Chapter 3

***

"YOU'RE CRAZY! YOU WANT TO DIE HUH!" Darice shouted loudly. Ana put the phone away and rubbed her ears waiting for Darice's shouting to die down.

"ANA CAN YOU HEAR ME?!" Darice called her friend's name when she got no response.

"Are you done screaming?" Ana answered with a question.

Darice only mumbled. Ana sighed again. "I'm fine and of course still sane."

"Then why did you go there?" Darice asked skeptically.

"I have to prove that what the book says is true." Ana sat back in the chair.

"I told you the book was just nonsense." Darice sighed tiredly on the other side.

"After I checked and found out I was wrong. I promise I will let you think of me as crazy or whatever. Even if you put me in a mental hospital. I don't care but before that let me find out first." Ana tried to persuade.

Darice chuckled. It was useless to forbid Ana, she knew her friend very well. That's why she decided to give in. "Okay. But you have to promise me one thing."

"Whatever it is." Ana smiled.

"Promise not to do anything dangerous and go home immediately after you found whatever you want to find." Darice said softly.

"I promise. If I feel that my search is dangerous then I will return home immediately." Ana made a promise.

"If you break your promise I will stop being your friend." Darice threatened.

Ana laughed. "Okay, okay. I will keep that promise. I really feel sorry for you if I don't become your friend anymore. You won't have any friends, right?"

"Damn you." Darice exclaimed in annoyance.

"Where are you now?" Ana asked.

"I'm in front of your house. I was going to take you out for some fresh air on the weekend. But when I asked your grandmother, she said you went to Alaska. I just went out and called." Darice replied.

"Is grandma okay?" Ana asked again.

"Of course. She was watering the garden earlier." Darice nodded while glancing at Ana's front yard.

"That's a relief. Please take care of grandma while I go to Alaska." Ana sipped her coffee.

"You don't have to worry about me taking care of your grandmother. Just worry about yourself when you get home." Ana smiled amusedly at Darice. They continued their conversation for a while before ending the call.

Ana finished her bread and coffee, then put on a thick black jacket. Although it was not winter Alaska was still cold. The country adjacent to the north pole had colder temperatures than her home country.

Ana put her brown-bound book and other supplies into her black backpack. After making sure nothing was left behind Ana left the room, went down to the first floor to tell the receptionist that she would be gone for the day and then took a taxi to the forest.

The hour-long ride was spent looking at the scenery while taking pictures with the camera she had brought. It wasn't long before Ana arrived at the entrance of the forest. The taxi driver asked Ana why she had come here and she replied that it was for research.

After the taxi left Ana stared at the dense forest in front of her eyes. Convincing herself that she would be fine. Ana nodded, took a breath, then fixing her backpack Ana began to step into the dense forest.

Ten meters in Ana could see that the forest was very dense because very little sunlight could penetrate the trees, making the atmosphere a little eerie. The girl took out a brown-bound book and started reading the notes inside.

Ana continued to go deeper and deeper. At the moment she hadn't found anything. There was not a single animal roaming around and nothing strange. Ana continued walking about five hundred meters from the entrance gate, Ana found a tree like the one described in the book.

Ana stared at the tree and then read the note in the book.

'Two trees with carvings of five crescents that seem to reflect light.'

Ana held the carved symbol of one of the trees. "There is no mistake, this must be the tree in book." Ana looked around, there was nothing special around there.

Ana took a few steps back and raised her camera. She took several pictures of the two trees. Ana looked at her shots. After being satisfied with the photo of the two trees Ana stepped past the tree into the deepening forest. The two trees were two meters apart, that's where Ana stepped from.

When Ana's foot stepped on the ground behind the tree. Ana's heart seemed to beat slowly for a moment. Ana stopped walking and held her chest. But there was nothing. She was fine. The girl wanted to get some drinking water from her backpack but something in front of her startled her. Ana's eyes rounded fully.

***

"Who are you?" Ana ventured to laugh.

The man in front of her smiled eerily. "I will eat you."

Ana widened her eyes. Obviously the person in front of her was out of his mind. Ana turned around and ran as fast as she could towards the deeper forest.

The girl was so scared, she had run with all her might but the person was able to quickly catch up with her.

Ana exerted all her strength to run but her foot caught on a tree root making her fall and Ana was sure her foot must have been dislocated. But the girl didn't care as she quickly got up and went back to running with hobbled legs.

"Enough fooling around pretty girl." The hand of the man chasing Ana landed on her shoulder.

The man pulled Ana's shoulder and made her fall down. Ana was so scared she grabbed the camera and hit the man in the nose.

The man got angry and slammed Ana's camera down.

Not only that, Ana took off her backpack and hit the man, threw the bag and started running again. But Ana could only run three meters because the man immediately caught Ana. The man threw Ana, making her cry out in pain. Her back had just hit a tree.

"Plak!" The man slapped Ana's face. Not just once but many times. Ana felt her vision start to spin.

"You lowly human." The man held Ana's chin. "I'm going to eat you very brutally in return for your punch."

Ana did not shake her head, she was so scared. Darice was right that all this was dangerous. She was already crazy. She would not be able to keep her promise to Darice.

"Help me..." Ana said weakly. "I'm sorry Darice." Ana began to close her eyes as her neck was strangled by the man.

Before she actually fell unconscious Ana heard a howl that made her feel safe.

***