled warmly, not at all offended. “My knee hasn’t quite been the same since last month. It just clicked one afternoon while I was gardening, and suddenly I was in agony. The doctors said I’d partially dislocated it. Amazing how fragile you get as you age.” She looked at us three teens, playfully stern. “Mind you young ones look after yourselves properly. You’ll be grateful you did when you’re old and feeble like me.”
As Marjorie spoke, Hailey called out from ahead.
“I can’t see them, and there’s a fork in the path, but there’s a signpost saying ‘Trail’, so they must have gone that way.”
I let out a quiet sigh of relief. Secretly, I would have gone on without Dave if Eli’s words hadn’t guilted me into staying. I hadn’t enjoyed this walk much, even with Carter there, and I was looking forward to getting back to the little hotel where Toby and I were staying. A cool shower and some clean pyjamas sounded like bliss right now.
But as we passed the signpost, I had a sudden feeling of unease. Pausing for a second, I looked around, taking in the expressions and demeanours of those around me.Scott and Eli were leading the group, Dave limping along between them. The former two were obviously growing weary, while the latter’s grey head was bent over the ground, huffing and puffing. Hailey and Marjorie were chatting amicably, their voices low and sweet. The unknown woman trailed behind Marjorie, listening in silently but intently. Toby and Carter were striding along with a me-shaped gap between them, not looking at each other.
They suddenly glanced back simultaneously, noticing my absence, and I hurried to catch up again. “You ok?” Carter asked me, accidentally-on-purpose brushing his arm against mine. I shrugged off my strange anxiety, flashing him a smile. “Just fine.” Toby shot me another disbelieving glance, but said nothing.
And so, we continued on, into the woods.
