Over the next three weeks, we went hiking every morning. Our hikes were fun, at first. Soon though, I wanted to quit and sleep in, but the others seemed fine with it. It was just my luck that all of them were morning people. Every morning, one of them would haul me out of my sleeping bag and pour cold water on me to wake me up. It takes me thirty minutes to be fully awake and functioning; cold water speeds up the process. Annabelle had gotten bored with just hiking, so she added rock climbing to our morning activities after one week. She was really good at climbing, because evidently, she is an avid mountain climber.
Every morning, she gets all hyped up to climb and hike. In the afternoons, she and Benny would go hunt for some small game to cook and eat with our rice. She was a great hunter, bringing back many birds and other animals to cook. Benny tried to help, but he was more of a camper than a hunter. He lent Annabelle his multi-tool so she could skin the game and take out its organs to make it suitable for cooking. I gave him my pocket knife because I wasn’t using it. Charlie, on the other hand, just went along with his wife’s antics. He loved the outdoors either way, so it didn’t matter to him what the activities were.
Since only Charlie and Annabelle can read a compass, Benny and I left the navigating to them. We trusted Charlie a lot more than his wife to lead us in the right direction, though. His sense of direction was so phenomenal that he doesn’t even need to use the compass most of the time. As the most experienced in camping, Benny was very helpful in the beginning. He showed us where to go to relieve ourselves, how to clean up without causing a huge mess, and other important camping information that every seasoned camper should know. Luckily, I have gone camping before with my cousins, so I knew a little bit of what he was talking about.
I helped out with some explanations as best as I could, but explaining information to people was not my strong point. After the second week, Benny grew homesick and skittish. Annabelle’s mood swings did not help calm him at all. Obviously, he was the most anxious when he was around Annabelle. He began vehemently protest going hunting with Annabelle and argued to stay at our campsite. Charlie easily agreed after he saw how stressed Benny was to be away from Annabelle. He took back his multi-tool from Annabelle and gave me back my pocket knife. The third week was spent teaching me how to skin animals and remove its organs.
Charlie thought it would be a good idea for me to go hunting with Annabelle. Since I couldn’t hunt well, I stuck to preparing the animals for cooking. I got a hang of it pretty quickly because I’m a hands-on type of learner. It was gross though. On the second to last day of our camping month, I was not woken up by cold water. For some reason, the tent was heating up, and it was getting really uncomfortable. I couldn’t sleep in the heat, so I rolled out of my unzipped sleeping bag to see what was going on. The first thing I noticed was that the tent was empty.
None of the others were inside. Their sleeping bags were nowhere to be seen and all the supplies were gone. Then I noticed a very important fact: the tent was on fire. Luckily, the fire was away from the tent entrance. Bad news was that it was spreading and I still haven’t moved. I swore loudly and stumbled out of the tent. “Where the heck are they? ” I asked aloud. “Was that their attempt at murdering me? Man, I didn’t think I was that annoying! ” | jogged away from the campsite to get some water to put out the fire. Halfway to the river, paused and cursed loudly.
I didn’t have anything to carry the water in. By now, the fire had consumed most of the tent. I looked around to see if anyone was around. There was a can of bug spray on the ground near our makeshift fire-pit, which had a small fire burning. “Who thought it was a good idea to use that near a fire? Come on,” I complained loudly to myself. Even I knew better than to do that. “Mosquito repellants are flammable! At least now I know why the tent caught on fire. ” All of a sudden, I hear a high-pitched scream. I jumped a little and spun around, looking for the source of the scream.
It sounded like… well, it could be anyone really (it’s not like I’ve heard Benny, Charlie, or Annabelle scream before). I heard the scream again, and I followed the sound. The screaming was coming from behind the trees, near where the tent used to be. I took out my pocket knife and slowly crept toward the trees. I peeked out from behind a bunch of trees. Wow, these trees are dense. “– hole! Let go of me! ” Benny yelled at Charlie, trying to wiggle his way out of his grip. Charlie was holding Benny up by the collar of his shirt, while a cackling Annabelle was laying on the ground.
I speedily hid behind the trees again in case they looked up. What was happening? Should I ask them? Wait, what kind of stupid question is that? I’ll just wait it out and see what happens. No need to possibly die for asking a question. I’m surprised I haven’t been caught. Did they not hear me? | took another glance at the scene before me. “Shut up and be still! ” Charlie ordered. He spared a brief glance at his wife. “Annabelle, stop laughing and stand up already! ” Annabelle hopped up, giggling. Benny continued to struggle and was backhanded by Charlie for his efforts. I winced. Ouch.
I should probably help, but I’m a weak potato. Charlie turned glanced away from Benny to talk to Annabelle. The couple were in the midst of a conversation about how to kill Benny and hide the evidence. They were deciding between drowning him, stabbing and leaving him for the animals, or burning him alive (like they tried to do to me, I guess). Benny took this chance to reach into his back pocket and pull out his Charge TTi. He fumbled to open any of the features in the multi-tool, having to pause whenever Charlie or Annabelle stopped talking to look at him. “It would make more sense if we burned him! Charlie argued. Annabelle wanted to leave Benny’s corpse for the wild animals. “We could put him near the tent or the fire-pit and say that he was killed in the fire with what’s-her-name! ” “This is why I call you Charmander! You’re too obsessed with burning things,” she chirped. Oh. Well then. I did not expect that to be the reason. | didn’t know what I expected really… “For the hundredth time, Anna, I’m a Charizard,” Charlie sighed, smiling fondly at his wife. She clung onto him and giggled. Ew, are they seriously having a moment right now? I don’t need to see this!
Can’t they wait till Benny’s dead and they’re farther away from where I died’ or something? Benny swiftly swung his arm and stabbed Charlie in the neck with one of the knives on his Charge TTi. Charlie let go of Benny as his hands wrapped themselves around his own neck in disbelief. He dropped on the forest floor, his blood staining the ground. Annabelle gasped. She hurried to help put pressure on Charlie’s wound, but blood still continued to spurt out of his neck. Before she could do anything else, a bloodied Benny quickly jabbed the knife into her throat. Annabelle gurgled out a scream.
Crimson spilled from her lips and onto her husband’s cooling corpse as she collapsed on top of him. “This… this escalated quickly,” I whispered to myself. “W-who’s there? ” Benny asked frantically. He heard me? Whoops. I slowly stepped out from behind the trees and put my hands up in a placating gesture. “Whoa, Benny, it’s just me. Are you okay, dude? ” “K-Kaitlyn? Y-you’re alive? ” “Don’t look so happy now,” I said sarcastically, “but yeah, I am alive. I got out of the tent before the fire reached me. ” He paced and muttered things under his breath, occasionally glancing at me.
There was a glint in his eyes that I did not like. He’s gonna kill me now, isn’t he? I should go before he stops his– “Hey,” Benny said, ‘Were you there the entire time? Before I k-killed them? ” Dang it! It’s too late now. I scratched the back of my neck nervously and slowly walked backwards. “Yeah, I was. ” “Why didn’t you help me? ” Benny angrily asked, stepping closer to me. “If you were there, why didn’t you help? ” “I… ” | paused. How do I explain this without aggravating him? “I should just kill you and be done with it,” he declared and chuckled maniacally.
I could just burn your corpse afterwards and blame it on Charlie and Annabelle! It’s not like they can defend themselves now! ” On that note, I threw my knife at him and sprinted away. I would head to the car, but I don’t have the keys. Instead, I ran through the forest and frequently looked back to see if Benny followed me. I really should’ve just left when I had the chance. I tripped over my own feet and fell. My glasses flew off of my face and broke. Dang it! At least my eyesight’s not that bad. I got up, brushed myself off, and winced. My elbows and knees were scratched up and bleeding. I looked behind me again and saw no one.
Llet out a breath I didn’t know I was holding in. I’m already worn out from running for a few minutes; I wouldn’t have lasted much longer. After a few moments, I finally noticed where I was; I was at a cliff. The sun was setting and was painting the sky a pinkish orange color. It was a beautiful sight. Even if it was blurry. I treaded cautiously to the edge of the cliff and looked down. I hope I don’t slip off the cliff. With that thought in mind, I zonked out and slept like a log. When I woke up, I flailed a bit too much and ended up hanging off of the edge of the cliff. Dang it! Ijinxed myself!