Everyone turned in the same direction.
A man emerged from behind the trees, walking hurriedly. He was breathing heavily, and the anxiety on his face was impossible to hide.
He stopped a few steps away from Laras and her friends before asking in a hurried voice,
"Excuse me, have any of you seen my two friends pass by here?"
The man bent forward slightly, resting both hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath.
"One of them is a little chubby, while the other is tall and skinny. He was wearing a hat. My chubby friend was carrying a blue backpack."
Hasan immediately answered.
"Actually, we've been here for a while, but we haven't seen anyone pass by. Maybe your friends took a different trail."
He studied the man standing before him, who still appeared exhausted.
"By the way, where are you guys planning to hike? Why are you climbing a mountain at an hour like this?"
The man raised his head. The anxiety in his eyes became even more apparent.
"I was taking a leak earlier. But when I finished and turned around, both of my friends had suddenly disappeared."
He swallowed nervously before continuing.
"I panicked because this is their first time hiking a mountain. I'm worried something might have happened to them."
Hasan fell silent for a moment.
He could understand the man's panic. Being on a mountain at night was already difficult enough, especially when you lost two people along a trail you barely knew.
"I'm really sorry, but there's not much we can do to help because we only arrived here about an hour ago," Hasan explained.
He glanced toward the dark trail stretching behind the man.
"I'm worried that we might get separated ourselves and fail to find our way back to the same spot."
Hasan then explained in a serious tone,
"Mount Srinjani is enormous. And at night, it's difficult to find places you've already passed. It's different during the day, when everything is still clearly visible."
The man nodded slowly. He seemed to be realizing just how difficult it would be to search for his two friends alone.
Hasan briefly glanced at his companions before turning back to the man.
"How about joining us for now? You can rest here tonight. Tomorrow morning, when it's brighter, you can try looking for your friends again."
He pointed toward the tent standing not far from where they were gathered.
"We're also planning to continue hiking toward the summit tomorrow morning."
The man fell silent.
The offer brought him some relief, but the thought of his two missing friends continued to haunt him.
He turned toward the dark forest, hoping his friends would suddenly emerge from somewhere among the trees.
But no one appeared.
Finally, he turned back to Hasan and nodded.
"All right. Thank you so much for letting me join you and spend the night here."
He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.
"Honestly, though, I'm still worried about my friends. I hope they can find somewhere to rest together."
The man then reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out his phone.
"I can't contact them either because there's no signal here. So I really have no idea where they are right now."
He stared at the screen for a few seconds before putting the phone away.
"If it's okay with you, I'd like to get some sleep. I'm completely exhausted after searching everywhere for them. My knees are even starting to hurt."
"Oh, sure," Keenan replied.
He quickly stood up and brushed the dust off his trousers.
"I'll show you to our tent. Just get some rest. We're still going to play for a little while. Once we're done, we'll head into the tent, too."
The man nodded gratefully.
Keenan then led him toward their tent, leaving the others sitting around the scattered game cards.
Along the way, Keenan asked for his name.
"By the way, what's your name?"
"Umar."
"Where are you from?"
"I'm from a city somewhere on the island of Java."
Keenan nodded but didn't ask anything further. He understood that Umar was far too exhausted and worried to engage in a lengthy conversation.
Once they reached the tent, Umar immediately crawled inside and lay down.
Without saying much, he settled on his side with both hands folded in front of his body and his knees bent toward his stomach. The position made him look as though he were trying to preserve his body heat amid the increasingly cold mountain air.
His eyes slowly closed.
The exhaustion from searching for his two friends meant it didn't take him long to fall asleep.
Keenan watched Umar for a moment to make sure he was comfortable enough. After that, he stepped out of the tent and returned to his friends.
"Is he asleep?" Rengga asked.
"Looks like it. He's completely worn out from searching for his two friends."
Keenan sat down in his previous spot.
The game cards were still scattered in the middle of the circle. Water bottles and several pieces of hiking equipment lay around them, while the flashlight beams provided the only illumination separating the group from the darkness of the forest.
Rengga picked up the stack of cards and shuffled them again.
"Well, then, let's continue. We haven't finished the game yet."
Alya nodded. Tissa and Laras resumed their seats, while Hasan leaned back and watched his friends.
Rico remained seated calmly.
Every now and then, his gaze wandered toward the trees surrounding their campsite.
The figure he had seen earlier was nowhere to be found.
Yet, for some reason, he couldn't shake the feeling that the night was far from safe.
Meanwhile, inside the tent, Umar remained fast asleep.
His hands were still folded in front of his body, and his knees remained bent toward his stomach to keep himself warm.
Outside the tent, the sound of Laras and her friends laughing could be heard once again, mingling with the whisper of the wind and the rustling of leaves.
No one realized that Umar's arrival might bring new trouble to their journey.
Especially since his two friends were still missing.
And on Mount Srinjani, losing someone in the middle of the night was not the only thing they had to fear.