by Sourav Deka
“I will go mad, if I have these nightmares again and again.”
“Get used to it,” he said softly. “This place is cursed.”
I sighed. “I am scared to sleep now.”
“The best way is to kill them in your dreams. It’s the only way you won’t lose your mental balance.”
My eyes widened. “What? How can I kill my loved ones in my dreams? It’s horrible. It will make me feel like an evil person.”
“You have to,” he grabbed an apple and took a bite. “Just think that it’s not real,” he shrugged. “It’s just a dream.”
“I know but I will lose myself.”
“There is no other choice, Ross.”
I nodded. “I will give it a try. But I don’t think I can do it.”
He nodded lightly. “You will, just fight it.”
We rested for some time and went to look for them again. Where are they? There was no sign of them. It was getting difficult every minute. I was exhausted, and sat beneath a tree.
“Can’t we just scream their names?” I said, breathing heavily.
“Are you crazy?” Mark whispered. “You want to invite those animals for a feast? They will eat us alive.”
“It is getting difficult now,” I wiped the sweat from my forehead. “Where the hell are they?”
“They must have hid somewhere.”
“That’s why I want to call their names. It will help if animals come near us. We will kill them. I have killed monsters before.”
He chuckled. “It’s not that easy, kid. Wait!” he sniffed. “Did you smell that?”
I stood up and sniffed. “Yeah it’s the same smell,” I sniffed again.” It’s the smell of cooked deer.”
“Yeah, someone is cooking deer here. Let’s follow the smell, maybe it’s them.”
We followed the smell. After a few minutes we found deer meat hanging on a wooden stick, but there was no fire. We searched the area but there was no one. Suddenly a girl hit Mark with a wooden stick on his head. At the same time someone grabbed me from behind and kicked me in the groin. I balanced myself so that I don’t fall down and punched his face. I turned around and recognized their faces. It was them, Aaron and Andrea.
“Oh my god! I am really sorry, bro,” Aaron grabbed my shoulders. “I thought someone came to kill us.”
“Yeah, couldn’t blame you for that. It’s a scary jungle,” I groaned, holding my groin. “It’s really good to see you again,” I hugged him.
Aaron smiled. “Yeah, I am feeling safe now.”
We walked towards Mark who was hit in his head. Andrea was scared and felt guilty for what she did. She was apologizing to Mark.
“I didn’t know that you have the guts to hit someone,” I smiled.
Andrea stared at me in anger. “Neither did I,” she said.
Mark put some cold water on his head. “You are lucky I am not hitting you back, girl!” he said in a heavy voice.
“I said I am sorry. We thought……….” Andrea stammered.
“What? We are killers?” Mark raised his voice. “At least you should try to see our faces first.”
“Okay, okay, cool down, Mark. She apologized already,” I said.
“Where did you get that deer?” Mark asked, eyeing at the deer.
“I hunted it down,” Aaron said.
I raised my eyebrows. “Wow, when did you learn to hunt?”
“I got lucky. We were hungry so I cooked it, but we heard tigers roaring, so we put out the fire.”
“We should move on to the camp now. We have already spent a lot of time here,” Mark said.
Aaron’s forehead creased. “Camp? You built a camp in a day?”
I chuckled. “No, there are some people who are stuck here, they are living there. Mark is also one of them. They found me,” I smiled. “And I have a surprise for you there.”
Aaron smiled back. “I love surprises,” he said.
We went back for the camp. It was almost dawn. The sun was going to rise. After walking a few miles we sat under a tree to rest.
“Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh, snake, snake it’s a snake. Get it off me,” Andrea screamed and began to jump.
I moved towards her and looked at her shoulder. “Calm down, it’s not a snake. It’s just a piece of plant that fell from a tree,” I showed it to her.
A group of wolves showed up in front of us. They were growling and looking at us while saliva dropped from their mouth. Andrea’s scream brought them to us. We all froze, and our faces began to sweat. They were right in front of us ready to tear us apart.
“Mark, what should we do now?” I whispered.
Mark clenched his fists. “I will attack them,” he said. “You all run towards the north for the camp. It’s not far from here.”
“No, I am not leaving you here,” I hissed.
“When you reach the camp, bring some help,” Mark whispered.
“Yeah, that’s your plan? You won’t survive alone.”
The wolves came running towards us to attack.
“Oh god!” My breath quickened as they came running towards us.
“Wait, I have a better idea,” Aaron took out a gun from his pocket and shot all the wolves. Some of the wolves were hurt and some ran away.
I was shocked and looked at him. “Where did you find the gun?”
“Remember when we escaped from Tanner, the gun I aimed at the guards,” Aaron reloaded the gun. “I kept it,” he said.
“Thank god. It saved our lives,” I said.
“We should move fast, the gunshots created enough noise,” Mark said. “We should move before any other animals show up.”
We moved for the camp as quickly as we could. After walking a couple of miles we reached the camp. It was early morning, the sun had risen. Aaron saw dad and froze for a couple of seconds. He ran to hug him and cried. Dad took him in one of the houses to rest. He told him everything, how he survived and got there when he was finding the seeds.
I was outside. Everyone was surprised to see me alive, I saw the expressions on their faces. They thought we wouldn't make it, but we did. I sat near a bonfire and grabbed some berries in a bowl near it. Two guys came towards me, one was a muscular one and the other one was skinny. “You survived,” the skinny guy smiled.
I smiled back. “Yeah, I did.”
He extended his hand. “I am Martin,”
I shook his hand. “Ross,” I said.
Martin looked at the muscular guy. “This is Dave,” he said.
I shook Dave’s hand.
“I thought you weren’t going to come back,” Martin said.
I pressed my lips. “Sorry to disappoint you.”
He patted my back and sat alongside me. “I am glad that you survived.”
Dad introduced Aaron and Andrea to the people in the camp. We all ate together some food. Contessa stitched up Mark’s forehead.
As now we got Aaron and Andrea back, I thought to talk more about the forest. We needed to escape this. No one knew anything. They tried for years but didn’t find any route to escape the forest. The forest never ends even if you keep walking for years. I spent many days exploring the forest but didn’t find anything. Everyone in the camp has given up and accepted their fate. They thought they were going to die there. I wasn’t ready to accept that. We had to escape. There must be a way out. We can’t just spend the rest of our lives here.
***************************************
It was a full moon night. Most of the people were talking and eating near the bonfire. A blonde girl in a brown jacket and grey pants was shooting arrows at a tree with her bow. I walked up to her.
“Hey, you have made this by yourself?” I asked.
She nodded. “Yeah, my brother Keith taught me.”
“Your brother?”
“Yeah,” she pointed her finger at a guy who was chopping a tree.
I nodded. “I am Ross.”
“Rowena,” she said.
“Can you teach me?”
; “Yeah sure. Have you shot an arrow before?”
I shook my head.
“Take this,” she handed me her bow and arrows. “Pull it and aim at the tree, hold your breath.”
I aimed my arrow at the tree and held my breath.
“Shoot,” she said.
“I shot the arrow, it got past the tree.”
She patted my back. “It’s okay. Try again.”
I smiled and aimed at the tree again. I shot the arrow and missed again.
“Focus on the tree, and hold your breath, keep your bow steady,” Rowena said.
I took the shot again and it hit the tree, it didn’t hit in the middle but still I hit it. I smiled. “I did it.”
I kept practicing with Rowena. I always wanted to learn archery, at least now I got a chance. Her brother Keith later joined us. They knew a lot about making different tools.
“I need to learn this. These are awesome,” I said, eying at the tools.
Keith nodded. “It can’t be learned in a day.”
“I know, please teach me. I want to learn.”
He smiled. “We will teach you.”
We trained for an hour and then got tired. Rowena and Keith told me everything they knew. But I couldn’t learn it all in a day, I needed more practice, I sucked at it. So, I was done for the day and went to Andrea. She was sitting alone gazing up at the clear night sky beside the mud house towards the east. I remembered what dad told me. Gloria lied to me, I needed to know why. All these days I forgot about that but now it was the right time to ask her about it as she was alone. I walked up to her.
“Hey, what are you doing?” I said.
“Just watching the stars,” she smiled.
I sat beside her. “I needed to ask you something.”
She nodded.
“Your mother said that dad told her to give me the diary, but my dad said he never told her to do so. Why did your mother lie to me?”
She scoffed. “What? No.”
“You are her daughter, you should know.”
“Your dad and my mom worked on finding the seeds. They were friends, my mom won’t lie, why would she?”
“But dad never asked Gloria to give me the diary.”
She chuckled. “What if he is the one lying?”
“He is my dad. He won’t lie to me about this.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Really? Then why didn't he tell you about his secret all these years?”
“Because he tried to protect me and my brother.”
She scoffed. “Do you really believe that?”
“Yes, he is my father.”
“I know, you love him, Ross. He is your father, I understand. But it doesn’t mean that he won’t lie. He has lied to you before.”
I frowned. “Who are you to judge him?”
She paused for a couple of seconds and then spoke, “Look, I don’t know about your dad. But I know my mom, she didn’t lie.”
“So my dad lied?”
She shrugged. “Maybe. Don’t trust anyone blindly, even if it is someone you love. He lied to you in the past, Ross.”
I nodded. “It doesn’t matter now. We are here,” I inhaled deeply. “We have to figure out a way to escape. We are not going to die here.”
She looked at the people near the bonfire. “They are stuck here for years. It won’t be easy.”
“This place is magical. Nibshaw wanted those people to find the seeds who were capable. Maybe this magical forest is some kind of test.”
“Maybe.”
“We will find a way,” I bit my lower lip. “There should be a way. If we can come in, we can get out too.”
CHAPTER 7
A month passed. Everyone helped to build more houses with woods and mud. They were small but it was enough to survive. Keith and Rowena taught me to build weapons and trained me how to use them in different situations. Martin had a good knowledge in technology. Unfortunately, his knowledge couldn’t help us as we were in a forest without any computers or gadgets. Dave had good fighting skills. He knew many moves and techniques which he has been practicing since he was a kid. Aaron and I learned some moves from him, it was difficult at first but after weeks we got better at some of them.
Over time I noticed there was a weird thing about the forest. There was no specific time for the sun to come up and go down. Sometimes the sun stays on the same spot making it a daytime for days, and sometimes it disappears making the days turn into nights for a week. We can’t anticipate when the day will end or when night will come. It doesn’t happen every time, it only happens after a week. But we sleep in our time, no matter if it stays day or night. The weather also keeps on changing a lot. Suddenly temperature rises up and goes down in minutes. Sometimes snowing continues for weeks and suddenly it rains. The weather was weird for us, it was very much unpredictable. How dad and the others survived there for years? That type of place can make anyone sick in days. Even though I got sick a couple of times since I got there. After talking to everyone I found out that they did get sick due to the sudden change of weather, but Contessa took care of them and healed them, as she was good at her medication. She was brilliant and saved them multiple times. Because of her everyone is surviving till now.
We had rules. Everyday three of our people go out for hunting and the rest stay inside the camp doing their regular work. Hunting was a lot difficult, as the animals in the forest were way too dangerous. They were not normal animals. They were different. A small bite from them can kill a human, their bite was infectious. It causes some kind of weird infection which kills the body after a couple of weeks. That’s why after killing an animal they remove its teeth before cooking it. I never went to hunt, neither did Aaron, only the experienced ones goes to hunt like Dave, Dad and Mark. They were doing it for years. Sometimes Contessa, Rowena and Keith goes to learn, but most of the time they stay in the camp.
We keep the fire burning all around the boundary of the camp. It doesn’t matter if it's day or night we never let it go out. It keeps the animals away. When a storm comes, it becomes difficult to keep the fire burning, but still the fences we built around the camp does the job for that time. Contessa taught me to make medicines from herbs. I even cured dad when he had diarrhea. It felt good.
The nightmares continued. It haunts every one of us. Our loved ones try to kill us in our dreams. It was terrifying. I tried to get used to it, but didn’t succeed. After a week it felt so horrible that I was afraid to sleep. Andrea used to sit outside at night. Like me she was also afraid to sleep because of the nightmares. She hardly sleeps. I also used to join her. We talked to distract ourselves, so that we don’t fall asleep. But that doesn’t work every time. The sleep wins, we get tired, our head becomes heavy and we fall on the ground. For some hours we experience nightmares and wake up in a shock. That’s how it went for days. Once I didn’t sleep for three days straight, but later on I gave up and accepted that I have to face the nightmares, like everybody. As Mark said it was not real, I had to accept it.
We all sit together and discuss to find a way out of the magical forest every night but we didn’t find any. As days passed, I came to know everyone, their story of getting stuck in the magical forest.
Dave came here first. He has been searching the seeds for years. His main goal is to change the way of medication. He wanted to help people by curing them. For him it’s been a lot more difficult than the others after he got stuck in the forest as he was alone for months. He had to survive on his own those days. As he had some training in hunting it helped him stay alive. He made his own home, gathered food, and took care of him when he got sick. As days passed he thought he was going to die alone, he didn’t know how long he was going to survive like that, but after five months dad and Mark came. They came into the magical forest as soon as dad survived from Tanner. They found Dave and built a camp.
After a month Martin arrived. He came for a vacation in Atlanta with the money he won in a lottery, but it didn’t go so well. Some goons misunderstood
that Martin took their money and they chased him. Martin ran for his life and hid under a house, where he discovered the door with the sticker on it which said “Brave enough”. He read it like us and got trapped there.
Keith and Rowena arrived next. They were orphans and lived with their Aunt. Their Aunt was very cruel. She made them work for long hours at home like servants. They tried to run away several times, but every time she finds them. Once they came to Atlanta with her as she had a business deal to make. Rowena discovered the vacant house on the internet, it said it was haunted. She thought it was the best place to hide as their Aunt would never look for them there and leave them alone after a few weeks. So she discussed it with Keith and they hid in the house running away from their Aunt. They thought finally they would be free, but they found the door and said the magic word. Like everyone else they are sucked into the door and joined the others. After a week Contessa joined the camp. She was like Dave, who came searching for the seeds in hope to cure all the diseases in the world. Over time I bonded with everyone and became good friends.
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We needed to escape the forest. I travelled for miles with Aaron to search for a way to escape, but we didn’t find anything. It was full of plants and trees, nothing else. I asked everyone if they tried something to get out from the jungle. I needed to learn all the ways they tried, maybe they missed something.
“We travelled many miles, but the forest never ends,” Keith said.
“I know this place is made by witchcraft, but still there must be a way,” I said. “Does the diary say something about getting out of this place? Any clues that can help?”
Dave came towards me. He had a copy of the secret diary. I looked up for next clues, but there were only numbers in an order, for example, 111, 121, 137, 143, 155, 162 and so on. There were many numbers which ends at 70011. It consists of 175 pages, and the remaining 100 pages were something else.
“Do you know what these numbers mean?” I asked, flipping the pages.
