Our Camping Trip

The car turned around the corner on the way down the mountain when I heard a quiet snoring in my back seat. I looked in the rear view mirror. I started screaming at the top of my lungs. I slammed on the brakes of my old run down car and jumped out as fast as I could. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know what was happening.
It all started the Friday before fall break when my best friend, Amanda (who has been my best friend since second grade) and I were planning our week long camping trip to the mountain where a waterfall runs through it. We both could drive now so our parents said we could go by ourselves for a few days. We thought it was going to be the best trip of our lives, but it turned out that driving by ourselves was not a good idea.
We were planning what we were going to take, what to eat and everything else we needed. It took a few days but we finally had it all planned out. I was so excited that I could barely hold still. I was like a dog waiting to go for a walk. “I haven’t been camping in like a thousand years,” I said to Amanda. She, on the other hand, was horrified and didn’t want to go without her parents. She was so scared that she was making up excuses not to go. She said, “I have to babysit”, and “what if we get eaten by bears while we are up there.”
“We aren’t going to get eaten,” I told her. “What is the worst that could happen?” 
A few days later we were ready to go. 
“Finally, it’s time,” I said as we were packing everything into the car. Then we hugged our parents and families good bye as we were getting into the car. I was so happy I couldn’t believe I was doing this. On the other hand, Amanda was sitting in the passenger seat of my old run down car still apprehensive. The seats of my car were brown, ripped up, and smelled horrible. The smell and the old car did not help Amanda’s fear.
As we were preparing ourselves for the long road ahead of us, we were getting comfortable and found a good radio station to listen to. Two hours passed and it was starting to get dark. I was starting to get a little scared. Amanda had fallen asleep so I didn’t have to worry about her getting any more scared than she already was. Then finally after another hour or so we were finally there. I shook Amanda until she woke up. When she woke up she was actually excited to be here. She was jumping with joy. We got out of the car and hurried and set up the tent so we could just go to sleep. We didn’t even put our stuff in the tent.
During the night I started getting scared. I missed my parents already and I was thinking about what Amanda said earlier about the bears. Let’s just say I got about two hours of sleep last night. While I was trying to fall asleep I kept hearing weird noises. I heard crunching noises in the woods behind us, I heard people whispering right next to the tent. I started to see shadows from the people whispering. I started shaking I was so freaked out.  I didn’t want to wake Amanda up because I didn’t want her to go crazy and get scared. So I just tried to ignore it and tell myself it was all in my head. Then finally the tent had some light in it. “ The sun is coming up finally,” I shouted so loud I almost woke Amanda up.
I jumped out of the tent to get an early start on the day. I set up everything we needed, then I made breakfast for us. I was ready for the day. The second my watch hit seven o’clock I woke Amanda up. We were going to go on a hike to the waterfall today so we needed to start early. While we were on our hike I was debating whether or not I should tell her about the noises I thought I heard. All of a sudden the wind started howling and I could hear the same crazy noises I had heard last night. I turned to Amanda to see if she was hearing the same noises as I was, but she didn’t seem to be bothered by anything so I just kept walking. All of a sudden Amanda stopped, turned towards me and just stared. She said,”This has been bugging me because I haven’t told you. It has been happening since the minute we got out of the car. I have been hearing crazy noises. I heard them all night long and I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t tell you because you seemed to be sleeping like a baby.” I stopped her mid sentence and said, “I am so relieved you are saying this. I have been hearing them too.”
At this point we were too scared to finish the hike. We turned around and headed back towards camp. Every noise perked our ears up. By the time we got back to camp it was too late to head home. We decided to try and get some sleep, then head out first thing in the morning.
We ate dinner and packed as much as we could into the car. Then we headed for our tent. I don’t think either of us felt like sleeping. How could we? Then it started -- the noises! First we heard a bang, then we heard a boom as loud as thunder. We both jumped out of our shoes we were so scared. We huddled together, hoping nothing could get us. We were so scared, we were scarred for life and would never go camping again.
As the dawn started to break through the black of night, we both finally fell asleep. We were so exhausted that we didn’t wake up until eleven. We were still sluggish from lack of sleep, but we finally got things packed up and got on the road at two. It was going to be dark by the time we got home. But I didn’t care as long as we were home safe.
As the darkness consumed the light I turned on the radio so I couldn’t hear anything around me. Amanda had fallen asleep in the passenger seat. I was relieved that one of us could sleep. I looked in my rear-view mirror and noticed a car behind me. I thought to myself that is weird that a car is out this late. All of a sudden I heard a faint snoring. I ignored it because I thought it was just Amanda. A few minutes later I heard it again, except this time it was louder.  And this time it was coming from the back seat! I shook Amanda awake and asked her to look in the back seat. She was still half asleep but she turned around and looked and started screaming at the top of her lungs. She turned to me and whispered, “There...is...someone...back… there.” I turned my head and starting screaming too. I slammed on my brakes and Amanda and I jumped out of the car. As we got out of the car a man stumbled out after us. He trapped us on the side of the road. We couldn’t go forward, we couldn’t go backwards, we were stuck. Amanda and I started screaming for help.
The man had a pale face. It was as white as a ghost. He was wearing a large coat that looked a thousand sizes too big for him. He was wearing a pair of worn out cowboy boots and some torn up jeans. He held something in his hand. I couldn’t quite tell what it was. He had a very deep voice and he said,”Get in the car right now before I push you off the cliff.” We walked very slowly to the car, shaking like leaves in a windstorm. He made me get in the driver’s seat.
As I started to drive, the mystery man directed me where to go. I know everything around here but this address was different from the rest. When we got there I pulled into a long and very wide driveway. I pulled all the way up and I saw a house. It looked like a haunted house -- broken lights, a rusty door, the porch was made of old wood, and there was a rocking chair on it. The man took us inside and sat us down in a creaky old chair. In his deep voice he told us not to speak or else…. We were terrified. Amanda and I looked at each other. Somehow I could tell that Amanda, as scared as she was, had a plan.
We waited, patiently and quietly. Mystery Man began pacing the floor. I couldn’t help but wonder what he was planning to do with us. I looked at Amanda again. She shook her head no, silently telling me it wasn’t time yet. Soon the man left the room where he had put us. Amanda squeezed my hand and stood up. I followed her. We quickly but quietly walked to the window, opened it, and climbed out. Then we ran as fast as we could. Our eyes scanned the darkness looking for any light we could see. Where were we going to go?
After what seemed like an hour of running we came to a road. In the distance we saw headlights. Amanda and I started frantically waving our arms and yelling for help. The car came to a stop. We ran to the driver’s window and pleaded for help. Inside was a young couple. I immediately felt safe with them. We climbed into their back seat and they drove us towards the police station. The couple took us inside and they told the officer what we had told them. The officer called our parents, then interrogated us. I tried to give directions as to where he had taken us. It felt like we had been living a nightmare.
Once my parents arrived, I fell apart. I cried uncontrollably. We sat at the police station for a long time. Soon the officer we had spoken to came over to where we were all sitting. He asked Amanda and me, “Are you sure about the details you gave to me about this mystery man?” I said, “Yes. Of course. Why?” He continued by telling us that they knew this man well. He had a history of terrorizing people. But the officer seemed puzzled. I asked him what was wrong. He said,”Well, this man you described died 12 years ago.”
I am never going camping again!