Camp West Woods

The wind was howling. The leaves on the pine trees were swaying back and forth like a person shaking their head in an 'I told you so' kind of way. The moon shone down, lighting up the gravel path in front of me. And I was running for my life trying to get back to my cabin at Camp West Woods. I heard the screams of my best friend coming from behind me. But I couldnt look back. I promised her I wouldn't. I felt the pine branches hitting my face as I got closer to the light. I could smell the smoke rising up from the nurse's office. I was cold, tired, and bleeding. I didn't stop running. I heard my best friend's voice calling my name. Yet somehow I knew it wasn't her. I didn't stop running. My ponytail, leaving my hair to block my vision. I didn't stop running. When I finally made it back to camp and saw what was left, I almost collapsed.

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It was June 22nd, 2007. The first day of Camp West Woods. My best friend Hannah and I were picking what bunk we wanted to share. 

"I call the top bunk" called Hannah. We picked the one farthest from the door by the window. Our cabin was near the forest surrounded by trees, and if you followed a trail you could reach the lake. It was rainy and cloudy outside. There were rows of bunk beds along the sides, and the bathrooms were in another room. After we settled in a bit, we headed to the mess hall.

For dinner they served brisket with a side of salad. They told us all about what the next three weeks of our summer would look like: color wars, zip lining, lake days. That night there was a pool party after dinner. Hannah and I decided we wanted to go. We were walking back to our cabin when I saw our counselor. Her name was Emory. She had fireworks and a lighter in her hands, and a devious look on her face.

"Hey, I have something to tell you," whispered Emory, "every year the different colors prank each other, and this year I want our team's prank to be the best."

Two weeks later we were in the green team's cabin. All the campers were sitting on the bunk beds while Emory was going over tonight's plan for the 40th time this week. She wanted to put fireworks in the nurses cabin to distract everyone while she stole the trophy that the color team who won would get. She said that it wouldn't cause any harm and we all agreed to it. She assigned jobs to everyone and made us all repeat what we had to do until everyone understood.

After dinner, Hannah and I walked across camp to find Nurse Lilly, following the faded wooden signs pointing to a trail in the woods that would lead to the nurses cabin. 

"Are you sure we should do this?" I questioned. 

"Yes, Emory said it's completely safe. Besides, it's not like we're the ones lighting the fireworks," answered Hannah. 

"I guess," I replied. We found nurse Lilly cleaning the wound of a camper who had scraped his knee. Our job was to distract her and get her out of the cabin while the older girls set up the fireworks. We told her that some kid had fallen in the woods and couldn't walk. She grabbed her nurse's kit and ran out with a look of pure determination on her face. 

"That was too easy," scoffed Hannah.

Afterwards we got back on the trail and started our walk back to the main camp when we heard screams coming from the woods.

"Help me! Someone help!" Screeched the voice from the woods. It was Nurse Lilly. We chased her voice when Hannah stopped abruptly. I ran right into her and fell onto a massive rock. The sharp end slashed open the side of my right leg. 

"Aah!" I yelped

I looked up in pain at Hannah and saw her frozen. She wasn't even blinking. I said her name a few times but got no response. I turned my head to see what she was looking at. There was a cave almost completely hidden by vines and moss.