Short story: Adventures into woods

By Adrika Daksha

Alex finally began to understand the meaning of the commonly used idiom, ‘curiosity killed the cat.’ It was a phrase he had heard often from his parents.

But when his two best friends wanted to explore the woods behind his house, he couldn’t help but give in to curiosity. The plan was quite simple. Alex, Lila and Nate would meet at Alex’s house and go explore the woods. It wasn’t going to be dangerous. However, they were planning to derail from the trails, so there was a chance that they might get lost.

That Sunday afternoon, Alex packed his backpack with snacks, drinks and a fully charged flashlight. Next, he waited for his friends to arrive. Lila and Nate reached after lunch time and soon the three headed to the woods. In the beginning, it was quite relaxing, and they chatted along the way. After an hour or so, they had begun to reach a deeper part of the woods. They were also a little tired from all the walking. So, they decided to rest for a bit and then continue further.

But Nate wasn’t tired at all. He said, “Hey guys, I am just going to explore a bit more. I promise to be back in 5 minutes”. 

Fifteen minutes passed and Nate wasn’t back!

Alex and Lila started to worry. And so, they decided to look for Nate. They called out, “Nate!” about a dozen times but got no reply. While Alex was busy searching for Nate, he realised that he had somehow got separated from Lila too. Panicking, he looked at his mobile phone – there was no reception there, either.

After a few minutes of wandering, he finally found Nate and sighed in relief. “Nate, oh thank god!” he said, “Lila and I have been looking for you everywhere and we both got separated”. Nate explained that he had lost his way and was looking for them too.

After a bit, they finally found Lila again. Lila had this look of excitement in her eyes and as soon as they were in earshot, she started talking about some lake she discovered.

Alex and Nate decided to follow her to the lake. Both of them were amazed by the beauty of it. It looked magical, something which was straight out of a fairy-tale. The trio decided to stop and enjoy the beauty of the lake while eating snacks.

It was an amazing experience for them. That day, Alex understood that though curiosity killed the cat, satisfaction brought it back.