Have you ever wanted something so bad, so desperately, so relentlessly, that you'd be willing to risk anything to have it? Say you want a new home, or true love, or revenge, and you want it so bad that you're willing to go through literal hell just to get that desire.

That's exactly what I did, and I didn't know if it was worth it.

Before the incident, I lived a rather unremarkable life. I worked a job at an accounting firm, lived by myself, spent most of my time reading due to the lack of electronic devices I had save for my old camera and my college laptop, and overall, would probably be among the souls who weren't recognized for anything amazing.

Hell, my friends from school called me Dull Dan, which, while it doesn't get under my skin as much as I think, doesn't make sense because one, my name is not Dan, and two, their lives weren't exactly spectacular either. Admittedly, they went on to have more success than me, but back then, the second reason didn't make sense.

Anyways, I was in a coffee shop typing up an email to my boss about some trivial thing, when I noticed someone had sat across from me in my booth. I briefly looked over the screen of my laptop and noticed one of my old friends sitting across from me.

Malik was his name, and he was a self-described "hood". Usually, there would be a second part, but for the sake of not wanting to sound insensitive, I left it out, but basically, it's a rather derogatory term spelled incorrectly. I've seen the "hoods" around my neighborhood before, and to my luck, they leave me alone, mainly thanks to Malik, who was the only school friend I kept in contact with.

I've known the whole stereotype of ghetto gangs listening to hip-hop or rap, having baggy pants, talk rudely to authorities; Malik wasn't like that. Instead of wearing tacky clothing, he was well dressed, instead of listening to rap or hip-hop, he preferred classical music, and instead of talking rudely, he was rather polite, something that saved the skins of his homies many times.

"Yo, what up?" Malik asked in his trademark way, grasping my hand. I simply shook his hand back. "Not much, just doing stuff for the firm." I replied. "Mr. Skisty is really getting on me for that one client who had a complaint that he needed to deal with."

"He's pushing his problems onto you?" Malik asked. "Basically yes." I replied. "Hell, he sometimes requests I do his stuff, which isn't even that damn important in the first place." I sighed. "Sometimes, I wish I could just quit, or win the lottery, or something would happen." I slipped some coffee and rested my chin in my left palm. "Think the hood life is for me?" I asked, and Malik shook his head. "Nah my G, you're too soft."

"Point taken." I said back. Malik looked out the window for a moment, then at my laptop. "Mind if I show you something?" Malik asked. Seeing no problem with it, I slid him the laptop. Malik proceeded to type something in, and he passed the laptop back to me.

"I think you need to do something exciting, so why not do a ritual?" Malik said with a grin. "Malik, rituals don't work." Malik laughed. "Bruh, they may not be real, but it's fun." I sighed. "Fine, but I'm choosing the ritual." I noticed Malik had opened a tab up detailing types of rituals in alphabetical order. I didn't have to scroll down to see a ritual that seemed interesting.

"Eleven Miles?" I asked. Malik turned the laptop towards him and huffed. "You desire something, you do this ritual." I nodded. "Well, I want a million dollars." Malik looked up at me from behind the laptop. "If you do the ritual, you get it." I laughed. "Bullshit, there's no way." Malik chuckled and began to read off the requirements for the ritual.

"You got a car?" Malik asked. "I have a honda civic" Malik nodded in response and continued to read. "Is it fully fueled?" I nodded. Malik then cleared his throat. "First, you need to locate the road." Malik began. "What's the name of it?" I asked. "It doesn't have a name, hell, it's not even on the map."

I got confused rather quickly at that. "Then how am I supposed to find it?" I asked. "It will apparently show up if you're looking at the right time and you will find it if you know what you're looking for." Okay, more confusion. "Can you help me find the road?" I asked, and Malik shook his head. "The ritual says you have to go alone." Well damn. "Anything else to help then?"

"Well, it must be night when you begin, and the streets have to be not very populated, and you have to drive to any area surrounded by woods." I paused for a moment. "Delta forest?" I asked. Malik shrugged. "I guess that'd work, now, what do you desire?" I paused. What did I desire? I thought of the first thing that came to my head.

"Ten million dollars." Malik smiled. "Of course." Malik began to read again. "You'll need to look for shimmers on the empty branches of trees, they look like the shine of diamonds." I nodded, slowly getting more and more intrigued by this ritual. "Now, just be aware of this." Malik said.

"Don't turn on a radio during the drive-" I proceeded to interrupt him. "Why?" I asked. Malik just kept reading. "Don't use a phone during the drive, reception would be cut off anyways." I paused for a moment, then spoke up. "What about a camera?" I asked. Malik brushed his chin with his thumb and forefinger. "Yeah, I think that could work." I clapped my hands. "What next?"

"Make sure the windows are closed and never open them during the drive." I didn't say anything, letting Malik speak. "Don't ever attempt to leave your vehicle at any time." Back to confusion. "Why?" Malik shrugged. "Beats me, I haven't even read the entire thing yet." Malik resumed reading.

"You'll never want to exceed 30 miles unless you want to get through a section of a road fast." Malik paused, likely for dramatic effect. "Finally, buckle up." As soon as he said that, a faint beeping from my wristwatch emitted, which signaled I was almost late for work. "I gotta go, think you can print that stuff out for me?" I asked. "I'll give you some gas money." Malik paused for a bit. "If you do this, split some of that money with me." I nodded and proceeded to head to work.

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As fate would have it, the roads tonight were clear enough to do the ritual. Before leaving, I gave Malik a call, confirming I was going to do the ritual. His only words to me were; "Alright", before hanging up, likely to sleep.

Before getting into my car, I had brought a few things with me. I first brought a thick jacket for nighttime warmth, because even in the summer the nights can be cold. Next, I brought the papers I got Malik to print out for me. On the back of one of them was Malik's request that he get half the money that he had personally written down. I had also decided to bring some water with me, just in case I was feeling thirsty. Finally, I had my camera with me, because if I couldn't use my phone to document my experiences, surely I could cheat and use the camera.

About ten minutes later, I had begun to drive and as I drove, I noticed specks of light emitting from the forest, likely being the glimmers Malik that talked about earlier. As I drove closer to the specks, a dirt path large enough for a car to fit through appeared in front of me. Despite my superstition in the supernatural, I nevertheless took a deep breath and began driving onto the path, unknowing of what was awaiting.