The Stroud Family and I

Chapter: 23

Chapter 23: The Ringing of a Bell

*The lovely Todd Alden as Eli Stroud, and Cameron Dallas as Dillian Stroud ^^*

"Oh god, oh my gosh, we are so screwed, Cleo, we're gonna die! I can't die! I'm too young, I have a life to live, I ha-"

"Shut up, Sid! It's fine, we're okay, nothing is going to happen. I promise," I assured her.

"Oh yeah, that's what they all say before they all die!"Sidney clutched onto my arm tightly with shaky hands.

"It's f-fine, lets just find Colton and then get the hell out of here," I stuttered.

I didn't mean to stutter, but Sidney caught the fear in my voice, and she whimpered a little bit. I looked around as best as I could, but with all the trees and everything else surrounding us in the dark, it was hard to see anything at all, really.

Let's rewind to the very beginning, shall we?

~~~~~~~7 HOURS EARLIER~~~~~~~

"Well, since you girls are being little wimpy wimps about camping in the woods, then you guys can stay near the stream by the parking lot, and we'll go camp more in the woods, sound good?"

Colton had his arms crossed over his chest as he recommended a solution to our camping situation. You see, I love camping, I truly do, it's just that ever since the incident where Chris took me away and held me hostage in a small cottage in the woods, I've become very skeptical around woods. Of course I didn't tell everyone that the reason why I didn't want to sleep in a tent right in the middle of the woods, was because of my haunting memories of Chris, so I just said that because of all of the scary movies I've watched, nothing good ever happens in the woods. End of story.

It has been around a week and a half since Sidney and I had pranked Hayden and Colton. Colton's hair was now back to his normal brown color, and he isn't mad at Sid and I anymore, which is a huge relief. I actually thought that they would have gotten us back by now, because it has been so long, I have totally disregarded the idea. We had been waiting for the night they would prank us back, but now we just think that they are being the bigger persons in this situation and have forgotten about it.

"Well, okay, I guess that sounds good," Sid looked at me and shrugged her shoulders.

"Alright, we will be setting up in the woods, if you need anything. We can all meet up for dinner," Hayden piped in.

We nodded, and watched as the boys walked away into the more woodsy part of the camping area. Colton, Hayden, Blake, Dillian, Eli, Sidney and I all decided to go camping for a couple days. I thought it would be a fun idea, so that is what we are doing. We pulled out the tent and began setting it up, throwing our sleeping bags into it. I didn't really like the fact that we were segregated away from the boys while we were camping, but if it means not camping inside of the woods, then I'm fine with it.

After we set up camp, both of us headed towards the woods to go catch up with the boys. The sun was bright, and I placed my sunglasses over my eyes to shield it. A few minutes later, we spotted them setting up camp. Blake and Colton were lounging around in lawn chairs staring amusedly at Dillian and Eli.

"Oh my f*ck, dumb ass! Just stick the pole into the ground!"

Eli was fuming at Dillian, because from what I can see, Dillian wasn't listening to him.

"I f*cking am, shit head! It isn't staying in the ground, it keeps f*cking popping out!"

Eli threw his arms up into the air in frustration, and walked over to where Dillian was standing, holding the end of the tents pole in his hand. Eli shoved it into the the dirt, and a second later, it popped out, just like Dillian had said.