Chapter 18Campfire stories and dumb pranks
That night as the group headed out for the A-frames it began to drizzle. Kendrix pulled her poncho tighter about her and wished they were going to a cabin not a simple lean-to. Still as she felt Leo brush against her arm she knew they'd be fine. It just seemed than whenever he was around everything went ok.
The red sweatshirt clad boy was wondering if it would turn into another all out storm. If it did would they stay there? Reason said no but then too logic said they'd have too; lightening would be too dangerous if they decided to leave the little camp.
They just made it to the designated spot when the heavens opened up and they had to race into the brighty yellow painted A-frames. There were three of them and so the girls had one, the boys another.
Kendrix made short work of unrolling her sleeping bag in the middle; she was still too wary of snakes to sleep on either side of the opened air tent.
She wondered why the counselors had to scare them by telling then what to do if they woke with something in their sleeping bag. She'd have nightmares for sure.
"Hey brains." The voice had her looking up to see lo at the side of their structure. He wore his rain gear and was grinning as he handed her something.
"Leo?"
"Thought you might like something to read since things are going to be pretty boring." He explained and she grinned.
"You know your crazy right?" She grinned at him and he struck a superman pose.
"I think I've heard that one before." He said and then moved a little closer to the shelter of the A-frame.
"So what you guys gonna do now?" Kendrix asked and she glanced around a minute as if looking for something.
"Well apparently we're all coming over here to tell ghost stories and eat gram crackers and stuff." Leo explained what the two male counselors had told the guys.
"Oh ok when?" Kendrix asked and he grinned.
"I think now."
"Cool." She said and he hoped up so he was seated beside her on her bedroll.
When everyone else was settled nick, the eldest counselor began to tell the first of many ghost stories. Leo watched Kendrix's face as the man spoke of haunted ships and people who didn't know they were dead. She didn't seemed bothered by as it grew dark she seemed to moved a little closer to him. He just caught her hand and continued to listen.
"Ok I think we have time for one more before snack time." Della called and nick nodded.
"I'll tell it." Jeff spoke up and nick moved so his buddy could take center stage.
"I have worked here longer than any of the other counselors so in camp tradition I'm supposed to pass this on."
"Here we go." Leo muttered under his breath but Kendrix didn't notice she was so wrapped into the story telling.
"Now, you've seen the three A-frames, and they look nice don't they?" Nick said and when the kids all nodded he went on. "Well there used to be four, back in the sixties when the camp was first opened."
"What happened to the fourth?" One of the other campers asked.
"Well that's what I'm going to tell you." Nick said and the kids shifted slightly as if sensing it would be a long story. "See back then there were only about ten cabins and most of the kids were about your ages. The schedules for the counselors ran a bit different. See they'd work four days and then have a day off."
"Wish they did that now." Jeff muttered and the kids snickered.
"Ha ha." Della muttered.
"Anyway there were these three counselors who were the best FO friends. They'd grown up together in a small town not far from here, they'd even signed on here together. Now Andy, Michel and Jinni had it worked off so they'd always get the same days off." Leo thought about a horror movie he'd seen once and sighed, this was going to one of those slasher things wasn't it?
"Well one day Michel couldn't go with them so Jinni and Andy were on their own. Not that they minded seeing how they were dating." Nick said and then a bolt of lightening shot through the A-frame casting an eerie glow over everything. "Anyway Andy's car was in the shop so he and Jinni had to stick close to the camp. They decided to go hiking up here since no one was scheduled to used this place. They packed up stuff for dinner and headed out. No one knows for sure what happened to them but when they didn't come back by the next afternoon some of the other staff came up looking for them and all they found was the fourth A-frame covered in blood. There were no sign of bodies just the blood smeared over every inch of the inside of the A-frame. they searched for them for three days and even had to close down the camp in case there was a killer on the lose but they never told the parents why, they'd never get kids o come back if they did."
"What did they think happened?" Bobby Greenings asked quietly.
"Well in these parts of the forest there's this thing, it's called the shadow, it's been around supposedly since this area was first settled but no one knows what it was. Anyway Michelle didn't believe that her friends could just disappear so one night she came up here alone and no one ever saw her again." As nick finished Leo wondered if every camp taught the counselors how to tell these stories. This guy was good, he could tell by the wrapped looks on the faces of the others and how Kendrix was clutching his hand.
"They say if you come up here on a stormy night and listen hard you can hear the voice of Michelle calling for her friends." Nick said adding. "And some have even heard screaming, almost inhuman as if it were Ginny and Andy reliving those last few minutes of terror they'd known."
"Wow creepy." Becky Stuart mumbled and shuddered a little.
Leo felt Kendrix doing the same thing and ran his thumb over her knuckles.
"What a crock." mike James muttered and Nick shook his head nodding to Jeff who reached into a corner near the entrance and held up a piece of wood, it had the same yellow paint as the outside of the three shelters.
"And I suppose that this is a crock to?" He asked looking the boy right in the eye.
As Della announced it was snack time Leo snickered and Kendrix found herself giggling too. It had been a dreadful story but it was just that, a story.
***
It was over an hour later when the boys returned to their shelter, running through a deluge of rain. Kendrix peeked out, making sure Leo got in safely; she didn't want him to fall or anything. Not that he would, she was beginning to think that the guy was superman after all. Just that thought made her giggle and that had Stacy Hoffman glancing in her direction.
"You like him."
"Duh, their going to the dance." Becky replied and Kendrix just blushed.
"Hey don't embarrass her; Misty did that enough for the whole camp." Stacy said and Kendrix sighed, would the havoc the red head never end? She was gone and yet still driving Kendrix crazy.
"Come on girl's time to turn in." Della called from the side of the lean-to where she'd laid out her own bedroll.
Kendrix sighed glad for the reprieve and as she climbed into the coolness of the red and black plaid sleeping bag the memory of the warning about the snakes hit her and she shuddered involuntarily. Why did they have to say that? Well, she knew that it was for their own safety but gees…
***
As Leo climbed into his own sleeping bag he wondered why the summer had to end. Tonight more than any other day he'd felt as happy as a kid in a comic book store. Still in just over a week they'd have to go home, saying goodbye for a year or… it hit him that things could change and he might never see Kendrix again. Man that would totally suck. She'd become so much a part of his life, now when he entered an area she was the first thing he looked for. What would he do everyday with out seeing those sparkling eyes/ Sighing he lay down and waited for sleep to over claim him.
***
The wail had her eyes snapping open and her heart racing, Kendrix had been just nodding off and now as she lay there, fighting to understand what was going on? Then she heard the voices, the screaming, it sounded like some wounded animal and the calling.
"What the…" Becky asked trying to take in the situation.
"oh my gosh…" Stacy was gasping. rrr
"It's true." Stacy was saying. rr
Kendrix sighed, seeing that it was only Della in a red wig who was walking slowly through the downpour. Slowly her heart resumed its normal pulsing and Kendrix lay back down thinking of the fact that it had all been a set up. The thing was it had been so badly pulled off, they'd been screaming at the same time as Della had been supposedly searching for Ginny. It didn't make much sense. Even Leo could do it better than that.
Rolling over she went back to sleep.
TBC
***
Hmm, I wonder what else might happen to shake things up? Stay tuned to find out.