Lost in the woods

"Any one of you have been on this trek earlier" Pete questioned.

"Well I have" Lucas blurted out "Come on Follow me"

The jungle was dense and as it was early in morning the mud was still wet from yesterday's heavy rainfall. Tom was no where to be seen and so was Rosie. However Esme, Pete, Freya and Lucas decided to stick together.

Lucas was holding the map and directing everyone. The jungle started getting more denser and almost half the day had past.

"So your mother is an Archeologist huh" said Lucas.

"was" Esme whispered.

"Oh I am sorry....I know its out of line but what happened" said Lucas.

"I.....I don't know" Esme suddenly paused. Her feet stopped moving and her limbs felt numb. The events of the past year started to haunt her back. She could hear scream... her own scream in her mind. She started to sweat. She could feel her heart throbbing. It was like she relived that day allover again. She took a deep breath and swallowed the lump in her throat.

"Oh Esme I am so sorry....please don't cry" Lucas came infront of her to console her.

"I am not crying" Esme moved her hands towards her cheeks to notice tears rolling down.

Lucas wiped of her tears from her eyes. This is the first time she had properly looked at him. He had a sharp jawline. His eyes were black as if hiding deep secrets within. He looked towards her and smiled slightly. His smile seemed very genuine. He pushed back his jet black hair which was on his forehead. Esme had been staring at him for a while now, Lucas kept a straight face for a while and stared back at her.

Pete and Freya were now far ahead of them but at a visible distance.

"Hey guys!.... what happened? come on we have to reach camp before it gets dark....No time for rest" Pete called out.

Esme and Lucas looked towards Pete who was standing at top of a rock waving hands. Lucas offered Esme his hand which she bashfully took, he helped her climb up the rocks to reach where Pete and Freya stood.

"Which way now?" Freya asked. Lucas opened the map quickly and began to read "We will have to cross that mountain" he said pointing towards a mountain.

"You are sure? I don't think it is right" Freya suspected.

"And why is that?" Lucas raised his eyebrows.

"I can't see the flag...the flag that Mrs Cooper showed us. It was visible from such a long distance but now it is no where to be seen" Freya explained.

"Its weird we didn't even come across a single group" Pete commented.

"You are right, it is weird. There also no sign or indications around" said Esme.

"Lucas are you sure you are reading the map correctly" said Pete.

"Yes I am"

"I think you are not" said Freya, "Look I think we should go back the same way we came"

"But we have come so far. Trust me we will reach soon" Lucas exclaimed.

"Well since you have been on this trek before" said Pete. The expression on the face of Lucas suddenly changed. It was evident something was wrong.

"Is there something wrong?" Esme was now concerned. Lucas didn't speak for sometime. Everyone kept looking at him waiting for him to answer. When he broke his silence everyone was a little taken back.

"uhh... Actually.....this is the first time I have been here" Lucas said with a little hesitation.

"What!" others said in unison.

It was very confusing for everyone. Why did he have to lie about it? None of them had ever been on this camp and it made no sense in lying.

"Then why did you said you have been here" Esme asked.

"Well.....I guess I lied" Lucas said rubbing his forehead. Esme was a little taken back with this sudden change in behavior.

"Okay so its official" Freya stated. She had already started to freak out. She almost had a panic attack in the middle of the jungle.

"What is official?" questioned Lucas.

"That we are lost" Freya and Esme said in unison. Seeing the girls extremely angry Lucas decided to not speak any further.

"Guys I think Freya was right. Lets go back right away" Pete started to walk back down the hill. Pete stepped down few rocks, there was no stopping him. He decided to take matters into his own hands now.

Lucas ran towards Pete to stop him "Pete wait.....if we leave each other alone we will definitely get lost"

"We are lost" Esme correct him.

"We are not lost...lets just follow the map we will be there soon" Lucas assured.

Esme gave him a blank stare

"okay I am really sorry.....I shouldn't have lied"

"Well now your sorry isn't going to help. We will have to figure out something before it gets dark" Freya said.

"Lets start with figuring out where we are right now" Esme suggested. She took the map from Lucas who reluctantly gave it to her. She opened it completely and laid it down on a big table shaped rock that was near her left.

"So we started from here...and were suppose to follow this path" she pointed on the map.

"What are you trying to do?" Lucas questioned raising his hands in air.

"Trying to trace back our path" Esme said without looking up. He has definitely never trekked in his life Esme thought.

"Why don't we just start walking the way down?" Pete was getting impatient.

"Because it will only make the matter worse. We might even find ourselves even more deep in the jungle" Esme's eyes were glued to the map.

"This is so weird there is no river in section one" Esme stated.

"So?"Pete asked.

"We just crossed a river half an hour ago" Esme looked at him in disbelief. How is this possible for someone to have such weak memory. Pete just gave checky smile. If Esme won't have stopped them from going back it was sure they would have been in much more deeper trouble.

"What do you mean there is no river in section one?" Freya came besides Esme and started to read the map with her.

"Look there is one river here" Freya pointed out the single river that was present on the map.

"Yes but that is in between section three and four" Esme stated.

Freya and Esme stared at each other knowingly.