Sounds in the forest, Bättel 2006 - notebook entry on the 9th of July

When I stepped out from the outhouse where the toilet is, I heard a sound in the forest across the road. In the darkness I could not see what made the sound. I stood for about a minute watching the darkness between the trees, but the forest made no more strange sounds, it was quiet. Behind me it was not quiet. I turned around, my back to the forest and watched my friends and the fire at our camp site about 20 metres below me. I thought, if I cross this road behind me, walk into the forest in search of whatever made that sound, and I for some reason disappeared, how long before they’d miss me? 8 of them, divided into two groups, one group by the fire, the other inside the tent. When would they notice that I wasn’t in the other group and still hadn’t returned from the outhouse?

I asked a couple of them when I got back to the camp. On of them said “I’m sorry but honestly I don’t think we’d notice till quite a long time had passed. With all the drinking, the talking, the music and the darkness – yes, it could be a while”.
The other one she said that it would be maximum 5 minutes before she’d notice and I said “really?” and then I asked if she thought this would be true even if it hadn’t been her I had been sitting next to before I went to the “ladies room” and she said it was.

I’m not convinced though. My guess is something between 20 minutes and closer to an hour. After all, it was getting late and dark, people might soon be going to bed – wouldn’t they just assume that I had done so as well? I don’t know, but I do think that if I had crossed the road in search of the sound and something dangerous had been behind that sound, much could’ve happened without them knowing. And that’s an interesting thought – when it comes to writing stories!