Night in the haunted forest. Part 1

A murder of crows rose up in the air and flew right at us. They circled above our heads, almost grazing our hair. We felt shocked and vulnerable in the middle of the lake. Crows cawed so loudly.

We swam ashore and dashed out of the water, looking for sticks and stones to throw at them. Suddenly, as swiftly as they came, they flew away over the pine forest, as if someone had called them.

“What the heck was that?” I asked and looked at my friends. Emi trembled. She had flown here straight from L.A.

“I thought you said it would be a safe getaway,” she said.

Desperately, I glanced at the guys. A.J. stood with a stick in his hands.

“You three would not survive a day in Jamaica’s wilderness. Those were crows, not crocodiles,” he said.

“That’s why we came here, remember?” Emi scoffed. “To Lithuania, apparently the safest country in Eastern Europe, where there are no crocodiles.”

I looked down, feeling guilty. I brought my friends here to this lonely wooden cabin near the lake in the woods for a no-wifi internet detox.

“Come on,” Tim said. “Stop whining.” He stood with a phone in his hand, still recording.

A.J. looked at his phone with contempt on his face. “Dude, did surfing every day in New Zealand totally wash your brains? That’s how you face danger, with a phone?”

“Yeah,” Tim said and shoved the phone in A.J.’s face. “I want to go viral filming my grumpy friends.”

“Come on, guys, let’s go to the cabin. Who’s hungry?” I asked, trying to sound as cheerful as I could.

“Lead the way, Lady B, it’s your country,” said Emi. That’s what they called me. Don’t ask why.

To be continued…