The Curse

Lift your foot. Move it forward. Put it down. Then repeat, but with your other foot. 

This had been Ryan’s and Kyle’s rhythms for the past hour- apart from stopping to refuel their canteens whenever they came across a river or stopping to clear some undergrowth.

They knew that they had to keep hiking until they came across civilization before it got dark. 

“You see anything?” Ryan asked hopefully. 

“No,” said Kyle, getting frustrated. 

He was beginning to lose hope. 

He remembered their Boy Scout Troop leader’s final words before they set out on the hike: “Whatever happens, do not get lost. It is next to impossible to find civilization in the 100,000 acres of this national park.” Beside him, the forest ranger had nodded in agreement. 

But, of course, Ryan’s slow pace had gotten them both lost. Ryan and Kyle were best friends, but sometimes Kyle doubted himself why he chose Ryan to be his friend. 

It had all happened very quickly- the rest of the troop was right there, on the next hill, and then they weren’t. Ryan and Kyle had panicked at first, and that had gotten them even more lost. They had tried to recall their direction but weren’t able to, so they set off in their best guess. 

And here they were now, completely lost. 

Their best hope was to reach the edge of the park or to find some kind of road before the sunset. 

Earlier, the troop had divided itself into 2 groups, one that would carry the sleeping bags, and one that would carry the tents. Ryan and Kyle had been given sleeping bags, and they were now grateful for how lightweight they were. Still, the sleeping bags were becoming a burden on their backs. 

Soon, the sky turned an orange hue and was steadily getting darker. Kyle’s footsteps slowed, and he began to feel helpless. What would they do now? 

Their best choice was to camp out here in the open, on their sleeping bags. They would have to set out again at dawn. 

Another problem was the food. They each had only a few energy bars and a bit of beef jerky, but that would barely be enough. They would have to ration.

“Ryan… Over here!” Kyle shouted. 

They both cleared out a spot and placed their sleeping bags side by side. They could barely see, and they didn’t have any flashlights. 

They both lay down, with their packs close to them. 

“Do you think we’ll ever make it back?” asked Ryan.

“Yeah. I’m sure. How hard can it be?” replied Kyle, but even he doubted himself. 

Ryan was asleep quickly, and his whistle-snores were becoming annoying to Kyle. He was having trouble closing his eyes. He felt scared, and something felt unsettling about this place. 

He wiggled out of his sleeping bag and got up. He walked in a circle around his bag. He expanded his circle and then felt his knee bang against something cold and rough. He gasped and was on the verge of screaming, but then stopped himself. No use in that. 

He bent down and felt his way around the obstruction. It had flat sides and a round top. He could feel some engraving on the stone, but it was driving him crazy that he couldn’t see what he was. 

But then he got an idea: Ryan’s shoes. Ryan was too old for light-up shoes but still liked them. Kyle quietly slipped them off and headed back to where he had found the object. He pounded the shoes against his hand, faintly lighting up the area. 

And what he saw there shocked him: He saw someone’s name and a date. He knew that it meant one thing: he was standing on a grave. Now he really needed to stop himself from screaming. They were sleeping in a graveyard! 

He walked back to his bag, his knees wobbly. Suddenly, he felt a thousandfold more scared. Of course, ghosts weren’t real, but there was something unsettling about the place. Why would somebody place a graveyard in the middle of a giant forest?

He felt really scared, and he didn’t know what to do. Maybe he should wake up Ryan and move somewhere else. But Ryan wouldn’t wake up, and Kyle himself didn’t know where to go. What if they accidentally moved deeper into the graveyard? 

He lay down, but the ground felt colder than before, and a cold gust blew through the clearing. 

A few minutes passed, but Kyle couldn’t close his eyes. He felt like..there were some voices. He could faintly hear them, but whatever they were saying was inaudible. Slowly, the voices got louder, until Kyle could hear it loud and clear. 

“How dare you come and lay down amongst us ghosts!”

“Sorry!” Kyle whimpered. He didn’t understand where the voice was coming from, but it was surely unnerving him. 

“Thou shalt be punished to the highest severity! May my curse be upon you!” the voice boomed. 

Kyle tried to reply, but no voice came out of his mouth. It was as if the spirit had clamped his mouth shut. 

Now, his heart was racing. He felt more sacred than before, even if he was sure that he had imagined the voice. 

He forced his eyes shut to get rid of all the thoughts in his brain, and sure enough, sleep came. 

Kyle opened his eyes at the crack of dawn and stood up quickly. He rolled up his sleeping bag as fast as he could and jostled Ryan. Ryan awake, yawning, and stretching. 

Kyle looked around in the meantime. To his surprise, the clearing looked empty. There was no sign of the tombstone he had come across the night before, and the clearing looked like an ordinary one.

He pushed Ryan to his feet, and they set out again. There was no evidence of the spirit of last night or the curse it mentioned. Kyle wanted to get out, and he got happier the more steps he put between him and the clearing. 

In the afternoon, they took a small break. They were running low on food and had to find a road soon. 

While they munched on their beef jerky, Ryan shouted, “Quiet! Did you hear that?”

They simultaneously stooped munching and were silent at once. After a few seconds of silence, they could hear it: The rumbling of cars on a highway.

They both jumped with joy and hugged each other. They ran with a final sprint toward the sound and stopped at an overcrop. And there, to their delight, was a highway. 

They made their way down and stopped at the edge. They stuck out their thumbs and waited for someone to hitchhike with. 

While they were waiting, Kyle realized he didn’t feel hungry anymore. He brushed it off as the excitement of finding the highway. 

They waited for half an hour or so until a car pulled over next to them. Ryan and Kyle had been getting tired of swatting the flies near them and were glad that they would be finally able to hitch a ride. 

“Well hello there!” chorused Ryan and Kyle.

A person got out of the car and opened the hood while swatting at them to shoo them in. They got into the car, where the backseat was empty. The man got back in, and Ryan and Kyle looked at each other nervously. They had resorted to hitchhiking because it was their best bet, and it wasn’t that safe. Maybe the free-ride-givers never talked to the hitchhikers; maybe they just waited for them to get off. 

They set off and traveled down the interstate. As the sun was setting, they reached home. The man pulled into a gas station, and, with a thank you, Ryan and Kyle jumped out of the car, and began running home. 

They both ran home, and they didn’t have to part ways, because they both were brothers. 

They finally found their home and took the key from under the doormat. They showed themselves in and headed to the family room. 

They stopped when they heard the voice of their troop leader. 

“I’m sorry, ma’am. There is a search and rescue operation underway right now. We will find them. You will have your sons, safe and sound, within 24 hours.”

Ryan and Kyle chose that moment to make their appearance and jumped out into the doorway, with a yell. But the adults in the room didn’t even glance up. 

Ryan and Kyle couldn’t understand what was happening. 

They looked at each other in confusion, and then stared in horror. They couldn’t see each other! They were transparent! 

Ryan promptly fainted, and Kyle felt dizzy too. But as he thought about it, the spirit’s voice echoed through his mind.