I was a camp counselor over the summer.
Three days into the camp, we took the kids on a nighttime hiking trip into a nearby forested hill. There were five of us counselors and fifteen kids, all around 12-14 years old. We'd only hiked for about an hour before coming across a clearing and setting up the fire. While it'd gotten dark, the forest wasn't exactly daunting.
Safe to say, it was looking to be a pretty uneventful night.
I should note that at one point during the hike, one of the counselors (Mike), went to go take a piss in the trees, coming back about two minutes later. The only peculiar thing about this occurrence was that he went relatively deep into the woods. Probably further than he really needed to. He probably just wanted to make sure that he was absolutely out of sight beforehand. This will be important.
As we started cooking up some smores, the counselors and campers began telling spooky stories. None of them really stood out. That was... until "Mike" began telling his.
"Alright, I've got a good one," He said. "So, a group of counselors and campers go hiking one night at a summer camp."
I rolled my eyes. He was going for that angle. But the kids seemed invested in it, so I just silently listened on.
"They go up a small hill," Mike continued. "And then they sit down at a clearing and begin telling campfire stories. Everything seemed normal until one story was interrupted by a sound in the woods."
He paused for a second, and right on cue, there was a rustle in some nearby trees. Okay, I thought. That was slightly clever.
The kids seemed extremely tensed by this, but some of the other counselors were smiling, so I assumed they were in on it.
"So one of the counselors gets up to go check it out." He then gestured to one of the female counselors - Amy. For a second, Amy look confused. But Mike just gestured again.
Eventually, she took the hint and got up, going towards where the sound occurred. She came back moments later, only to report that there was nothing. She still seemed confused, which caused me to question if she was really in on it or not.
Mike went on. "When the counselor came back, she said there was nothing there. But she was wrong." Mike smiled. Although... it was a weird one. Something subtly frightening about it. I could sense some genuine fear creeping up on the some of the kids faces as well.
"There was a tension in the air," Mike went on. "Everybody could feel it, but nobody could describe it."
I'm not sure if it was just a mental thing, but my skin prickled when he said this. The air around us did indeed feel like it had changed, in some inexplicable way. Everybody else looked like they were experiencing something similar, all wrought with faces of discomfort.
"Another sound came from the woods," He said. "This time, it was laughter, as unnatural as laughter could get."
I nearly had a heart attack when it came from right behind me.
"Everybody sat still, all too afraid to look... and then they realized something. One of the kids was missing!"
That was the last straw for Andy - another counselor, who stood up. "Mike, what the hell is this?"
Mike didn't respond.
Andy scanned the kids and went white. "Somebody count 'em."
We did as he asked, counting fourteen kids in total. Fourteen.
"Oh shit," Andy said. "What happened?"
"I don't know!" Claire - another counselor, spoke up. "I swear, we were keeping an eye on them the entire time!"
Andy turned to look at Mike. "What the fuck is going on, Mike?"
Mike smiled, before continuing his story. "During the chaos, they heard footsteps coming from everywhere"
Suddenly, a cacophony of heavy stomps began sounding from every direction.
"Jesus!" Claire shouted.
"Mike, this is too far!" Andy shouted at him. The kids had begun huddling together, fear plastered across their faces.
Mike's face suddenly became serious. "One of the kids was suddenly dragged into the woods, and Andy went to go chase after them."
We heard a scream, and I turned around just in time to see one of the campers disappearing into the forest. I couldn't make out who or what had done it, though.
"Fuck!" Andy yelled out, before going after him.
Mike let out a cold laugh. "But Andy wouldn't get so lucky."
Before I could do anything, Amy went after Andy as well, (They were dating), leaving Claire and I alone with Mike.
I got up, storming over to him and punching him square in the jaw. For some reason, I thought that if I could get him to stop talking, all the shit that was going on would stop as well. Now... I'd say that I'm a pretty strong guy, and I'd put just about everything I had into that punch. But Mike barely reacted to it, even though the strike stung my own hand like hell.
Mike glanced up at me, his face still stuck in that obscure grin. "The last two counselors-"
I turned the other way before he finished the sentence, rounding up the remaining campers and telling them to make a beeline out of there. Claire followed suit, and we began booking it out of the forest.
We couldn't hear Mike... or whatever, following us, so I let myself breathe a bit. Still, I knew that this was gonna be hard to explain once we got back.
At some point, we saw a figure wandering out of the woods. I stopped in my tracks, not really knowing what to do. The figure groaned as it meandered its way into the moonlight.
It was... Mike? The actual Mike, I guess. His clothes were torn and his head was bleeding. His chest was also exposed, with what looked like some strange symbol carved into it. I don't remember exactly what it looked like.
He looked up at us, before asking "What happened?" In a shaky voice. Before I could respond, he passed out. I began running over to him, but stopped when I heard Claire scream. I turned around to see another camper being dragged into the woods.
"Fuck it." I muttered to myself, before yelling at the rest of them to keep going.
We left Mike, before bolting it the hell out of there. There was some more commotion behind us as we ran, with kids being dragged into the surrounding woods left and right. It couldn't have been helped. At a point, I could hear faint cackling coming from somewhere indistinct. But I knew who it was coming from.
When we finally made it down the hill, my lungs were about to collapse. I looked back, seeing that there was one only remaining camper - plus Claire left.
Both exhausted and having the blood drained from our faces, we simply stared at each other. And then the kid began smiling.
"The counselors had escaped, but that wasn't the end of their story," He said, in the same tone of voice that the fake Mike had been using.
Upon hearing that, I lost it and began running, against my body's pleas to rest. I heard Claire once again screaming from behind me, but again, it couldn't be helped.
When I got back to the main camp, I entered my cabin to see if my supervisor was there. He wasn't. I was about to go looking for him, but I was so tired that I had rest first. I made my way over to the bed and plopped down, planning on simply staying there for a few minutes.
But when I woke up, there was sunlight bleeding in through the curtains. Somebody was shaking me awake. It was Blake - my supervisor.
"C'mon man, get up. Time for breakfast. Go shower first, though. Jeez."
"Wait," I said to him "I have to tell you something."
"Tell me after you shower." He said before leaving.
I got up and chased him into the dining hall. What I saw there made me freeze. All the counselors and campers that had been on the hike... they were all there.
Blake turned to face me. "What'd you want to talk about? And where's Mike?"
I quickly scanned for Mike. I hadn't noticed that he wasn't there the first time. As I began stammering for an answer, the fake campers and counselors all turned to face me simultaneously. That left me at a complete loss for words.
I ran out of there, got straight into my car and floored it. I didn't let myself breathe until I got back on the highway. I didn't want to think about the aftermath. About the implications of leaving a situation like this. I reached into my glove compartment for a pack of smokes, but I felt my hand touch something that wasn't there before. It was a tape recorder.
I pulled it out, and against my better judgement, pressed "Play".
A grainy, familiar voice began oozing out of the device.
"The last counselor thought that he'd gotten away. But little did he know... our paths would soon cross again."
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Credits
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