Jason’s eyelids were fidgeting. His heart was beating faster and faster by the second. Sweat was being formed on his forehead. As the seconds ticked by the sweat showered his face. Jason was startled. He didn’t comprehend what just happened. One moment, he was having a good time and the next moment he was scared witless. He replayed the incident over and over in his head. He couldn’t grasp the difference from his dream and his reality. He opened his eyes and they wandered aimlessly. He couldn’t see anything clearly yet; his eyes hadn’t adjusted to the faint light coming through the trees. When his eyes finally adjusted he saw he was surrounded by trees. He moved his head slightly to remove a crick he was feeling in his neck. When he moved his head, he felt something soft beneath him. He took his head off the soft object to identify it. The soft object he felt was the shoulders of his sleeping companion Chubby.

Jason was absolutely relieved after finding out he was back in reality. He wiped the sweat racing down his face and drool that was coming out his mouth. “Thank god!” he murmured ecstatically, “It was just a dream. I thought I was going to die for a second there,” mumbled Jason.

With everything clear, Jason was able to relax and got the chance to observe his surroundings. When he looked up, the rays of sunlight that found their way through the swaying trees hit his face. He closed his eyes for a moment to let the scattered light brush his tired face. A smile started creeping on his face. He was so relaxed he felt as if he was melting into his surroundings becoming one with nature. When he opened his eyes the feeling slowly escaped his grasp. “What a beautiful feeling,” he muttered.

Jason suddenly had the urge to explore the forest and intake more of its natural beauty. When he turned to look at the peaceful sleeping figure of Chubby, he wanted to shake him away. Jason didn’t feel like sitting down without anything to do, while waiting for Chubby to wake up. With a quick deliberation he decided to wake Chubby up. As his hands were about to touch Chubby, he had a good look at his sleeping figure. Chubby had a serene look on his face. That one look made Jason remember his serene moment from earlier. He decided against his foolish action. Waiting for a few minutes didn’t bother him anymore. He brought his head up to look at the swaying trees. While watching them he took in involuntary nap.

“Wake up buddy,” said Chubby while waving his hands close to Jason’s face.

“I’m awake, I’m awake. Sheesh I was just waiting for you to wake up,” Jason said after opening his eyes.

“Yea, whatever you say buddy,” Chubby replied.

Jason rose to his feet after thinking it wasn’t worth arguing with Chubby about who was awake first. He patted his back side to get the dirt and dead leaves off of him. Jason cupped both of his hands behind his head. “We could either continue to argue or find a way out of this forest,” stated Jason with his eyes drifting afar. It was as if he was a psychic with the abilities of looking into the future.

Jason didn’t hear Chubby’s response to the question, so he turned to face him. Chubby smiled at him before mimicking him. He cupped his hands behind his head and his eyes were wondering afar. “Whatever you say buddy,” Chubby replied as they both laughed.

“Alright,” replied Jason as he exhaled before he closed his eyes. He dropped his left arm ehile positioning his right arm in front of him. After waiting five seconds, he spun his body in a complete circle several times before stopping. He opened his eyes to find his hands pointing in the direction of Chubby. He decisively turned around and started walking the exact opposite direction.

He stopped and turned around to see Chubby wasn’t moving. “Are you coming,” Jason asked questionably.

Chubby turned to look behind him. He only saw trees and nothing else out of the ordinary. Chubby became increasingly puzzled as to why Jason didn’t walk in his direction. Chubby began to question Jason’s decision: “What?”. “What’s going on?”, “What just happened?”, “Did I miss something,” were the thoughts going through his mind. He didn’t have a better logic as to why they should walk I the direction which Jason had gambled in the first place. Chubby caught up to Jason after a quick jog. He stopped in front of Jason and turned around to face him.

“Why didn’t you go the way you were pointing at,” implored Chubby.

“Oh that, I basically flipped a coin and decided to go the opposite way. We don’t’ know how to navigate around here because everywhere looks the same. So, in my head it doesn’t matter where we go as long as we get there,” answered Jason.

“I get that part, but why didn’t you go the direction you first pointed at,” Chubby asked again.

“This may sound a little crazy, but I did the exact same thing to find you when I was lost.”

“Oh, I kind of understand, but aren’t you worried that we’ll get lost by going this way? Wait we are already lost so it kind of doesn’t matter at this point, does it?”

Jason shook his head at the rhetorical question before walking around Chubby. “Are you coming?” inquired Jason as he started walking away. Chubby quickly followed after him.

For the next hour or so, they continued to walk. They talked to lessening their perception of time. They passed an enumerable number of trees that looked the same. There were a couple of trees that caught their attention the most. There were a few trees that resembled a family. One of the trees in the family had leaves the color of blood. Every time they looked at the tree, they had an illusion of them stepping into a bloody battlefield where a race of six armed figures were slaughtering monsters many times their size. When one of the figures turned to face them, they felt their blood run cold and where immediately pushed out the illusion. The second tree in the family had leaves the color of cyan. When they looked at the tree they were brought into an illusion of them being in a clear blue ocean surrounded by beautiful mermaids playing their zithers while singing a beautiful song. The illusion was both peaceful and beautiful. The last tree in the family was wedged in between the blood red and cyan trees. It was the smallest of the three trees with electric, purple leaves. When Jason and Chubby looked at the small tree they were brought into an illusion of a battlefield with the six-armed figures fighting the giant monsters with the beautiful mermaids singing their songs to encourage the slaughter. The illusion was a beautiful contradiction.

There was a section in the forest where the trees resembled a cherry blossom tree. The leaves of the tree were similar to the colors of the Anemone flower. As they walked passed the trees the flowers started to fall down. The scene resembled pink snow slowly falling from the sky. Jason caught one of the falling leaves. The leaf was soft to the touch. When he brought the leaf close to his nose, he inhaled the aroma of freshly squeezed cherries. Jason told Chubby to catch one of the falling leaves and smell it. Chubby had a content look on his face after smelling it. Jason and Chubby both climbed the tree hoping to find some cherries to eat. They couldn’t find any cherries on the tree. The smell emitted from the cherry blossom satisfied their hunger. After coming up empty handed Jason and Chubby continued to walk until they heard a streaming sound. Following the direction of the sound, they found a flowing river.

They ran to the river in desperation for water. They devoured the water, in that moment, they realized they were extremely dehydrated. The water wasn’t stagnant so it was relatively safe to drink. After satisfying his thirst, Jason examined the river. From the shore they were on to the shore on the other side of the river, it was about two hundred feet wide. The water was so clear you could see the depth of the river. The river ranged from a couple inches deep to about ten feet deep or even deeper. The river was so long he couldn’t see the end of it.

Jason took a step backward to look at the sky. He squints his eyes as he looked up. He found the sun in the middle of the sky. From the position of the sun, Jason guessed it was around noon. Jason stomach growled. It was like his body subconsciously felt hungry once he estimated the time.

He turned to face Chubby, who was still drinking water, and said “I’m getting hungry, so I’ll look around here to see if I could find something to eat. I won’t go too far so don’t worry if you can’t see me.” Chubby stopped drinking water for a moment to acknowledge Jason. He instantly went back to drinking water.

Throughout their journey, they didn’t see or hear any animals. the only food they had found were the mushrooms from last night. Jason’s only expectation was to find more mushrooms.