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"The Campground" |
| Written by Chrissy | |
| Tuesday, 15 July 2008 | |
An early ice storm came quicker than anyone expected, collapsing autumn into a matter of days, freezing the unfallen leaves to their branches. The frosty leaves on the ground crinkled and scattered in the air as I drove over them nearing my destination. Dry snow whirled in thin columns, spiraling upward into the air and drifting back to the ground behind me. I was heading for the campground, my favorite place to be, and at 17 my parents finally let me go up there by myself. It was right in the middle of the country surrounded by hundreds of acres of forests, orchards and corn fields. Old farmhouses and small ranchers sat sparingly between farmer’s fields, vast woods at their backs. Serene country roads branched out in all directions creating a network of twisty thoroughfares and long straight dirt pathways.
The campground itself was plain and enchanting at the same time, sitting in seclusion, surrounded by centuries old forests and an aged raspberry orchard. Trailers popped up throughout woods and thickets along man-made streets. Its summer occupants kept it alive with their carefree wont and friendliness with each other, never passing up an opportunity to lend a hand or hear the latest gossip. It definitely had a small town, old-fashioned feel, unlike one of those exorbitant time share resort types with myriad amenities like spas, indoor pools and activities every day. This was a quiet, place with two playgrounds, a pool, a country store with a little arcade and a couple of ponds to fish in.
I had butterflies in my stomach due to a recent romance I had started with my best friend Nick over the summer. Brushing my long hair behind my ears nervously, my car crested the steep hill that led to the entrance to the campground. It was eerily silent as all the campers had closed up their trailers for the coming winter. As dusk approached, the stillness of the ending day spooked me. I came down the road and spotted Nick and Dylan on their dirt bikes. My heart seemed to jump out of my stomach when I saw him again. I rolled down my window and pulled up beside them. “Hey guys what’s up?” I asked cheerfully trying to hide my nerves. “Hey Liz, didn’t think you were gonna make it,” said Dylan. “What? Why would I miss an opportunity to spend a whole weekend with you two losers?” I chided. “Ha ha, whatever,” said Nick sarcastically. “So where’s Stacey? Is she down in the campground or up the house?” I asked. “She’s up the house, we’ll be up after we put the bikes away,” said Nick. “Alright guys,” I said as I rolled up my window. Dylan and Nick started down the hill to the pole barn where they kept the bikes. Nick rode a wheelie down the hill. “Show-off,” I thought to myself.
I turned my car around and headed back up to the house. It was an unassuming yellow tract style rancher. It sat at the top of the road and looked down toward the pool and camp store. I parked in the drive and made my way inside. The campground owners were like second parents to me. I didn’t have to knock or ask permission to eat stuff from their fridge or use their computer. I loved staying at their house. I became good friends with their daughter, Stacey over the years. She was 4 years older than me, but we clicked.
“Hey Liz, is that you?” Stacey asked as I closed the door behind me. “Yep.” Stacey was sitting in the living room watching music videos, something I hated, and hoped she’d turn the station soon. “Hey, where’s your parents?” I asked. “They’re away this weekend. We got the house to ourselves,” Stacey chided. “Cool, I guess we don’t have to hide the beer then,” I laughed. “God, it’s been forever since summer, hasn’t it?” “Yeah, I can’t believe it’s almost winter,” I said. “I’m freezing my ass off at night already,” said Stacey. “Oh, we definitely have to have a fire tonight then,” I said excitedly. “We can go to my campsite. I think my mom still has firewood stored under the trailer.” “I don’t know about that,” Stacey said with an unsure look on her face. “It’s like pitch black down that campground. It’s creepy when there’s no one around.” “So…, come on it’ll be fun. I’m not ready to let go of this summer yet. We have to have one more campfire! We can do s’mores, hot dogs and beer!” “Alright, I guess we can do it. I’ll have to do a beer run,” said Stacey. “Cool, I’ll tell the boys.” Stacey gave me this look and rolled her eyes. She didn’t really like hanging out with Nick and Dylan. Nick was her nephew and when he and Dylan were together it was double the craziness. I loved it. She hated it. Nick, Dylan, and I were all the same age to. I thought they were funny and would honestly hang out with them more if I wouldn’t have hurt Stacey’s feelings. Of course, she had no idea about Nick and I hooking up this past summer. I wasn’t going to ever tell her either. I think, no…I know she would have been pissed.
Later that night we were all gathered by the fire Dylan had built. The campfire was a wild, almost bonfire. Dylan had piled it high with wood and squirted it like mad with lazy-mans fire starter. But that was typical Dylan. As we sat around the fire, the surrounding woods seemed to be listening in on our conversation. The only trees visible by the fire gave off an ominous glow. Branches turned into arms of giants. The trunks were torsos and the dancing fire gave them life. We talked about school, part-time jobs, and all the drama or funny things that happened over the summer. After we had ran out of things to talk about, Dylan said, “Hey guys, I got a totally true ghost story to tell.” “Let’s here it dude,” said Nick. “My dad told me that in like 1975, before the campground was ever here, a plane carrying violent and dangerous prisoners crashed right here on this land. They were being transferred from a prison that was shutting down. There was like 150 of them that died. They had actually survived the crash, but the plane went up in flames so fast that everyone burned alive. After the accident, people that lived near the crash site claimed to see ghosts of the passengers standing in their yard or along the road. They couldn’t see their faces or any details or anything. But, this is the scariest part: after the crash, from 1975 to 1979 people around here started disappearing left and right, but only in the late fall, around the same time when the plane crashed. Some say it was the work of a serial killer, others say it was the ghosts of the dead prisoners who were carrying out their evil deeds even after death.” Dylan finished his story and looked around at us. “Dude, that is bullshit!” yelled Nick. “No, it isn’t Nick, my dad told me the same story,” offered Stacey. “He said the people around here finally got priests to bless their homes and yards to keep the evil spirits of the prisoners away, but the campground was never blessed because no one lived on this land back then. He always liked to tell me that story to scare me, but I don’t think he believed the ghost part.” “Ok, I think I had enough ghost stories for one night, let’s get out of here,” said Nick. “No, I have a better idea: let’s go for a walk around the campground,” said Dylan anxiously. “Dude, no way,” said Nick. “It’s dark as **** out here.” “Your not scared are you Nicky?” “No Lizzy, but it’s pointless.” “I’ll go Dylan,” I said. What about you Stace?” asked Dylan. “I don’t know. It’s really dark. You can’t even see the moon.” “Come on guys, we have the road around the campground memorized. There’s no one around. It’ll be neat,” I begged. “Yeah neat-o!” joked Dylan. “Shut up!” I kidded. “Alright, it’s getting late anyway. We’ll walk around once and head back up to the house,” said Stacey. “Good idea, I’m dead tired anyway,” Nick declared.
We made sure the fire was completely put out and bagged up our empty beer bottles so we could get rid of them the next day. We began our trek around the campground. We never used flashlights. They were for weekenders and old people. Weekenders were campers that came on vacation for the weekend or a week or two, but never usually came back the same summer. We walked casually up the road to the store kicking pebbles beneath our feet. Abandoned trailers sat lonely in their campsites awaiting their summer inhabitants. It was a strange feeling being here this time of year. It was kind of sad and dispiriting and made me long for warm nights and the chattering of campers. We paused to look at the pool. It had been half emptied. The leaves that had fallen into it had turned a slimy black and I imagined how creepy it would be to swim in it.
We turned left at the store and headed down a long, paved road that ended at a large out building where we would have pot-luck suppers and dances. As I daydreamed about my first slow dance with Nick over the summer, I felt him reach for my hand. It was strong, but loving, and I melted. I knew I didn’t have to worry about Stace. There was no way she could see us holding hands in this darkness. This wasn’t your normal dark. This was extreme darkness. You could barely see two feet in front of you. It was like walking into oblivion. At any moment we could step into an abyss into an eternal fall.
We had made it down the road halfway when my eyes suddenly focused on a ghostly dark figure looming 2 feet ahead to the right. It was standing on the side of the road, its formidable shape facing towards the other side of the road. It stood tall at 7 feet, with the shape of a man, but not a man. I saw a head, but no face, just black. What seemed to be shoulders, melded and wept into a solid dark torso and unidentifiable legs. It stood stagnant as we walked by, close enough for it’s shapeless arms to reach out and pull us into it’s preternatural existence. Not a sound was heard from what I perceived to be a head. None of us knew whether the other had seen the dark figure. Fearful of the possibility of being grabbed by the unknown being, I took action and shouted, “Run!” Still holding Nick’s hand we took off like a bat out of hell. Down the road we went, not knowing whether the dark figure was following or not. My heart raced, and I was terrified. Although nothing touched me, I felt an aura of evil at my back and I picked up the pace freeing my hand from Nicks. Our feet slammed the pavement, sending sharp pains through my knees. As we neared the out building, we slowed our pace and came to a stop, quickly turning around to see if the dark figure had followed us. We strained our eyes to see through the thick blackness, our labored breathing blocking out any sounds there could have been from the dark figure running at us down the road. Finally, my breathing slowed enough to speak. “Did you see that?” I asked through breaths. “Yeah!” everyone said at once. “What the hell was it?” asked Dylan. “Dude, did you have something to do with this?” Nick said to Dylan. “No way! I swear to God I have no idea what that was!” “I swear I’ll kick your ass if your pranking us,” Nick said unsure whether Dylan was lying or not. “We can’t go back up the road. That thing is probably still there. We’ll have to go the rest of the way around the campground,” said Stacey. “Let’s go,” said Nick grabbing my hand not concerned about Stacey’s backlash.
We continued along stepping onto a dirt and pebble road when the blacktop ended. Our shoes made a chhh chhh sound as our feet slid slightly beneath the loose stones. Thankfully, the clouds had cleared the sky allowing the moon to light our path although I would have preferred a flashlight. All of us were scanning around at this point. Our eyes tried to focus on anything that might be a threat. At that point I would have given anything to hear a familiar sound, but the woods were unnaturally quiet. Only a few minutes had passed since we moved away from the out building, when I spotted another dark figure twenty feet ahead. “Oh my god, there it is again,” I whispered. Again, it stood on the edge of the road facing to the other side. Even with the moonlight, its features were still indiscernible. Its menacing figure still shrouded in a deep black. If this was the same figure, how did it get to this part of the road so quickly? It wasn’t impossible, but it had to be pretty agile and swift to traverse through campsites and thick woods to get ahead of us on the road. If Dylan had a friend pranking us, how did he convince him to stand out in this weather and how did he know we would go for a walk? Nick’s grip on my hand tightened and I prepared to run. Unfortunately we had to run passed it to get away. We couldn’t chance cutting through the woods in this visibility. “Go, go!” shouted Dylan. We took off speeding past the figure. I averted my eyes for fear that if it saw me looking, it would capture me and pull me into its sinister being. I looked ahead of where I was running and spotted two more dark creatures. They were ten feet apart on opposite sides of the road. So much for the prank theory. My thoughts were suddenly flooded with questions. What were these things? Why were they here? What did they want?
We had to run down a short steep hill which led to a large playground and bathhouse. When we reached the bottom of the hill, we saw them. All of us slid to a stop, our eyes wide with terror. Dark figures towered in every direction. Four loomed by the bathhouse. Two stood by the seesaws. In the center of the playground stood an old-fashioned twenty-five foot metal slide. A dark being loomed at the top as if it were going to ride down it and three more lurked behind its steel supports. There were three more gathered by the swings and several others scattered on the grass. The worst gathering, however, was in the field beyond the bathhouse. At least fifty of them dotted the landscape in a supernatural assemblage. Then we heard it. An unearthly guttural drone resonated from the beings. We covered our ears with our hands, the macabre scene freezing us in place. The sound seemed to emanate from their grotesque heads. Each spoke in unison, and I suddenly had a strange sensation that we were in grave danger. The beings seemed to be communicating to me using infrasound. The missives inundated my mind. Their formidable force communicated to me a feeling of dread, destruction and their appetence for killing. I looked at my friends wondering if they were receiving the same ghastly missives. Having heard enough of the one way conversation, I decided that the message was clear: We are going to kill you!
“We gotta go now!” I shouted not knowing whether my friends knew what was going on or not. The road ran between the playground and the bathhouse and field. We ran steadfast past the dark figures, feeling their drones in our chests. Darting past a pavilion, we saw a dozen more amongst the picnic tables. A few placed on top. We made it to the foot of a short steep road. It was near impossible to run up it so we had to settle for a fast climb, the horrifying drone now at our backs. At the top we made a quick right and headed for Nick’s house which bordered the campground. We didn’t want to chance getting too close to the first being we encountered on the paved road. Luckily the upper campground road ran right to the back of Nick’s house. Nick opened the backdoor that led to the basement as we all smashed into each other fighting our way in. Stacey slammed the door behind her and locked it. We ran up the stairs into the kitchen where Nick’s parents and their friend where talking over beer. “What the hell is wrong with you guys?” asked Nick’s dad Glen. “There are freaking ghosts or something down in the campground. Didn’t you hear that noise they were making?” shouted Nick. “Your crazy,” laughed his dad. “You guys look scared to death,” said his mom Sherry. “Glen, I don’t think they’re kidding. Go down there and look,” said Sherry. “Alright, let’s go Mike,” Glen said smacking him on the shoulder.
Glen and Mike drove from the house in Glen’s pickup and headed down the dirt road to the campground. Nick went around the house checking to see if the windows and doors were locked. Stacey and Dylan sat on the couch with Sherry and told her the story of what just happened and about the plane crash, however she didn’t mention the telepathic messages. I must have been the only one who heard them. I stood in the kitchen shaking and clutching my arms together. I didn’t feel safe. The dark creature’s vile missions burned into my soul and warm tears filled my eyes running down my cheeks. Nick came to me, pulled me close to his chest and tried to stop my trembling. I laid my head down on him and tried to calm myself by focusing on his heart beating. I decided to tell him about the messages the dark figures sent to me. He listened intently while he stroked my hair. “I don’t think we should tell everyone else,” I stated as I pulled back from Nick. “I don’t want them to be frightened any more then they are.” “Alright, we’ll keep it to ourselves for now,” Nick agreed. Just then Glen and Mike walked through the door. “We didn’t see **** out there,” proclaimed Glen. “You guys are nuts. Are you ******* with us?” asked Mike. “No,” said Dylan. Stacey shook her head. “They were there…something was there,” said Nick in a troubled tone. “Whatever. I’m headed out Glen,” stated Mike as he opened the door to leave. “Alright man, seeya at work tomorrow,” said Glen. “I’m going to bed. I got a headache from all this ghost bullshit. Are you coming Sherry?” asked Glen. “I’ll be there in a minute,” said Sherry. “You and Lizzie can stay here tonight of course,” Sherry said to Stacey. “By the way, I do believe you guys, but I’m not sure about the whole ghost thing. I mean maybe it was just a bunch of teenagers from the trailer park down the road,” Sherry offered. “Yeah, one-hundred 7 foot tall dark ghostly-looking teenagers with no faces were pulling a prank on us,” Dylan said half-jokingly. We looked at each other, but no one laughed. “Goodnight guys,” said Sherry as she followed her husband to bed.
Stacey, Dylan, Nick and I decided to sleep together in Nick’s room. We thought we would feel safer that way. Dylan took the top of Nick’s bunk, Stacey climbed into the bottom, and Nick unfolded his futon for us. I stood looking out the window down the road towards the campground. Normalcy came back to the woods. Crickets were chirping, and I heard an owl in a nearby tree. I looked back at my friends to see Stacey and Dylan sound asleep. I wondered what they would dream and hoped mine as well as theirs would not be filled with any frightful images of tonight. I turned back toward the window and spied a dark figure standing in the middle of the yard facing the house. I gripped the window sill tightly trying to keep myself from falling. As my eyes focused more clearly on the figure, I realized it wasn’t a dark figure at all. It was just some random tools leaning on a large tree stump. Fearful of seeing anything else, I turned away from the window and sat on the edge of the futon. Nick came and sat next to me and took my hand into his. We looked at each other and I cracked a smile. He touched my face and gave me an even bigger smile as he leaned in to kiss me. Our lips touched in a tender embrace casting out all the demons of the night. Nick and I both new it would only be a kiss. He knew I was saving myself and was ok with that. It didn’t matter though because we felt as much love as two teenagers can know and I tried to burn the memory into my heart. At that moment I knew we would never speak about this night again. I didn’t know whether the dark figures were the ghosts of the burned prisoners, and it didn’t matter. My friends and I would never walk through that campground in the fall again and when the summer came, I’m sure we’d always carry a flashlight.
Note to the reader:
Although this short story is fictional it was inspired by actual events I obtained from my diaries. I camped with my parents every summer at a wonderful campground since I was 8 years old. The description of the campground and the area it resides is true. I made friends with the owners and their family and many other campers and people that lived in the area. I changed the names of the characters for obvious reasons and their ages are different to suit the story. When I was 15, in late September of 1992, I spent the weekend with the owner’s daughter and her nephew. She was about 18 and he was 9. I convinced them both to go for a walk around the campground. It was 7:00pm and already dark. We started walking down the main road past the store when we saw someone further down the road coming towards us. Stacey asked, “who’s that?” and I said, “It’s just someone walking up.” Stacey said, “No, he’s not moving.” Then we couldn’t see him anymore. Nick and I were yelling at Stacey to put the flashlight on. When she finally put it on, we saw this guy standing on the side of the road with his pants and underwear pulled down to his ankles. The situation was scary and funny at the same time. I grabbed Nick’s arm and started running down the road practically dragging him behind me. We got to the bottom of the road by the out building and tried to catch our breath between laughs. We walked the rest of the way around the campground to avoid the crazy guy. Since I made everyone go for the walk, I never heard the end of it. It became a standing joke for years. We never found out who it was or what they were doing there. No one was camping at the time because it was closed for the season. Now when I read my diary or go to the campground with my husband and children, I always have a pleasant reminder of my younger days and all the great times I experienced at the campground.
Copyright 2008 Chrissy |
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