What happened that night in the forest was a mistake.
That’s all. We weren’t even supposed to be there, we’d made plans to be at Sally’s diner to have burgers and fries. But Lenny said there was a spot he wanted us to see.
He said it would only take five minutes and then we’d still be at Sally’s on time. He was very insistent about it.
You know Lenny, he won’t stop until he bullies everyone into doing whatever scheme he cooks up in his head.
That night, even the forest was trying to tell us to stay away.
The sun had gone down and it was already dark in the woods. We’d been playing in those woods since we were eleven, so we weren’t afraid of going in even after dark.
We’d played hide and seek, built forts and bridges across little streams and dug halfway to China once. But that night was different.
The wind had come up out of nowhere; if the weather hadn’t been so calm before that, we’d have thought a tornado was coming. The further we got into the woods, the blacker it got.
Lenny’d only brought one weak flashlight, so Martin got angry when he stepped in muddy water up to his ankle and started calling Lenny all sorts of names.
“Just a few more feet, guys! I promise you won’t be disappointed.” He kept swinging the weak light as if he wasn’t so sure this was the spot he was looking for.
The wind howled even louder, pushing against us as we tried to step forward. The trees were whipping wildly and we heard a couple of limbs crack and fall somewhere nearby on our right.
A streak of lightning flashed just up ahead and I counted the seconds before thunder sounded. The sound never came.
Lightning streaked soundlessly again and again and suddenly the rain began to pour down in sheets.
“I’m heading back, Tommy! You coming or not?” Martin yelled at me, thoroughly fed up with Lenny and his stupid idea for going to the woods tonight.
There was no way I was going to stay out here by myself with Lenny if Martin left. Lenny was just plain unreliable. We took off running. Just then, lightning streaked across the sky, lighting everything up.
I looked around, but there was no one back there. I could see Martin ahead, already soaked in the rain, but no Lenny.
The rain felt like pellets against our skin as we ran toward town and safety.
As soon as we got close to town, the rain stopped and the wind died down. We were still sopping wet, though.
We’d left Lenny behind to find his own way, but he never showed up at the diner that night.
I asked Martin if we should have waited a little longer for Lenny to come out of the woods, but Martin was still mad at Lenny for taking us out there. I felt guilty for running off and leaving Lenny, even if he had kind of asked for it.
I still feel guilty 20 years later.
You see, Martin and I went back the next day to look for Lenny. He wasn’t at his house, so we headed for the woods to see if he’d come back to look for whatever it was he’d wanted to show us that night.
We found his flashlight, but no Lenny. His parents and the police looked for him for months, but never found him.
Maybe if we’d just stayed with him that night. We made a mistake, okay? But we were just kids!
We were just kids.
