The fire crackled under her gloved palms. She pulled up the collar of her thick jacket to protect from the ashes blowing her way. It had been 4 days since Charlotte had seen her parents and sister. She thought of them now, imagined them watching TV and sleeping in comfortable beds.
"Hey, why don't we share some scary stories?" Ali suggested from across the fire pit.
"Ooh, sounds fun!" Mel answered. Charlotte brought her hands back to her lap and looked down. She hated scary stories.
Everyone glanced around the circle, waiting for someone to go.
"I'll start then." Ali announced.
"Many years ago there was a group of campers that decided to take a trip deep into the forest. They packed all of their gear and set off into the unknown."
Charlotte lifted up her head and watched as the girl talked.
"On the first night, the group decided to build a campfire. They joked and told each other stories all night. Just as one of the members of the group exploded in laughter another one of the guys shot up and pointed into the trees. The others noticed this weird reaction and asked what was wrong.
He stuttered, 'T-T-T-There's something in the trees.'
Everyone looked over to where he was pointing, not seeing anything. 'There's nothing there, dude.' One of the guys proclaimed. Everyone laughed at his scared reaction to nothing. He sat back down, still terrified. "
Ali glanced around the circle to make sure everyone one still listening.
"They group continued laughing and telling stories for another hour before they decided to go to sleep. As they all walked to their tents, one of the guys called out, "Watch for the scary monsters in the trees," and chuckled.
The other guy sighed and began to unzip his tent when he heard rustling behind him.
'Who's there?' No one answered him so he continued, 'is this some sort of joke?" Still no answer.
He grabbed his torch and shone it into the bushes. For a second he saw nothing then he noticed a pair of bright red staring at him.
The creature slowly moved closer to him as he stood frozen on the spot. It stopped so they were almost touching, both hearts racing. Then all at once the creature pounced on him and dragged him deep into the woods, never to be seen again."
Ali finished her story, smiling, as everyone broke out of their daze and clapped. Charlotte looked around at all scared faces, glad that she wasn't the only one.
As everyone packed up their things and headed off to their tents Charlotte couldn't help but feel that she was being watched. She shone her torch behind her into the trees but there was nothing there. As she walked back to her tent, alone, she thought she heard something in the bushes. Again she turned on her torch but again she saw nothing.
A gust of wind ripped through her coat so she continued the path to her tent. The air was getting colder now so she ripped open her tent door and jumped inside. The warmth of her sleeping bag took her mind off of everything and she started to doze off.
As Charlotte slept a wolf howled in the woods. She flipped over in her sleeping bag but still didn't wake. The wolf howled again and moved closer towards the clearing. It licked its lips and walked over to one of the girls tents. Its claws shot out and it ripped through the thin material.
Charlotte woke suddenly to the sound of screaming. She fumbled for her torch and turned it on. The screaming had stopped but she could still hear growling moving towards where she was. Her heart started racing as she saw the shadow of what looked like a massive wolf just outside her door. It padded along the outside of her tent as she whispered to herself, "it's just a dream. It's just a dream."
The wolf snarled and bared its teeth but Charlotte kept whispering. She thought of her family. Her parents, her sister, her pets. She started to breathe heavily as she imagined them asleep in their beds. "Please help." She whispered just as the wolf ripped through the side of the tent.
The wolf looked at her in the eyes and she looked back. Nothing happened. Slowly she moved towards the door and attempted to open it. The wolf just stared at her. She fumbled with the zipper and looked down at her shaking hands. She took a deep breath and quickly opened the door with one movement. The wolf didn't move. She slowly crawled out the tent, watching the dog behind her. It growled again as she got out and backed up towards the fire pit. The wolf removed its head from the tent and watched Charlotte backing away. It slowly padded towards her.
I should run she thought but she was too scared. On three. One, two, three. She turned and started sprinting but it was too late. The wolf was on her. She screamed but it was no use. She was gone.
