The Turn Of The Night

Chapter 17

'The weather smoothed out, see.' Darsh said. 'Yup, apart from the colour of the sky.' Aarush groaned. 'Its still black.Pfft'. 'Well, apparently it's black all the time. But see, no sound, they were killing my ears.' Darsh scoffed. 'Yup, wonder whether the spirits helped us.' Aarush replied. 'Well then spirits are a lot different from 1920 and Conjuring.' Darsh laughed.

The sky still was perfectly dark with a hue of violet etched across the skyline. Trees were thinning out in this part of the forest. And the creepers, hedges and bushes too were fewer in number.

'You know what? Good the girls didn't come or we would have died.'Aarush said blankly.'Yeah absolutely, running and those two are poles apart. On the bright side they would learn how to run though. ' Darsh jeered. ' Ghosh, we haven't changed for so many days.' Aarush replied. 'I don't smell and if I don't then it's not a problem.' Darsh grinned as he sniffed his shirt. 'You nasty piece of shit.' Aarush glared.

'Umm by the way we are going in a straight path right ? Regarding your hypothesis of following the enemy UFO.' Darsh joked. 'Yup, i am seeing each successive tree and then when I , which is we but you don't count, am reaching that one then I am like focusing on another tree so that we don't walk in circles.' Aarush said. 'Booo, what do you mean I don't count hah? And from where the heck such a brilliant plan comes to your mind?' Darsh asked with scrutinized eyes. 'Its mine.' pouted Aarush. Darsh continued his stare. 'Okay, I saw Bear Grylls doing that.' He admitted and averted his gaze. Darsh started chuckling.

'Good thing we don't feel hungry, or following him, you would have devoured me.' Darsh said as he continued laughing. 'Shut up' glared Aarush. 'Okay okay, cool, seems like your plan is working though, forest is thinning out and these small plants are no longer tripping me.' Darsh replied. 'Hah' Aarush smirked.

The boys had walked a long distance since the moment they had arrived. However , time never seemed to move in this place, or maybe it was just because of their malfunctioning watches.

'Hey, look, there are no trees there.' Aarush said as he jumped in excitement. Both of them ran towards the place only to stop at the last moment. It was a downward slope filled with small pebbles and earthen mounds. Below it lay an area covered with trees. However it wasn't as dense as the forest at their back. In fact there seemed to be an open area after the trees, but the boys' view was obscured by the darkness.

'Let's go down.' suggested Darsh. 'Yeah absolutely.' Aarush replied as he hunched back ready to jump. 'Hey i***t cool..' Darsh said as he pulled him back. 'What the hell? You said jump' Aarush glared in anger. ' No i mean yes , but I didn't expect you to take my advice so readily. Well if we do go down, it's best to slide down, at least we won't be breaking our bones in case of a bad fall.' Darsh replied gravely. Now it was Aarush's time to become the scrutinizer. 'And is that your knowledge, dear friend?' he asked mockingly. 'No, Bear Grylls..' Darsh heaved.

Hahahahaha….the boys' laughter echoed through the forest.

'Okay , since you gave the idea, you slide first.' Aarush taunted Darsh. Normally, it would have been Aarush who would have gone down as he was more outgoing and risk loving than Darsh.

'Okay okay..' Darsh said as he readied himself upon the top of the sliding landscape. He then threw his backpack down the slide. 'What the heck was that for?' Aarush puzzled. 'Well, lessen your weight .' Darsh said as he looked away from Aarush. ' When we go back home , I am going to ask you mom to keep a check on you watching Bear Grylls.' He scoffed. ' Okay , 1 , 2 , 3…' Darsh jumped down on his trousers and started sliding down the earth. For a moment it seemed as if he would somersault down and fall on his head but somehow at the last moment he caught hold of a mount and steadied himself and scrambled to the bottom.

'Now i am gonna watch Aarush do that and break his bones.' smirked Darsh as he looked up. But Aarush wasn't there. 'What the hell now!!' Darsh said to himself. 'Aarush..' he shouted.

Someone poked him from the back. 'Oww.. hey..' Darsh said as he turned back and was startled to see Aarush at his back. 'Heyy hey you did magic or what?' he asked.

'There's this stair kinda thing made by the roots of the plants, I walked down.' Aarush smirked at his face. ' Where..' asked a startled Darsh. 'A bit right to the place where you did your jumping jack thing ..' Aarush replied. 'I didn't see.' fumbled Darsh. 'You didn't look.' Aarush replied. 'Chop Chop, time for us to reach the end of the trees now.' he continued. 'Yeah' groaned Darsh as he picked up his backpack from beneath a tree and slung it on his shoulders.

'That was cheating ..' Darsh frowned as both resumed their walk and entered the groove. 'Nope.. come on, accept the fact you are an i***t .' Aarush replied. ' No you are, you didn't tell me the easy way down.' Darsh said.

The ground had a soft layering of grass and the absence of bushes made it easier for them to walk at a faster pace. After minutes, the groove too started thinning out.

' Wonder what's gonna be behind these stupid big trees.' Darsh said as he took his anger out on them. His shirt had endured scratches and cuts at various places owing to his shenanigans.

' Walk.. we are near the end now…' Aarush said. Only a few trees stood between them and what lay beyond. Unable to contain their curiosity, the boys ran to the edge of the groove. The trees really ended.

'Now this looks straight outta a ghost movie set..' Aarush said as he scanned his surroundings.