Camp of Monsters

The River

Spencer sat quietly at one of the many long tables in the camp dining hall. In between meals it was usually deserted and quiet; this made the large room the perfect place to write as he was rarely disturbed.

After a while, the sound of his pen scratching in the paper was joined by soft footsteps on the tile. The sound stuck closely to the ground meaning that the person was not wearing any shoes. For some reason, this intrigued Spencer. Who would be walking around bare footed?

Looking up, Spencer found his answer. A tall girl with braided light brown hair was walking to fill her bottle at the water fountain.

Spencer had seen her around before but had not spoken to her in their three days at Camp Coda.

"Um, hi there," he said.

"Hi," the girl said looking up, seemingly surprised at the blond boy's presence. "It's Spencer right? I've seen you around."

"Yes, it is. I'm sorry, I never picked up your name."

"It's Katelyn," she said walking over and taking a seat across the table.

Spencer noticed the tan lines on her shoulder from where her tank top had moved slightly. He perceptively guessed that she must love spending time on the water. Her chin and neck were surprisingly tan as were her under arms. He knew how the water reflects the sun.

"Do you like canoeing?" Spencer asked.

"Canoeing, kayaking, fishing, hiking, you name it. Do you?"

"I'd like to think I'm really good at it," Spencer said with a grin.

"Then why are we sitting here? Come on."

Spencer laughed at the girl's abrupt departure for she had almost completely taken out a chair on the way out. The two walked down to the river bank where they expected to see most of their friends swimming.

"That's strange," Spencer thought.

Normally the river was full of people. It was a bit early still for many of them to come back from the nature walk which started earlier that morning, so it left Spencer's mind.

When they reached the bank Katelyn bent to the grounds and ran her fingers over something on the ground.

"What is that?" Spencer asked wondering what had drawn the girl's attention.

Her brow furrowed and she ignored him. She pressed her fingers into the liquid and brought it to her nose. It wasn't blood; it wasn't lake water.

Spencer kneeled down next to her and looked at the liquid as well. Shrugging her shoulders Katelyn stood and wiped her hand on the leg of her denim shorts.

"Whatever," she said.

They continued walking down the river towards the dock. Something was floating in the water next to the canoes.

Katelyn's pace quickened and Spencer followed on her heels. They didn't understand why, but they both had a sudden bad feeling which knotted the pits of their stomachs.

"Is that a body?"

Spencer stepped closer to verify his own question. It couldn't be.