Haunted Camp

• Megan Kappos, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2011

It was a hot summer day and the holidays had just begun. Mr. and Mrs. Brown had decided to take their children Eva six, Sarah ten and Zac twelve, camping in the forest.
After pitching the tents the children went to have a look around. Eva, Sarah and Zac walked for an hour looking for something interesting but found nothing. All three children were exhausted and needed somewhere to rest, and that’s when Zac spotted it. A rickety old house! Zac and Sarah wanted to go inside, but Eva wasn’t so sure. It didn’t look very inviting or safe. But it was too late the others were already on their way inside. The floor boards creaked, the windows were smashed and the doors were falling off their hinge. Eva whispered to Zac that she was scared but when she turned around Zac was gone. Sarah realised that Zac was gone and assured Eva that they would find him. The remaining two clung to each other as they walked down the hall and into a bedroom. They found a rusting old bed but there was no sign of Zac. Eva started back down the hallway while Sarah lingered in the bedroom. She thought to herself Zac wouldn’t leave without telling us. So she hurried after Eva. Meanwhile realising Sarah was not following her, Eva searched the whole house but she could not find either of her siblings. Eva worriedly went to the front door and reached for the door handle. The door wouldn’t open it was locked! She turned around and noticed a shadow, but it flew away when she approached. Eva caught her breath. She was sure it must be a ghost even though she knew they didn’t exist. That’s when she realised ghosts must have taken her older siblings. Eva was about to give up hope when she stumbled upon a cellar. Cautiously she went down into the dim, dark room and through the dusty air she could see a silhouette of two people. It was Zac and Sarah! The children were back together again but they were all still trapped.
Mr. and Mrs. Brown were frantic with worry. They searched for days but could not find their three children. They came to accept that something terrible had happened to their beloved children. Two months went by and they decided to go and visit their children’s resting place. The Browns were standing in the woods close to the spot where they had camped two months earlier. They saw three people staggering over to them. As they got closer they realised it was Zac, Sarah and Eva! Eva and Zac had a mild case of dehydration and Sarah was suffering from pneumonia. None of them could remember much of what had happened since the day they had disappeared. But one thing was for sure, they were never going to go camping in the forest again.
And that was something they all agreed on.