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I played a game of hide and seek at camp

I'm still not sure if I won...

By R.O.A.R.Published 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago 10 min read
2
I played a game of hide and seek at camp
Photo by Roman Nguyen on Unsplash

“The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window.”

That’s how these stories start, isn’t it? A spooky but otherwise ordinary place set out in some equally creepy forest. Usually, no one goes there because the owners have abandoned it. It’s falling apart. People think it’s haunted. And then one night, someone goes to check it out, and there’s something off about it- a candle in the window, for example. Typical for a scary campfire story. And they always have some air of uncertainty around them because they sound fake. Still, that slight hint of possibility makes it almost plausible. You know what I mean?

I hated campfire stories growing up. My parents made me go to summer camps where people who didn't like their kids ditched them. Why bother having kids if you couldn’t stand to be around them during the summer? My parents told me it was for ‘enrichment.’ Whatever that meant.

Make friends. Get to know people. Have a good time.

Well, nothing is good about being forced to choke on wood smoke while getting sucked dry by mosquitoes, all the while some dickhead named Councilor Todd told a cheesy campfire story. Worse was when “Cool” Councilor Chadly accompanied on his guitar.

Anyway... As I said, I hated these stories growing up. I always had really vivid dreams, along with an overactive imagination. Those stories that blurred the lines between reality and fiction made both go haywire, and my mind became trapped in a spiral of ‘what-if’ scenarios. Always watching the shadows of the cabin walls as the moonlight made the branches stretch like fingers. Feeling breath on my ear when it was just the AC. The groan of my bunkmate’s bed springs was some horrible killer dragging his sickle along the floor.

I think the worst story Todd ever told was about the Deer Woman. It is nothing like the Native American tales men are lured into the forest by shapeshifting women only to be stomped to death by their hooves. No, Todd’s Deer Woman was something much more horrific. It was something like this woman was driving down a road close to the camp and hit a deer. Upon impact, she went through the windshield and collided with the deer’s head, embedding the skull and antlers into her face. When the police and ambulance arrived, they found the deer’s mangled body, the crushed car, and a set of bloody footprints leading off into the woods. They never found the woman.

“Legend says she still haunts the forest around the camp to this very day!” Todd said to his terrified masses. The shadows playing over his face made him look demonic.

After enduring three weeks of Todd’s dramatics, I was over the spooky firelight trick. But the story freaked me out. I already detested the idea of driving. The very thought of driving along some dark, winding road only to slam into a deer was terrifying. Then mix that in with having my crumpled, broken remains mashed with the deer corpse?

Eff that noise!

The other stuff about the woman walking away to haunt the forest was obviously B.S. Though, my fear of anything cervine in nature wasn’t so sure. Don’t judge me. Deer are freaky looking! And have you ever heard an elk bugle? Haunting.

So the story itself was playing on my imagination a little. Anything vaguely horn-like had my skin crawling. Which my fellow campers thought was super hilarious.

Then the night only got worse. It was already late- being in the middle of June, the sun was still lighting the sky around 9 p.m., so the scary stories hadn’t commenced until about 10 o’clock. Now the horrible hour of midnight was slowly approaching, and tonight was supposed to be a camp-wide hide-and-seek/spotlight-tag event.

The whole thing sounded horrible. Why allow campers armed with only a flashlight and wits to hide anywhere on the camp grounds? There were restrictions like no one was allowed to hide in the woods. Still, the situation sounded dubious at best.

Nevertheless, campers who saw the flawed logic of such a game were not permitted to stay on the bench. So I played against my will.

At first, I tried to hide somewhere obvious, so I would be found and made to sit out early. That plan was foiled when councilor Chad came up and looked at me with that expression you’d give to an obnoxious toddler. "Come on, dude," he said in his Chadliest tone. "I know you don’t like these games, but you gotta at least try, man. I’m gonna turn around and count again, and this time you better find a good place to hide. ‘Kay? One... two... three..."

He was really going to make me do this. Fine. If I had to play, I’d play to win and give them a scare for once. I ran from my spot under the picnic tables down the road towards the best hiding place I knew. About half a mile from the actual campgrounds sat a collection of abandoned buildings that had been part of the camp at one point. All the buildings had fallen into disrepair; Some had boarded windows and doors. The areas were littered with broken glass. Many of them were stuffed with old furniture and hardware like ovens, fridges, and those serving tables you’d see at buffets. Plenty of broken bunk beds, mattresses, dressers; In other words, things to hide under. Was I afraid of the potential spider and tetanus hazard? Sure. But the drive to stick it to those annoying camp jockeys spurred me.

I’m still not sure about what happened after that. After I found a place to hide.

Tucked away under a collection of discarded bunk beds, I watched the windows for signs of the flashlights. I felt pretty proud of myself, not gonna lie. They would be searching for me for hours. Would I get in trouble for this later? Probably. Would it get me sent home? Oh God, I hoped so.

I remember being in that abandoned cabin for a long time. Far longer than I thought I would be. I didn’t have a watch or phone with me, so I couldn’t tell what time it was. Boredom started to take its toll after a while. The longer time went without any of the councilors coming to find me, the more I considered crawling out from my hiding place and walking back to my cabin.

A horrible stench reached my nose just as I decided that enough was enough. It was probably the worst thing I had ever smelled- and someone had exploded a can of fart spray in my high school woodshop class last year. So that was saying something. Whatever it was, it was clear that something had died nearby. I hoped it wasn’t anywhere close to my hiding place. You’d think I’d have noticed a dead thing sooner.

But then I heard the sound of something walking.

I say something and not someone because the rhythm was off. There was a kind of loping, dragging noise. There were too many legs for a person, but it wasn’t enough for an animal.

Step... Step-step, draaag...

Step... Step-step, draaaaag...

The hairs on the back of my neck and arms stood up. A knot formed in my gut, and a little voice of self-preservation screamed that something wasn’t right. The sound drew closer, the scent of death growing more intense with each step. Then my ears caught the inhale and exhale of ragged breaths. As if whatever it was, was attempting to breathe through a wet towel.

Something thick and liquidy fell in heavy drops onto the ground. Like someone was carrying a bucket of water, and some of it was sloshing out. Then there was the buzzing of flies. As I stared out the window nearest my hiding place, I could see the black cloud swirling in the moonlight. Not long after, a shadowy figure stumbled into view.

My mind whirled to place the jumble of shapes and forms into some kind of order. The thing appeared humanoid in the way it moved. But I saw a set of massive, deerlike antlers and a slender animal face sitting atop a long, broken neck. S’more-flavored bile rose in my throat as my eyes picked out strips of hanging flesh through the dirt-covered windows.

As the thing lumbered to the cabin door, I forced myself to be still. Forced my breathing to be silent. Forced my bladder to not piss myself in terror. The creature pushed the door open; Its dreadful, dull creak filled the still air like the last dying groan of a wounded animal.

Step... Step-step, draaag...

Step... Step-step, draaaaag...

It lurched and lumbered across the floor, carried by two broken humanoid legs with one deer leg trailing behind. The stench from earlier hit my nose with a force that nearly made my stomach revolt. Blood and bile dripped from the dislocated jaw onto the floor. Shadows enveloped the creature’s face, but I knew it was looking for me.

This couldn’t be real. Monsters and things that searched for little kids and teenagers in the woods didn’t exist in real life. This had to be some kind of sick prank Todd and the others were playing. Someone, one of them, had seen me run off to the abandoned camp area. They got all dressed up and covered themselves in whatever foul-smelling spray this was to scare me. They knew how overactive my imagination was and were messing with me!

The thing drew closer.

If this was a prank, it wasn’t funny! I wanted to scream for whoever it was to cut it out. Go back to the camp and tell the others that they found me. However, something in the back of my mind clamped down on my throat. A primal sense that screamed that that thing was not a person!

Step... Step-step, draaag...

The creature stopped in front of my hiding place. My stomach rolled at the stench of decay. What little light that cut through the grimy windows illuminated pale, misshapen purple-blue legs. Bones crackled as it bent in half to peer into my den. Blood and maggoty bile dripped from its broken deer jaw and one of the empty eye sockets. Hot, putrid breath hit my face, and I could feel my mouth fill with saliva as nausea teetered on the edge of release.

We stared at each other for a mind-numbing amount of time. Silence stretched on and weighed heavy and cold like the hand of death.

Not knowing what else to do, I pointed one trembling finger toward the door. With a voice filled with tears and terror, I said, “Th- The hos- pital... The hospital is th- th- that way.”

The deer woman continued her silent stare for a few minutes more. I thought my racing heart would kill me before she decided to, as I stared into her one dull black eye. Then, like a rubber toy, her body slumped in half before rolling back up. Each of her vertebrae popped and cracked as she stood. Finally, she turned and made her slow, shambling way out of the building and away in the direction I pointed.

Step... Step-step, draaag...

Step... Step-step, draaaaag...

I’m sure I passed out after she disappeared. Or maybe I went into some kind of blacked-out state of panic. I can’t really remember. I know I had returned to the camp at some point with everyone in a frenzy looking for me. Even the police and ambulance had been called. Everyone was ready to give me a stern talking to until one of the EMTs noticed the shock on my face. In a way, I got my wish because I was taken to the hospital and later picked up by my parents to go home.

And, before you ask, no. No one believed me. Why would they? The story sounded impossible-- I want to believe it was impossible because things like that aren’t real. They only exist in stories told around dumb campfires to susceptible imaginations like mine.

So, now that my story is done...

Who wants to play hide-and-seek?

urban legend
2

About the Creator

R.O.A.R.

High school English teacher who enjoys writing as a hobby. I do hope to get published one day, but for now I'm just having fun and hoping to learn some new tricks.

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Outstanding

Excellent work. Looking forward to reading more!

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Comments (2)

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  • Dharrsheena Raja Segarran2 years ago

    Absolutely loved this fantastic story!

  • Sidney Smith2 years ago

    This was awesome! super creepy, you did a good job of the detail it felt so real!

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