As I slowly awoke I looked around the back seat of the truck I was sitting in. I was still quite hazy until my father had hit the breaks and cargo from the behind me hit me in the back of my head. I quickly opened my eyes and saw someone has shot across an intersection we were going by. My dad proceeded to yell out "fuck stick" before continuing to drive along the mountain highway. It was the week of my dad's birthday, which we had thought would be best celebrated by going camping at Buck's Lake. We had done this a few times, this being our fourth year in a row coming up to the lake. However, this would be my last year going camping with my dad, stepmom, and stepsister for quite a while, seeing that I only had one year of high school left before leaving for the army. Being eighteen and lightly antisocial, you could probably imagine how much I would have loved to be alone for a week and binge watch as many seasons of digimon as possible. Somehow I resisted this urge and decided to do the right thing and go camping with my family.

After hours of driving we finally pulled in to our camping spot and set up our tents and other camping supplies. Since it was nearly eleven at night I decided to head to bed, however I laid there I'm my tent for an hour watching the flickering of the campfire shine through the walls of my tent before finally falling asleep.

XXX

The next morning I woke up to the sound of children playing and country music, sounds that both brought a smile to my face. Slow, I rose from my bed and put on a pair of camouflage cargo pants, a light grey t-shirt, and black knee-high marching boots. As I stepped out of my tent I put on my camouflage military cap and my aviator sunglasses before walking to an empty seat and sitting down. About another hour had passed by before my stepmom and step sister had gotten out of bed and made breakfast.

I got up and grabbed a plate of bacon, eggs, and a can of tea before sitting back down. My stepmom turned to me and caught my attention, "hey Justin"

I turned to her, "yeah?"

"As soon as your father gets up we're going to put the jet skis in the water… alright?"

I nodded and answered, "alright."

As if on cue I heard the zipper to my dad's tent open. I looked over and saw my dad was already prepared to put the skis in the water. He moved me out of my seat before proceeding to eat breakfast. I walked over to the table and sat down before looking to him and asking, "sleep well?"

He shook his head as he took a bite of his eggs, "no."

"Your back acting up again?"

"Yep"

"Wish I could help you with that."

"Me too," he then got up and threw his plate in the fire pit, "alright… let's roll."

Quickly, I got up from the table and got in the car.

After a short five minute drive we arrived at the boat ramp. I jumped out and started unhooking the skis, my stepmom and step sister helping me do so. After a short process we finally got the skis off of the trailer and into the water. My dad and and got back into the car and drove back to camp, whereas the other two rode the jet skis back to camp. By the time we all got back to camp it was already noon, so my stepmom made us lunch before my step sister went out and rode one jet ski out on the lake, whereas my dad got on the other one and putted around the cove next to our camp and fished from it, seeing that we didn't bring a boat. My stepmom drove off to the nearby town of Quincy to grab more ice for the ice chests, I however, decided to stay and take a quick nap.

As it turned out my 'quick nap' ended up being eight hours long, it already being dark by the time I woke up. I got up and saw everyone sitting by the fire eating dinner. Thought not hungry, I decided to join them anyway. I picked out a seat next to my dad and sat back before saying, "fishing any good?"

"Not for me. Two other people going around in their boat caught like… five."

I then turned to my stepmom and stepsister, "anything happen while I was asleep?"

They both shook their heads and answered, "no" "nope."

"Cool," I responded. I then sat there for a while before my stepmom said to me, "your dinner is on top of the bearbox."

"Thank you… I'll eat it in a bit. Right now I feel like walking around or hiking around the lake."

"Well then you should probably but it in the bearbox because the rest of us are headed for bed."

"Alright."

They then proceeded to grab their things and go into their tents. As they did so I wrapped my food in some aluminum foil and place it in the box. I waited as they all closed their tents before grabbing a camouflage jacket starting my journey.

I had spent almost an hour and a half walking around the lake when I realized I was on the complete opposite side of the lake from where my camp was. I wanted to go back to camp, but at the same time I wanted to stay and watch the moon shine bright over the glass-flat lake. I thought to myself, a few minutes of stopping won't hurt. Slowly I walked to the edge of the water and took off my hat and placed my sunglasses in my pocket, with the moon making it bright enough to see my own face, blue eyes and dark brown hair. As I stood there studying myself in the water I suddenly felt the air go cold and a shiver go down my spine. I figured that was my sign to head back to camp, but as soon as I took one step a blue beam of light shot down in the middle of the lake before a large - heavy fog settled where the beam had hit. All of what had just happen left me flabbergasted.

I stood where I was for about thirty seconds before closing my eyes and shaking my head for another twenty, and when I opened my eyes again the fog was gone. However, the light had completely thrown my eyes off from being adjusted to the dark so I pulled out my phone and used the light from the screen as a flashlight. As I walked along the shore I tried to forget what had just happened, figuring what I had just seen was an insomnia induced illusion.

As I walked along the side of the lake I saw a figure crawl up the beach about five hundred yards ahead of me. Curiosity getting the best of me, I slowly approached the figure until I was just under twenty feet away from it before realizing, holy hell that's a person. I rushed to the individual and got on my knees next to them before realizing even further, holy shit that's a… a Renamon!