He does

"Yeah sure."

The two of them went out of the house and walked on the margin of the town rather than visiting the centre. As they were advancing to the south of the town, the rustic houses in stone and wood diminished in number until they entered a pine forest where the crimson light beams of the sunset pierced the ceiling of snow and branches to give a mystic look to the glowing dust dancing near the trees.

The walk was so relaxing they did not even realise how deep they had gone into the forest until the last rays of sunlight faded away for the moonlight to replace them. When they came back to their senses, it was like they had been sleepwalking until now.

"Oh shit we I didn't realise how late it was" noticed Chris.

"Yeah we should go back." replied Thomas.

But now that they were awake, they became aware of every little thing in their surroundings. The slightest creaking sound of a twig being walked on by a squirrel was enough to startle them and trick momentarily trick their fears into imagining some monstrous predator or august murderer was lurking in behind their shadows.

The mystic forest became cryptic. It seemed like they had been walking for an hour and they still couldn't see a single light to draw them to the town.

"I don't even know which direction we're facing" alerted Thomas "I'm going to look on my GPS."

"Good idea."

"Shit."

"What ?"

"No signal. Let me try again. I'll restart my phone."

While Thomas was tapping frenetically on his phone, shaking it, lifting it to the sky to try and get signal, Chris was observing the pine trees who looked like they were closing in on them. The owls all seemed to stare at him. Even those facing away seemed to listen to his thoughts. That's when he said "I actually wanted to walk out of the house because- I know it's weird but, I felt like I was being observed."

Thomas froze when he heard that.

Chris continued "And right now, I'm feeling the exact same thing."

"Me too" replied Thomas.

They remained immobile without looking at each other. They didn't know what to make out of this so they just resumed their attempt at a walk back home while the forest kept lurking. Their anxiety kept all their senses at maximum use.

At some point, the moon showed them a path to a single tree isolated from the others. Inside its crooked trunk was a book with a cover in leather and shiny golden angles that drew the boys attention. They took it indifferent then they resumed their walk and gradually let go of the fear.

It's like the night became relaxing and they felt good just like how they were walking sooner. They eventually lost track of time, forgot where they were and before they knew it they were in front of Thomas's house. That's when they realised the had been walking back home in the same state they were when they got into the forest.

When Chris "woke up", he had the widest eyes as he realised "What was that Thomas ?"

"I have no idea man. But, shit, this was crazy. You felt like you were sleepwalking too ?"

"Exactly !!!"

"Oh, fuck. And what's that you got ? When did you get it ?"

"Huh ?" Chris felt a weight in his left hand. Then they remembered they got that book in the forest. "This is crazy. What hour is it ?"

"Let me look. It's 7 pm. And we left at 6. We were out for only one hour ?" asked Thomas.

"I felt like we spent the whole night in that place."

"Me too."

They stared at each other then at the book. Chris said "Let's have a look at it after dinner."

"Or we could just dump it." proposed Thomas.