Ghost story

               As we huddled around a campfire, Vivi said to us, “A few campers, just like us, were camping out in the woods on a dare.  On a dark and stormy night, a hoot echoed through the woods”— in my mind, the hooting created a vivid image of an owl.  Nothing to be worried about, just an owl, I thought. 

               “These campers shivered in the cold.  They huddled together around the campfire, which would soon go out if they didn’t keep regenerating it with wood.  The campers reviewed the amount of hours they had left until the dare was over and they could return home.  One of their friends had dared them to stay a whole five hours outside.  They had approximately three hours left.  It was seven o’clock, and they came into the woods at five.  The rules of the dare were that they couldn’t bring anything like tents, microwaves, or telephones.  Since there was no rule that they couldn’t bring telescopes, they each brought one, and they looked at the stars and the moon.  That got boring though, so to keep them vivacious, the friends sang some lively songs.  They sang them in a monotone, because they were not happy in their wet clothes and shivering bodies.”

               “‘Argh!’ the sound pierced the night.

               “Many people ran around and nobody knew what was going on.  Some people ran to exit the woods.  Others tried, unsuccessfully to calm everyone down, assuring them that everything would be fine.    There was a blur of people running and yelling, but then, one camper noticed a ghost.  Nobody seemed to notice the ghost, except him.  Everyone was too panicked.  Some people were even running through the ghost without noticing.”

               “The camper looking at the ghost saw that he was in pain. The wailing sound was probably from when he got hurt.  Blood dripped from his leg.  The drops of blood singed the grass when they fell to the ground.  Even though the boy could see the ghost so clearly, no one else seemed to notice.  All the confusion scared the camper, causing him to feel as though he was passing out.  He thought to himself, why am I the only one who can see this ghost?  Is there something wrong with me—am I hallucinating?”

               I blinked my eyes.  Everybody stared at me like I was crazy.  I noticed that my arms were up in a shielding position, and I was on one leg.  I sat back down.  As I sat down, I realized that I had just imagined all the chaos and confusion.  I was just visualizing Vivi’s story as she told it.  We were really just camping and sitting around the campfire.  There was no dark sky, or storm.

               Vivi continued, “And everybody, including the young camper, disappeared when the ghost fell to the ground.”

               Vivi’s mom shouted from inside the cabin, “I’ve got everything we need to make s’mores!”  Everybody ran excitedly to get the first serving.