Two hours later and I am still creeped out by the place, but we haven’t come across anything but more trees and a lot of rocks. At some point you adjust to your fear. I mean, there’s only so long you can hold your breath, right? Climbing uphill for that long leaves me hot and sweaty, and that chill that was so bone-deep before isn’t even on my radar now. I am damn uncomfortable, frustrated and annoyed with everyone.

Rhi let me go at some point and we’ve even stopped walking so close, spreading out and looking around, but always staying within eyesight. The climb was rough, with jagged rocks scattering the slope, making it impossible to walk normally. We hold on to sharp edges, lever ourselves onto boulders, drag each other over the top sometimes. We see nothing but trees, stone and dirt.

It’s a difficult climb with dim light, but when the sunlight weakens further, Sam points us back to the car. He takes us around and down a separate slope though. No point covering the same ground twice.

My heart keeps squeezing, like a bratty kid that wants you to keep ‘playing’. No way am I staying here when it gets dark, so I sure as shit am not spending the night either. I move along in silence. I’m not even trying to look around anymore. Our pace picks up as the sunlight fades faster.

We finally make it back to where we parked. Stepping out of the tree line, Sam puts on the brakes and Rhi gasps. My head jerks up. There is something to be afraid of alright, and not the illogical, nameless thing I’ve been battling in my imagination. There’s a massive Dodge parked beside us, and Sam’s car now sports three men lounging over it. This is real and far scarier.

All of us freeze, like we’ve spotted a big Brahman bull between us and the car. Maybe if we’re still it won’t charge. But it’s already too late and we know it.

None of us are strangers in this odd little tableau. We know each other by name and reputation, one of them has even been at school with my cousins. They said Eric wasn’t a bad bloke back then, most of the girls were after him because he was hot, but instead of leaving town after school he stayed. Maybe he spent too long out here with the others because now he’s a raging racist too. The silence beats at us.