Goin Camping Part 2

We arrived at the forest and Jeff parked the van by our camping spot. He got out and I got out as well. I opened the door for Marcy and Amber as they both got out.

"Alright, so let's get the tents set up!" Jeff said. We opened the back doors and pulled out our tents and set up all of our tents. "Okay so now we got the tents set up. Who brought the marshmellows?" Jeff asked.

Marcy pitched in. "I did! They be extra fluffy too!" Marcy said. Jeff nodded.

"Good! Who got the chocolate?" Jeff asked again.

"Me." Amber said. "I love chocolate! Especially s'mores." Amber told Jeff.

"Good good! Now...You brought the gram crackers right Mark?" Jeff asked me.

"Oh no! I forgot them!"

Everyone gave Mark 'the look'

"Just joking! Here they are." Mark said pulling out the gram crackers from his bag.

"It ain't April Fools Mark." Jeff told him laughing a bit. "Okay so...-"

"BEAR!" Marcy yelled out. "Hell no! I'm sleeping in the van where it's safe!"

Jeff couldn't help but laugh again. "Ain't nothing to be scared of Marcy! This is Sapphire! I come here a few times through the forest on occasions to feed her here. The trick is that you just be nice and kind and don't try to scare the bear." Jeff said giving the bear some food. "There there...All better?" Jeff asked the bear. It growled and walked off.

"What are you? The bear whisperer?" Marcy asked.

"No, I'm a Game Manager, I make sure that no one is breaking any hunting laws. We get a lot of poachers here without a license and sometimes people with a license put down illegal traps and the animals get stuck in them and are suffering from a lot of pain." Jeff said.

""I see. So your pretty much the forest cop huh?" Amber asked.

"Heh, I never thought of it that way." Jeff told Amber.

Soon it became nighttime and we had already set up the campfire. "It's nice and warm now!" I said. Jeff nodded.

"Y'all wanna hear some ghost stories?" Jeff asked.

"Nah." Everyone besides Jeff said.

"Good...Because I don't got none. I've never been good at tellin' stories." He said.

"So Mark, do you like it here in Big Rock?" Amber asked me.

I turned to look at her. "Yeah! You know it's a great place for the outdoors. You got a nice forest...A nice community...Nice roads, and it smells like pine!" I told Amber.

"Pine needles, sucker to clean up." Jeff told us.

So we got any beer in the cooler?" Marcy asked.

"Yeah but you'll have to drink that away from the campfire...Unless your p;annin' on makin' a Molotov Cocktail." Jeff said.

Marcy nodded and went to go get a beer from the cooler. She opened up the cap and drank it near the cooler.

"You guys hear that?" I asked.

"Wolves. Don't worry though. Unless you try to attack them they won't attack you." Jeff told me as he got up to get a beer as well.

"I guess it's just you and me...By the campfire." Amber told me.

I nodded. "Yeah...It's a beautiful night today isn't it? I mean look at the stars...You won't be able to see a sky like this in L.A. because of the light pollution." I told Amber.

"Yeah...There are so many stars...Oh and the moon looks so pretty!" Amber said.

A few hours had passed of all of us talking, singing, and just having good laughs. We all went to our tents to go to sleep but I came out of my tent to look at the nice sky once more. I saw a man wearing a fishers hat and jacket who was sitting at the lake who was fishing.

"Nice sky isn't it Mark?" The man asked.

I took a closer look. It was Sylvester. "Y-yeah...You camping here too?" I asked him.

"No, just thought I'd go fishing for some fish." Sylvester told me. He caught one but put it back in the lake.

"I...See..." I said. I sat by Sylvester.

"Ever wonder the key to happiness Mark?" Sylvester asked me.

"Good health and non-stress?" I asked back.

"Oh that's just a little bit...The environment you live in can greatly affect the way you feel! Does this environment make you feel one with nature? Does it make you happy?" Sylvester asked me again.

"Well...Yeah, I mean the sounds are soothing...The crickets, the frogs, the lake, the wind...Everything in the forest is so amazing." I said.

"I'm glad you feel that way Mark. Mother nature is sure the best...When she's not mad." Sylvester said getting up.

"Hey about the diner...How did you leave? I mean I didn't hear the bell ding when you left." I said.

"Ah yes, the bell was broken." Sylvester told me.

"But it rang when you walked in."

"But that was the last ring it ever made. Goodbye Mark." Sylvester said walking off.

"B-" It was too late Sylvester was already gone. Who is he? And why was he here? It wasn't just so he could go 'fishing' Sylvester knows something about me...He is indeed a strange character.