"Are you sure that we're in the right place?" Harvey asked tentatively, holding the map out in front of him. He squinted at the map and held it closer towards his face, as his short red hair fell into the whites of his brown eyes. "I think we need to keep going forward from this point."
Harvey stood proudly at 5 foot 8 inches, easily towering over his three best friends. His flawless skin was pale which brought out the deep shade of brown in his eyes. He was athletic and smart, although incredibly shy and softly spoken around people he didn't know. Despite his seventeenth birthday quickly approaching, Harvey could easily pass as being in his twenties: something he wasn't particularly fond of hearing.
Fliss gave an exasperated sigh and snatched the map out of Harvey's hands. She flicked her jet black hair over her shoulders and rolled her dark brown eyes sassily. "We need to go right from here if we want to get to The Wilbridge Cabins before dusk."
Fliss was short and stocky at just 5 foot; she was easily the loudest out of the four and very opinionated. Her perfectly smooth chocolate skin and sleek black hair gained Fliss many admirers, but it was her snarky attitude and rebellious nature that really drew attention. Despite being strong-minded, stubborn and wild at heart, she was fiercely loyal towards her friends: her most admired trait.
"No no," Libby interrupted, waving her arms in the air. "You're holding the map the wrong way around."
Liberty, who was often called 'Libby,' was the smartest out of the four friends: she was sarcastic, witty and extremely energetic. Her ocean eyes were brought out by her fair skin and golden freckles; her bouncy, tightly coiled auburn hair was pulled back with a coloured scrunchie, often coordinated with her outfit. Without the scrunchie, her perm would've encased her sharp features to resemble the Disney Princess Merida, a character she was often compared to by her friends. She was usually found pushing up the glasses that perch on the bridge of her small nose; she found that no pair fit her facial features perfectly.
Libby and Harvey were Irish twins: born eleven months apart, they were both inseparable and were only ever seen with the other.
Jules sighed as her friends broke out into, yet again, another argument. She loved her friends dearly, but it was the bickering that really drove her mad on days like this. They always broke out into arguments, but it was their honesty and truth in every flawless piece of vision that made them gel together like a family.
She ran a hand through her long wavy dark brown hair and immediately folded her arms. Her piercing green eyes on her tanned skin made her stand out more so compared to her three friends, but it was her compassion and loyalty that was admired most by others. Jules was shy, similarly to Harvey, but had the wits of Fliss and the intellect similar to Libby. She may not have been the smartest, the funniest or the strongest out of the four, but she certainly was the most artistic. It was her creativity and artistic eye that made Jules truly unique.
Fliss continued to channel her annoyance towards Libby, who was now chewing on the sleeves of her baby blue cardigan. The summer heat was nearing the hundreds, yet the reason why Libby wasn't melting in her cotton cardigan was something that Jules will never know.
"No, we clearly have to go right," Fliss huffed, pointing at the clearing between the rows of trees surrounding the four.
The four friends had travelled to Wilbridge Forest in the hopes that they could hike. They weren't ones for hiking, but Harvey's 17th birthday was quickly approaching, so the girls decided to treat their athletic best friend on a trip in the woods.
In hindsight, however, they should've picked golf.
"Gee, I didn't know the world was upside down," Libby quipped sarcastically, gnawing away at her now-soaking cardigan. "I'm telling you, we need to go left."
Harvey shook his head in amusement, listening to the argument, but not wanting to get involved. One of the biggest problems Libby and Fliss found with being polar opposites, was that it was difficult for them to agree on even the simplest of topics.
Jules couldn't help but take in her surroundings: she stood in the centre of the clearing and turned her head around slowly to take in the gorgeous greenery. Everywhere she looked, trees and tree bark encompassed her peripheral vision.
"So beautiful," Jules sighed, smiling at the natural beauty laid before her. She noticed how little birds chirped in their nests at the top of the trees: proudly calling out to their friends and any nearby animal. She noticed how the clouds rolled above her, each perfectly shaped matters of gas moulded itself into a new form with every slow movement. She even noticed a deer that sat ontop of a tree stump, as if it was completely oblivious to the sound of Jules' best friends jeering at each other.
Wanting to seize a perfect opportunity, Jules quickly lifted up her camera that hung around her neck and attempted to take a few photographs. Without warning, the deer hopped off the stump and gracefully made its way between the trees into the distance.
Jules was never the one to make rash decisions, but in that moment in time, all she truly wanted was to capture a perfect shot of the deer that wandered before her. She was drawn by its mesmerising beauty: the way it gently side-stepped between the bushes and the trees with such poise.
However, it was only when the deer turned gently on its side did Jules notice an unusual marking on the base of the deer's neck: a hollow white circle with two thick slashes inside, diagonally. The circle looked worn, faded and nearly washed off of the smooth chestnut skin of the deer. One of the diagonal slash marks seemed to be less faded than the circle and the second slash seemed brand new.
It was clear to Jules that these markings were physically hand-drawn onto the deer, but Jules took no notice. She simply assumed that there was a ranger nearby, keeping track of the animals in the forest to preserve them.
Intrigued, Jules took a quick photograph of the scene before her. The image would have been perfect if a swarm of birds hadn't flown so close to Jules' head; startled, she ducked and instinctively wrapped her small hands over her expensive camera.
Despite being visibly annoyed at missing a perfect photographic opportunity, Jules quickly realised that she may have wandered too far away from her friends.
She immediately let her camera hang on her neck strap as she spun around to face the direction she walked in from. All she saw were trees surrounding her, but what scared her the most was that she couldn't even see her friends let alone hear them.
The deer that she was following had now disappeared among the trees and the birds that were once seen on the top of the tree branches had flown away too.
Jules was completely alone.
Her breathing quickened and her eyes widened, afraid that she might be lost. Jules hurriedly marched back in the direction she came in from, feeling the leaves and the sticks crunch beneath the soles of her Timberlands.
"Fliss?" Jules' voice sounded hoarse as panic started to rise deep within her. "Harv?"
Every time she called a name in angst, the only response she received was the rustling movement of squirrels and rabbits running away from her.
Jules pulled her phone out from her back jean pocket to check her cell service. In all honesty, she didn't really know why she checked her phone in the first place: she knew there was no cell service, which was why the four friends were using a book map instead.
"Still nothing," she huffed, running a hand down her face before yelling out to her friends one more time. "Liberty? Somebody!"
She could've sworn she saw movement out of the corner of her left eye; she whipped her head around immediately to see if she could catch what it was. A ghastly rustling noise echoed throughout the forest, making Jules' heart thump loudly in her ears: it resembled a bass sound held up against her head.
Her phone battery was on 3%, she had no signal, no map and the sun was starting to set. Jules wasn't afraid of the dark, wild animals or loneliness.
Hope was quickly fading and that was what had she feared the most.