Veronica's Monster

Camp

Veronica flopped down on the bed in her cabin. She hadn't even unpacked yet, and her two friends were already finding things to do. They didn't have to drive as far as she did to get to camp in the first place. They wouldn't get how tiring it was even if she told them.

She heard footsteps sprint down the small hallway of the cabin, barging into her room.

"Roni!" Her friend, Lily, shouted. She excitedly pulled Veronica off the bed, "C'mon! We can't get the fire started... We need youuuuuuu!" She whined.

"Alright," Veronica groaned, rummaging through her bag for a pack of matches and any spare materials she could use as fuel for the fire.

"I really wanted to rest," She grumbled, finally finding some matches in her messy bag, "But... As long as you make as many S'Mores as I ask, I've got no problem making a fire."

"Deal," Lily said. She then turned, and sprinted down the hallway and out of the cabin just as fast as she had come.

Veronica threw on an extra jacket and then laced up her boots, putting the matches in her back jeans pocket. She checked her phone, which hardly had any service here, and noticed the battery was low.

She quickly put her phone on the charger and then left the cabin to meet her friends at the lake shore, where the firepit was.

"I, Veronica, the hero, am here to save the day!" She said sarcastically, reaching the firepit and crouching.

"How often do bears come around here?" Asked her friend Samantha, who was in a chair next to her.

"Not very often, as far as I know," Veronica responded, finishing the logs for the most part and beginning to add fuel to the fire.

Lily tilted her head curiously, "Why do you ask?" She questioned, smiling at Sam.

"It's just... when I opened the gate at the beginning of the road, I smelt the most rancid smell ever..." Samamtha cringed as she recalled the events, "It was like something terribly rotten. Then I heard something big move in the trees behind me. I got so scared, I don't even remember getting in my car, but I ended up at the cabin anyways.. "

Veronica listened closely to Samantha's tale while working on the fire. She wasn't sure if she believed it, because Sam used to make up stories just to scare Lily when they were younger and less mature. However, Samantha seemed genuinely terrified by what had happened to her.

"Are you just trying to scare me?" Lily asked. She seemed offended. There wasn't much point in asking, because she clearly already decided that was what Sam was doing.

"For fucks sake Sam, I thought we moved past that." She huffed and crossed her arms, turning away and towards Veronica instead, as if expecting her to say something.

"I'm really sorry that happened to you. It probably was a bear, but we'll be fine," Veronica said as she lit a match and tossed it into the fire, "They've never come this close to the cabin before, and they never will. We're alright."

Lily rolled her eyes. "As if that bullshit story is even true," She mumbled under her breath, but Veronica could hear it.

Sam stared at the growing flames in front of her, looking sad and regretful. An awkward and heavy silence fell over the three girls as the last bits of light slipped away from the sky.

Now that the fire was going strong, Veronica decided to go get herself a chair from the shed attached to the cabin. She walked rather quickly, not wanting to be away from the warmth of the fire for very long.

She reached the shed and halted as a strange and unpleasant tingle took over her body and the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood up.

She felt watched.

She grabbed a chair as quick as she could and ran back to the fire, awkwardly dragging the chair behind her.

"Are you okay?" Lily asked Veronica once she returned to the fire, instantly noticing her distress.

"Yeah, no, don't worry," Veronica folded out the chair and set it down, between Samanatha and Lily, making sure it was stable before she sat in it, "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine, but okay..." Sam said, and then she reached for the marshmallows.

Veronica was scared, but she didn't want the others to sense her fear and get scared as well, especially with the experience Samantha already had.

She felt the hairs on the back of her neck raise again, and a shudder passed down her spine. It was nowhere close to as bad as before, but the terrible feeling of being watched had come back.

She noticed Sam glancing around, and figured she felt it too. Lily was oblivious as always, just going about making her and Veronica S'Mores.

Sam's marshmallow caught fire due to her being distracted. She reached for the stick and quickly blew out the fire, snapping both of them out of their daze.

"Here's two S'Mores for you, Roni," Lily said with a smile, passing a plate of perfectly made S'Mores to Veronica.

"Thanks," Veronica smiled. She carefully picked one up, about to take a bite, when she heard a rather large twig snap in the woods a couple feet from them.

All three of their heads snapped in the direction of the noise, eyes wide with fear.

"You heard that too...?" Lily asked, looking for confirmation from the other two.

They both nodded.

"See...? I told you, there's gotta be a bear..." Samatha whisper-yelled, shooting a 'I told you so' glare at Lily.

"C'mon guys," Veronica said, grabbing a large rock for self defense. She kicked over the water bucket next to the fire, almost instantly smothering the flames.

"Let's get inside..." She said gently, ushering the other two to move.

The three of them moved carefully and slowly at first, looking in every direction, all while Veronica kept a tight hold on the rock. The feeling of being watched, and uneasy tingles in her body just got worse. It was almost like butterflies.

Lily took off in a sprint towards the cabin door, reaching it in no time. She opened the door and left it ajar, disappearing to the back room where she was safe.

"Fuck!" Sam hissed quietly, grabbing Veronica's hand and running with her. The two reached the cabin, and Veronica slammed and locked the door behind her, stopping to catch her breath.

They could hear Lily crying in the back room. She wasn't the bravest, and if it was a bear, could have gotten them killed by running.

"Roni...?" Sam squeaked out. She was standing in front of the small window next to the door.

Veronica stepped next to Samantha to look out the window, and saw an odd figure hunched over by the treeline. She couldn't quite tell what it was.

"What is that....?" Samantha asked, squinting to try to see clearer.

It looked almost humanoid, but that wasn't possible. I'm just tired, Veronica thought, It's just a bear.

"Just a bear. But it won't get to us in cabin," Veronica gently placed her hand on Sam's arm and turned her towards her room.

"Get some rest, okay?" She asked, and Sam nodded, entering her room and closing the door behind her.

Veronica went to her own room, feeling paranoid and on edge the whole time. She kept trying to convince herself it was just a bear, but she couldn't.

She sat on her bed, staring blankly at the wall. All she could think about was the figure from the window, and the terrible feeling in her body when she felt like she was being watched.

That was no bear.