FYI this got long enough to be a double post.

Click went the camera. We were all gathered around Mike for his group graduation photo. We'd spent almost an hour capturing the moment with each of us and him. It was his big day, nobody wanted to be left out.

"Sam, can you crouch down a little?" That was our Dad. "You're always towering over him, it's hard to get a good shot."

"Yea yea, lets do it over here. I can sit on the wall." Since I towered over my brother by almost a foot, photos of us together were always hard. But I was used to it.

Click again. Even in the age of smartphones my Dad insisted on using his ancient, but apparently very expensive, film camera to capture the best moments.

"Ok lets get out of here." Everyone nodded and followed Dad, away from the seething masses of new graduates and their families.

"Oi! Sam!" a voice called out from the other side of the plaza. "Oi!"

Ben was pushing his was past people, "Sorry, excuse me. Sorry. Coming through."

"Hey." He was breathing heavily. "Did you forget we were meeting up after this? The big hike?" He rolled his eyes at my face. "We've been planning this for a month, don't tell me you forgot."

"No no, I didn't." But I had been hoping he would. "My stuff is in the car. We can go as soon as I grab it."

"Fine, but hurry! The traffic of Doom is starting, and I wanna get to the first camping spot before sundown."

"Just gimme a minute. I'm missing Mike's celebration dinner for this y'know."

"Yea yea, old farts and cheap food. Lets gooooo."

"At least I still have my old fart parents." I muttered under my breath. It wouldn't been too mean to actually say it, even though Ben's parents had died over a decade ago.

I hurried off after my family, finding them waiting for me by the car.

Dad was annoyed. "You're really going to just rush off with Ben? Today?" I swallowed.

"I promised, Dad. We already got pictures, food is just food."

He just sighed. "Alright. Here's your gear, we can trade stories when you get back. Jane and I did that hike when we were your age, y'know." I nodded impatiently, grabbing the overstuffed hiker's backpack leaning against the car.

"Thanks Dad. I will, when I have reception." He waved, so did everyone else from around and inside the car.

Mike threw his graduation cap at me. "Hey King Kong, try not to knock any trees over while you're up there." It missed and went over the railing.

I just waved and walked back towards Ben. He was already in his Civic, Jessie in the passenger seat with Anna in the back.

He held down the horn as I walked up. "Yo! Chuck your stuff in the trunk and lets get out of here already." The trunk lid was hanging wide open.

I did, and slammed it shut before sliding into the remaining back seat.

It was a long drive. Two hours just to cross the Greenbelt, slog through D.C. traffic, then another hour to get to the starting point of Virginia's George Washington National forest.

The first couple hours went by pretty fast. I hadn't seen Anna since our Fourth of July party last month, so we spent a good amount of time swapping stories and catching up. As we got closer though, we got busy carbing our faces full of energy foods and chilling to the radio. It was playing almost the exact same Top 40 songs we'd heard our entire lives, but we enjoyed it nonetheless.

The trail said the first official camping grounds were a five hour hike, but I knew Ben wanted to try for what they called a dispersed site. Somewhere private. We'd probably go off the beaten path after hour three. Ben always liked to quote "Adventure is out there!" with a serious face. I had no doubt he would say it at least once and point to a completely uncharted direction.

We arrived around two in the afternoon. Daylight had yet to decide it was break time. The heat and humidity were supposedly starting to ebb, but kicked us full force as soon as we got out.

It changed the mood immediately. We were ready to go, but the time for pleasantries was past. The car was quickly unloaded and we set off after a bit of stretching.

The forest was a wall. A continuous green and auburn wall of shuffling leaves and distant echoing calls from the local wildlife. I saw a deer in the first five minutes, but that was the highlight for a while.

The path itself cut wide through the forest, trodden to hardpack on par with concrete. We had an easy time of it for the first hour, before it began to split off. Twice we almost went the wrong way because the hardpack demanded it, but Ben kept us on track. We didn't talk much.

By the second hour we'd reached our first break point. Or so Ben said. He spotted a cluster of wild raspberries a little off the now narrow trail and the lot of us cut through the low branches and flora. A tree had fallen nearby, allowing just enough sitting room for all of us.

"Ouch!" as Ben stabbed himself on the raspberries. He had a handful and was sharing with Jessie. It still baffled me that he could be so chill with his ex.

Anna and I enjoyed watching. After this second time Ben stabbed himself we couldn't help laughing. It was a little bit of poetic justice.

"Hey, take a look at this." Anna tugged at my sleeve, pointing at the tree trunk. "Move over." I was sitting on something.

"Barbara and Michael" she read. It was carved into the trunk inside a heart. Cliche, I thought. But still...

"Have you ever carved your name like that on a tree?" she asked me, her eyes met mine from a foot away.

"No. I'd have to really like someone to violate a tree like that."

She smiled. "Me too. It's a big gesture. I wonder how Barbara and Michael are doing now."

"Who knows. Maybe when we get back we can see if there's any lore about this place."

She giggled a little, but didn't break eye contact. "That sounds fun."

"You guys done over there? I got raspberries for you too you know." Ben cut in as he stomped over to us.

Anna hastily took her hand off mine. I hadn't noticed before.

We ate, drank, and rested. I guessed we had an hour left of hiking before our expected 'campsite'.

Ben had other plans. "Hey look over here, there's a path. Wanna see where it goes?"

"Its getting dark, Ben. Do you really think we'll find a campsite before sundown?"

"Yea no problem. We could camp here if we wanted." to which we all shook our heads.

"Lets just go then." We loaded up and started down the path.

Surprisingly it was a pretty clear path. We followed it for about ten minutes before it started to open up. The waning light still cut through the trees here and we could see a large clearing between a mix of old and young trees.

"See, what did I tell you. We can camp here. It'll be perfect. We can even see the sky clearly! I can't wait to see the stars out here." Gungho as ever, Ben charged forward. This time not bothering with the path, he headed straight for the clearing.

And we followed.

In another fifteen minutes we were there. The trees were much more pronounced here, old mature trees with wide canopies shielding a small forest of upstart saplings. I guessed, as an ignorant layman, the saplings were twenty years old. Almost as old as I was, but still very small compared to their parent.

"Check this out." Ben had dropped his pack in the clearing and was inspecting one of the big trees. "Susan and Jeffrey. Haha, together forever. Whatever."

"It's never been clearer why you broke up with him, Jess." I heard Anna mutter to Jessie, who giggled and nodded vigorously, her face solemn.

But Ben wasn't done. He was running from one tree to the next. "Here's another one. Louise and Michael. Jessica and Victor. Oooh look at this one Jessie." He waved her over to a large tree that was split down the middle, probably by lightning.

I heard Jessie gasp quietly. "Jessie and Ben. Woa. It's split down the middle too. There's a crazy coincidence."

"That was my thought. I wonder when it was hit, can't have been too long ago." Their voices got quieter as they talked it over.

"Maybe last year, the tree doesn't look that old or dead. D'you think maybe... " I missed the rest, Anna was pulling on my sleeve again.

"Sam, take a look at this tree. Isn't that your parents? Veronica and David. And look, it's got two saplings." I felt a small chill run through me.

"Are you trying to scare me, Anna? I bet this is someone's idea of a prank. Look around, all of the trees are carved on. Looks like the same person did it too." Her face flashed something, but then she was smiling at me again.

"I wonder if I can find you."

I grinned, the weird moment had passed. "Not if I find yours first."

"Well, I just found mine. You guys can look in the morning." Ben had crept up on us. He was ALWAYS doing that. Almost like he was trying to block me.

"Take a look, it says Ben. I found it under another dead tree." He pointed at a very old and rotted tree.

We took a look. Sure enough, the sapling under the tree very clearly had the name 'Ben' carved into it at eye level... for Ben. I had to stoop a bit.

"Cool... pause that thought though. Lets pitch camp, then we can investigate first."

Anna chimed in again from the dead tree. "Hey Ben, what were your parents' names again?"

"Jeff and Stacy." I heard her sharp intake. "They died like ten years ago, so whatever."

"Ben, those names are carved here. And that sapling is from this tree. I... I don't think we should be here."

But Ben just laughed. "It's just some prank. All these names are really common." Anna sniffed at that. "Here, we need firewood right? I volunteer my tree. I'm gonna cut myself down and burn the body for our enjoyment."