Serlock Pines

One

The trees of Serlock Pines looked just as menacing as everyone said, and in the pictures. At first Caleb had thought they might have been doctored, but here they were in the flesh seeing the ominous trees for themselves. Tall pine trees stabbing into the air like daggers, scattered dead oak trees and maple trees throughout that for whatever reason still stood upright. Caleb had relynctsntly agreed to come on this trip with his friends and was now having serious second thoughts. Though of course, there was no backing out now. Adam had driven them and Joe would never want to appear weak in front of Adam so there he had it. Caleb was stuck here.

It didn't take long to find a place to park the car, and thankfully, or perhaps unthankfully, it appeared there were no other cars around, nobody else visiting the supposedly taunted forest right now. Surprisingly enough it had become a pupil at place for tourism. Adam led the three of them off the road and sienna path, and Joe carried most of the gear. Caleb trailed behind, still weary of the decision to come here in the first place.

Slightly jogging to catch up, Caleb jumped the fence thirty yards from the road running after his friends who were still well ahead. This was the first time they had ventured out this year, and when Adam had suggested visiting Serlock Pines, the supposed haunted forest he had jumped at the opportunity. Joe hadn't been as eager, he'd tell them it's because he's black but Caleb knew it was really because he was just a whimp.

Breathing heavily, He ran after them through the trees, the leaves altering between orange, yellow, red, and most of them the dead brown but still on the branches, it was late October after all.

"Over here!" Adam called to the two of them.

Caleb looked over to see Adam in a smell clearing and he and joe had converged on him shortly after. The are they were in was pretty deep in the forest, there were no sounds of cars or civilization nearby, only the dead silence of the forest and the incessant cawing of a lone bird. More quiet than a place meant to be full of wildlife ought to be, Caleb thought.

It was dusk now, the sun just about gone, its light shining through the bottom of the branches and smaller treee trunks now. Caleb looked up to see large clouds looming overhead. It was going to be extra dark tonight. At that moment Caleb looked to Joe to assure himself he hadn't dropped the camping equipment. Thankfully the tent and lack was still slung over his back. Caleb was carrying Joe's camping kit in return for joe carrying the group equipment. Adam carrying only his own kit and a camera for some reason.

"You're not really gonna use that are you? We can't be those cliche people." Caleb blurted our before Adam could begin speaking.

"I mean we have to document this somehow." Adam replied with a grin clicking the camera on. The red light on the side turning on. Adam had always loved the found footage movies so this came as no surprise to Caleb, though he cringed at the thought of being in the footage himself.

"Why are we here you guys? I still think is kinda dumb, why don't we go to Rykes?" Joe asked for what must have been the tenth time.

"Rykes? Everyone gues to Rykes man come on. A graveyard? Lame dude. No one has the balls to come here in the dead of night." Adam said grinning.

"Think there might be a reason for that." Joe muttered.

"Bleh, Caleb you good with camping here, it's got a good clearing up here if the moon ever comes out." Adam said looking upward.

"Good a place as any I suppose." Caleb shrugged.

He nodded at Joe who then began getting the tent out. The three set up camp and had a fire going in a little under an hour.  The tent behind them holding their three sleeping bags, their packs at the head of each cover. The tent was really meant for two but they figured the three of them could squeeze in if they were willing to deal with a little discomfort.

The trees around them opened up at the sky, and the sun had been setting when they got there. Before long they found themselves in a pitch Black Forest only illuminated by their small campfire abd the endless stars of the sky. The moon being only a half crescent didn't provide much light itself. Still the boys were determined to stay the weekend in this camping spot.

"So, who's going first?" Adam asked, breaking the silence once the campfire was lit.

"Who's going first for what?" asked Caleb.

"Night watch idiot, I don't wanna wake up bring torn apart by a hungry bear." Adam snapped, as if it were obvious.

"Oh, uh, I'll go, I guess." Caleb replied.
He had reluctantly agreed, Caleb sighed inside though. There hadn't been a bear sighting in their state for well over a decade now. Still, he supposed it was best to air on the side of caution so he went along with it.

Another few moments passed. Adam had elected to eat a sandwich after the fire was started, opting for bed soon after that. 
Joe called out from the redline as he approached. Bitching about the raccoons about the area.
"Well at least there's something." Caleb replied. "I was starting to think everything out here was dead."

Joe shrugged and dropped off the bundle of firewood before heading into the tent, managing to get to sleep before even Adam.

"Alright, wake me in like three hours yeah? I've got second watch." Adam said to Caleb.

Caleb nodded to him and rolled his eyes when he looked away. Before long Caleb was alone with the dying campfire amidst the otherwise eerily silent forest. Looking past the teeeline he couldn't make out much in the dark other than the outlines of more pine trees, largely condensing the area and making hard to see her far at all.

Letting out a sigh Caleb slumpt back on his log he's been sitting on. He looked at the stars for awhile but even that lost its luster after an hour and a half. Around the second hour it became clear there was nothing that was going to come to tgem from the first. Hell if Joe hadn't said anything about tje raccoons Caleb might have thought there was nothing in the forest at all.

Caleb tried and tried to force himself awake but still couldn't stop himself from yawning, the dead quiet not making it any easier. Then just a little before he was supposed to wake Adam for second watch, Caleb dozed off, losing consciousness there outside in the quiet and falling into to a deep heavy slumber.