Tempus Vale

• Sari Salva, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2015

Lena was the one who suggested going camping. Riley only agreed to go because Callum was coming, I’m sure of it. Lena genuinely wanted to go camping. Me? I just wanted to get away from town.
When we got the campsite, a feeling of abnormality lingered in the air. I knew I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. I could tell everyone was having second thoughts about coming, even Lena. But it was too late, town was about an hour away.
“It looks abandoned, disgusting and old…” Riley folded her arms.
“Well it’s not abandoned, we passed some other van leaving this place just before.” Callum assured.
Riley stared at the old, cobweb-filled sign and scoffed in disgust. “What a stupid name, Tempus vale…”
“Oh c’mon Riles, it’ll be fun!” Lena heartily patted Riley on the back. “Why don’t we all take a walk around before we set up?”
Everyone agreed. We all decided to take a little walk. We had lots of fun teasing Riley because of her fear of insects. It was great fun, until we walked back…
“This is definitely where I parked. The Tempus Vale sign is still there too…” Callum scratched his head, baffled.
“Yeah, and the icky webs on the sign, no doubt about it…” Riley agreed.
“Wait, hey guys, look, we must of made a wrong turn walking back, I can see the van past these vines.” Lena laughed nervously. We all followed behind and looked past the thorned vines. It really was our van. But I also could have sworn we parked next to this sign.
One by one we took turns crawling through the vines slowly. There were many prickly thorns on the vines. I was about to crawl through when I saw Riley fidgeting about. She looked extremely terrified. Maybe because she was the only one left here after me.
“Riley, you go first, I’ll be right behind you.” I suggested.
“N-no, you first…” Riley insisted. I eventually decided to go first.
As I got to the other side, Lena grabbed me, shivering. She pushed me into the van forcefully and Callum started to drive suddenly.
“Hey, what are you doing? What about Riley?” I yelled.
"...I was the first one to crawl through the vines…” Riley’s voice was shaky.
“…But we heard you talking to 'Riley' on the other side of the vines…” Lena had a terrified look on her face.
As Callum kept on driving, no one had said another word. We didn’t see much on the drive back to town, except a van driving to Tempus Vale.