Chapter 19 - Fright at the Museum

The very first thing that came to my senses was a chilled, soft breeze gently stroking my hair as it whispered for me to wake up and embrace the day. I shifted around and grunted a little. I didn't want to get up, not just yet. After all, if I was going to be nominated to do a trial, I needed to gain all the energy that was available, so I nestled my head further into my pillow, my body slowly feeling like it was melting away by the warmth of my bed. I kept my breathing slow and calm as I made sure to inhale all the beautiful, charming scents of the jasmines, peonies, and bluebells that were growing on the trees around me to ensure that I got an adequate amount of rest.

Then I momentarily remembered something about last night. Something that had scared and horrified me. Something that I felt like I couldn't have prevented. Oh no. Last night, when me and Jack were sitting around the fire after the others had gone to bed, he had said to me that Alex was causing him so much pain and discomfort that he wanted to leave Camp and the show altogether. At that moment, my heartbeat and my body increased. I blinked my bleary eyes open and looked around anxiously for Jack's bed, expecting it to be stripped of its covers and all of his resources gone as well, but luckily, luckily, Jack was there, his body slowly moving up and down as he was sleeping peacefully.

I smiled. So it seemed that Jack had listened to what I said and stayed the night, but what if he had other plans, that being, he would stay for half the morning and then leave? Hm… That would seem a little inconvenient, but still… Just then, I saw that Jack was beginning to stir and I wondered if, even in a light sleep, he could sense that I was questioning whether or not he was still here. He rubbed his eyes, leant up on his elbows and faced me from his bed.

"Ludwig…" he said groggily.

"Yes?" I hissed back so as to not wake up any of the others. However, to make matters easier, Jack stretched, rose up out of bed and walked over to me.

"Thank you for what you did last night." Jack gave me a sleepy smile then put a hand on my shoulder. "I really needed that."

"We both did, I think. We just needed to tell ourselves that we're all here for each other and there's no point in getting all worked up over one person making you feel worthless. If it was three or four people, then I would understand why you'd want to leave, but you can't leave because one person is hurting your feelings and humiliating you."

Jack hung his head and cringed. "Oh yeah… I understand now, I did make quite a fuss last night didn't I? If I had left Camp forthwith, then Alex would've won. I'm sorry about how I acted last night, it's just…something like this has been happening for so long now that I can't help feeling like that."

"Oh. Well, who's been treating you like that then, besides Alex?" But before Jack could reply, we both heard a gruff voice shouting at us.

"Will you lovebirds shut up? I'm trying to sleep!" Alex shouted from his hammock.

"Oh, pardon me for my selfishness, your lordship." I said sarcastically.

Alex scoffed. "Woah. You think you're such a man, don't you?"

"Well, Ludwig's more of a man than you." I heard Gracie interject from her bed, which made my heart soar with affection and pride, but that didn't hang around for long because Alex said something that was a little too close to home.

"He may be good at acting like a man, but he's crap at acting like anything else. I doubt he's even going to win the show!"

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever." And I set about lifting myself out of bed and trying to dismiss what Alex had just said, but the irritating thing was that I couldn't.

For some reason, after that brief amount of conflict, me and my campmates became really quiet and unsociable with each other, which I imagined was because we were all afraid of Alex and his spitefulness towards us and it was as if we couldn't even breathe without him shaming us. About a couple of minutes of staring ahead later, the fire had grown all wild and our breakfast was ready. However, even though my stomach had been rumbling all night from the absence of a quality dinner, I didn't feel like eating at all. It was stupid, but now I was put in Jack's shoes and now I understood why he was so upset.

Luckily but unluckily, Gracie must've seen my blank, emotionless face because she moved next to me and ate her food. "Don't listen to what Alex says." she said after she finished her last mouthful of food. "I think he may have forgotten that there are cameras here and that a couple million people are watching him."

I understood that Gracie was trying to make me feel better, but the fact that she had said that a couple million people would be watching Alex, that meant that that equal amount of people would be watching me as well, so that had the complete opposite effect on me, but I didn't take the matter too negatively; Gracie was really sweet and it was very cute how she was trying to help, but kept on failing.

"Maybe he has." I chuckled. "I hope he gets kicked out of the show soon. I'm still angry at what he did to Jack yesterday and how he nearly killed him."

"Jeez!" Gracie exclaimed. "How the hell did he do that?"

"They both did this trial where they were both put into water tanks and Alex decided that it would be 'funny' to unplug his tank, thus filling up Jack's and he almost drowned."

"Right. Now I really hate him! Like, what the heck?! I hope he gets kicked out in tomorrow's meeting."

Just then, there came a sound that I had heard before in Camp, but I couldn't really place it instantly; I just had to stop and think through what it was. Oh! It was a wooden bucket being lowered down to the ground, and speaking of which, it got me thinking. Who the hell kept on going up to the wooden balcony and lowering our resources and mail down, let alone without making any noise and…just…how did we not notice? Me and my campmates walked over to the bucket and picked up the rolled up piece of paper lying inside it. I read the note that was written on it aloud. It said:

Congratulations Ludwig! You have been nominated by the public to take part in today's Bushtucker Trial 'Fright at the Museum'! It is a solo trial and more details will be discussed when the trial is about to start. Please pack your resources and arrive at the open space next to the lake ASAP. Do your very best with the trial and good luck!

Mark.

My heart immediately sank, partly because I was expecting there to be a piece of mail from Iggy or Larry or someone else, but then I thought, no. On that website I saw back at home, it said that there would be absolutely no communication with the outside world until the three weeks were over, which disappointed me readily. However, I was a little nervous but excited to participate in my first solo trial and I hesitated for a while as all my campmates stared at me, anticipating what my response was going to be.

At last, I said, "Wow. Oh my god." Then the others started cheering and supporting me whilst Alex sat there with his arms crossed, which I didn't particularly care about.

I began packing all my things into my bag hastily, swung it onto my back and strode out of Camp with my friends shouting supportive words from behind. At one point, I heard Gracie yelling, "You've got this, Lud! We love you!" when I got a little bit further away and I sighed longingly, but I soon snapped out of it. Come on, Ludwig. You're not just winning stars for Gracie, you're doing it for all your lovely campmates, not necessarily Alex, but still.

Eventually, I walked past the sparkling lake and reached the clearing. Mark was there with what looked like a mini warehouse behind him, but then…the trial was called 'Fright at the Museum', so it was most likely meant to be a museum. Mark turned around as soon as I emerged from the jungle trees and greeted me with a handshake.

"Morning, Ludwig." he said, smiling. "How are you doing?"

"Hello. I'm doing okay."

"That's great to hear considering that's not how you were about a couple of days ago. The directors and the public were made fully aware that you didn't feel like taking part in any trials whatsoever and we understood clearly." Mark proceeded to put on a solemn face. "You were really not well, were you?"

I shook my head. "No. I actually fainted at one point, but the good thing is that I'm much better now and I'm ready to take on my first trial!"

Mark chuckled. "Oh, I love your enthusiasm, Ludwig." Then he turned around to face the little building. "Now, let me talk you through 'Fright at the Museum'. On the sound of the klaxon, you will be sent through these doors and you will have to stick your hand through ten hell holes posing as monuments. Mind out that there will be lots of critters and bugs in these holes out to get you, but just try to ignore them as much as you can and try to retrieve all ten stars in ten minutes." He turned to face me. "Are you ready to give it a go?"

I took a deep breath and sighed sharply. "Yes. I'm starving and…I just want to have the feeling that I've actually done something useful." As I spoke, a ranger walked out from behind the cameras and handed me a pair of goggles, which I slipped on immediately and he also opened up one of the big wooden doors leading inside the 'museum', then stood by the side staring ahead like a bouncer at a nightclub.

I kept on breathing slowly as I waited and waited for my cue to start and I adjusted my stance, looking as if I were at the starting line on a running track. At last, the klaxon sounded and I rushed inside the building. All around me were ten monuments in random directions with what looked like 'priceless antiques', just how Mark had described them. However, that sight was only met with my eyes for about two seconds and then, the door shut behind me. All I could see was complete and utter darkness. I couldn't see my hands or feet in front of me, let alone the ten monuments, which made my breathing become heavier and my heart beat rise.

This reminded me of when I had that nightmare about being in the jungle back at home and I had just woken up from it. I had been standing in the middle of my room not knowing what was left, what was right, in front of me or behind. That was what it was like right now.

"Mark!" I called out, putting my hands out in front of me. "Why is it pitch black?"

"Oh, that's another thing we forgot to tell you. There will be no light to guide you throughout the entire trial, so you'll only have to feel around for any monuments."

I sighed, trying not to panic at being refrained from using my sense of sight properly and felt around in the darkness before stabbing my finger into what could've been a monument. I put a finger up to the little earpiece wedged in my ear so Mark could still communicate with me.

"Is this one?" I asked, touching it all over in search of some form of opening.

"Yep, that's one. Now, stick your hand in it and screw the star off the bolt. There are baby crocodiles in this one." Mark replied.

Reluctantly, I slipped my left hand into the hole and started spinning the star anti-clockwise until finally, it came loose. However, I made the grave mistake of not letting the star fall off into my hand; it landed with a clunk at the bottom of the hell hole's little space, but luckily, I soon found it and stuffed it into the black bag I had tied round my waist. I sighed heavily. "Oh, thank god. I got the first star!" I cried.

"Well done, that's great, now move onto another one."

I did as I was told and I moved slowly around the room, feeling around for a different monument, and eventually, I did, but before I could stick my hand in it, tons of dust, dirt and sand came raining down on my head, followed by subsequent little tickles. Some of them were across my forehead, shoulders, the nape of my neck and even my scalp. That was when I knew that these were cockroaches, but I brushed them off of me and stuck my hand inside the hell hole. The moment I did though, I touched something…squidgy and furry.

"What's that?" I asked.

"There are rats in this one. Be very careful, some of them might not be happy with you pushing them around."

Okay… All I had to do was feel around gently and find the star. After a few seconds, I found it and started twisting it off, all the while breathing in and out and trying to gain confidence. Just as I twisted the star off of the bolt, my hand must've been sweating so much that my fingers slipped off the star and I ended up accidentally jabbing into a rat instead. I felt its podgy body and fur…and then something mightily painful.

"Ow, you little prick!" I shouted.

"Ludwig, are you all right?" I heard Mark say with a hint of concern.

"Yeah, I think a rat just bit me." I waggled my hand to get rid of the pain, but soon dismissed it and moved onto the third monument, then the fourth, then the fifth, but just as I thought that everything was going to run smoothly, I felt a second bucketful of disgusting bugs and dust fall onto my head. I let out a scream, my voice cracking as I did.

"Remember, Ludwig, you can always shout 'I'm A Koopa, Get Me Out of Here' if you feel like you've had enough." Mark said.

No. I wouldn't yell out the title of the show just from having bugs, dust and sand chucked over my head. I would hang on for these last five stars and make my campmates happy and full of food again. So I fought through it. I fought through stars six, seven and eight before I found the ninth monument, but just as I approached it, I heard a loud smash that caused my vulnerable ears to ring and I bumped into it. After I recovered, I asked, "What the hell was that?"

"Don't worry, it's just a vase breaking because it's dark and you can't really see where you're going."

'Can't really see where you're going'... Wow. However, I ignored that poor understatement and retrieved the ninth star. Somehow. Now, I made a gigantic mistake, thinking that retrieving the tenth and final star had the equal amount of difficulty as retrieving the others. Oh no.

"Right, now it's time for your tenth star, Ludwig." Mark announced. "Stop where you are for a moment and turn around."

I did what was requested.

"Now take about five steps forward."

I walked forward.

"Reach out to the side with your left hand. Do you feel something?"

Yes indeed. I felt something hard, pointy and a little rough in some places, a bit like half polished wood. I touched all around it and I felt what I thought were a pair of curtains leading into a tiny body-width wide hole. "Yeah, I feel it." I replied.

"Good, now what you have to do here is crawl inside this little hidey hole and retrieve the last star, but mind that it is much bigger than the stars you currently have so it'll be quite heavy. Once you're in there, the star will be above your head and you'll have to screw it off the huge bolt tethering it to the ceiling. Also, there will be tons of creepy crawlies in there, so be careful. You have one and a half minutes remaining, you can do it."

Without a second thought, I hauled my near exhausted body into the little cramped space and put my hands up. There was indeed a larger star hanging up there and I attempted to turn it anti-clockwise as fast as I could. This was actually harder than I thought because the bolt was rather stiff and my fingers kept slipping off it. It took about thirty seconds to loosen it properly, and by that time, I began to panic because Mark said to me, "You have thirty seconds left."

"Okay, okay, don't panic." I muttered to myself. "Don't worry, you'll be fine. If you don't do this, nine stars is enough." My own supportive words seemed to help me through it because at last, the star came off and I was left lying there with it in my grasp. "I got the star!" I shouted. "I got it!"

"All right, well done! Rangers, get him out of there." Mark said, and with that, I scrambled out of the hole, still clinging onto the star with both hands. I struggled to my feet and walked out of the building since the doors had already been opened for me. I instantly regretted it though because I was almost blinded by the brightness outside. "Well done!" Mark helped me brush some of the remaining cockroaches off my shirt. "That was quite a difficult trial and you got all ten stars! Could you get them all out for me?"

I opened my black bag and dropped all ten of them onto the floor, counting them all the while. I noticed that a few of them had a deep crimson smear over them, which I guessed was blood from when that rat bit me, but I couldn't have cared less about that right now because all I did care about was that I felt a huge sense of pride and relief at once and my campmates were going to be very pleased. "I can't wait to tell my campmates about this." I said, barely containing my excitement.

Mark smiled. "I'm not surprised! Now, go and clean yourself up. I bet you're cream crackered after that."

I sighed heavily and edged towards the tree I had emerged from at the beginning of the trial. "I sure am. I loved this experience, thanks so much."

"You're welcome, take care!"

I started walking through the trees in the direction of Camp, courses of excitement flowing through my veins. Boy, did I have a lot to tell my campmates…