Chapter 1

 **** indicates a POV (Point of View) change

 ~~~~ indicates a change in scene 

𝙃𝙤𝙥𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙩 𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙞𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙪𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙!! 

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𝟮 𝗬𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗦 𝗟𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗥

"Pull Hani!" Soomin called out as Hani pulled the other side of the tent, trying to hammer it down to the ground.

"I told you we should've bought the Wessihorn camping tent, it's so much easier to put up than this thing," Jiwon complained.

"How 'bout you come and help me instead of giving suggestions that don't matter anymore," Hani protested. Jiwon groaned but came to help.

Once they were done they proudly looked at it.

"So who's gonna help me put this one up?" Minji called from the other side. Everyone looked at her as she held the dismantled tent. Jiwon took the initiative to walk over to her with everyone following on her heels.

Once again their tough task of putting up a tent began. It took them another hour to put it up until then the sun had already begun to set. Which meant they had less time before they were plunged into darkness.

"Just go find any wood, mainly the dry ones, i'm not going to sleep without food," Jiwon called.

They collected wood and all gathered back to the ashy area which they had thought must have been where the last campfire was lit. They all stood around it looking at Minji.

"Go get the lighter someone," she said. Soomin went to grab it while Minji put the dryest pieces of wood in the middle.

"Hani where'd you put the lighter?"

"Of Course!! The lighter! That's what I was forgetting!!" Hani exclaimed. Everyone stared at Hani. "Oh, Whoops."

"Ok so try another way Minji," Jiwon started impatiently. She just shrugged.

"Minji...you said you knew how to start a fire...." Jiwon continued with stern urgency. She just stared back. "Remember, you went camping and you said you started a fire?"

"uhh that was cause I had a lighter to set things on fire with," she pointed out.

"Well everyone can do that if they had a lighter," Soomin stated.

"So you guys are telling me, none of you knows how to start a fire and you forgot the lighter!!" Jiwon exclaimed ignoring Soomin's statement and staring directly at Hani.

"Listen, chill, we'll figure it out, just stop yelling, it's not making the situation any better," Hani spat back as she sat down.

"So we have dry wood but no lighter, ughhh we gotta do this the hard way," Hani groaned.

"Well that's how you gotta do it if you're gonna be that forgetful," Jiwon muttered.

"I heard that, and your no help at all!" Hani said trailing off so Jiwon wouldn't hear the last part which would be similar to adding fuel to a fire. Minji and Soomin sat down with her while Jiwon went back to the tents.

𝗦𝗼𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻'𝘀 𝗣𝗢𝗩

"Can you go get a blade or something please?" Hani asked. Soomin got up and got her the pocket knife they had brought.

'𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘱 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨.' She thought.

Hani and Jiwon had a confusing friendship. They'd talk and talk and talk without getting bored, but this also meant the uprise of argument. To Soomin, it felt Jiwon had most of the ego, ready for a fight at any time with Hani, Hani was more of the innocent type, when things go wrong, she was the first one working on fixing it. Like now, she's working and Jiwon's somewhere in the tent grumbling about it.

Soomin watched as Hani cut out a hole in a plank of softwood. She placed a stick in it and started rubbing her hands together with the stick stiff between her palms. After a 𝘓𝘖𝘕𝘎 while of continuous rubbing, smoke started to form, but Hani's pace seemed to have slowed down a little.

"Here let me do it," Soomin offered. She quickly sat down and took over. After rounds of fast painful movement, the flames finally started to burn.

Proud of their job they sat back down while Hani ran off to the tent. She came back with the marshmallows and pasta.

A few minutes later Jiwon had joined them and they all started eating. Once they were done they put the fire out and sat in the tent for their little session of stories. Jiwon had most of the stories. In Soomin's opinion, it wasn't that scary, she guessed it was the environment that got them all jumpy.

"You know, I remember my parents told me something about my cousin too," Hani suddenly spoke.

"What?" Minji asked.

"They said he went missing, but then I never got to ask if they found him." Everyone looked at her curiously.

"But when I went to Aunt's funeral, he wasn't there either, he used to be such a good child that's why I was confused to why he didn't come." She paused as if trying to remember something.

"There are faded memories of him but the only thing I do remember is that he used to call me '𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨' all the time." Everyone cracked up laughing. "Not funny," Hani said.

"Why'd he called you '𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨' out of all names?" Soomin asked.

"It was because we once went to the beach and I couldn't swim and he told me I looked like a duckling waddling around, and yeah, he called me that since then." Hani ended with everyone laughing at her.

"What was his name?" Jiwon asked and once again Hani shrugged.

"I can't remember."

After everyone had a good laugh following a good scare they decided to end it there. They all lay in their sleeping bags staring at the top of the tent until they all drifted off into a slumber.

*****

Hani spent most of the night struggling to fall asleep, with her imagination running wild it was mostly impossible. She had closed her eyes when she heard one of them shift in their spot. Her eyes immediately snapped open as she saw Soomin sit up. It was too dark to see her but Hani could make out her silhouette. She looked around the group then got up and moved towards the exit. She heard her unzip the tent and move out. Hani got up and followed her, watching as Soomin went out and sat on one of the logs.

Hani went and sat beside her, startling her a little. She smiled.

"You okay??" she asked.

"Yeah," Soomin replied, making circles in the dirt with a stick she had picked up earlier.

"Can't sleep?" Hani asked.

"Nope."

"Is it cause of the stories?"

Soomin chuckled. "I'm guessing that's the reason you're not asleep." Hani smiled.

Hani and Soomin weren't close but they were able to easily interpret each other's emotions. Soomin was about to start talking when there was a rustle in the bushes which lasted no longer than a second. The two girls looked around, now on their feet, facing their backs towards each other.

"Probably just a little critter," Soomin said quietly.

"Of course," Hani agreed.

"Nothing to worry about, let's just go back in and sleep we have stuff to do in the morning," Soomin said dragging Hani along with her, who kept nervously glancing back at the trees.

Once they were back in the tent, they lay side by side next to each other and drifted off.

~~~

The next morning was a series of confusion as the four girls excitedly hustled around, preparing themselves for the day's activities. Once everyone was done, they started their little trip of exploring, equipped with backpacks containing food, water, first aid kits and other necessities. Hani and Soomin were in charge of the map. The guide had told them there were very nice views and their places where marked clearly on the map. Hani and Minji were excited about the waterfall so they decided that'd be their first location.

Minji stayed mostly towards the back while Hani, Jiwon and Soomin discussed their route. She had waited so long for this trip and finally being immersed in nature made her feel at ease. The tall trees stretched out everywhere, growing tall above them, so much that they partially blocked out the sunlight. Everything was so beautiful as if everything held its secret.

"Minji hurry up!" Soomin called as she fell behind while admiring the beauty.

Minji ran towards them to see the sight in front of them. It wasn't what she was expecting but it was beautiful. They stood in front of a steep hill made of rocks with an opening at the bottom that was covered by vines and was barely visible.

"Wow," she whispered.

"I know," Jiwon said. "This place isn't even marked on the map."

"Ok guys, let's continue," Soomin called from ahead.

Hani hurried over to her with the rest following behind slowly.

"Ok, so if we make a left from here we should be going the right towards the waterfall," Hani said pointing at the map and Soomin nodded.

Soomin turned to look back at the two who were now catching up to them. They continued their way until they made a left turn where the path continued until soon they could hear the water. As they got closer the louder the water got.

The sight was beautiful, with the water falling from the rocks and making its way to the bottom. The water continued downhill which had formed a river. They all smiled at the sight, then soon they were on their hike again. They continued their long way uphill but when they made it they could see the sun beginning to set so they decided to wait. They all sat down close to an edge with a clear view of the horizon and the trees at the bottom.

"My legs hurt!" Jiwon complained.

"Mine too," Minji added.

Soomin was too busy looking at the map and Hani remained quiet. Once they had seen the sunset, they stayed to have their snacks until they were back on their feet heading towards the campsite. They had been walking for a long while now.

"Why haven't we seen the waterfall by now?" Hani pointed out.

"Yeah," Minji agreed.

"I don't know, we took the right path back and then we turned right and then made a left, we should be going the right way. Look the path even leads that way," Soomin said pointing at the ground.

Minji plopped down.

"Calculating how long we have been walking we should've arrived at the camp by now," Hani said taking the map.

Soomin caught Jiwon looking up.

"It's getting dark, I don't know how safe it is out here," she said worriedly.

"Let's go back up to where we were and figure the way out from there because we have seriously done something wrong," Hani said as they all turned around and marched up. Jiwon groaned, but no one said a word.

𝗝𝗶𝘄𝗼𝗻'𝘀 𝗣𝗢𝗩

She groaned, but no one said a word. She was sick of things going wrong. This camping trip wasn't going the way she had imagined it. She stayed quiet even though she had a lot to say but she also had no energy fighting with any of them, especially while she couldn't breathe properly. After some time of walking, she found a rock at the side of the path so she sat down. Hani came and stood beside her to examine the map again.

"Guys, there are tracks," Minji spoke. Jiwon looked up to find Minji hovered over a paw print.

"So we've been following a path made by animals?" Soomin questioned.

"That's probably why we're lost," Hani spoke.

There was a rustle somewhere close. They all stood up and looked around. Something caught Jiwon's eye. She looked uphill to see something moving, then it hit her. 'If these were animal tracks that means animals will be walking these tracks'.

"Guys! Hide!" She said before she jumped behind the trees and made her way away from the path they were on.

She turned back to see that the girls hadn't moved but Hani had spotted it too and she hurried the rest of the group off the track. They all stayed away from the track until the creature was in sight.

"It's a Grizzly Bear," Minji whispered as they watched carefully.

'Of course it is, this is where bears live and also where we shouldn't be.' She thought as she shook her head in disbelief. She was mad now.

*****

𝗦𝗼𝗼𝗺𝗶𝗻'𝘀 𝗣𝗢𝗩

Soomin looked at the bear as it disappeared. She felt Jiwon tense up next to her. Soomin could tell she was angry now. She sighed and got up.

"It's not safe on those tracks, we won't know when we'd encounter something larger than that."

"What could be larger than a bear?" Jiwon muttered.

"Oh you don't know the Forest darling," Soomin said as she walked past her. "It holds a lot of secrets."

"We'll follow the trail but just don't be on the path," she warned.

Everyone followed Hani and Soomin who were at the front. Once they found the place they were at before they realised that there were so many ways back, no wonder they lost their way.

"So which one's the right way?" Jiwon turned to look at Soomin, who seemed just as confused as the rest.

Soomin furrowed her brows in concentration as she looked at all the routes. She had no idea where they were supposed to be headed next.

"Guy's...I think we're lost."