"You two had better stop, or I'll take both of you out in the van and ditch you or something." I grumbled as I sat up. I scratched my head and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. I looked at my phone. It was almost ten.
I stood up and relieved myself behind a tree and walked back to the fire ring where everyone else was waking up.
I looked at Annie. "Well, aren't you ready to start the day."
She blushed. "I just woke up early and decided to take advantage of it."
I laughed. "Well, I figured that we could go fishing and hiking and all that other camping stuff."
"Why would we go fishing?" asked Jack.
"To eat fish for dinner. Duh." replied Johnny.
"Ew."
We all laughed. "The fish around here is really good, and I cook it to perfection." I said. "Trust me, Jack, you'll love it."
"Okay, I guess we are hiking." Jared said. I go back to my bag and put my pocket knife in my pocket.
"Whats that?" Jared asks.
"Inshrance." I said. He laughs. We start out on the trail. They all think walking is a good idea, but I want to run.
"I am going to run a bit ahead." I say an hour into the hike. Most of the others were a little out of breath. I have no idea how they could be. I stare directly at Mark.
"I am coming too." He says.
"IF you can keep up." I sprint into the woods, and Mark follows close behind me. I quickly and easily dodge the trees ,while Mark struggles to catch up. Serves him right.
Love is beautiful, but what would love be without life?
Jackie made a gagging noise and shook her head. "Jared you know I'm a vegetarian."
"Yeah and I still don't get it," he said.
"Or we could go hiking," Anna interjected.
"I like that idea," Sam agreed.
"Let's do that," Johnny said.
"I'm in," Jackie said.
They started off hiking at a pretty decent pace, and about an our in Anna decided she wanted to run ahead. Jackie groaned. Run? She could barely walk. Served her right for letting her skates get her everywhere. It wasn't one of the most physically active things she could be doing.
Anna sprinted off, Mark tailing her. Sam and Johnny were already lagging behind, so it left Jared and Jackie alone.
"So what's the deal with Mark?" Jackie asked. "Is he just going to man up and admit he likes her or what?"
"What?" Jared asked, apparently this was the first he had even thought of the possibility.
Jackie gave him an 'are-you-serious?' look. "What did you think it was? Mark's a jerk by nature, but not as bad as he usually is when Anna's around."
I got a bit ahead of all of them and arived at a waterfall.
"Its so beautiful." I say, staring at it. There is a huge deep, pool of water at the bottom. And a rock hanging of the edge. I have an idea.
"Ever been cliff diving?" I ask Mark.
"Uh, no, I would rather NOT die." He said.
"Come on, it would be fun." I say, taking my running shoes off.
"No,"
"Suit yourself." I run to the edge of the water and swim out to the big rock. I look over the edge. It seems a bit high. But I prepare myself to jump.
Mark crosses his arms, daring me to jump.
"You wouldn't."
"Watch me." I say, then dive head-first into the water just as the rest of the group arives.
"What is she doing?" Jared asks.
"Killing herself." Mark says jokingly. The others dont get its a joke. When I hit the bottom I come up behind a rock and hide. I wanted to watch them all panic.
"Anna?" Mark called.
"You let her kill herself?" Jared said, practically screaming. I wonder how long it would take them to figure out this was a joke.
Love is beautiful, but what would love be without life?
I think someone should take up the point of view of Mark, as well as there own. That would be really interesting because he has become a sort of majoir character.
Love is beautiful, but what would love be without life?
"Anna?" Jackie shouted, looking around frantically. No, no, no. She couldn't have. Something couldn't have happened to her. She was just here. Just here.
"Anna! Please, no!" Jackie dropped to her knees beside the water hole. "Not Anna. Please not Anna." Tears began to stream down her face. She couldn't lose another person to the cold depths of the water. Not when this place was so safe, so nice.
Then something hit Jackie, stopping the tears. Maybe. Maybe if she went in she could swim and save Anna before she was gone.
Jackie stood and jumped into the pool. She flailed her arms, trying to get to the side of the lake Anna disappeared in. After a few minutes of exhausting motion, Jackie was gasping for breath and barely moving. She had forgotten an integral part to her plan of saving Anna. She would have to know how to swim.
"Damn," Jackie whispered as she felt just how heavy her clothes were and just how tired she felt. The water inched up her neck, around her chin, and soon was rising up to her nose. Soon enough it would consume her. Just like Anna. Just like her dad.
For a second I thought Jackie was just playing along with my joke. Then I watched the water sink up to her neck. I realize she cant swim. I hadn't meant for my joke to go this far. I swam up to Jackie and pulled her out of the water.
"Are you okay?" I ask her.
"Fine, but dont EVER do that again, do you hear me Anna...?"
"Yes, I am sorry Jackie, Iit was just a joke. I never meant for this to go so out of hand."
"Please, no more jokes." Jared said, running up.
"Agreed." I said, looking at Marks concerned face. Why would he care?
I get up and squeeze my soping wet hair. I go up to Jackie.
"That was very brave of you to go and try and save me. I am really proud of you. I am sorry I played that joke."
"Just promise me one thing." she says.
"What?"
"You will teach me how to swim."
Love is beautiful, but what would love be without life?
Under any other circumstances she wouldn't have believed she would say those words. For years the water had terrified her, it had taken her father away, she had hated it. But now, things were different.
Even though Anna had been joking, Jackie couldn't help but feel guilty. If she had been able to swim, and something was really wrong with one of her friends, she would have been able to help. And Jackie could overcome her fear for something like that.
"Promise?" she asked.
"Sure," Anna said, smiling.
"Good." Jackie fell back on the ground and sighed. Her muscles ached and she was soaking wet. It would be a fun walk back to camp. She hoped they would at least hang around long enough for her to rest before starting their trek back.
We all froze, seeing the huge dog sniffing around our camp. Actually, it looked more like a wolf. A really, really big wolf.
"Jared." whispered Mark. "Aren't wolves supposed to travel in packs?"
I gulped. "Generally. But, I guess it's a good thing they aren't now, right?"
"I say we all just go back to the lake." said Annie. "Then come back later."
We all nodded and slipped away quietly. We went back to the lake and sat on the rocks. "Well, so much for a good trip." I said, resting my head on my hand.
"What do you mean?" asked Johnny.
"A timber wolf just went through our stuff! It's probably eaten all of our food."
"Well, then, we can fish for food. All of our really important stuff was locked away in the van." reasoned Sam.
I thought about it. "Yeah, I guess your right."
We sat there for at least three hours and talked about random stuff. It was pretty fun, just the fellow ship of it all. We decided it was safe to return to camp around sunset.
We walked back and saw that our camp wasn't totally ruined. Our beds were pretty much left alone, which was cool.
I went straight to the van, pulling out a semi-automatic pistol my dad had me take with me whenever I went camping. He always had me bring it just in case something like this happened.
Everyone except for Mark and Johnny looked shocked. "Why do you have that?!" screeched Jackie.
"Just in case the..." I drifted off, looking behind Jackie. I saw movement in the bushes. "Guys, get together, back to back. Now!" I said calmly.
"Jared. What's going on?" asked Annie. She sounded scared.
"Mark, you have your gun?" I asked. He went over the the van and rifled it out. "Yeah. What do we need it for?"
Just then, six timber wolves came out of the bushes, crouching and growling softly. I went pale, and everyone froze.
"We couldn't pick these off." I whispered.
"Jared, what are we gonna do?" asked Mark.
I looked at the van, where the back doors were open wide. "We all edge towards the van, and on three, we all jump in."
"Will there be room?" asked Annie. She sounded like she was about to cry.
"Yeah. It's a pretty large van. We'll let all of you got first, and Mark and I will be last. Don't argue. We'll make it, we just need to do this."
We started edging to the van, and Mark and I brought up the sides. "One, two....THREE!!"
Johnny, Jackie, Sam and Annie jumped into the van, and Mark and I were right behind them. We were slamming the door closed right as the wolves got to us. They slammed themselves against the van, snarling and barking, trying to get in. We all huddled in there together. Annie and Jackie were crying a little bit, and I pulled Jackie to me and held her while the worst was going on. I pulled out my cell phone and called the park rangers, telling them they needed to be armed.
Jared pulled Jackie to her and she buried her head in his chest while the wolves slammed themselves against the van. She was crying again, which she hated. She had already cried so much today.
"We could really, really use some help here," Jared said into his cell phone.
"I hope they don't hurt them," Jackie whispered. Even if they were trying to attack the van and everyone inside, they were just animals and acting on their instincts. Jackie didn't want to be around to hear any of them get shot.
"The park rangers are on their way," Jared said, putting his cell phone back into his bag.
"Well so much for this camping trip," Johnny said.
Sam hit his shoulder. "Shut up, it wasn't that bad. It was sort of...an adventure."
Jackie nodded and sat up, but Jared still had his arm around her. She tried not to think about it, tried not to blush. "It was an adventure," she agreed. A smile crept across her face. "Three cheers for adventuring!"
I felt every brave nerve in my body die. I was terrified. Too much to even cry. Too much to move. The rangers came, and shot the wolves with bullets that would put them to sleep. While seven of the rangers drageed the wolves away into the woods, most of the others just stood around and watched.
Jackie, Jared, Mark and the others began to climb out of the van. I couldn't make myself move.
"Are you okay?" Mark asked. I couldn't speak. He came up to me slowly, and took my arm. Hehelped me get up slowly and climb out of the van.
"Anna, are you okay?" He asked again. I still couldn't respond. He got me a glass of water and made me sit down. I drank the water and was able to find a soft whisper of a voice to speak in.
"Me and dogs don't get along very well. That was litterally something out of my worst nightmare." I said. Mark put his arms around me in a quick hug.
"It is okay, they are gone now." Mark didn't take his arms off me. I heard Jared and Jackie laugh, but I didn't care enough to ask why. Mark helped me stand up and we walked back over to the others.
Love is beautiful, but what would love be without life?
It's a pity the dictionary has only one definition of beauty. In my world, there are 7.9 billion types of it- all different and still beautiful. — anne27
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