“Believe me when I say it’s important. I’m not doing it just for myself. Please, Kris. You don’t have to go with me. Just let me walk around here or there for a few minutes. I can do this alone,” Allen pleaded but Kris wouldn’t take any risks.
“No.”
“Please, Kris! Just a few minutes. You don’t have to come with me. If someone asks, you can say I suddenly ran in there by myself.”
“That’s a really really really bad excuse. No means no,” Kris repeated.
“Come on Kris! I’m begging you. This is very, very important. I wouldn’t have come here if it wasn’t important. Please,” Allen knelt down and begged more. If Kris was Dom, he could bribe him with food but Kris did not look like someone who would take a bribe.
Watching Allen kneeling shook Kris’ heart a little. He paced back and forth, rubbing his chin and finally took his walkie-talkie from his back pocket. After talking to his walkie-talkie, he told Allen, “Okay. Only for thirty minutes. Give me your phone. I’ll set the timer.”
“Here.” Allen happily gave Kris his phone and let Kris do whatever he wanted with it. He looked at the numbers on the screen. Kris was setting an alarm for him. “Umm. You only set it to fifteen minutes, you said thirty minutes.”
“You’ll walk fifteen minutes further, and then another fifteen minutes going back. A total of thirty minutes.” Kris explained without looking at Allen. Allen mouths ‘fine’ to himself. Kris gave the phone back with the walkie-talkie to him.
“Take this walkie-talkie. There’s no signal here so you can’t use your phone. The other volunteers will reach this point soon so I can just share a walkie-talkie with them. I set the alarms for every five minutes and timer for 15 minutes, make sure you talk every five minutes. If you can’t hear anything from it, that means you’ve gone too far. Turn back when that happens.”
“Fine. Fine.”
“Remember, only fifteen minutes of walking. When the alarm goes off, turn back. I can’t wait here for more than thirty minutes, Allen. If you don’t come back in thirty minutes...I’m sorry...I have to...”
“I got it, Kris. Don’t worry. This is my decision.”
“Hold this tape,” Kris took a yellow neon tape and gave it to Allen. He bound one of the tape’s ends to the nearest tree. “Hold this tape,” Kris repeated. “If it’s reached the end, turn back, again that means you have gone too far. Don’t lose it, don't let go of it. I hope it will guide you back.”
“Okay. Got it.”
“Be safe.”
Holding the tape tightly, Allen marched into the forest. Every step he took, he would turn around to look back at Kris. Maybe he should have just listened to Kris and just turned back. Maybe, just maybe. He did not know anymore. He was scared but he knew he really had to do this.
“Okay, I can do this,” mumbled Allen to himself. The walk was even quieter than the walk he had with Kris. The deeper he went, the more the silence of the forest terrified him. Allen tried to break the silence and his fear by singing, “Mushroom, mushroom, where are you?”
Ringgggg! Ringgggg! Ringggggg!
“What? It’s been five minutes already?” Quickly, he pressed the switch on his walkie-talking and spoke to it. “Hello?! Hello?!”
“Hellooooooooo!” a clear, cheerful voice responded from the other line of the walkie-talkie.
“Kris?”
“Aaaaah...Nope! Chen and Dani here,” the voice corrected. “Who are you? Where are you?”
“It’s Allen,” Allen giggled. It was kinda good to hear a cheerful voice from the other line. “Can you inform Kris that I’m okay?”
“Yup. I saw him. We’re almost there.”
“Okay. Thank you,” Allen switched the walkie-talkie off and let out a heavy sigh. He can do this, he convinced himself while one hand was holding the tape while another was holding his phone as a flashlight. “This place is fucking dark. Is it night already? Please mushroom, let me find you.”
Suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks when a blood-curdling scream pierced through the trees of the forest. The natural reaction would be to run but Allen was too scared to move. “Shit! What was that?” He looked back and forth, left and right.
“Kris?” Allen called out, but no answer. Silence.
“Chen?” Silence.
“Dani?” No answer. Nothing. Allen was unsure if he should feel relieved or not. After convincing himself that maybe he was just imagining things, he took slow steps ahead, unaware that he was actually moving toward the sound. “Okay. No one. Mushroom. Mushroom.”
Ringgggg! Ringggg! Ringggg!
The alarm went off again, indicating another five minutes had passed. Allen halted again and talked to the walkie-talkie. “Hello? Hello?”
“. . . Buzzz. . . Buzzz. . . Kris. . . here. . . Buzzz. . . Buzzz. . .” The line was not as clear as before. Allen must have gone a bit further than he should be.
“Kris! I’m still okay. But still no signs of the mushroom here.”
“. . . Buzzz. . . Buzzz. . . 5 minutes. . . Buzzz. . . Go. . .”
Allen could not hear the words clearly. Did Kris tell him to go back or to keep going? He checked the time, and he knew he had five more minutes to walk before he had to turn back. “Okay. Talk to you again later.”
“Okay. 5 more minutes. I can do this.” He moved around faster than before. He searched behind every tree, underneath every root he could see but no mushroom could be found. With the low light, the progress of the search was really slow and it disappointed him more than anything else.
Ringgggggggggg! Ringggggg! Ringggg!
The last minutes and the countdown ended. Fifteen minutes had passed and now it was time to go back. “No! No! I wasn’t able to find it! Damn it! Fuck!”
Allen quickly took the walkie-talkie and talked to it. He was hoping he could convince Kris to give him five more minutes. “Hello?! Kris?!”
“Buzzz. . . Buzzz. . .”
No voice. Only the sound of the radio buzzing could be heard.
“Kris! I can’t hear anything. I didn’t find anything. I guess I’ll turn back now,” said Allen even though he doubted Kris could hear him.
Swiftly, he turned and slowly rolled the tape back. His heartbeat was getting faster, the air was changing, turning cold and thick. He felt as if something was behind him and it felt like it was getting closer. He could not help but run as fast as he could.
The alarm rang again. Allen jolted from the shock, accidentally dropping his phone. Why was there another alarm? He was too scared to turn back and pick up his phone so he just kept running.
“Kris! Chen! Anyone! Are you there?” “Kris! Kris! Damn it! Answer me!” Suddenly, he stopped. “Oh no!”
Allen realized that he was not holding onto his tape anymore. He had no idea when or where he dropped it. He had no phone, no light, only a walkie-talkie that only emitted static. He did not know where he was.
“I’m scared!”
And suddenly he was seized by a panic of fear for himself and for the issue of the whole forest. He was sweating more than he realized and he had a hard time trying to stabilize his breathing.
He could not think properly and it was affecting his judgement. His pace increased. The faster he walked, the more he felt like he was being ‘pulled’ away. He could feel something ‘dark’ behind him and it was getting closer and closer. Allen did not dare to look back. His heartbeat was pounding against his chest as if it was going to burst out of his torso.
Allen tried to run as fast as he could but the ground was uneven, rocky, and it made him confused thus slowing him down. His chest was hurting from the lack of oxygen, as though someone was squeezing his heart. Finally, he stopped, resting next to a tree, trying to catch his breath. He did not want to admit it, but he knew he was lost.
Shaking and panting heavily, Allen slowly turned to look at what was chasing him. It was pitch-black but he knew something was in there. He stepped back slowly and the last thing he saw was the faint light getting further and further away.

He fell into the darkness.