My best friend Jordan and I went on a camping trip. It wasn't at one of those campgrounds with facilities and a pool; we were on our own in the woods. Just the two of us. After parking the car at the entrance of the dispersed campground, we grabbed our heavy backpacks with all of our supplies and headed down the trail. At first, things seemed typical. It was a nice day, the sun was out but it wasn't too hot, and the trees gently swayed about. This wasn't our first time camping on our own. We knew what to expect.
Jordan wiped the sweat from her brow. "Should we set up our tents soon?"
"Hmm... Maybe we should go a bit further down?" I unfolded the map I had gotten from a friend who was also an avid camper and analyzed it for a moment. "It says there should be a waterfall up ahead on the map."
Jordan tightened the straps of her backpack and we kept on walking. Eventually, we began to hike off the trail to find the waterfall that was marked on the map. While we searched, a voice called out.
"Hey! Hey there!"
Jordan and I both turned to see a hiker coming toward us. He had a nice hat that kept the sun from his eyes and he also had a fancy hiking stick.
Jordan waved to the man. "Hi, I'm Jordan."
"I'm Cam." I reached out to shake his hand. His palms were cold.
"Sorry to bother you. I got separated from my friends." The man scratched his neck. "Does your map happen to tell you where Ender Fall is?"
"Oh yeah," I said. "That's the name of the waterfall we're looking for." I pointed to the marker on the map as he leaned in to have a look.
"Mind if I join you guys?" he asked with a smile.
Jordan and I nodded.
The three of us kept walking through tall grass and shrubs. The hiker was nice enough to use his hiking stick to clear a path for us a bit. He told us that he was with two of his friends and that they were headed for Ender Fall but somehow he lost them.
"You never told us your name." Jordan nudged our new friend's shoulder.
"Jason."
Finally, we were able to see the waterfall through the trees and as we got closer, two men appeared in our view.
"Hey Jason, are those your friends?" I asked him.
I turned when I felt a hand tightly grip my arm and pull me back. Jason had tears in his eyes and his bottom lip quivered while he attempted to speak.
"Th-there they are..."
Jordan nudged him again. "What's the matter?" she giggled. "Those are the guys, right?"
Jason trembled. "There they are..." His eyes glazed over.
Jordan and I turned to look at Jason's friends through the bushes and noticed they looked panicked. We listened in on what they were saying, careful to make sure they couldn't see us.
"Dude... We are so screwed..."
"Just shut up! No one will know. When we get back we'll just say he went missing."
"But we killed him! He fell!"
"It was an accident! Now just shut up and let's get out of here!"
The two men grabbed their things and quickly disappeared into the woods.
Jordan nervously laughed. "Jason, what is this?"
"They pushed me."
After Jordan and I both heard him say those words, we turned around to look at Jason but he was no longer there. Jordan jumped and clung to my arm.
"Where did he go?!" She looked around for him.
"I-I don't know." I looked at the waterfall. "This has to be some prank."
With Jordan still attached to my arm, we waddled closer to the waterfall and saw something sprawled out on the rocks below the flowing water.
It was Jason, mangled and bleeding.