Brooks pulled into Camp Marta right as the sun hid itself from view. The trail leading up to it was buried under rocks and shrubs, and she'd only found the way from her memories of a family picnic. This felt safe — safer than the guest houses along the valley and safer than her home in Common's Creek since the men in polos started showing up.
Out-of-towners wouldn't know where to find the spot — it wasn't printed on the maps, and any road signs pointing to it were now far too rusty to be legible. Locals, if they knew, would avoid the camp site because of ghosts, especially after dark.
Around these ends, winters were cold, campfires burnt late into the night, and no one ever ran out of stories to tell. Camp Marta, over the decades, had become a hotspot for supernatural occurrences. Missing bodies, charred vehicles, and there were never any witnesses. At some point, the detectives gave up investigating altogether — misdeeds at Marta were all acts of God, it seemed.
Brooks was at peace with the ghosts. She'd rather their company than a forty-five-year-old divorcee with anger issues and little to live for.
For the moment, it was only birds and crickets around. Old tent poles marred the ground, and a faint smell of charcoal lingered in the wet soil where Brooks parked her Beetle, away from but facing the entrance.
When her father, Michael, had brought them here, it was a busier time. Brooks had shot arrows with a girl whose family lived across the valley. It was her first time hearing about a life where you didn't know all your neighbours — she was aware cities existed, she simply hadn't met anyone who lived in them.
That same day, Michael's wife, Victoria, tried to win over Brooks' affection under the pretence of catching fireflies. She quickly lost interest however, when Brooks insisted on calling her Vic and not mum.
The camping trip was cut short the next morning when Michael hurried the family into the car at the break of dawn. They drove without stopping, despite Brooks' insistence that she'd spotted a deer in the woods.
Back at the house, two men in polos stood to greet them — maybe they'd been the same ones, Brooks had forgotten the faces all these years later. Her father drove off with them to his office right after.
YOU ARE READING
Brooks
RomanceA broken watch, a burning home, and a stolen heart - when Brooks says goodbye to the small town she grew up in, she's intent on leaving her old life behind. However, she'll soon come to learn - hundreds of miles away, in a city full of strangers...
