"Are you really going to drive home in this weather?" Alex asked as he peered out the glass window and into the raging storm outside.

"Yeah. I need to go home," Caleb replied as he fixed his things and put them inside his bag. He drank the remaining coffee inside his cup before throwing it into the trash can.

"Why? You can stay for the night. I don't mind," Alex said, trying to persuade him to not go into the thick of the bad weather they were currently having. It was clear on his face that he was worried for Caleb. It was clearly a bad idea to go driving in such a weather, more so when he knew that Caleb was tired and lacking sleep.

Caleb was touched by Alex' worry and care for him but it didn't change his mind. He needed to go home. He needed to rest and prepare for the people coming.

"Thank you Alex but no. I really need to go home," He repeated, more firmly this time to show how serious he was.

"But why? Don't you see how bad it is out there?" He pointed outside, clearly indicating to the terrible rainfall. As the sound of rain water hitting the ground nearly drowned out any other noises, the two had to speak louder to be understood.

Caleb sighed. He tugged at the collar of his jacket as he turned to face his friend. "I need to prepare and clean up the house, Alex. My family is coming."

That stopped Alex in his tracks. "Really? Your parents?"

Caleb nodded, knowing what was in his friend's mind. Reluctant, Alex sighed as he nodded in understanding. "I see. I guess you really do need to go home."

"I do," Caleb zipped his bag closed and shouldered it on.

"Caleb," Alex grabbed Caleb's shoulders in a show of support. "Everything's going to be fine. Believe it."

Caleb softly smiled at Alex. This was one of the reason why he fell for his best friend during their early days of getting to know each other. Not anymore, but still. That quality, that bone deep kindness of his, had always been what made Alex a great friend and someone worthy of admiring.

"I know. But thank you, Alex. For everything," Caleb clasped his hand on the other’s shoulder for a brief moment before letting go.

Alex shrugged his shoulders in an uncharacteristically bashful manner. "Don't get soft on me now," Alex walked behind the counter and grabbed something from a space that was hidden behind the wooden counter. It was a navy wool scarf. "Here. Take it so that you won’t get cold or wet too much out there," Alex wrapped it around Caleb's neck.

"Thank you," Caleb said in a deep voice, thick with emotion and gratitude. He touched the scarf wrapped around his neck softly. "I'm pretty sure the rain is gonna stop later on. But still, thank you Alex," He buried his head into the warmth that the scarf was giving, the smell of new scarf wafting towards his nose. "And don't worry too much," He uttered, trying to calm down his worry-wart of a friend. "You really should calm down, Alex, you're going to lose all of your hair at this point," Caleb added in a joking manner.

His trick worked. His words moved Alex' focus from worrying to embarrassment. His hairline had always been his weakness, and Caleb had numerously used it against him in a friendly teasing manner.

"Don't jinx me, Caleb!" Alex exclaimed while patting his hair. "But seriously, be careful out there, okay?" Alex said, still worried at the idea of him driving while tired. Add the fact that they were currently in the middle of a terrible weather. It was the perfect recipe for an accident.

"I will. Thanks, Alex," He nodded at the other man before opening the door of the store they were in. As the rain began to wet his clothes, Caleb ran for it.

"Bye Caleb. Be careful!" Alex said as Caleb ran out the door. He followed after him a couple of steps out of the door and then shouted at Caleb who was halfway to his car, "And be careful of the road near the cliffs. There's been a few accidents there before." He warned, his voice echoing in the empty parking lot.

"Okay!" Caleb shouted back just as he arrived at his car. He fished out the keys from his pocket and with a turn of the key, the door of his car finally unlocked. Not wasting time, Caleb entered and briskly closed the door before more rainwater could enter.

He started the car and with a smooth purr of the engine, rolled out of the driveway. As he was driving down the road and away from the store that Alex owned, he turned on the heat and sighed in relief as it chased away the cold that was seeping into his body.

He was just about to turn into the usual path he always takes to get to his home when he slammed the brakes down to stop his car before it could slam into the thing blocking the road. There was a fallen tree in the middle of the road, its massive trunk blocking the way.

“Damn!” Caleb cursed a little bit at the sight of the obstruction in his path. He backed up as he tried to remember if there was another road that he could take.

After a couple of minutes of backtracking, his eyes saw something to the left. It was an old and beaten trail leading into the forest. And it looked like, from the direction it was leading to, it would connect back with the main road.

"Has that road always been there?" Caleb asked out loud at the sight of the old beaten road that was leading towards the direction of the cliffs. After a few moments of thinking, he shook his head before deciding to take it. There was no other way and he wasn't about to waste time and wait for the tree to be moved. It would take too long.

He was cold, you see, and tired. And he had things to do and a house to clean. All he wanted at that moment was to rest. So he turned his wheel and drove down the path.

After all, what could go wrong?

If he knew what was going to happen next, he would have never thought of those words. He jinxed himself. How unlucky.

Caleb had live in the Town of Aldos ever since he was young. It was a pretty normal and boring town. Nothing that exciting happens in it. Accidents rarely ever happened here. Everyone knew each other here so there was no creepy pervert or killer psychopath hiding in the forest, this he was sure of. It was a very unlikely thing to occur. This was why he was so confident in doing something like driving down a mysterious old path.

Caleb couldn't help but shiver as he drove pass a sign that was rusted all over. Through the fogged windows, he could barely see the illegible writings on the sign. But with how rusted and old it looked, it was no surprise that he couldn't read what was written on it coherently.

It was half an hour later that he had to admit ruefully to himself that he was lost. Somewhere along these back roads he must have taken a wrong turn. He knew that the road must connect to the main road. All roads near the town always lead back to the main road that bisected the Town of Aldos into the Northside and Southside. So it was perplexing for Caleb to somehow find himself lost.

Rain continued to beat down on the roof of his car, droplets bouncing off the glass screens. He eased off on the accelerator a little bit. He hadn't been driving too fast in first place even though he was impatient to go home, but he had to go slower now because of the reduced visibility of the path and the fact that he didn't know the area of where he was currently at.

It was late afternoon but there was hardly any light to be seen due to the dark clouds that were covering the sky completely. Add the fact that the ancient trees that were towering over his car shaded him further, taking away the little bit of light there was. It forced Caleb to turn his headlights on but it was useless. It barely illuminated anything. The light shined down a few meters into the muddy road in front of him before it slowly got swallowed by the shadows.

He shook his head briefly, regretting a little bit his decision to take the shortcut that he wasn't familiar with. Instead of reaching his house earlier, it did the opposite.

He peered out the windows but he could barely see anything at all. The only thing he could see was the dark silhouettes of the forest around him. It was so dark and eerie outside that Caleb couldn't help but shudder a little bit. Goosebumps appeared on his skin but he just ignored it.

It was an hour later and no road made of asphalt and concrete could be seen. His eyes were aching as he drove further and further into what seemed like an endless path to Caleb.

He looked at his watch and saw that it was 6:30 pm already. It was already dark. He should have been home by now. It felt like there was a heavy weight on his body as the lack of sleep and tiredness slowly got to him.

His forced his eyes wide open and gave himself a couple of slaps on the cheeks to keep himself awake as the urge to briefly close his eyes became overwhelming.

"I'm lost. Lost. Lost. And lost. Lost. And lost," He repeatedly said, saying the words out loud. He was trying to keep himself awake by talking to himself. And deep inside, Caleb knew he was doing this to fill the eerie silence that was slowly enveloping him, slowly choking him with the absence of noise. "Ugh! Why did I even take this road? Oh right! I thought it was a shortcut! Like hell it is!" He added in a sarcastic tone.

Nothing looked right at all. Nothing looked familiar to Caleb. This was alarmingly repeating inside of Caleb. It made his heart beat fast with something unexplainable. He grew up in this place, this wood was like his backyard, so why does he not recognize any landmark at all?! Absolutely nothing! He shouldn’t be lost at all!

He took out his phone and tried to call Alex but unluckily for him, there was no signal wherever he was. "No signal?! Damn it! How unlucky can I be?!" He hissed out at the sight of the bar-less symbol on his phone.

Suddenly, something flashed in front of him. It startled the hell out of Caleb. He nearly jumped out of his skin in shock. Clutching at his chest, his heart beating so loud like it was about to burst out of his body.

Caleb peered out into the darkness, trying to see whatever it was that he saw a moment ago. It was very faint but he could barely see something past the light of his headlights. His eyes ached harder but he was certain that what he was seeing was a silhouette. And from the form of the silhouette, he was pretty sure it was the figure of a person, an adult male most likely.

He was so relieved at the sight of someone other than himself that he didn't even consider or question why someone would be in a remote place like this. He rolled down the window and stuck his head out, uncaring of the rain that was wetting his face and hair.

"Hello? Hello? Do you know where we are? Can you help me? I think I'm lost!" Caleb shouted to the direction of the silhouette.

There was silence. There was no reply. It confused the hell out of Caleb. A moment later, he thought up the excuse that he wasn't heard by the other person. He floored the accelerator, moving his car closer to the other person so that he could be seen and heard by the stranger.

"I'm lost! Do you know where the main road is? Can you help me?!" He shouted again but still there was no reply. Only his voice could be heard echoing in the dark forest they were in.

This time, Caleb could faintly sense that something was wrong. He was driving towards the silhouette of the other person but why was it that he hadn't reached them yet? It felt like the distance was widening instead of shortening.

But before he could do anything with that faint sense of wrongness he was feeling, something much, much worse happened.

A painful headache assailed Caleb's head. It felt like his head was going to split. He had no choice but to pull his head back inside his car. The pain made him forget to close the window, it was distracting him with pain from caring how wet he was becoming.

With his left hand on the wheel, his right hand was free to move to cradle his forehead. It felt like someone was hammering at his head. It was that painful.

He gritted his teeth and his left hand tightened its grip on the wheel. He hissed out, barely holding himself from cursing out loud. He closed his eye harshly, trying to push away the aching of his eyes and the pounding of his head. But it was useless. It didn't left him. Somehow, it became worse instead.

Lightning flashed, like a swift snake, it crossed the sky. It briefly illuminated the area where Caleb was in. It was brief but he could swear that he saw a man wearing a hoodie hidden underneath the eaves of a tree a couple of meters away from where he was. And the creepy thing was that Caleb was also sure that they were looking at him.

If that person was the silhouette he saw, then when did they move from being in front of them to standing at the side of the road?

Thunder followed lighting and the roar disturbed the eerie silenced that had been slowly encroaching within the dark forest he was in. He didn't see what they look like, the shadow of their hood hid their features quite well.

As he was gazing into the direction of where he suspected the person in the black hoodie was standing before, his vision suddenly blurred and darkened at a rapid pace.

It was all a blur to Caleb's eyes. The pounding of his heart was all he could hear. The ache behind his eyes and the pounding inside his head somehow became worse. Caleb couldn't help but groan out in pain.

Suddenly, light flashed again. This time, it was harsher. It was so bright that his eyes got wet from the burn of seeing such a bright flash when they had gotten so used to the darkness. It was lightning. Lightning had struck the tree a few meters away from Caleb. It lit the tree on fire in an uncontrollable blaze.

Seeing the fire made him panicked. He jerked the wheel wildly, every instinct he had telling him to get away from the fire. And that was when everything suddenly went wrong even more. Without realizing it, Caleb’s car was on top of a small hill, and then gravity pulled the car down the incline on the side. He couldn't control his car at all. It slid wildly down the wet and muddy road. He tried to turn the wheel but it just spun wildly.

Caleb managed to take back control for a little while but it was far too late. They had already crashed against a metal pole with a sign on top. The light of the headlights glinted off the metal harshly. It broke and flipped multiple times in midair before crashing down on the ground in a loud noise.

As mud slowly covered the rusted sign, only the word ‘Warning’ could be seen. As well as the stickman figure of someone falling.

It happened too fast for Caleb to see what sort of sign it was. And even if he saw what was written on it, he had a far worse matter to worry about.

Because you see, past the metal pole was a sheer drop down to the sea. Yes, somehow, he found himself around the cliff area. And Caleb who was inside the car was heading straight towards the edge.

He jerked the wheel sharply to the side and pressed his foot with all of his might at the break. It caused the car to spin wildly, the tires started slipping in the slippery mud. And before he knew it, he had lost control again. And before he can do anything else, like take control of the vehicle again or prevent the vehicle from driving off the edge, they had lost the initiative to do so.

Because it was too late. The car had already driven past the edge and off it went down the cliff.

In a soundless scream, Caleb got pulled flat against the driver’s seat because of the seatbelt he was wearing. His head snapped forward and it felt like it hit something before it got slammed back into the headrest of his seat.

Everything was a chaotic blur to Caleb. It all happened too fast for him to think about all of it, or even anything at that point. The pain he was in didn't help him one bit.

At the side mirror, just outside of the driver’s side, something on it caught Caleb's eyes. It was the reflection of the person he briefly saw earlier. Standing on top of the cliff he just fell down from was a person in all black clothing. They were looking straight at him, or maybe it was the falling car.

Who knows for sure?

Not Caleb. Not him, because for him...

The world had already gone black.