Chapter 5: The Vanishing Act

"Wait a minute!" Naruto said to Ichigo shocked about the discovery, "That's not possible at all! You must have made of a mistake or something!"

"That's not possible," Ichigo said with a glare, "We doubled checked as well, plus we also talked to a few of the campers. They never even heard of Sora. I can't believe I wasted my time on this nonsense."

"Come on!" I said to him, "What do you think happened out there?"

"I'm not sure what to think," he said, "There is nothing that proves what you said is true. You guys are just messing with me or something. Why don't you three just go swimming and stop bugging me!"

Before any of us complain, Ichigo already took off towards the river to keep a watch on the campers. Some job he was doing! Two of them already disappeared! "This sucks," Naruto growled with frustration, "I know what I saw! We all saw Sora, he was here! That's it! I'm heading back to the bunk. Forget this!"

He turned around and headed away from the river. "I'm heading back with him," Ryoma said, "I'm not swimming in that river."

I don't know what do! There seemed like there wasn't anything to do at all! 'Maybe I should take a swim?' I thought to myself, 'To clear my head.'

I sighed and headed towards the river. I could see everyone all ready in the river swimming happily, so unaware of the events happening all around us. Why hasn't anyone noticed anything?

As I drew closer, someone quickly subdued me from behind and dragged me back into the forest behind a few trees. I pushed the attacker away quickly and raised my fists to defend myself. After all, what else did I have to fight back with?

I faced down the attacker and was surprised to see someone I didn't expect to see. "Whoa!" I said dropping my fists, "Sakura! What are you doing here?"

"Shh!" she said clamping her hand over my mouth, "Be quiet! I don't want anyone to hear us!" I noticed she was all wet and damp from head to toe then with a bit of further inspecting. Where did she come from?

"There you are!" Makie said then appearing behind Sakura, "We have been waiting for you all day! We swam over here during the early morning to talk to you!"

"You two can get into some serious trouble if the counselors catch you two!" I told them, "What is the problem?"

"It's the girls' camp!" Sakura said, "It's horrible!"

"Yeah!" Makie said squirming, "Everyone there calls it Camp Nightmare instead of Camp Nightmoon! Tons of freaky and weird things have been happening over there!"

"Like what?" I said inching closer to hear.

"A lot of bad things have been going on," she continued in a grave voice, "Girls have been disappearing all around us and no one seems to care at all! Our counselors just won't listen to us!"

"Same thing is going on here!" I told them, "Kids are just disappearing without a trace! Remember Mike? He just disappeared from our cabin along with everything he owns!"

"This is nuts!" Sakura shivered, "Three girls have already disappeared! One of them was mauled by bear, so it is possible that she forced home, but the others have no explanation to why they have vanished!"

This was getting creepy. The same thing is going on at the other camp! What is wrong with this place?! I then told them all about the attack at the Forbidden Bunk with Naruto and Sora along with Ichigo attacking Ryoma. They seemed to being getting nervous as I was.

"This can't go on any longer!" Sakura said, "We have to get all the boys and girls together to form an escape plan! We have to get away from here as fast as possible!"

"Why don't you two write to your parents and get them over here to take you to home?" I said, "Haven't you been writing?"

"Yes!" Makie said, "Every single day! But I haven't gotten a letter back!" That reminded me at that moment that my mom hadn't written back to me yet either. She said she would write to me every day too!

"Don't worry," I said to them after something clicked on in my head, "There's still Visitor's Day! When our parents come here, we'll tell them everything and we'll get them to take us home with them!"

"It maybe too late by then!" Sakura said.

"Let's just hang in here!" I told them, "Look, I'll tell Naruto and Ryoma the plan and I'll see if they'll go for it. Come back tomorrow if possible in the same spot and I'll tell you what they said, alright?"

"Ok," they said, "We'll see you later. Please be careful." Then they disappeared back into the woods.

I decided to run back to cabin to tell Naruto and Ryoma about what was going on with them. Maybe they would go for it? After all, Naruto already looked like he wanted to leave.

As I was about to reach the cabin, something else clicked on in my head. The payphone! I remember seeing a payphone not that far from the mess hall… or was it the main hall. 'Oh well!' I thought to myself, 'Might as well check both.'

Anyhow, I found the phone and breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe my mom can take Ryoma, Naruto, Makie, and Sakura home too? It's better for them to come with me then stay here. I walked over to the phone and then I saw something shocking.

It wasn't a real phone at all! It was made of plastic! It was just a stage prop! What's with that?! I growled and tossed it hard at the wall. Today wasn't turning out so well.

I turned around and ran straight into Takahata. "Ah Ash!" he said with a smile, "What a surprise! What are you doing up here anyways?"

"I, ah, wanted to make a call," I said quickly, "I just wanted to call my parents and tell them how everything has been going."

"That's nice," he said with a smile and a nod, and then he chuckled to him, "Doesn't work to well huh? I guess you fell for it! I put that thing up as a joke! Never gets old."

"Where's the real phone?" I asked him.

He retained a smile, but by the sound of his voice, he was dead serious when he said, "We don't have one here. Cell phones don't work out here as well. Are you homesick?"

"Kind of," I said. I wasn't really sure how to address that. After all, most of the issues I wanted to call home about were this camp and he might find what I have to say offensive.

"Have you been writing your letters home?" he asked in a sincere voice. I nodded. He smiled and said, "Well why don't you write a big long letter to your mom and friends at home. It'll make you feel better. It does for a lot of campers."

"Sure," I said. Well… at that point it didn't seem like it would work real well at all.

"So," he said taking a look at the clipboard he was holding, "Do you have any idea of where you are suppose to be right now?"

"Softball…" I said, "But I'm not feeling too well anymore so…"

"O.k. then," he said moving to the next topic, "When is your canoe trip?"

"Huh?" I didn't remember being told at any point about a canoe trip.

"It says here it'll be tomorrow for you," he said looking at his board, "It's a Bunk activity so everyone from your bunk will be with you. Are you excited?"

"Sorry," I said with a shrug, "I didn't know anything about it until now."

"It'll be a lot fun!" he said with a big smile, "The river around here is pretty tame for a while, but it gets real exciting later on. There are some pretty cool rapids. It'll be great. Everyone loves the canoe trip part of camp!"

"Sure," I said with a flat voice. I wasn't really excited anymore about this camp. There have been too many bad things going on around here.

I turned around and headed for my bunk. I turned around when I reached my cabin's door and still saw Takahata watching with a smile. Then he disappeared around the corner of the building.

I headed inside and found Naruto and Ryoma already changed back into their normal clothes. "You guys," I said to them, "I got to tell you something!"

I then explained to them about everything that has happened to me this morning after they left the river. I told them about what Makie and Sakura to me about what was happening at their camp. "They swam all the way over here?" Naruto said, "That took some guts."

"They want us to form an escape plan so we can get away from here," I said, "I told them that I would pass on the information to you two."

"It is a crazy idea," Naruto said, "But then again, I took part in crazier plans. I'm up for it if you guys want to."

"Look," Ryoma sighed adjusting his baseball cap as he laid on his bunk bed, "Visitor's Day is next week. If we can just hold out until then, we'll be able to leave here."

"I'm going to write home and see if my mom can pick me up right away. She probably will come and get me if I ask her."

I got out some paper and started to write onto it. Then I looked up at them and said to them, "Hey guys, did you know we are on a canoe trip to more?"

They looked at me with surprise and Naruto said, "What? That's tomorrow plus a 3 mile hike today!?"

"It's going to be a long day then," Ryoma sighed.

"Hike?" I asked.

"Yeah," Naruto said, "Do you know that counselor called Jimmy Kudo? He told Ryoma and me that we were going to be on a hike with him right after lunch!"

"He didn't tell me!" I said.

"Maybe you aren't in our hike group?" Ryoma said.

"Just ask Jimmy when we get to lunch," Naruto said, "Maybe he hadn't gotten around to telling you yet?"

I nodded and started to write everything down about what has happened to everyone here. I was down to my third piece of paper when Ichigo walked in. I hid my letter under my pillow. I didn't want him to see it. He wasn't worth trusting anymore.

"What are you three just sitting around here for?" Ichigo said glancing at each of us, "It's lunch time so its time to get moving and change out of your swimsuits while your at it."

He looked at Naruto and Ryoma and said, "I heard Jimmy is taking you two out on the hike today. It's going to be scorcher outside today. Don't fry up too much."

"What about me?" I asked him, "Am I going on the trip?"

"Nope," he said, "You are not apart of it." Then he left us alone once again. Just like he always does.

Today's lunch was pizza. It was so cold and it taste like cardboard… not that I ever ate cardboard… Anyhow, I skipped eating it and listen in to what would be happening today for me.

As we ate, Jimmy Kudo showed up and summoned Naruto and Ryoma for the hiking trip. I asked him about why I wasn't going on it. "Beats me," he said glancing at his clipboard, "I don't normally make the decisions on who is in what, maybe Takahata decided this?"

"So what am I doing then?" I asked him.

"According to this," Jimmy said looking at his clipboard, "You are signed up for the tennis tournament today."

"Lucky…" Ryoma mumbled under his breath.

"That's right," Ichigo said walking up to us and looking straight at me, "You are representing our bunk today. You better not lose."

"If that's it," Jimmy said checking his watch, "It's time for the afternoon activities. I'll see you later Ichigo after the hike."

"Don't get lost," Ichigo said nodding and walking away, "Every year, some group always disappears out in the woods."

"Like that will happen to my team," Jimmy said with a smile, and then he turned and looked at my bunkmates, "Let's get a move on!" They both gave me one last look and headed out the door of the mess hall.

The Tennis tournament was a huge pain for me. I manage to beat this small kid who obviously never played before, but then I was crushed by my second opponent. By the time it was all over, I hurt all over and was covered in sweat.

I headed back for the bunk and finished my letter to my mom after I changed into a clean shirt. When I was all finished with that, the sun was beginning to set and it was almost dinnertime. Naruto and Ryoma had yet to show up yet.

I decided to ignore that for the moment and head straight to the main lodge to mail my letter. When I got there, the person who normally took my letter wasn't there. In fact, the lobby was empty.

"Hello?" I called out into the room, "Anyone there?" There was no reply. I decided to head in anyways just to see if there was anyone there and they just didn't hear me.

I gripped my letter and walked into a small room behind the desk where the person sat normally. "Anyone in here? I asked.

No reply. Then I saw a huge bag laying on a table in the room. 'It must be the mailbag!' I thought to myself walking towards it to place my letter in it.

I opened it up and tons of letters spilled out of it. I looked closely at one of the letters and discovered that one of them was the one I had written the day before. I thought at the time that maybe they didn't get around to sending them out yet.

Then I looked at another letter, it was Ryoma's letter. I decided to take a look at another letter. This one was the first one I ever written at the camp!

Every letter Ryoma, Max, Naruto, and everyone else's was in that bag. None of them were sent out. We couldn't call home and we can't even write home! We're stuck in the middle of nowhere without any bit of communication with the outside the world.

I ran to the mess hall and slipped in as Takahata finished giving out the evening announcements. I looked around the area, but I couldn't see Naruto and Ryoma anywhere. I needed to tell them about the letters, but there were no where to be scene.

I waited until dinner was over to talk to Ichigo. He wasn't the first choice, but Takahata wasn't here so that only left Ichigo. "Hey," I said walking up to him as he ate his dinner, "Where's Naruto, Ryoma…"

Then something caught my eye at the table. There was one seat empty. "…and Jimmy?" I added.

"I guess they're still on the hike," he said not forwarding his gaze on me.

"Shouldn't they be back by now?" I asked him, "A 3 mile hike shouldn't take that long."

"Most likely," he said. He didn't seem interested or even care. What was wrong with him? People are disappearing around him and he doesn't even care that they are gone?

I walked out of the mess hall and decided to head straight for my bunk. I wasn't feeling too good. Everything was driving me crazy! 4 campers and a counselor are missing in action and no gives a crap about them!

As moved closer to the cabin, I saw the lights were on and someone was moving inside it. My first reaction was surprise. Were Naruto and Ryoma back? I ran as fast I could to see if it was true or not.

I burst into the cabin and was surprised to find two different people than what I expected. They looked at me with a surprise. "Oops," I said by surprise, "I am in the wrong bunk? I thought this was Bunk 4.

"No," said a kid with glasses, "This is the right bunk."

"We're the new kids around here," one of them said, "My name is Sho Takamutsu and he is Negi Springfield."

My heart started to pound hard against my chest. "M-My name is Ash Ketchum. Isn't there anyone here called Naruto or Ryoma?"

"There is no one by that name here," Negi said adjusting his glasses, "Plus, the people here said this bunk was nearly empty anyways."

"That's not all," Sho added, "There is only one drawer here with stuff in it when we got in here."

"Maybe they moved your friends to another bunk?" Negi suggested.

"I hope so," I said. But the hope wasn't very strong. This camp already has a bad record of missing people.

"So," Sho said trying to start up a conversation, "You stay here all summer?"

"Nah," I said with a sigh, "I'm leaving next week when my mom comes for Visitor's Day."

"Wait a minute," Negi said, "Visitor's Day? Didn't you hear the news? Visitor's Day has been cancelled!"

Author Notice: Happy Halloween! I figured I end this month with another chapter of this horror story. I hoped you enjoyed it!

In the next chapter, prepare for a wet experience! Ash, Negi, Sho, and Ichigo head out on their canoe trip, but not without disasterous results.

Date: 10/31/07

Next to Come Chapter 6: The River

Reviewer: Shadow Guardian of the Gate