Camp Kawakii

• Chelsea Sherwell, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2011

CAMP KAWAKII
The school bell rang loudly in the hallway and everyone ran quickly to their classrooms. Sisters Isadora and Adrienne stood in front of their classroom door and looked at the plaque with Mrs. Luigi written above the door. They exchanged worried glances. EVERYONE including Alfalfa Knucklehead says that Mrs. Luigi is a witch and he’s loopy. They stepped inside the classroom, the door squeaking behind them. Mrs. Luigi was sitting behind her desk opening her laptop. She smiled as they entered. “Welcome” she said kindly with a friendly smile on her face. Maybe it won’t be that bad. As soon as they sat down Mrs. Luigi stood up and her smiley face turned into a mean frown. “Alright everyone” she growled with a terrible hoarse voice. “This week it’s camp Nigana, now you’re expected to be on your absolute best behaviour am I right?” She said in a loud voice. “Yes miss” chorused the class.

The next day Isadora and Adrienne were waving to their mother as she dropped them off at school with their suitcases. “Wow, camp’s going to be great!” Isadora exclaimed grinning.
“Yeah I know!’ Adrienne said getting out her ipod and putting her headphones into her ears. Isadora got out a book. “It’s going to be SUCH a long bus ride!” their friend Amy said skipping over to the bus with them. The bus doors opened with a hiss. They stepped up and walked over to the closest seat and plonked down on the hard leather. The bus took off and the boring ride began. Once they were finally at camp Mrs. Luigi’s voice boomed through the loud speakers saying the cabin names. “Cabin 14, Isadora, Adrienne, and Amy...”
“YES!” Amy said high fiving the others.
“Cabin 14, canoeing...”
“Even better!” Isadora said.
“...and Amy Clissold, please report to the office immediately!” roared Mrs. Luigi through the speakers. “Oh well,” Amy said. “Bye!” She called skipping to the office.
“Bye!” Isadora and Adrienne called back. They all went to check out their cabins. Cabin 14 was hidden behind large Gum Trees swaying over the rooftop. The whole cabin was pretty much a bunch of wood all smacked together to make a cabin fit for some school kids. A couple of bunks here and there and that’s about it, really. They both quickly unpacked eager to go to canoeing. Finally, there were on the water. “Alright everyone, you now know what to do, so I’m going to let you all have a free ride” Miss Lotus called over the shimmering water.
“Woo! Let’s go!” Isadora squealed and they started rowing. There oars swept swiftly through the water and the afternoon sun rose above them. The trees blew through the breeze and birds were chirping happily around them. They were having a ball! “I never want to stop!” Adrienne said. They both went on and on for what seemed like forever. “I wonder how everyone else is going” Isadora said looking back to see everyone else. But there was nobody. Only the lake. Now they started to seriously panic. “ADRIENNE! LOOK!” Isadora said, panicked.
“Oh gosh and look over there!” Adrienne said pointing towards ahead of them. It was quite a sight and incredibly unbelievable. Ahead of them there was a elegant island with trees and a special breeze making the island seem magical in every way. They stopped the canoe at the edge of the island and hopped out to investigate. They pushed through the trees the branches brushing on their faces. They heard noises buzzing around them. They went on walking until they stopped as something went in their sights. It was a big cave all made out of hard rock. It was starting to get dark and the fireflies were buzzing around them making the sunset magical. The both peered inside the dark, gloomy cave. They started to hear rustling noises as they entered. They got out a torch from their backpack and switched it on. The light from the torch moved in every direction that they were heading. Both sisters had no idea what they were in for, except both of them were VERY suspicious. The cave rooftop was dripping and the rustling noises went on. Suddenly, they heard a huge THUMP. They shone the torch in front of them and got the shock of their lives. In front of them was the hugest, most massive mushroom you can ever see. It had a frown on its face and its striking Red and White colours lightened up the cave enormously. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?” roared the large mushroom. Isadora dropped the torch in total shock and both sisters were way too stunned to say anything. “WELL??” He said his voice echoing in the cave.
“W-w-we d-don’t really kn-know w-what we’re d-doing h-here” Adrienne stammered. “W-we w-were going c-canoeing at s-school c-camp and we e-ended up h-here” Isadora added.
“Hmmm” The mushroom said squishing up his fat face. “Well, you may be wondering where you are, if you’re really telling the truth.” He said. Isadora and Adrienne were more confident now. “Yes, we swear we are telling the truth! Please, please, PLEASE tell us where we are and how we can get back to Camp Nigana!” Isadora said jumping up and down hoping to get a reasonable answer from a mushroom. “CAMP NIGANA?!” The mushroom shouted with a horrified look on his face. “WHAT DO YOU MEAN CAMP NIGANA?!”
“Well, that’s our school camp,” Isadora said confused.
“The history of Camp Nigana is WAY to shocking for you young diddyumkins to know. “Like what?” Adrienne said.
“If it’s scary, BRING IT ON!!!” Isadora said with a HUGE grin on her face. The mushroom thought for a second then lead them to a jungle full of fruit trees. “Here” he said his head jutting towards the fruit trees. “It’s getting late, you must be starving!” He said. “You bet” Isadora said cramming the delicious, juicy fruit into her mouth. “Now tell us, tell us about the history of Camp Nigana!” Adrienne said. The mushroom sighed.
“Okay then, you see, one day there was a school called Flitterwig Primary School, a school for young boys. They went to Camp Nigana every year and there had been rumours that at least one or two boys that went, NEVER ever came back. And of course nobody believed these people and thought that they were complete loonies. One year, the boys all went to Camp Nigana, they went Cabin 14 always went canoeing first. There were three boys in their cabin that year and the three of them went canoeing....” He stopped. “Sound familiar?” He asked.
“Hmm, yeah” Isadora said and the mushroom went on talking. It was funny that Adrienne and Isadora didn’t even seem to mind that a giant mushroom was telling them a story! “After the three boys learnt the basic techniques of canoeing, they got the freedom of riding freely. The three boys from Cabin 14 stopped at midnight here, on this very island. The midnight animal of this island starved them inside a dark and mysterious cave and on the third night, the boys turned into giant mushrooms. I went to Flitterwig Primary School. The midnight creature still lives in that cave, I’m here to protect people like you from it. The mushrooms still live to.” The mushroom stopped and let out a huge whistle. Suddenly, an enormous sound rumbled through the tropical fruit trees and a whole heard of mushrooms came to where Isadora and Adrienne were munching on fruit. There were HEAPS! “For years, we’ve been trying to destroy the monster” The mushroom said, “But it’s never really ever happened before.” He added.
“Oh okay,” Adrienne said. “Maybe we could help tonight,” Adrienne said. “YEAH!” Isadora said.
“It will be very dangerous though, we don’t want to be responsible for you two to turn into us,” One of them said.
“Cabin 3 will be canoeing in 5 minutes” Adrienne said looking at her watch.
“We can go near the cave and wait for the creature to come out then we’ll destroy it somehow, do you have any ideas for weapons?” Isadora asked.
“Ummm after many tries with sharp bamboo, and poisonous plants, we discovered that the only way to destroy him, is to expose him to sunlight which is impossible! He ONLY comes out at night!” the mushroom exclaimed.
“Hmmm” Isadora said. “I know!” she said and got out the torch out of their backpack. “Too easy!” She said grinning.
“Hooray! I knew it would happen someday!” The mushroom said with an enormous smile on his big, fat face.
Soon enough they were all hiding near the cave under some huge bushes. The creature came out! The girls from cabin 3 hopped out of the canoe and looked around. The creature did too. It was gross! It was a huge slimy, furry thing with two legs and a hunched back. As soon as he looked in their direction the torch shone brightly in his eyes. He the dissolved into a disgusting, black puddle of slime with bits of fur in it. The girls from Cabin 3 found Isadora and Adrienne and went back to Camp Nigana with them leaving the mushrooms to live a happy life on the island of Kawakii.
THE END!