The Dark Forest

Chapter 1
Chapter One: The Search Party

Chapter Description: Justin's day at the gas station is going by very slowly. Chapter not complete.

The rain was cold. Some of the residents of the small farming town were used to it, but others were not so resilient. Most of the town’s residents stayed indoors during the downpour. Justin was one of the unlucky few who had to be outdoors rain or shine. He worked at a gas station. It wasn’t a great job, but it did help pay for school, so he never complained. He spent the vast majority of his time fueling impatient drivers’ cars and cleaning windshields upon request. Today was slow. Not that many people had stopped by, so he spent his day doing a deep cleaning of the asphalt. His boss had told him that if he runs out of things to do then he’ll be dismissed for the day because he didn’t want to pay him to stand around, so he always looked for things to do rather than miss out on a days’ pay. He liked how strict his boss was. He didn’t much care for his coworker who mostly flirted with his girlfriend over the phone while he was on the clock, but he wasn’t going to rat him out for that.

Justin’s boss came out of the station store. “Justin, this is good enough,” he told him. Justin gave a blank stare at his boss. This was his busy-work to keep him from getting sent home for the day. “I don’t think we’re going to have many more customers that need you to fuel their gas for them today, so you can go ahead and go home. I’ll still pay you for the rest of the day.” Justin was dumbstruck. His boss was always so strict all the time, but was offering him a free day. He wasn’t even sure what he’d do with the rest of the day. “Go clock out and get outta here.” His boss looked away from him to light up a cigarette that he had pulled out.

“Is everything alright, sir?” asked the worried Justin, fearing that the station might be financially going under. His boss took a few puffs before deciding to answer. “Yes, everything’s fine. I’m not trying to cut your hours, but if you don’t get your sorry ass outta here right now then you’re gonna be wishing you could waste time pressure washing.” Justin didn’t need to be told twice. He headed into the store to sign out for the day.

When Justin went back outside, he saw his boss still standing there smoking. He avoided making eye contact with him as he left. “Justin.” his boss said to his back. Justin came to an abrupt halt. “Have you heard from Mike recently?” Justin paused before answering. He thought that jackass had gone on vacation. “No, I haven’t,” he responded, “the last I’d heard, he’d broken up with his girlfriend and it’s been two weeks since I’ve last seen him.” He turned around to look at his boss. “Have you heard any news on him?” His boss flicked the cigarette butt on the ground. “I haven’t heard anything. Enjoy the rest of your day.” Justin stared at him as he went back inside.

***

Justin stopped by the bar. It was a bit early in the day, but today was the day of the month for his debauchery with his bar friend Alex. Alex had decided not to go to school since he’d rather have fun with his life. He was a very strange person who seemed to always know what others were thinking. He knew exactly how to keep a conversation running and if he didn’t like someone he knew exactly what to say to piss them off, and had even started a few bar fights.

“Sooo…. How’ve you been?” Justin greeted his drinking buddy as he arrived. Usually it was him who joined Alex, but since he’d been dismissed early from work today it seemed as though the opposite held true.

“I got promoted to assistant supervisor today, man!” he exclaimed, “I’m probably gonna regret this when my bills are due later this week, but first round’s on me tonight!” Justin chuckled to himself, ‘I’m paying for your drinks’ was exactly what he wanted to hear tonight. “What’s new with you, bro? We really didn’t talk much last time.”

As they ordered and received their drinks, Justin told Alex about his missing coworker. “… so the guy breaks up with her, goes missing, and no one’s got a clue where he’s run off to. If you ask me it’s bad enough for him to break up with her, seeing as they had gotten so intimate in the beginning, but I guess deep down I knew this would happen. Mike has such a shallow personality that it’s no surprise they didn’t break up sooner…” Justin swallowed another beer in one gulp. He had started drinking when he was 18,, though he only drank once a month now, his consumption and tolerance were somewhat impressive for his age. “I really shouldn’t be gossiping about this, but I honestly never really liked the guy that much. He acted so entitled all the time and seemed to be able to hide it around the right people. He never gets in trouble at work, even though he’s on the phone almost all the time when he thinks no one’s around. I really don’t want to rat him out for it since I’m not that kind of guy, but he really, really irritates the shit out of me.”

Alex took a sip of wine. He liked to start out slow when it came to drinking. “Yeah, I don’t know the guy personally, but one of my sister’s friends told me about it the other night. That conversation was a bit longer than I wanted to stick around, but the sex was worth it.” He winked at Justin who slapped his palm to his face. His friends told him he was so old fashioned for not wanting to get intimate with just anyone, but he considered it to be courtesy to other people, so he usually got into lots of arguments with people on that topic, but tonight he really didn’t feel like getting into it. Sensing Justin’s disgust, Alex continued, “So you’re whining to me like a bitch about a guy who gets under your skin, but you’re wondering whether you should feel worried and/or concerned because he’s been missing for two weeks, even though you hate the guy. Did I leave anything out?” Justin turned red. He hated that about Alex. He always seemed like he wasn’t paying attention when he was actually keeping track of everything so well that he was bored with the conversation after a couple of minutes. Alex continued, “Look pal, it’s not your problem. If I were to meet Mike I think there’s a slight chance the guy could grow on me, but let’s face it, he’s been AWOL for two weeks and the gas station is probably going to have an open position before too long. I daresay I might try applying there myself. God knows I could use the extra cash.”

Alex put his head down. He’d had enough alcohol for the night. “Well, thanks Alex. Think I’ve had enough booze for tonight…” He stood up. Alex grabbed his wrist before he could take a step away. “Look, dude, I know you’ve got stress, but who doesn’t? Tonight’s my drinking night too. If you really need to talk about this I’d recommend counseling, but I’m not done tonight and drinking alone kinda sucks.” Justin knew that was his way of saying there weren’t any girls there worth checking out, but decided to humor the guy. “Alright,” He sat back down, “I don’t know why, but I just feel like talking about it. Where do you think he went? I know the guy wasn’t poor, but I don’t think he had enough money to take an emergency two-week vacation either. Do you think he skipped town or do you think something happened to him?” He could tell Alex was irritated by the topic. Usually there was sex in it for him after such topics, but he preferred it with women.

Alex drank a few shots of whiskey. “God, I’m drinking up a huge hole in my wallet… look, if he can afford to take a few days off unannounced, odds are the lucky bastard has a rich family or something who’s rooming him up right now. I don’t know.” He finished off the alcohol he’d ordered. “Well, my buzz is killed. I’m going home for the night.” Alex left the table and walked out the door. Justin looked around the bar, about to leave, when he saw his boss sitting alone in a corner, apparently deep in thought. He decided he better leave before he pissed off his boss, but just as he was about to walk to the door, his boss looked up and beckoned him over.

“Yes sir?” Justin asked his manager. “Sit,” he told him. Justin took a seat at the table. “I didn’t discuss any of this with you, understand?” Justin nodded in response, his boss continued. “It’s my job to look out for my employees’ well-being. I know I could just fire you guys if you started having problems, but it’s a pain in the ass to start hiring again. I told Mike to take a few days off and blow off steam in the mountains where he could get away from everyone, but I thought he’d only be gone for two or three days at the most.” he took a long swig of bourbon. “God, the police report is gonna suck.” he put his head down, “Enjoying your day off?”

Justin wanted to talk with his boss about Mike, but knew better. For now he knew what he wanted to know. “Sir, I’m sorry to bail, but I’ve got an early morning tomorrow and have to go home…” his boss cut him off, “Quit calling me ‘sir’ it really pisses me off. My name’s Melvin. I told you my damn name during your interview and it’s very insulting to have you calling me ‘sir’ all the time.” Justin didn’t want to tell him that the name ‘Melvin’ didn’t sound very authoritative, but for now he’d just excuse himself. “I’m sorry Melvin, but I have school really early tomorrow morning, so I have to head out.-”

Justin got up to leave. As he was walking out the door Melvin called out, “Justin, our discussion stays between us, ok?” Justin nodded as he walked out the door.

***

Justin’s ‘school week’ was painfully slow. He wasn’t the smartest guy in his physics class, but assumed he was pretty close, what with all the math lectures they kept having to repeat since apparently some of the students weren’t catching on to the math that they should have known already. He often found himself solving other, more complicated problems presented in the book rather than participate in basic math. His lab partner, Amy, was kind of cute, but he really didn’t have time to go chasing after girls at this point in his life.

During lab Amy brought up the same conversation that had killed Alex’s mood at the bar previously that week, “Have you heard from Mike at all?” she asked, knowing full well that nobody had.

Justin didn’t want to get so off-topic like this, but decided to humor her anyway, “Nope, I haven’t heard anything,” he replied, remembering the discussion he had had with Melvin, “but if you think about it, maybe he just needed some time alone.”

Amy looked up from what she was doing, “Yeah, maybe a couple of days alone, but two weeks? I’m surprised there’s not a missing persons case on that right now.” The truth was that Mike had lived by himself and until rent was due, nobody would really care too much.

Justin laughed, “Maybe you should file one. It would be such a productive use of your time…” Justin hated using sarcasm, but hated taking longer on lab than he needed to. “Now let’s hurry up with this lab. I have to go to work soon.”

Amy would have asked Justin where he worked, but could tell he really didn’t feel like talking. With the exception of the topic at hand, they finished lab without another word.

***

A week had passed by since Justin’s night at the bar. Melvin had filed the missing person’s report due in part to obligation and the fact that he was short-staffed at the gas station. After a brief search the police had concluded that a wild animal had probably attacked Mike and he was probably dead. Due to Melvin’s position at the station, he could not afford time to go looking for Mike, which had brought him to his current proposition.

“So that’s your offer. I will give you paid leave to go look for Mike and verify that he is indeed dead. You’ll get a raise upon return along with a couple extra days off.” It was very obvious that Melvin did not want to deal with any lawsuits that should follow a particular press release, should one occur. Justin was tempted to take the offer, but knew he’d probably miss at least a week of school, which didn’t appeal to him. “I could also possibly promote you to being a supervisor…” Despite the ‘too good to be true’ aspect of the deal, Justin found himself wanting to go look for his coworker, but remained silent until he thought up a response.

It had been several minutes, but he finally had an answer, “That’s a very good offer, but I’ll have to think about it. The police report said that he was probably attacked by bears and I don’t want to put myself in harm’s way. I need to sleep on it.” Melvin grabbed Justin’s wrist. “Carefully consider it.” he said before Justin left.

***

Justin had a headache. It had been a long night. He had a personal conviction not to drink at his apartment, but that night he had made an exception. He only had a couple of beers, which he suspected could have contributed to his headache, but two wasn’t enough to get him hung over. He had thought long and hard about the proposal and decided that the money was worth the risk. He’d have late assignments in school that he probably wouldn’t get the chance to turn in for any credit, but he decided that he could really use the extra money. He took pain killers and drank lots of water before getting ready for work.

***

Justin met with his boss later that day. Melvin introduced him to his cousin, Ed, his friends Rick and Jordan, and his friend from the bar, Alex, whom Justin was very surprised to see. They stared at each other until Melvin concluded introductions and transitioned to instructions.

“You all are the search party. You are to find Mike and bring him back,” said Melvin, blinking teary eyes,“You all leave as soon as you can and bring my nephew back safe.” Melvin seemed to hope in spite of the police report.