Art Slam: Writing Competition

[saemai]

Writing Competition: You set out for a camping trip...

What is the writing competition?

As part of the Cubeville Art Slam, we are running a writing competition where players can submit creative writing projects based on a set, shared writing prompt. You can use any writing style you like, so long as the story is based on the prompt set in this post. It could be a short story, a newspaper expose, poetry, theatrical script, etc. The competition runs for a week and opens Monday, 25th July. All entries must be submitted by Sunday, 11:59pm EDT 31st July.

How do I enter?

Entry is simple, reply to this post and put your writing submission in there. You can post it all at once, or you can make your post and edit it/add to it over the course of the week. Your writing will not be judged until after the submission deadline has passed so you are free to add/remove/change/draft as much as you like until that time. If you are unable to create a forums account yourself, you can ask someone else to submit on your behalf, they just need to clearly mark at the start of the thread who the author is.

What is the writing prompt?

Your writing must be based on the following writing prompt:

"You set out for a camping trip..."

Rules for entries

✩ Your submission must only be written by you.
✩ You may only make one entry.
✩ Your submission must be based on the writing prompt given, how you proceed from there is up to you.
✩ Your submission must be a minimum of 750 words, and a maximum of 5000 words.
✩ If you are including any players from Cubeville in your writing, you must have their permission before including them.
✩ Submissions must be written in English, if you need help with translation that is fine, so long as the original writing is your own.
✩ Your submission must be original, all entries will be checked for plagiarism and any found not to be original will be disqualified.

How are entries judged?

There will be an open vote for all players to pick their top three entries, which will run for one week after the closing date. Further information for voting will be posted when it comes time to vote.

What can I win?

The prizes are as follows:

✩ 1st Place - 1000 cubes, 1st Place Trophy, and Extra Creator Credits
✩ 2nd Place - 500 cubes, 2nd Place Trophy, and Extra Creator Credits
✩ 3rd Place - 250 cubes, 3rd Place Trophy, and Extra Creator Credits
✩ Runners-Up - Extra Creator Credits
✩ All Participants With a Complete, Timely Submission - Decorative Item and Creator Credits

When Art Slam comes to a close, a shop will open where you can spend all the Creator Credits you have earned throughout the competitions on particle effect items, decorative items, and fun consumables. You will receive Creator Credits for every competition you enter with a complete submission, regardless of whether or not you win any of the votes. The higher you place in a competition, the more Creator Credits you will receive.

Best of luck to you all!

[FrankTheTank_9]

This is a choose your own story, meaning you should read the first paragraph, make your decision, and go to the paragraph the story tells you to go to.

(1)
You set out for a camping trip, excited because you haven’t left your house in a while.You pack your shulker box full of the basic essentials for camping, your tent, lots of food, your sword, your ax, your pickaxe, a flint and steel, a portable campfire, and a high spirit. You set out for the mountains. After a few hours, you reach a very tall mountain. But right next to the mountain, is a sparkly, crystal clear lake. You have a choice. You can either choose to camp on the mountain, or you can camp by the lake. If you choose to climb up the mountain and camp at the top, go to paragraph 2. If you choose to go around the lake and find a good spot to camp, head to paragraph 3.

(2)
You begin to climb up the mountain. Climbing is harder than you think. Still, you keep climbing. After a few hours, and around 10 near-death experiences, you finally come to a clearing. You still haven’t made it to the top of the mountain, but you are already very high up. You can either set up camp now, in the clearing, or you can keep climbing up the mountain. If you choose to set up camp, go to paragraph 4. If you choose to keep climbing, head to paragraph 5.

(3)
You decide to head to the lake instead of the mountain. The lake is huge, over 50 blocks long and 60 blocks wide. You search around the lake to find a camping spot. You find a really good spot near the lake. The area has a forest in the back, which means plenty of wood if you need it, and it is a reasonable distance from the lake. You can either set up camp in the forest, or you can set up camp right next to the lake. If you choose to set up camp in the forest, go to paragraph 6. If you want to set up camp next to the lake , go to paragraph 7.

(4)
You set up your tent, your portable bed, your campfire, and you are ready to cook some food. As you are enjoying yourself, you spot a white goat on the other side of the clearing. You must have set up camp in its home. It’s snorting angrily at you, like it wants you to leave. But you don’t want to leave. You are just getting comfortable here. You can either ignore the goat, or you can attack it. If you choose to ignore the goat, go to paragraph 8. If you choose to attack it, go to paragraph 9.
(5)
You decide to keep climbing the mountain. It gets progressively harder. Your legs feel like they are burning. You are getting blisters on your hands. Still, you keep climbing. Finally, you reach what looks like the top of the mountain. You look for a good spot to set up camp. You find a flat, snowy area. It looks like the perfect spot to set up your tent. As soon as you step foot on the snow, you immediately start sinking. This is no ordinary snow. This is powdered snow, and if you don’t act fast, it will either freeze you, or suffocate you, or both. Your first reaction is to try to free yourself, but then you realize you are carrying a flint and steel. It might be possible to melt the snow with it. Then again, snow usually doesn’t catch fire. It is your decision on how to get out. If you want to try to pull yourself out, go to paragraph 10. If you want to try to use your flint and steel to try to melt the snow, head to paragraph 11.
(6)
As you are setting up your tent in the woods, you hear a burbling groan coming from the lake. You take a closer look at it, and realize the lake is infested with drowned zombies. You feel glad you didn’t set up camp right next to the lake. Your stomach is rumbling. You set up your campfire, and begin cooking some steaks. You are just about to enjoy your food when you hear a whimper coming from the woods. You take a closer look and realize that a wolf is approaching your campsite, and it looks hungry. You think about giving it some food, but your food supply is fairly low, so you don’t really want to waste any of it. You also know that wolves can be dangerous, so you think about attacking it before it attacks you. Time to put that mind to work! If you want to give the wolf a steak, go to paragraph 12. If you choose to ignore it, go to paragraph 13. If you decide to attack it, go to paragraph 14.

(7)
You set up camp right next to the lake. You are beginning to regret not bringing a fishing rod. You set up your campfire, and begin to cook some steaks. Just then, you hear a burbling groan coming from the lake. You walk to the lake to take a closer look. Too late, you realize that the lake is infested with drowned zombies. A horde of them jumps out from the lake and climbs onto the shore. Unfortunately, the sun has begun to set, so they don’t burn. They quickly swarm and attack you. You fend them off with your sword, and just when you are about to kill the last drowned, a trident flies from the lake and embeds itself into a tree right next to your face. The drowned are armed with tridents, and they are attacking you from the lake. The idea of running away comes to your mind, but you are not fast enough. A trident hits you in the chest, and another hits you in the head. You collapse, and fall into the drowned-infested lake. You are at the mercy of the drowned. You die before you hit the bottom of the lake.
The End.

(8)
Bad choice! You are in the goat’s territory! Did you really think the goat was just going to let you sleep in his land? The goat rams you in the chest, and you are sent flying off the mountain. You fall and fall and fall and fall, and then you hit the ground in an explosion of your stuff.
The End.
(9)
You draw your sword and charge the goat. The goat was clearly not expecting you to attack, and you manage to kill the goat before it has a chance to attack back. Sadly, it didn’t drop anything, but at least the risk of getting head-butted off the cliff is gone for now. The view is really good from up here. You sit down and gaze at the night sky. The stars really look beautiful tonight. You stifle a yawn. You didn’t realize how tired you were. But it kind of ruins the vibe if you just go to bed right now without gazing at the stars some more. If you want to keep watching the stars, go to paragraph 15. If you want to go to bed right now, head to paragraph 16.

(10)

You are exhausted from all that climbing. You try with all your might to pull yourself out of the snow, but it’s no use. Your arms fail you, and your legs have gone numb. You keep sinking into the snow, your body slowly freezing up. Your head goes under. You can’t breathe. Your body is in agony. You can feel your body turning into ice. Your last thought is wondering if you will freeze or suffocate first. Turns out, both happen at the exact same time. At least your body will be preserved in all that snow and ice.
The End.

(11)

Desperately, you grab your flint and steel out of your inventory. You begin smashing them together, trying to make a fire. As you expected, the snow doesn’t catch fire. However, your flint and steel do make sparks every time you smash them together. The sparks land in the snow, which slowly make it melt. You keep smashing your fire starters together, making even more sparks. The snow is slowly melting, and you are getting the feeling back in your feet. You make more and more sparks. You are almost free! But you are greeted with another surprise. The snow collapses, and then you are falling. You land on a hard, cold stone floor. The fall hurt a lot, but at least you are alive. You light a torch, and you find yourself in a cave system. You begin to panic. You have to find a way out of here. You can see that the cave looks like it's going up, so maybe it will lead out of the mountain. But it also might not. Another option would be to try to mine your way out of the mountain. You could try to mine a path out of the mountain. It could be dangerous, though. If you choose to mine a path out of the cave, go to paragraph 17. If you want to explore the cave to try to find a way out, go to paragraph 18.

(12)
You give the wolf a steak. It gobbles it up immediately. You can see the happiness in its eyes. It is pretty clear that you have tamed the wolf, and it will now follow you. It lies down next to the campfire. The sun has set by now. You are getting pretty tired, so you decide to go to bed. You get a bucket of water, and you are about to throw it on the fire, when you hear some groaning and rattling in the forest. There are clearly monsters living in the forest, and the light from the campfire is the only thing repelling them. Should you extinguish the fire? If you want to extinguish the fire, head to paragraph 19. If you want to leave it burning, head to paragraph 20.

(13)
You ignore the wolf’s whimpering and eat your steak alone. After a while, the wolf goes away. The sun is beginning to set, so you decide to go to sleep. You get a bucket of water from the lake and are about to throw it onto the fire, when you hear noises coming from the woods. There are clearly monsters living in this forest, and the light from the campfire is the only thing that is repelling them. Do you really want to extinguish your fire? If you want to extinguish the fire, head to paragraph 19. If you want to leave it burning, go to paragraph 20.

(14)
You slash at the wolf with your sword. The wolf is badly injured. It whimpers, and then sticks its head in the air and howls. A whole pack of angry wolves emerge from the woods, heading straight for you. You run away. You are a fast runner, but you can’t compete with their amazing agility. You try to fend them off, but they overwhelm you with their numbers. They bite at your legs, and you collapse. You are eaten alive by the pack of hungry wolves.
The End.
(15)
Screech! You look up at the sky. You see a bunch of phantoms circling over you. You remember that you hadn’t slept in over a week because you were renovating your house. And now that you are far from civilization, the phantoms can now come for you. Forget what the last paragraph said, the risk of getting headbutted off the cliff is definitely not gone now. You are beginning to wish you brought a bow and arrows. You try to run for your tent, but you never make it. A phantom swoops down and hits you in the chest, biting you for good measure. You stumble, merely a few inches away from the cliff, when another phantom comes down and headbutts you in the back. You fly off the cliff, wishing you hadn’t voted for the phantom at MineCon Earth 2017.
The End.

(16)
You are too tired to stay up any longer, especially because you hadn’t slept at all in the past week, so you decide you need to go to bed right now. You climb into your tent, and you get a good night’s worth of sleep. You wake up and make yourself breakfast. After breakfast, you know you will need to return home. You take a look at the cliff. You realize that getting down may be harder than getting up. You could easily lose your balance and fall to your death. That's when you first notice the waterfall. You also have an idea that you could get a water bucket and try to do a water bucket MLG, where you jump from high ground and place water at the last second to cushion your fall. You’ve never done it before, but there’s a first to everything. If you choose to climb down the cliff, go to paragraph 21. If you want to try a water bucket MLG, go to paragraph 22.

(17)
You take out your pickaxe and begin to mine a tunnel. You are hoping it will lead out of the mountain, or to some treasure at least. You have a big eye for treasure. You keep tunneling. You notice that the temperature feels warmer than it did earlier. You take that as a good sign that you are almost out of the cave. While you are tunneling, you notice a diamond ore block right above you. Excited, you mine the diamond ore. As soon as the ore breaks, lava pours out from the hole right above your head. You aren’t quick enough to run. The lava engulfs you, barbecuing your body. You die before you can even scream.
The End
(18)
You light a torch and explore the cave, hoping it will lead out of the mountain. You follow the cave for what seems like several hours, and finally, you see daylight. You can see the exit to the cave! But there’s a slight problem. There is a zombie dungeon right next to the exit, and your path is blocked by a horde of zombies. You will clearly have to fight them if you want to get out of this cave. Which weapon should you use? Your sword? Or your ax? If you want to fight the zombies with your sword, go to paragraph 23. If you want to fight them with your ax, go to paragraph 24.

(19)
You make up your mind and throw the water onto the fire. The fire is just a pile of smoldering logs and smoke now. You decide to head to bed. You climb into your tent and are hoping for a good night's sleep. If you have tamed a wolf, go to paragraph 25. If you haven’t, go to paragraph 26.

(20)
You decide to leave the fire burning. The light from the fire should keep any mobs from coming near you. You climb into your tent, and you fall asleep almost instantly. A few hours later, you wake up. You smell smoke. You come out of your tent to check on your fire, and you almost have a heart attack. What was once the forest is now a bunch of fire and burning wood. The sparks from your campfire must have started up a forest fire! You panic and run to the lake to get a bucket of water. That’s when you realize how much damage you have done. The whole forest is on fire, and there is no way you can put it out alone. What you see next almost gives you another heart attack. What looks to be the burning remains of a player’s house is sitting to the right of the lake. That player is standing next to the ruins, very confused and angry. The player turns and spots you. He correctly assumes that you started the fire and burned down his house. He pulls out a button. The modreq button! You run over, waving your arms, begging him not to press the button, but he ignores you. He pushes his finger onto the modreq button. 5 seconds later, thunder booms. Lightning flashes, and WallyDonkey appears, standing right in front of you. “So”, he says. “You thought you’d start a forest fire, and burn down this player's house?” You beg for mercy. You try to tell him that it was an accident, that you didn't mean any harm, but it’s no use. “By playing here, we expect that you are aware of all our rules. Your disregard for our rules affects the honest players on this server.” He takes out his ban hammer, raises it, and whacks you in the face with it. You vanish, never to be seen again.
The End.
(21)
You start the torturous journey back down the mountain. The danger of falling is much more obvious now. Step, after step, you slowly make your way down. But you place your foot too close to the edge on one rock. You slip and fall, thinking this is the end. But you weren't as far up as you thought you were. You land in the trees. It hurt. A lot. But you are still in one piece. You eat some food to heal yourself up, and you decide you have had enough pain for one camping trip. You decide to head back home, where you can share the story of how you scaled the mountain with your bare hands. That was quite an exhausting camping trip, but you made it through!
The End.
(22)
You fill up your bucket with water. You walk to the edge of the cliff. It is very high up, but you are confident that you can make it. You jump off the mountain, water bucket in hand. But while you are falling, you realize that you aren’t Dream. You have never done a water bucket MLG before. You don’t have the experience with the timing and reflexes. It occurs to you to drop the water way too late, and you crash to the ground. All that is left of you is a pile of your belongings.
The End.
(23)
You draw your sword, and the zombies come at you. You slash your sword, bringing down several zombies at once. The zombies don’t stand a chance with your long sword length and your attack speed. Soon, the ground is littered with rotten flesh, limbs, and zombie heads. The exit to the cave is now free. You leave the cave, breathing in the fresh air. You set up your tent, cook yourself dinner, and you have one of the best sleeps ever. When you wake up, you are ready to go home. You have had plenty of adventure and excitement for a day, and you need to unwind. You pack up your gear, bid the mountain goodbye, and you set out, on your way to your nice, cozy bed.
The End.
(24)
You brandish your ax, hoping you look intimidating enough that the zombies will run away. No such luck. The zombies come at you. You swing your ax at the first zombie. The ax embeds in its chest, and it falls. You try to remove the ax from its body, but it is lodged in there. The other zombies are punching you. You finally get the ax out of the zombie’s body, but another zombie punches the ax out of your hand. You try to reach for your sword, but the zombies keep punching you. Finally, you can't take any more punches. A zombie punches you in the head and you collapse. The zombies drag you off to their dungeon, ready to dine on their next meal.
The End.
(25)
You slept surprisingly well that night. You wake up very well rested. You can see the sunlight coming through the window in your tent. You open up your tent to make breakfast, and you find your wolf standing outside the tent, wagging its tail happily. You take a look at the campsite, and you find lots of rotten flesh, bones, and zombie heads lying around. You realize the wolf must have killed all those mobs while you were asleep. You pet it on the head and decide you are going to keep it. You are ready to go home now. You have had enough dead mobs for a while now. You make breakfast, pack up your tent, and set out on the road home, with your new pet.
The End.
(26)
You wake up in the middle of the night to a loud groaning outside your tent. You peek a little out of your tent. Your camp is overrun with zombies, skeletons, and creepers! You reach for your pack to get your sword, but a zombie has already discovered your pack, and is rifling through your supplies. You try to punch the zombie away. The zombie doesn’t like that and reaches into your pack and pulls out your sword. Panicked, you try to wrestle the sword out of the zombie’s hands, but it turns out zombies know how to use swords as well. You end up getting killed by your own sword.
The End.

[MCG8]

Camping Adventures

Trees streaked past the windows of our black SUV. I sighed, we were on our way for another long camping trip with lots of mosquito bites and no air conditioning. My little brother, Oliver, bounced happily in his seat next to me and played with his neon green dinosaur that he got for Christmas. Even six months later, that toy didn’t bring him any less joy. He couldn’t care less that we wouldn’t have air conditioning and the weather forecast called for a weeklong heatwave.
From the front seat my mom announced, “Here we are!” and I looked out of the window again. The faded park sign that said “Welcome to Beavertail Bay!” flashed by. We registered at the park office then shortly after we arrived at the campsite. There was a picnic table, a fire pit and a large space for us to park our camper. The site was what you’d expect, not much grass, surrounded by forest and other campsites. After parking the trailer my dad and Oliver wandered off to explore and mom went to set up some more things. Climbing into the back seat of the van, I started moving objects around until finally I found my guitar. Slinging it over my shoulder, I popped in the trailer, “Mom I’m going to go explore.” Continuing to rummage in the storage cabinet she gave me the go ahead and just as I was stepping out she added, “Sophia, don’t go too far into the woods.” I rolled my eyes, I’d been coming to this park ever since I was a baby. I knew the rules, you can’t go so far into the woods that you can't see a campsite or a trail especially if you’re alone.
I walked slowly, looking down at my feet and the trail. My long brown hair kept falling out from behind my ear as I walked. Grabbing a hair elastic off of my wrist, I tied my hair up in a ponytail. When it came to how I looked, I was pretty basic. Ponytails, plain t-shirts, jean shorts and slip on running shoes. It was comfortable and didn’t scream, Hey look at me! I need attention!
I finally found the trail that went to the beach. I discovered it when I was here with my grandmother when I was little. It was out of the way behind the park office. When you took it down to the beach it was surrounded by trees and I’d never seen anybody there before. It was a nice spot to go if you wanted to be alone.
Hiking down the trail, I swatted at a swarm of little bugs clustered around a hole in a gnarled tree. It smelled vaguely like decay, I gagged and picked up the pace. It was difficult to run with a guitar on your back and I didn’t want to break this one. It had belonged to my grandmother, and it was the last piece of her I had left. It was made out of wood that had a silvery tint, which she used to say was wood from a different dimension but my dad said that she got it covered in a silver gloss. It had little designs of vines weaving across the frets and small flowers dotted the base of it.
It was what inspired me to start learning guitar when I was little.
I made it down to the beach and walked over to my spot, a boulder that was somehow always in the shade no matter what time of day it was. I sat down and opened the case, there was my beautiful guitar. A smile crept onto my face, all the memories playing with my grandma when I was little came flooding back. Picking it up, I strummed a few chords and listened to it radiate across the beach. It never occurred to me why I never heard people on that boulder and why nature seemed more in tune with me. Bugs never bothered me, animals like squirrels and chipmunks would gather at the edge of the forest and listen to me play and the birds would join in occasionally. But I was in my own world and never thought anything of it.
I plucked a few strings, vaguely aware that my tongue was sticking out of the corner of my mouth. I stopped playing and heard the birds singing in the trees. It sounded like a lullaby. I listened and then played a few chords to mimic them. Then they abruptly stopped. I continued on with the song and, once I finished, I looked around at my surroundings. The animals were nowhere to see and there was something in the air in front of me. The best way I could describe it was that the air had been cut.
I never thought that I should be afraid, the only thing on my mind was curiosity. Sliding off the boulder, I placed the guitar back into its case at the bottom of the rock and walked over, studying the opening in the air. I reached my fingers out and it rippled a little at my touch. Then it expanded. I jumped back, startled, and it kept growing and growing until it was big enough for a bus to go through. It was true darkness, thick inky black nothingness. Before I could go over and touch it again, something exploded out of it. Its upper body was a wolf and it had a serpent tail. It slithered towards me and I yelped. I scrambled over to the rock and at the last second grabbed my guitar. The creature took one look at me and then went barrelling into the forest. Terrified, I stayed on my rock because something else had entered (or exited?). It was a humanoid figure that was decked out in sparkling armour. They were frantically trying to close the darkness, they had seized the rim of the circle and trying to close the dark sphere. The person yelled at me, “WOULD YOU GET OVER HERE AND HELP?” Startled at the deep gravelly voice, I paused for a moment wondering if I should help. Before I knew what I was doing, I was running over and, together, we managed to close the dark hole.
Exhausted, I flopped onto the sand and the person beside me removed his mask. He had charcoal black skin, his hair, contrary to his skin, was so white that it looked like it was glowing. He glared at me with eyes that looked like pools of molten gold. “What’d you do that for?” His mask must do something to his voice because it sounded not particularly deep but also not high. He looked to be about 15, my age, and was decked out in silver armour with speckles of sparkly blue crystals embedded into it.
Shaking my head to clear it a bit I replied, “Do what?” He gawked at me like I was the stupidest creature he had ever encountered. Closing his mouth, he turned toward the path that led back up to the campground, where the creature had run off.
“I don't have time for this.” He muttered as he trekked off along the path. Grabbing my guitar, I hurried up to him.
I had a million questions like, where did you come from? Who are you? What was that thing? But what escaped my mouth was, “What do you think you’re doing? You can’t go up there looking like that.”
“What do you mean?” He looked at his armour, I realized he had a sword attached to his back.
“Well for one thing, every park ranger would be on you if they realized you have a sword. By the way, what was that thing? What was that black thing and who are you?” All my questions tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them.
He opened his mouth to answer but heard a rustling beside him. Before I could even blink he had his sword in his hand and pointed at a harmless bunny. I opened my mouth but before I said anything the bunny ran off.
“Fine.” He grunted and took off his armour and sword, stuffed it into a plain brown sack and whispered a few words into the bag before it changed into a satchel which he put on and continued up along the path. He had a simple grey shirt and brown cargo pants on, no shoes and he wasn’t making a single sound going up the path. Where did he come from?
“I don’t think I caught your name, I’m Sophia.”
Without looking back he said “Silas.”
“What was the black thing?”
“It was a portal from your dimension to mine.”
“Where are you from?”
“Not here.”
I scowled. Boys were impossible. We made it to the top of the path and he scanned the area and saw destruction going towards the road. He started walking towards it and I followed, then he stopped, “This is where we split up. This is your fault that the creature got loose and now I have to fix it and bring it back to my world.”
“How is this my fault? I was just playing my guitar and then that thing exploded out of the sky and tried to attack me.”
“Obviously somebody cursed your guitar.” He turned from me and ran off. Anger was boiling in me. He couldn’t just say my grandma’s guitar is cursed then run off.
I ran after him, “Listen, my guitar isn’t cursed. It was my grandmother’s.” Just then I tripped over a root and sprawled onto the ground and my guitar case hit the ground with a thud. Gasping, I sprang up and went over to see if it was ok, I opened the lid and took it out. I played a few chords which attracted the attention of Silas.
He jogged back over to me and half whispered, half hissed, “Where did you get that?”
I scowled at him, “I told you. It was my grandma’s guitar.”
“Then she’s a thief.”
“Excuse me?” I got to my feet and put the guitar’s strap over my chest. “My grandmother was no thief. She got it from an old friend.” Hesitating for a second, I decided to tell him the legend of where the guitar originated. My dad said it wasn’t true but I thought it was wonderful. “She used to tell me a story about how it was from a magical land where silver and gold grew on trees and the stars sparkled and granted wishes. It’s made out of silver wood and could ward off evil creatures with its light. Its music could heal the mind and body but could also be a deadly weapon.” I smiled smugly at his face, which was a mix of shock, confusion, admiration and fear.
“If what you say is true, I guess you do need to come with me.” And he grabbed my arm and we took off down the trail of destruction.
“What do you mean, if what I say is true? It’s just a story.”
“It’s more than just a story. That place in the tale is where I come from and the girl who owned that guitar was the daughter of the royal musician and the best warrior in the land. Legend says she fell in love with a man in a different world and left. She was gifted a legendary instrumental weapon that would keep her safe and could bring her home if ever she wanted.”
My mind slowly processed everything. That would make sense with all her grandmother’s stories and her strange habits. I ran alongside him and we reached the strange monster. He opened the satchel and said “Erach” and all his armour flew onto him and the sword landed in his open hands. He started taunting the creature, obviously this wasn’t his first time fighting monsters.
The wolf serpent lunged at him and he held him back with his sword, “A little help maybe?” He said through gritted teeth. How was I supposed to help? My mind started racing, in the story the guitar could become a weapon. How though? I imagined it becoming a sword then the guitar stretched and warped and turned into a glistening blade.
Triumphant, I walked a few steps over to the monster. The sword was heavier than a sack of bricks but I managed to keep it up. The monster was cowering when I brought the light of the sword near it. I took a few more steps and I swung, it was sloppy, especially since I wasn’t strong and I had no training but when the sword made contact with the creature it melted away.
I let the sword tip drop to the ground. Silas walked over, “Good job.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“You defeated a monster.” It still felt pathetic. I got lucky. It was because of my strange guitar sword. At the thought of the instrument it changed back into its original shape.
Looking at the sky I realized that it was late afternoon, I had to go back to my family. “Are you going back home now?”
“I guess.” He opened his satchel and took out a little circular gem, it was electric blue. He gave it to me, “If you ever want to come by my dimension, just throw this into water and a safe portal should open up.”
I smiled, grateful but also wondered why he had little gems that could open portals between our worlds. He took another little gem out and a water bottle, he dumped water on the ground then threw the gem into the water, “So long Sophia. I hope to see you again someday.”
What escaped my mouth was “Bye Silas.” But what I was thinking was “Whaaaaat just happened?” He jumped into the portal and it closed behind him. I walked back to our campsite wondering what a strange day that had been. I thought of so many more questions I had and rolled the little gem around in my hand, then I put it in a pocket of my guitar case, which I picked up from where I left it. I had a feeling that it wasn't the last adventure for me but I couldn’t care less. I was exhausted and it was so hot out that all I wanted to do was jump in the lake.
Stepping back into camp my brother and dad were playing cards and mom was on a chair reading. “How did exploring go?”
I shrugged, “It was fine. I played some music.” Then I went into the camper, put my guitar on my bed, flopped down and fell asleep. I had amazing dreams about battling monsters, magic swords and a boy in shining armour.

[saemai]

Posting for Paximanix:

SUMMER JOURNAL

Day 1 - Departure

⠀⠀⠀⠀It all started on August fifteenth. Me and Emily got into a car and started driving. It was 5a.m., so we could avoid any traffic. We drove for an hour or so when we finally came to the seaside and figured we should try and camp there for a few days. So we set up a tent and a small white table in front. We had breakfast and then went swimming in the cold sea. We saw a small island that was about a kilometer away from our tent. At around eleven a.m. the heat really started to get in our way, so we decided we should just rest and read for the rest of the day. After all, we did wake up at four. And maybe we could go swimming for a bit in the evening. So the first day of camping went to a close. The sun was setting and we ate dinner, looking at the sunset. You really don't see that every day. And let me tell you, we couldn't even imagine what we would see on this trip.

Day 2 - Explore

⠀⠀⠀⠀Our goal for the second day was to explore the island. So we ate breakfast. After that we just packed lunch, water and a blanket. We put it all into a boat that we rented at the camping site. We jumped into the boat and started rowing towards the small island. After around ten minutes, we arrived at our destination: The island. It was around one square kilometer in size, so it wasn’t that big in comparison with other islands around. When we hopped out of the boat, we saw a big tower made out of cobblestone with a bell on top. It was abandoned and it was falling apart. We put down the blanket near the tower and ate lunch, not because it was time, but because we were very hungry. After lunch, we asked ourselves: do we really want to go to this creepy tower? We were both afraid but we were too curious. So we went through the entrance at the front of the tower that led to somewhere underground. We turned on our flashlight so we could see. There appeared to be some writings on the walls, but we didn’t understand what they meant since they looked just like random scribbles. While we tried to read the writings, we noticed that there was a staircase leading up to the tower. So we decided, if we came this far, we might as well check what’s at the top of the tower. The stairs were falling apart too, so we had to be really careful so nobody would fall. When we reached the top of the tower we saw the bell up close. There were writings up there too, but we still didn’t understand what they meant. The view was indescribable. We saw our camp and our boat, the islands far away and because of the clear sky, we could just see the mountain we lived by. All of a sudden, the sky turned black and clouds drifted from everywhere. Lightning strikes the island and the wind starts raging. We quickly ran back into the tower. When we were safe in the underground room we took a deep breath and then… And what do you think we did next? We ran like crazy. We grabbed our blanket and our backpacks and jumped into the boat. We rowed like crazy and in three minutes we were back in our tent. As soon as we came out of the boat, the sky became clear again and the wind stopped.

Day 3 - Rest

⠀⠀⠀⠀After day two, we decided we should rest a bit since these are our holidays. For us, rest means not going on that island again. And maybe a bit of reading. So we ate breakfast, read a bit and for lunch we went into a restaurant. I ordered a salad and Emily ordered steak with fried potatoes. After lunch, we went for a walk on a summer day. We walked by the sea side and asked ourselves if we should investigate the small island further. We figured we should, out of curiosity. Ok, maybe we would do it for fun. So we went back to our camp and took one more swim in the sea, which was getting warmer every day.

Day 4 - The Island

⠀⠀⠀⠀We woke up at around eight o’clock, ate breakfast - the usual things. Even if it’s day 4 it feels like we are here forever. We packed our lunch again and hopped into the boat. Like the last time, we arrived in about 5 minutes and ate lunch because we were hungry. As we ate lunch, we heard a bell. At first we didn’t pay much attention, but then we realized it was coming from the tower. And that means someone is ON that tower. So we went to investigate. We ran up the stairs and you know what we saw? We saw nothing. Nothing. We went back to the underground room but as soon as we came in, the bell rang again. We were very confused. We ran outside and looked up: there was no one there again. We checked the time and it was 12:05 a.m.. So we ate the last bits of our lunch and went to try and read some of the scribbles on the walls underground. With no luck we decided we should go back to the camp.

Day 5 - Further investigation

⠀⠀⠀⠀The next day we walked around the camp and asked if anyone knew anything about the tower. Everyone said either no or I think it’s just a normal tower. So we lost all hope that we would come to the bottom of this mystery. But when we came to the camp bar, something interesting happened. The guy behind the bar was named David. And he had something to say about the tower. He said that sometimes it ringes at exactly 12:00 but not every day. He also said there is no pattern of when the bell rings. One more thing he said was that he knows someone that might know about the bell thing. His name was John. So in excitement we went back to our tent, went for a swim and went to sleep.

Day 6 - John

⠀⠀⠀⠀After breakfast we went in search of John. We asked the guy behind the bar where he lives and learned that he lives in a very nice wooden house on the top of the hill on our right and that it’s really hard to miss. So we went hiking since the hill isn’t that small. When we reached the top, we knocked on the door of the big beautiful wooden house. Someone opened the door. We asked if John lives here and it turns out that the man that opened the door for us was John. So he invited us for a cup of tea. We asked him about the tower. He was quiet for a bit. Then he started talking. He said that he heard of a legend about some ghost that lives on that island. The ghost rings the bell when he is really mad. He writes in his language that no one understands on the walls of the underground room. He wants no one to visit his island since that island is his own. But sometimes there is also a good type of ghost on that island. If someone visits the island usually. He tries to help them so that the other ghost doesn’t get angry. And that was all he knew.

Day 7 - Final day

⠀⠀⠀⠀The next day, we got ready for the final trip to the island since this was our last day on vacation. We rented a boat, knowing that this will be our last rent this year. We rowed to the island and immediately when we arrived the bell rang. We went to check out the top if anyone was there. And there was an old man. After a few moments Emily remembered that that’s the guy that we rented our camp plot at. So we said hi. And he said hi as well. We asked him what he’s doing and why he was ringing the bell. He was a bit confused but then said that it’s just his daily routine. It’s midday or twelve o’clock and he comes to ring the bell to let people know they have to get out of the sun. He said he doesn’t do it everyday since sometimes he forgets or is too busy. We asked if the legend about the two ghosts is fake and he confirmed that it’s fake. We also asked about the writings and he said that sometimes if he gets bored or if it’s too hot he scribbles on the wall a bit. So that’s the mystery we wanted to solve. We went back into our boat and returned it to the owner, went for a swim. After that we ate lunch, hopped into the car and went back home.

THE END

Questions you might ask after you read the story:
⠀⠀⠀⠀The old man comes to the island with a boat. Where is the boat? The old man parks
on the other side of the island, because there is a nice place where you can park your boat

[Mir07]

The Wild West

John was a normal person, living in Dodge City, Kansas, Dodge City was a very beautiful city in the Far West, in America, and also one of the most important, it had the biggest trading center and lots of good, kind and respectful people. They had the best saloons, stables and houses, but on the other hand, they also had a lot of delinquency and the sheriff and policemans were not able to deal with it really well… They often had robberies on the main banks, and you had to be very careful on the streets as you were always being watched, and possibly in danger. That's why John always had a friend with him, Josh, and also another friend, his gun, a huge and imposing quadruple barrel Lancaster, while Josh always had with him his Paterson Navy. They both came from very important and rich families, so they had their own horses and their carts, to travel along and go exploring.


Josh and Abigail were getting married in a few weeks but last night, they got in an argument, which neither of them won, so they both got angry with each other and went to sleep. In the early morning John went to Josh’s house and asked him if he wanted to go camping on the west mountains around Dodge City, and Josh, without thinking much about it though it was a good idea and they both left without even telling their families. When the sun was all set on the sky, Abigail got up, got dressed and prepared herself for the day, when she went to the kitchen John was not there, she waited around 20 mins, and then she went to wake up John, but for her surprise, when she opened the door, John wasn't’ there. Meanwhile, John and Josh were riding their horses, Dixie and Clyde, directly to the West Mountains. Abigail stood at her house waiting for John until the night arrived, she was afraid something would have happened to him, so she went to the sheriff's office to report about his disappeared husband when suddenly, while she was writing some paper information about him, the windows exploded, she fell on the ground and didn’t see anything as she got her eye’s blind because of the flash of the explosion, after a minute or so, she was able to see back again, and she saw the sheriff on the ground, with a big hole on his torso, going to side to side, the floor she laid on was all full of blood, broken glass and some gun rounds, when she moved a bit to stand up and see what else happened 3 men opened the sheriff's office front door, which was full of bullet holes and didn’t have any glass on it anymore, when she saw that, she remained in the ground. The 3 man entered the office, one of them went down the stairs, the other ones carried the sheriff’s corpse to a cart that was outside the build, which Abigail could see through the empty windows, the kart was all black, it was closed and looks luxurious, on its front, there were two really tall and wide black horses. Suddenly, the 3 men came back to the office, now it seemed like the one that went down the stairs went to the cells, to rescue, which probably was a member, or a leader from their own faction. One of the men said in a rough voice >>Are we taking her to??<< The man who was in the cell before said yes with the head and the other three carried her to the cart, she did like she was unconscious. The 4 men got inside the cart, two in the driving position and two sat in the passenger seats. While all that was happening, Josh and John were calmly eating some fresh meat on top of the west mountains, they already camped and were ready to go to sleep.


The next morning, John, Josh and their horses started going back down the mountains when John remembered about Abigail >>Will she be okay with the fact that we went camping without even telling her?<< He thought. Around two hours later they got back home, when John arrived he didn’t see Abigail around, so he went to the saloon and on his way there, he saw lots of people around the sheriff’s office, he wondered what happened and as he was curious, he went to see. When he got there, Josh, who was there already, called him in a hysterical voice. >>John, come! Fast!<< When he got there, he couldn’t believe it, the sheriff office was raided last night, but the most stunning thing was that there was a paper on the sheriff’s table, which John guessed Abigail wrote, asking help from the sheriff, to go find him. At the moment he saw that, he went running to get his horse, he got his most special guns and went to the rescue of Abigail, he knew the criminals would be around, as they had to camp for the night, so he went as fast as he could to the main road, and started raiding south. In case you didn’t know, John was one, the sheriff of his natal town, but as he moved to Dodge City he renounced to it, when he was at Dodge City’s sheriff office, he heard some man talking about the BlackGang, and he perfectly knew where they're base was and how to get to it in just a couple of hours. After -4 hours raiding his horse, he got to a huge and strange looking and black fort. Meanwhile, inside, Abigail was tied up in a cell, somewhere inside the building. Abigail had very impressive escapist abilities, lucky for her, the ropes were not really well tied up, and she easily got untied by cutting one of them with the spur on his boots, as far as she did that, she grabbed her hair clip and put it inside the door lock, the door unlocked easily, and she was able to open the cell door and escape the cell, but she didn’t escape the fortress yet. She started moving silently around corridors of the building until, through a window, she saw the main yard, and also the main door, she studied the guard’s movements, and easily knew when she could go to the door and try to unlock it. One minute later, without worrying about the sound, she broke the window and went running through the yard. When she was around 10 meters from the door, something completely blew it up, John appeared behind it, with a fully loaded double barrel shotgun. John told her to follow him as fast as she could, so she did it, and they arrived at John's Horse. They could hear the guards yelling on the fort, but they were already out, they both got on the horse and started riding to Dodge City. During the small trip, both of them realized how important it is to not get angry or start an argument for nothing really important, and to love and appreciate what you have, at the time you have it.

-Mir07

[saemai]

Posting for Wren:

The plans that went wrong: by Wren/Ashe the fox

(Warning content might be intense/scary for some viewers, also is very dramatic.)

Story begins

It was early morning when my mother told me the news. "We're going camping!" My mother had told me, though knowing her she startled me out of bed, with the news. "Okay, okay, I get it, When? Where? How long?" I'd reply. "Curious as always. Tonight, the camper, for a week. But more pacificly about an hour away." She'd say starting off with a sarcastic tone, that'd slowly calm down. "Now, how about we get you fed."

After eating, I'd find time would go slow. But I was doing everything I could to make it pass. But obviously this story is about camping, so let's time skip. "I'm done packing mom!" I'd say while loading my stuff into the camper. If your curious the camper, well it had 1 bed, my mom got, the couch for me, and it was about medium sized, had a small kitchen, everything we would need.

It was about 8:48pm by the time we got there, and 9:23pm by they time we got settled. So just like that.. I had set out for a camping adventure. "Wren (me), can you please set up your stuff on the couch, we need to wake up bright and early if we want to do anything." My mom said, and with a nod I started, and finished quickly, as it was a simple task. "Okay, goodnight mom." I had said, as I curled up. Now I had fallen asleep, fairly fast, but I had a nightmare "(dream) what if since mom forgot a lock we'll get robbed.. its a shady place" And after a while you'll see this harmless nightmare, become a cruel reality.

So I'd wake up, the sun shining, the birds chirping, my mom screaming, wait what? Huh? "Mama?!" I'd say startled "Whats got you screaming?" I'd consider, maybe a racoon? Or a possum "They've took our food!" She'd say, and I'd reply almost instantly "Racoons, Those silly trash pandas!" But no, the reality hit when she said "No, Robbers, This isn't a laughing matter, its all gone, our water supply too, its all gone!!"

She'd been freaking out at this point, which I understood, I mean, y'know, our foods gone. I strait away grabbed my wallet and walked out. "What are you doing, Wren? WREN!" She'd say. "Going to see how much their meals would cost. How many days we can last, I mean for the worst we come home, now chech our valuables,
I mean, who just steals food/water." I'd say, as I rambled on about why the thief might have stole our food

"Hm.. 14..15..16.. 16$.. times 6... 96? Hope that's correct, I'll hand them a 100$." I thought out loud "12, meals please!" As I handed him a 100$, I glanced away, because I heard a sound, sombody had dropped somthing, the seller made a low grumble, as I turned back I noticed him staring at me, his eyes were glowing red, but wait? They were green before? Whatever, I must be imaging things. "Here you go." He said handing me a few plastic bags stuff with small boxes.

As I headed back I thought about his eyes...? Why he was just standing staring..? he was working alone... so why would he just stare? Noted, the camp worker is a weird person, no im just imaging, he's probably just... having a slow day! Yeah! Thats it. I mean, I have them too.

"Mom, are you here?" I said with a quick reply from on top of the camper. "Yeah, I'm on the roof, I wanted to make sure you didn't so somthing wrong. Nothing else is missing."
As she said that I sighed. "Not trusting me eh, whatever, I'm taking a nap. " I said with a harsh, but somewhat calm voice. When I woke up it was sudden, I quickly sat up, saw it was dark out, saw the door open- wait "WHAT!? Mom!?" I said running out off bed, she wasn't anywhere, in the camper, on top of it, she just, poofed.

I had just processed this all, for like 20 minutes"Moms gone, food was stolen, weird dude. this adds together.. kinda? A little. I need to ask this dude what is happening""Sir. Somthing is up with this place and I cant tell what, I'd appreciate if you told me. Because my original food was stolen, you were acting weird, and now my mother is missing! And I don't know how to even process this!"

"Oh you don't know, haha, have you not heard of the haunted Franklin Park camping? You don't know, did your mom not tell you? This place isn't normal kid.  I'd be surprised if you made it out."  He said, at this point he rose out of his chair, eyes glowing a fierce red. "Huh?" I said as I backed up "Okay, I make this easier for you to hear "I stole your food. I'm not human. Your mother is gone, she left you."  He said leaving his little food stand. "Okay, then I'm leaving. After you tell me where my mother is, I'm leaving.  " I said with a tear rolling down my cheek, that was red in anger. "And you think it's that simple? Your just gonna leave? How, how? I'll make you a deal, if you can find your mother with just 1 hint, ill let you free, and this won't be easy." he said with a chuckle.

"Okay, give me the hint" I said stiffening my body, while I glared at him to a intense amount. "Earlier you heard a crash, upon that location she is. It won't be easy though, as she might be close, but reaching her is a harder task." He said. "So its a puzzle? Got it." As I said hat I noticed the walls surrounding the campsite went up, about 40 feet. So he wants to play dirty, but little did he know I knew past his trick, the hole in the wall! But mama- I'll find her first, of course. So the sound. This way, after 3 whole hours, I realized " The speaker!" I ran back to the man. "Let me in." I said, barging into his hut. "I SEE HER!" I grabbed her arm and rand to the gate, it was open.  Let's go!

The end

[saemai]

Posting for MarshmalIow:

!!!This story contains bears (not the cute and cuddly ones) and mentions of blood!!!



⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀15:04

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Text message



Heyo, you ready for our
Camping trip on friday?


⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Wait, it was this friday ??


Uh, yeah.. Did you forget?


⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Why would I ??




You: “oh no.. it's this friday- i totally forgot !!! I should hurry, after all, Friday is tomorrow !!


You pack your things in your bag

You packed:

Bug spray, blankets, pillows, lantern, phone, bin bags, food and a 4L bottle of water

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀~ the next day ~



*Ding dong*

You: “their here!! Lets go” you say rushing to the door, forgetting your sleeping bag in your bedroom


Friend.2: “Hey man, you ready?”

You: “totally !!! i packed a 4L water bottle LOL”

Friend.1: “haha, that will be enough for the 3 of us”

You: lets go!!


⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀~at the campsite~



You and your friends are setting up your tent, where do you want to set it up?



Next to the lake, its best by the water !!! (head to the paragraph with 1 on it)

By the forest. You like the sound of nature, why not be next to a big forest ? (head to the paragraph with 2 on it)

In the middle of the campsite, in a field. You don't want to be near the water as the levels get to high- and you heard rumours of bears. (head to the paragraph with 3 on it)




1

You and your friends just finished setting up your tent, it's starting to get dark and you hear the water flowing outside of your tent, you hear noises outside of your tent and want to explore, so you turn on the lantern and see nothing, you decide to go back to your friends in the tent
(head to paragraph 4)


2

You and your friends just finished setting up your tent, it's starting to get dark and you hear the trees bumping into each other, you dislike the sound of the branches bashing into the others’ tents and you decide to go to sleep, however you hear a growling noise and think your friends are just hungry- you fall asleep with the growling noise getting further away.
(head to paragraph 4)



3

You and your friends just finished setting up your tent, it's starting to get dark and you hear the wind blowing and you believe its calming, the other peoples tents are lit up and your friends are drifting off to sleep, you however want to explore the campsite a bit more, but decide to do so in the morning.
(head to paragraph 4)


4

Its finally morning and you and your friends go exploring around the campsite, you see a cafe and decide to stop there for some breakfast, you and your friends ask for a menu.


You decide to order waffles with a side of icecream and whipped cream.




⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀~later~



Your friends start heading towards the forest saying that you should come with, what do you do?


You dont follow them and decide to go to the lake instead (head to paragraph 6)

You follow them and explore the forest (head to paragraph 7)




6

You decide not to follow your friends and head to the lake instead, at the lake you see beautifull shells on the beach, however the beach is manmade and you cant do much with the sand its made from, so you head back to your tent for the night.
The End (good ending)


7

You and your friends decide to go to the forest and explore around a bit, you tell your friends that you want to stay near the campsite, however they say that their going so far in all you can see is trees, you deicde that since you have your phone with you its not that bad. You come out bruised and bleeding from being attacked by creatures in the forest.

The end (bad ending)

[Shoki]

The Camp
[TW: THIS IS HORROR BASED DO NOT READ IF HORROR SCARES YOU]

Ready to travel bringing all the survival necessities with me to live in a god ridden forest.
It is strange to think about it, it is that this forest never was entered or ruined it was strange but that never bothered me, I could do whatever I wanted I am a new fledgling adult it was time to explore and camp to feel free in my own little world.
No one can stop me not now and not ever!

That is what I told myself . . .

That regret came down crashing and slammed me into my own corner of fear.
It was like a whole new story had awoken. A whole new tale to tell if I live to tell the story.

It was like nothing I have seen before the forest seemed to be never ending while I ran to get to my camp site that was horribly made and no one not even a homeless person could live in without getting cold because it was demolished and broken down like how I was now panting for my dear life.

This abnormal entity was the thing that might have kept the forest silent, for no one to tell or talk about the camp as it was the talent it held to lure in the prey like me, prey like campers who visited and where unfortunate to see the reaper early on in their life. It kept the towns folks silent from all the fear it had held over the years that one word about the forest seemed to kept the town in pure silence as if the town became desolate.

I had pure regret of calling myself a “fledgling” adult as this entity seemed to have legs of bones and skin that seemed to rip from dryness. It was nothing of this world it was like the devil himself was staring into my soul chasing me down for lunch. Run, run, run please legs go faster you need to move that is what I told myself at the time, but I knew that adrenaline could not save me from the creature, this monster, this thing that followed me around trying to grasp on to me its hands so big it could crush a meek deer or a strong deer and I was that deer, I was the deer being chased trying to find something, someone, anything that could let me free from my own misery. Nothing the same old thing repeatedly. The camp, the trees, the dirt. It was a never-ending cycle going around in circles it seemed. One min I am in the forest and the second I am at my camp, but it was strange every single time because if this is a never-ending cycle who knows when I will be free from this, who knows when I will see my family again. It was my fate I guess, the true reality that death was supposed to be the last thing I will see.

NOT YET!!! I cannot let it take me away from the things I love! I was ready to fight with my life so I kept running until I came back to the camp again hiding in the bushes for it to pass by and I know that this creature would cycle around as well after couple of minutes or so. After waiting and that seemed like eternity I leaped out of the bush, grabbed a stick, and wrapped it with cotton and gauze and with a flint I had to set it on fire. One, two, three and nothing . . . One, two, three and nothing again. Why did this thing not work but realization struck hard and that was this creature was going to come round any moment and if I did not get this fire going, I would be stuck running again or even hiding. One, two, three. . . nothing again. “Please work” I told myself hoping and praying to God that he could forgive me for the sins and save me. One, two, three and there magically a fire arose. There is a God who listens, but there was no time for bickering about God I needed to light this forest on fire to end this.

This forest was dry like the entity and if I was right maybe this was an illusion I walked into. An illusion this foul soul created to trap its prey. I was no one's prey today.

As I saw it stomp its way through the trees it stood still looking at the golden flame that burned right next to my face. The entity seemed to stare and stare until it moved one step closer and with a shout “STAY BACK!! DO NOT COME FURTHER OR THIS WHOLE THING GOES DOWN!!.” It seemed to understand as it stepped backwards. “Gotcha” I whispered and threw the fire at this thing.

Hours went by and walking around the forest that was burning with the dancing flames that crowded me I knew that this was not something I could get out of easily as branches fell and smashed the ground burning everything around it and anything that got in its way. It was not the entity now that was chasing me but the fire itself. How could this go so wrong so quickly.
It was supposed to be a happy trip, a happy camping trip. Not a devastating tragedy.

In the end I got lost during this camping trip. . .
nowhere to go but still playing the game cat and mouse with this thing. . .
That thing survived in the end and I do not know how it did. I thought my plan worked but it was a failure and the monster played me to make me feel some sort of hope, to only make me feel something in the end but it was all lies, it was bloodthirsty, barbaric, and cruel. My final words to you the person reading this. . .
That is if you are. . .

You cannot run. . .
You cannot escape. . .
You cannot hide. . .
You must play his game. . .

[END OF NOTE]

As she sat on the log with bags close to her side reading the note that was stained and ruined, she felt a breath from above come crashing down and as she slowly looked up in terror the red eyes glared into her own human eyes. It seemed like now she was the next prey for this beast.

She knew the game had just begun. . .

[Juishi]

In the newly bought convertible of a young girl's father, is Hope Bohnett. A strawberry blond girl, who switches between two styles..dressed up in bright childish colors or in relaxed baggy shirts and jeans that promoted her favorite bands. She was on her way to go camping in Michigan.

Though Hope was never fond of any quick adjustment, and she had never gone camping before. She slouched against the rumbling car door. Though it bumped and bounced her head uncomfortably, she tried her best not to mind it, shutting her eyes and letting her head rest, muttering some lines she memorized from a school play.

“Do I trust the image you put on? What you are, lies beneath. Nonetheless, no matter the distance, I will follow you through the dark.. if given a source to follow..”

Her parents never had the most stable relationship, so she often was in a vehicle driving between two houses. So it’s not like she wasn’t used to it, she just didn’t enjoy it.

“I think this is a perfect opportunity to make some new friends, Hope..”
Her dad fixed the rearview mirror to see Hope’s face.

“But I don’t want to.” She remarked.

“Why not?”

“Dad I don’t need more friends, I have Kasen and Soe, and they’re just fine.”
She sounded completely monotone but her words still felt accusatory.

“That’s two people, I’m not saying they aren’t good friends, but I’m saying that whenever you’re with me you never have any friends to hang out with.”

He pauses, but continues shortly after.

“I’m worried about you, socializing is something everyone needs to do a lot on a daily basis, it’s a good skill to have!” He tried sounding as optimistic as possible but it didn’t matter to Hope.

Although he was right.. Because that was another thing that burnt a hole in the back of her head, she was always rather awkward socially.

“Whatever, I’m not taking friendship advice from you. All of your friends are a bunch of smokers who catcall women for fun.”* She was upset, and it showed in her tone, followed by an over dramatic eye roll.

“That’s not true Hope, you’re judging by looks. That’s not a good ‘skill’ to have.” He was getting upset but he didn’t really show it all too well in his voice.

“Is that it?” Though they were in the middle of a semi-serious conversation, Hope had no hesitation cutting it off when she noticed a big wood sign down the road.

‘Black Bear Campground’

“Looks like it.” He replied before turning the wheel to make the turn down the dirt path.

The road, more of a path..was very crunchy. Who doesn’t like crunchy roads?

He eventually pulled into a plot and parked the car. The area around them was very wooded and shadowy. Might want a flashlight if you’re going back there..

* Oooo.. burnnn
It was getting late now as she opened her door and stretched, she just wanted to lay down on a comfy bed and take a nap, but unfortunately there is still much to do to set up. This is part of the reason why Hope wasn’t particularly excited to go camping.

Work.

Camping is work.

However she did like nature a lot, and as she was scoping out the area, she caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye.

“What..?” She muttered under her breath, taking a cautious step closer.

“Hope can you help me set up these poles please?” She heard him clearly but didn’t make any indications that she was actually listening.

“Yeah yeah, gimme a second” She took a few more steps closer to the woods. The line between the forest and the plot was very distinct, and she hesitated crossing that line when she saw a blue light dart behind some trees further in.

“Do I trust the image you put on? What you are, lies beneath. Nonetheless, no matter the distance, I will follow you through the dark.. if given a source to follow..”

These words. They echoed through her mind as she put a foot down, overstepping a boundary she had subconsciously set for herself. Walking in deeper to the depths unknown.

All around got cloudy and foggy, she dared not speak, until a large crash brought her attention from behind.

“DAD?!” She screamed, snapping her head back to see more trees.
They stretched dark and gloomy, for what seemed like forever, with colorful specks of light filling the air.

“This doesn’t look safe.. This doesn’t look scary.. What are my instincts?”
She speaks aloud before another voice runs through her brain..

“Do I trust the image you put on?”

“Not really..” She responds, but to who? There’s nobody there..right?

“What you are, lies beneath.”

“What does that mean?” She’s still whispering, but she doesn’t know exactly why.

She walks around aimlessly, looking about her surroundings. Upwards there was no sky, just trees and leaves and a light peeking through some of the branches, but it wasn’t blue.. It was more of a lime green, almost as if someone had put her in a glass dome, one to host an animal the size of a frog, or a toad.

All around her was just trees and fog, forever.

The only place left.. Was down.
She refused to look down, rehearsing more lines of the play.

“If I look down, all will be gone. Frozen in time, lost in frost.”

In the distance she saw the blue light, the light that had led her here in the first place. Like lightning it flashes between trees, she squinted to try and make out some features of any bodily figure at all to no avail as it darted closer, then retreated again further away.

“Nonetheless, no matter the distance..”

She heard in the back of her head again, and finished the verse aloud.

“I will follow you through the dark..” She said under her breath again.

Her eyes shot open, and she said the next line louder, and more distinct, as if she had just connected dots that were right in front of her the whole time.

“I will follow you through the dark..”

“IF GIVEN A SOURCE TO FOLLOW!” She yelled into the trees, she began running after the lightning-like creature, snapping sticks and twigs beneath her. Jumping over logs and running over leaves and moss and plants she had never seen before.

Slowly all around her began to blur, she was startled but didn’t stop running. She was gaining on it, she needed it, she craved it, whatever it is.

She was close enough, she leaped towards the light, but the ground was suddenly soft beneath her feet. She sank right into it though it looked solid as ever.

“No..NO.. NO!” The light appeared farther and farther away until it was gone.

Nothing.

Darkness engulfed her..

..before she was lifted up, she doesn’t know, by what or how..because her eyes were screwed shut.

She was lifted effortlessly off of the sinking ground, and into the air slowly.

“Puffy you little muffin! How did you get out?”

She opened her eyes, to be in the large hands of a giant child.

Oh right, I have nothing to fear, for I am just a frog.

.
.
.
.
.

FIN.

Written by Juishi, on July 31’st, 2022.
Inspired by : “If I were a frog, all of my problems would disappear.” a quote, written by Juishi just now to give this story some sort of moral.

[cyclump]

Warning for those who are of the faint of heart, or don't like rl stine books, i started writing this a couple hours ago and just winged it from there.







You set out for a camping trip

The wind rustles the leaves around you as you climb into the Lamborghini Aventador LP 750-4 Superveloce Roadster. You try to phone up your friend who is going with you to this trip, but he doesn’t respond.

Very strange

You pull out of your apartment's parking lot and start the 3 hour long drive into the unknown. The highway glistens with the freshly fallen rain as you drive down it.

40 minutes pass. The radio turns on. Unusual for a car this new to be acting up like this. But you ignore it and turn it off.

Another 10 minutes pass. It turns on again. The world around you turning a shade of orange you can’t quite describe. It’s oddly comforting and that comfort pulls you deeper in an entranced state. Not deep enough. You jolt awake. Alert to your current situation.

Was it a dream?

No, couldn’t be. It felt real. You look at your phone, the time reads 4:50 p.m.

Strange. No sunlight comes through your window. Only the sight of streetlights and cars passing by.

A sudden shiver runs up your back. The feeling of being watched, you know all too well.

You turn around to find,



Nothing.


You walk over to the door. A feeling of primal fear rushing over you. You grab the doorknob and pull on it.

Not locked. But very much jammed. You continue to try and brute force your way through the door.

The door opens. A sick feeling drops its way down into your stomach as you try and comprehend what you are seeing.

Or rather, what you are not seeing.


An abyss. No light to see. You can hear the faint sound of a violin being played. It sounds so alluring. But it starts to fade. You can’t lose it. The great hole that bores through your chest as it fades further compels you to step into the dark. And suddenly, it's gone.

The silent agony you feel is enough to crumple you to the floor. But you persevere. You look back at the door. But it's gone. You’re alone.


Wake up


A soft echoing voice. Familiar.

You wake up in a cold sweat. Your bedroom. It’s here. There’s light outside. You slowly climb out of bed. The uncertainty of what had to be a dream was lingering in your mind. You put your hand on the doorknob with hesitation.

Who told me to wake up?

You open the door. The hallway is there, no abyss. No enchanting violin music. You call out to see if anyone is there.

Silence.

You walk down the stairs.

Into the kitchen.

You see a pot of boiling water.

At the bottom of the pot you see a single tangerine.

The peel, flaking off and disappearing into thin air.

You watch the citrus. But you don’t blink. You don’t move. The only sounds are of the boiling water, and your breathing.

And then someone else breathing.

You turn around to find a replica of you, standing behind you. Completely still. The sound of the boiling water stops.



It stares at you with malice.


You stare back. Once again not blinking.

There is an awkward silence.

He moves his arm upward.

And vanishes.



Weird


You walk outside

The skies are yellow.



Planets



Many, many planets.



They move through the sky with angelic grace, and then stop.

Moving again, and stopping. Like clockwork.



One of them, a smaller one, wasn’t moving.
Planets passed it, it had no regard. It was a simple planet living a simple lifestyle.

You snap back to this reality. The ground is broken. The sky is a dark shade of red. Cars left abandoned. You try to remember. What happened before leaving for the camping trip.

What could have possibly happened to cause this. You start running. The houses repeat on a seemingly random interval with no end to the street. You scream, but no sounds are heard. Only the harsh wind. You look up to the sky, the small planet still not moving. You squeeze your eyes shut to try and focus on the planet.



Wake up



The voice again. Closer this time.

Still a familiar voice. You can see anything except for an elderly man a few yards away. The abyss again.


Finish what you started


You don’t know what he means.

You wake up. In a bed. The bedroom, you look outside, no planets, a gray autumn sky. Windy. Normal.


You take a shower and grab food. You drive to work. You are taking half of the day off, what was it for though. You can’t seem to remember. You brush the thought away as you arrive at work.

4 hours pass.


It’s noon. You clock out. Drive home. Get packed for the trip.


The wind rustles the leaves around you as you climb into the Lamborghini Aventador LP 750-4 Superveloce Roadster.