Mistwood - 5

Later that afternoon, Emily sits, sprawled out on the couch in her bedroom after her classes have let out.

She had text Stacy earlier to coordinate a rendezvous at her house to get to the bottom of the article that Stacy had found on the internet earlier that morning. Emily sits on her couch and scrolls through the FaceSpace app on her phone. A short time later, Emily hears a light knock on her bedroom door.

“Hey Em, it’s me.” Stacy can be heard saying from outside the room.

“Come in.” Emily says as she jumps up from her position on the couch. Stacy cracks open the door and peeks her head in with a goofy smile on her face to try to ease the tension of what the two of them know they are about to discuss.

Emily chuckles and greets her friend at the door with an enthusiastic hug. The two embrace for a moment before entering the room and sitting casually on the couch.

“How was school today?” Stacy asks Emily in a form of small talk.

“Eh, boring.” Emily says as she rolls her eyes. “Talked about vectors and magnitude and stuff again, ugh.”

“Yeah, sounds it.” Stacy agrees as the two sit in a moment of awkward silence, delaying the inevitable conversation about what the two girls discovered earlier that morning.

“So…” Emily begins with a slight hesitation. “That picture was pretty crazy, right?”

“Seriously, I can’t believe how much they looked like us.” Stacy states.

“And to have the same names too? I almost don’t even believe it.” Emily says as she begins to shake her head in disbelief. Another moment of awkward silence falls upon the room as the girls look at each and briefly smile at one another.

“It’s Friday. What are you doing tonight?” Stacy asks Emily, breaking the silence. Emily quickly smiles and appears a bit more enthusiastic as the conversation seems to have changed.

“I don’t know.” Emily replies. “Don’t really have any plans or anything.”

“Whatya say we see if we can go find this place?” Stacy asks with a bit of adventure in her voice. Emily’s enthusiasm quickly turns back to worry as she begins to make an assumption about what Stacy is referring to.

“Umm, what place?” Emily asks, knowing full well what the answer will likely be.

“That asylum place. The place where those girls were.” Stacy says with an eager expression on her face.

“What are you? Nuts?” Emily asks with a slight sarcastic chuckle. Stacy sticks out her tongue at Emily and laughs. “Plus, I thought the place burned down or something.” Emily finishes.

“Well, they tore it down after it was damaged from the fire, but I’m curious to see the spot where it was.” Stacy says. Emily looks at her with a worried face and an obvious lack of enthusiasm.

“I don’t know Stace…” Emily says as she looks out of her bedroom window at the dark spooky forest behind her house.

“Come on. Where’s your sense of adventure?” Stacy asks trying to pressure Emily into going to search with her. “I mean, if it’s not there anymore, what could possibly happen?” Stacy says, making her request seem a little more safe and logical.

“Yeah, but that forest just gives me the creeps. There’s like animals and stuff in there.” Emily mentions.

“Come on. It’ll be fine. We’ll have our phones with us.” Stacy says.

“Yeah, that’s gonna stop a bear.” Emily rebuts with a roll of her eyes.

“We’re not gonna see a bear. It’s not like we haven’t gone roaming around in them before.” Stacy says with a smirk on her face.

“Yeah, but we were kids then. It’s a lot different now.” Emily reminds Stacy.

“Yeah, it is different. Now we’re adults and we know how to handle ourselves.” Stacy says. “Stop making excuses. You’re thinking too much into this. It’ll be fun.”

“If you say so.” Emily says as she glances out her bedroom window again. Stacy says nothing as she lets Emily think it over for a moment. Emily turns back to Stacy and gives her a smile.

“Alright. Fine. But let's get back before it gets dark out. I have no interest in being in those woods after the sun goes down.” Emily as she rests her hand on Stacy’s hand.

“You got it.” Stacy says with a smile. “Then we can watch a scary movie when we get back.”

“Like hell we can…” Emily says with a chuckle. “Let me just change really quick. I want something a little warmer.” Emily stands up from the couch and walks over to her closet. She turns toward her window again and stares out at the vast, looming trees behind her property. Mistwood Forest. Emily breathes a deep inhalation of air through her nose and sighs as she exhales nervously as a dense and eerie fog creeps through the large tree trunks of the forest. The branches and leaves sway in the breeze as if they are beckoning Emily to come forth and enter the dark and spooky forest. Emily snaps out of a hypnotic trance and turns to her closet again to find a new set of clothes.