01-07-2013, 01:44 AM
As a family, we've written and filmed three short films which are all so poorly produced, that they boarder on comedy - separate from the source material - but we had a ton of fun doing them. So my daughter asks me if we can make another movie, but I didn't feel up to writing a story and turning it into a script (that is a lot of work) and filming it, then editing it, so I broke the job up into parts. My eldest son is interested in filming it. My second eldest son want's to do the editing. My daughter wanted to write the story, so she did (first version) and it was just like Red Riding Hood... so I told her to modernize it (second version) and she did, but a ten-year old can only do so much, so I refined it and gave the finished version to my son's and told them to turn it into a workable script. Anyways, to my point; I think the story is pretty good and am curious what other's think. I hate creating this great material and just letting it waste away without having the opportunity to share it. I don't know if it's good enough to be published as a short story, but I can't help but think I might have missed my calling in life... Anyways, here's the story for you all to enjoy.
EYES IN THE DARK
Elizabeth and her two friends were getting ready for an exciting camping trip in just a few hours time. They were packing three days of clothing, some magazines, nail polish… everything an 11-year old girl needed to survive! Their trip would take them to the heart of a giant redwood forest in the mountains several hours away. Those woods had a reputation for being dangerous; many hikers had gotten lost while hiking on the trails, but Elizabeth’s family, the Cowling’s, had a favorite campsite up there that they traveled to year after year.
The three girls, Stacy, Christy, and Elizabeth, were especially excited because this was the first time they would be camping in their own tent, in their own campsite! Of course the two sites were adjoining, but that didn’t stop the girls from feeling free and independent!
A few hours passed, and before the girls knew it, they were all riding together in Mr. Cowling’s car. At first time passed by quickly, but after a few hours of driving, it dragged on and the scenery all began to look the same. Finally, they passed through the entrance gates of the national redwood forest. It seemed like an eternity before their campsite was reached, but in reality, maybe twenty minutes had passed! When the Cowling’s pulled up to the attendance’s office, a sign on the cabin door said, “Be back in 10.”
“Well girls, why don’t you go have a look around? We reserved a double-site this year, but we’re not sure exactly where it is so, your mom and I will just stick around here until the facility manager shows up. Go on, see if you can find a bear.” At that, Mr. Cowling winked at the girls and everyone laughed.
The girls wandered off together, circling the edge of the campsite to get a feel for just how big it really was. Sure, they had been there several times in the past, but now that they were older and more independent, they felt the urge to really explore and check the place out!
“Hey Elizabeth, look at what I can do,” exclaimed Stacy as she walked along a thin 2”x2” plank of wood being used as a guardrail for a small bridge.
“Do you think we’ll see any bears this time,” Elizabeth said out loud to everyone.
“I sure hope so,” said Christy. “The last couple of times those hikers kept saying, ‘don’t miss the bear ‘round the bend! Cutest critter you ever saw.’ But every single time, they were gone when we got there! We must be cursed or something!”
“Cursed?” said Stacy, turning to look at Christy, then almost falling off the bridge, “Whooo.” After regaining her composure, Stacy continued, “I don’t think we are cursed. Those poor hikers who keep getting lost in the woods, now they are cursed!”
“No kidding,” Said Elizabeth, “and I even heard they were expert hikers! It doesn’t make sense. Oh, and the bodies were never found! It’s like they disappeared or something!”
“Oh great, and we haven’t even been here ten minutes and we’re already talking about ‘ghost stores’? Save it for later tonight!” Christy said.
“Yeah, I suppose your right. Let’s talk about something else.” Elizabeth said, “So what are we going to have for dinner tonight?”
The girls were just about five campsites down when Mr. Cowling shouted, “Girls, it’s time to come back! The campground attendant has returned!”
* * * * *
“What do you mean overbooked!?! I paid several months in advance! I need to speak with your park manager, now!” Mr. Cowling was red in the face with anger, having spent the last fifteen minutes trying to straighten out a terrible mistake. It seemed the double-site the Cowling’s had booked this year had been given to someone else by mistake who came the day before and wasn’t going to leave for another two days! To make matters worse, the only two open campsites were separated by the main road, but they might as well of been in two separate campgrounds because they were so far from each other.
“Honey, calm down. We’ll figure something out. It’ll be getting late soon and we need to figure out where the girls will sleep for the night,” said Mrs. Cowling.
Mr. Cowling gave the facility manager a sullen frown before turning to face his wife, “Susan, we can’t leave the girls at a campsite separated so far from us! What will they do for dinner? How will they reach us if one of them get’s hurt? This is your fault,” Mr. Cowling turned and pointed at the poor part attendant who was now looking at her feet in shame. She hadn’t been the one who overbooked the campsite, but she felt guilty about it nonetheless.
“Henry, stop pointing fingers! Let’s calm down and figure this out,” Mrs. Cowling touched Mr. Cowling’s arm, lowering his pointed finger. “Now, look at me.” Mr. Cowling looked at her. “Our tent can only fit two, and the girl’s tent is not much bigger. We really have no way of fitting all of us together in a single tent. My suggestion to you is to go with the girls and help them set up their tent and give them a walkie-talkie while I set up our tent.”
“Yes, and I can assure you we will be checking up on the girls at least once an hour,” chimed in the park attendant, “It’s our duty to do a walk through the campgrounds every hour until sunset.”
“And then, after sunset,” exclaimed Mr. Cowling.
“Well, then we go to bed. But nobody is up once the sun sets anyhow. Come, let’s get the girls tent set up before it get’s any later. I’m sure they’ll be fine.” And with that, Mr. Cowling, the park attendant, and the three girls walked their gear up to the other campsite.
* * * * *
Mr. Cowling was muttering under his breath as he set up the tent and the whole while, the park attendant was explaining how safe this campsite was, and how friendly all the neighbors were. Elizabeth, Stacy, and Christy were sitting on a log, picking at bugs on the ground with sticks when Elizabeth saw the flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. At first, she didn’t think much about it, probably another squirrel, but the dark shape moved into her peripheral vision and stood there, silent. Elizabeth turned her head, but saw only trees. The sun was set and what little brightness there was left was quickly diminishing. “Must have been my imagination,” thought Elizabeth, but not before noticing tree branches swaying where she had been looking, maybe a hundred-feet away or so. “Stacy, Christy, do you see that?” Elizabeth pointed at the swaying branches.
“What?” Both girls looked up, perplexed.
“Those swaying branches over there! I thought I saw something move past them” Elizabeth said.
“Oh dear, your imagination is already playing games is it?” Christy said, “That’s only the wind! Look up!” Christy pointed to the tops of the trees swaying slightly in an unseen breeze, “See, it’s just the wind.”
“I guess,” said Elizabeth, “It just looked like something else is all.”
“Like what.” said Christy?
“I don’t know. It must have been my imagination is all,” Said Elizabeth.
“Well let’s go check it out then,” Stacy said, with a mischievous fire in her eyes. Stacy had always been one for adventure, and danger. When she was only six, she broke her arm trying to ride her brother’s scooter down a hill. When she was ten, she got lost in the woods behind her house and a search and rescue party had to find her! Stacy was always looking for the next big thing!
“Uhm, maybe Stacy isn’t the best one to listen too,” Said Christy, but it was too late. Stacy was up and walking towards the moving tree limbs before anyone could say another word. Elizabeth quickly got up and followed, as did Christy. The closer to the moving tree branches the girls got, the closer the girls squeezed together until they were practically sharing the same shoes. Quietly, the girls crept over to the movement and the closer they got, the colder it got as all the brightness fled the sky leaving only blackness. “Look, there’s nothing there,” said Christy, the girl’s were now mere feet from the swaying branches. They could just make out the trees, but behind the branches was so dark now, not much could be seen without a flashlight!
“Did anyone remember to bring their flashlight,” said Elizabeth, fumbling around her pockets for hers.
“Wow, look at that!” Stacy broke away from the other girls and walked toward the tree looking at something on the ground. Elizabeth felt the cold metal of her mini-flashlight in her pocket and shone it over to where Stacy was pointing. On the ground was what appeared to be the paw print of some giant animal! “What do you think it is?” Stacy said?
“I don’t know, but let’s get out of here!” Christy exclaimed, starting to look uneasy. Suddenly, the girls got the feeling of being watched and heard something moving from the blackness beyond the swaying branches. All three girls stared, eyes fixed at the movement of the branches, legs solid as oak when suddenly a hand clasped down on Elizabeth’s and Christy’s shoulders!
Both girls screamed in terror and whipped around only to see Mr. Cowling and the park attendant staring at them with puzzlement. “What in the world are you girls doing?” Said Mr. Cowling? “The tent is all set up now… uhm, why don’t you come check it out.”
“The paw print!” Christy pointed franticly!
“Dad,” said Elizabeth, “I thought I saw movement over here and we went to check it out and when we did, we found this giant paw print,” Elizabeth pointed to where Stacy was kneeling.
The park attendant turned on her bright flashlight and walked over where Stacy was kneeling and examined the track. “Humm,” she exclaimed, “wolf tracks. Pretty common for this time of year. Don’t worry girls, they aren’t dangerous. They only hunt rabbits and squirrels. There has never been a wolf attack up here before.”
“None that you know of!” howled Christy.
“Stop it,” said Elizabeth to Christy, feeling uneasy by the situation. She looked at her dad, hoping for some comforting words.
“The facility manager is right dear.” Mr. Cowling said in an uninterested tone. “They’re just animals. They won’t hurt you if you leave them alone. Now let’s go check out the tent. After you girls have set up your sleeping bags and pillows, we’ll all walk over to your mom’s and mine campsite and have dinner, then mom and I will tuck you girls in for the night at your campsite, sound good?”
* * * * *
After a scrumptious dinner of macaroni and cheese with hotdogs followed up by smores, the girls warmed themselves around the fire while everyone talked about how exciting their day was. Mr. and Mrs. Cowling then sung a lullaby and before everyone got too tired, walked to girls over to the bathroom so they could brush their teeth and get ready for bed. Once the girls were all set, Mr. and Mrs. Cowling walked the girls up to their tent and kissed Elizabeth goodnight.
“And you all have your flashlights in case you need them, right,” said Mrs. Cowling? Each girl held up their flashlight – they knew exactly where they where! “Alright then, remember, if you need anything, we are just in the other campsite. And the attendant is near the entrance. Be good, and have a good nights sleep. Love you girls!”
“Good night Mrs. Cowling,” said Stacy and Christy, sleepy-eyed.
“Good night mom,” said Elizabeth.
“Good night girls,” said Mr. Cowling.
And with that, both parents walked away. The girls turned and faced each other, sleep slowing fading away to excitement! They were in their own tent! How cool was that! All three girls squealed with laughter at the same time.
“Shuu, girls, keep it down,” Mr. Cowling said as he walked away, “people are trying to sleep here.”
The girls starting whispering and laughing, quietly sharing secrets and talking about what they wanted to do tomorrow. A few minutes later, Elizabeth asked her friends, “So, having fun so far?”
“Yes,” “Uh huh,” answered Stacy and Christy.
Stacy turned and looked at Elizabeth, “You know what Elizabeth, it’s time you had a nickname. I mean, your name has so many possibilities. They call me Stacee, and Christy Chris, but you have so many names to pick from like ‘Beth’, ‘Bethany’, ‘Lizzy’…”
“Or even something cool like ‘B’ for Brave because you’re not afraid to be out here without your parents,” said Christy smiling.
Elizabeth gave Christy the “o’rly” look and all three girls started laughing. “Yea, I suppose your right,” said Elizabeth, getting wrapped up snug beneath her sleeping bag.
It didn’t take very long for Stacy to take the opportunity to say, “Well why don’t we see how brave you really are,” and within moments, the ghost story was started! Stacy sat up and shone her flashlight upon her face from under her chin to look spooky and starting telling a story about a tree cutter lost in the woods who was told by a fairy she would help him find a way out of the forest if he only would stop harming the trees, but the tree cutter would not listen and cut down a tree the first night for fire. The next day the fairy told the tree cutter the same thing but again he did not listen and cut down another tree to make a spear and hunted boar. Finally on the third day the fairy said the same thing and again the tree cutter did not listen, this time intent on cutting down a tree to build a tower tall enough to see over the entire forest, but this time he accidently cut off his own leg instead of the tree branch, and this time when he called to the fairy for help, she did not come, but hid amongst flowers and under leaves. The story ended when Stacy said, “and so the tree cutter is said to haunt these very woods looking for the fairy of the forest!”
All three girls got quiet for a second, then broke out giggling. They really were having a great time! But the cold of the night had made them tired and before they knew it, all three of the girls were fast asleep.
* * * * *
“Howlllllll!” first Elizabeth woke up. Did she just hear howling? “Howwwwwwllll!” Yeah, she sure did, and it didn’t sound very far away at all! She felt movement to her right and quickly turned to see Christy sit up wide-eyed! Both girls looked at one-another, terrified! “Should we wake up Stacy,” said Elizabeth?
“I… I don’t…” before Christy could answer, a rustling sound outside their tent caught their attention. Both girls stared at one another, wide-eyed! Christy whispered, “There’s something outside our tent!”
Elizabeth shook Stacy, trying to wake her, but Stacy was dead to the world, snoring her head off! Elizabeth gripped her flashlight and looked at Christy, “we should take a look.” Christy shook her head silently, “no!” Then both girls heard it, the sound of heavy footsteps dragging toward the tent and something breathing heavily, then, nothing! The sounds seemed to stop not more than a foot or two away from the tent door, but now nothing! Both girls were thoroughly frightened and their friend was starting to stir, as if some dark force had coerced her awake. Stacy opened one eye, saw her friends sitting up with terrified looks upon their faces, and instantly woke up. Now all three girls were huddled together staring at the tent door whispering about what to do next.
“We should just try and go back to sleep,” whispered Christy. It had been several minutes without any sound of movement, so Stacy and Elizabeth came to the decision that they should open the tent door and peek outside. The two girls got up and slowly made their way over to the tent door, flashlights in hand, and as quietly as they could, began unzipping the door. Christy started pulling the sleeping bag over her face watching them. The girls pulled the door flap down slightly and peered outside but didn’t see a thing at first so opened the door the rest of the way. This time, when they shone their lights straight ahead, what they at first thought was a tree was in fact a bloodied hiker with torn clothing starting straight at them!
Both girls screamed in absolute terror but the hiker didn’t seem to notice, seemingly in his own world. His eyes looking past the tent toward a full moon! “The wolf, it dragged me to its lair! It wanted to kill me,” he shouted, still staring at the moon! Suddenly, he turned and looking directly into the girls eyes as if seeing them for the first time and said, “It’s still out there! You must leave! A tent won’t save you!” He turns to look over his shoulder and instantly cringes with fear, utter terror gripping his face, “Oh god, its coming!” He suddenly bursts into the night with an unnatural speed shouting over his shoulder, “Flee while you still can!”
The girls scream again, this time with utter urgency! Campers from the tents next door start unzipping their doors and turning on their flashlights. Within minutes, several people show up at the girl’s tent to ask them what’s going on. The girls hysterically tell their tale through tears and deep sobs and the campers decide to do a quick search of the area. The air is cold and unforgiving tonight and after a half hour of searching, no signs of any hiker nor any tracks are ever found. Most of the campers caulk up the event to a couple young girls’ imaginations being at their own campsite away from their parents. The few who still have doubts tell the girls to try and get some sleep, because they knew there is nothing they can do about it in this darkness.
Elizabeth, Stacy, and Christy sink low into their sleeping bags, shivering, pretending to sleep, but no one slept a wink the rest of the night!
* * * * *
When morning came, several campers stopped by to check in on the girls, but of course, everything was alright. Elizabeth, Stacy, and Christy got up and finished getting dressed then headed over to Mr. and Mrs. Cowling’s campsite for some breakfast. The sun had risen and the girls were exhausted, and hungry! By the time they got to the Cowling’s campsite, the girls were disappointed to find both of Elizabeth’s parents still sound asleep.
“So, you gonna wake your mom up to make us breakfast,” said Stacy? Christy turned and looked at Elizabeth, wondering the same thing.
“Let’s see what we can find in the coolers,” Elizabeth said, so the girls begin rummaging through the food coolers for something to eat. They found dried cereal, milk, and utensils. All three girls sat down and began pouring the milk, not really speaking much this morning when suddenly, the milk carton hit the floor and splashed Elizabeth and Stacy! Both girls turned quickly to see Christy staring at a newspaper next to the fire pit, her hand still looking like it was holing the milk carton that slipped out of it. What had spooked Christy so badly? Elizabeth and Stacy jumped up and ran over to where Christy was standing and at first, didn’t see a thing, but then saw it – the newspaper article! On the cover of the front page was a picture of the hiker they had seen last night, and in big bold letters above the picture it said, “HIKER MISSING FOR THREE DAYS NOW!”
* * * * *
“So, when do you plan on telling your parents about what happened last night, and about the newspaper article,” asked Christy? The sounds of laughing children and splashing from the nearby lake could be heard in the background.
Stacy chimed in, “I’m not entirely sure what we saw last night! I think we need to do some investigating when we get back before we say anything! You saw how the other campers treated us last night, like we imagined it all! We have to get to the bottom of this on our own, otherwise no one will believe us!”
“I don’t know. What could we do about it? And besides, that hiker was on the front page of the news! What more proof do we need,” asked Elizabeth?
“I’m sure there are lots of papers around here. Your parents will probably think you just saw one somewhere else earlier yesterday and dreamt about it last night,” said Stacy, “we need to take action!”
All three girls stared at one another for a moment, then decided it was time to go further into the lake than just their ankles. The girls waded slowly in the waters, letting their body temperature adjust to the lakes temperature. Kristy stated, “I think we can prove it!”
“Prove what,” said Elizabeth.
“Prove that we did see the hiker last night! He couldn’t have gotten very far! We could just tell your mom and dad which direction he ran off and they can find him,” Kristy said.
“Or we could find him ourselves!” Stacy turned, bug-eyed, clearly very excited about the prospect of going off into the forest searching for a lost hiker. “He was clearly delirious from lack of water, thinking there was a wolf was chasing him and all. We could be heroes,” Stacy looked up at the sky, dreamy-eyed! “Look you,” Stacy said looking at Elizabeth, “you can bring your GPS so we won’t get lost. Once we leave the lake, we’ll head out first chance we get! How’s that sound,” Stacy looked at both girls expectedly. Elizabeth and Christy gave a half-hearted, ‘I guess’ shrug, then Stacy smiled and dove into the water first.
Christy turned to look at Elizabeth before she jumped in too “what if the hiker was right? What if there is a wolf out there and we get eaten?”
Elizabeth turned to look at her friend, smiled with a false sense of confidence, then dove into the water without saying a word.
* * * * *
After the lake, the Cowling’s made an early dinner at their camp and the three girls wolfed down their food. The sun was still up and there was several hours of daylight left. Mr. Cowling said, “so, what games are we gonna play tonight,” looking at the girls?
All three girls looked at one another, then Elizabeth said, “oh dad, we didn’t get much time yesterday or today to explore our camp. Can we go check it out before it gets dark and maybe we can play some game tomorrow sometime?”
Mrs. Cowling said from behind the stove, “some of the campers said they heard you girls screaming last night. What was that all about?”
“Who said that,” Elizabeth said?
“While you girls were in the water at the lake, some of your neighbors approached us and said you girls were screaming late last night about a lost hiker,” Mr. Cowling said, “bad dreams?”
“Dad, it was nothing, just our imagination,” Elizabeth said.
“Yeah, we thought we heard a noise last night, so got up to check it out and shone our lights on a tree and thought it was a hiker. Pretty scary, huh?” Stacy said in an over exaggerated smile.
“Well next time, keep it too yourselves. Your neighbors were pretty upset! They said it was very cold last night and they spent almost and hour searching around camp for this ‘lost hiker’,” Mrs. Cowling said.
“Wow, one-whole hour? Really? That’s an exaggeration if I ever heard one,” Elizabeth said, “it was more like twenty minutes.”
“Girls, you’re missing the point,” Mr. Cowling said “Unless there is a real danger, don’t cry out for help. Don’t you know the story of ‘the boy who cried wolf’?”
Elizabeth gave her dad the, “oh my God your so retarded look,” then said, “whatever dad. So can we go explore our campsite then?”
Her parents looked at one another, then looked at Christy who hadn’t said a word the entire time. “Alright, that’s fine with me,” Mr. Cowling said, “just be sure to be back at your tent before dark. Your mom and I will be there to tuck you girls in at that time.”
“And remember to bring your walkie-talkie and GPS incase you get lost. And next time you get frightened at night, just call us on the walkie-talkie,” said Mrs. Cowling.
“Why didn’t we think of that,” thought Elizabeth, “the walkie-talkie? I must have been too frightened to think straight last night.” Elizabeth looked at her parents and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll get them both from the tent the second we get to camp.”
* * * * *
The girls scrambled to their campsite in record time, got their exploratory gear on, GPS, and walkie-talkie, and set off in search of the missing hiker. They had about two-hours of sunlight left and didn’t want to waste a second of it. Elizabeth kept thinking about what the ranger said about wolves not being dangerous, then about what the hiker had said. In any case, she was ready for this adventure! She looked over at her two friends as they were about to set out; Stacy looked almost Rambo-ish, eyes shining with excitement half-way hunched over like she was hunting prey. Christy on the other hand looked uneasy and exhausted – maybe this whole ordeal was draining her – with shoulders slumped and toes pointed inwards, however, once they started walking, Christy’s spirits picked up.
The girls set out, deciding it best to scout the perimeter first and see what they saw. Starting on the side of the road the hiker ran, they slowly walked around the campground from one end until about a quarter of the way around but the going was slow, and there proved to be lots of paw prints and broken branches in the forest, imagine that. The entire first hour proved rather uneventful, and the girls began feeling they would never find any clues as to the hiker’s whereabouts when they saw it! Dried blood on some low-hanging branches, and long-striding footprints headed into the forest.
What did it mean? The girls looked at one another, not sure rather to move forward or get help when suddenly, they found themselves not saying a word but following the footprints and blood stains, not really sure how it happened or why, but they were doing it!
First Stacy broke the silence, “I wonder how far he could have gone?” Elizabeth made a sort of “I-dunno” sound and Christy was silent. Stacy never looked back while talking, always maintaining the lead, “I bet he couldn’t have gone too far in his condition. We’ll be famous for sure when we find him! Did someone bring their water canteen?” She looked back, “I bet he’ll be thirsty when we find him. I heard that…” Stacy’s voice seemed to slowly fade away as Elizabeth’s mind went to thoughts of what they might find, and that scared her. Christy seemed to be on automation, oblivious to anything but trailblazing down the path of broken branches and blood droplets, “… and we can lift him by tying two branches in a ‘V’ using cloth and… Hey! Are you even listening to me?” Stacy waved her arms in front of Elizabeth and Christy, breaking Elizabeth’s thoughts.
“I think we should go back,” Christy said with a stoic expression on her face.
“Of course you do Christy. That is so you. I can’t believe you don’t want to find this poor hiker. Who knows if he’s alive or…” Stacy was cut off by Christy again:
“We need to go back! Look,” Christy pointed toward the tree-line, “the sun is almost set! We’ve been out here too long!”
Elizabeth and Stacy looked up, then all three girls looked at each other. “I think she’s right,” Elizabeth said to Stacy, then looking back over her shoulder, “Let me get out my GPS and let’s see how to get back.” The trail they had blazed would be almost impossible to follow in the dark; it did not go in a straight line as they had hoped. Elizabeth pulled out the GPS and pushed the ‘on’ button, but nothing happened! Again she pushed it, and again nothing happened. Elizabeth could feel cold sweat start to form on the bottoms of her feet as panic begin to set in.
“What’s wrong with it,” Christy exclaimed?
“I don’t know! Let me turn it over,” Elizabeth turned the GPS over and opened up the battery case. “Oh my god…” there were no batteries! She suddenly remembered how her dad had told her not to forget to put batteries ‘in that thing before we go’. What were they going to do now?!? “I… it doesn’t have any batteries,” Elizabeth turned to her friends, desperation on her face! All three girls looked at one another again, this time much more serious. They had been hiking for a long time and weren’t paying any attention to their surroundings, just following what they thought was the hiker’s path, and now, they weren’t even sure which direction to head back and to make matters worse, the sun was about to set!
“Okay, let’s… let’s start running back,” Christy blurted out! This time, it was Stacy who fell silent as Christy and Elizabeth charged ahead, trying to follow glimpses of their travel. “Oh look, I remember that rock,” and, “there’s that tree there,” from Christy, but soon it was in vain as the remaining light fled and the girls pace slowed. “Oh no, I think we already passed this tree before, didn’t we,” Christy turned and looked at Elizabeth who was completely focused on the trail.
“I don’t know Chris,” Elizabeth said. She was scared, but there was no use showing it at this point. They couldn’t even see the entire moon to give them direction, the trees were so thick! It was like walking around in a room with all the lights off! They knew they were lost now, and that’s when the howling started! First, it was far away, maybe over that mountain yonder, then it got closer, maybe over that hill, and finally, it was nearby, maybe just beyond that next row of trees! They heard a rustling in the forest and then, they saw the eyes! Terrible, big saucers of eyes glinting off what moonlight filtered through the forest foliage. Was it a wolf? Was it going to attack them? Suddenly, they heard a terrible, guttural growl from where the eyes were and the girls saw a flash of teeth from the maws of this creature and then, the eyes were getting closer as the creature quickly moved toward them!
The girls were too terrified to scream, petrified from the waste down and huddled up together when, from seemingly out of nowhere, a bright light shone in their face, blinding them completely!
“Ahhhhhhhh,” out screamed Stacy, followed immediately by the other girls!
“What are you girls doing out in this part of the forest after dark,” a masculine voice rang out? Foot steps approached and the girls could now see it was in fact a ranger holding a magnum flashlight.
Elizabeth had never felt so relieved! She wanted to hug the ranger, but instead blurted out, “My GPS ran out of batteries and we lost our way to our campsite.”
“Oh, I see, well the nearest campsite is just round this bend here. Come with me, I’ll walk you there,” the ranger said. “My name is Jim and I was out here hoping to find some deer so I could tag them.”
“I thought deer came out in the day,” said Stacy?
“They do, but also at night. It’s easier to tag them at night because it’s easier to sneak up on them. So what were you girls doing out here at this time anyways?”
“We were looking for that lost hiker in the newspaper,” said Elizabeth, “we thought we were following his trail…”
“We saw blood!” Christy interrupted, “and that wolf was about to attack us right when you came! Didn’t you see it?” Stacy shot Christy a dirty look; she knew the ranger would never believe them.
“A wolf? That’s strange, wolves usually don’t come this low this time of year. I doubt you saw a wolf, and even if you did, one would never attack you unless you provoked it!” Stacy gave Christy the, ‘see, I told you so’ look! “Besides,” the ranger said, “that lost hiker was found several miles away from here. There’s no way he could have been anywhere near here last night unless he had been walking the entire day straight!”
“You found him? Was he alright,” said Stacy?
“Yeah, we found him alright, cold, hungry, and suffering from hyperthermia and delirium. He was pretty badly scrapped up, claimed a wolf attacked him, but his cuts looked more like from rocks and tree branches than claw marks. Poor man.”
“What about the blood! We were following a trail of blood!” Christy just about screamed out!
“You know what girls, there are many animals in these woods! Sometimes,” the ranger knelt down and looked the girls square in the eyes, “animals hurt other animals for food. You see, there are these critters known as predators who hunt other animals for food.”
Oh know, thought Elizabeth, another boring nature lecture, “oh yeah, we heard of them. That must have been it then. So, are we almost there,” quick to change the conversation, her plan seemed to have worked?
“Why yes… here… we… are,” and with that, the group pulled through a thicket of branches straight into their campsite. “And do you know which tent is yours,” asked the ranger?
“Yes, actually it’s that one right there,” Stacy pointed at their tent. The girls thanked the ranger and started walking over. Just down the road, they could see Mr. and Mrs. Cowling heading toward their tent. They had got back just in time.
* * * * *
After a vigorous teeth brushing and bedtime story, followed by fond goodnight kisses and hugs, the Cowling’s left for their own tent. It seems Mr. Cowling had lost a rather long game (or several short ones) of Gin Rummy to his wife and was anxious to get in his sleeping bag and read his book, probably so he could forget his humiliating defeat. The girls lay in their sleeping bags staring at the roof of the tent and talking quietly into the night. It wasn’t like they had forgotten about the hiker, no indeed, but none of them wanted to talk about him. The hiker was found, what more was there to say about it? The circumstances were strange, but the way the ranger described it, everything made sense! There was nothing to talk about. The girls stared at the tent roof some more, then silently fell asleep.
The next day came slow, with the girls waking up to the sun high in the sky. Maybe it was already 11-AM? Elizabeth looked at her watch. Nope, 10:30-AM. Close enough; Elizabeth ripped off her covers and sat up, her friends doing the same. Before they had a chance to let their brain catch up, the walkie-talkie beeped! Elizabeth grabbed it and held down the button, “hello?” Her voice was still deep and drowsy.
“Wow, you girls sure did sleep in, didn’t you? Come on over for breakfast, then we’re going to play some games today,” Mr. Cowling said.
“Alright dad; be there soon,” Elizabeth stood up like a zombie, then headed out the door to the outhouse. When she got back, both Stacy and Christy were sprinting toward the outhouse while she got in the tent and got ready. Within a few minutes, all three girls were dressed and ready to have breakfast.
* * * * *
Breakfast went much as you’d expect; fried sausage, scrambled eggs, French toast, and milk to drink, after which came, “an exhilarating day of games,” as Mr. Cowling put it! First were the classics: telephone, followed by story telling, card games, and followed up by a stimulating game of charades. The day was about half over, as was this game of charades, when Mr. Cowling had to leave to go to the bathroom.
“Do you want me to wait for you,” asked Mrs. Cowling.
“No, go ahead and finish your turn without me. I won’t be very long,” said Mr. Cowling, and with that, he was off! Mrs. Cowling started by holding her breath and puffing out her cheeks, then jumping up and down and when that didn’t work, started making some strange shape hunched over with both arms curled, one leg bent and the other semi-curled, perhaps like a monkey. The girls were hollering out their answers without shame, possibly loud enough for the entire campground to hear when suddenly, Christy went silent, followed by Stacy, and then Elizabeth! Behind Mrs. Cowling in the tree line was a giant, black wolf and it was standing there, just staring at the three girls.
“Aren’t you girls going to make any more guesses? Don’t tell me you gave up already,” said Mrs. Cowling, still stuck in her ridiculous position?
“Mom…” Elizabeth looked at her mom, a pensive stare upon her face.
She was interrupted by Christy and Stacy both pointing and shouting, “the wolf! It’s over there!”
Mrs. Cowling whipped around and stared deep into the forest, but by the time she had turned her head, the wolf had disappeared into the woods. “Girls, I don’t see anything there. Are you sure you saw something? Maybe it was a deer.”
“Mom, I know what a deer looks like! That was no deer,” said Elizabeth.
“No Mrs. Cowling,” said Stacy, “that was definitely a wolf we saw!”
“Those eyes; I’ll never forget those eyes,” uttered Christy with a far-off look.
“Well, let’s wait until Henry get’s back and he can take a look around and see what he finds. I don’t want to go over there by myself,” Mrs. Cowling shook her head, “besides, don’t you girls want to finish our game?” Mrs. Cowling really wanted the girls to guess what she was, and felt she had struck the perfect pose to get guessed. “And besides,” Susan thought, “the park attendant told Henry that the wolves weren’t dangerous, so even if it was a wolf, there was nothing to fear.”
* * * * *
The girls guessed Mrs. Cowling’s shape correctly and Stacy’s turn was up when Mr. Cowling came back. The girls were waiting for him and as soon as Mr. Cowling set foot inside the camp, the three girls stopped their game and ran up to him requisitioning him to seek out signs of the wolf. With Mrs. Cowling’s goading, Mr. Cowling agreed to explore the tree line but after several minutes of searching, threw his hands up in defeat. “Sorry girls, I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. It’s too bad you didn’t get a picture of it! Would have been a great piece for our vacation scrapbook,” Mr. Cowling said with a smirk. And with that, the subject of the wolf was forgotten for the rest of the evening. It was time to start dinner and the conversation for the night shifted to the other occupants who took their original double-campsite and how they would be leaving tomorrow. They all decided that the girls would gather their belongings in the morning so they could all share a campsite for their last couple of days.
Before it got too dark, Christy showed Mrs. Cowling a cut she got on her leg while running through the woods the night before. She explained how she got it while they were exploring their campsite, but didn’t notice it until she went swimming in the lake when it started to burn. Mrs. Cowling cleaned and dressed the wound in her tent, then gave Christy some supplies to redress the wound in the morning if it bothered her.
Later, everyone had hot coco with marshmallows and after a bout of storytelling, the Cowling’s walked the girls to their tent and kissed them goodnight. It was very cold out this evening, a chill that bit you to the bone, and the girls huddled up in their sleeping bags watching their breath mist in the air.
“Let’s go to sleep,” said Stacy, “I’m tired tonight. Playing games all day with your dad and mom wore me out.”
“Yeah, your parent’s sure do love playing games,” Christy said looking over at Elizabeth. “I’d like to fall asleep as soon as possible so we can get up early in the morning and move camp. I like having our own site… but I’d like to be closer to your parent’s site too,” Christy said.
Both girls looked at Elizabeth, sleeping bag pulled over her head trying to keep warm. She peered out sleepily from beneath an opening in the otherwise closed tight bag and said, “Yeah,” then rolled over and started snoring. This terrible cold was making them all much more tired than they normally would be at this time. That and maybe all this wolf talk was taking its toll.
Christy turned and faced Stacy, “So what do you think of that wolf we saw?”
“Well, we definitely saw ‘it’, if that’s what you mean. Other that that, I’d say it looked pretty big, and scary! I could feel its eyes looking right at us,” Stacy’s eyes drifted off into thought.
“I felt the same way. First, I felt something watching me, something…” Stacy looked up for a second, searching for the word, “Evil! I felt cold all over my body and when I looked where the feeling was coming from, I saw the wolf staring right at me! It wanted to eat me Stacy, I just know it! It’s like I could see its thoughts!” Christy shivered.
“Christy… that’s a little much, don’t you think? And remember, I was there to and it was staring at all of us. We don’t know if it was hungry, or just checking us out. How could we know such a thing,” Stacy said?
Christy’s eyes narrowed, “You didn’t feel it? The cold surrounding you when it looked at you, the eyes piercing your skin like knives? I’ve never felt anything like it before!”
“What exactly are you trying to say,” Stacy said?
“That creature's unnatural, not a typical animal you see in the forest, but something evil!” Christy may have been on to something, but she was unnerving her friend.
“Your imagining things,” Stacy lied, “it was just a regular old wolf. Go to sleep before you give yourself a heart-attack or something! Besides, we’re moving campsites in the morning.” Stacy paused for a second, then rolled over, “So goodnight!” And with that, Stacy pretended to fall asleep, but she couldn’t because she had felt that cold sensation too, and those eyes… That was no normal wolf, but Stacy didn’t want to admit her fear to herself, yet alone Christy. A few minutes passed and Christy’s breathing became heavy and then a soft snoring and Stacy was the only one left awake, her eyes glued open listening to every sound outside.
* * * * *
The night the wolf was finally exposed, it started with the walkie-talkie beeping. First Elizabeth roused, more asleep than awake, “that sound…” she thought to herself! And there it was again, “beep, beep, beep!” “Oh yeah, the walkie-talkie…” Elizabeth rolled over and saw the blinking light of the walkie-talkie and grabbed it, reality slowly creeping back! What time was it? Who could be calling her at this hour? There were no sounds outside at all, and the light of the moon was nowhere to be seen; it must have been maybe three or four in the morning! “What on Earth?” Elizabeth thought as she held the walkie-talkied in her hand for a moment.
Stacy and Christy started to stir, “what’s that sound,” Stacy said through closed eyes?
Elizabeth pushed the button on the receiver, “H-h-hello???”
“Elizabeth!” a voice boomed out, “Honey, you’ve got to come quick! You have the med bag! Mom gave it to your friend Christy to bandage her leg! It has mom’s epipen in it! Listen, you’ve got to bring it over quick! Mom’s throat is closing up! There was a bee in her sleeping bag and it stung her just a few minutes ago! Elizabeth, can you hear me?” Elizabeth’s dad sounded frantic!
“Yeah, dad I can hear you. Is mom alright?”
“Don’t waste a second! Find the epipen and run straight over here! Please Elizabeth, you’ve got to hurry. You know how allergic your mom is to bees,” her dad said!
“Okay dad! I’ll be right there.” Elizabeth started at the walkie-talkie for a second, then put it down and was about to get up when she noticed both her friends sitting up and staring at her. “I’ve got to go.”
“I know,” Stacy said, “I’m coming with you.”
“Here’s the epipen,” Christy reached in the med kit and pulled it out, handing it to Elizabeth, “Your mom must have just given me her whole med kit,” Christy said. There was a moment of silence as Stacy and Elizabeth quickly got dressed, “I don’t have to come, do I,” Christy said with anticipation?
“I don’t have time to discuss it,” Elizabeth said slipping on her jacket and shoes, then looking at Christy, “I’ll be back.” She then slipped out the tent door, flashlight in hand.
“Wait for me,” Stacy was right behind her. “Alright, let’s go.” Both girls started down the road in the dead of night guided only by their flashlights with the epipen in their pocket. The chill of the night was overwhelming and made the girls practically run down the dirt path. It didn’t take long before the main road separating the campsites was reached but at that moment, instead of feeling relieved that their mission was halfway done, both girls sucked in their breath because standing in the center of the road was the black wolf sniffing the air, but it had not seen them yet. Quickly, both girls darted into the brush and looked at one another.
“What should we do,” asked Elizabeth?
“Let’s cut through the woods quietly and it shouldn’t notice us,” Stacy said. “We can cross the road at the far end of the campsite next to your parent’s spot. That shortcut should also save us time taking the road through the entire campsite.” Both girls nodded at one-another, well aware of how important this mission was, and kept moving. The girls were amidst a thick foliage of trees and missed seeing the speeding car exit the other campsite and enter theirs. What they did see however, was a black shape not far behind them. It was too far away to make out any details, but both girls could hear it crashing through branches and getting closer! Elizabeth and Stacy started running for their lives, practically flying over the ground as they sped toward the Cowling’s tent! Within moments, the tent was reached and both girls scrambled inside!
They could hear the crashing in the woods getting closer and surprisingly, the tent was pitch black inside! Both girls shone their lights frantically about the tent looking for a sign of Mr. and Mrs. Cowling, but were not expecting what they were about to see. First they saw the big eyes staring straight at them, then when they had honed their lights on the creature, they saw the black wolf standing over the sleeping bag where Elizabeth’s mom should have been! The girls screamed in terror as the wolf began to growl a deep, guttural sound, its hair standing up on end and a sinister grimace overtaking its mouth! The wolf slowly moved in front of the door while staring at its prey the whole time. The girls were trapped! Suddenly, the wolf opened its eyes wide and sprang up toward Elizabeth, leaping through the air! Time started moving in slow motion for Elizabeth; she saw the wolf open it’s salivating jaws in the air and descend toward her, felt herself scream in panic and begin to fall backwards, then from out of nowhere, heard a horrendous ‘thud’ and saw the wolf hit the floor at her feet, turn around in a daze, and quickly run out the door! And there at the doorway was Christy holding a bloodied hatchet, probably the one Elizabeth’s dad used to cut firewood with. All three girls started at one another in a moment of sheer fear, wondering if the wolf would come back into the tent. Lots of nearby campers were rushing to the Cowling’s tent having heard Elizabeth’s bloodcurdling scream. The girls could see flashlights all around them and felt their guard drop slightly.
“So, that was you on the trail behind us,” Elizabeth stated, more matter of fact than question.
“Yeah. I got scared and didn’t want to be alone,” Christy said. “I tried following you two but the closer I got, the faster you two ran and I didn’t want to shout out and wake up the other campers. I had almost caught up with you two when… I felt it! I knew the wolf was in that tent with the two of you because ‘that’ same cold sensation was all over my body. I almost didn’t go in, I was really frightened, but I saw your dad’s hatchet lying outside the tent and then heard you scream and before I knew it, I was at the door and swinging at the wolf! It’s almost like my body knew what to do and I was watching myself move.”
“I’m so glad you came when you did,” said Stacy, starting to cry. She was trying to act brave, but the moment had seized her and her shell crumbled.
“Me too,” said Elizabeth, “me too.”
* * * * *
It wasn’t long before a handful of campers came bursting onto the campsite followed by the park attendant asking what in the world was happening. The girls explained everything that had happened and showed the crowd the bloodied hatchet; everyone looked horrified and stared at one another. The park attendant pulled out her walkie-talkie and tried to get a hold of the ranger on call, but got only static. “That’s very strange for no one to have answered the distress frequency,” thought the attendant.
“Look,” said one of the campers breaking everyone’s focus. He was stooped, pointing at something on the ground, “there’s a trail of blood!” Straightening himself up, he looked around the group and said, “I’m getting my axe! If your parents are still alive,” he said looking at Elizabeth, “then we need to go find them right now!”
“I’m coming with you,” said the park attendant. “Let me get my husbands hunting knife.” She ran down toward her cabin and was back in a matter of minutes. The other campers didn’t look quite so enthusiastic with grumblings of, ‘we should wait till morning’ and, ‘we need to get a hold of the ranger first’, but luckily for the girls the brave camper and park attendant were ready to hunt this wolf down in under five minutes!
* * * * *
The group was set up with the brave camper up front, followed by the park attendant, and trailed by the three girls. The blood path lead the party up a steep hill and deep into the forest for about twenty-minutes before coming to the edge of a cave entrance. The blood was very fresh now, but the cave opening was extremely narrow, just big enough for one person at a time, and there would be no way to effectively swing the axe in such a tight corridor. Everyone looked at each other for a moment, then the brave hiker said, “Let’s go,” and moved in. Everyone followed closely behind him.
After the first fifteen feet or so, the cave opened up into a nice sized cavern, then narrowed again after about fifty feet and continued back further than anyone could see. Everyone began shuffling past the narrow entrance and into the cavern when the park attendant screamed, the echo sadistically shattering the silence in the cavern. In the center of the floor behind an outcrop of rocks was the body of the hiker the girls saw two nights ago! His remains didn’t smell, most likely being preserved by the cave’s atmosphere, but his sight was atrocious to behold, having been food for the wolf for two days now; his disemboweled innards were mere feet from his body and smeared in his own blood was written the words, “HELP ME”!
Everyone started to panic upon seeing that; Christy looked pallid in complexion and was staggering about in a daze, Stacy threw up, the brave hiker’s hands began to shake. Elizabeth voice shook when she said, “But… that can’t be the hiker who was rescued?!?”
Without turning to look at Elizabeth, the park attendant answered, “No dear, that was a different hiker. This hiker hasn’t been reported missing yet.” With a sorrowful look on her face, the attendant continued, “Alright girls… we need to leave this place now. Just turn around slowly and lets all walk out of…” but before she could complete her sentence, a ferocious howl rang out from the depths of the cavern followed by savage growling and then, the eyes! From deep in the cave, the eyes of the wolf could be seen even though the flashlights shone on no body. Those eyes pierced the soul like ice! A terrible fright overcame everyone and without another word, they began running for their lives, shoving each other through the caves entrance!
A ravaging bellow shook the cave walls and blew trees around the entrance like shrubs in a tornado. The group fled away from the opening as quickly as possible and could feel the presence of evil encroaching upon them. The park attendant quickly took the lead with everyone running at a mad mans pace back toward camp, the crashing sounds of tree branches letting the group know the beast was not far behind! The bloodthirsty howl was closing in but the camp was not much farther; it took a little over twenty minutes to get up to the cave, and less than five to get back down! It was now or never; everyone could feel the frigid aura of the beast almost atop them and the breath mere feet away! They only had a little bit more to go when, “CRASH!” The parking attendant tripped over something, the braver camper crashed into someone or something, and the girls crashed into both of them. There were flashlights on the floor pointing in every which direction and people shouting in all directions, it was chaos! Then, Elizabeth heard her dad’s voice, “Elizabeth, is that you?”
“Daddy,” Elizabeth said? “Is that you?”
“Yes honey!” Suddenly, flashlights were grabbed and people started to stand up. There was Elizabeth’s mom and dad, and Ranger Jim. “I drove over to your camp, I wasn’t sure if your mom was gonna make it, but I didn’t see you on the road or in your tent so I decided to drive to the rangers station as fast as I possible since it was just down the road. I knew they would have the medicine your mom needed!”
The ranger was looking in the woods cautiously, shining his light at the dark attempting to catch any glimpse of danger, “Your mom is a brave woman. We gave her a shot from an epipen and helped get some air into her, and after a few minutes, her swelling went down and she was ready to go back.”
“You didn’t answer your radio,” the park attendant said questioningly.
“I had taken off my utility belt and was laying down resting when I heard this car screech to a halt in front of the station. I ran outside before grabbing it to see what the commotion was about and, with the emergency and all, begging your pardon, I didn’t realize you were trying to contact me,” the ranger said.
“Jim here,” Mr. Cowling said while nodding to the ranger, “followed us back to our camp in his rover to make sure your mom was alright, but once we got there, we realized immediately something wasn’t right! Some of the other campers came to us right away and told us a wolf had attacked you girls and that you went into the forest with another camper and the park attendant looking for us!”
“We did,” the park attendant interrupted, “but we have to get out of here! There is something out there! This is no ordinary wolf!”
“Please,” Mrs. Cowling scornfully reproached, “you’re scaring the children! There are no monsters out here!” Mr. Cowling grabbed her arm, as to say, ‘now’s not the time’.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about!” Shouted the once brave, now wide-eyed camper! “This ‘thing’ was right behind us. It’s here with us somewhere! We need to get to the campground now!” And with that, he fled the group running toward the campground! Almost instantaneously, a black shape darted through the forest and pounced upon the poor camper! He screamed for only a second, then… silence! The ranger whipped out his revolver and fired a shot at the beast, hitting a tree behind it!
“Oh my god,” thought the ranger, “the wolf is in front of the campground! If I shoot and miss… I might kill somebody!” His hands started to shake as he pondered his next move.
Elizabeth, Stacy and Christy all looked at one another, the three of them now crying and cowering on the floor. It seemed the adults were doing most of the talking right now, and that was fine as the girls didn’t really have much to say at this moment, however before anyone could react, the wolf leapt high into the air and landed in the center of the group, mere feet from everyone! People begin scattering in all directions! The wolf crouched then jumped at the closest person – the park attendant – but she quickly hit the beast with a log and pushed it back! The beast then turned around searching for a smaller target, one without a weapon!
Off in the distance, Elizabeth was nearing the main road running for her life! Suddenly, Elizabeth heard a heavy panting and breaking of branches swiftly catching up! She was only two steps from the road then, without stopping, tears streaming down her face, she darted into the road without looking! Two enormous bright lights instantly blinded her to the left but she kept moving. Suddenly, a tremendously loud horn blasted from the depths of the two lights and a sickening ‘crunch’ sound permeated the air, followed by the loud screeching of tires and smell of burning rubber and brakes! Elizabeth turned her head to see a full-semi truck half a foot away from her; underneath the front tire was the wolf, dead!
In a blur, Elizabeth sees the truck driver jump out of his truck, half-scared out of his wits’ and the ranger quickly confronts the man and explains the situation to him. Elizabeth’s parents rush madly up to her and hug her profusely, even pulling Stacy and Christy into the hug. The ranger rushes over to the brave hiker to find him still alive; it seems the hiker had hit his head on a rock when he was knocked over and momentarily blacked out, but he did also have a nasty bit mark on his neck. The ranger and park attendant then get a body bag and silently stuff the wolf’s body into it while looking at one another with a mixture of emotions. All the campers that had gathered during the commotion slowly trickle back to their campsites. Finally, the entire Cowling family – and two friends – find a way to sleep crammed in the parent’s two-person tent together until the morning.
* * * * *
When the sun rises, the Cowlings’ start packing up their gear.
“Are we going to stay the last two nights in that double-site,” asks Mrs. Cowling to Henry.
He stares at her for a moment, then looks at the girls who all shake their heads silently, ‘no’, then confirms their sentiment, “no!”
“Good, because I was going to insist we leave anyways. Look,” Mrs. Cowling pointed at the campgrounds, “everybody else is leaving too.”
“Of course they are. They’re all scared! And who’s to blame them? With a wild wolf like that running around, there’s bound to be more of them! Wolf’s hunt in packs, so that was most likely one of many,” Mr. Cowling said.
“What, you think there’s more of them,” Christy blurted out while packing.
“Yeah, I’m sure of it actually! When the ranger was taking your mom and I to locate you girls last night, he saw multiple wolf tracks criss-crossing. He believes there is a pack of these ‘man-hunters’ running around and he told me he intends to take a group of rangers and exterminate them,” said Henry.
“That’s kind of sad,” Mrs. Cowling said.
“I don’t think so,” Stacy said, “they killed a man, and there could have been others! These woods are famous for their ‘lost’ hikers!”
“Yeah, it’s true mom! And these wolves don’t fear humans at all,” said Elizabeth, “It’s like they evolved to hunt us or something.”
“And those eyes that pierce right through you! There is something unnatural about them,” Christy said.
“Nonsense,” said Mrs. Cowling staring at the girls. “I simply won’t believe God created any type of… of ‘man-hunting’ wolf! That’s preposterous!” And with that, Mrs. Cowling tilted her nose skyward and kept packing.
“Who said God made them,” thought Elizabeth, but her mom’s religious superstitions were quickly out of her head as she focused on packing up the rest of her camping gear. Leaving here would be bittersweet; in time she would miss this place, but for now, she couldn’t wait to depart and never look back. They were almost done packing.
The other girls kept to themselves after Mrs. Cowling’s outburst. They knew better than to argue with her when she ‘knew’ she was right, and if they couldn’t discuss the origins of the wolf around her, or how there might be more of them, then what was the point of talking at all. The sooner they finished packing, the sooner they left and that was motivation enough.
Finally, they finished. Mr. Cowling suggested they skip breakfast for now and get a bite to eat when they got down to the city and nobody objected. It was time to say goodbye to their campsite.
* * * * *
On the way out, Mr. Cowling says, “How’d you girls feel about making one final stop on the way out near the park’s entrance? There is a short trail next to the ranger’s station maybe only twenty feet or so from where we park the car where we can eat a quick snack, and to top it off, we can see the ranger’s station from there. What do you say? One final stop in these woods before we depart for good?” Mr. Cowling looks at the cars occupants, their faces not too sure. “And it’s almost noon. This might be the last time we ever come here. I’d like to spend at least one final moment enjoying its beauty without fearing some wolves. Come on, what do you say?”
What was there to say? The three girls half-heartedly shrugged and mumbled something about ‘I guess’ while Mrs. Cowling took it as a sign to prove to everyone that the forest was a safe place after all.
Sure enough, there was the exit gate and ranger station next to it with a ranger at the gate and two rangers in the station, and directly across the way was a small parking lot in plain view. After parking, the Cowling’s and Stacy and Christy walked a little further than Mr. Cowling had initially suggested, maybe about one-hundred and fifty feet away from the car, before the picnic tables were reached. This wasn’t too concerning however because you could still see the car and the rangers station from the tables. The family set up some sandwiches and drinks and sat there, listening to the birds chirping and the wind blowing; it was beautiful. It was almost time to go when Christy felt it first, the cold overcoming her body! She quickly looked at her friends who, at first oblivious, quickly changed expressions and began looking around!
“Mrs. Cowling,” said Christy, “I think we should leave!”
“Christy’s right,” said Stacy.
“Mom, dad, it’s time to go!”
Mr. and Mrs. Cowling didn’t wait around to see what was coming, didn’t ask questions. They quickly packed up their basket and started to leave. As they were heading back toward the car, Christy dared to peek over her shoulder and that’s when she saw the eyes! Those eyes in the dark, piercing through her like shards of ice, wanting to devour her! She quickly got into the car and the family took off. Christy looked at her friends and knew they had seen it too. After the car passed through the front gates, the girls smiled at one another; this adventure had come to its end.
EYES IN THE DARK
Elizabeth and her two friends were getting ready for an exciting camping trip in just a few hours time. They were packing three days of clothing, some magazines, nail polish… everything an 11-year old girl needed to survive! Their trip would take them to the heart of a giant redwood forest in the mountains several hours away. Those woods had a reputation for being dangerous; many hikers had gotten lost while hiking on the trails, but Elizabeth’s family, the Cowling’s, had a favorite campsite up there that they traveled to year after year.
The three girls, Stacy, Christy, and Elizabeth, were especially excited because this was the first time they would be camping in their own tent, in their own campsite! Of course the two sites were adjoining, but that didn’t stop the girls from feeling free and independent!
A few hours passed, and before the girls knew it, they were all riding together in Mr. Cowling’s car. At first time passed by quickly, but after a few hours of driving, it dragged on and the scenery all began to look the same. Finally, they passed through the entrance gates of the national redwood forest. It seemed like an eternity before their campsite was reached, but in reality, maybe twenty minutes had passed! When the Cowling’s pulled up to the attendance’s office, a sign on the cabin door said, “Be back in 10.”
“Well girls, why don’t you go have a look around? We reserved a double-site this year, but we’re not sure exactly where it is so, your mom and I will just stick around here until the facility manager shows up. Go on, see if you can find a bear.” At that, Mr. Cowling winked at the girls and everyone laughed.
The girls wandered off together, circling the edge of the campsite to get a feel for just how big it really was. Sure, they had been there several times in the past, but now that they were older and more independent, they felt the urge to really explore and check the place out!
“Hey Elizabeth, look at what I can do,” exclaimed Stacy as she walked along a thin 2”x2” plank of wood being used as a guardrail for a small bridge.
“Do you think we’ll see any bears this time,” Elizabeth said out loud to everyone.
“I sure hope so,” said Christy. “The last couple of times those hikers kept saying, ‘don’t miss the bear ‘round the bend! Cutest critter you ever saw.’ But every single time, they were gone when we got there! We must be cursed or something!”
“Cursed?” said Stacy, turning to look at Christy, then almost falling off the bridge, “Whooo.” After regaining her composure, Stacy continued, “I don’t think we are cursed. Those poor hikers who keep getting lost in the woods, now they are cursed!”
“No kidding,” Said Elizabeth, “and I even heard they were expert hikers! It doesn’t make sense. Oh, and the bodies were never found! It’s like they disappeared or something!”
“Oh great, and we haven’t even been here ten minutes and we’re already talking about ‘ghost stores’? Save it for later tonight!” Christy said.
“Yeah, I suppose your right. Let’s talk about something else.” Elizabeth said, “So what are we going to have for dinner tonight?”
The girls were just about five campsites down when Mr. Cowling shouted, “Girls, it’s time to come back! The campground attendant has returned!”
* * * * *
“What do you mean overbooked!?! I paid several months in advance! I need to speak with your park manager, now!” Mr. Cowling was red in the face with anger, having spent the last fifteen minutes trying to straighten out a terrible mistake. It seemed the double-site the Cowling’s had booked this year had been given to someone else by mistake who came the day before and wasn’t going to leave for another two days! To make matters worse, the only two open campsites were separated by the main road, but they might as well of been in two separate campgrounds because they were so far from each other.
“Honey, calm down. We’ll figure something out. It’ll be getting late soon and we need to figure out where the girls will sleep for the night,” said Mrs. Cowling.
Mr. Cowling gave the facility manager a sullen frown before turning to face his wife, “Susan, we can’t leave the girls at a campsite separated so far from us! What will they do for dinner? How will they reach us if one of them get’s hurt? This is your fault,” Mr. Cowling turned and pointed at the poor part attendant who was now looking at her feet in shame. She hadn’t been the one who overbooked the campsite, but she felt guilty about it nonetheless.
“Henry, stop pointing fingers! Let’s calm down and figure this out,” Mrs. Cowling touched Mr. Cowling’s arm, lowering his pointed finger. “Now, look at me.” Mr. Cowling looked at her. “Our tent can only fit two, and the girl’s tent is not much bigger. We really have no way of fitting all of us together in a single tent. My suggestion to you is to go with the girls and help them set up their tent and give them a walkie-talkie while I set up our tent.”
“Yes, and I can assure you we will be checking up on the girls at least once an hour,” chimed in the park attendant, “It’s our duty to do a walk through the campgrounds every hour until sunset.”
“And then, after sunset,” exclaimed Mr. Cowling.
“Well, then we go to bed. But nobody is up once the sun sets anyhow. Come, let’s get the girls tent set up before it get’s any later. I’m sure they’ll be fine.” And with that, Mr. Cowling, the park attendant, and the three girls walked their gear up to the other campsite.
* * * * *
Mr. Cowling was muttering under his breath as he set up the tent and the whole while, the park attendant was explaining how safe this campsite was, and how friendly all the neighbors were. Elizabeth, Stacy, and Christy were sitting on a log, picking at bugs on the ground with sticks when Elizabeth saw the flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. At first, she didn’t think much about it, probably another squirrel, but the dark shape moved into her peripheral vision and stood there, silent. Elizabeth turned her head, but saw only trees. The sun was set and what little brightness there was left was quickly diminishing. “Must have been my imagination,” thought Elizabeth, but not before noticing tree branches swaying where she had been looking, maybe a hundred-feet away or so. “Stacy, Christy, do you see that?” Elizabeth pointed at the swaying branches.
“What?” Both girls looked up, perplexed.
“Those swaying branches over there! I thought I saw something move past them” Elizabeth said.
“Oh dear, your imagination is already playing games is it?” Christy said, “That’s only the wind! Look up!” Christy pointed to the tops of the trees swaying slightly in an unseen breeze, “See, it’s just the wind.”
“I guess,” said Elizabeth, “It just looked like something else is all.”
“Like what.” said Christy?
“I don’t know. It must have been my imagination is all,” Said Elizabeth.
“Well let’s go check it out then,” Stacy said, with a mischievous fire in her eyes. Stacy had always been one for adventure, and danger. When she was only six, she broke her arm trying to ride her brother’s scooter down a hill. When she was ten, she got lost in the woods behind her house and a search and rescue party had to find her! Stacy was always looking for the next big thing!
“Uhm, maybe Stacy isn’t the best one to listen too,” Said Christy, but it was too late. Stacy was up and walking towards the moving tree limbs before anyone could say another word. Elizabeth quickly got up and followed, as did Christy. The closer to the moving tree branches the girls got, the closer the girls squeezed together until they were practically sharing the same shoes. Quietly, the girls crept over to the movement and the closer they got, the colder it got as all the brightness fled the sky leaving only blackness. “Look, there’s nothing there,” said Christy, the girl’s were now mere feet from the swaying branches. They could just make out the trees, but behind the branches was so dark now, not much could be seen without a flashlight!
“Did anyone remember to bring their flashlight,” said Elizabeth, fumbling around her pockets for hers.
“Wow, look at that!” Stacy broke away from the other girls and walked toward the tree looking at something on the ground. Elizabeth felt the cold metal of her mini-flashlight in her pocket and shone it over to where Stacy was pointing. On the ground was what appeared to be the paw print of some giant animal! “What do you think it is?” Stacy said?
“I don’t know, but let’s get out of here!” Christy exclaimed, starting to look uneasy. Suddenly, the girls got the feeling of being watched and heard something moving from the blackness beyond the swaying branches. All three girls stared, eyes fixed at the movement of the branches, legs solid as oak when suddenly a hand clasped down on Elizabeth’s and Christy’s shoulders!
Both girls screamed in terror and whipped around only to see Mr. Cowling and the park attendant staring at them with puzzlement. “What in the world are you girls doing?” Said Mr. Cowling? “The tent is all set up now… uhm, why don’t you come check it out.”
“The paw print!” Christy pointed franticly!
“Dad,” said Elizabeth, “I thought I saw movement over here and we went to check it out and when we did, we found this giant paw print,” Elizabeth pointed to where Stacy was kneeling.
The park attendant turned on her bright flashlight and walked over where Stacy was kneeling and examined the track. “Humm,” she exclaimed, “wolf tracks. Pretty common for this time of year. Don’t worry girls, they aren’t dangerous. They only hunt rabbits and squirrels. There has never been a wolf attack up here before.”
“None that you know of!” howled Christy.
“Stop it,” said Elizabeth to Christy, feeling uneasy by the situation. She looked at her dad, hoping for some comforting words.
“The facility manager is right dear.” Mr. Cowling said in an uninterested tone. “They’re just animals. They won’t hurt you if you leave them alone. Now let’s go check out the tent. After you girls have set up your sleeping bags and pillows, we’ll all walk over to your mom’s and mine campsite and have dinner, then mom and I will tuck you girls in for the night at your campsite, sound good?”
* * * * *
After a scrumptious dinner of macaroni and cheese with hotdogs followed up by smores, the girls warmed themselves around the fire while everyone talked about how exciting their day was. Mr. and Mrs. Cowling then sung a lullaby and before everyone got too tired, walked to girls over to the bathroom so they could brush their teeth and get ready for bed. Once the girls were all set, Mr. and Mrs. Cowling walked the girls up to their tent and kissed Elizabeth goodnight.
“And you all have your flashlights in case you need them, right,” said Mrs. Cowling? Each girl held up their flashlight – they knew exactly where they where! “Alright then, remember, if you need anything, we are just in the other campsite. And the attendant is near the entrance. Be good, and have a good nights sleep. Love you girls!”
“Good night Mrs. Cowling,” said Stacy and Christy, sleepy-eyed.
“Good night mom,” said Elizabeth.
“Good night girls,” said Mr. Cowling.
And with that, both parents walked away. The girls turned and faced each other, sleep slowing fading away to excitement! They were in their own tent! How cool was that! All three girls squealed with laughter at the same time.
“Shuu, girls, keep it down,” Mr. Cowling said as he walked away, “people are trying to sleep here.”
The girls starting whispering and laughing, quietly sharing secrets and talking about what they wanted to do tomorrow. A few minutes later, Elizabeth asked her friends, “So, having fun so far?”
“Yes,” “Uh huh,” answered Stacy and Christy.
Stacy turned and looked at Elizabeth, “You know what Elizabeth, it’s time you had a nickname. I mean, your name has so many possibilities. They call me Stacee, and Christy Chris, but you have so many names to pick from like ‘Beth’, ‘Bethany’, ‘Lizzy’…”
“Or even something cool like ‘B’ for Brave because you’re not afraid to be out here without your parents,” said Christy smiling.
Elizabeth gave Christy the “o’rly” look and all three girls started laughing. “Yea, I suppose your right,” said Elizabeth, getting wrapped up snug beneath her sleeping bag.
It didn’t take very long for Stacy to take the opportunity to say, “Well why don’t we see how brave you really are,” and within moments, the ghost story was started! Stacy sat up and shone her flashlight upon her face from under her chin to look spooky and starting telling a story about a tree cutter lost in the woods who was told by a fairy she would help him find a way out of the forest if he only would stop harming the trees, but the tree cutter would not listen and cut down a tree the first night for fire. The next day the fairy told the tree cutter the same thing but again he did not listen and cut down another tree to make a spear and hunted boar. Finally on the third day the fairy said the same thing and again the tree cutter did not listen, this time intent on cutting down a tree to build a tower tall enough to see over the entire forest, but this time he accidently cut off his own leg instead of the tree branch, and this time when he called to the fairy for help, she did not come, but hid amongst flowers and under leaves. The story ended when Stacy said, “and so the tree cutter is said to haunt these very woods looking for the fairy of the forest!”
All three girls got quiet for a second, then broke out giggling. They really were having a great time! But the cold of the night had made them tired and before they knew it, all three of the girls were fast asleep.
* * * * *
“Howlllllll!” first Elizabeth woke up. Did she just hear howling? “Howwwwwwllll!” Yeah, she sure did, and it didn’t sound very far away at all! She felt movement to her right and quickly turned to see Christy sit up wide-eyed! Both girls looked at one-another, terrified! “Should we wake up Stacy,” said Elizabeth?
“I… I don’t…” before Christy could answer, a rustling sound outside their tent caught their attention. Both girls stared at one another, wide-eyed! Christy whispered, “There’s something outside our tent!”
Elizabeth shook Stacy, trying to wake her, but Stacy was dead to the world, snoring her head off! Elizabeth gripped her flashlight and looked at Christy, “we should take a look.” Christy shook her head silently, “no!” Then both girls heard it, the sound of heavy footsteps dragging toward the tent and something breathing heavily, then, nothing! The sounds seemed to stop not more than a foot or two away from the tent door, but now nothing! Both girls were thoroughly frightened and their friend was starting to stir, as if some dark force had coerced her awake. Stacy opened one eye, saw her friends sitting up with terrified looks upon their faces, and instantly woke up. Now all three girls were huddled together staring at the tent door whispering about what to do next.
“We should just try and go back to sleep,” whispered Christy. It had been several minutes without any sound of movement, so Stacy and Elizabeth came to the decision that they should open the tent door and peek outside. The two girls got up and slowly made their way over to the tent door, flashlights in hand, and as quietly as they could, began unzipping the door. Christy started pulling the sleeping bag over her face watching them. The girls pulled the door flap down slightly and peered outside but didn’t see a thing at first so opened the door the rest of the way. This time, when they shone their lights straight ahead, what they at first thought was a tree was in fact a bloodied hiker with torn clothing starting straight at them!
Both girls screamed in absolute terror but the hiker didn’t seem to notice, seemingly in his own world. His eyes looking past the tent toward a full moon! “The wolf, it dragged me to its lair! It wanted to kill me,” he shouted, still staring at the moon! Suddenly, he turned and looking directly into the girls eyes as if seeing them for the first time and said, “It’s still out there! You must leave! A tent won’t save you!” He turns to look over his shoulder and instantly cringes with fear, utter terror gripping his face, “Oh god, its coming!” He suddenly bursts into the night with an unnatural speed shouting over his shoulder, “Flee while you still can!”
The girls scream again, this time with utter urgency! Campers from the tents next door start unzipping their doors and turning on their flashlights. Within minutes, several people show up at the girl’s tent to ask them what’s going on. The girls hysterically tell their tale through tears and deep sobs and the campers decide to do a quick search of the area. The air is cold and unforgiving tonight and after a half hour of searching, no signs of any hiker nor any tracks are ever found. Most of the campers caulk up the event to a couple young girls’ imaginations being at their own campsite away from their parents. The few who still have doubts tell the girls to try and get some sleep, because they knew there is nothing they can do about it in this darkness.
Elizabeth, Stacy, and Christy sink low into their sleeping bags, shivering, pretending to sleep, but no one slept a wink the rest of the night!
* * * * *
When morning came, several campers stopped by to check in on the girls, but of course, everything was alright. Elizabeth, Stacy, and Christy got up and finished getting dressed then headed over to Mr. and Mrs. Cowling’s campsite for some breakfast. The sun had risen and the girls were exhausted, and hungry! By the time they got to the Cowling’s campsite, the girls were disappointed to find both of Elizabeth’s parents still sound asleep.
“So, you gonna wake your mom up to make us breakfast,” said Stacy? Christy turned and looked at Elizabeth, wondering the same thing.
“Let’s see what we can find in the coolers,” Elizabeth said, so the girls begin rummaging through the food coolers for something to eat. They found dried cereal, milk, and utensils. All three girls sat down and began pouring the milk, not really speaking much this morning when suddenly, the milk carton hit the floor and splashed Elizabeth and Stacy! Both girls turned quickly to see Christy staring at a newspaper next to the fire pit, her hand still looking like it was holing the milk carton that slipped out of it. What had spooked Christy so badly? Elizabeth and Stacy jumped up and ran over to where Christy was standing and at first, didn’t see a thing, but then saw it – the newspaper article! On the cover of the front page was a picture of the hiker they had seen last night, and in big bold letters above the picture it said, “HIKER MISSING FOR THREE DAYS NOW!”
* * * * *
“So, when do you plan on telling your parents about what happened last night, and about the newspaper article,” asked Christy? The sounds of laughing children and splashing from the nearby lake could be heard in the background.
Stacy chimed in, “I’m not entirely sure what we saw last night! I think we need to do some investigating when we get back before we say anything! You saw how the other campers treated us last night, like we imagined it all! We have to get to the bottom of this on our own, otherwise no one will believe us!”
“I don’t know. What could we do about it? And besides, that hiker was on the front page of the news! What more proof do we need,” asked Elizabeth?
“I’m sure there are lots of papers around here. Your parents will probably think you just saw one somewhere else earlier yesterday and dreamt about it last night,” said Stacy, “we need to take action!”
All three girls stared at one another for a moment, then decided it was time to go further into the lake than just their ankles. The girls waded slowly in the waters, letting their body temperature adjust to the lakes temperature. Kristy stated, “I think we can prove it!”
“Prove what,” said Elizabeth.
“Prove that we did see the hiker last night! He couldn’t have gotten very far! We could just tell your mom and dad which direction he ran off and they can find him,” Kristy said.
“Or we could find him ourselves!” Stacy turned, bug-eyed, clearly very excited about the prospect of going off into the forest searching for a lost hiker. “He was clearly delirious from lack of water, thinking there was a wolf was chasing him and all. We could be heroes,” Stacy looked up at the sky, dreamy-eyed! “Look you,” Stacy said looking at Elizabeth, “you can bring your GPS so we won’t get lost. Once we leave the lake, we’ll head out first chance we get! How’s that sound,” Stacy looked at both girls expectedly. Elizabeth and Christy gave a half-hearted, ‘I guess’ shrug, then Stacy smiled and dove into the water first.
Christy turned to look at Elizabeth before she jumped in too “what if the hiker was right? What if there is a wolf out there and we get eaten?”
Elizabeth turned to look at her friend, smiled with a false sense of confidence, then dove into the water without saying a word.
* * * * *
After the lake, the Cowling’s made an early dinner at their camp and the three girls wolfed down their food. The sun was still up and there was several hours of daylight left. Mr. Cowling said, “so, what games are we gonna play tonight,” looking at the girls?
All three girls looked at one another, then Elizabeth said, “oh dad, we didn’t get much time yesterday or today to explore our camp. Can we go check it out before it gets dark and maybe we can play some game tomorrow sometime?”
Mrs. Cowling said from behind the stove, “some of the campers said they heard you girls screaming last night. What was that all about?”
“Who said that,” Elizabeth said?
“While you girls were in the water at the lake, some of your neighbors approached us and said you girls were screaming late last night about a lost hiker,” Mr. Cowling said, “bad dreams?”
“Dad, it was nothing, just our imagination,” Elizabeth said.
“Yeah, we thought we heard a noise last night, so got up to check it out and shone our lights on a tree and thought it was a hiker. Pretty scary, huh?” Stacy said in an over exaggerated smile.
“Well next time, keep it too yourselves. Your neighbors were pretty upset! They said it was very cold last night and they spent almost and hour searching around camp for this ‘lost hiker’,” Mrs. Cowling said.
“Wow, one-whole hour? Really? That’s an exaggeration if I ever heard one,” Elizabeth said, “it was more like twenty minutes.”
“Girls, you’re missing the point,” Mr. Cowling said “Unless there is a real danger, don’t cry out for help. Don’t you know the story of ‘the boy who cried wolf’?”
Elizabeth gave her dad the, “oh my God your so retarded look,” then said, “whatever dad. So can we go explore our campsite then?”
Her parents looked at one another, then looked at Christy who hadn’t said a word the entire time. “Alright, that’s fine with me,” Mr. Cowling said, “just be sure to be back at your tent before dark. Your mom and I will be there to tuck you girls in at that time.”
“And remember to bring your walkie-talkie and GPS incase you get lost. And next time you get frightened at night, just call us on the walkie-talkie,” said Mrs. Cowling.
“Why didn’t we think of that,” thought Elizabeth, “the walkie-talkie? I must have been too frightened to think straight last night.” Elizabeth looked at her parents and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll get them both from the tent the second we get to camp.”
* * * * *
The girls scrambled to their campsite in record time, got their exploratory gear on, GPS, and walkie-talkie, and set off in search of the missing hiker. They had about two-hours of sunlight left and didn’t want to waste a second of it. Elizabeth kept thinking about what the ranger said about wolves not being dangerous, then about what the hiker had said. In any case, she was ready for this adventure! She looked over at her two friends as they were about to set out; Stacy looked almost Rambo-ish, eyes shining with excitement half-way hunched over like she was hunting prey. Christy on the other hand looked uneasy and exhausted – maybe this whole ordeal was draining her – with shoulders slumped and toes pointed inwards, however, once they started walking, Christy’s spirits picked up.
The girls set out, deciding it best to scout the perimeter first and see what they saw. Starting on the side of the road the hiker ran, they slowly walked around the campground from one end until about a quarter of the way around but the going was slow, and there proved to be lots of paw prints and broken branches in the forest, imagine that. The entire first hour proved rather uneventful, and the girls began feeling they would never find any clues as to the hiker’s whereabouts when they saw it! Dried blood on some low-hanging branches, and long-striding footprints headed into the forest.
What did it mean? The girls looked at one another, not sure rather to move forward or get help when suddenly, they found themselves not saying a word but following the footprints and blood stains, not really sure how it happened or why, but they were doing it!
First Stacy broke the silence, “I wonder how far he could have gone?” Elizabeth made a sort of “I-dunno” sound and Christy was silent. Stacy never looked back while talking, always maintaining the lead, “I bet he couldn’t have gone too far in his condition. We’ll be famous for sure when we find him! Did someone bring their water canteen?” She looked back, “I bet he’ll be thirsty when we find him. I heard that…” Stacy’s voice seemed to slowly fade away as Elizabeth’s mind went to thoughts of what they might find, and that scared her. Christy seemed to be on automation, oblivious to anything but trailblazing down the path of broken branches and blood droplets, “… and we can lift him by tying two branches in a ‘V’ using cloth and… Hey! Are you even listening to me?” Stacy waved her arms in front of Elizabeth and Christy, breaking Elizabeth’s thoughts.
“I think we should go back,” Christy said with a stoic expression on her face.
“Of course you do Christy. That is so you. I can’t believe you don’t want to find this poor hiker. Who knows if he’s alive or…” Stacy was cut off by Christy again:
“We need to go back! Look,” Christy pointed toward the tree-line, “the sun is almost set! We’ve been out here too long!”
Elizabeth and Stacy looked up, then all three girls looked at each other. “I think she’s right,” Elizabeth said to Stacy, then looking back over her shoulder, “Let me get out my GPS and let’s see how to get back.” The trail they had blazed would be almost impossible to follow in the dark; it did not go in a straight line as they had hoped. Elizabeth pulled out the GPS and pushed the ‘on’ button, but nothing happened! Again she pushed it, and again nothing happened. Elizabeth could feel cold sweat start to form on the bottoms of her feet as panic begin to set in.
“What’s wrong with it,” Christy exclaimed?
“I don’t know! Let me turn it over,” Elizabeth turned the GPS over and opened up the battery case. “Oh my god…” there were no batteries! She suddenly remembered how her dad had told her not to forget to put batteries ‘in that thing before we go’. What were they going to do now?!? “I… it doesn’t have any batteries,” Elizabeth turned to her friends, desperation on her face! All three girls looked at one another again, this time much more serious. They had been hiking for a long time and weren’t paying any attention to their surroundings, just following what they thought was the hiker’s path, and now, they weren’t even sure which direction to head back and to make matters worse, the sun was about to set!
“Okay, let’s… let’s start running back,” Christy blurted out! This time, it was Stacy who fell silent as Christy and Elizabeth charged ahead, trying to follow glimpses of their travel. “Oh look, I remember that rock,” and, “there’s that tree there,” from Christy, but soon it was in vain as the remaining light fled and the girls pace slowed. “Oh no, I think we already passed this tree before, didn’t we,” Christy turned and looked at Elizabeth who was completely focused on the trail.
“I don’t know Chris,” Elizabeth said. She was scared, but there was no use showing it at this point. They couldn’t even see the entire moon to give them direction, the trees were so thick! It was like walking around in a room with all the lights off! They knew they were lost now, and that’s when the howling started! First, it was far away, maybe over that mountain yonder, then it got closer, maybe over that hill, and finally, it was nearby, maybe just beyond that next row of trees! They heard a rustling in the forest and then, they saw the eyes! Terrible, big saucers of eyes glinting off what moonlight filtered through the forest foliage. Was it a wolf? Was it going to attack them? Suddenly, they heard a terrible, guttural growl from where the eyes were and the girls saw a flash of teeth from the maws of this creature and then, the eyes were getting closer as the creature quickly moved toward them!
The girls were too terrified to scream, petrified from the waste down and huddled up together when, from seemingly out of nowhere, a bright light shone in their face, blinding them completely!
“Ahhhhhhhh,” out screamed Stacy, followed immediately by the other girls!
“What are you girls doing out in this part of the forest after dark,” a masculine voice rang out? Foot steps approached and the girls could now see it was in fact a ranger holding a magnum flashlight.
Elizabeth had never felt so relieved! She wanted to hug the ranger, but instead blurted out, “My GPS ran out of batteries and we lost our way to our campsite.”
“Oh, I see, well the nearest campsite is just round this bend here. Come with me, I’ll walk you there,” the ranger said. “My name is Jim and I was out here hoping to find some deer so I could tag them.”
“I thought deer came out in the day,” said Stacy?
“They do, but also at night. It’s easier to tag them at night because it’s easier to sneak up on them. So what were you girls doing out here at this time anyways?”
“We were looking for that lost hiker in the newspaper,” said Elizabeth, “we thought we were following his trail…”
“We saw blood!” Christy interrupted, “and that wolf was about to attack us right when you came! Didn’t you see it?” Stacy shot Christy a dirty look; she knew the ranger would never believe them.
“A wolf? That’s strange, wolves usually don’t come this low this time of year. I doubt you saw a wolf, and even if you did, one would never attack you unless you provoked it!” Stacy gave Christy the, ‘see, I told you so’ look! “Besides,” the ranger said, “that lost hiker was found several miles away from here. There’s no way he could have been anywhere near here last night unless he had been walking the entire day straight!”
“You found him? Was he alright,” said Stacy?
“Yeah, we found him alright, cold, hungry, and suffering from hyperthermia and delirium. He was pretty badly scrapped up, claimed a wolf attacked him, but his cuts looked more like from rocks and tree branches than claw marks. Poor man.”
“What about the blood! We were following a trail of blood!” Christy just about screamed out!
“You know what girls, there are many animals in these woods! Sometimes,” the ranger knelt down and looked the girls square in the eyes, “animals hurt other animals for food. You see, there are these critters known as predators who hunt other animals for food.”
Oh know, thought Elizabeth, another boring nature lecture, “oh yeah, we heard of them. That must have been it then. So, are we almost there,” quick to change the conversation, her plan seemed to have worked?
“Why yes… here… we… are,” and with that, the group pulled through a thicket of branches straight into their campsite. “And do you know which tent is yours,” asked the ranger?
“Yes, actually it’s that one right there,” Stacy pointed at their tent. The girls thanked the ranger and started walking over. Just down the road, they could see Mr. and Mrs. Cowling heading toward their tent. They had got back just in time.
* * * * *
After a vigorous teeth brushing and bedtime story, followed by fond goodnight kisses and hugs, the Cowling’s left for their own tent. It seems Mr. Cowling had lost a rather long game (or several short ones) of Gin Rummy to his wife and was anxious to get in his sleeping bag and read his book, probably so he could forget his humiliating defeat. The girls lay in their sleeping bags staring at the roof of the tent and talking quietly into the night. It wasn’t like they had forgotten about the hiker, no indeed, but none of them wanted to talk about him. The hiker was found, what more was there to say about it? The circumstances were strange, but the way the ranger described it, everything made sense! There was nothing to talk about. The girls stared at the tent roof some more, then silently fell asleep.
The next day came slow, with the girls waking up to the sun high in the sky. Maybe it was already 11-AM? Elizabeth looked at her watch. Nope, 10:30-AM. Close enough; Elizabeth ripped off her covers and sat up, her friends doing the same. Before they had a chance to let their brain catch up, the walkie-talkie beeped! Elizabeth grabbed it and held down the button, “hello?” Her voice was still deep and drowsy.
“Wow, you girls sure did sleep in, didn’t you? Come on over for breakfast, then we’re going to play some games today,” Mr. Cowling said.
“Alright dad; be there soon,” Elizabeth stood up like a zombie, then headed out the door to the outhouse. When she got back, both Stacy and Christy were sprinting toward the outhouse while she got in the tent and got ready. Within a few minutes, all three girls were dressed and ready to have breakfast.
* * * * *
Breakfast went much as you’d expect; fried sausage, scrambled eggs, French toast, and milk to drink, after which came, “an exhilarating day of games,” as Mr. Cowling put it! First were the classics: telephone, followed by story telling, card games, and followed up by a stimulating game of charades. The day was about half over, as was this game of charades, when Mr. Cowling had to leave to go to the bathroom.
“Do you want me to wait for you,” asked Mrs. Cowling.
“No, go ahead and finish your turn without me. I won’t be very long,” said Mr. Cowling, and with that, he was off! Mrs. Cowling started by holding her breath and puffing out her cheeks, then jumping up and down and when that didn’t work, started making some strange shape hunched over with both arms curled, one leg bent and the other semi-curled, perhaps like a monkey. The girls were hollering out their answers without shame, possibly loud enough for the entire campground to hear when suddenly, Christy went silent, followed by Stacy, and then Elizabeth! Behind Mrs. Cowling in the tree line was a giant, black wolf and it was standing there, just staring at the three girls.
“Aren’t you girls going to make any more guesses? Don’t tell me you gave up already,” said Mrs. Cowling, still stuck in her ridiculous position?
“Mom…” Elizabeth looked at her mom, a pensive stare upon her face.
She was interrupted by Christy and Stacy both pointing and shouting, “the wolf! It’s over there!”
Mrs. Cowling whipped around and stared deep into the forest, but by the time she had turned her head, the wolf had disappeared into the woods. “Girls, I don’t see anything there. Are you sure you saw something? Maybe it was a deer.”
“Mom, I know what a deer looks like! That was no deer,” said Elizabeth.
“No Mrs. Cowling,” said Stacy, “that was definitely a wolf we saw!”
“Those eyes; I’ll never forget those eyes,” uttered Christy with a far-off look.
“Well, let’s wait until Henry get’s back and he can take a look around and see what he finds. I don’t want to go over there by myself,” Mrs. Cowling shook her head, “besides, don’t you girls want to finish our game?” Mrs. Cowling really wanted the girls to guess what she was, and felt she had struck the perfect pose to get guessed. “And besides,” Susan thought, “the park attendant told Henry that the wolves weren’t dangerous, so even if it was a wolf, there was nothing to fear.”
* * * * *
The girls guessed Mrs. Cowling’s shape correctly and Stacy’s turn was up when Mr. Cowling came back. The girls were waiting for him and as soon as Mr. Cowling set foot inside the camp, the three girls stopped their game and ran up to him requisitioning him to seek out signs of the wolf. With Mrs. Cowling’s goading, Mr. Cowling agreed to explore the tree line but after several minutes of searching, threw his hands up in defeat. “Sorry girls, I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. It’s too bad you didn’t get a picture of it! Would have been a great piece for our vacation scrapbook,” Mr. Cowling said with a smirk. And with that, the subject of the wolf was forgotten for the rest of the evening. It was time to start dinner and the conversation for the night shifted to the other occupants who took their original double-campsite and how they would be leaving tomorrow. They all decided that the girls would gather their belongings in the morning so they could all share a campsite for their last couple of days.
Before it got too dark, Christy showed Mrs. Cowling a cut she got on her leg while running through the woods the night before. She explained how she got it while they were exploring their campsite, but didn’t notice it until she went swimming in the lake when it started to burn. Mrs. Cowling cleaned and dressed the wound in her tent, then gave Christy some supplies to redress the wound in the morning if it bothered her.
Later, everyone had hot coco with marshmallows and after a bout of storytelling, the Cowling’s walked the girls to their tent and kissed them goodnight. It was very cold out this evening, a chill that bit you to the bone, and the girls huddled up in their sleeping bags watching their breath mist in the air.
“Let’s go to sleep,” said Stacy, “I’m tired tonight. Playing games all day with your dad and mom wore me out.”
“Yeah, your parent’s sure do love playing games,” Christy said looking over at Elizabeth. “I’d like to fall asleep as soon as possible so we can get up early in the morning and move camp. I like having our own site… but I’d like to be closer to your parent’s site too,” Christy said.
Both girls looked at Elizabeth, sleeping bag pulled over her head trying to keep warm. She peered out sleepily from beneath an opening in the otherwise closed tight bag and said, “Yeah,” then rolled over and started snoring. This terrible cold was making them all much more tired than they normally would be at this time. That and maybe all this wolf talk was taking its toll.
Christy turned and faced Stacy, “So what do you think of that wolf we saw?”
“Well, we definitely saw ‘it’, if that’s what you mean. Other that that, I’d say it looked pretty big, and scary! I could feel its eyes looking right at us,” Stacy’s eyes drifted off into thought.
“I felt the same way. First, I felt something watching me, something…” Stacy looked up for a second, searching for the word, “Evil! I felt cold all over my body and when I looked where the feeling was coming from, I saw the wolf staring right at me! It wanted to eat me Stacy, I just know it! It’s like I could see its thoughts!” Christy shivered.
“Christy… that’s a little much, don’t you think? And remember, I was there to and it was staring at all of us. We don’t know if it was hungry, or just checking us out. How could we know such a thing,” Stacy said?
Christy’s eyes narrowed, “You didn’t feel it? The cold surrounding you when it looked at you, the eyes piercing your skin like knives? I’ve never felt anything like it before!”
“What exactly are you trying to say,” Stacy said?
“That creature's unnatural, not a typical animal you see in the forest, but something evil!” Christy may have been on to something, but she was unnerving her friend.
“Your imagining things,” Stacy lied, “it was just a regular old wolf. Go to sleep before you give yourself a heart-attack or something! Besides, we’re moving campsites in the morning.” Stacy paused for a second, then rolled over, “So goodnight!” And with that, Stacy pretended to fall asleep, but she couldn’t because she had felt that cold sensation too, and those eyes… That was no normal wolf, but Stacy didn’t want to admit her fear to herself, yet alone Christy. A few minutes passed and Christy’s breathing became heavy and then a soft snoring and Stacy was the only one left awake, her eyes glued open listening to every sound outside.
* * * * *
The night the wolf was finally exposed, it started with the walkie-talkie beeping. First Elizabeth roused, more asleep than awake, “that sound…” she thought to herself! And there it was again, “beep, beep, beep!” “Oh yeah, the walkie-talkie…” Elizabeth rolled over and saw the blinking light of the walkie-talkie and grabbed it, reality slowly creeping back! What time was it? Who could be calling her at this hour? There were no sounds outside at all, and the light of the moon was nowhere to be seen; it must have been maybe three or four in the morning! “What on Earth?” Elizabeth thought as she held the walkie-talkied in her hand for a moment.
Stacy and Christy started to stir, “what’s that sound,” Stacy said through closed eyes?
Elizabeth pushed the button on the receiver, “H-h-hello???”
“Elizabeth!” a voice boomed out, “Honey, you’ve got to come quick! You have the med bag! Mom gave it to your friend Christy to bandage her leg! It has mom’s epipen in it! Listen, you’ve got to bring it over quick! Mom’s throat is closing up! There was a bee in her sleeping bag and it stung her just a few minutes ago! Elizabeth, can you hear me?” Elizabeth’s dad sounded frantic!
“Yeah, dad I can hear you. Is mom alright?”
“Don’t waste a second! Find the epipen and run straight over here! Please Elizabeth, you’ve got to hurry. You know how allergic your mom is to bees,” her dad said!
“Okay dad! I’ll be right there.” Elizabeth started at the walkie-talkie for a second, then put it down and was about to get up when she noticed both her friends sitting up and staring at her. “I’ve got to go.”
“I know,” Stacy said, “I’m coming with you.”
“Here’s the epipen,” Christy reached in the med kit and pulled it out, handing it to Elizabeth, “Your mom must have just given me her whole med kit,” Christy said. There was a moment of silence as Stacy and Elizabeth quickly got dressed, “I don’t have to come, do I,” Christy said with anticipation?
“I don’t have time to discuss it,” Elizabeth said slipping on her jacket and shoes, then looking at Christy, “I’ll be back.” She then slipped out the tent door, flashlight in hand.
“Wait for me,” Stacy was right behind her. “Alright, let’s go.” Both girls started down the road in the dead of night guided only by their flashlights with the epipen in their pocket. The chill of the night was overwhelming and made the girls practically run down the dirt path. It didn’t take long before the main road separating the campsites was reached but at that moment, instead of feeling relieved that their mission was halfway done, both girls sucked in their breath because standing in the center of the road was the black wolf sniffing the air, but it had not seen them yet. Quickly, both girls darted into the brush and looked at one another.
“What should we do,” asked Elizabeth?
“Let’s cut through the woods quietly and it shouldn’t notice us,” Stacy said. “We can cross the road at the far end of the campsite next to your parent’s spot. That shortcut should also save us time taking the road through the entire campsite.” Both girls nodded at one-another, well aware of how important this mission was, and kept moving. The girls were amidst a thick foliage of trees and missed seeing the speeding car exit the other campsite and enter theirs. What they did see however, was a black shape not far behind them. It was too far away to make out any details, but both girls could hear it crashing through branches and getting closer! Elizabeth and Stacy started running for their lives, practically flying over the ground as they sped toward the Cowling’s tent! Within moments, the tent was reached and both girls scrambled inside!
They could hear the crashing in the woods getting closer and surprisingly, the tent was pitch black inside! Both girls shone their lights frantically about the tent looking for a sign of Mr. and Mrs. Cowling, but were not expecting what they were about to see. First they saw the big eyes staring straight at them, then when they had honed their lights on the creature, they saw the black wolf standing over the sleeping bag where Elizabeth’s mom should have been! The girls screamed in terror as the wolf began to growl a deep, guttural sound, its hair standing up on end and a sinister grimace overtaking its mouth! The wolf slowly moved in front of the door while staring at its prey the whole time. The girls were trapped! Suddenly, the wolf opened its eyes wide and sprang up toward Elizabeth, leaping through the air! Time started moving in slow motion for Elizabeth; she saw the wolf open it’s salivating jaws in the air and descend toward her, felt herself scream in panic and begin to fall backwards, then from out of nowhere, heard a horrendous ‘thud’ and saw the wolf hit the floor at her feet, turn around in a daze, and quickly run out the door! And there at the doorway was Christy holding a bloodied hatchet, probably the one Elizabeth’s dad used to cut firewood with. All three girls started at one another in a moment of sheer fear, wondering if the wolf would come back into the tent. Lots of nearby campers were rushing to the Cowling’s tent having heard Elizabeth’s bloodcurdling scream. The girls could see flashlights all around them and felt their guard drop slightly.
“So, that was you on the trail behind us,” Elizabeth stated, more matter of fact than question.
“Yeah. I got scared and didn’t want to be alone,” Christy said. “I tried following you two but the closer I got, the faster you two ran and I didn’t want to shout out and wake up the other campers. I had almost caught up with you two when… I felt it! I knew the wolf was in that tent with the two of you because ‘that’ same cold sensation was all over my body. I almost didn’t go in, I was really frightened, but I saw your dad’s hatchet lying outside the tent and then heard you scream and before I knew it, I was at the door and swinging at the wolf! It’s almost like my body knew what to do and I was watching myself move.”
“I’m so glad you came when you did,” said Stacy, starting to cry. She was trying to act brave, but the moment had seized her and her shell crumbled.
“Me too,” said Elizabeth, “me too.”
* * * * *
It wasn’t long before a handful of campers came bursting onto the campsite followed by the park attendant asking what in the world was happening. The girls explained everything that had happened and showed the crowd the bloodied hatchet; everyone looked horrified and stared at one another. The park attendant pulled out her walkie-talkie and tried to get a hold of the ranger on call, but got only static. “That’s very strange for no one to have answered the distress frequency,” thought the attendant.
“Look,” said one of the campers breaking everyone’s focus. He was stooped, pointing at something on the ground, “there’s a trail of blood!” Straightening himself up, he looked around the group and said, “I’m getting my axe! If your parents are still alive,” he said looking at Elizabeth, “then we need to go find them right now!”
“I’m coming with you,” said the park attendant. “Let me get my husbands hunting knife.” She ran down toward her cabin and was back in a matter of minutes. The other campers didn’t look quite so enthusiastic with grumblings of, ‘we should wait till morning’ and, ‘we need to get a hold of the ranger first’, but luckily for the girls the brave camper and park attendant were ready to hunt this wolf down in under five minutes!
* * * * *
The group was set up with the brave camper up front, followed by the park attendant, and trailed by the three girls. The blood path lead the party up a steep hill and deep into the forest for about twenty-minutes before coming to the edge of a cave entrance. The blood was very fresh now, but the cave opening was extremely narrow, just big enough for one person at a time, and there would be no way to effectively swing the axe in such a tight corridor. Everyone looked at each other for a moment, then the brave hiker said, “Let’s go,” and moved in. Everyone followed closely behind him.
After the first fifteen feet or so, the cave opened up into a nice sized cavern, then narrowed again after about fifty feet and continued back further than anyone could see. Everyone began shuffling past the narrow entrance and into the cavern when the park attendant screamed, the echo sadistically shattering the silence in the cavern. In the center of the floor behind an outcrop of rocks was the body of the hiker the girls saw two nights ago! His remains didn’t smell, most likely being preserved by the cave’s atmosphere, but his sight was atrocious to behold, having been food for the wolf for two days now; his disemboweled innards were mere feet from his body and smeared in his own blood was written the words, “HELP ME”!
Everyone started to panic upon seeing that; Christy looked pallid in complexion and was staggering about in a daze, Stacy threw up, the brave hiker’s hands began to shake. Elizabeth voice shook when she said, “But… that can’t be the hiker who was rescued?!?”
Without turning to look at Elizabeth, the park attendant answered, “No dear, that was a different hiker. This hiker hasn’t been reported missing yet.” With a sorrowful look on her face, the attendant continued, “Alright girls… we need to leave this place now. Just turn around slowly and lets all walk out of…” but before she could complete her sentence, a ferocious howl rang out from the depths of the cavern followed by savage growling and then, the eyes! From deep in the cave, the eyes of the wolf could be seen even though the flashlights shone on no body. Those eyes pierced the soul like ice! A terrible fright overcame everyone and without another word, they began running for their lives, shoving each other through the caves entrance!
A ravaging bellow shook the cave walls and blew trees around the entrance like shrubs in a tornado. The group fled away from the opening as quickly as possible and could feel the presence of evil encroaching upon them. The park attendant quickly took the lead with everyone running at a mad mans pace back toward camp, the crashing sounds of tree branches letting the group know the beast was not far behind! The bloodthirsty howl was closing in but the camp was not much farther; it took a little over twenty minutes to get up to the cave, and less than five to get back down! It was now or never; everyone could feel the frigid aura of the beast almost atop them and the breath mere feet away! They only had a little bit more to go when, “CRASH!” The parking attendant tripped over something, the braver camper crashed into someone or something, and the girls crashed into both of them. There were flashlights on the floor pointing in every which direction and people shouting in all directions, it was chaos! Then, Elizabeth heard her dad’s voice, “Elizabeth, is that you?”
“Daddy,” Elizabeth said? “Is that you?”
“Yes honey!” Suddenly, flashlights were grabbed and people started to stand up. There was Elizabeth’s mom and dad, and Ranger Jim. “I drove over to your camp, I wasn’t sure if your mom was gonna make it, but I didn’t see you on the road or in your tent so I decided to drive to the rangers station as fast as I possible since it was just down the road. I knew they would have the medicine your mom needed!”
The ranger was looking in the woods cautiously, shining his light at the dark attempting to catch any glimpse of danger, “Your mom is a brave woman. We gave her a shot from an epipen and helped get some air into her, and after a few minutes, her swelling went down and she was ready to go back.”
“You didn’t answer your radio,” the park attendant said questioningly.
“I had taken off my utility belt and was laying down resting when I heard this car screech to a halt in front of the station. I ran outside before grabbing it to see what the commotion was about and, with the emergency and all, begging your pardon, I didn’t realize you were trying to contact me,” the ranger said.
“Jim here,” Mr. Cowling said while nodding to the ranger, “followed us back to our camp in his rover to make sure your mom was alright, but once we got there, we realized immediately something wasn’t right! Some of the other campers came to us right away and told us a wolf had attacked you girls and that you went into the forest with another camper and the park attendant looking for us!”
“We did,” the park attendant interrupted, “but we have to get out of here! There is something out there! This is no ordinary wolf!”
“Please,” Mrs. Cowling scornfully reproached, “you’re scaring the children! There are no monsters out here!” Mr. Cowling grabbed her arm, as to say, ‘now’s not the time’.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about!” Shouted the once brave, now wide-eyed camper! “This ‘thing’ was right behind us. It’s here with us somewhere! We need to get to the campground now!” And with that, he fled the group running toward the campground! Almost instantaneously, a black shape darted through the forest and pounced upon the poor camper! He screamed for only a second, then… silence! The ranger whipped out his revolver and fired a shot at the beast, hitting a tree behind it!
“Oh my god,” thought the ranger, “the wolf is in front of the campground! If I shoot and miss… I might kill somebody!” His hands started to shake as he pondered his next move.
Elizabeth, Stacy and Christy all looked at one another, the three of them now crying and cowering on the floor. It seemed the adults were doing most of the talking right now, and that was fine as the girls didn’t really have much to say at this moment, however before anyone could react, the wolf leapt high into the air and landed in the center of the group, mere feet from everyone! People begin scattering in all directions! The wolf crouched then jumped at the closest person – the park attendant – but she quickly hit the beast with a log and pushed it back! The beast then turned around searching for a smaller target, one without a weapon!
Off in the distance, Elizabeth was nearing the main road running for her life! Suddenly, Elizabeth heard a heavy panting and breaking of branches swiftly catching up! She was only two steps from the road then, without stopping, tears streaming down her face, she darted into the road without looking! Two enormous bright lights instantly blinded her to the left but she kept moving. Suddenly, a tremendously loud horn blasted from the depths of the two lights and a sickening ‘crunch’ sound permeated the air, followed by the loud screeching of tires and smell of burning rubber and brakes! Elizabeth turned her head to see a full-semi truck half a foot away from her; underneath the front tire was the wolf, dead!
In a blur, Elizabeth sees the truck driver jump out of his truck, half-scared out of his wits’ and the ranger quickly confronts the man and explains the situation to him. Elizabeth’s parents rush madly up to her and hug her profusely, even pulling Stacy and Christy into the hug. The ranger rushes over to the brave hiker to find him still alive; it seems the hiker had hit his head on a rock when he was knocked over and momentarily blacked out, but he did also have a nasty bit mark on his neck. The ranger and park attendant then get a body bag and silently stuff the wolf’s body into it while looking at one another with a mixture of emotions. All the campers that had gathered during the commotion slowly trickle back to their campsites. Finally, the entire Cowling family – and two friends – find a way to sleep crammed in the parent’s two-person tent together until the morning.
* * * * *
When the sun rises, the Cowlings’ start packing up their gear.
“Are we going to stay the last two nights in that double-site,” asks Mrs. Cowling to Henry.
He stares at her for a moment, then looks at the girls who all shake their heads silently, ‘no’, then confirms their sentiment, “no!”
“Good, because I was going to insist we leave anyways. Look,” Mrs. Cowling pointed at the campgrounds, “everybody else is leaving too.”
“Of course they are. They’re all scared! And who’s to blame them? With a wild wolf like that running around, there’s bound to be more of them! Wolf’s hunt in packs, so that was most likely one of many,” Mr. Cowling said.
“What, you think there’s more of them,” Christy blurted out while packing.
“Yeah, I’m sure of it actually! When the ranger was taking your mom and I to locate you girls last night, he saw multiple wolf tracks criss-crossing. He believes there is a pack of these ‘man-hunters’ running around and he told me he intends to take a group of rangers and exterminate them,” said Henry.
“That’s kind of sad,” Mrs. Cowling said.
“I don’t think so,” Stacy said, “they killed a man, and there could have been others! These woods are famous for their ‘lost’ hikers!”
“Yeah, it’s true mom! And these wolves don’t fear humans at all,” said Elizabeth, “It’s like they evolved to hunt us or something.”
“And those eyes that pierce right through you! There is something unnatural about them,” Christy said.
“Nonsense,” said Mrs. Cowling staring at the girls. “I simply won’t believe God created any type of… of ‘man-hunting’ wolf! That’s preposterous!” And with that, Mrs. Cowling tilted her nose skyward and kept packing.
“Who said God made them,” thought Elizabeth, but her mom’s religious superstitions were quickly out of her head as she focused on packing up the rest of her camping gear. Leaving here would be bittersweet; in time she would miss this place, but for now, she couldn’t wait to depart and never look back. They were almost done packing.
The other girls kept to themselves after Mrs. Cowling’s outburst. They knew better than to argue with her when she ‘knew’ she was right, and if they couldn’t discuss the origins of the wolf around her, or how there might be more of them, then what was the point of talking at all. The sooner they finished packing, the sooner they left and that was motivation enough.
Finally, they finished. Mr. Cowling suggested they skip breakfast for now and get a bite to eat when they got down to the city and nobody objected. It was time to say goodbye to their campsite.
* * * * *
On the way out, Mr. Cowling says, “How’d you girls feel about making one final stop on the way out near the park’s entrance? There is a short trail next to the ranger’s station maybe only twenty feet or so from where we park the car where we can eat a quick snack, and to top it off, we can see the ranger’s station from there. What do you say? One final stop in these woods before we depart for good?” Mr. Cowling looks at the cars occupants, their faces not too sure. “And it’s almost noon. This might be the last time we ever come here. I’d like to spend at least one final moment enjoying its beauty without fearing some wolves. Come on, what do you say?”
What was there to say? The three girls half-heartedly shrugged and mumbled something about ‘I guess’ while Mrs. Cowling took it as a sign to prove to everyone that the forest was a safe place after all.
Sure enough, there was the exit gate and ranger station next to it with a ranger at the gate and two rangers in the station, and directly across the way was a small parking lot in plain view. After parking, the Cowling’s and Stacy and Christy walked a little further than Mr. Cowling had initially suggested, maybe about one-hundred and fifty feet away from the car, before the picnic tables were reached. This wasn’t too concerning however because you could still see the car and the rangers station from the tables. The family set up some sandwiches and drinks and sat there, listening to the birds chirping and the wind blowing; it was beautiful. It was almost time to go when Christy felt it first, the cold overcoming her body! She quickly looked at her friends who, at first oblivious, quickly changed expressions and began looking around!
“Mrs. Cowling,” said Christy, “I think we should leave!”
“Christy’s right,” said Stacy.
“Mom, dad, it’s time to go!”
Mr. and Mrs. Cowling didn’t wait around to see what was coming, didn’t ask questions. They quickly packed up their basket and started to leave. As they were heading back toward the car, Christy dared to peek over her shoulder and that’s when she saw the eyes! Those eyes in the dark, piercing through her like shards of ice, wanting to devour her! She quickly got into the car and the family took off. Christy looked at her friends and knew they had seen it too. After the car passed through the front gates, the girls smiled at one another; this adventure had come to its end.
"The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained liberation from the self." -Albert Einsetin
