The Camping Trip - A Short Thriller

The Camping Trip

By Amy Baumhoefner

I take a deep breath and the crisp air fills my lungs. It had taken some cajoling but finally Mel had convinced me into escaping for a weekend camping trip. Now that we are out here I can’t regret it. I haven’t felt this free in months.

‘Where did you say this campsite was at?’ I ask.

Before us lays a fork in the road. Mel glances down at the map, and then up at our two options, ‘It should be up here.’ Mel is always so certain about everything, she’s gotten me into trouble before; but I need her. I don’t know what I’d do without her—probably hide in my room, refusing to face the world. Leaves rustle as a light breeze whispers through the woods; a shiver runs down my spine. I shift my backpack, trying to relieve the pressure of the straps digging into my shoulders.

‘Are you sure this is a good idea?’

‘What do you mean?’ Mel knows what I’m talking about, but I can tell she’d rather not discuss it.

‘We didn’t even tell Jane,’ I point out.

‘She would’ve tried to stop us and I needed a break.’

‘Maybe she should have stopped us.’

Mel refuses to reply but begins walking again. I finally let it go, ‘when are we getting to this campsite?’

‘It’s right up here.’

The clouds overhead are bringing dusk sooner than we’d anticipated. Long shadows from the tall pine trees on either side of us make slat patterns on the dirt path. Trudging forward, I feel my foot catch on a root, causing me to stumble. ‘Can you slow down?’ I call out to Mel, who is starting to get a bit ahead.

‘No, you go faster. We’re burning daylight here,’ she shouts back down the path.

Silence descends as I pick my way along the uneven path. It is getting dark and I shiver again as the breeze slides its cold fingers beneath my jacket. ‘I’m really looking forward to the fire,’ I say. There’s no response so I glance up. I freeze in terror—she’s not there. What if she’s gone, leaving me out here on my own? ‘Mel?’ I can’t move. The darkness closes in on me—I loose myself in it. Finally I find the courage to walk again. I call out for Mel again—still no answer. My panic is rising; my feet move faster, all I can hear is the pounding of my heart. I can’t be on my own, she is there somewhere. As I frantically search in the darkness, my foot again snags on something in the path; this time, unable to catch myself, I tumble to the ground.

“Oomph,” I lie still for a moment and do an inventory to determine damage. Rolling over, I glance back at what caused my fall. A scream of terror lodges in my throat.

Dead eyes gaze blankly back at me from a deathly white face. I scramble off the ground. Backing away, I almost trip again. Darkness surrounds me. Yet I know what I see—a woman. Her limbs are lying at awkward angles and blood is pooled beneath a nasty red slice across her neck.

This time the scream slips through my lips with ease. Trying not to gaze at the frozen figure, not see the horror on the face, I turn and run in the direction in which Mel had disappeared. ‘Mel!’ I cry out. ‘Where are you? I need you!’ For a moment dread fills me as I scan the road before me. She is gone. I know it. What am I going to do without her?

‘What the fuck, Laney?’

‘Where were you?’ I cry.

‘You fell behind; I’ve been here the whole time. What’s wrong?’

‘In the trail…’ I start, then stutter to a stop. ‘I tripped on a…’ I try again. The words stick in my dry throat.

‘You okay, Laney?’

‘No!’ A wailing sob forms the end of the word.

‘What’s the matter?’

The words are too horrible to say, ‘Come,’ I say, turning and racing back towards it. I don’t stop running until I reach where the paths split. ‘What! Where?’ I am so confused. How did I miss it coming back? My breathing is laboured because of more than just running.

I jump at Mel’s voice, ‘you’re freaking me out, Laney. What’s wrong?’

‘There was…’ I try to piece it together. ‘On the path…’ images flutter through my mind. ‘There was a body!’

‘That’s not funny.’

Franticly I turn back towards the path and retrace my steps, looking for something, anything. I find nothing.

‘You’ve always had an overly active imagination.’

‘She.Was. There.’ I face Mel, hands on hips.

‘Then where is she now?’

A new thought strikes me, ‘We have to leave!’

‘I’m tired. I can’t take you like this, right now,’ Mel shakes her head and continues down the path. My gaze darts into the darkness that is closing in around me. Within a few steps we come upon a clearing. Mel strides towards the nearest fire pit. ‘You’ll feel better once we have a fire going,’ her voice is softer and I begin to calm down.

‘I don’t know…’ I feel the hair on the back of my neck rise, something is not right.

‘We can’t waste our freedom. Once we get back they’ll watch us even more closely.’ I know she’s right—she’s always right. We’d left the centre without permission. Mel says that’s half the fun of our trip is that we could’ve gotten caught.

‘But I’m scared,’ I say as I sink onto one of the logs surrounding the cold pit.

‘There’s nothing out there that’s going to hurt you.’

‘I know what I saw.’

‘If you saw a body, how come you couldn’t find it when we went back?’

‘I don’t know,’ I feel doubt crowd into my mind.

‘It was a root,’ I hear the certainty in her voice, ‘the shadows were playing tricks on your eyes. Besides, you know how you get sometimes.’

I feel myself drawn into the surrounding darkness as I sit staring into the woods. The sun is completely gone; the pale moonlight sketches patterns on the trees and the clearing. I have lost sense of time, I am lost within myself.

‘There doesn’t seem to be a wood pile around here,’ Mel’s words jerk me out of my revere. ‘Why don’t you go out and collect some?’

My eyes lock on the deep shadows cloaking the forest and crowding in on the clearing, ‘You’ve got to be kidding.’

‘Laney,’ I sense rather than hear the sigh in her voice, ‘not to sound insensitive, but you need to get over it. There wasn’t a body. Your mind’s just playing tricks on you. The best way to overcome your fears is to confront them.’

For a moment I don’t move. When she still doesn’t say anything to me, I turn and stomp towards the edge of the clearing, intentionally going in the opposite direction from where the body had been.

‘Say that when you are scared!’ I mumble. At the edge of the campsite I pause. ‘There’s nothing out there,’ I tell myself. I wish I can believe that, just because I say it out loud.

I step into the gloom and carefully begin collecting sticks and branches. I can’t help glancing over my shoulder every few steps. Now the hairs on my arms have joined the ones on my neck. Mel might be certain there’s nothing out here but I am not as sure. Moonlight creates speckled patterns on the ground as I search for firewood. The only sound I hear is the crunch of the dry leaves under my feet.

‘You comin’ back soon?’ Mel’s voice drifts from the clearing and I start as it breaks the stillness.

‘In a sec!’ I call back as I reach down for the log I see sticking out from beneath a nearby shrub. My fingers sink into soft, cold flesh. I freeze but I can’t stop my gaze from traveling from the limb in my hand to the body attached to it. I scream, drop everything, and run back to the fire pit.

‘Dear Lord! What’s wrong?’

‘I found…’ I can’t say it. The look on the man’s face is burned into my retinas.

‘The body, again?’ I hear a hint of sarcasm.

‘It was…’ The words won’t form at first, ‘A man.’

‘It wasn’t last time?’

‘No.’

‘Where?’

I point in the direction, squeezing my eye shut.

‘I’ll go get the firewood you dropped and check it out.’ I can tell by the casual way she says it that she doesn’t believe me.

‘Mel, I touched it, held it in my hand.’

‘I’m sure you did,’ the patronising tone of her voice confirms my suspicions that she’s only humouring me.

Huddling by the backpack, I clutch my legs to my chest, and wait to hear Mel’s scream. A pile of kindling lands next to me and I jump.

‘There was nothing there but a pile of wood.’

‘I know what I saw!’

‘What you think you saw,’ she corrects. I keep my gaze on the ground. ‘Don’t look so hurt. I can’t say I saw something that I didn’t, just to validate your paranoia,’ without another word, she begins piling the kindling in the fire pit. ‘The fire will scare away the monsters,’ she assures me.

Resting my head on my knees, I fight to still the shudders coursing through me. Soon the flames crackle merrily but it only makes the darkness beyond its glow thicker and more sinister feeling.

‘Do you want to make S’mores after dinner?’

‘I want to leave.’

‘We won’t be free like this again once we’re back at the centre. Besides, we barely found our way here in the light. I don’t even want to think how lost we’d get trying to leave in the dark.’

Her rationale makes sense. It doesn‘t make me feel better, ‘But I don’t want to die.’

‘You’re being unreasonable. No one has died out here and no one is going to die.’ she sounds so certain. This seems to be the end of the conversation. Mel faces the fire, turning the foiled potatoes in the embers.

While she is distracted I reach around the pack and feel for the map. Crinkling paper causes me to stop my movements, but there’s no response from Mel. My hand closes around the map and I pull it into my lap. Careful to make as little noise as possible, I unfold my prize. Methodically I search the area surrounding our location. Finally I find something. ‘There’s a Ranger’s Station just over the ridge. We could get there easily.’

‘Would that make you feel better?’

I bit my lip, ‘Yes.’

‘Fine.’

We don’t exchange another word as she packs the supplies and banks the fire. The foil around the potatoes is now a sooty black; Mel doesn’t bother to try and save them.

‘Lead the way, scaredy-pants.’

I rise on stiff limbs, put on the backpack and walk in the direction of the Ranger’s Station. Trudging through the woods I glance around, certain I see people hiding in the shadows. A twig breaks under Mel’s foot and I shriek. I jump when a branch brushes my shoulder. I try to keep my fears to myself and lead the way to safety. Soon a pin of light shines in the distance—I increase my pace. Within a few moments the shape of a cottage rises ahead of us.

‘We made it!’ I cry out.

‘It’s a miracle.’

I ignore her sarcasm and break into a jog, my breath comes in gasps as I reach to door. An interminable wait follows my knock. Finally the door opens. The fear must be apparent in my voice because the man on the inside doesn’t hesitate pushing the screen door open. Mel and I walk in. Before he shuts the door the ranger pauses and looks into the darkness. He then shoots a glance at me, shakes his head, and closes the door.

‘What can I do for you, young lady?’

‘Don’t say it,’ Mel mumbles next to me.

‘What? I didn’t catch that,’ the Ranger leans towards me.

I haven’t ever gone against Mel before. But this is important—two people are dead. That fact spurs me on. ‘I found two dead bodies in the woods by our campsite,’ I feel Mel’s temper rise at my words.

Suddenly absent of any of the previous fog, his gaze locks with mine, ‘What are you talking about?’

‘Someone killed two people in the woods,’ saying it again makes it more real. I feel stronger.

‘Follow me, Miss…?’ I hear the question in his voice as he walks towards a small wooded table in the one-room cabin and motions me to sit. He then collects a notebook and pen from the counter and lowers himself into the chair across from me.

‘Laney.’

‘I’m Ranger Jones,’ he flips open the notebook, pen in hand, ‘tell me what makes you believe that there are dead bodies in the woods.’

I tell him how I stumbled over the body on the path and about finding the man while collecting firewood.

He stands, collects a map, and spreads it out in front of me, ‘Show me where you believe the bodies are located.’ I point to the trail where I’d tripped over the woman and the approximate spot where the man had been.

‘This is ridiculous,’ Mel can’t keep her mouth shut.

‘What?’ Ranger Jones glances up.

“Nothing,” I feel Mel’s annoyance as I reply.

He keeps his steady gaze on me, ‘and it was just you at the campsite. No one else?’

‘Yep.’

‘Why were you out there on your own?’

‘None of your business,’ Mel snaps.

‘Excuse me?’ He seems shocked by the outburst.

Fear creeps into my mind, what have I done? By coming here I have exposed us. ‘She didn’t mean it to sound that way. It just has nothing to do with the bodies.’

The ranger slowly rises from his seat, ‘Calm down, miss.’ His assessing gaze pins me to the chair. ‘You’re right,’ his tone is different, I’m not sure why but I feel panic rise in my stomach.

‘If there are really bodies out there,’ Mel declares.

‘I saw them! Why do you always have to be right?’

‘Because you’re always wrong.’

‘I am not. Stop telling me what to do.’

‘You haven’t complained before, you’d be lost without me,’ I catch the sneer in her voice.

I hear Ranger Jones’s chair scrap across the wooden floor, then hit the ground with a crash. I glance over at him and am startled by the astonishment in his eyes. Something is wrong, but I don’t know what it is.

‘You’re weak, you’re nothing without me. Admit it,’ Mel’s words rip my attention away from the ranger.

‘No!’ Even as I deny it, I know she’s right.

Mel’s laughter makes me shudder, ‘We’re leaving. He doesn’t believe you anyway.’

‘No!’ I cry out, not sure if I’m saying no to leaving or contesting her assertion about the ranger belief in me.

‘You’re not going anywhere,’ Ranger Jones speaks for the first time since Mel and I began fighting. I look towards his voice and am surprised to find him standing between me and the door.

‘You can’t stop us,’ Mel states brashly.

‘I will use force if I have to,’ his voice is deadly calm, but he won’t look me in the eyes.

‘Get the bag, Laney.’ I can’t resist her, the little I have so far has been almost too much. With shaking hands I grab the backpack from floor next to the table.

‘What’s in the bag, Laney?’ His words are spoken softly as if he’s trying to get to me around Mel.

‘Just camping stuff,’ I say.

‘Show me,’ he demands.

I begin to follow his order but Mel shouts, ‘No!’

‘What are you hiding?’ the ranger asks.

‘Don’t you dare…’ I hear the menace in her voice.

‘Nothing,’ I’m confused why Mel is so insistent he not see what’s inside.

‘Give me the pack, Laney,’ again his voice takes an overly soothing tone.

‘Don’t do it, Laney,’ I am frightened by Mel—her words feel like a threat.

My arm shakes as I start handing the bag to the ranger. As his hand closes around one of the straps, an animalistic screech fills the cabin, ‘Laney, take the bag back.’ Without thought I try to pull the pack from Ranger Jones’s grasp, but he doesn’t release it. My arm yanks again and I hear tearing as the seams rip—everything inside scatters across the ground. We all freeze, and then the ranger bends down and picks something from the floor.

‘What’s this?’

‘What?’ I can’t seem to take my eyes off the mess on the floor.

‘This.’

Finally I glance up. In his hand there is what appears to be a sheathed knife. Gently he removes the blade—it looks like it has begun rusting. My voice is surprisingly unsteady as I respond. ‘I’ve never seen that before.’

‘It’s from your bag.’

I sense going to happen next but it cannot be stopped. The attack is sudden—the ranger is frozen so the knife is stripped easily from his grasp. A scream explodes from my gut as the blade slides across Ranger Jones’s neck, his pink flesh splitting. I take a gulping breath as the knife slices easily first through the left, then the right carotid arteries. Adrenaline pulses through my own veins as the life drains from his body. I sink to me knees next to his fallen form, tears streaming down my cheeks.

‘Why?’ I sob. No response. I reach out to close his terror filled eyes, but stop as my gaze locks on my hand. It is covered in blood, ‘What…’ I sense the darkness closing it.

‘You killed him,’ Mel says.

‘No…I…you…’ Blackness is filling me. I can feel myself slipping away. I’m too tired to fight. I’ve always been weak, she’s always been stronger. I never had a chance to win the battle. I realise that now. It’s done, she’s triumphed.

‘It’s been fun, Laney,’ even her voice seems more solid, ‘Goodbye.’

I slip into nothingness. I will not come back again.