Camping

I used to do that during my undergrad days. I had a boyfriend who loved fishing as much as I did and one day he had the bright idea of us camping overnight at one of these places, the places being remote locations tucked away in the woods. It was wonderful finding a spot, throwing your line in, sitting back and enjoying the quiet until the fish bites! I loved the absolute peace of the place so I was more than ready to experience it at night.

On the given day, we made it there early and as usual it was empty except for the two of us. We built our campsite on a jetty protruding into the water. He gathered wood for the fire and got it going. It was still peaceful but then the sun started going down and the woods got dark. There was a creepy vibe about it but I kept it to myself. It was time for dinner so we had something simple and something warm to drink. The boyfriend wanted to fish so he threw out the line and took a seat as we talked about nothing in particular. It was very dark and I decided to curl up in my sleeping bag as he kept watch. Suddenly, we heard a loud sound coming from the woods. It sounded like footsteps so I looked at him and he said, “Don’t worry, nothing is going to happen.” The sounds stopped and it got eerily quiet. Then other sounds picked up. An owl hooting and something else. It sounded like low whispering! I was getting nervous and wanted to say it was a bad idea but I kept quiet. After a while, I fell asleep. When I woke up, it was morning. My friend was still up but he looked strange like he was scared. I asked what was wrong and he said nothing. The sun was up and we decided to do a little more fishing before heading out. Just as we were packing up our stuff, we heard a very loud sound of something crashing to the ground. I jumped and said, “What was that?!!” He said it was nothing and added, “Let’s go!” Did he experience something in the night? I don’t know but it was spooky and I would never do it again. I later found out that the place we were at used to be an Indian burial ground! Probably Cherokee because we were in Tennessee at the time.

I love camping but I wouldn’t do it nowadays. Those carefree days are done with and I know too much now to ever do something that dumb again. Anything could have happened but it didn’t and I’m thankful for that. Camping is fun but be prepared for the unexpected, good and bad!

Daily writing prompt

Have you ever been camping?

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