Always

Chapter 20

"Is this going to be, like, an omen or something that this trip is going to get scary?" Jake put his had on his shoulder. "Just calm down, brother. Don't get yourself scared before we even get there." Colby looked away from them back to me. "The lights started flickering?" I nodded. "Yeah, it wouldn't stop and I got scared, screamed, then ran out straight into Sam." I shrugged. "It was probably just a shortage but it was creepy in there and I was alone." Colby laughed, and pulled me closer to him in a one armed hug. "Good thing it was you and not Corey." I glanced at Corey laughing. His eyes were still wide. "Okay, but you guys aren't doing anything stupid right? You didn't bring any Ouija boards, or you aren't doing any rituals....right?" He looked from Colby to Sam. "Right Sam?" He asked again. Sam just shrugged. "We didn't bring any Ouija boards...I haven't spoken to the Midnight Man in a while tho. I might hit him up." Sam looked at me and winked. The rest of us started laughing. Corey looked around at all of us, shaking his head with a nervous smile on his face. "No. I'm going back home. NO BRO!" "Chill brother, we're just going camping." Colby said, putting his hand on Colby's shoulder. "Nothing crazy. This isn't for a video. This is just for us." He patted his shoulder, then pulled me with him, walking back towards the car. "Let's pull out. We still have a long drive to go." The rest of the trip was uneventful, and I ended up falling asleep. The next thing I know, the road got bumpy jarring me awake. I sat up, and looked around. We were driving down a car trail, surrounded by trees. I couldn't see through them. There was literally nothing but trees everywhere. "Jesus Christ." I uttered out, my voice still thick with sleep. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" Colby said quietly, looking at the scenery. I nodded. "It really is...gonna be creepy tonight tho." He laughed and put his hand on my leg. I was wearing shorts today, and always, his touch sent chills through my body. "I'll protect you." I smiled and placed my hand over his. "I know you will babe." There was a clearing up ahead and Colby pulled over into it, with Corey pulling in beside him. Everyone piled out of the cars, cheering and yelling. "Woohoo, we're here!" "Hells yea, it's time to camp...does anyone know what to actually do?" This was Corey. "Yeah brother, I got you!" Colby exclaimed, popping the trunk and getting out some of the stuff. We all helped unload so that it didn't take so many trips. There was a lot of stuff for a lot of people Then we got started setting up the tents, Colby and I going around helping the others since they didn't really know what they were doing. I barely remembered since it had been so long, but we figured it out, getting all 4 tents set up correctly, without too many mishaps. Jake's only fell once before we figured out what was wrong. We set out the chairs and all of the other stuff, then decided to take a short walk. There didn't seem to be anyone else around, but we couldn't be sure, so we had to make the walk quick. "There's a trail." Colby said, pointing to a dark trail leading into the woods. Corey shook his head. "I'm so glad that the sun is out right now." We laughed and made our way into the woods, the trees covering the sun, making it dark inside the forest. It wasn't dark enough for flashlights but it wouldn't be long. "Well sh*t." Corey exclaimed, as we walked in deeper. The trail was skinny, so we walked in a line, two at a time, Colby and I in the front. The trees were a dense green, high in the air, and the birds were singing, almost sounding like they were speaking to one another. I heard woodland creatures scurrying along the trees, and over the dead leaves. It was really quite serene and comforting. Colby, all of a sudden, went down with Sam on top of him. "Gah Danggit!" Sam yelled, as him and Colby hit the ground. "What the f*ck bro?!" Colby asked, getting up and brushing himself off. Sam got up and did the same, looking at Colby. "Sorry brother, I tripped and I fell into you. Tried to grab you to steady myself." He shrugged. "It didn't work." "No sh*t." Colby replied, looking at his skinned hands. "You guys!" I exclaimed as I looked ahead of us, through a little break in the trees. The sun was shining off of a lake, shimmering like diamonds on top of the water. The mountains were behind it, cloudy and ominous but still amazing. We started running and broke through the trees, seeing them line the entire lake on all sides. There was a small clearing off to the right of the lake, with an old fire pit. A perfect place to set up camp. "You guys wanna camp here instead?" I asked, pointing to the old camp site. "It's beautiful here." Devyn exclaimed, turning in a circle with her arms out. "Can we swim here?" Tara asked. I looked around for a no swimming sign. "It doesn't say not too. Look!" I pointed to the far corner. "There's a dock. Should be fine." "I definitely want to move the camp to here." She exclaimed. "This is amazing." Kat said, taking Sam's hand in her own. "This is it. This is the place. Come on boys, let's go get the stuff." Sam said, motioning to the other guys with his hand. "We can help." I said, starting to follow Colby. He turned back to me. "It's fine. We'll get it. You guys enjoy this," He made a sweeping motion to the scenery, "and we'll be back in a few minutes." "Okaaay, but it took all of us to unload it. It's probably going to take all of us to bring it up here." I said.