I have always wanted to go hiking with a couple of friends, but I've never had the opportunity to do so. I have a busy life, and my friends are busier than me. My physique was also a problem since the last time I went hiking with a group, I had to stop halfway because I was overweight. Recently my efforts to lose weight borne fruit and I was happier than ever.

Finally, after discussing what to do during summer with my friends and begging them a bit, they agreed to go on a hiking trip. Some of them were also excited to come with us because they had been working overtime for a good while and wanted to forget about life. This was more or less the same case for me. My wife passed away a year ago and I was overworking myself to cope with my problems. At least that's what my therapist told me. After a dozen medicines and exercises, I felt I was ready for a second round of climbing the mountains and defeating the urge inside of me once and for all.

We discussed where would be hiking and decided on my hometown. While the road would be troublesome as we were going through curvy roads, the return was going to be easy thanks to a highway. It was close to our city too. Our schedule was ready, we would go there tomorrow and have some fun away from the pried eyes of our relatives. After bidding farewells to my friends and sitting at home alone once again, I packed up the necessary things and went to bed. It took me some time to stop thinking about my wife and finally fall asleep.

I was in a dream where I was alone in the mountains. Forest welcomed me with its cold arms other than the moon's light seeping through the trees. After walking for God knows how long, I finally sat down on a big rock to stare at the moon. I didn't feel this somber since my wife's death, but breeze helped me to relax a bit and divert my thoughts. I decided to walk a bit some more, but as I stood up, my heart sank.

There was a creature looking at me from the forest, and even though it seemed to be a human, I couldn't be sure. Dimly lit forest prevented me from taking a closer look, and I estimated them being around 2 meters long. The moment I stood up to confront the thing, it retreated to forest. The lingering anxiety was still there, and I trembled, looking at every corner of my eye to see when will it jump to me. I walked around the open area to observe the forest, but I didn't see anything. An unwavering urge to sleep engulfed me for a brief moment, and I laid down on the grass, not caring about what stalked me 10 minutes ago. I stared at the moon, and it stared at me back, but it didn't last long. I heard something walking toward me, and fearing the worst, I closed my eyes. The wind also got stronger and stronger, and trees trembled. It was as if everything was terrified of this thing, yet it didn't flinch. Then this human touched me, it was cold and lifeless. I noticed that it was a female hand. That wasn't enough for me to die from a heart attack, as this woman sat down next to me and whispered words that shook me to the core:

"When will you stop closing your eyes?"

I mustered enough courage to open my eyes to see this woman, but the only thing I saw was the white ceiling of my house. It was unamused. The time was still 6 AM, but I was not willing to sleep after what I'd endured. The only choice that was left was to drink coffee at breakfast until I was awake and ready to roll. There was enough time for me to be ready, so I spent time watching TV until I met up with my friends. It didn't work out. I was still thinking about the dream and who was that woman. Her voice was just like my wife's, but I was afraid I'd find a horrific monster in front of me. That was the reason I refused to open my eyes.

My tent and all of the supplies were ready. I lost a bet with my friends so it was on me to buy all the drinks, but we agreed on getting it on the way so that it wouldn't get hot. I met with them and we went on the way. It would take a couple of hours before we went there, so we drank a couple of ice-cold drinks. The sun had no mercy during summer. After we arrived, a friend and I found a small hotel for us to stay in while the others decided to walk around to see the town. When our place was settled, we also went outside to see where we would be hiking. After everyone talked about going to the tallest mountain to hike, we decided to be ballsy and agreed on going there. Our other options were further from the town, so it was convenient that the mountain was also close. Everyone went to the hotel to prepare for the trip while I went to a store to buy some things a friend forgot. I chatted with the store owner until I mentioned our hike. His smile faded and was replaced with a stern expression. He worriedly said:

"People don't go there anymore because a woman was murdered by her husband a few years ago, and her ghost lurks the mountain. Especially on Sunday nights, you'll see a faint light shining from the part where he killed her. I would say it's the soul of the woman residing in the mountain, and I'm saying this as a person who never believed in ghosts before. I wish you good luck. Just don't go to that part and you will be good, I hope. Have a good trip."

I didn't know what to make of this. In one way, this was creepy, but it could also be a messed-up person doing this to stir up people. I was not in the mood to go around the village asking people if they had seen ghosts in the mountain. Still, it got my curiosity so I decided to talk about this with my friends when I found them.

I found them in a heated debate and from my observation, villagers told one of us about the inexplicable light as well. They were talking about whether this story was real or was just villagers messing with us. I told them about my side of the story. One of the residents said that the ghosts took the shape of your loved ones to lure you into darkness. But, if you didn't get separated from your friends, you would be okay. Now that the story was clear on our side, I asked all of them to promise that no one was going to run away like a scared cat, and they excitedly did. Our religious friend had some concerns at first, but we explained that ghosts cannot harm us since they are spiritual beings. What little doubt he had disappeared a few minutes later.

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Now that everyone was content, we planned our schedule and went on our way. We came early so we would have some time to hike and set up our tents from day one. We climbed the mountain for 2 hours and had to take several breaks on the way. It dawned on me that we were not the most athletic people to climb a mountain, but we had the determination. There was a beautiful scenery to accompany us along the way. Our town was known in the region for lavender cultivation. These farms extended as far as you could see from this mountain. Along the farms, a river cut the town in half. Only a painting could look as good as this place.  After climbing several meters and exhausting ourselves, we decided to set up our tents and grill some beef to make dinner. Everyone was chilling, and I volunteered to collect firewood to keep us warm at night. There was a slight breeze and the sky was crystal clear. As the sun set and the night took over the sky, we sat around the campfire, drank beer, and told each other scary stories. One of us was so scared that I had to look over him when he went to relieve himself.

We came back and drank some more alcohol. One of my friends, let's call him Jack, said:

"Do you think a ghost resides in this mountain?"

My religious friend barged in: "I am not sure but a restless soul could be causing a ruckus to people."

Jack nodded after looking at the fire for a moment. "Regardless, I want to go safely to my house."

I interrupted him to relieve the pressure in the air:

"Well, it is fun in its own way! Not everyone can say that they stayed on a haunted mountain."

Jack smirked. "You are right. I have a cool story to tell to my fiancé now."

When the mood lightened up, we decided to go to bed. It was getting colder outside and we were tired. The cozy bed made me sleep like a baby for the whole night.

The next few days were tough, we were trying to climb the mountain from wherever we could as the dirt road we followed ended after the second day. We carried on after some of us were determined on reaching to the top. After a friend gave us some advice, I left marks on the trees we walked past to go back to the road safely again. A lot of us were tired, but no one was willing to be left behind, so we decided to rest for a day to regain our strength and go back to the village. Considering how we were out of shape, I congratulated all of us and went to find a location to put our tents. I didn't want us to stay in the open during the windy night so I called all my friends to put their tents in the forested part of the mountain. Last night I sat in front of the campfire and cooked some marshmallows. Everyone was asleep and I was just watching the moon without a thought. As I stood up to move to my tent, I saw a dim light emanating from a small forest above. I panicked and went to bed, but later thought nothing of it. I was a bit iffy about putting our tents to this place, but I kept it to myself.

My friends prepared our tents and I assembled the grill this time. As the sun set, we ate and drank, having the time of our lives. Everyone was sleepier today as we pushed ourselves to come here, it was either a cozy night or freezing on the meadow. I was the only one sitting in front of the fire before it was midnight. Although I walked all day like everyone else, I still had some energy left to walk a bit more, so I decided to walk around the camp.

The night was quiet other than the breeze brushing the trees. While I wandered in the forest for some time, I lost myself in the thoughts of my wife again. At least this trip helped me to forget her for some time being, but there she was creeping into my mind again. I couldn't stop blaming myself for her death, I should've noticed how withdrawn she was after her father passed away. I was also emotionally unavailable for the time being, which prompted her illness to worsen. When I finally snapped back to reality, I noticed dreadfully that I was very far from the camp. I didn't even know where I was. As I panicked, I had an idea. Since we were next to a forest, and had a campfire that would last for hours, I would just walk back and even if I couldn't find it, the fire would help me locate it.

The problem was that I simply had no energy to walk for another hour or so. Hoping that I wouldn't fall asleep, I sat on a big rock and enjoyed the night. But, I came to notice that a part of the forest around me was being illuminated with a light. This was it, I thought. If this was just someone playing a prank, it was an awful one. But, on the other hand, I was not willing to find it out. As I gawped around thinking about what to do, a woman in a white night dress appeared. Words of the store owner came to my mind, and I really started to hope that I would survive tonight. I couldn't get up, my body simply refused to run away, therefore whatever little hope I had in my mind, was gone at that moment. My life flashed before my eyes, and with it, the memories of my wife. Assuming she would be quick to finish my job, I simply closed my eyes. I knew my life would be over soon, but strangely, I was not worried. A strange wave of tranquility cleaned everything from my brain.

The woman stopped next to me. I could feel her breath on my neck, my body started to tense up. For a moment, we both stood like that. I was the criminal and she was my executioner, I thought. And the moment I waited came. She whispered to my ear: "Any last words?"

I barely uttered: "I am sorry."

I waited and waited for the finishing blow. She neither killed me nor moved an inch away from me. I've had a really bad urge to open my eyes, but my sixth sense was trying its best to stop me from doing so. I had to see who this was, if she left now, I would be wondering for the rest of my life. If she was going to kill me anyway, I'd have nothing to lose. With my heart barely containing itself in my body, I opened my eyes.

I did not see anything other than the moon, and the clear sky greeted me once again. I genuinely didn't know if what I saw was real or not, but everything felt too real to me. I was still shaky from what I'd gone through, but I simply didn't have the strength to stay there anymore. When I turned back to search for my campfire, I heard something from the woods:

"You will be okay."

For the rest of the trip, I was silent but so was everyone else. I can assure you that any person would be tired and silent after climbing for a week. It seemed like nature was nice, but your home was better. As for myself, I never went there again. I am not going anywhere anymore. I will not be okay. I cannot forgive myself for doing what I’ve done at that mountain. I am afraid tonight will not end well for me. A bouquet of lavenders will be my judge tonight, and it returned a verdict of guilty.