The Legend of Youngs Corner XI

PART XI
Into the Heart of Darkness

I stepped into the forbidden forest, my foot was the first to enter the black hole path. Soon, Bob, Nicholas, and Nico came to the front of the line to join me. The air was weak and bland, the atmosphere was chilled, and my nerves were on end. Darkness consumed us, all was quiet, and tree limbs hanged over our head like giant arms reaching out. The path was covered in natural debris: leaves, twigs, rocks, roots. We constantly were looking at the ground due to the ever winding path. Our journey started to move up the hill. Because of the darkness our visual perception was almost nonexistent and for this reason we didn’t know we were actually climbing a hill until I looked to our right and saw a large drop-off; a steep ledge that extended down to the very bottom of the woods, a bottom that none of us could see.

After about a 10-minute walk I once again gathered the group together. Quietly I spoke to them, telling them that we must be close to the cabins since we had already started up the hill. On that winter day 5 years ago, I had seen the cabins atop a hill, and so I assumed that by now we must be close to the top. To our left the forest hill continued up, it stretched so high that we could not see where it ended. Nicholas suggested we run for it, throwing caution to the wind, letting no fear grapple us, letting nothing obstruct our quest. I agreed and so did many others, but some didn’t, for fear had already gripped them. A decision had to be made and I made it. I, Nico, Nicholas, Bob, and Gaeten would run, and we wouldn’t stop until we found something…

We faced the hill, we 5 friends, full of courage, bravery, and determination. Our hearts were made of steel, our nerves were thriving, our senses were open. We looked up and saw the insurmountable maze of trees, scattered about was more debris: fallen trees, burrows, leaves, sharp sticks, logs. We faced each other and could see breath rising from our mouths. Bob counted down from three and then we took off, deep into the unknown.