Chapter 1
Thump. Thump. I woke up to the sound of something banging on the door. Thinking it was the harsh, bitter, wind, or some small mammal, I ignored it and tried to go back asleep. Thump. Thump. Rustle. Jingle. My eyes shot open. The wind doesn’t jingle. I looked at the digital clock, its red numbers stuck out in the darkness. It read 11:56 pm. I slowly and carefully got out of bed, careful not to disturb Zoey, one of my best friends in the whole wide world. It was Kaylie's (another one of my best friends) birthday and she decided that camping in the middle of the woods was a great idea for a party.
There were 6 bunk beds and a single bed. There was a person in each bed except for the 2 beds that each had two people in it. 2,4,6,8,9. 12, counting myself and the dogs. No one was out taking a potty break or a midnight stroll. Bobbi and Nico, Kaylie's dog and foster dog scrabbled up. “Shhh. Stay.” I said, hoping they could understand me. Thankfully, they stayed quiet and hidden in the corner. I crept over to the window and lifted the curtain a tiny bit so I could peek out. I saw a dark clad figure trying to demolish the door.
I quickly edged behind the coat rack, hiding somewhere where I could see the person and have him not see me. I could see Bobbi and Nico squirming in the corner, resisting the urge to bark and move. Just a little longer, i thought. The door opened a crack and then flew wide open. The person turned around and bent over to grab something. I saw the chance to take him down and knocked him down without thinking. I sat on his lower-back section and held his hands back in-between his shoulder blades. At the same time I did that, Bobbi and Nico scurried over. I thought I was going to get some backup but they choose the option to lick the person to death instead.
“Ow, ow, ew, ew, ew! Call them off! Call them off!” a male voice yelled. He withered under my grasp, attempting to slither out of it to escape the dog’s slobbery punishment. I pushed Bobbi and Nico back.
“You’ve got 3 seconds to explain yourself before I sic them back on you and call the police.”
He was still trying to get out from my grip. “You know, it’s kind of hard to explain yourself when you’ve got a stranger sitting on you with dog slobber all over your freaking face.” I made a quick decision and let him go.
“Try anything stupid and you’ll be swimming in the lake with the snakes.” I warned as he wiped his face and dusted himself off. As I waited for him to groom himself, I noticed that the stars were out, littering the night sky like bread crumbs on a jet black carpet. It would have been nice if there wasn’t a burglar standing in front of me.
“Hey that rhymed!” he commented.
I sighed and counted to 3, reminding him he has a limited amount of time.
“Wait, wait, wait! A bear broke into my cabin! I went out for a hike and when I came back, there was a bear camping in it! I have nowhere else to stay!”
“Shhh! Do you want to wake everyone up? Anyway, you chose this cabin because…?”
“It was the one farthest away from the bear!” he exclaimed on a whisper.
“If you were out hiking, how come you came back so late?” I interrogated.
“Ok, so I’m not the best navigator in the world, I got lost.”
“And I should believe you because…?’
“You’re a really nice person who loves to help random boys you don’t know with their bear problem?” he half begged half asked. I could barely see him go down on his knees and give me a puppy dog face. “Pwlease?” he pleaded.
I tried to ignore it but I gave in, feeling his puppy dog face stare bore into my soul. “There’re two couches you can sleep on. Pick one.”
“Yay!” he jumped up and grabbed his backpack, “Oh, and my name’s Lukaz by the way.” He said as he walked in the house. I followed him in and called the dogs before closing and locking the door. “I’m Mikayla. Mik, for short and how do I know you're not going to slit everyone's throat open when we're asleep?" I inquired.
He held his hands up in defense. "Search me if you want but if I was, don't you think I'd done it by now?" He had a good point.
Lukaz picked the bigger couch and settled down on it. I slipped back into my shared bed and watched him suspiciously, getting ready to lunge out of bed if he tried anything. But he didn’t do one single thing except curl up in a ball and say goodnight. “Night.” I responded. I planned to watch him all night, just in case, but I guess I must have fell asleep because when I opened my eyes, light was pouring in from the windows and some of my friends were up and talking.
“Hey look! Mik’s awake! Morning, Mik!” I heard. I muttered a morning and shifted, hoping to get some extra Z’s. With a jolt, I realized Lukaz was sleeping on the couch. I sat up abruptly, hitting my head on the bottom part of the upper bunk. “Ow!” I cried, which woke up Zoey and pretty much everyone who wasn’t awake yet. “Wha…?” Zoey groggily said.
“Oh my god, Mik! Are you okay?!?” Kaylie exclaimed as she jumped down from her top bunk and rushed over. She grabbed my head and searched for and bumps or dents. Yup, that’s Kaylie for ya. Looking out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Lukaz was gone. The couch was the way it was before he slept on it. It was like no one was there. I sighed with relief inside. “I’m fine, Kaylie.” I pushed her away.
“What happened?” Zoey asked. One of Kaylie’s friends filled her in while I got up and went to the fridge to get a bottle of OJ.
