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Our third place High School winning entry was written by ninth grader Isaac Kerby of Briar Woods High School in Ashburn, Virginia. |
„Briiinggggg....briiinnnngggg,’ the dismissal bell rang at Cherry Woods High School. “Zack, are you ready for tomorrow?” Andrew asked.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Zack replied, a funny grin on his face.
A third boy approached. “Hey what are you guys doing this weekend?” asked Ted. “We’re going camping at Stone Wall Park.” said Andrew “You want to come?”
“I have wrestling practice but I think I can skip,” said Ted.
Friday afternoon. All three boys meet in the parking lot after school. Ted looked around nervously to see if there were any wrestling coaches heading towards the gym. “Let’s get out of here, before I get caught.”
As the boys hurried to load their camping gear into Andrew’s car, a cold wind blew leaves across the parking lot. Thick clouds gathered, and it started to rain. It was late fall, and it would be dark soon. The boys knew that the drive ahead was long, and if they didn’t get started soon, they’d be setting up camp in the dark. So they packed the rest of their stuff, piled into Andrew’s car, and headed to Stone Wall Park.
The sun was just starting to go down, tonight would be a full moon. They were still about 30 minutes away from the campsite.
“I’m hungry. Let’s save the food we brought and stop at McDonalds.” Ted suggested. “Okay, but that means we’ll have to set up in the dark.” Andrew sighed.
“That’s fine. I’ve been camping so many times, I could set up in my sleep.” Zach replied.
The boys stopped at McDonalds, the last sign of civilization before they headed to the deep, dark woods. After a quick meal, they took the next exit off the freeway, and turned onto the dirt road that lead to Stone Wall. There were no street lights from this point on. Andrew slowed the car to almost a stop, and turned to the other boys, “You know, I don’t remember it being this dark before. My car’s pretty old. The lights aren’t that good. Maybe we should come back another time.”
“Dude, we’re almost there.” Zach replied. “Let’s just push on.”
Andrew squinted to see through the windshield as the misty rain and fog grew more thick.
Suddenly, “BOOM!” something big crashed onto the hood of the car. Andrew pulled over and the boys got out. The wind was pretty steady now, and the rain was coming down harder.
“What was that?” Ted exclaimed. They looked a few minutes with their flashlights, but couldn’t find anything that could make a dent that size in Andrew’s hood.
“It must have been a deer or maybe a bird.” Zach figured.
“Yea, you’re probably right.” said Andrew
Just as they were about to get back in the car, the boys heard a long, horrible howl. Andrew was really nervous now. “Guys I have a bad feeling we should turn back.” “Stop being a baby, that was probably an owl or a cat, and we’re only 10 minutes away from the campsite.” Zach shot back as he shook his head.
Andrew reluctantly pressed forward, and a few minutes later, they found the campsite. Andrew’s heart sank when he saw that they would be the only campers that night. He figured they would share the site with at least a few scout troops or a traveling family. But there were no other cars around. They were alone.
Zach was the first out of the car. “Come on guys, let’s get going. The tent isn’t going to put itself up. If we don’t hurry, we’re gonna be drenched.”
Zach was good as his word. He had the tent up in no time. As the rain slowed, then stopped, and the wind died down, the three decided to build a campfire. They talked about the two most important things in teenage boys’ lives, girls and sports. After an hour, the full moon appeared through the clouds. Zach looked at it with a funny sort of grin, and said, almost to himself, “Guys, I’ll be back, I need to use the bathroom.” “Here take this,” Ted handed Zach his flashlight. It was the best of the three. Zach smiled, “Thanks, man, be right back.”
Andrew and Ted sat by the campfire eating smores. After 10 minutes, Ted said “Dude, how long does it take Zach to take a whiz?”
“I don’t know, man, I’ve never timed him.” said Andrew. “Zach! Zach!!” they both shouted into the night’s sky. Nothing but the echo of their own voices came back. “Think we should go look for him?” asked Ted.
“I don’t know” replied Andrew.
“What if he slipped and is hurt?” Ted said, nervously.
Reluctantly, the boys decided to take the one remaining flashlight and look for Zach. Neither of them knew Zach that well, but he seemed a nice enough guy. The week before, when he asked Andrew if he wanted to go camping, he thought, „sure.’ Now, as they headed off into the dark looking for a guy they hardly knew, both boys felt nervous. Not far into the forest, they found some leaves with blood on them. A little farther along, they found Ted’s flashlight on the ground, still on.
“Isn’t that yours?” Andrew asked.
“We’re out here all alone, man, who else’s could it be.”
Just then Ted shouted with as much courage as he could, “Zach, if you are playing some kind of joke, it isn’t funny!”
Just then, a howl from a big wolf or dog cracked the silence. It sounded like the one that they heard earlier that evening. This time, it almost seemed a response to Ted’s shout.
Andrew, shaking now, screamed, “Zach! Where are you? We’re leaving man? We’re leaving tonight, and if you aren’t back at the campsite in 5 minutes, we’re leaving without you? Got it? 5 minutes!”
Ted and Zack turned for the campsite. Another knee shaking howl pierced the sky. This time it was closer than before.
“Zack!” Ted screamed.
Both boys turned their flashlights in the direction of the noise.
What stood in front of them stopped both boys in their tracks. Andrew dropped his flashlight. Ted held onto his out of sheer terror.
There it stood, panting hard, eyes fixed on Ted and Andrew. Half man-half wolf. The boys tried, but could not scream. They tried, but could not move their feet. The creature growled and howled again.
Just then, another howl came back, this time from behind them. Andrew shivered. Ted froze. Neither could look behind. They knew.
The next morning, Zach methodically cleaned the campsite, packed the car with all of the camping gear, and drove silently back to town. He drove the car back to the school parking lot. Parked. Got in his own car, and went home and called Jeff.
“Hello.”
“Hey Jeff, it’s Zach. The nice weather is supposed to last a while. You want to go camping next month.”
“Sure dude, sounds cool.”
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