Chapter 22:

The Blissfulness of Ignorance

Gregory just wanted to check on his friend.

Freddy just wanted some personal space.

The siblings just wanted the two to get along.

How would our characters resolve their own dilemma?

Bravery was the sweet spot on a spectrum from cowardice to foolhardy. There were times when running away was that sweet spot when it was the brave choice. It was all a matter of circumstance, trust your instinct on what had arisen. When the emotional circuits were burning out from constant overload, when other avenues for load reduction had been exhausted, running away was wise.

But it terrified him, badly.

Running away – the smarted decision Gregory had ever done, yet the scariest he had experienced. Thanks to those exhausting times back in the Pizzaplex, where he spent more than half of the time being there running and running and hiding from the murderous animatronics. And somehow, as bare as in broad daylight, Freddy could not realize that, for some inexplicable reason.

Now, just when he thought had finally escaped from that damned building, there he was running and running again.

Run. Keep running and don't look back. That's what Gregory had been telling himself when he and the rest of his friends were running for each one's sake out of this cursed wood.

He ran past a car, which seemed to belong to the old man from earlier. But there was no time for inspection, he needed to keep on running.

Pounding heart, soring hips, shortened breaths, once again his body had to rely on the flight option. Of course, he wasn't that stupid to choose the other option when there was nothing to fight against, or rather, not that stupid to challenge the authority.

He didn't count how long he had been running, but… if it took him ten minutes of walking, then perhaps, he had been running nonstop for three or four minutes straight now.

"Look! The gate is still open!", gestured Lily. "Hurry, before the man catches up!"

For every stomp the bear took, a heavy crunch was heard spreading through the trees. Gregory feared that it might give away his location, but his worries were somewhat relieved when he had gotten past the gate.

He continued to run for another minute until all stopped and began gasping for air.

"That was. That was close.", panted Daniel, droplets of sweat started forming around his forehead.

Lack of breath was felt through his body, that feeling of tiredness and lethargy. As his lungs worked to bring in the much-needed oxygen, even then he feel as if he was drowning in the air. The only way to feel better was to stop and inhale all the oxygen floating around him that nature had given. The fresh air sure was better, cleaner, and in it, he was not drowning anymore.

Now that he took notice, his throat felt a little bitter, as though it was a side effect after his body had undergone such intense stamina draining.

The man continued huffing. "Should have let Freddy carry you two."

The bear put down his hood, and jerked his head to look at Daniel, ears perking up and down innocently.

"He can't do that.", argued Lily. "Both of us would be too heavy for him."

"I doubt it. If he could walk normally even if Gregory was inside his belly, then it wouldn't be that hard to carry another one."

The girl was about to protest, but Freddy interrupted her. "He is… not wrong. I could have carried Gregory and you."

Pouted, her face turned red. "Ahem… W-Well, we should keep going, then. It's getting dark now."

This time, though, everybody would be walking instead of running.

With the restricted area that could no longer bother him, it's time.

While Lily and Daniel were having a "sibling talk" from ahead, Gregory slowed his pace as he tilted close to Freddy, tugging his hand to gain attention. The bear gazed down at him, eye to eye, locked in one place. He did not ask, nor make any gesture that indicated a raised brow. His expression was just… robotic, purely robotic. And within that impassive look, there was exhaustion – robotic tiredness, it would seem. The bear was definitely in no mood for a quiz on a robot's mental health.

But he must try, he must. Freddy was his friend, how could not leave it so?

"Is there something you…", whispered the bear as he slowly trailed off. He knew, he knew that he was about to get involved in a private conversation. "W-What is it, Gregory?"

Gregory wanted to say something, but decided not to. Instead, he gave the bear a sharp, stern glare. He wanted Freddy to voluntary speak up about his trouble without being "forced" to explain so.

Freddy widened his eyes upon realization, to which, the boy relaxed his gaze. A smile of sympathy was about to form, but it was cut short when the bear quickly turned away from him.

That… wasn't really what he expected from a Freddy Fazbear whom everybody knew and had been told about. This would take a while for him to gain some trust. Besides, how could one be so open about their own personal difficulties to another after knowing each other for only a day or two? Freddy was a robot, yes. But robots had secrets that weren't meant to share also. Should he respect that?

Maybe not now, perhaps? Maybe, when he returned to the campground, the bear would be open to him?

"Finally!", exclaimed Daniel as he relaxingly stretched his body and bent the finger knuckles. "Just barely before the sunset." Then, he turned around, looking at everyone else. "So… who's hungry?"

Not until the question was brought up that Gregory's stomach growled in yearning for something edible to digest. The sound was loud and audible enough for all to hear in close proximity.

"Um…", the boy got nothing to say, he felt his ears warming up.

A smirk grew on the man's face. "Well, I got some marshmallows. We can grill them by the fire to make marshmallow sandwiches. They are my favourite, if not the best food in the world."

Hands on the hips, Lily gave her brother a head shake. "Can't say I'm not surprised.", she then whispered to Gregory's ear. "He's actually addicted to eating them. If you don't want an empty tummy, remember to grab as many as you could before grilling them by the fire."

Eyes widened; the boy whispered back. "Don't you want to eat them as well?"

She chuckled. "I'll pass."

Gregory nodded with a smile, he then turned to Daniel. "Is there any other food?"

"Yeah, there's soup. We have it contained in a pot. I'll reheat it if you want, it might taste better.", replied the man, then he shot the boy a throughout scan. "Hm… you don't like marshmallow sandwiches?"

"Frankly, I have never eaten one before."

"Oh, right. I… forgot that you were…", Daniel trailed off as he began scratching the back of his head. "Well… then, I'll go prepare the soup."

Before the man could get started with tonight's meal, a voice called out.

"Daniel, wait.", it was Freddy's robotic voice that startled him. "…Do you think the food is enough for everyone? I do not want you and Lily to remain hungry after sharing the food, nor Gregory not eating enough tonight. If you would like to, I will head to the nearby river now and catch some fish."

Upon hearing that, Daniel snorted, waving his hand to dismiss the bear's unnecessary worries. "Gosh, Freddy, there's plenty of food for the three of us! To be honest, I don't really need to eat soup to stay full. Some marshmallow sandwiches would be more than enough for me."

The bear blinked, mouth left hanging by the jawline. A finger was raised, he looked like he was about to object, but in the end, decided not to.

This surprised Gregory a little.

To him, the Freddy Fazbear whom he had known and interacted with for a day and a half had always been nothing but a caring and defensive figure. A figure who acted as a protective guardian constantly shielding his child against every possible danger, including the ones he had no knowledge of, the one he became the most vulnerable to – the outside world. A figure who was so strong yet so innocent and childish that one could hardly ever believe were the bear to be a human being.

Well, innocent and childish didn't seem to appropriately fit the description anymore, did it?

Freddy lowered his finger, ears drooped. "Oh... If that is the case, then I shall return to rest mode to preserve power."

Everyone choked upon hearing that.

"Wait, what? Why do you want to shut down?", as usual, Gregory was the most tensed.

"To preserve power…?", replied the bear, though his answer sounded like a question rather than a statement. "Since there is nothing to do, or rather, I do not find any satisfactory reason to stay awake, it is best for me, and for you guys, to initiate rest mode so that my battery life will not be consumed… wastefully."

"Wastefully? Wastefully?", he repeated, heavily emphasising the word. "Why would you say that? How is there not any satisfactory reason for you to stay awake? Just… look around you! There's so much to learn! I thought you liked learning new stuff."

"Gregory's right.", agreed Lily. "We can show you many things, teach you new stuff, like drawing and Math and so much more!"

"Or you can help me make dinner for tonight.", added Daniel.

Freddy stared at each one of them blankly, expressing nothing but a sense of misery and hopelessness. He blinked a few times again, before eyeing the ground below. "I appreciate your concerns. Yes, I do find the outside world to be interesting. But, even the curiosity side of me needs some rest after learning non-stop for hours straight. Perhaps, robots… do feel fatigued, after all."

All this time, he feared that his animatronic friend would burst into existential crises and start acting out of bounds from what he was originally programmed for. All this time, he feared that knowing too much about the harsh truth of the reality would severely flip his friend's mind, from a curious innocent nobody to a depressing omniscient superintelligence. And when he thought that his friend was actually being caught up with these dangerous thoughts, it didn't really happen.

Now, it really did.

"Do you… really going to…?", asked the girl as she trailed off. "I mean, preserving power is good and all. But…"

The bear looked at her. Nothing. "It is my decision."

"Welp, whatever you say, Mr Fazbear.", shrugged the man. "Go and take some "rest", if that's what you want."

The bear nodded as he walked towards the van, which was carefully hidden behind the bushes. The air felt less warm somehow, probably because the was no more to be seen, despite the sky still remaining bright. He then opened the back doors, and before climbing inside, he turned to look at Daniel…

"You remind me of an old friend of mine."

…and proceeded to close it shut, giving no signal that he had completely entered the real of the dreamers.

A sense of guilt and contrition pervaded the surrounding spaces, itching the boy's soft skin every now and then. His stomach felt funny, but not in a comical way. His throat felt ticklish, but not in a sensitive way. His eyes felt watery, but not in a tears-of-happiness way.

Everything became meaningless to him. Because right now, all he could experience was isolation – an invisible wall which separated the world of his and the solitude of an animatronic bear. Despite the contradiction, for he was presented in the arms of mother nature with his newfound friends – the siblings, having seen his friend being in such a state again touched the most sensitive pit of his own fear.

Utter disbelief, Gregory couldn't get in touch with what had just happened. Soulless, he strode towards the table, sitting on the chair as he pressed his head against the wooden surface. "My fault. It's… all my fault."

The girl joined him, softly patting her hand on his trembling back. "Hey, Freddy said he needed some personal space, right? Just… let him be. I'm sure he'll get over it soon."

"She's right. I don't think the guy can keep himself together after seeing…", added the man, who sounded a little unsure of what he was about to say. "….You know, since it's his first time seeing a dead body of an animal, a black bear, unfortunately. Gosh, come to think of it, he has just witnessed a dead relative of his. No wonder he was acting like that."

"And none of that would have happened if I didn't go to that place. I should have insisted on going to the lake instead. I… I shouldn't have gone there!", his voice began stuttering.

The man scratched the back of his head, an uneasy grin grew wide on his face. "Well… I was the one who wanted you guys to go into the restricted area. So… the blame is all on me."

"Actually, it's we who should take the blame.", the girl sighed. "All of us had the capability to prevent what could have been prevented, but… we didn't. We were all curious, just like Freddy."

Curious… Look what being curious had done. Look how curious had affected his friend.

Curiosity killed the cat, they said. They weren't wrong, though. Idioms existed for a reason, not what should be taken simply as an old-fashioned saying.

Daniel remained optimistic. "But still, had we not entered that place, we wouldn't have made those shocking discoveries. The stick figures, the claw marks, the uh… dead bear. Who knew that the Blair Witch was actually real? And no ordinary animals could have left such big, deep marks like that!"

Fascinating as they might sound, he clenched his fist even harder. "Was it even worth it? I'd rather not come across any of them and have Freddy still happy."

Eventually, not every optimism lasted long. The man's smile slowly faded away, instead, came a sigh of defeat. "Well, definitely not. No one knows for sure what would happen to a robot if it experienced negative sensations. This might be the first ever case in technological history where a robot undergoing depression. Intriguing, but… should their emotions be taken as a break-through achievement rather than trying a way to help them like we help our own kind?"

If given the question, he would absolutely go for a strongly agree. He wanted to scream out the word "YES" to declare his positive position on the moral compass towards the non-living sentience machines. Although, despite claiming himself to be such an eccentric activist, he felt as if he wasn't worthy of obtaining such titles. He had committed crimes, crimes against artificial intelligence. That was, not being aware that he was the one indirectly triggering the malfunction within his friend's programming.

Without him, none of this would have happened.

Once again, the old sayings were right: Ignorance truly is bliss.

For a moment, there was the sound of silence, but not long before it was broken.

"I'm gonna go prepare the soup. You can help by finding some sticks to make a fire.", Daniel stretched his arms and back, before taking out some metal rods from his backpack. He then walked to the campfire spot to stick them into the ground around, creating a handle for the pot to be hung over the fire.

Gregory forced his impossibly heavy body to get itself up and be useful to the world. The weight sure had changed depending on his mood.

Now, he could only hope for the better.

The first thing that greeted him inside the van was darkness. Complete, utter darkness.

The room was bleak, cold and entirely dark. It was quiet and sombre in there and he felt a chill as the darkness engulfed him. It was the most piercing darkness ever – it was not merely the darkness that came out of the absence of light, it was much more sinister.

Freddy turned around, the pitch black atmosphere was impenetrable and he stood rooted to the spot. Trying to stretch his eyes as wide as possible but he could barely make out a feeble outline of some carton boxes, despite them being right next to him.

Lights from his eyes flickered as they shone against the smothering blackness. Tiny microscopic pieces of dust were caught drifting through the air – a sight which was usually seen in the rooms behind the Rockstar Rows as well as Parts and Services.

Slow and steady, he carefully tiptoed his way through the boxes, making sure that none of them was accidentally knocked off and created a domino effect. This would have been much easier had it not been for his bulky metallic body and his gigantic feet. Fortunately, stealth was a trait of his which wasn't widely known except by his few friends. Thanks to that, he managed to swirl through the boxes and read the end of the van, where a slide could be used to see the front seats.

Freddy pulled the slide to the right, just barely enough for the lights to stream into, casting sparkles upon the mischievous darkness. He then lay down, back pressed against the metal wall.

The small opening which he found himself staring at gave him some kind of hope while the dark was welcoming him like a familiar. But it wasn't hope, it was more like a false hope that he made up to as to create a distraction for himself.

That's right – a distraction.

He just wanted to forget that moment. But that'd be impossible – robots don't tend to forget things. And he couldn't delete the memory himself either. It wasn't really that easy.

Well, there was a way for him to forget: having his memory data critically damaged to the point that chances of retrieving them were absolute zero. It was a plausible and doable method, but he wasn't that idiotic to risk his entire memory just for the bad ones. There were some worth keeping, like Gregory, Lily, Daniel, his friends, the outside world, the outer space, the wildlife, Math, Art, Philosophy… and so so very much more.

He wanted those memories to live on forever.

But… after what had transpired this afternoon, he feared that it would left quite a "scar" deep in his core.

His eyes blinked rapidly.

"…"

It… It just popped up again. Just like that, the entire scene materialized right in front of his eyes. The dried red puddle of blood, the blob made from both fresh and rotten flesh, and the lifeless body of the blackest fur remained reflecting a bit of shininess from the absorbed light.

No matter how much he tried closing his eyes shut. It was still there. He didn't have any total control over his memories, especial that one memory.

He wanted to erase it, so much, so badly. Never before had he been this dreadfully desperate to get something finished, despite knowing how helpless he was during those kinds of situations and how the situation itself bore no little to a solution. There was hope before, just a tiny flicker against the wind. What he needed would never come and no matter how much he sought, he just wouldn't find it.

Pain, or whatever the humans called it, was this what it felt to experience pain?

And then, realizations hit.

Wasn't Gregory the one enduring more pain than him right now? The tragic fate of being an orphan, the lonely life of not receiving enough love and care like any ordinary child, the heart-racing moments of constantly being chased by Death back in the Pizzaplex, the pressuring responsibility of hiding and protecting an animatronic bear friend from… almost everything in the outside world.

And now: the stressful remorse of being the one causing his friend's emotional crisis.

Who's the one in more pain now? A human boy with real feelings, or a robot bear having difficulties distinguishing an imaginary feeling from a systematic error?

How could I be so selfish?

It was more than too late to change his mind now. But at least he was able to preserve power for tonight. After that, he would apologize to the boy.

[Entering rest mode.]

The night brought such a silence that the crackle of the campfire was all that could be heard, a natural music in the black-duvet night. The campfire appeared to echo the starlight, as if the flames so close and so distant had so very much to say to one another. Flames sent red sparks dancing into the breeze. The smoke twirled heavenward charming his worries away. His face toasted warm, mesmerised, relaxed.

Freddy was yet to wake up, though.

Gregory idly sat in front of the campfire while sitting on a huge stone which he happened to come across when finding some sticks to make the fire. Hands holding a branch with a piece of white marshmallow placed on the tip, he hovered it over the flames, impassively watching the squishy "pillow" slowly being burnt by the scorching heat.

After a few moments, when the marshmallow had coated itself with a dark-yellowish skin, he grabbed two pieces of biscuits, pressing them against the marshmallow, before allowing himself to have a taste of another otherworldy kind of sandwich.

As usual, the biscuits were the first to be crushed by his hardened teeth, then, came the mushy part of the "pillow" candy with its stickiness. Both the biscuit and the candy were ground into smaller and tinier bits while the smells were delivered up onto his nostrils. Ultimately, what was left after the grinding was a combination of a slime-like substance with some crusty chips that acted as sprinkles. Then, down to the stomach, they went.

It tasted good, more than what he anticipated, to say the least.

"Wow, didn't expect you to be this addicted.", remarked Daniel, who was also chewing on a marshmallow sandwich. "Help yourself. Feel free to eat as much as you want, I still have two more marshmallow bags left. Although… I don't think there'll be enough biscuits to make sandwiches." He then shrugged, "Oh, well… grilled marshmallow is way better without biscuits, anyways."

"Don't try to them eat too much, though.", said Lily, who was sipping the soup. "There's still some soup left in the pot. If you're still hungry, you can have another. Don't worry, it's not like my brother can't survive without dinner. And besides, those marshmallows would be enough to keep him full for tonight."

"Um… Are you sure?", asked Gregory as he turned to look at the man. "You have only eaten like… a cupful."

"It's fine.", the man replied with a wave. "You still have a long way to go tomorrow. I can only give you some clothes and food and a bit of good luck. Well, still have to keep some other bits of luck for me as well. Heh."

With a chuckle, he felt somewhat of his worries were eased away. "I can't thank you two enough."

"Don't mention it."

When Gregory found himself staring at the bowl of soup he was holding, the light from the campfire shone on the surface, reflecting an image of him staring at himself through the liquid.

Never mind, the optimism didn't seem to last long. It never tended to last long, anyway.

He took a look at his Fazwatch. "6:42 PM", it showed. Then, he turned around, gazing at the dark woods, where a van was cautiously hidden within the darkness.

The siblings noticed him as they looked in the same direction.

"Hm… Freddy sure took his rest seriously.", mused Daniel. "It's been an hour and a half. I don't know whether a robot's catnap is actually the same as a real cat's catnap or not, but it definitely doesn't seem like it. Just hope that he'll get better after that."

"Maybe he'll wake up anytime soon.", added Lily. "Probably at seven, I think? Since he's a robot, I'm pretty sure that he manages time with exact calculations. Not just randomly waking up anytime he pleased."

Gregory stared into the distance for another few seconds, before a long sigh escaped through his lungs. "When entering rest mode, or shutting down, he exposes himself to every danger around him. Basically, he's entirely vulnerable. Even worse, he can't wake himself up, unless he sets the time when to wake up or signalling him to wake up using the Fazwatch. But even after that, it would take around two minutes for him to be fully functional."

Upon hearing that, the man stopped chewing for a second, and then swallowed the food whole. "Jesus Christ… What would you even do in an emergency, like when you got caught and needed to wake Freddy up immediately?"

"I… I really don't know.", he responded. "Guess I just have to be super extra careful, then."

Everyone exchanges dry smiles and weak giggles. They went on talking for another minute, and so on. As under the night sky, they harboured the moment when the bear would wake up and join them in their final night together as the first "outsider" friends. Everyone would be chatting and laughing while discussing brain-twisting and "circuit-shorting" concepts to see who would be the last one still able to comprehend them.

It would have been fun.

But the fun was interrupted, it would seem.

"Hey! Hey, look! Someone's coming!", exclaimed Lily frantically as she gestured at the shining yellow light from afar coming towards the campground.

This didn't sound good.

"Wait, what!? For real!?", Gregory almost choked on the soup, he took a quick glance at the watch. "6:55 PM", it said.

Yep, totally doomed, for sure.

"What the hell?! Who'd even…", even Daniel was caught unexpectedly. "Okay… Okay, relax you two. Act normally. I shall handle this."

Shortly after, a sound indicating a car engine could be heard becoming louder and louder, as the sound of the ground being crushed upon the wheels could be heard reaching towards the campground. Eventually, the car stopped. The car looked oddly familiar, for some reason.

For the next three to four seconds, there was complete silence, other than the cracking sound of the burning sticks and the natural ambience of the dark woods. On the fifth second and so on, the car door opened, revealing who seemed to be…

Is that the same old man!?

Still the same look. Still the same car. Still the same smoking habit.

Gregory had a feeling that the conversation wasn't going to end well. Even Daniel's reaction seemed to mix up.

During those silent seconds, the overwhelming weight of guilt had taken a toll on the unfortunate trespassers. Even the boy could feel his heart beating stronger as it endured both anxiousness and penance. There was nothing he could do, asides from hoping Daniel wouldn't do anything stupid.

The old man stood there in silence, menacingly. He sucked the last bits of the cigar in his mouth before… tossing it inside his car? Maybe he had a basket to put the cigars there.

The old man then shot each one of the siblings a stare, including the boy, a short yet intimidating stare. "A… father and his children going on a camping trip? Hm… Wait, no. You look a bit too young to be a father.", the old man finally spoke. Coughs escaped through his throat, making his voice raspy for a second.

"Um, excuse me, sir. But… who are you supposed to be?", asked Daniel.

The old man widened his eyes, then laughed. "Oh, yeah, right… I always forgot the introduction part when talking to someone new here. Ahem… Well, I am the ranger of this forest, of course. You can call me Sebastian.", the man then showed his badge. "Just checking out how things are going with everyone, if you don't mind."

Yep, totally fucking dead.

"Oh! Everything is great, officer.", said Daniel with a joyful tone. "The environment is great. The air quality is great. The campfire is great. The soup is great. And the marshmallow is just fantastic! If you want, you can try some grilled marshmallow sandwiches with us."

Usually, the offered person would be too humble to accept such a generous offer. In this instance, on the other hand, no one didn't expect the old man to openly accept it.

"Ah… Grilled marshmallows! It's been a while. If you say so, I guess one won't hurt much. Thank you very much!", said the ranger as he promptly joined the campfire, grabbing one of the sticks laying on the ground and proceeding to put a marshmallow at the tip and hovered it over the fire.

Gregory could see Daniel's shocked face. Oh my god, this old gramps…

While waiting for the flames to heat up, the ranger decided to start the conversation. "You know, it's not common for people to go here for a camping trip. Well, used to be, but now it's not. The place was actually well-known for its infamous urban legend."

"Urban legend, you say?", mused Daniel. "Could you tell us more about it?"

The old man firmly nodded. Just then, a gust of wind rushed through the trees and canopies as it disrupted the fiery flame, almost distinguishing it.

The ranger, called Sebastian, gazed upwards to contemplate the luminous sky. "There isn't much to tell about the legends itself, other than the fact that there are rumours about a certain… thing, a kind of creature, or a beast, dwelling in this forest. These rumours have been all over the media since the early 90s, before the three of you were even born. Campers and hikers, all reported the same incident: an animal that left an abnormally huge and deep mark on the tree; strange grunting howlings could be heard in the night; a pair of crimson red eyes staring from the deepest woods."

A moment to process, the man then continued: "No one knows for sure what it really looks like. Some say it's furless with pale skins like the Rake, others say it's fully coated in fur like Bigfoot. Some even suggest that it's actually a lizardman…"

"Wow, gotta let that sink in."

"Those who were reckless enough to seek answers… were never to be seen again. To prevent the disappearances, fences were built, separating this camping site and the woods from the other side. You must have seen it on the map, it's the restricted area."

"O-Oh! Yeah, I have. Is it really that dangerous nowadays, though? I mean, rumours are just rumours, and not every urban legend is true."

"Well, back in the days, when I first applied for this job, the campsite was flooded with countless people hanging around here and there. They were all looking for the same thing, to see if the rumours were true. Soon, though, fewer and fewer people came to this place. It didn't take long for the rumours themselves to become an urban legend."

Sebastian pulled the marshmallow away from the fire, he then grabbed two pieces of biscuit which were given by Daniel to make a sandwich. As the old man took a bite, he started humming in satisfaction. "Hm… The taste never changes."

Having listened to what the ranger had just told, Gregory was a little curious and inquiring rather than feeling nervous that he and his friend would be caught trespassing the restricted area.

It seemed that Daniel was wholly fascinated by Sebastian's storytelling, and that there was something else he wanted to know about. "There's something I wanted to ask. Just this afternoon, we came across a strange looking stick figure hanging on one of the trees when we were having a walk around the lake. Do you know what's it for?"

The old man was intrigued by Daniel's question. "Oh, the figure thingy? We have this question asked all the time. There's already an answer on our website forum, you can go on there and take a look. But to summarize it, they were there long before this place even became a campsite. Probably related to the urban legends somehow, but I have doubts."

"Or… it could be a work of a cult, maybe?", suggested Daniel.

"Or witches rituals back in the middle ages.", added Sebastian.

The two went on exchange theories and hypotheses. Without directly looking, Gregory could feel that Lily was about to have an emotional outburst since her brother wouldn't stop talking and shoo the old man away. Even he himself wanted to punch the guy so badly.

"Say, since my job is kind of boring. I have been doing some research on the creature for a long while now.", said the ranger.

"Really, for how long?", asked the man.

"At least five years now. Although I have just started going "real hunting" for a year and a half, the things I have found were really ear-catching, to say the least."

"Oh? Got any pictures of it?"

"I used to put cameras around the area to look out for it. What I didn't expect was… the thing was actually pretty smart, it never appeared on the monitors. Not even a single pixel."

"Hm… I see."

This is just like any Mythbusters show on the TV. Typical… Gregory thought. For God's sake, just kick the old man out already!

"But, I have its sound recorded! Wanna hear it?"

"Of course! Who would turn down a chance like this?"

With that being in mind, the old man took out his smartphone from his pocket. "I put the sound files into both my laptop and smartphone, you can actually use this to scare someone."

"Heh. I could use this to tell a horror story."

After some swiping, the phone started producing some sort of an animal grunting and growling. Despite not being right to it, Gregory could still hear the sound coming from the phone very clearly. But the noise… it didn't sound like what any animal he knew of would make. They were distorted all over the place to the point that he started to have doubts about the possibility of an animal, or whatever was making these noises.

Other than that, it could have been edited. And he seemed to wholeheartedly approve this assumption.

"Woah, sounds like an alien, or some furry beast from a fantasy world.", remarked Daniel as he took a bite of another grilled marshmallow sandwich.

"Maybe. If either of them was true, then shits had just got real."

The two adults broke into laughter. Since when their relationship was already strong and bonding?

I hate you so much… Gregory had decided to give this man a punch in the face after the old man left. He speculated that Lily wouldn't mind. In fact, she would even do the same.

"There's another sound file. I guarantee that this will fascinate you even more. Maybe even freeze you in place."

"Really? I'll bet."

Oh, god… The boy face-palmed.

A few more swipes and the phone started playing the file.

["Holy shit…This is… This is… Everyone, it might sound crazy, but I think the witchcraft-cultist hypothesis had the most stable ground here. This is some next level Blair Witch shit! Whoever did this is too serious to even joke about."]

What. The. Fuck? Gregory felt as if there was a literal dumbbell dangling by his uvula.

Daniel almost choked on the sandwich. Lily almost spit her soup. And the recording continued playing.

["L-Let's… I think we should get going now. I feel like the longer we stay, something bad might happen… Gosh, we shouldn't even be here in the first place. This place is giving me the creeps! Gregory, Freddy, let's go, my brother can fend for himself even in the most extreme environment. He had gotten sleep at the front door more than enough to know some survival skills."]

W-What!? How!? How did this old man even…

["Now that is a bit exaggerated. Too exaggerated, to be precise."]

["I don't know, Lily. This place looks pretty fascinating… Um…Well, yeah, I don't think it's a good idea to stay in this place for too long. But… a few pictures wouldn't hurt, right?"]

The leaves were spinning, the trees were spinning, the fire was spinning, and so was the sky, the world – everything. They were all spinning nonstop.

What was happening? If his sane mind was still conscious, then what he was currently hearing was… an audio recording of him and the siblings when exploring the restricted area and coming across a dying tree.

But how?! How did everything was recorded in the first place? Since the old man could only be seen after everyone had already left the place, it's basically impossible for the man to have recorded all of the conversations.

That was, unless… unless there was a hidden microphone.

But for what reason!?

This is just a nightmare. This is just a nightmare. This is just a nightmare.

And if everything was recorded, then…

["Meem? What is that?"]

Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!

["M. E. M. E. Meme. You can understand it as a quickly spreading joke on the Internet, either a text, an image, a GIF, or a video. Memes don't tend to last long on the trending tab as they soon get overthrown by newer and better ones."]

["How interesting…"]

["If you want to know some memes, I have—"]

The recording was abruptly paused. Sebastian's expression flipped, changing from gleeful to frighteningly serious. He shot a stern glare at each one of the siblings sitting around the campfire while chewing on the marshmallow sandwich.

"Freddy… Hm… he sure sounds like a robot, don't you think?", said the old man as if he was enjoying the moment.

Using the last bit of his sane mind, moments before it collapsed into madness, he glance at the Fazwatch.

"7:01 PM"

"Ignorance is bliss… and so is death."