Cougar Creek

Chapter Five

    I awoke to a scream coming from outside. Lazarus still seemed asleep. I got up and looked outside. I didn't see anything. I walked outside the room. I looked to see if anyone else heard it no one was outside. I walked downstairs and found Tyrone looking out the windows.
"Tyrone?"
I said
He jumped.
"Jesus Christ you scared me...."
"Did you hear a scream??"
I asked
"You heard it too?"
Tyrone continued looking out the windows.
"Yeah, do you know where it might have came from?"
I asked
"No idea but that's scary. Where did you find this place?"
He turned and looked at me.
"Uhm...I uh....I just searched fun camping spots and this popped up."
Obviously that was a lie. But I couldn't risk them getting mad at me for bringing them to a place that is known to making people disappear. Now that I think about it, it probably wasn't the best idea. I heard Wesley come down stairs.
"Yo, did you guys hear that scream too?"
He asked
"Yeah.."
I said
"What do you think we're trying to do?"
Tyrone snapped
"Omg guys calm down it's probably nothing let's just go back to sleep"
I left to go back upstairs. I was not about to deal with them arguing. Soon after, Wesley came back upstairs and Tyrone went back to sleep in his couch bed.

I woke up later than I would have liked. 11:33am. It was the first full day on the campsite. I woke up Laz and we got everyone else up.
"Alright! So we don't have the incident that happened last night... me and Alya are going to go get some wood for the fire pit. Lazarus and Jonesy you guys can get the fishing stuff ready and-"
"So wait... are we not going to talk about that scream we heard last night?"
Tyrone cut me off.
"What scream?"
Alya asked
"It was probably just uhm... a bird or something!"
I said
"Jaylyn... are you not telling us something...?"
Wesley asked
"Uhm... what do you mean?"
I looked around nervously.
"You're just acting.. weird."
Wesley continued
"Look, I just want everyone to have fun. Who knows, this could be the last time everyone of us hangs out together. It's probably nothing and we can just call the police if anything else happens."
I said
"Yeah, Jaylyn went through a lot trying to plan this out for you guys. Let's just all calm down and have fun."
Lazarus smiled at me.
"Ok... I'm sorry, it's just- nevermind. Yeah you're right let's go have some fun!"
Wesley smiled. Me and Alya went off to get fire wood as everyone else went and got fishing stuff ready. We were walking for awhile and a nice cool breeze came over us. It's been pretty hot.
"Ah... that feels nice."
Alya stood there with her arms out taking in the cool spring breeze.
"It really is..."
We continued walking for a little bit more then sat down on some boulders for a break.
"Hey... so I know that whole speech you gave us thing but I wanted to ask. What happened with that scream?"
Alya looked over at me.
"Oh uhm... to be completely honest, I have no idea. I just woke up, heard a scream and yeah. I went down stairs, Tyrone was already up and then Wes came down the stairs and that was pretty much it. They started arguing so I just left. I wasn't able to really investigate more. I'm sure it was just an animal though."
I yawned.
"Ok but... what if it wasn't. Jay, I looked up this place. Isn't this where people like uhm... disappear?"
Alya gave me a worried look.
"Ok... you caught me." I sat up more on my rock and leaned forward, resting my arms on my knees.
"I didn't want you guys freaking out so I didn't tell you that this place had some... secrets. Just don't tell anyone else okay? I really can't have them getting mad at me and having them be all miserable. We're here to have fun, besides... I'm sure it's all bullshit."
I sat back up.
"Yeah I guess so."
Alya said
"Just don't go crazy over it. Come on let's keep going."
We both got up and continued walking.
"Hey, isn't that where Jonesy and Lazarus scared us?"
Alya pointed at a bush with some sticks and logs next to it.
"Oh that's must be where they left the wood! Jackpot. Alright, let's grab it and go!"
We brought the wood back to camp. Jonesy noticed us first.
"OMG BABEEEE HIIII I'VE MISSED YOU!"
Jonesy ran up and hugged Alya, making her drop all the wood.
"JONESYYYY BE CAREFUL!"
She yelled
"Sorry! It's just been so long since I've hugged you."
Jonesy let go and helped her pick up the wood
"Jonesy calm down... we've been gone for 20 minutes."
I said rolling my eyes. I walked past him before he could respond and put the fire wood in the fire pit.
"Did you guys get the fishing stuff ready?"
I asked.
"Yep"
Lazarus said holding the box of bait and a fishing Rod. Wesley and Laila were holding the other rods.
"Where are we going to fish?"
Laila asked.
"There's a river leading into a pond down by where me and Alya was. Well... I'm pretty sure."
I pulled out the map to make sure.
"That doesn't seem very convincing..."
Wesley said.
"I didn't see no river leading into a pond"
Alya said
"If me and you kept walking we would have saw a river and if we follow that it should bring us to the pond. I mean I think it's more of a lake. Trust the girl with the map guys."
I sighed
"Are you sure that you can even read that map?"
Tyrone asked
"I'm sure! Let's just get going already."
We started walking down to find the river.
"Do you guys... smell that?"
Laila stopped.
"What do you mean?"
I asked. We all stopped at this point confused with Laila's question.
"It smells like... something rotting."
Laila started sniffing the air more.
"What? Are you a wolf?"
Wesley asked.
"No it just.. smells off."
Laila covered her nose.
"Omg guys I knew Laila was a furry!"
Wesley joked.
"I'm not a furry! Wes shut up."
Laila yelled.
"Oh no wolfy's getting mad. Be careful guys!"
Wesley was laughing his ass off.
"Wes shut up! It's not funny. You're really saying you guys don't smell that?"
Laila whined.
"Ok Amanda the Adventurer. There is a lot of unpleasant smells here. the river is close let's just keep moving."
I said, and with that we continued walking.