Camp Terror

Chapter Seven: Under The Stars

When we reached the camp site, there were yellow tents kept apart from each other at equal distances. The students were overjoyed when they saw a bonfire lit some feet away from the tents. Cassy grinned at me. "This is so cool." She said. I nodded giving her a smile but I could feel something wasn't right. I didn't know how, but there was something or someone about this place that made my scalp prick.

"Welcome to Nevada Hills!" Mitch said in joyous tone. All the students jumped with joy. I hugged Cassy even though I didn't want to. I was worried about what was in store for us. Mitch rubbed his palms in glee. "I want you all to set up your tents and then meet me and Mr. Kavanaugh at the bonfire."

Everyone hurried to catch hold of a tent. Cassy stumbled into a guy and he glared at her. "Duh, you were so hard as a wall." she snarled. We kept our trolleys with some equal amount of space of each other since Shawn told us this tent was big enough to fit three teenagers. He took the spot farthest away from the tent while I and Cassy settled for the zipper side of the tent. We took the opposite spots, leaving a good number of space from each other. She opened her trolley for her shawl and wrapped it around herself. "Urgh, this place is so cold. All because of the trees." She muttered under her breath. I wore a thick jacket and gloves, while I covered my head with a beanie. Shawn seemed to have taken some inspiration from me. I laughed when I saw him wearing a beanie, jacket and gloves like me.

Half an hour later, all the students settled near the bonfire. "Where are the students from the other bus?" I whispered to Shawn. Dread began to fill me. "We had two busses."

Shawn seemed to have realised that now. "Oh yeah," he said looking around. We knew the students who shared classes with us. We knew them by face and name. "Seems like the bus is delayed..." he trailed.

"But for so long?" I asked, glancing at Mr. Kavanaugh. He wasn't looking worried. "Why is Mr. Kavanaugh not concerned about them?" I whispered.

Shawn told me that he was messaging one of the students who was traveling on the second bus. When he unlocked the phone, the phone display showed him that there was no service. "Oh, great. Look at this. No network!" he sighed in dismay.

"What do we do?" I asked, a bit scared.

"Let me check my phone." Cassy said. Her phone had network and she called up one of the nature club members who was on the other bus. After a long time, the person picked up. "Yeah hello," she said. "Hi, where are you guys?" she asked. Cassy listened to what the student said with difficulty. I could hear some static come out of her phone as she strained to listen. "Hey, Elle, I can't hear you..." she said before she glanced at the screen with a frown.

We looked at her expectantly.

"I couldn't hear what she was saying." She shrugged.

We sat there as we listened to Mitch play his guitar for us. He sat on a chair, a bit far away from the bonfire as his melodious voice filled our ears. The students clapped and cheered and enjoyed themselves under the stars. Tonight, was the full moon and as I stared into the sky, I swear I saw the moon turn red for a split second before it returned to its normal shade of white. My mind was not in the mood of enjoyment. I wondered what happened to those students on the other bus? Why hadn't Mr. Kavanaugh informed us about their delay? This camping trip was for two days. We could've waited for another day till the second batch arrived.

After the first song ended, the next one began. This time, he asked us to join him. "Okay, three, two...., three, two, one. Loving can hurt. Loving can hurt sometimes. But it's the only thing that I know." Mitch was a pretty good singer. He should be a professional singer. He strummed the guitar in his own set of tunes different from the actual song. "When it gets hard, you know it can get hard sometimes. It is the only thing that makes us feel alive." He motioned us to sing louder. "We keep this love in a photograph. We made these memories for ourselves. When our eyes are never closing. Hearts are never broken. And time's forever frozen still." Mitch smiled at us in approval, giving us a thumbs-up. "So, you can keep me inside the pocket of your ripped jeans. Holding me closer 'til our eyes meet. You won't ever be alone, wait for me to come home."