Camp Lashode

CHAPTER TWO

Chapter two

The backpack was heavy against my aching spine as we walked along the faded trail of stone, wondering when it would end so we could finally arrive. It had been a good ten minutes of nothing but trees on either side of us, something I could tell my grandparents had purposefully planted in order to keep the trail as direct as possible. It definitely didn't let us get lost, that was for sure, but it was an effort pushing branches out of our face every other second from how overgrown it all was. Made me wonder what the camp was going to look like...

"Hey, I think I see it up ahead!" shouted Grace as she lead, followed by Evann, myself, and Charlie. Moving to the side in order to see around everyone in front of me, since my five foot five height wasn't anywhere near tall, I noticed Grace was right. A fairly sized cabin was seen not any more than two minutes away, making me smile.

"Finally," I sighed to myself, hearing Evann, who most likely heard me, chuckle in the same moment. Ignoring him altogether, though, I sped up a bit to squeeze past him in front of me and joined Grace in the front. Her designer heels, white shorts, and silk blouse were ruined beyond belief with dirt and rips from traveling on foot, even if it has only been ten minutes. Her fault for not listening to me about what to wear. I thought to myself, as I looked ahead to see the cabin more clearly than before. It was large, yet falling apart no doubt. The wood was aging on all sides, as mold encased the walls and grew in between the cracks it seemed.

"Please tell me we aren't staying there," Grace whined as we got to the cabin and could actually see it more clearly. It was definitely old, that was for sure, and looked to be the only one in the premise. What kind of a camp was this? I thought to myself, as I pushed my large, gray, hiking pack off onto the ground and slowly walked on over to the cabin. Three wooden steps showed us the way to the front door, which looked to be drifted ajar somehow.

"Claire, just wait a minute!" I heard Charlie worry, as he took off his pack as well and rushed over to me, right as I placed my foot onto the first step.

Caploosh. I heard, as my foot sank into what looked to be sturdy wood and I came flailing back. Luckily, Charlie had caught me right in time before I hit the hard, dirt ground with a thud, and lifted me back to safety on my two feet.

"Claire, I told you to wait! The wood was rotten, that means if anyone tries to step into it they'll fall through. Like you just did," he bantered, sending me to look back at the dampened, mold encased mess I had created from stepping onto the first stair. Thankfully I hadn't stepped faster onto the others or I would have probably broken my ankles.

"Sorry, I just wanted to see what was inside the cabin," I said, trying to look once more through the two small square windows that were on either side of the door. They might have been cracked slightly and crusted with moss, but I swore I saw a flicker of something like a candle in the back. 

God, the woods is making me go crazy already. I thought to myself, before turning around and facing everyone else. "Let's get moving then and try to find the rest of the camp, there must be better cabins somewhere else. Otherwise we will have to set up our extra tents," I told everyone, before picking back up my pack, as same did Charlie, and adjusting it on me.

It wasn't much longer then, as we headed up the same trail that lead past the cabin, until we saw a display of about eight smaller, wooden shacks in a row. It was obvious that these were where the campers had stayed, making the larger cabin seem more like the visitors nook to me.

"Okay, let's try out these and hope for the best," Charlie told everyone, as he took lead and walked up to the first small shack in the row. Immediately upon coming up, however, we could tell that damage had been done to it from a human, as carved symbols remained in the wooden door and stones had bashed open the windows.

"And you are sure this is your grandparents' camp?" Grace asked softly, as she stepped closer to see the damage. Nodding, and shrugging, we continued on anyways to check the remaining shacks for one in which we know was untouched. Thankfully, the next one over was perfectly intact, except for the fact that moss was riddled everywhere upon the small thing. However, Charlie and I didn't care, and accepted it as our own.

"Evann and I will take the one next door, it looks to be in good condition. We'll just settle down in there for the rest of today, tomorrow we can start up," Grace said, actually sounding knowledgeable for once, as they ventured out to claim it as theirs and set up their belongings.

"Guess it's just you and me," I smiled to Charlie, making him smile back as he opened up the front door for me and we gathered in. Clouds of smoke hit me straight in the face then, sending me gagging and swatting for relief. "Geesh, I can tell this hasn't been touched for the last twenty years," I coughed, before setting my pack down onto the aged wooden flooring and looking to Charlie as he opened up a few windows that were placed around the place. 

Light immediately flooded throughout the dark place then, as I looked around at what was inside. One bunk bed placed against the left wall, as the right held two shelves that were most likely there for luggage the children had. It was as simple as that, nothing more or less.

"Your grandparent's really knew how to decorate," Charlie snickered, as he set down his pack against mine and came over to give me a hug. Nuzzling into his arms, I was glad we had made it safe and sound to a place in which I had been told so much about over the years. Nana loved showing me pictures of her adventures with the kids, as Papa adored singing me songs that all the children loved hearing around the nightly campfires.

However, the one thing I knew I was missing there was them and sadly I knew I could never experience that. Nana and Papa had died four months ago in a fire that had struck their home when they were asleep. It had devastated me like nothing else, which was another reason why I decided that then was the right time to visit their camp. I needed to experience what they had, even if altered due to coming back twenty years later.

"I miss them," I whispered to Charlie, as he held onto me tightly and kissed my forehead. "They would have wanted me to come here, right?"

"I know they would want this, Claire. I mean, they invested all their life into it, they talked so much about it," he responded, as he released me from the hug and looked down into my crisp hazel eyes. "They are here with us, right now baby. I know they are, can't you feel it? The atmosphere is different,"

Thinking about what he said, I could tell there definitely was something different about the area. But, was it good? Charlie seemed to think it was, but for me it didn't scream 'welcome to our beloved camp' one bit; something my grandparents would no doubt be saying if they were here in person. And so there I was left, wondering if we were ultimately making the right choice. And boy was it anything but right, for everything got worse from there...way worse...