Camping Nightmare

A way that no camping trip should end.

            Years ago at the old abandoned campgrounds at the bottom of the mountain, a young girl was killed by some monster in her room of the cabins. She was killed a room away from where her parents slept and they did not know she had passed until that next morning.

 

            It all started five days before when her and her parents arrived at the camp grounds for a family week get-a-way together away from the busy city of Miami, Florida. Her parents were both police officers who rarely got any time away from work to where they did not even know their own child. Feeling guilty over their almost non-existence with their daughter, they decided to take a week off of work to spend time with her. The young girl’s name was Elisabeth; she had bright green eyes and brown hair that fell to her hips in a ponytail. Elisabeth was only seven at the time so she was still into her My Little Pony clothes and toys. She also only brought t-shirts with her favorite cartoon characters and jeans for the week, along with her stuffed pony and bathing suit.

 

            After the family had checked into their cabin that they had rented out for the week. The family unpacked all their belongings and put them away in a drawer or closet of the two bedroom cabin. The family sat down together at the dinner table and had a family discussion. One thing that her parents knew about Elisabeth was that she was known to come up with excuses to bring any kind of animal back home. Her mother was the first to speak.

 

“Now, Elisabeth, we are away from home. Please, try to behave yourself and not bring snakes back to the cabin. We are here to have fun, okay?”

 

Elisabeth’s mother looked at her gently, waiting for an answer. She fixed her short ponytail in one gentle motion. Then, she took a deep breath of air before folding her arms on the table.

 

“Yes, Momma.”

 

            Elisabeth then left the room to get dressed for their hiking activity that they had made an appointment for the previous day at home. She may be young, but Elisabeth did have some sense of style. She picked out a pink camouflage, medium-sleeved shirt, blue jeans, and the hiking pink boots that her father had bought for her two weeks before for the vacation. Before she walked out of her room in the cabin, she grabbed her black backpack and filled it with a few bottles of water and stuff to snack on during their travels. For someone so young and responsible, you would think that she would know better than to bring random animals home.

 

            A few weeks ago, she actually tried to get her father to buy her a puppy because she had a cute pink shirt that would keep it warm during the winter season. Elisabeth tried anything to get her father to get her a pet from the store but he never seems to agree to any pet that she picked out.

 

            Her father was that he was the type of father that was around; however, he was also not around for his daughter. Elisabeth’s father was known to take on ridiculous hours at the police station and, sometimes, not even come home because he would have to be back at work three hours later. Her parents fought a lot from being separated all the time, not including all the extra hours that her mother takes on when the weekend comes around. Elisabeth was not exactly close to her parents like most young girls, but she knew that they loved her. Why else would they take this vacation at the last minutes just to be capable of spending time with her outside of work?

 

            Day one of their vacation had officially began once Elisabeth and her parents walked out of the front door of the cabin. Together, they went to meet the guide who was going to walk them along the trail that her parents had paid to go onto that day. Her parents purchased the large hiking deal, which was three miles with a picnic lunch in a large meadow. All Elisabeth cared about was the meal at the end of the hike, like any young girl her age would. Of course, she knew it would be at least an hour before she got to even set eyes on the food that was in the wooden basket that her mother was carrying. Elisabeth was just about to think about all the appetizing items that it contained when they sighted a young man at the entrance of the hiking trail.

 

            His name was Scott, he looked about twenty years old with bright blonde hair. However, the look on his face, which was scorning until he saw Elisabeth and her parents walking towards him, clearly stated to Elisabeth that he hated his summer job. Probably almost as much as she disliked the disgusting cabbage that her mother liked to cook every Monday at home.

 

He smiled at her family and cheerfully expressed, “Hello, my name is Scott. It is very nice to meet you. Shall we start our hike for the day?”

 

“That’s why we’re here, isn’t it?” rudely snickered Elisabeth as she looked at him like he was some kind of idiot. The look on her father’s face was the only thing she needed to see. Why? Because little Elisabeth knew she was about to be scorn for her foulmouthed comment.

 

“You better watch your mouth, young lady.”

 

“Yes, Daddy. I won’t do it again”

 

Wind slowly traveled between the two as Scott tried to hide a smirk. Elisabeth rolled her eyes at his expression. Apparently, he did not know how to act his age, on her view point.

 

“Let’s begin down this trail here. It’ll take us exactly one hour to reach our lunch destination,” announced Scott as they started walking down the clear trail. ‘This is going to be a long walk,’ thought Elisabeth as she took her first drink of water out of her bottle.

 

            It has been thirty minutes since they had started their hike and Elisabeth was hiding behind a bush. She had had drunken all of her water already and was paying for it. After she was completed with her business, she walked out from behind her bush. Her parents and Scott were still behind their own bushes, so she sat against one of the rocks as she waited for them to finish. She heard leaves being brushed around behind her. Elisabeth yelped when she felt something soft brush against her hand. After jumping up about two feet in the air out of fright, she turned around to find a gray kitten with yellow eyes meowing up at her. “Aw, are you lost, Kitty?” she quietly asked the kitten as she petted the spot behind its ear. Before her parents could see the kitten, Elisabeth gently places the kitten in her backpack.

 

            Her parents and Scott had already started walking down the trail again. Elisabeth still stood in her spot, petting the kitten hiding in her back. However, after hearing a louder brush of leaves behind her; Elisabeth gently put the backpack back on her body and jogged to catch up and grabbed onto her mother’s hand. Behind them, a low growl came from the trees where she was just standing; something was watching her carefully without her knowing it.

 

            Finally, they make it to the picnic grounds where Elisabeth’s father placed a bright red blanket on the ground so they could enjoy their lunch together in the meadow. Elisabeth and her mother gasped at the beautiful sight around them. It was a large green meadow with flowers of almost every color. There was also a small lake that stretched out for a fourth of a mile that glowed a brilliant, bright blue when the sun shined onto it after a cloud finally revealed it above the trees. What a beautiful place they had walked into, it was almost too real to be true.

 

            After finishing their lunch, her parents packed up the food and they walked back to the cabin together. Elisabeth entered her bedroom of the cabin and quietly placed the kitten onto her bed. It was only day one of their trip, but she was not complaining. Elisabeth did, after all, find a cute, new playmate to spend time with when her parents went on their private dinners together in the fancy smokehouse next door to the cabin area. As they enjoyed their dinner, Elisabeth stayed in the cabin and played with the kitten she named Smokey. Any little girl of her age would be pretty content with the sweetness of a baby kitten. Of course, her parents discovered Smokey the next evening and agreed to let her keep it when they went back to the city. Elisabeth was very happy and loved her kitten more as she took care of it.

 

            Four days later and the next day was the day that Elisabeth and her parents were traveling back to the city. Elisabeth had a blast! Not only did she get to spend time swimming and having fun with her parents, but she also now had a new friend to take home with her so that she was not lonely when her parents had to work overtime at the police station.

 

            It was seven o’clock at night when Elisabeth and Smokey was tucked into bed for the night after eating dinner and watching a movie with her parents. After about 15 minutes, the kitten jumps off the bed to lay down underneath it. This was his normal routine since Elisabeth had brought him to the cabin from the woods. Elisabeth was sound asleep until she heard a strange dripping noise from inside her room. It startled her at first, but she decided that it was probably raining a little while she was asleep and dismissed it.

 

            Thinking about her furry friend, Elisabeth reached under her bed to pet Smokey to make sure he was not afraid of the storm. She did not want him to feel like that. Smokey had her after all, and she was going to be the best friend that the poor, lost kitten had never had. Elisabeth smiled as she felt something furry rub against her hand. She then began to speak caringly to her companion.

 

“It is okay, Smokey. I am here, so don’t be scared. I’ll always take care of you”

 

The dripping sounds was still continuing as Elisabeth spoke to Smokey from above the bed. The moonlight entered her bedroom from her window after a soft breeze move the curtains to the side. It was a chilly night. Again, Elisabeth dismissed the noises she heard.

 

“See? It is alright. I’m right here for you,” she spoke gently.

 

Something wet and cold began to go across her tongue in a continuous pattern. Smokey always liked to like her hand after a few minutes of petting him. However, these licks were slightly painful and Elisabeth winced after every lick that occurred to her skin.

 

“Smokey, why are you biting me?”

 

            Concerned that her kitten may have been hurt and she was hurting him more, Elisabeth got out of her bed to turn on her bedroom lamp that stood on the small table next to her bed. She flicked the switch and she was filled with sheer terror. Elisabeth had no words to say and could not believe that she saw.

 

            Up on the coat hanger, was the small body of her new friend. Blood dripping from the tip of his tail into the wooden floor, dropping into a small puddle of blood. Terror filled her as she began to realize that whatever was under her bed was not her kitten, Smokey. Elisabeth looked down at the hand that the creature was licking just minutes before and found only a small skeleton surrounded by bleeding flesh. She vomited onto the floor; however, she could not find the scream that was begging to be let out.

 

            Instead, Elisabeth got onto her knees and only one of her hands and glanced underneath her bed. Looking back at her, was red cat-like eyes and bright, extremely long teeth of a monster. Before she could let out a scream for her parents, the creature grabbed her and pulled her underneath the bed. The following day, her father opened the door to be greeted by a half-eaten Elisabeth with her dead kitten’s skeleton body on the floor next to her. Her scream filled the whole cabin and echoed across the camp grounds as she took in the image that would haunt her dreams forever.