My Short Short Camp 19 Story for the Day

“It’s beautiful.”  I said softly.

“It is pretty amazing.”  Cinder agreed.

Jonas and Shane nodded silently.  None of us felt like leaving right away.  The relief of not finding bones washed through us and the breathtaking beauty of nature revived our happiness at being alive and carefree. 

“I’ll race you to the bottom.”  Jonas said punching Shane in the arm as he took off.

“You cheat!”  Shane said scrambling after him.

“Hey, wait up.”  Cinder yelled close on their heels.

I stood alone savoring the joy of the moment.  Then jumped into motion and chased them down.  I felt so full of energy racing down the trail, letting my legs run as fast as they wanted.  I passed Cinder first and raced headlong over branches and around rocks with reckless abandon.  I didn’t even think about it, I just ran like there was nothing else in the world.  Soon I caught Jonas who had slowed down significantly.  Then there was just Shane ahead of me.  I zeroed in on his back and ran as hard as I could.  He was fast but not a runner like me.  I’d been running since I was 7.  My heart, lungs and legs were pumping in unison like a well oiled machine.  I wasn’t even breathing that heavy when I finally caught him.  We were almost to the outskirts of camp.  He slowed a little to look back and I shot past him.  I don’t know why but I just kept running until I reached the beach.  The dock was empty and the beach was, too.  The sun was starting to set so everyone was probably at dinner.  I stood on the beach looking out at the water while my breathing quickly returned to normal.  I felt great.  I’d never run so fast in my life and the burn I felt was that of having pushed myself to the limit.  I closed my eyes and let the gentle wind dry the sweat from my face.  I listened to the animals rustling around in the nearby woods.

My Short Short Camp 18 Story for the Day

Jonas stepped forward.  “I’ll go since I’ve got the flashlight.”

 

 

Turning on the light, he stepped into the cave.  Shane followed and Cinder and I were just behind them.  We ducked a little at the entrance swiping at spider webs and pushing vines aside.  The beam of light was small.  Just enough to make us feel a little better about not being in total darkness but in a way it also made it more scary wondering what might be lurking just outside the ring of light.  We kept very close and quiet.  After a few moments we reached the back of the cave.  We all breathed a sigh of relief at having discovered nothing sinister. 

 

 

“Well, it was just a story.  Maybe they cleared the bones away a long time ago.”  Jonas said.

 

 

“Yeah, they certainly wouldn’t leave a dead body here, right.”  Cinder replied.

 

 

“No, thank goodness.”  I mumbled.

 

 

“We should probably start heading back.”  Shane said.

 

 

Shane took the lead on the way back shining the flashlight as we went.  It wasn’t as dark this time because we were heading towards the outside light.  I was behind Shane, then Cinder and Jonas was in the back.  Once we were back outside on the shelf we noticed the view.

My Short Short Camp 17 Story for the Day

The path narrowed causing them to hike single file.  The conversation died out as they focused on the trail ahead.  The sun was rising steadily and sweat began to trickle down my back.  I love the outdoors and working up a good sweat.  I would’ve preferred that it was only Cinder and me.  Shane was behind me so I couldn’t keep looking back without him beginning to wonder what was up.  I also had to force myself not to be self conscious.  We had been hiking for about an hour when we reached the ledge where the cave was situated.  There was a dirt slope that led up to it on one side but there wasn’t much to hold on to.  Jonas went first and Cinder followed mimicking his movements.  I climbed up next slipping a little bit near the top but catching myself quickly.  Shane came up last and had no trouble.  We stood at the mouth of the cave for several quiet moments.

“Hey, aren’t we supposed to throw some rocks in or something.  You know, in case of snakes.”  I said.

“Yeah, yeah, I heard that, too.”  Cinder said.

Jonas bent over to pick up a handful of rocks and tossed them into the cave.  After several minutes passed we looked to each other.  I picked up another big rock and chucked it as hard and far as I could.  It made a pretty loud thunk.  The others smiled and picked up some big rocks as well.  We threw the big rocks in for a bit seeing who could make the loudest thunk.  Finally, we stopped staring into the dark again.

“Well, who wants to go first?”  Cinder asked.

My Short Short Camp 16 Story for the Day

“See, I told you they were down here.”  The voice was loud breaking abruptly into the silence.

Cinder and I both jumped but quickly recovered when we saw it was Jonas and Shane.  Cinder stood up brushing her pants off and turning to face them.  I was a little slower in getting up, shy about meeting Shane’s eyes.  His smile brought a blush to my cheeks and I looked away quickly intent on dusting my pants off.

“So you want to go for a hike?”  Jonas asked.

“Sure.”  Cinder replied.  “Where to?”

“There’s supposed to be an old cave up there on that mountain.”  Jonas said as he started to walk.  Cinder fell in step beside him.

“Hi.”  Shane said once I finally dared to look at him again.

“Hi.”  I replied trying to smile casually.

“It’s supposed to be haunted, you know.”  Jonas said.

“Oh, yeah?”  Cinder gave him a sideways glance.

“Yeah.  The story is that some old prospector was panning for gold but even thought winter was approaching he refused to leave.  He was afraid someone else would come in and steal all his gold so he camped out the entire winter.  That cave is where he lived for months, in the snow and ice and freezing cold.”  Jonas talked as we hiked.  “It was summer before anyone ventured up there and all that was left were his bones.  And that’s not all.  There was a knife sticking out of his chest.”

“No way.”  Cinder said.  “Who killed him?”

“That’s the mystery.  No one knows.”  Jonas climbed over a fallen tree and helped Cinder while Shane offered me his hand.  “He was seen in town getting supplies towards the end of fall but then no one saw him again.  A deputy was out tracking a cougar when he came across the cave.  He thought the cougar may have holed up in there for the winter but when he went in, there was Old Jim or what was left of him.”

“Oh, that’s horrible.”  Cinder said.

“Did they find the gold?”  I asked.

“Nope.  Never found any gold in the cave or in the stream.”  Jonas said.

My Short Short Camp 15 Story for the Day

Sundays were the best because we had the whole day to do whatever we wanted.  That first week ended with Cinder and I both very happy.  So many things had happened in that first week it felt like a whole summer’s worth.  We were up early for a change and walked down to the beach, stretching out on the dock to look out across the lake.  It was so quiet and peaceful.  We sat in silence for a while.

“It’s been really fun here.”  I said.

“Yeah.  I thought I’d be sad, you know.”  Cinder said.

“Yeah, me too.”  I tried not to show my sadness.

“I can’t believe we won’t be in school together next year.”  Cinder finally said after a long silence.

“I wish you could live with us.”  I said.  “Maybe my mom and dad wouldn’t mind.”  I took hold of the idea and turned to Cinder with hope filling my heart.

She sat up and faced me with a smile.  “That’d be great but I’d miss my family too much.”  She lightly punched me in the arm.  “Besides, who’d want to share a room with a slob like you.”

I laughed in spite of myself.  “Yeah. I just thought….”

We both turned to look back out across the lake again.  The birds chirped and an occasional fish jumped out of the water leaving behind a ripple on the surface.

My Short Short Camp 14 Story for the Day

“Cool practice today, huh?”  Jonas said.

“Yeah.  It was so hot today I was gonna melt.”  Cinder took another bite of her sandwich.

“Oh, I know.  It was horrible.”  I added.

When I looked up Shane was looking at me and smiling.  I blushed bright red and quickly looked away.  The others continued to talk but I was feeling more and more self conscious as I noticed how clingy my clothes were and that I was starting to shiver a little.

“Can I take that for you?”  Shane asked.

I looked up and saw him holding his hand out for my plate.  I smiled and handed it to him.  “Thanks.”  I said.

We all stood up and waited while the guys took the dishes back inside.  Cinder nudged me and grinned.  “We have to go practice for the talent show.”  Cinder said nodding toward the music hall.

“Yeah, we’re scheduled to practice tomorrow.”  Jonas said stepping up next to Cinder.

Shane fell in step with me and we all walked to the music hall in no particular hurry.  “Have you guys decided what you’re doing yet?”  I asked Shane giving him a quick sideways glance.

“I don’t know.  We’ll probably just go with The Police or Van Halen or something.”  Shane said shrugging his shoulders.

At the music hall we stopped and Cinder grabbed my arm.  “We’d better get going.  See you guys later.”

We waved and went inside moving to the window near the door to watch them walk away.  We giggled as Jonas punched Shane in the arm, then Shane punched him back which lead to a punching match as they walked away down the path.

My Short Short Camp 13 Story for the Day

“Ok, work on form.  You want the ball over your head pull it back.  Then step forward into the throw and launch it.”  Jenny demonstrated throwing the ball to Jonas.

He caught it and threw it to Cinder who threw it to me and I turned and met Shane’s eyes.  With a shy smile I threw it to him.  The ball continued to be passed from one kid to the next until one boy threw it hard into the water causing a big splash in the other boy’s face.  The boy grabbed the ball and beamed it at another kid and practice dissolved into a water fight.

Jenny tried to get everyone back on track but gave up and swam to the dock to watch from a distance.  No one was safe.  The lines between girls and boys were dropped as everyone was equally vulnerable.  Everyone laughed and splashed each other until the dinner bell rang.  The boys were first to react and dashed out of the water with the girls close on their heels.  Everyone paused only long enough to tug on their shoes and then sloshed as fast as possible to the mess hall.  The lunch lady gave us the eye but with so many soaking wet kids there wasn’t much she could do about it.  The tables were full so Cinder and I headed outside to settle down on some rocks near a campfire pit.

“Mind if we join you?”  Jonas and Shane were holding heaping plates of food and dripping all over the place.

 “Sure.”  Cinder said gesturing to the rocks across from us.