“Turn the radio up!” said Jake, “I love this song.” Matt gave Jake a glare ,like why do I hang out with you. Jake turned the radio up so loud they couldn’t even hear themselves talking. 

Matt and Jake were the best of friends. They played hockey together and were the team's best players, Jake  never thought he was good compared to Matt. Matt was the leading scorer for the league; everyone feared him, but Jake was the leading assister for the league. He gave Matt passes that didn’t seem possible. 

Jake looked over at Matt because his face looked as liked he’d had seen a ghost. “What's wrong?” Jake asked him. 

“I guess it's because I feel we will be late to the game,” Matt replied. 

This was the biggest game of their life it was the national championship. Matt and Jake have been to a few state championships but never the nationals. Nationals is composed of the best North team against the best South team. Their team qualified to represent the North in this competition. The competition would be held in the heart of Canada. 

Jake gave the worst suggestion of all. “I know Matt, what if we go for a hike before the tournament?” 

Matt’s heart fell to the pedal soon he didn’t even realize what speed he was going. “Maybe a little adventure will ease your worry,” Jake said. 

Matt was quiet for a while, but eventually, Matt knew that he was worried and that this would help a lot. 

“Sure,” Matt replied. 

They looked at their phones for the closest hiking park. Neither of them didn’t plan on going hiking, so they needed to stop and get equipment. 

Driving to the shop, the roads were slithering back a forth like a snake going through the grass. The trees were lushes green, and the lake that we passed the water reflected like a mirror we could see ourselves holding the trophy up and cheering, “WE WON, WE WON!” 

“Matt, do you think that we will win?” asked Jake. 

“Well, if we work hard and research the opposing team, I can bet we will have a fighting chance,” Matt replied. 

“Oh look, it's the outdoors shop!” Matt added. 

Jake asked, “Do you think tthey will sell fishing supplies.” 

“Well, I don’t think they would call themselves an outdoors shop if they didn’t sell those things,” Matt gave that comment with a smirky attitude. 

Going through the whole shop, Jake grabbed a few fishing supplies. 

As they were heading out, the old man at the counter added: “You boys better be careful, them woods can be like a maze the farther you get back.” 

Matt got worried again and made sure to grab a map on the way out. 

Jake was so pumped up about hiking because this would be his first time in a Canadian forest. Luckily the outdoor shop was right next to the park. So Matt and Jake headed down the trail. Jake brought all his fishing stuff, and Matt got hiking boots and a map. 

As they got farther down the trail, Jake swiped the map from Matt. Jake noticed a lake coming up. 

“Look, Matt it shows a lake just over there,” as he pointed to the middle of the woods. 

Trees full of moss growing in the darkness and logs as old as time. 

“I’m not too sure about leaving the trail Jake,” Matt said. “We shouldn’t leave the trail because we might get lost.” 

Jake replied, “We’ll be fine, plus it shows it being just a quarter mile in.” Jake grabbed Matt's arm and dragged him the way of the lake. Matt eventually got Jake's hand off his arm and tried to follow, barely keeping up. After a few minutes of walking, they made it to the lake. Jake set down the backpack full of fishing gear, reached for his pole, and started casting. Working up and down the bank casting as far as he could, Jake ended up catching nothing. When they picked up everything a started to head back, they realized they got lost. 

Matt started to freak out “We can’t be lost. We have to get back otherwise, we will be late for the game!” He picked up his phone, and his heart sank. “NO SERVICE!; that can’t be right, quick Jake check your phone.” 

Jake didn’t have service either. Luckily they had the map. Matt looked at the map for what felt like hours. 

Jake yet again, snatched the map from Matt and said, “I got us into this mess I will get us out.” Jake took a quick glance and started to walk in a direction. 

Passing what felt like the same tree, they couldn’t seem to find anything that looked familiar. After walking for about thirty minutes, Jake sat down and relaxed. Grabbing some water from his bag he could tell Matt was tense. 

“Here, Matt have some water,” Jake said. 

“What are you doing sitting down? We need to find our way back,” Matt yelled. 

Jake replied, “don't worry, we will get back; I just don’t want to overwork myself.” 

Jake could remember that the lake ran east and west. They came in on the west side and knowing that the sun sets in the west it was about 11:00 am. They were on the right side. It was a matter of when they would hit some sort of path—continuing to walk in a direction. Jake started to feel like he had been there before. Then there it was a road.

 “Look, Look a road” Jake yelled. 

All of a sudden, they could hear some sort of ATV in the distance. They quickly ran to the road a started to yell, “HELP.” A man driving a ATV stopped. 

Matt asked, “We need to get back to the shop. Do you know where that is?” 

The man spoke, “Yes you guys are about 3 miles from it. I could take you there if you like.” 

Jake replied, “YES!” 

Finally making it back to their car, they were on their way. 

“Remind me never to listen to you Jake” Matt growled. 

“Hey, at least we will have an awesome story to tell the guys,” Jake said. “Matt you can’t tell me that you didn’t have a little fun.” 

“Yeah, I guess it was alright, just next time, please listen when I say let's stay on the trail.” replied Matt.