The Ghost of Ontario (Part 1) (10 Grade Draft)

Chapter 8: A Missing Child?

        I entered the ranger station and quickly closed the door so I wouldn't let the mosquitoes in. I had been chased by a few on my way there. At least inside I didn't have to worry about them. The inside of the ranger station was just as small as the outside. Oh, I wished I could stay in there instead of a tent. There were some shelves in the station that were covered with souvenirs, then a desk at the back, but that was pretty much it.

I found Camp Juniper roaming the station and checking out the souvenirs. Dad and Mom, on the other hand, were standing at the desk in the back, and they were chitchatting with two, female rangers who sat behind it. Both the rangers were pretty young. The first ranger, the one who was standing, had long, blonde hair that was pulled back in a braid, green eyes, and painted red fingernails. She was pretty, yeah, but she didn't strike me as too interesting. The ranger that I found really interesting was her partner, the ranger who was sitting. She had a very interesting appearance to her. She was beautiful, even more beautiful than the first ranger, and she appeared to be maybe in her late thirties, either thirty eight or thirty nine. I think thirty eight suited her the best. However, her beauty wasn't the only thing that made her interesting; it was the fact that to me, she kind of looked like she was native. She had medium length, dark brown hair, tan skin, and deep, deep brown eyes. Another thing I found really interesting about her was that unlike the other ranger, she seemed to be sad. Her face had no color in it. She looked severely depressed. Hm, I wondered why that was so. I started to approach the desk, but I stopped temporarily at a shelf because my eyes landed on a stuffed moose. I love stuffed animals. Very slowly, I picked the moose up, and I brought it close to my face.

        Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up, and I saw that I was peering into the face of Uncle Bart. "One of my goals on this trip, Kylie," he spoke, and he sighed, "is to see a moose." A moose huh? Uncle Bart has always wanted to see a moose. He never has. However, it was rumored that moose lived in the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park. Moose watching was the main reason why Uncle Bart came.

I scoffed and shook my head, saying, "Yeah, good luck with that, Uncle Bart." I set the stuffed moose back down on the shelf. That was kind of rude for me to say, but I didn't care. I knew there were moose in the provincial park, but I also knew, because Todd told me, that they were quite rare. Even eagles were a little more frequent than moose. My eyes landed on the desk, and I saw that Dad had turned to me.

        "Kylie!" he chattered, and he gestured me over, "There you are! Come here! These nice rangers want to meet you!" They did? Uh oh, what did Dad tell them? I took a deep breath and slowly approached the desk. Dad pulled me in front of him and Mom, so now, I met eyes with the blonde headed ranger.

She yelled, "Oh welcome!" and clapped her hands together, "Welcome to Finlayson Point Provincial Park, young lady! My name is Ranger Amelia, and that's my partner, Ranger Kate." She gestured at the brown headed ranger, and my eyes landed on her. Huh, so Kate was her name. It was so strange. Why did she look so depressed? I soon turned my attention away from her, and I focused it on Ranger Amelia instead. She obviously wasn't depressed. She reached forward and pinched my cheek, "Oh, you're so cute!" I blushed. Ranger Amelia continued, "Ranger Kate, isn't she just the most adorable thing you would see?"

I again turned to Kate. She stared at me. Her stare was so long that it even made me feel a little uncomfortable. She didn't even blink. Finally, I shivered and asked her, "Why are you staring at me like that?"

"Oh," she finally spoke, and she stood up, "I'm sorry, young lady. You just remind me of someone." Even her voice sounded depressed. It was pretty, but there was so much sadness in it. I wondered if something tragic happened to her when she was younger. It was interesting that she said that I reminded her of someone. But who?