Chapter 1 the runty Bat and Raccoon visited camping
A father drove his dodge truck on the road with a boat trailer attached behind it. He was heading up for Northern Canada for a camping trip that weekend. He glanced back through his rear-view mirror while he changed radio station. Reflected inside it was his young eighteen-year-old daughter with long, thick, wavy, brown hair and fair skin. She wore a light blue t-shirt with grey sweat pants while sleeping with a book called Eragon on her lap. He chuckled softly and smiled warmly before stopping at a red light. The motion woke her up and she blinked her light grey-blue eyes.
"Dad, are we almost there?" she yawned.
"Yes, Ashley-love, in just a couple more minutes," he replied, the corner of his eyes crinkling from a smile in the rear-view mirror as he turned his truck over to the other side of the road.
"Okay dad," she sighed and looked outside to see pine trees passing by.
Her dad chuckled and spoke, "have you been taking a nap, sweetie?"
She nodded and rubbed her eyes. "Yeah, I did and it was nice one," she answered, still staring outside and looked at the sky softly. She hoped that this vacation would possibly be an adventure like she had always dreamed of. Ashley always had these thoughts every time when she and her family or one of her family members went on vacation. Sadly, those vacations never ended up like any of the ones she read in her books. All those dangers and thrills…she yearned for them all.
"Are you alright back there, honey?" she heard her dad ask with concern. She nodded fast and looked at him.
"Yeah, I'm okay. I'm just having some thoughts that's all and I just woke up," she spoke quickly.
Her dad hummed and shrugged, "well, whatever you say sweetie." He formed a smile and looked ahead. "This weekend it's going to be fun, just you and me, father and daughter time."
The girl chuckled. "Yeah, dad. I'm excited too and thanks for doing this for my birthday, despite it being last month."
"Honey, it's my gift to you. I thought this could be a good chance to spend some time together, just you and me with nature." Her dad chuckled.
"It's one of the best gifts as well," she added. Then she saw the lake as the truck went across the bridge and her eyes lit up. "Dad, is that where we're the camp is?"
Her dad nodded and said, "yes angel, it's where we're going to camp." He pauses the vehicle and turns towards the dirty road into the woods before driving on. Ashley looked out the window excitedly and watched the clouds pass by. Soon after, they arrived at the campground with one empty spot reserved for them. Her dad parked at the side for the boat.
"We're here," he announced as he turned off the engine. Ashley couldn't help but get out of the truck and run towards the campground where she saw the lake shimmer in front of her. She stopped and glanced at her surroundings to see a fireplace in middle of the campground with grass and dirt. In the corner of her eyes she saw the green forest. She sighed and deeply breathed in the fresh air. She smiled and let herself embrace the nature. To her everything was just right.
"Dad this is perfect," she beamed. Her dad chuckled after he got out his truck and walked to stand by her.
"I knew you'll love this place, with the lake and forest," he replied and looked out at the open. "This place is indeed beautiful."
Ashley looked back at the truck, "come on, dad. Let's unpack so we can do some activities here." She ran back and her dad laughed and followed her.
"Wait for your old man!" he called. Ashley giggled and for the rest of the day they set up their both tents on each side and put the boat in the lake. Soon after they went on with their activities; going fishing, catching some bass, hiking, swimming in the lake, and bike riding until sun went down. Later that evening, her dad taught her how to start the fire. With that, they both had fish for supper and s'mores for dessert. While eating, the father noticed his daughter still reading the Eragon book that she had bought with her birthday money back home.
"How's the book honey?" he swallows his s'more.
"It's pretty good," she answered while she flipped the page. "I'm getting to the part where Eragon is being taught sword fighting and dragon rider magic by Brom."
Her dad hummed and finished his s'mores. "You seem to like fantasy, don't you?" he asked.
Ashley nodded and bookmarked the page she's on. "Well, why not? I enjoy reading books that have adventure, fantasy and romance. They have some excitement in them," she explained.
He chuckled, "no there's nothing wrong with you liking something. It's what makes you unique and that's what's special about you." Ashley forced a soft laugh but deep inside, she had always thought that she was odd towards everyone she'd met. She glanced up at the night sky to see billions of stars making up the Milky Way, like a blanket twinkling across the sky.
"Wow, I wish I could see this night sky from home." She sighed to herself, letting some warm air out from her mouth. Then she gasps, seeing a familiar flying mammal and beamed. There was two of them soaring above. "Hey dad, look!"
He looked at her puzzled and looked around before asking, "what is it honey?" She points towards the sky at the bats flying towards the nightly forest.
"They're over there heading for the forest, see?"
He managed to look at where she's facing and smiled, "well, will you look at that?" He watched with his daughter as the two bats swept around in midair. A second later they flew towards the forest and let the darkness engulf them. "Too bad they're blind."
"They're not blind, dad," Ashley corrected, "they can see well."
"Oh?" he questioned. "Then how come they fly around at night with bad eyesight?"
"They use echolocation to guide them. It helps them track down some insects to feed on," she explained.
"How do you know all this stuff, sweetie?" her father drinks from his water bottle after he asks.
She shrugged and brought her two legs up sat cross-legged to keep her feet warm. "On the internet I guess, and books from the library. They're pretty interesting and amazing creatures," she said.
Her dad chuckled. "You with your bats."
Ashley giggled but then sighed heavily, "dad, do you find me weird to love bats?" she asked gloomily. All her life she had always heard other people say that bats are horrifying and disgusting creatures. Many were afraid of bats carrying rabies and a few were even frightened because of vampire folklore.
Her dad shook his head and got up from his log to walk over to her. "No Angel, it doesn't make you weird. Like I told you, it makes you unique and this bat stuff is very exclusive." He smiled at her and stroked her hair gently, "and that's what makes you special, sweetie."
Ashley sighed but formed a smile thanks to her dad's understanding words and got up. "Thanks dad," she said and he kissed her forehead gently.
"We should get some shut eye for tomorrow if we are going to catch some more bass. We cannot afford to sleep through the morning," he winked at her.
She nodded and stretched her arms out, yawning tiredly. "Okay dad, like some help with the fire?" she offered. He shook his head.
"No honey, I've got this down. You have done a lot to help today."
Ashley nodded and hugged her dad. "Okay, goodnight, daddy. See you tomorrow." She felt him embrace her softly.
"Goodnight, my angel. Have sweet dreams."
Ashley smiled and walked towards her tent while her father began to put out the fire. She zipped open the door and walked in before zipping it back up for security. She didn't want insects to creep in while she was sleeping. She sighed and grabbed her bag and pulled out her cozy purple PJ pants with white dots and a white tank top. She changed out of her her t-shirt and her sweatpants into her PJ's and crawled onto her air mattresses that her dad had brought. She covered up with her green blanket. She silently prayed to God, thanking him for his help such as keeping her and her dad safe and for allowing their day to be great with beautiful daylight. She lay down on the pillow and looked up serenely at the sky through the tent screen. Despite the talk she had with her dad, she still felt odd. She couldn't help herself. She always had been shy and quiet around others, with her head in up in the clouds, filled with dreams of adventure. She saw a shooting star fly by and sighed deeply.
"I wish I could end up going on a great adventure and have confidence in myself," she whispered and turned her body over onto her side. She sighed sadly one last time before she slowly fell into a slumber.
ASHLEY'S POV:
I heard something flapping and I half-opened my eyes. I heard it again. I groaned, got up and rubbed my eyes with my palm.
"Ugh, what on earth is making that sound?" I muttered tiredly. I strained my ears but didn't hear it anymore. "Hmmm…" I laid back down and covered myself back up with my blanket. I turned towards the screen window and yawned, "it's probably just a bird flying down to grab some crumbs." I was right about to close my eyes when that sound started up again. Something fast passed right before my eyes before I could even blink. I gasped and sat up. Sure enough, what I just saw was a bat. I threw off my covers quickly and grabbed my blue hooded sweater from my baggie. I put it on, unzipped my tent and peeked out.
I looked ahead to see that everything the way it should be after my dad and I headed for bed. I even looked up at the sky to check for any birds but all I could see was just darkness. I sighed, shook my head and was about to go back inside when I heard something clanging on other side of my tent. I grabbed my brown boots to put them on so I could find out what was making that noise. I took my flashlight just in case and walked out of my tent before I shut the zipper behind me. I gulped and walked quietly over towards the sound. I flicked my flashlight on towards the box that had all our pans and pots but there was nothing out of the ordinary there. I sighed in relief and decided that it was nothing. I began to head back towards my tent, but all of sudden I gasped. I covered my mouth to quiet myself when I saw a small bat on my dad's boat.
I watched as the little blue bat (perhaps he could be a runt) sniffed at the wheel curiously. I smiled happily and almost made a soft squeal. He looked so adorable! I felt the urge to wake my dad up to see this, but I didn't want the bat to fly off. So instead, I grabbed my cell phone from my pocket and set on the camera mode to take a picture of it. To my dismay, the bat was too far away and blurry. I had to get a little closer. As silently as I could, I tiptoed over and prepared my phone to get ready to take a picture. I saw the bat fly over to a seat and I noticed that up close, he had yellow hair with a matching mane.
When I was close enough to it, I slowly got my cell phone ready and begin to aim at it. But then suddenly, I almost tripped over a small stump and I accidentally let out a startled yell. The bat turned sharply in alarm and took off fast from the boat.
"No, no wait!" I cried. "Come back, I didn't mean to scare you!" I hopelessly watched the little bat fly away into the woods, not bothering to listen. I sighed in disappointment. 'Drat,' I thought and glanced at the boat near me. I decided to check on it to see if everything was all clear. I went over and put my cell phone down safely, not wanting it to fall out of my pocket and into the lake.
I got on the boat and shined over some items, seats, the wheel and everything else to make sure if everything was still the same and secure. After couple minutes of checking, I got off the boat and tightened the rope on its post to make sure it was good and tight. Suddenly, I heard my cellphone vibrating and I stopped in my tracks with a puzzled look.
"What the...?" I looked back and gasped when I saw a big chubby raccoon holding my cell phone in his two paws. It looked at it curiously after it's done vibrating and shook the phone roughly, as if he wanted to know how it did that. It then put my cell phone in its mouth and chewed on it to try and taste it. "Hey! Drop that!" I got up fast and ran towards it. Startled, the raccoon zoomed away from his spot with my cell phone in its mouth.
"Give me back my cell phone you little bandit!" I began to chase that little thief with my flashlight all around the campground. It bolted into the woods and I followed after it without hesitation. I had to get my phone back!r's Note: okay guys this will be my last revised for this I promise! I like to give this story a little less mary sue and going to change things up a bit to make it good, especially for the beginning Hope you like where this is going but if not DON'T READ AND REVIEW IT! DX I don't own any silverwing characters except OC's aka me but not dad who i also owned. Enjoy~ XD