My name is Justin, and this is the story of how I lost my friend in the woods of Arizona when I was 13.

It's a tale that still haunts my nightmares, even after 20 years have passed.

Back then, our house was nestled deep in the woods north of Peach Springs, and my friends Kyle, Chris, and I

loved to camp during the summer break. One particular summer, we decided to try something different.

Instead of camping together, we decided to camp separately to see how we'd fare on our own.

I ventured far off from our usual camping spots, closer to the open areas and meadows.

It was the farthest from home I had ever camped.

Kyle chose to stay in one of our familiar spots, while Chris disappeared into the wilderness.

Fortunately, we had radios to communicate in case anything went wrong.

We all set off at 10 in the morning, and Kyle

radioed me around midday when he reached his spot. I called in sometime around 1 p.m. to check in.

Worry began to creep in when we hadn't heard from Chris yet. However, the radio crackled to life,

and he reported that he had found a spot pretty late in the day.

I didn't recall the exact time, but it was definitely late.

We set up our tents, lit campfires, and spent the warm summer night beneath a blanket of stars.

Everything seemed relatively normal up to that point.

But around midnight my radio started making strange noises. It was as if one of the guys was trying to talk to me, but the signal was terrible.

I picked up my radio to investigate, thinking it was Chris.

But it was Kyle on the other end.

He asked how we were doing, and I replied that we were okay, but I couldn't help but

wonder why it had taken Chris so long to find a spot. He claimed he was far away, beyond the

nearby hills, which were about a mile away. Chris was venturing deep into the wilderness.

...