Camp Charlie

7| The Hills|

Some time passed and nobody spoke even a word.

"Haha... Alan was just joking, right? And why would we come to a haunted place?" convinced Hannah. More than anyone else, she was trying to convince herself. She liked horror movies and stories but that didn't mean that she wasn't scared of them.

"No Hannah. I'm not joking."

"Ethan, I'm sleeping in your room today."

"Oh, Liam! Come on, it's just a story. But if you want, you can stay in my room." With an uneasy mind, all of them went to bed.

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Sarah woke up to a sound outside her cabin. It was a scream. I mean that's what she thought. She quietly climbed out of bed and walked out of her cabin. It was a full moon night and there was enough light to see everything around her. But even the full moon couldn't allow her to see through the dense trees and what lay beyond. A distant howl of a wolf was the only sound she could hear. But there was something else that troubled her.

There's one thing about complete darkness- you can't see anything and maybe that's the reason, the fear of the unknown that drives us closer to light. Maybe if we acknowledge the fact that if we can't see anything then no one else can, we might feel safer in the dark. But the most disturbing circumstance is when we can't see anything, but someone else can see us. Like a ship stuck in the fog and not knowing it's way out. Not knowing that whether with each passing second it was closer to home or death.

That's exactly how Sarah felt as she stood outside, draped in the moonlight. The forest was cleared for setting up the camp but the surroundings were still thick with vegetation and prevented her from seeing what she should've seen. There were weird shadows all around, formed by the trees that she had seen today.

While searching for the source of the sound, her eyes fell upon a dark outline. The hair on the back of her neck rose. A lot of time passed as Sarah tried to muster the courage to walk up to that thing. Usually, in horror movies, there is this one curious person who has to know everything and usually he's the first one to die. Sarah did not want to be the same. But she had heard a scream and therefore after remembering every prayer she knew, she went to see what it was.

She walked slowly with firm steps and realised that the dark outline was just a tree. She let out a sigh of relief and a breadth that she had been holding, god knows since when. Alas! The relief was short-lived. Somebody or something pushed her, and she landed on the ground. Her arms were grazed due to harsh contact with the earth, but she was scared to look behind her lest she should see a sight that stops her heart. Luckily, a familiar voice reached her ears.

"Who are you?" demanded Ethan.

"It's me you idiot."

"Oh, Sarah! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to push you. I thought you were someone else. What are you doing here?"

"I heard a scream, so I came outside to see if everything was alright. Did you hear it as well?"

"No, I just wanted water, that's all."

"Ugh... Okay. It must've been my imagination. Good night."

Maybe, it wasn't just her imagination.

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In the morning, all of them woke up early to explore the forest.

"So all of was will go and explore the caves on the hills. Stay with me and don't get lost. Because if you get lost in those caves, nobody would even find your body." Alan looked at the six pairs of eyes and their owners. Still not serious enough, he thought. "Guys I'm not joking, and Maya please stop rolling your eyes at me."

"Alan, we get it. Can we not move already? You've been saying the same thing again and again for the past fifteen minutes. At this pace, we won't be able to reach the hills at all. So dear, let's go. Let me put this straight with the help of an equation- Stay with Alan = Stay alive and Don't stay with him = death."

Maya had started chewing her chewing gum when Alan had started his long lecture about the caves and the hills. Her gum had lost its flavour, but he had still not finished his speech, which practically had consisted of only one sentence- Don't get lost.

An hour passed and there was no sign of any hill. Each of them had a thought that was nagging them. Did Alan even know where he was going? But no one dared to bring this thought to their lips, not even Maya who was known to lose her patience very fast. Not even Hannah, whose feet were feeling like lead because of wearing flat shoes after a long time. Maybe because the determined look on Alan's face was very convincing.

Finally, after walking for eternity (that's exactly what it felt like to Hannah), the hills came into view. The caves indeed were a lot in number. All of them formed a maze. It would take years to explore them all. It felt as if a huge rabbit had burrowed them. The sun shone brightly in the sky and all Hannah could think of was that it was an amazing place to click pictures. Mountains, treks and camps were not her pieces of cake. She would've preferred a trip to Paris or Vegas.

To Sarah, the most adventurous thing that she'd ever done was to eat pineapple on pizza and that too because Ethan had forced her. Camping was a whole new experience for her and maybe, had they gone to some good place, she would've liked it. But she didn't like this place. The greenery and wildlife that surrounded her, were not enough to distract her from the flaws of this place. A place which was covered in a blanket of mystery. Sarah had seen shadows, even in daylight. Whenever she walked, she felt like someone was behind her, like someone was watching her. She was a writer and always managed to look for details, so she wrote all about it in her diary.

There are people like Hannah, who always complain that they're bored and have nothing to do. Sarah was the complete opposite. A book was all she needed. Right now, she felt as if all of them were a part of a book- the protagonists, but it was not her who was the writer.

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