“Are you sure you want to do this?” Dom asked Allen for the nth time since they got to the place near the forest.

“Oh my God! Dom!” Allen whined, “How many times are you going to ask that? I’m going! I’m going! I’m going! I’m going!”
“Shut up!” Dom shouted. “I just want to make sure. It’s not too late to change your mind.”
Allen sighed. He stepped closer to Dom and gave him three pats on the back. “I’ll be fine. Now, where’s your fucking friend?”
“Shit, Allen. You’re standing too close,” Dom took a few steps back. Before he could not say anything else though, a silver BMW arrived and parked near the entrance of the parking lot. “Here he is.”
“All of your friends are filthy rich, huh?” Allen commented in which Dom only responded with a smirk on his face. “Stay here, will ya?” asked Dom, although it was more like an order than a question.
A tall blonde man, dressed in a full hiking suit came out of the car as Dom was approaching it. They exchanged greetings and talked, Allen was unable to make out what they were discussing though since the man parked his car a bit far from his own car, however, Dom’s loud laugh could evidently be heard. Allen pouted, feeling his existence fading away as the two keep talking, he locked his eyes at the ground and played with the dirt with his feet until Dom and his friend had come and stood next to him.
“Ahemm,” Dom cleared his throat, trying to get Allen’s attention. “Allen, this is Kris de Rais, my friend I was talking about. Kris, this is Allen Delun.”
“Hello,” Kris greeted, reaching out his hand. “You can call me Kris.”
“Greeting Kris,” Allen shook Kris’s hand. “You can call me Allen.”
“He will be your ‘tourist guide’,” Dom stated and Kris laughed. “Be good and listen to him.”
“Yes, boss.” Allen giggled although Dom was dead-serious. Allen took his backpack and asked Kris, “Can we go now?”
“Yeah, of course.” Kris looked at Dom, “You’re not going, Dom?”
“You’re kidding, right?” Dom chuckled. He turned and looked behind him, “This forest? I’m not that crazy to go into that forest. Haha!”
Kris laughed and mouthed ‘coward’ to Dom. He turned to Allen and his expression immediately became serious. He took a small book from his pocket and said, “Since it's only going to be the two of us, I have a few questions to ask.”
Allen felt nervous all of a sudden. Before Kris could ask any questions, Allen had already been in deep thought and swimming with hundreds of questions in his mind. What did Kris exactly want to ask that it made the atmosphere change?
“First things first,” Kris interrupted Allen’s thoughts. “Are you sad or lonely? Any friends or family members that passed away recently?”
“Err, nope,” Allen answered, looking at Dom and back at Kris. He could not help but wonder why Kris asked such questions. He did not get a chance to ask when Kris was already shooting him with another question.
“How about a girlfriend? A wife? A boyfriend? Any divorce or breakup lately?”
“No. None at all.”
“He’s never had a girlfriend,” Dom commented. “Doesn’t have a boyfriend either.” Dom busted into a laugh.
But this time, Kris did not laugh with Dom. Instead, he became even more serious. “Are you lonely? Stressed at work?”
“No, no, no,” Allen started, starting to get fed up with Kris’s questions. He didn’t see any point in asking and answering all of these questions. “Listen, I’m okay. I’m happy with my life, okay? Can we go now?”
Kris let out a heavy sigh and just nodded. He closed his book and returned it to his pocket. “I just wanted to make sure. We should get going. We have a long way to go.”
“Finally!”
Dom was showing a worried face again and before he was able to say anything Allen said, “I’ll get those mushrooms and make the finest dish, okay?”
Dom was not able to say anything after that. He just nodded a few times and hugged Allen. Allen found it a bit weird hugging Dom since he knew Dom was the type who usually did not enjoy any physical contact with his male friends. A tinge of doubt began to rise in Allen’s heart when he saw Dom’s worried face and strange behavior. Dom looked at Kris and then at Allen, “Take care of him, Kris. Allen, you stay close to him.”
Kris and Allen nodded in unison. Kris started to march into the forest’s entrance and Allen was following close behind him.
Dom just stood in his place, watching his friends’ back fade into the forest. “Take care, Allen,” Dom whispered.
Allen turned around and saw Dom’s car driving away from the parking lot. Doubt and even regret were building inside him as he watched Dom’s car getting further and further away. But he knew there was no turning back anymore.
Dom had asked him many times and he was confident with his answer. But why was he starting to have doubts and regrets when he had been so confident earlier on?
Allen’s attention diverted to the two cars that just drove into the parking lot. He quickly turned around and ran towards Kris who was already walking further away from him. There was not the time to check out who else was going into the forest, he needed to focus on his goal; to find the mushroom he needed to make the finest dish.
Allen tapped on Kris’ back a little bit harder than normal and Kris screamed, “Wahhh! Don’t do that!”
“Sorry,” Allen tried to catch his breath. “Did I scare you?”
“N-no. J-just don’t do that. Not in this forest,” Kris stuttered. “Why were you running?”
“I was trying to catch up with you.”
“Oh, were you getting left behind?” Kris took a quick glance at the path behind him and at Allen. How could he not be aware of Allen when he was supposed to watch over him. Kris was angry at himself for being careless but immediately trying to stay calm. He needed to stay calm in this forest. Everyone needed to do the same, stay calm. “Stay close to me. If you want to stop, let me know. Don’t go anywhere. Stay on track. Walk beside me.”
Kris enunciated each word, his eyes looking more grave and chilling. Allen was starting to regret this trip more and more. He felt like he wanted to go back now but his mouth said the opposite thing. “O-ok. Let’s keep going.”
Kris nodded and gestured to Allen to follow him. The walk was awkwardly silent. Allen was unsure if he should start a conversation with Kris or not since his face was showing a sign that he did not really want to talk. His mood was disparate from before, he looked sterner.
Allen decided to just observe the environment around him. He was surrounded by trees that twist and turn like a maze, making it very easy for anyone to get lost inside forever. The thought sent chills down his spine.
He looked up at the sky, hopeful that the view would be less terrifying than the setting around him. The sky was engulfed by the trees as well and even though it was only afternoon, it was as if it was night time. The trees were ancient, timeless as they disappeared into the sky, their roots winding across the forest floor in treacherous threads. Maybe this was the reason why the place was called ‘The Sea of Trees.’
The ground was dark and damp but the hard rocks underneath could still be felt, slowly being buried into the ground that made the path. The curled brown leaves were half-embedded in the path, trampled by the footprints of people. From the wet ground and the surrounding, Allen could smell the scent of pine trees mixed with the distinct aroma of the earth. It was so fresh yet so disturbing. Allen wondered why he felt this way.
“Wait here,” Kris commanded, which pulled Allen away from his daydreaming. He was always deep in thought since he went into the forest, something he did not usually do. Dom would usually tease him for not thinking deeply or not using his brain at all. “Stay here,” Kris said again.
Allen nodded quietly and watched Kris stride to a man who was standing a little further ahead of them. The man was standing on the trail, looking deep into the forest like there was something deeper inside that was calling him. Kris looked like he was comforting the man but Allen could not hear their conversation. The man looked distressed and could only nod a few times while Kris patted his back a few times.
Kris knelt on the ground and took a walkie-talkie from his backpack. He talked to the walkie-talkie a few times, nodded and talked again. Allen could hear a faint voice that sounded like the voice on the walkie-talkie coming from behind him. He turned around and saw two young men.
The two young men, Allen assumed were around Kris’ age were happily talking and walking towards him. They waved and Kris waved right back as the two were happily running, passing Allen, towards Kris. Allen could not help but take the chance to slowly move closer to them so he could hear their conversation.
“We can take it from here,” one of the young men said.
“You’re going further?” the other one asked and Kris nodded and looked at Allen. Both of the young men glanced at him and Allen quickly looked around him pretending that he did not notice that they looked at him. “Is he okay?” Allen heard one of them ask but unfortunately, he did not hear or ‘see’ Kris’s answer. He peeked to see Kris marching towards him.
“Let’s keep going,” Kris said. Kris and the two waved at each other and this time even at Allen. He gave them a smile, he noticed Kris’ expression was softer than before. This might be a good chance to break the silence, Allen thought.
“Is something wrong?” Allen asked, apprehensive. “Are those two your friends?”
“Dani and Chan?” Kris asked, ignoring Allen’s questions about the man. “Yes, they’re my friends and volunteers like me.”
“Volunteer?”
“Hmm? Dom didn’t tell you?” Kris was shocked.
“He did say you were a volunteer,” Allen said. “But he didn’t say what you were a volunteer for? How many volunteers do you have here?”

“Really?” Kris smiled softly. “There are twelve of us. Sometimes more people would come. We move in pairs.”
“So… Where’s your partner?”
“Oh,” Kris’ expression changed into a sad one and Allen felt regret for asking him that question. “His mom passed away recently. So, he’ll take a break from volunteering until he gets over it. I don’t want him to come near here until he feels better. I think it’s better if he stops volunteering here for good.”
That reminded Allen of Kris’ questions earlier – “Are you sad or lonely? Any friends or family members that passed away lately?” Was Kris trying to tell him that if he’s sad it's better to not go into the forest? Why?
Allen couldn’t stop himself anymore. He gathered all of his courage and asked Kris, “W-why you can’t go into the forest if you’re sad?”
Kris stopped in his tracks and looked deeply into Allen’s eyes. “You don’t know anything about this forest, do you?” He looked around him, the path before them, then back at Allen. Kris’ stare turned grave and chilling once again with an exhale of worry.