Hide and Shriek #14

by Melissa J Morgan

  “Let her go!” Jenna hissed after her. “We’ll be a lot better off if Cropsy finds her!”

  Tears streamed down Chelsea’s face as she left the campsite. She didn’t want them to hear her crying, so she started to run. She was losing it. Why did things like this happen? Was she really such an awful person? How could she have said something so mean about Alex?

  She sobbed harder, and ran farther. The moon followed her, but she outran it and plunged into darkness. Mosquitoes descended on her; weeping, she slapped at them, whirling in a little circle.

  I don’t care if they send me home, she thought. I don’t care anymore!

  Stars winked down watery light; she started running again, faster, harder. Her sneaker came down wrong and she zoomed down a slope, flinging out her arms to try to stay upright. Then she fell hard and kept going, skidding on her bottom. A low-lying pine branch caught her across the ankle, throwing her sideways. Her ankle twisted and she grunted, trying to grab onto something as she rolled over hard ground, rocks, and pine branches.

  She slid onto something rough and level. It felt like a wooden plank.

  With a loud crack, it split down the middle beneath her weight. Then it gave way beneath her, and Chelsea began to fall again—straight down, dirt and wood pelting her—into the darkness.

  chapter SEVEN

  The fire flickered on Belle’s pale face as she put her hands on her hips.

  “Oka at just happened?”

  Alex was rying, and Natalie and Brynn had their arms around her.

  Natalie ked up. “Chelsea called Alex a drug addict,” she aid in a scratchy voice.

  “What?” Belle was obviously shocked.

  “I guess hought I was taking my insulin,” Alex managed, ng her eyes with a paper napkin. “I was just doing finger stick to check my blood sugar level.”

  Belle processed that. “Is that what you girls heard, too?”

  She looked ound at the cluster of campers, and her gaze landed on Candace. Candace was already upset. She d confided in Jenna about still being afraid of lions Jordan had told them about at the cookout, ven though Jordan had said he made it up; and a had obviously told other people, and now they ere all laughing at her. It hurt more than she begin to say.

  Now everyone was looking at her.

  I don’t want to be in the middle of this, Candace thought. She didn’t like being the center of attention, ever. She was a quiet, shy person, and all the . . . strong personalities of the other girls in the bunk often made her feel like she was a little paper boat on a pond. She had actually started a letter to her parents before the bugle call this morning, asking them to come get her.

  “Candace?” Belle prompted. “Please answer me.”

  Candace was torn. She knew that what Chelsea had said was horrible, but Chelsea had been trying to be nice to her earlier in the day. She wanted to say something that would smooth everything over—make Alex stop crying and get Chelsea out of trouble. But she didn’t have the faintest idea where to start.

  “It happened the way Nat told you,” Jenna said. It hurt to talk. “It’s what she said.”

  Everyone spoke at once, the way they usually did. Back home, Candace hung out with other low-key people, like her. Their friends took turns speaking. They were very polite. And her family was that way, too.

  “I’m going after Chelsea. Everyone wait here.” Belle picked up her big flashlight from where Tori had set it down on the fire ring. Then she fished in her pocket and pulled out her cell phone, flicking it open as if she were checking something on it. Candace didn’t realize that she had one with her.

  “Stay put.” She put the cell phone back in her pocket. “I’ll be right back. And then we’re going to have a full-bunk discussion about what exactly our goal is on this overnight.”

  Everyone looked freaked.

  As Belle turned to go, Candace totally amazed herself by half-raising her hand.

  “Do you want me to go with you?”

  “No. Stay with Clarissa,” she told Candace, gesturing at their CIT, who nodded.

  “Everyone will,” Clarissa assured her.

  Belle flicked on her flashlight, and then she stomped off into the trees.

  “So much for our great bonding experience,” Gaby groused. She looked at Clarissa. “We’re going to be booted, huh?”

  “Oh, I’m not so sure about that,” Clarissa said. She sounded completely unconvincing. “But we’re not off to a real great start.”

  “It’s Chelsea who should be booted,” Valerie whispered hotly.

  “Yeah,” Brynn chimed in. “What a horrible thing to say to Alex.”

  “She didn’t even help with dinner or anything,” Brynn added.

  “She . . . she tried to,” Candace pointed out. Her cheeks were hot and the back of her neck tingled. Valerie intimidated her. They all intimidated her. The only Camp Lakeview bunkmate she had been completely comfortable around was Karen, and she hadn’t come back this summer.

  I wish I hadn’t, either.

  “What do you mean?” Clarissa asked her.

  “She tried to,” Candace said again. “She tried to gather firewood, and she tried to help build the fire, and she tried to grill the hamburgers.” She moved her shoulders. “But everyone else kept telling her they’d do it, like the way she was doing it wasn’t good enough.”

  “That doesn’t erase what she said to Alex,” Natalie whispered.

  “Candace, what exactly did she say?” Clarissa asked her.

  Now Candace knew she was really in the spotlight. She felt like she was onstage all by herself, with no clothes on.

  She cleared her throat. “She said that she went back to her tent to change, but ‘Miss Thing was shooting up like a drug addict.’ Alex has to take insulin because she’s a diabetic,” Candace blurted, then flooded with humiliation because of course Clarissa knew that. She was just so nervous. “No offense, Alex.”

  “So she didn’t exactly say that Alex is a drug addict,” Clarissa commented.

  Alex wiped her eyes. “No, she didn’t,” she said. “I don’t know why I started crying. I mean, everyone in the bunk knows I have to take insulin. I’m just really emotional. I’m not sure why.”

  “It was a mean thing to say,” Natalie insisted loyally. “I would have cried, too.”

  “Alex and Chelsea aren’t even in the same tent,” Natalie said. “Chelsea said she was going to change into her pajamas, but she didn’t. She just wanted to spy on Alex.”

  “That doesn’t sound too likely, does it?” Clarissa asked gently.

  “It does if this is your third summer with Chelsea,” Jenna retorted.

  “Oh, nice. Remember that part about the Camp Lakeview family spirit?” Gaby croaked angrily. “You people sure don’t have it.” She turned to Clarissa. “Chelsea and I didn’t mention it before, Clarissa, but all these nice girls said some really mean things about Chelsea and me when they found out we were going to be in the same bunk with them. When she overheard them, she cried all the way to the bunk.”

  Everyone got quiet. “It’s true. I did say something really awful,” Natalie admitted. Natalie looked over at Gaby. “I didn’t know Chelsea told you, Gaby. I’m so sorry.”

  “Me too,” Jenna added in a low voice. She took a deep breath. “I was nasty.”

  “And me,” Alex murmured. “I was there, too.”

  “Well, it sounds like we have a lot of talking to do after Belle comes back,” Clarissa said. “I’m very disappointed in you girls. No wonder Chelsea’s upset. On top of worrying about her father . . . you do know he’s sick, right?”

  Natalie winced and nodded. So did Jenna.

  “Of all of us, I should have been more understanding,” Alex said.

  “Well, you weren’t,” Gaby flung at her. “If I were Chelsea, I’d take off and I’d never come back here. I didn’t want to come back this year, either, but my mom wanted me to try one more summer.”

  “Maybe this is what Dr. Steve was talking a
bout,” Alyssa suggested. “All this stuff we haven’t been talking about.”

  That was pure Alyssa, Candace thought. She didn’t talk much, but when she said something, it was worth waiting for.

  “Maybe so,” Clarissa said.

  “Also?” Jenna began. “Candace, I am really sorry I made that crack about the lions.” Her cheeks turned pink.

  “It’s okay,” Candace murmured. But it wasn’t. She was humiliated.

  After that, the conversation died. Candace figured the bunk was waiting for Belle to come back with Chelsea. She wondered what would happen then. She didn’t know if things were going to get worse or better for their bunk.

  The propane lantern made a funny sputtering sound that caught Candace off guard. She thought about getting The Lord of the Rings out of her backpack. She was halfway through the second book. But she didn’t move to do it. Everyone stayed as they were, in a kind of holding pattern.

  Clarissa went to her tent and got the scavenger hunt clipboard, then sat down at the picnic table and began to work by the light of the lantern. It sputtered again. She started fiddling with the handle. The others began to talk to one another in twos and threes.

  Jenna told Candace again that she was sorry, and went off to talk to Natalie, Tori, and Brynn.

  Alex sat down beside Candace. “Is that true? Did Chelsea try to help make dinner like that? Because I didn’t even notice.”

  Candace hesitated. Then she said, “You kind of got on her case when she dropped the ketchup bottle on your tomatoes.”

  “Maybe she was trying to make more ketchup,” Alex said, obviously trying to make a little joke. Candace didn’t know what to say.

  “It was brave of you to stick up for Chelsea,” Alex went on.

  “Thanks.” She appreciated the compliment, but she still felt self-conscious.

  After a while, Alex got up and talked to Brynn, Priya, and Jenna. They came over and told Candace that they hadn’t been laughing at her. They went on and on about it, just like Jenna had, and she really wished they would just let it go.

  “Don’t you think they should be back by now?” Alex asked, mercifully changing the subject. She looked off in the direction Chelsea and Belle had both gone.

  “Maybe something’s wrong,” Natalie piped up, straining her voice. She looked expectantly at Clarissa.

  “Let’s give them a little more time before we interrupt them,” Clarissa said.

  A few more minutes passed. The fire snapped and popped, sending sparks into the sky . . .

  . . . the sky that seemed a little . . . cloudy. It was harder to see the stars. And the glow of the big, white moon was blurry and indistinct.

  Candace frowned. Then she craned her neck and gazed beyond the campfire, between the trees, at Shadow Lake.

  A thin layer of fog was rising off the water.

  “You guys?” she said softly. “Look at that.”

  She pointed to the fog. Everyone stood as Clarissa picked up the lantern and walked toward the boulders, staring at the lake.

  “It’s just like in Tori’s story about Cropsy,” Brynn said.

  “It’s just fog,” Gaby snapped. But her voice wobbled a little.

  “Hmm, if that fog rolls in, we may have some problems navigating,” Clarissa muttered.

  Then the lantern flickered and went out. Candace caught her breath. Except for the firelight, the campsite fell into darkness. The glow of the flames danced on the girls’ faces as they watched Clarissa turning the knob.

  Clarissa pulled a small pocket flashlight out of her shorts and turned it on. It was much fainter than Belle’s killer flashlight, but at least it was something.

  “Can you see the matches, Valerie?” she asked. “I think they’re on the table.”

  “Sure thing,” Valerie said.

  Valerie bumped into a few of the girls as she made her way to the table. After some groping, she found the box and brought it back to Clarissa.

  While Valerie aimed the flashlight, Clarissa set the lantern on the edge of the fire ring, took the glass bowl off the lantern’s base, got a match out of the box, and tried to light the wick.

  Nothing happened.

  “No way,” Clarissa said in disgust. “I think we’re out of propane.”

  “Great,” Gaby said.

  “It’s getting foggier,” Brynn announced.

  Candace checked. Sure enough, the fog on the surface was thicker. It was swirling around like it was boiling, and beginning to rise like steam.

  “This is creeping me out a little,” Brynn confessed.

  “Me too,” Candace murmured.

  The lantern flared back on. Everyone cheered.

  “I don’t think there’s much left.” Clarissa carried the lantern back to the table and set it down. Her flashlight beam was a welcome circle of light, even if it was pretty weak.

  “Chelsea might come back if I apologize to her in private,” Natalie ventured. “That’s what I should have done in the first place.”

  “Nat’s right,” Jenna said. “I should, too.” All Candace could see was her profile, thrown against the campfire.

  An owl hooted. Another answered it. Candace looked up at the tall pines and swallowed hard. She knew it was stupid to be afraid of lions, but what about other wild animals? Were there bears in the woods?

  Clarissa thought for a moment. “All right. I’m going to see what’s going on.”

  “Please, let me go with you,” Natalie said.

  “Me too,” Jenna said. “We need to apologize.”

  Clarissa paused. “Okay. You two come with me. Everyone else, you’re under strict orders not to move. Do you understand? Stay here. We’ll be right back.”

  Candace nodded like a bobblehead. She definitely planned not to move.

  Clarissa pointed her flashlight in the direction Chelsea and Belle had gone. “Okay, Natalie, Jenna, let’s go.”

  Then the three left the campsite.

  That left seven other girls besides Candace: Gaby, Priya, Tori, Valerie, Alex, Alyssa, and Brynn.

  “Should I break out some magazines?” Valerie asked. “Nat brought a ton of them. We could see if we can find articles about other campouts that have fallen apart, and how they got put back together again.”

  Candace wondered if Valerie was trying to make a joke. It didn’t seem very funny. She stared at the fog and chewed on her thumbnail. It was a bad habit, but she was very nervous at the moment and she couldn’t stop herself.

  “Pass,” Priya said. “Does anyone want another s’more?”

  “Pass.” Tori groaned. “I have eaten way too many carbs lately.” She counted them off. “Hamburger bun, s’more, French toast, more s’mores . . .”

  Candace squinted at the fog as it cloaked the surface of the lake. Was that a dark blotch in the middle of it? A boat-shaped dark blotch?

  “You guys?” She got up and craned her neck. “Do you see anything strange out there?”

  “Like what?” Priya stood and walked boldly toward the slope that looked down over the water. Candace wanted to tell her to stay back, but she didn’t want anyone to make fun of her again.

  Except for Candace, the others rose and followed after Priya.

  “It’s just fog,” Gaby said after a beat. “So? No big deal.”

  “It’s thick spooky-ooky fog,” Alex remarked.

  They were quiet for a moment as they spread out across the top of the embankment. In the fire ring, a piece of burning wood popped and snapped.

  “Hey, I do see it,” Priya announced. “What do you think it is?”

  “Cropsy’s boat, mwahaha.” Valerie made her hands into claws. “Sorry, just one.” She slipped her right arm around her body, holding up her left “claw.”

  “He didn’t have a boat,” Gaby said, sounding irritated. “Randy had a boat.”

  “Eww, we were swimming in dead-guy water! With a cutoff arm in it!” Brynn cried.

  “That was just a story.” Gaby huffed. “And besides, everything
would have decomposed a long, long time ago.”

  “Eww, eww, eww!” Brynn cried. She tapped her feet on the ground as if she were trying to shake off all traces of supreme grossness.

  “It doesn’t look like a boat to me.” Alex tilted her head and looked this way and that. “It looks like a rock.”

  “Are there any rocks in Shadow Lake? Big rocks like that?” Valerie pointed at the shape. “I don’t remember any big rocks.”

  “I don’t care. I’m going to have nightmares all night! I’m going back to the campfire,” Brynn announced. She came over to Candace and sat down.

  “Someone should write a play about this,” she told Candace. “It’s scarier than The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”

  Candace wondered why that was a good thing.

  “It’s hardly original. There’ve only been about two hundred horror movies just like this,” Gaby sniped.

  Priya, Alex, and Alyssa left their vantage posts and came back to the campfire, too.

  “It’s okay,” Priya whispered to Candace. “They’ll be back soon.”

  Tori, Valerie, and Gaby stayed on the embankment, watching the fog, staring at the boatlike shadow on Shadow Lake.

  Trust our bunk to have an overnight like this, Gaby thought.

  She was so tired of all the drama. And the freakiness, with the fog moving in off the lake, and the strange shape in the lake that really did look like a boat, and the logs in the fire popping . . .

  . . . and something creeping just off to the right, rustling through the bushes . . .

  She quickly turned her head and squinted in the direction of the rustling.

  “What is it?” Tori asked her.

  “Chelse?” Gaby called. Her voice was hoarse, just like everyone else’s. They were all croaking from the campfire singing. “Is that you?”

  There was no answer.

  The noise grew lower . . . and a little closer.

  “Do you hear that?” Gaby asked.

  “It’s probably just a little animal, like a possum,” Valerie said. “Or a bird.”

  “It sounds like footsteps,” Gaby insisted.