Song: "Life is a Highway" - Rascal Flatts
The journey to Finlayson Point Provincial Park was very tedious, but at the same time, now that I think about it, a little interesting. As I mentioned before, the first section we went through was all countryside. It was kind of nice because I'll admit, I kind of like the country. I mean, I'm not totally crazy about it like Aunt Jessie, but yeah. I do kind of like it. All the farms were to our lefts. To our rights was Lake Ontario. Over the lake, the skyline for Toronto was visible.
Now, I'm going to go ahead and say, I don't believe Lake Ontario should be called Lake Ontario. It should be called Ontario Ocean! No seriously! It did not look like a lake! It looked like an ocean! It was so big that there were even a few tanker ships roaming it! Now, from a bird's eye view, I'm sure it's an entirely different perspective, but from a person's eye view, come on, just call it Ontario Ocean instead of Lake Ontario. It seriously is too big to be a lake.
While in the Excursion, I listened to "Life Is A Highway" and prepared to take a nap. I needed to catch up on my ten hours of sleep.
Just before I dozed off, Uncle Harrison started a conversation about canoeing, and it wasn't long until the others joined it.
I didn't feel like talking. I felt like hitchhiking back to North Tonawanda. There was nothing for me to do on the trip instead get annoyed by all these adults. There wasn't another teenager. All my friends were back in North Tonawanda at the mall. My life was so screwed. That's what I felt like. I thought that if I fell asleep, then maybe I would find myself back home when I woke up. Hey, what if all of this was just a mere dream? I sure hoped it was. I did not want to go to the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park. I yawned and closed my eyes. I said I was going to try to get my ten hours of sleep, right? The thing was, for some reason, I had trouble falling back asleep, even with a soothing lullaby coming from my iPhone. For some reason, temporarily, there was a pinch of nervousness in my body. I felt nervous. Why? Sorry, I can't answer that question. It was just the strangest thing. However, I did manage to sleep a little bit. I managed to sleep through Toronto traffic and a little bit afterward. I woke up to a rock and roll song that blasted from my phone. It was so loud that I yelled, and my eyes fluttered open.
I jumped in my seat, and Aunt Delia, who sat next to me, said, "Whoa, Kylie!"
I sighed and relaxed. Drool dripped from my mouth, and my hair was in snarls. Embarrassed, I wiped the drool away and ran my fingertips through my tangled hair.
"Good morning, Kylie!" Mom soon spoke, and she peered back to me, "You missed Toronto."
"Toronto?" I asked, "Really?" Mom nodded, and I groaned. Aw, pity. I really wanted to see the Las Vegas of Canada. Oh well, as they all say, there's always next time.
Once we made it through Toronto, we had three more hours to go before we reached Finlayson, which that was still a long time. During the last three hours of driving, Camp Juniper stopped at a Subway. Here, we took a restroom break and ordered some sandwiches. While here, I actually was told something quite creepy. If curious, read on or continue listening.
So yeah, we stopped at the Subway, and after our restroom break, all of us lined up and started ordering our subs. Camp Juniper actually let me go first. Oh, so now they were starting to show me, the only kid, some pity? Na hah. I don't think so. I believe they were just playing around and readying themselves to annoy me even more. Well, they were succeeding.
I hid my annoyance while I ordered. I asked for provolone cheese, but then I soon learned that Canada didn't have any. I kept on forgetting that I was in Canada, not the United States. Since they didn't have the cheese I wanted, I instead just ordered mozzarella. Keep patient, my fellow audience, I'm almost at the creepy thing I was told in the Subway. I had to wait for the others after the cashier packed my sub because Number 1: I was broke, and Number 2: Dad had all the money. I accepted my sub and propped up on the countertop. This was where it happened.
I remember the cashier, Ken, was pretty cute. He had long, black hair and blue eyes, and a small tuft of his hair stuck up on the center of his head. I think he was eighteen years old. His eyes landed on the whistle Uncle Bart gave me, and he said, "Oh, miss, what a lovely whistle you have. Where did you get it?"
I peered down on the whistle and grasped it. I knew I was blushing. However, I tried not to squeal. I told Ken, "My uncle gave it to me. He said that it belongs in the hands of someone like me. He thinks it will really come in handy during the trip."
"Where are you going?" Ken asked, and he leaned in closer to me. My green eyes met his, and I sighed dreamily. Ken really was quite charming.
To him, I explained, "My family and I are going on a weeklong canoe trip at the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park. Keep in mind, Ken, that I did not want to come, but my dad forced me to." I said that in a whisper because Dad wasn't far behind me.
"Re-Really?" Ken stuttered, "The Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park?" For some odd reason, there was a touch of fear in his voice.
Why? I asked myself. Why did he seem so nervous all of a sudden? What was going on here? I tilted my head and gave Ken a funny look.
Suddenly, he shivered and added with, "Woof." He stood up straight again, "Good luck, miss. That whistle will really come in handy in the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park."
That was the sentence. That was the sentence that left me cold, nervous, and confused. What did Ken mean by, "That whistle will really come in handy in the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park?"
Grasping my whistle again, I asked him, "Why?" but before Ken could answer, Dad suddenly came between us and angrily asked,
"What's with this?" He glared at Ken, and he shrugged. Dad didn't appreciate the fact that I was talking to another teenage boy. All you daughters out there tonight, don't you remember how protective your dads were when it came to boys? Sure you do. Every dad does it, but my dad was the worst. He paid Ken for our subs, and immediately after he did, he snatched my wrist and lugged me towards the exit. "Let's go, Kylie." I remember him snapping at me.
"Wait, Daddy." I protested, and I tried to break free, but he held me tightly, "Ken over there has something to say about the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park. Give him the right to speak."
"No!" Dad snapped, and he continued to drag me. I kept on attempting to break free, but I couldn't. Dad just had such a tight grasp. Behind us, Ken yelled,
"Haven't you heard?"
"Heard what, smart Ken?" Dad asked him, and both he and I turned towards the boy. We listened to him carefully. He took a deep breath, and in a low voice, told us,
"The Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park is haunted!"
"Haunted?!" I shrieked, and I jerked my wrist out of Dad's grasp, "What do you mean 'haunted?!'" I turned to stone. My entire body froze.
Dad soon yelled, "Enough!" at Ken, and he grabbed me again, "How dare you try to scare my daughter, boy! Save your stupid, little fairytales for Disney World!"
"But it's the truth!" Ken yelled behind us as we approached Subway's exit, "Everybody should know the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park is haunted! I have some advice for you, Camp Juniper." He leaned down and rested his arms on the counter's top, "If you by any chance hear a strange but beautiful sound while in the park, stop and don't move a muscle!"
"Why?" I wanted to know. My heart skipped a beat. Fear stabbed me like a thousand knives.
Ken continued with, "Because you will be taken to a different universe if you don't. As the story goes, if you hear 'Lucilla,' then you're pretty much dead."
"'Lucilla?'" I asked, "What's 'Lucilla?'"
"It's gibberish." Dad said, "And it's not going to interfere with Camp Juniper's time in the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park! So long, smart Ken, and don't you dare ever try to pull a trick like that on customers again!"
Ken held up his hands and said, "Excuse me." He stepped back and gestured at the door.
Dad pulled me out, and he slammed the door behind. The second he did, he released me and pointed at the Excursion, "Get in the Excursion, Kylie."
"Yes, Daddy." I quickly complied. I knew he was angry. Hugging my sandwich and Uncle Bart's whistle close to me, I nervously made my way towards the Excursion.
Well there you go, audience. That was the creepy thing I was told in the Subway. Yeah, I know what you're all thinking. You're all thinking exactly what I was thinking at the time. What did Ken mean by "The Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park is haunted?" and "If you hear 'Lucilla,' then you're pretty much dead?" The story is really starting to take a step forward now. I'm taking it up a notch. What I was told in the Subway was only one of the few creepy things I experienced in Ontario. Warning, it's going to get even creepier from this point on, dudes, so prepare yourself. Once again, there's a reason why this story is called The Ghost of Ontario.
We didn't have time to eat our sandwiches at the Subway, so we just ate them in the car. To take my mind off what I was told in the Subway, I listened to my phone some more. By this time, Camp Juniper was getting pretty close to Finlayson Point Provincial Park. I could tell. How? Well, the GPS said we had an hour and a half to go, and also, we now drove on a two lane road in the forestry area of Ontario. First were the farms, and now we were entering the forest. Bright sunshine shone through the treetops, and I rolled down my window. After finishing my sandwich, I sighed and rested my arms on the window frame. I laid my head down on them and peered into the treetops. Ken must've been bluffing. The Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park couldn't be haunted. I just knew it couldn't be. I tried to make the creepy feeling leave me, but things only got a lot weirder.
I saw something. I saw something soaring near the tips of the trees. Lifting my head from my arms, I watched them more carefully. My jaw dropped to the ground. Guess what I saw? An eagle! Another eagle! Or was it another eagle? It soared at the tips of the trees, and it seemed to peer down on the Excursion. Okay, so this was where things really started to become a little strange. Not only was I told something weird by a Subway cashier, I saw two eagles in one day, and each eagle appeared as if they were watching me. I didn't say anything to Camp Juniper. I kept the creepy eagles to myself and attempted to fight the fear.
My iPhone helped me calm down, but unfortunately, it ran out of battery right as Dad announced, "We're almost there! Only a half hour to go!" No, my phone! Not my phone! My phone was my best friend during the journey, and she died thirty minutes before we got to the park! This was terrible. I didn't have anything to do for the last thirty minutes. This was blasphemy, insane, oh no! All I was left to do was stare out the window to the forest. There were many, many trees now, and you know what it means when there's a forest like that. Bugs. I could see the mosquitoes and flies swarming around in it like hungry vampires.
"I'm so going to regret this." I said to myself.