Speaker 1: Welcome to micro Terrors, scary stories for kids where it's
always the spooky season, full of chills, thrills, and spine
tingling spooks. Micro Terrors are family friendly frights for those
ages eight and up, and while our stories are for
younger years, we are still talking about things that go
bump in the night, and some children may not be
able to handle what others can. Parental consent is recommended
now for tonights micro Terror Skinless Part one. My dog hurts,
I said, stumbling over my paniced attempt at a last
second excuse. I cringed as I mixed and matched the
two most infamous excuses of all time, my stomach hurts
and my dog ate my homework. I tried it again, desperately,
trying to get my point across. My stomach hurts, I said,
with more confidence. It made more sense this time, but
any credibility it would have held was completely gone now.
My dad couldn't help but laugh as he turned the
car onto the final stretch of road that cut through
the dense forest of pine and spruce trees. My mom,
although probably secretly sharing the laugh at my expense, didn't
show it outright. She just leered the passenger seat window
and watched the trees fly by in silence. You'll be fine, Jay,
My dad said you'll be fine was the weakest of
all the ways to make someone feel better. They were
just words, words.
Speaker 2: Designed to make someone stop complaining and just deal with
whatever was about to come their way. I crossed my
arms and sighed heavily, making sure both of my parents
heard it, then faced the window and turned my brain off.
The trees continued to fly by in a blur of
green and brown. Now my stomach really was starting to hurt.
Summer break was nearly over, so why I was being
forced into a week long summer camp before the school
year started was beyond me. What kind of camp opened
for only a week at the end of summer break. Anyway,
I didn't want to go. I wasn't going to know anyone,
and as far as I knew, it was strictly so
Mom and Dad get us some time to go to
the beach together, like I'd heard them secretly talking about
all summer long. A beach trip without their only son
was going to be boring for them. They just have
to find that out the hard way. Hopefully a hurricane
wouldn't swoop in and ruin their weak like they had
mine already. There it is, I heard my dad say,
Even though I didn't want to give them, the satisfaction
in each of curiosity spiked in me. I leaned toward
the middle of the back seat and looked out the
front of the car. The wooden sign for the camp
was arched over the roadway like a rustic rainbow, held
up by two large, intricately carved pillars. The engraved letters
on the arched sign read Camp Resting Stone. A few
minutes later, I stood outside the car, my back leaning
against it as my dad grabbed my duffel bag from
the trunk. I noticed my mom looking around the lot
we'd parked in. She seemed to be carefully taking in
the sites. I glanced around with her, curiously, noticing there
weren't any other cars around. The endless spirals of tire
tracks in the dirt were the only other sign of
people having recently been here. The office cabin sat off
to one side at the dirt and pine needled sprinkled lot.
Across from it was the wreck hall, where I assumed
all the fun stuff was like TV in video games.
Next to that was the dining hall. Then beyond that,
down a sloping bushy hill, I could barely make out
the other cabins hidden within the trees. Come on, Jay,
my dad said, let's get you signed in Reluctantly, I
followed my dad up to the office cabin. My mom
quietly followed behind us. Above the door to the office
was a bright sign with block letters that said Grand Reopening.
The inside of the office was much cooler than outside.
The summer heat, in my opinion, had overstayed It's welcome,
and the entire state of New York was just a
stewing region of warmth and mugginess. At this point, if
there was any chance in a good air conditioned room,
I was going to be sure to soak it all up.
Welcome to Camp resting Stone. The energetic man behind the
desk said he must have been in his early twenties.
I'd guessed purely from the looks of his struggling facial hair.
He wore a dark green Camp Resting Stone T shirt
with white trim around the neck and sleeves, cargo shorts,
and a tan bucket hat that sat loosely atop his
moppy brown hair. He walked around the desk and went
out of his way to gleefully shape my mom's hand first,
then my dad's, and then put his hands on his
hips for me. You must be Jason Nugent, he said.
My name is Max Kolber. Welcome to camp. He got
me Jay, I said, how did you even know who
I was? Max put a finger to his forehead and
then widened his eyes. Because I have magical powers, like
the force, I sarcastically asked, like all kinds of forces,
Max said, before uncomfortably winking at my mom. Then he laughed, Nah,
I knew who you were because you're the last one
on the list. Everyone else has already arrived. That explained
the empty lot, I thought. All the other poor kids
been dropped off and their parents have already set sail
for beaches around the world. Max looked at my parents. Next,
Jay's in good hands, he said. It'll be a week
of fun, new friends and activities before the school year starts. Then, hopefully,
if everything goes well this time, we'll be open for
a full summer next year. If everything goes well this time,
I thought, why did he say it like that? What
went wrong the last time? Oh? What happened last time
I vocally expressed my concern, all my mom did was
place a hand on my shoulder as they continued to
speak with Max, but all of their words began to
blend and contort as my mind raced with worry. If
something had gone wrong here, why in the world would
my parents have allowed me to come stay here? Then
I thought of the sign outside of the cabin grand reopening.
Something bad had happened, something that caused Camp resting Stone
to shut down, And just like that, the betrayal was complete.
My parents left, probably already discussing which tropical drinks they
were going to order first, and I was left in
the dining hall with about two dozen other campers. No
one seemed to know each other, so that was at
least something we all had in common already. I looked
around the dining hall, just like the office and the
rest of the cabins appeared to be. It was made
from logs, like true to form log came evans. The
dining hall was fairly large, with enough space to comfortably
seat the two dozen kids. At six different tables along
the walls were nature photographs, which I assumed were taken
around the camp in a series of photographs. Some of
the highlights included a lake, an archery range, scenic hiking trails,
and a campfire with silhouetted kids sitting around it. Max
Colber finally entered the dining hall from a side door.
Following him were two other similarly dressed counselors, although without
the bucket hat that made Max's appearance so bold and memorable.
Max cleared his throat to get the attention of everyone
in the dining hall, which wasn't very hard given the
fact that no one was really talking to one another.
Yet we all seemed to be on the same page.
None of us wanted to be there. Max proudly put
his arms out to his sides and smiled, bearing his
pearly white, nearly perfect teeth. Welcome to Camp Resting Stone,
he exclaimed. We are so excited for you all to
join us for our soft grand reopening. Think of this
week as a test for the camp. If we succeed
and pass with flying colors, meaning if you all enjoy
it and have a blast, then we get open full
time next summer, and we be honored to have each
and every one of you come back for it. A
kid bulky with glasses raised his hand, but didn't wait
to be called on to ask his question. Why did
you shut down to begin with? The kid asked. Max
continued to put on his large, over compensating smile. Remind
me of your name, he said, Arnie Crumb, the kid said, Arnie.
Every establishment has kinks in the machine that need to
be worked out before they can flourish to their full potential.
Camp resting Stone is just another classic example of that.
Arnie pointed to one of the camp photos on the wall,
one of a grand opening sign held up by a
dozen kids and a few counselors standing behind them.
Speaker 1: But the data the that.
Speaker 2: Picture says August two thousand and two. This place has
been closed for twenty two years. That must have been
what a heck of a kink in the machine. Max's
smile disappeared. Sit down, Arnie, we have a lot to
get through. Max's vibrant energy was gone in the blink
of an eye, and everyone noticed it. Arnie sat down,
sensing that he had struck a nerve of some kind.
Max turned his attention to the other two counselors and
was able to conjure up his smile again to continue
his introductory performance. These are my counselors. Next summer will
be fully staffed, but for this week, I'd like to
introduce you to Brody, Bellas and Arena Silver, Max said.
Brody stepped forward. He was tall, muscular, and clean shaven,
with a chiseled jawline. He looked like he just leaped
out of the pages of a magazine for the decades
best Looking People. Brody is a high school graduate and
works part time as a waiter at Waffles and Stuff.
He'll be leading the charge the boys sector of the camp.
Brody stepped back, allowing Arena to step forward, almost like
their entire introduction was rehearsed to perfection ahead of time.
Arena looked like the perfect counterpart for Brody. She too
was tall, blonde, and athletically built. Her eyes were big,
like those of a Disney princess, and she held herself
in a flirtatious stance. Max continued, Arina is working on
getting her nursing degree at Monarch University. During the summer,
she's a lifeguard and has two cats. The boy sitting
next to me leaned over and whispered, she only has
two cats during the summer. I held back a small laugh.
I didn't want to get the same aggressive attention that
Arnie Crum had received. Max's speech continued for a few
more minutes, basically explaining the things the camp offered from
the lake to the archery range. It was nothing I
hadn't already gathered from the pictures on the wall or
things I had seen. When he wrapped up his preast presentation,
he had all of us stand up and form lines
girls and one boys in another. MAXI made it clear
that even though the cabins and bunks were separated into
boys and girls, the camp activities would be all inclusive
and we do them all together as one equal unit.
Irena led the girls out of the dining hall first
and down the hill to where the girls cabins were.
Brody then flexed his muscles in front of us and
smirked out of the corner of his mouth. Without saying
a word. He waved us on to follow him. We did.
We followed him out of the dining hall, down the hill,
and then through a thick cluster of trees to where
the boys cabins were. There were twelve boys total and
four cabins, so Brody randomly split us into groups of
three and assigned us to our living quarters for the week.
Each cabin was represented by a three foot tall wood
carved animal in front of it. Ours was an owl.
Brody left the three of us in the cabin and
said he was going to get the bags for everyone
and that he'd be back soon. The cabin was smaller
than I thought it would be. There were two bunk beds,
leading me to believe that normally four boys would be
able to fit in one. There were also four large
wooden chests against the wall, one for each of us
to keep our things in, and aside from a single
desk near the door, at a first aid kit and
fire extinguisher near the back, that was it. We were
living in a bare bones environment. I looked at the
other two boys in the cabin with me. One of
them was the boy who had whispered to me about
IRENA's summer cats. I walked over to him and extended
my hand. I'm Jason Nugent, I said you could call
me Jay. The boy, short and gangly, shook my hand back.
Hubert Nell, call me null, he said, with a wink.
I wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic with his
whole call me whatever comment, since that's how I had
introduced myself, or if that was really what he went by.
Either way, it sounded cool, and was also the name
of a symbiotic super villain in the Marvel universe, which
made it even cooler. Null and I turned to the
other kid, who stood by one of the windows. He
just leered out into the trees, like he was watching
or waiting for something. Jay and Null here, I announced loudly,
so the other boy could hear us, And you'd be
The boy slowly turned around and faced us. He looked pale, nervous.
Even I noticed this immediately, but Nol continued the playful interrogation.
And you'd be Null, reiterated, Scared, the boy said, in
a haunting whisper. Scared, I asked, with a slight tilt
of my head. That's an odd nickname. NOL added, unless
that's your actual name, which would be even more odd.
That's not your actual name, is it. The boy just
rolled his eyes and took a deep breath, nervously glancing
again out the window behind him. No, that's not my name,
the boy said, It's Riff Riff, tore easy Riff, I
addressed him, realizing he was already annoyed by how Nel
was dealing with things. I didn't want to make things worse.
What are you scared of? Riff turned back to us
from the window. His crystal blue eyes were glistening as
if threatening to tear up, and his forehead glinted with
an oncoming sweat thish place. He said, don't you guys
know about this place? Don't you know why it was
condemned for twenty two years? Nolan, I shook our heads.
Even though I thought it was strange and bizarre that
the camp opened briefly and then closed for twenty two years,
I had no idea why. Griff continued. His next words,
chilled us to our bones. A man died here horribly,
as they never found his body. The moment of silent
tension was broken by a loud, obnoxious laugh from Noll.
If they never found his body, then how did they
know he died? And who's they? Even? Riff shrugged, It's
just known that he died. Who died? I asked. Riff's
concern seemed genuine, and I didn't want to discredit him
right away like no had, just because his story so
far didn't make much sense. He goes by many names,
Riff said softly, the unrest, resting Bones, skinless, skinless guts.
His real name was Emery Gut. He was the award
winning chef here when Camp Resting Stone first opened, famously
known for flawlessly catching, cleaning, and crying up a perfect
fish dinner between meals. He was honest to the groundskeeper.
I saw Noel roll his eyes out of the corner
of mine. Ah, I get it now, Noel said, he's
the ghost story. Every camp has one. It's to keep
kids in line, keep them on their toes and paying attention.
Don't wander off the trail. Skinless Guts will get you.
Don't swim in the lake. The unrest will pull you under.
Don't stay out past Dirk. Resting Bones will skin you alive.
Riff snarled at Null. It's not a ghost story. It's true.
My dad told me about it. Of course he did.
No laughed. Your dad wants you to come to this
camp and listen and be good. He was making sure
you were gonna be a good boy. Clearly, this camp
can't fail again. They need everything to be perfect, So
why not scare us all straight and keep us in line?
Riff was becoming more and more annoyed by Null than
I could sense their blossoming distaste for one another. Whatever
Riff said, don't believe me. You better just hope skin
his guts doesn't get you first. Riff immediately left the
cabin and slammed the door, leaving Null and I to
just stand there in shame. Nol threw his arms up
in the air and acted like he didn't understand why
Riff was upset. Why is it something I said? He asked, Yeah,
it was everything you said. I told him. You think
there's some dead groundskeeper ghost chef out there in the
woods kicking up trouble, Nol asked, with a laugh. I shrugged.
I certainly hope not. It wouldn't make for a very
fun week at Camp Brody our waffles and stuff. Camp
counselor led us down to the lake once he got back. Thankfully,
Riff hadn't run off too far and was already there.
As a matter of fact, every camper was there. It
was yet another meeting headlined by the great Max Colber.
We all lined up by the edge of the water.
Max stood before us, his toes burrowing into the sand
like fleeing hermit crabs. The afternoon sun was to his back.
Brody and Arena were at his sides, as if he
had his own personal bodyguards, or better yet, henchmen. This
is Lake resting Stone, Max said. The camp gets his
name quite literally from that stone out there. The three
twenty something's all turned and faced the lake. We all
looked and saw that about halfway between the shore we
stood at and the other side was a flat rock
cresting the surface of the water. It's just a natural,
unique landmark, Max said. In the early days of America,
there was a settlement here. As time went on, the
settlers moved on to bigger places. I'm sure y'all noticed
how far off the beaten path, Camp Resting Stone is
from the rest of civilization. When your parents dropped you
off here. The young girl in the group raised her hand.
Max pointed to her. Yes, why is it so far away?
She asked, Max smiled. He quickly looked to Irena for
the girl's name, Gemma. Irena whispered, Jemma. Max greeted her loudly,
great question, and if you would have let me just
keep going. I was about to answer that I was
a little stunned by Max's rudeness, and we all noticed
a flush of embarrassment over Jemma's face. Once the settlers
moved in, the land sat empty for decades until the
World War era. That is, Max arrogantly continued. A team
of scientists, anonymous and carefully selected by a secret government
warfare division, were tasked with developing weaponry that the world
hadn't seen before. This land was chosen because of how
isolated it was. The experiments lasted throughout World War One,
and then the grounds were opened again off the record,
of course, during World War II, in an attempt to
make taboo weaponry called acidic flushers. S. Paul raised his hand,
interrupting Max's summer camp war speech. Where I need some
of those acidic flushers and stuff in the cabin toilets.
If you guys plan on making chili or something anything
with beings in it, a standard flush just isn't going
to you have some nerve, kid, Max said. Angered by
Null's senseless interruption, he stepped forward, away from his two
henchmen counselors and approached Null directly. You don't see me
interrupting you, do you? Nul sperked. He just did. Actually
you didn't let me finish telling you how a standard
flush wasn't going to handle my enough, Max loudly interrupted again.
He took a minute to calm himself, and then sperked again,
this time maliciously. You wouldn't even want one of those
acidic flushers anywhere near your exposed cheeks. They were bombs
designed to release a river of acid through enemy tunnels
and trenches, and I don't think I need to explain
to you what that much acid would do to your skin.
Null gulped audibly. Max, satisfied with how he just aggressively
handled the situation, stepped away, turned to form between Brody
and the arena. Another kid raised his hand. It was
Arnie Crumb, the same kid who had asked about why
the camp had been closed for over two decades. Max
saw Arnie's hand in the air. Inside he threw his
head back. Yes, Arnie Crumb, I do remember learning about
iscidic fleshers in school, he said. We studied World War
One head too. I don't think that's a real thing
at all. I don't think you're real, Arnie, Max said,
resorting to childish nonsensical comebacks. You know what, if no
one wants to hear the rich history of the camp,
then whatever. Go back to your cabins, play a board game.
I don't care. Tomorrow though, bright and early. We have
a hike planned, so I'd suggest getting some sleep tonight.
Is there any truth to the Skinless Guts? A voice
cried out from down the line nol and I leaned
out slightly and saw a Riff step forward. Emery Gut,
he said, Chef the caretaker, he died here twenty two
years ago. What can you tell us about that? Max
froze at first, he didn't know what to say. Then,
snapping out of his inner panic, he looked to Brody
and then to Irena, who both shrugged. Max then addressed Riff.
You sound like a reporter, he said, no, there is
no truth to that story. Max had displayed arrogance, aggressiveness, frustration,
basically every bizarre fluctuating emotion of the rainbow during his
lakeside speech, But when Riff mentioned the legend of Emery
Gut for the first time, I saw a different emotion
in Max. We all did. He seemed off. Part two,
just as the sun was setting for the night and
the woods fell into cool shadows. Brodie gathered all the
boys from our cabins and let us down a path
to a small clearing. In the center of the clearing
were all the ingredients of a campfire. A few flicks
of his flint and steel later, and Brody had created
fire like the cave man he was. He instructed all
twelve of us to sit around the fire on a
circle of generic log stumps, and then he pulled out
a clipboard. The hike is in the morning, Brody said,
as if reading from a script that was clipped to
his board. The goal of the hike is to familiarize
you with the grounds of the camp, the places you're
allowed to go, and the place's yarn't. Of course, we'll
fit some other things in there, like tree identification and
not tying this isn't the cub Scouts. Nol suddenly broke
the silence that hung over the kids as Brody read
from his pre approved script. Let's get to the real
meat and potatoes of this, Brody emery gut. Who is
he and why does his ghost haunt these woods? A
sudden worried chatter from all the kids sparked a smile
from Null he had accomplished exactly what he had set
out to do to cause trouble, dismay, and mounting panic.
I looked around as the other boys were whispering to
one another, some questioning the same thing Null had, others
shaking it off as complete nonsense. Arnie Crumb, who sat
clear across from me and just a couple stumps over
from Brody, was paying extremely close attention to everyone, trying
to soak in as much of the jumbled conversations as
he could. Riff, who was a couple of spots over
from me, stirred uncomfortably on his stump. Brody sat his
clipboard down and stood up. Max already told you there's
no truth to that story. His voice was loud and beefy.
But I'm convincing. The more shade that came over these
counselors on the subject, the more I started to believe
that maybe there was some kind of truth behind what
Riff was talking about back in the cabin. After all,
every story, every legend, has to come from somewhere, right,
They're all based on some kernel of truth. Arnie Crumb
raised his hand. Do you know why the camp was
closed so quickly? Twenty two years ago. Brody shook his
head again, unconvincingly. Couldn't have had something to do with
every gut? Arnie kept the questions coming. What happened? All
the counselors and kids in they grabbed opening picture from
two thousand and two. Brody shrugged. He was clearly feeling
overwhelmed and concerned. We all felt as if he knew
more than he was telling us, and that wasn't going
to sit well with anyone, especially the great and inquisitive
Arnie Crumb. Arnie raised his hand again, Are the acidic
flushers are real? In the dark woods? A stick snapped
somewhere nearby, silencing everyone. Only the crackling of the fire
and crickets hiding in the night were making noise. Even
I was on edge now. Brody looked around for a moment,
and when there wasn't a second sound, he smiled and relief,
taking in a deep breath and letting it slowly trickle
back out. Our rabbits and squirrels and deer around this area.
I'm sure it was one of the boys, screamed, suddenly,
jumping to his feet and pointing frantically behind Brody. His
panic caused everyone else to panic. Everyone jumped up, and
Brody spun around as quickly as he could, already screaming himself.
In the flickering light of the fire, we all saw
a man standing behind him. He was large, wore a
bushy beard and heavy jacket with the camp Resting Stone
logo on the breast pocket. Brody grabbed his chest to
prevent his heart from leaping out and caught his breath.
Oh oh oh, he heaved, frightened yet relieved. You scarried
the cow pies right out of us. Once we all
heard the name and saw the man in a better light,
we were able to relax a bit. His name was
Otto Cunningham, camp resting Stone's new modern day chef. Not
sure about that title, though, since lunch had been catered
sandwiches and small zip locked bags of potato chips. We'd
only first met Auto at the dining hall for dinner,
when he served us homemade mac and cheese and cornbread.
He seemed like a quiet man overall, but when he
did speak, he did so in a low, rumbling voice. Rody,
you're not scaring these kids with horror stories about ghosts
in the woods, are you.
Speaker 1: Otto?
Speaker 2: Sternly said. He was significantly older than Brody, so I
couldn't tell if he was being serious and getting on
the young counselor or if he was just playfully giving
him a hard time. No way, Rody proudly insisted, straightening
out his shoulders. These little turns keep bringing up the past,
and I have to keep shutting it down like a
road closure. Otto nodded and glanced around at all of
us want at a time, almost like he was trying
to capture a mental image of us. All. His focus
finally returned to Brody. If I were you, I'd end
this soon. Otto said, Max wants to make sure the
kids are all arrested for the hike tomorrow. Okay, Brody said,
with an accompanying nod. Otto then addressed all of us,
I'll see you all for breakfast. Scrambled eggs, hash browns,
and sausage are on the menu. None of the kids responded.
Even Null remained silent. He may have also been a
little spooked by Otto's unexpected appearance. Otto turned and walked away,
disappearing into the woods into the dark. We could still
hear his footsteps on the leaves and sticks for the
next minute or so. Then silence. I lay on the
bottom bunk bed of one of the beds, wide awake.
An hour later, Nol was snoring in a separate bed
above me. I could hear Riff moving around restlessly. He
was either having a hard time getting comfortable or just
having a hard time with all of this. In general,
I couldn't sleep. The only thing on my mind was
Everery Gut. How did he die? How do they know
he died? And why would he be haunting the camp?
Even being only ten years old. I knew there weren't
such things as ghosts and monsters, so why would the
camp shut down for that reason alone? There had to
be more to it. I tried to line up the
facts of what I knew in order to try and
reason my way through the information, but the facts were scarce.
The only fact I had on my side was that
Camp resting Stone had been mysteriously shut down for twenty
two years. However, there were a lot of other things
I was also taking into consideration. Why was it such
a secret as to why the camp was shut down.
Why would no one confirm that Emory Gutt worked here
twenty two years ago? Why were Max and the counselors
acting so strangely about the topic. Jay, are you awake,
Riff whispered from the top bunk, Yes, I said, coming
out of my many thoughts. Did you hear what Brody
said to Ano at the campfire? I tried to remember,
but Riff reminded me anyway. He said, these little turns
keep bringing up the past. That revelation hit like a
gut punch. Riff was right, he did say that. Did
that confirm that Emory Gut was actually a real part
of the camp's past. We were woken up early by
the sound of a metal banging sound that rippled through
the morning air. It sounded a lot like a wooden
spoon pounding against a pot. Then Max's voice echoed outside.
Wake up, sleepy heads, he called out from somewhere, the
day has begun. I grumbled myself out of the bottom
bunk and saw Noll sprawled out on his back on
the floor next to his bed. He looked dead. I
quickly rushed over and tapped him frantically on the face.
No are you okay? I asked, with a series of
frantic face taps. He then came to life and swatted
me away like I was a pesky fly stave it,
he grumbled. Sitting up. He looked around, noticed he was
on the floor, and then laughed, Oops, I sleep hard sometimes.
I stood up and turned back to the bunk to
see if Riff was awake, But he wasn't there. The
top bunk was empty, Riff, I called out, But unless
he was going to appear out of thin air, he
wasn't there. There was nowhere for him to be in
the cabin that Null and I couldn't see. Maybe he's
already at the dining hall, I WONDEREDNL snapped his fingers. Yes,
he wants a good seat. He seems like the kind
of dude who would want to get breakfast when it's
hot and fresh. I personally didn't get that specific feeling
about Riff, but I knew what Neul was trying to say.
Maybe Riff was just an early riser. Shortly after the
loud banging wake up call, we were all in the
dining hall for breakfast. The room was loud, this time,
with the chatter of the campers. Max, Brody and Arena
stood by the door going over a list of things
on a clipboard. Otto was coming around to everyone, serving
up plates. Of exactly what he had promised during his
fireside scare, scrambled eggs, hash browns, and sausage. The food
was good and made me think that the day would
be too. After the awkward, uneasy tension of the first day,
a good day was exactly what we needed. Maybe less
focus on the camp ghost story and more focus on
the camp activities could serve as the reboot the weak
desperately needed. Already, I placed another fork full of eggs
in my mouth and swallowed them. Yes, I thought this
will be a good day. Then Null tapped me on
the arm after he hard swallowed a piece of sausage.
He said, I don't see Riff anywhere. I looked around
and quickly realized Noll was right. Riff was nowhere to
be seen in the dining hall. My stomach tightened as
I sat my fork down. I was hit with a
familiar feeling of unease and decided to immediately ask someone
about Riff. I stood up and walked briskly to Max
and the counselors. Max saw me coming and stopped talking
to Brody and Arena Jay. He said, with a smile,
how's the breakfast good? I said, I then faced Brody,
where's Riff. He wasn't in the cabin this morning, and
I don't see him here either. Brody looked around the
dining hall and shrugged. Max then glared at Brody. Did
you lose one of your kids? Max asked him, Of
course not. Brody said he's probably in the outhouse or something.
Go check, Max instructed him. Brody did as he was
told and left the dining hall. Thanks for the heads up,
Max said to me with another smile, although this one
didn't feel as genuine. We'll have Riff back in no time.
I didn't respond to Max. I just gave him a
half nod and turned to walk away. As I was
walking away, Jemma, one of the girl campers, approached Max
and Arena. I heard what she asked them before I
was too far away. Mallory wasn't in the cabin this morning,
Jemma said, and she's not here either. Once I sat
back down at the table, I saw Max instruct the
Arena to leave the dining hall. She was now also
tasked with finding another missing camper. So much for a
good day. All the girls and boys were gathered up
by the lake shortly after breakfast. We had backpacks and
were all dressed in camp resting Stone shirts and matching shorts. Max,
Brody and Arena stood before us, explaining the hike we
were about to embark on, but I was barely paying attention.
Riff was still not back, and that was after Brody
was supposed to go look for him. I saw Gemma
standing not too far away. She too continued to look
concerned and kept glancing around at all the girls. I
assumed her bunk mate Mallory hadn't returned either. I found
it super suspicious that the two counselors who were tasked
with locating the missing campers were back but without the campers,
and there had been no further mention of them. After
Max gave another over enthusiastic camp resting Stone speech, the
hike was set to begin. Max wasn't a part of
the hike, so after he retreated back to the front office,
Brody and Arena split all of us into two groups.
My group was led by Irena. Naul was with me
as well as Gemma. I was glad about that because
I wanted to ask her some questions about her missing friend.
Erina led us around the lake to where a dirt
path cut up through the trees. The path was heavily
shaded by the dark green foliage, and a thin morning
fog still clung to the ground. The air smelled cool
and fresh. The flowery scent teased our senses. Nall sidled
up beside me and quietly said, gees a rumor. The
two kids are missing now, I nodded my head. Mallory's
the other one, who I shrugged. I overheard that girl
say it this morning, I whispered back, motioning to Jemma,
walking a few yards ahead of us. What is going
on here, Null wondered. I didn't have an answer. I
was just as confused as he was, just as confused
as Gemma or anyone else who had caught on or
cared up ahead. Irena stopped walking and turned to face
us with a pretty smile on her face. She showcased
a tree next to her, as if she were presenting
a prize on the game show. Does any want to
know what kind of tree this is? Ireena playfully giggled.
No one answered. I looked at the tree, but I
had no idea. I says some kind of joke, some
kind of blanket act to cover up the fact that
this camp was pointless. Noel raised his hand and Arena
pointed to him. I want to shoot bow and arrows,
he said, not talk about trees. IRENA's smile disappeared. There'll
be time for all that. This is only the second today.
Another kid raised his hand. When I got a good
look at him, I noticed it was Arnie Crumb. I smirked,
already knowing he was about to start asking the hard questions,
and it seemed like Irena expected it to She was
hesitant to acknowledge him next, but ultimately it didn't matter.
Arnie spoke up, anyway, do the disappearances of two campers
have anything to do with every Gut? And does the
mysterious death of every Gutt have anything to do with
the closure of this camp twenty two years ago. IRENA's
irritated gaze stung Arnie. I don't know what you're talking about.
All questions regarding the camp's history should be directed toward Max,
not me. Irena sounded emotional, like she was being unfairly attacked.
Will you admit to the disappearances of two campers overnight?
Arnie then asked. Arena didn't say anything. The tension between
her and the group could be cut with a knife.
The campers, who were initially unaware of the others who
were missing, were now aware. Any sort of cover up
or concealing of information was out of the question. Irena
opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, a
woman's blood curdling scream ripped through the woods. We all
ran as fast as we could no. Jemma and I
led the way instinctively. We must have been the most invested,
or at least the most concerned missing kids followed by
a scream in the woods. It couldn't have been a coincidence.
It had to be related. I was just scared of
what we were about to see or run into. We
broke through some trees and into a clearing where the
other hiking group was. Brody stood by some bushes and
the other kids were gathered up behind him. They were
all quiet, as if they were anxiously awaiting Brody to
say something. His back was to everyone as he stared
down into the shrubbery. I tapped one of the kids
from Brody's hiking team on the shoulder. What's going on here?
I asked, who screamed. The boy looked me directly in
the eyes. Brody screamed, he said flatly. I shook my head.
Now it was a woman, a girl. Maybe we all
heard it. Trush me, the boy said, running back to
their lead counselor. It was Brody. Arena had finally caught
up and quickly joined Brody's side. She saw whatever he
had seen, and then gasped, cupping her hands over her mouth.
Are those human bones? I heard her expel with a
second gasp. Her words sparked panic in the campers. Some
began to freak out, some ran back down the trail
from which they came, and a couple of them screamed.
I looked at Null and Gemma. We all had the
same morbid thought. The bones must have belonged to Riff
or Mallory. Arnie Crumb pushed his way through the crowd
and ride up to us. Well, looks like capt Resting
Stone is about to be shut down again. They could
try again in another twenty two years. I felt a
little dazed, praying there was just a giant misunderstanding. I
stepped away from the group to catch my breath and
call my nerves. My heart was beginning to palpitate. That's
when I looked up and saw something through the trees.
There was another cabin. It was much smaller than the
ones we'd been assigned to. It was made of a
darker colored wood and seemed almost hidden away from the
heart of the camp. I could see a window on
the side of the small, dark cabin that faced me,
Even with a slight glare from the sun bouncing off
the lake nearby, I could see someone moving around inside
of it. Whoever it was then pulled a loose sheet
or a curtain down over the window. The morning hike
was called off and we were all sent back to
our cabins while Max, Brody and Irena escorted a couple
of police officers down the hiking trail. Since Camp resting
Stone was so far off the beaten path, it took
a responding patrol car nearly an hour to arrive. Rody
had come back to each of the boys cabins one
at a time to give us all the details on
what the police had discovered on the trail. Deer bones,
he said, with a sigh of relief. They were just
deer bones. That was a relief That meant the Riff
and Mallory weren't a pile of bones in the woods
and the police were finally on the case. Are we
looking at another twenty few years shut down? Then Noel asked,
Rody cocked his head, what what are you talking about?
No looked at me. Once again we shared the same thought.
I stood up from the edge of my bunk and
approached to Brody. The police are looking for Riff and Mallory, right,
I asked him, with authorready. Rody didn't say anything. There
are two kids missing at the camp, I continued, You
guys brought in the police for animal bones, but not
to search for the missing kids. Rody cleared his throat,
took a deep breath, and spoke his next words as
if they were practiced or instructed. Match checked to the
camp roster, and there are no children registered here by
those names, he said. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.
Of course there are. Riff was our third bunk mate,
I said, pointing to the top bunk of where I slept.
I then forced my way past Brody into the chest
against the wall where Riff's clothing and personal items had
been stored. I lifted the lid and my stomach dropped.
The chest was empty. Where is Riff's stuff. I turned
back and faced Brody. There's no riff, he repeated, Max,
look into it. You must have been imagining him. Then
what about Mallory, the girl Jimma said disappeared. There's no
Mallory either, Brody said mechanically. I turned to know. His
eyes were wide to disbelief. A silent fear began to
grow within him as well. Max said for everyone to
take the next couple of hours to yourselves and regroup
after the scare, Brody said, lunch'll be served at one o'clock.
Without giving us much time to respond, Brody left our
cabin and closed the door behind him. Can you believe this,
I asked to know. It doesn't make any sense, he said.
We all saw a riff. He was here for some reason.
Max was trying to cover up the fact that there
were two kids missing, and all that did was open
up the floodgates for questions. Why would he want to
cover it up? Where were the kids? And once again,
did it have anything at all to do with the
reason the campus closed in the first place. Nel sat
down on his bed and tried to shake off all
the sketchy information that Brody had just dumped all over
the place. My brain, however, started to work overtime. I
wanted answers, and if we weren't going to get any
from the adults in charge, we needed to get them ourselves.
The small, dark colored cabin hidden in the woods crawled
back into the forefront of my mind. Someone was in
it while we all gathered around the deer bones, someone
who didn't seem startled or bothered at all by Brody
is less than Manly's scream and all the commotion. I
wondered why. I wondered who it was. Maybe they had
seen something, Maybe they had answers. Part three. There were
three hours before lunch would be served. I told Nell
about the small cabin in the woods and my theory
that someone was in side of it. He thought it
was a kidnapper and that they had Riff and Mallory
held hostage in there, maybe even for a large sum
of cash. He suggested a high stakes rescue mission using
bows and arrows from the archery range, warpaint and a
stealthy approach. I told him no, and that if there
was a kid napper, he or she certainly wouldn't be
staying on the campgrounds. They'd want to get as far
away as possible. As the campers relaxed, some remained in
their cabins and some decided to explore, but stayed nearby.
The bone discovery, even though proven to be just deer bones,
had rattled everyone. I overheard a couple of kids say
they were headed down to the lake to look for
frogs and snakes. A couple said they were going ahead
to the wreck hall for games. Meanwhile, Noll and I
slipped through the trees and onto the girl's side. At
the camp, we found Jemma sitting outside in a lawn
chair reading a book, but it didn't really seem like
it had her full concentration. Maybe it was a boring book,
but my money was on her being concerned and bothered
by the disappearances. I whispered from the bushes. She popped
her head up from the book and looked around, finally
spotting us shifting around in the brush. She sat the
book down on the chair and made her way over
to us, making sure no one else was looking. What
are you guys creeping around in the woods for, Jemma asked.
When the deerbones were discovered, I saw another cabin hidden
in the trees. It was smaller, so I don't think
it was met for campers. There was something in there, though,
someone acting all shifty like Jemma scrunched her face, so
she asked they might have been something. I said, it's
worth a shot, right. Jemma took a deep breath and
let it back out slowly. She shrugged. If we get
in trouble, I'm telling them you guys forced me into this,
Dale Nol said. The three of us then hurried off
to the trail. Mallory doesn't exist, Jemma said, as the
three of us walked the dirt trail that cut through
the woods. That's what Arena said, That's what Max said. Supposedly,
there is no one named Mallory Killings registered here at
Camp Noul, and I couldn't believe it. They'd spun the
same ridiculous story for her too. They told us the
same thing about Riff, I said, Do they think we're stupid?
I don't know what they think, Jemma said, but I'm
starting to think there's a huge cover up going on here.
And if there are two kids missing already, who's to
say that there won't be more. I hadn't thought of that.
What if more of us went missing, who would be next,
where would we have gone missing, and most importantly, who
would have been taking us? Do you think this has
anything to do with the skinless guts, I asked Jemma.
She stopped in the middle of the trail. The ghost story.
She thought for a moment and then shrugged. I don't
know enough about it, Just what the girls have been
chatting about. Well, what have they been saying, I asked,
I guess there's a story about the former camp chef
who died here tragically. Somehow his ghost has had to
haunt the campgrounds. They say he's dead, but still wanders
the woods in unrest, looking for revenge, revenge on what
on who? I asked, I had to know? Jemma shrugged.
Null smirked again. See it's all just a machemash ghost stories, ghosts, revenge,
haunting camps. There's too much of the generic ingredients here
for it to be real. Then, how do you explain
the missing kids? I asked. Nol didn't have an answer
for that. He did open his mouth to say something,
but nothing came out except for a week sorry excuse
of a burp? Is that the cap? Then, Jemma said,
tapping me on the shoulder. She pointed up through the trees,
and we all looked through the sea of thick pine
and spruce trees. The small, dark colored wood cabin sat.
That's it, I said, let's go. The three of us
swiftly made our way through the trees and bushes, and
finally came to the small cabin. The wood wasn't just dark,
it was old and damp. There was a fine coating
of moss covering a good portion of the dwelling. The
glass windows were dirty and stained, and the front door
was unlocked. Would this be a crime if we went in,
Jemma asked, understandably, Edgy, I didn't think it would. It's
not like it was someone's house. It was a cabin
at the camp we attended. Didn't that give us a
free pass we go to this camp? Nel said, free pass?
He had completely read my mind. He took it upon
himself to turn the knob and push the door open.
My breath caught in my throat right away when I
realized that whoever was in the cabin earlier might have
still been there. I reached out to stop Null from entering,
but it was useless. He charged right in. Jemma followed him,
and after I took a deep, trembling breath, I followed her.
The cabin was indeed small. It was about a third
of the size of the ones we were assigned to.
There was an unmade bed against the wall, a fireplace
across the room from it, and the card table. In
the center of the room. At the foot of the
bed was a chest similar to the ones in our cabin,
but older. The metal hinges on it were rusted and chipped,
and its wooden body was splintered. Noll made his way
to the card table first. It was covered from one
end to the other with random things, papers, books, small trinkets.
It was a hoarder's table. Jemma checked out the fireplace,
which had been recently used. The cabin still smelled a
little like burning wood. Hanging on a nail next to
the fireplace was a yellow raincoat, which Jemma started to inspe.
I think it's safe to assume there are no hostages here.
Nol said, there's nothing here. He was right, Maybe this
was a complete waste of our time. I checked out
some of the things on the table. There were old
brochures from when camp resting Stone first opened in two
thousand and two. I opened one of them and began
to read the introduction out loud. Welcome to Camp resting Stone,
your summertime destination for rest, relaxation, adventure and learning. Owned
by the Cunningham Estate. Camp resting Stone strives to make
every child summer one to remember and be a place
they want to come back to each year to relive.
Over and Heatingham Jenna interrupted. I put down the brochure
and looked across the room at her. She held the
rain coat up so nullan I could see on the
breast pocket was the Camp resting Stone logo, right above
a name Auto Cunningham Auto, I questioned the chef. Then
I looked back down at the brochure and re read
a portion of the sentence that I had just read
out loud. Owned by the Cunningham Estate. Otto owns this place,
Noel asked. I shrugged. I don't know. If he doesn't,
then his family certainly does. I looked around the cabin.
This is Auto's cabin, this is where he stays. Just
then something in the air changed. The air became cooler, damp.
It smelled musty and sour, like something rotting out in
the woods had wafted in our direction. Jemma plugged her nose.
H which one of you did that? I panicked because
I knew it wasn't me. Nol just laughed. That wasn't me.
He could barely get out. No human could flatulate something
of that caliber, No way, no how. Then it's coming
from outside. Jemma gagged as she went back to the
open door. As she stood in the wooden frame of
the entrance, I noticed the wispy fog outside the cab.
It was curious and unexpected. The sun had been out
for a while and the air was warmer. There should
have been no reason for fog to be there. I
joined her at the door and then stepped outside. The
woods were filled with a white, misty fog. It slithered
between the trees like a trickling stream, moving around rocks.
The smell that accompanied it was awful. Now Jenni and
myself all stood outside Otto's small cabin, watching the mystical
fog move so gracefully. Then something else caught our attention.
Not far away, a shadow moved in the fog. As
it got closer, it took the shape of a person,
but much thinner. It was carrying something behind it, dragging something, no,
dragging two things. I squinted as the fog waved around
the eerie figure, just enough for me to make out
its disturbing appearance. I had to be dreaming. It wasn't
a person. It was a skeleton. It was nothing but
bones behind it. The skeleton was dragging two kids, a
boy and a girl. I could hear Noel's teeth chattering
as he fearfully spoke as that were riffmm the Mallory.
I squinted. The girl I only recognized from the dining
hall and didn't know her name. The boy, however, was
not Riff. It was Arnie Crumb. Those were two more
kids being taken from the camp right before our eyes,
and by a skeleton. We watched silently and shock as
the skeleton dragged Arnie and the girl through the trees
and eventually disappeared out of sight. Once they were gone,
the fog lifted and the awful smell in the air
went away. I was terrified. Noel was speechless. Jemma fainted.
I frantically tried to wake her up, and when her
eyes finally fluttered back to life, the image of the
skeleton must have immediately crawled back into her thoughts. She
sat straight up and screamed. I quickly hushed her, looking
around the woods behind me to make sure that thing
wasn't coming back. Null had lazily collapsed to his knees
and placed his back against the outside of the cabin.
For the first time, he looked genuinely scared. This has
to be be a prank, he mumbled quietly to himself.
Jemma finally calmed herself down, but was still palpitating in fear.
I helped her to her feet, and we both looked
to the area of woods where the skeleton had disappeared,
into a darker region, further away from the camp than
even Otto's cabin was. She turned to me, Skinless Guts,
she asked, afraid my stomach sank. At least now we
knew why they called him skinless Guts. Were they dead,
Jemma trembled. Arnie and Autumn. Autumn must have been the
girl that Skinless Guts was dragging behind him, along with
Arny Crumb dead, I wasn't so sure of. I'd certainly
hoped not. If nothing else, they were at least knocked
out or under some sort of hex. They looked limp
as the skeleton dragged them over the terrain like long
bags of sand. I don't know, I answered Gemma, but
we need to go get help. I looked down at
Null and extended my hand to help him to his feet.
Come on, we need to get back to the camp.
He slowly let his eyes rise and meet mine. It's real,
he said in a haunting whisper. He had tried so
hard to cast shade on the camp ghost story that now,
after seeing it with his own eyes, he was truly terrified.
So was I. But I was also thinking about the
kids that were in danger, Riff, Mallory, Arnie and Autumn.
And as much as I didn't trust Max and his henchmen,
they were still technically the only adults at the camp
and the only ones we could go to for help.
In the front office cabin, I sat with Null and
Jemma on either side of me. Max sat at his
desk in a small office behind the front check in area.
His hands were cupped together in front of him, and
he wore an arrogant smile across his face. Please, Max said,
looking at each of us, tell me your story again, why,
I said, we literally just told you because I want
you all to listen to your own words again, and
here exactly how crazy they sound. Max said, I crossed
my arms, refusing to repeat the story again. Null remained silent,
and Jemma shared my frustration. Okay, Max began, I'll repeat
it myself. Then a skeleton, something that is just bones,
by the way, is walking through the woods stealing kids
from camp. I wasn't sure what he wanted us to say.
In response, that was exactly what we were telling him,
and it wasn't crazy, it was the truth. We think
it was skinless guts. Jemma said, we know you guys
are lying your socks off about that. Max laughed. He
lifted his feet on to the desk and crossed his legs,
exposing his dirty, sandal clad feet. I don't even wear sucks,
he said. And you have a lot of nerve calling
me and my counselor's liars when you're the ones who've
been lying this whole time. What are you talking about,
I asked. My patience with Max was running thin. You've
been making up kids for the past two days, Max exclaimed,
Riff Mallory, they don't even exist. And now what did
you tell Brody an arena these new names were? Jemma
stood up. They're not new, Autumn Roth and Arnie Crumb.
Max rolled his eyes and pulled a stack of papers
across his desk. He leafed through them and pulled out
one in particular. Here's the camp roster. It's been the
same since day one. He slid it across the desk
in front of us. I snatched it up and scanned
the names. They were in alphabetical order. There was no
Arnie Crumb, no Mallory Killings, no Autumn Roth, no Riff
THERESI there had to be a mistake. I flipped the
page over, but it was blank. I slammed it down
on the desk. What is this, I shouted. If this
isn't right, you're hiding something. These kids were all here.
You even kept getting annoyed by Arnie. You called him
a reporter. Max shrugged. I don't know what you're talking about, Jay,
I've never met anyone named Arnie Crumb or Rif or
Mallory or Enoughhew turned Noel stood up, finally breaking free
from his petrified state. Everyone in the room went silent,
including Max nol stared down the head counselor you clearly
altered that roster before we came in here, after Waffle
Boy and Gang Bad Girl told you what we had
to say. We're not stupid, we know what we saw,
and as far as we're concerned, everyone here is in danger. Now.
You can either get your gross sandle feet off the
desk and try to help us, or we could just
take matters into our own hands. It took a moment
for the shock of Noll's explosive outburst to wear off,
but when it did, Max made his decision, and it
was exactly what a Max decision would be. He only
leaned further back into his chair and put his arms
behind his head. He couldn't care less, can I, guys,
Nel said, gritting his teeth together. I guess we're on
around this Camp clearly wants to fail again. Nell stormed
out of the office. Gemma followed. I was the last
to leave, but before I had completely gone, I shot
one last glance at Max. He was still lounged back
in his seat, but his arrogant scowl was gone and
now replaced by a worried one. Outside the office, Null,
Gemma and I converged. So what's the plan, I asked.
We're clearly not getting anywhere with the adults around here. Well,
not all the adults, Jemma said Nell, and I waited
for her to continue. If this place is owned by
the Cunningham estate, Auto might have the answers we're looking for. Yeah,
and he's old enough that he might have even been
around for the camp opening all those years ago. Maybe
he even knew Emery Gut. He might actually know what's
going on here. Nol looked at his watch. It's almost
lunchtime anyway, he said, wait and catch him at the
dining hall. Let's go, I said. The dining hall was
bustling for lunch. The kids were rowdy and seemed extra hungry.
All they were talking about were the deer bones and
the missing kids. So there proof that we weren't crazy
after all, and that Max and his hedgemen were the
ones lying and covering up the disappearances. But again I
wondered why and how were they going to explain these
disappearances to the parents when they came to pick up
their kids in only a matter of days. Otto, wrapped
in a food stained apron, walked around from table to
table serving lunch, hot sandwiches, creakly fries, and apple slices.
When he arrived at our table, he sat a plate
down in front of each of us. I cleared my
throat to get his attention, and he made it eye
contact with me, But then I froze up. I didn't
know what to say. No nudged me, but all I
was able to get out was a week squeak. Otto
went about his business and started to move on to
the next table. Thankfully, Jemma stood up Otto, she said,
He stopped and turned coming back to us. There's something
wrong with your food, he asked. Jemma shook her head. No, actually,
we were hoping to talk to you privately. Otto's face
scrunched up. Privately, he wondered. Jemma nodded. Otto looked at
Nola and I and we both nodded as well. Is
everything okay? He asked, a hint of suspicion in his voice.
After trying to think of what to say next, Jemma
said the obvious, well, no. Otto glanced up with his
eyes and spotted Max walking into the dining hall. His
gaze lingered for a moment before he then looked back
down at us. Where's a good place to talk, he
asked quietly. Finally, someone who wanted to actually hear us out.
You can come to our cabin after lunch. I said,
it's the one with the owl sculpture. Otto nodded and
then went on his way. The three of us exhaled
a sigh of relief, and then after lunch we made
sure to head straight back to our cabin. Jemma, Nol
and I sat around the cabin anxiously awaiting Auto's arrival.
Noel kept looking out the windows, trying to see if
he was on his way or not. But the thick
summer shrubbery was too much to penetrate with the naked
eye or even see around anything. I asked, not that
I can tell, Noel said, but who knows he can
be behind any of these trees as we speak, I
can't see anything. Really. I stood up from the bed
and wandered around, thinking back to our exchange with Auto
at the dining hall. Did you guys see him give
Max the stink guy when he was talking to us,
I asked? Noel laughed, I saw that he's definitely suspicious
of that dude too, or Jemma spoke up, He's in
on it also, Okay, Jemma had gotten our attention with
that comment. Noel turned away from the window to face her,
and I took a step in her direction. What do
you mean, I asked. Maybe it wasn't the stink guy,
as you so elegantly put it. Maybe it was a
look of fellowship conspiracy. She said, way, wait, wait. Noel
waved his arms around like he was clearing out a
stink in the room. You can't be serious. You really
think that another one of camp resting Stones chefs has
turned to the dark side? I mean, what are the
chances of that?
Speaker 1: Huh?
Speaker 2: Jemma shrugged. Do you trust any of the adults here? Nol, Max,
Brody and Arena barely qualify his adults. They're college kids kids.
She's right, Null, I said, I want to trust him too,
But you gotta admit he was really quick to shut
down all the skinless guts talk at the campfire last night.
Noll scrunched his forehead and thought, yeah, and it was
creepy how he just seemed to materialize in the darkness.
Nul snapped his fingers with a fresh idea. What if
otto is skinless guts. Jemma groaned and rolled her eyes.
I shook my head. Last I checked Auto had skin
and is alive, I said Noll, then turned back to
the window, looking out into the trees, similarly to how
Riz TERERESI had on the first day of camp. Well,
Noell spoke softly, If he's not the skeleton monster, that
means he's in danger of being taken to the cabin
fell silent as the three of us pondered Knowl's realization
he was right. Eighty one could go missing next, even
the adults, for all we knew where is he? Gemma
was growing anxious. Then on cue, there was a soft
knocking on the cabin door. We all stopped and faced it.
My heart rate picked up, and I could only assume
Jemma and Knowles had as well. I swallowed hard. Who
is it is?
Speaker 1: Otto?
Speaker 2: Can I come in? Hearing his voice spade us all relaxed,
but then immediately feel nervous at the same time. Once inside,
Otto pulled up one of the wooden chests and sat
down on it. Jemma, no and I all stood around him.
He looked up at us. He was still in his
apron It appeared to be a little out of breath.
I don't have much time before Max realizes I've snuck away.
He said, what's wrong, guys, what's going on? There was
something in his voice that didn't seem to ask the
questions sincerely. It was almost like he may have already
known what was wrong, or at least had an idea.
Kids are going missing, and Max is claiming they never
existed in the first place, Jemma said, cutting straight to
the point, and we know that's a lie. Plus Noel said,
we saw a skeleton dragging away poor Arnie Crumb and
Autumn Roth. Earlier today when we broke into your cabin
Otto's eyes. He stood up, huffing an angry breath. You
broke into my cabin, Nolan. Jemma backed up a step
in response to Otto's outrage. I, however, stood my ground.
We did, I said, and it was my idea to
break in. I saw your cabin earlier this morning, when
the deer bones were discovered. I thought I saw someone
in there and figured whoever it was might have some
kind of idea as to what's going on around here.
We didn't know it was your cabin until after we
broke in. Otto sighed again. It seemed to be filled
with a mix of defeat and nerves. He sat back
down on the chest and then looked up at us.
Nolan Jemma stepped in closer again. You actually saw skinless
I mean emery, he asked us. We all nodded, confirming
something for him. Then it's actually happening again, he said.
His words sent shivers down our spines. Part four Gap
Rest in the Stone is owned by the Cunningham Estate,
Otto said, I'm the Cunningham. The land was bought and
renovated by my parents back in the late nineteen nineties.
They opened the camp for the first time in two
thousand and two. I was a counselor, along with a
few others, including my sister Pam Colver. As you may
have already heard, there was a tragic accident. Our chef
and groundskeeper, Memory Gut, was out in the woods not
far from where my cabin is, tending to some overgrown shrubbery,
and the ground he was on keeved in. He fell
into an old military bunker that still housed unsecured vats
of acid used for the acidic flusher's experiments. I heard
Gemma gasp and cup her hands over her mouth. Even
though I didn't share her reaction, I still could picture
what happened to Emory next, the acid spilled everywhere, Auto continued.
They said it would have taken less than thirty seconds
for every ounce of skin on his body to melt away.
It left only his bones. When the emergency and as
mad Cruz arrived, they determined the area to be unsafe
and dangerous, so to save themselves from any further casualties,
they decided to leave his bones in the bunker and
to permanently seal off the area. That's horrible, I said,
They just left him there now. Either one of his
monikers is the unrest, Noel added, feeling sympathy for the
long lost groundskeeper. He was never laid to rest. He
was just covered up forgotten, Auto continued. When my parents
passed away a couple of years ago, the camp and
all of its assets were given directly to my sister Pamela.
She was insistent on opening it again. She put her son,
my nephew, Max, in charge. I was there for the
meeting where she's said that the camp must succeed at
all costs. At all costs, I said, that means even
if things go wrong, that it needs to be covered up.
Otto finished, my thought. Yes, you guys are right. Kids
are going missing, and Max knows about it. But for
his sake, his mother's sake, and the camp's sake, kids
can't go missing. So if they aren't on the camp
roster to go missing, then they can't technically go missing.
Noel concluded exactly, Otto said, we could tell he was
growing uneasy. He stirred anxiously on the chest. What does
he plan to tell the parents when they come to
pick up their kids, Jemma asked. Otto shrugged between us.
Max isn't the sharpest tool in the shed. He is
a tool, though, Neel said. Otto stood up. Look, I
have to get back before he realizes what I'm doing. Wait, Auto,
Jemma reached out to stop him from leaving. If he
knew about all of this, then why are you working
here again? Auto faced us. There was a glimmer of
something in his eyes. He glanced back and forth between
the three of us. I was the one who instructed
Emory to clear out the shrubbery, he said, in doing that,
he was lost forever. On that note, Otto turned and
left the cabin. The door shut, and the three of
us just stood there, soaking in everything he just told us.
Finally the truth, and the truth proved that Max had
been lying the entire time. Poor Auto, Jemma said. She
looked at me. He feels responsible for what happened to Emory. Hey,
don't forget, Nel said, coming between Jemma and I. He's
still a Cunningham. This could all be part of the
sick game they like to play. They don't think so,
Jemma said. He seems genuine. He has a deep connection
to this place. Put yourself in his shoes. No thanks,
Nel said, you aired him. He's Max's uncle. Families are
known to stick together. That thought lingered for a moment.
He was right, unless, of course, your family dropped you
off at a cursed summer camp and split for a
couple's vacation. That wasn't very sticking together. Like Suddenly, squealing
feedback from the loud speaker pierced the air outside, and
we heard a muffled voice come over it. I rushed
over to the door and opened it so we could
hear the announcement better. The three of us shuffled outside
into the afternoon. He Strapped high up on a nearby
tree was a rusted loud speaker with wires coming down
that burrowed under the dirt. The voice coming through was
that of Max. Attention campers, he said commandingly, I am
calling an urgent emergency gathering that includes all campers and
all employees in one hour. I want everyone to meet
at the archery range, no exceptions. See you there. There
was another burst of squealing feedback, and just like that,
Max's booming voice over the camp was gone. Gemma Nell
and I looked at each other. What are the chances
you think this will be good news? Noll asked as
a joke, zero percent, I said, at Max Kuolber's request,
at two pm exactly, Gemma Null and I arrived down
at the archery range. It was only a short walk
from where our cabin was, but did cut through a
heavily overgrown area of woods that now made me a
little more nervous than I would have been before. I
just kept thinking about what happened to Emory Gut. As
much as I tried not to visualize it, I couldn't
help myself. I kept imagining what it would have looked
like for his skin to just melt away from his bones.
Part of me felt bad for Emory, but most of
me feared him. What's not to fear about a skeleton
stalking of woods and snatching kids. Once we were at
the archery range, something stuck out as extremely odd to me.
It was the amount of kids that were there after Arnie, Mallory,
Riff and Autumn had gone missing. That dropped the total
number of campers to twenty. But now by my count
I was only seeing fifteen, and that included us. Had
five more gone missing or were they still on their way?
Max walked out in front of the crowd of fifteen
kids and stood between two of the circular archery targets.
At his side was Irena. Curiously, though Brody was nowhere
to be seen. Max cleared his throat, waiting an extra
moment to gather his thoughts, and then spoke to everyone,
who waited quietly and anxiously for his urgent announcement, I
want to thank you all for coming to camp resting Stone.
Max finally said, we couldn't do all of this without you.
After all, what's a summer camp if there aren't kids? Kids?
Everyone kind of just looked at each other wondering if
he was building up to something, but then what he
said shocked us. Next on the agenda is archery training.
Max said, there are buckets off to my side that
have bows and another bucket with arrows. When I instruck
everyone to do so, you will form an orderly line
and each grab a bow, and then Arena will hand
out some arrows. You'll then get back in line. And
where's Browdie, Null shouted. Max stopped talking. He glared at
Null and shook his head. You know, Max said, you
and your little companions there are becoming quite the thorns
in my side. Null Nell shrug wes want the truth
for once, you seem incapable of telling it. Now, where's Brody?
Max shot a glance at Arena, who refused to look back,
although it was obvious she wanted to. Max then looked
back out at the massive campers with an arrogant smile.
He fell ill. Max said, I sent him home for
the rest of the week. Who's going to watch over
the boys? Then Nell continued his interrogation. I will Max said.
There was a hint of intimidation in his voice. Okay,
Nel said, now that we know Brody existed at some point,
what about the other five kids that have gone missing
since this morning? Max scrunched his face a nervous laugh,
escaping him. What are you talking about? I was pleased
to know that Nell had noticed it too. Our numbers
were dropping fast, and I was curious as to how
Max was going to respond to it in front of everyone.
They are a total of nine kids missing right now,
Nel said, looking around, I mean we were just all
imagining them or what? The chatter amongst the campers began.
I heard bits and pieces of what people were saying.
Where's Rodney? What happened to Elise? Did Tom ever come back?
I had known most of them suspected something, but now
they were really wising up to it. Max squirmed uncomfortably
between the archery targets. Okay, look, everyone, he said, there
is something you need to know. Everyone hushed and focused
their attention on Max. Even Arena watched him carefully, not
knowing what he was about to say. That's when Max
pointed out our trio directly and said, these three children
are trying to get the camp shut down. I think
one of their parents is behind it. Honestly, they're spreading
rumors about kids disappearing and a monster lurking around in
the woods. This camp is safe, it has always been safe.
Max's words bounced around on the archery range. Not a
single camper responded. They were either pining over that possibility
or just knew Max was full of garbage. Max turned
to Arena. You believe me, right, he asked, her, desperation
now in his voice. She could only offer him a
half smile and slight shrug. Jim nudged me on the arm.
When I looked her away, I noticed a look of
concern on her face. What's wrong? I asked her Otto?
She said, Where's Otto? I scanned the archery range. She
was right. Otto wasn't at the meeting. The meeting was
called for all campers and employees. But if this was
just for an archery lesson, like Max was now trying
to imply, why would Otto have had to be here?
Either way, he wasn't. I wasn't so sure it was
by choice. We should check his cabin, I said. Jemma nodded.
She tapped Knell on the shoulder and pulled him aside
to tell him the plan. The other campers were now
getting loud, worried and scared. Max was in over his
head fending off questions and concerns. During the commotion, the
three of us slipped away. I wasn't sure if it
was because of the circumstances we found ourselves in or
if things that the camp were starting to take a
darker turn on a deeper level. But as Gemma Null
and I walked the dirt paths through the woods, the
air seemed to grow colder and took on an increasingly
damper vibe. The shadows also grew long, as the afternoon
sun found a sudden influx of scattered clouds to keep
ducking behind. At times, it felt like night was just
around the corner, but it was still just the afternoon.
Everything seemed to be escalating quickly, and thinking about the
night time now gave me the chills. If this many
people disappeared during the day, I can only imagine how
many would go during the night. Would Jemma Null, what
would tomorrow morning look like? Would the camp be completely
empty or would there still be a few of us left?
And would I be one of them or not? I
tried not to think about it too much and focus
on the task at hand. We were closing in on
Auto's cabin. If he wasn't there, then this whole trek
would have been for nothing, and we'd be back to
square one. I looked off to my right, and I
could see bits and pieces of the lake through the trees.
The water seemed restless, a little more choppy than it
had earlier in the day. It looked dark and foreboding.
I could feel an extra coolness coming up off the
lake and into the woods, carried by a heavy breeze.
The trees all around us started to wave and rustle wildly.
That's what I looked up and noticed that the sun
hadn't been back out from behind the clouds in a
few minutes, and now the clouds were looking grayer and darker.
I think it's going to rain, Jemma said, looking up
through the bushy canopy as well. The tops of the
trees were hastily swishing back and forth, showing off their
lighter colored undersides. Let's hurry, I said, his cabin is
just up ahead. We stomped past the area where the
deer bones had been discovered and up to Auto's cabin.
As soon as we got to the front door, that's
when we felt the first spit of rain. I knocked
on the door, Otto, are you here? The wind was
picking up all around us. I looked to the sky,
shielding my eyes from the spritzing rain, and noticed that
the dark clouds were rolling in quickly in the distance.
A low rumble of thunder teased an incoming storm. Noel
pounded on the door next, Otto, man, it's starting to rain.
Let us in. Jemma crossed her arms. I could tell
she was cold and growing uneasy. I wanted to comfort her,
but I wasn't sure what to say. Suddenly, a heavy
gust of wind clambered through the woods, throwing the falling
rain into our faces. Something repugnant inflicted its funk upon
my senses. It was a horrible, disgusting odor. I covered
my nose and mouth and held back a gag. Gemma
and Null did the same look. Jemma's voice trembled as
she looked down at her feet. Noll and I looked
down as well. A light, wispy fog rolled close to
the ground, like the tide of an ocean coming in.
This was familiar, the fog. The stench, skinless guts was
coming back. We need to get inside now, I demanded.
Nell pushed hard on the cabin door, jiggling the knob aggressively.
Jemma kept a close eye on the woods for any
sign of the formidable skeleton specter. I joined Nell's assault
on the door. With our combined strength, we were able
to force the door in. We both stumbled into the
cabin as the door gave way. The odor inside was overpowering,
even more so than outside, and a green fog stewed
within the cabin. As Null and I stood to our feet,
catching our balance, we saw the silhouette of Skinless Guts
standing awkwardly in the middle of the cabin, the green
fog flowing and spiraling all around him. He was still unmoving,
with an awkward tilt in his stance. I noticed that
in the bony grip of one of his hands, he
clasped onto something large. As the fog continued to move
about etherially, enough gave way for me to notice it
was Auto laying on the floor that Skinless Guts was
holding onto. Auto was out cold, unresponsive, and clearly the
next victim of the camp ghost story. Null and I
were both frozen in place, echoing exactly how Skinless Guts
was acting. The green fog weaved and snaked beyond his
exposed ribs and out through the hollow sockets of his eyes.
His bottom jaw opened, and we could hear his bones
begin to creak and rattle. That's when Skinless Guts began
to unleash the most chilling wail I'd ever heard. Even
in a nightmare, this sound would have been intolerable. It
was loud and high pitched. It severed our nerves and
sent fear pearling throughout our bodies. Jem I rushed into
the cabin behind us and halted with a loud gasp.
Her sudden arrival must have startled Skinless Guts. He turned
his whole body, his bones quaking, and unnaturally shambled out
of sight and into a shadowy corner of the room,
veiled almost wholly by the green fog churning in the cabin.
I turned around and saw Gemma. She was petrified, shaking
in pure fear. Go I urged her run. Jemma turned
and ran back out of the cabin. I turned back
around where Noel was still focused on the foggy, shadowy
corner of the room. Within the shadows barely visible within
the fog, we could kind of still make out the
shape of Skinless Guts lurking within them. He stood as
still as a statue. What was he doing? What was
he waiting for? We need to leave, I whispered de Noel.
It took a minute for Noel to respond, but when
he did, it was only with a half nod. He
slowly backed up so as to not alarm Skinless Guts,
and I did the same. We both backed up until
we reached the threshold of the cabin, keeping our eyes
on the darkened, foggy corner of the room. The entire time,
Skinless Guts had yet to move. He still just stood there,
occasionally letting a light rattle of his bones reverberate in
the air. As we backed out of the cabin and
into the rain, Gemma, Null and I converged near a
tree a few yards away from the cabin. After a
blinding flash of lightning from above, thunder boomed over ahead
of us, seizing our full attention to the clouds. What
do we do now, Jemma cried out over the storm.
I wasn't sure what to say in response. I looked
at Null the look he had in his eyes, a
look that was plastered with fear. Let me know that
he didn't have a clue as to what to do
or where to go. Look, Jemma cried. She pointed to
the cabin. We all looked. The green fog spilled out
from the doorway, and within that fog we could see
skinless guts dragging Auto's inert body behind. We watched the
skeleton creature drag Auto away from his cabin and into
the woods behind it. Once he was out of sight,
we all seemed to agree on the next logical thing
to do, even though we were sure we'd be met
with more lies and criticism. We turned and ran back
down the mud ying pathway back toward the camp. Soaking wet,
we flew into the office cabin, startling Max up from
his chair behind the desk. At first, there was a
brief moment of concern on his face. That was, of course,
until he realized it was us again. He threw his
head back and sighed loudly. What he complained, What now,
haven't you guys had enough of coming in here with
your lies? Still surging with adrenaline, Noel leaped over the
desk and tackled Max to the ground, pinning him to
the floor. We were all surprised by Nell's flawless, smooth attack.
Get off me, kid, Max grunted, rolling to the side
and tossing Noel off. Max jumped up to his feet
and held out his fists, ready to fight. You want
a piece of this, You want some fists in your face.
Noel stood up fast and readied his fists as well.
Stop it, Jemma shouted, putting herself between the two of them. Max,
you can't fight a kid, decide. When he arrogantly declared no,
Jemma said, because you go to jail. Max immediately lowered
his fists and stood down. Jemma turned and faced him.
Auto is gone, She said, he was taken by Skinless Guts.
Max just stood there. His mouth was a gape and
his eyes were just as wide. It was a clear
look of shock and worry. Then he caught himself and
shook away the look. What are you talking about? He said,
with a forced fake laugh. Auto, who auno? Your uncle?
Jemma shouted, stepping closer to Max. She looked him dead
in the eyes. That's right, we know, we know everything.
We saw Skinless Guts taken away from his cabin just now.
I approached Max. Next, we know about the family's connection
to the camp. Max, we know you're just trying to
keep the camp afloat by pretending like nothing is happening.
But come on, man, weird things are happening. Kids and
now adults are disappearing, and a twenty two year old
ghost story is to blame for it all. Max clammed
up and listened to everything we had to say. He
gulped nervously, but still refused to speak. Max, I pleaded,
you have to do something. Call your mom, Pamela right.
Max looked at me. How do you know her name?
Otto told us. He told us everything I said. Finally,
I could see the gears in Max's head start to
turn in the right direction. He was thinking, and for
the first time, appeared genuinely worried. Uncle Auto's gone. He
quietly asked Jemma and I nodded. He was helpless. Sculling
bones dragged him away from his cabin. Noel added, rubbing
salt into the wounds. Max sighed, okay, He said, I'm
gonna call the police. Jenny, can you get the arena
and have her gather the girls to meet us at
the wreck holl it's Jemma, she said, but yes, I
can do that. Jemma turned and Nell and I. She
mouthed to the word finally, and then trotted off out
of the office and back into the storm. Max turned
to Nell, I think we can put away our differences
and work together. Noel was hesitant, but only momentarily. Yeah.
What do you want me to do? Said Brodie is
no longer here. Can you gogether what's left of the
boys and meet in the wreck room? Max asked that
way we'll have everyone in one place when the police arrived.
That's a deal, Nel said, with relief. He turned to
me and gave me a fist bump. Be careful, I
told him no, nodded, and then left the office. It
was only Max and I now in the office. He
looked at me with puppy dog eyes. I'm sorry I've
been like this, he said. I didn't want to admit
to myself that this was a real problem. I shot
Max a glance of sympathy. Let me call the police,
he said. He turned and walked back into his small
office behind the check encounter. I stood there in the
office cabin, still dripping wet from the rain outside. I
watered to the wall where I gawked at framed pictures
of the camp. One of them was the grand Opening
one from two thousand and two. I studied the photo.
There were a bunch of kids roughly my age front
and center. On either side of the group of kids
were some young adults, the counselors. I zeroed in on
one of them in particular. It was a woman ma'be
in her very late teens or early twenties. Something about
her face looked familiar. I then drew my attention to
the man behind her. He wore a set of dark
colored coveralls, had dark shaggy hair, and a small smile,
thin lipped on his face. In his grip was a rake.
It was Emery Gut got it crazy to think pictures
from that long ago.
Speaker 1: Huh.
Speaker 2: I heard Max's voice from behind me. I turned around
as he walked up to me. He loomed over my shoulder,
also looking at the picture. Yeah, I said, so this
picture was taken before Emory died. Yep, Max said, tapping
on Emory in the photo. Definitely an unfortunate thing that happened.
Max then moved his finger across to the other side
of the group. Of kids landing on another person, a
hefty man in his twenties. That's my uncle Loatto, he said.
Otto's the one who sent Emory out to clear the
brush where he ultimately lost his life. He's never forgiven
himself for that. That's why he wanted to work here again.
When my mom reopened Camp Resting Stone. He felt like
he owed it to Emory, owed it to the universe
or this land or something. Max moved his finger again
to the woman next to Wato. She was fairly young too, also,
somewhere in her twenties. That's her right there, Max said,
my mom, Pamela. I asked, uh huh, He mumbled. She
was pregnant with me at the time I was born.
In the fall. After all of this happened, my attention
went back to the woman on the other side of
the group of kids, the one that looked vaguely familiar
to me. Who's that? I could see Max smile out
of the corner of my eye. She looks familiar, doesn't she? Yeah,
I said, I take it you haven't seen many pictures
of your mom from this period of time. Then Max
added coldly, my mom. I leaned in closer. The more
I studied her face, her shape, and stance. The more
I could see myself in her. It was her. My
mom had been a counselor at Camp Restingstone when it
first opened in two thousand and two. No wonder she
was acting so weird and quiet when her and my
dad dropped me off. It must have brought back so
many horrible memories for her. But knowing what had happened,
why would she have let me come here? She was
only eighteen or nineteen at the time, Max said, And
for what my mom says, she was pretty scarred by
what happened here. It took a lot of convincing her
to get her and your dad to allow you to
come here. I looked at Max, confused. He continued. We
had to tell her that the skeletal remains of Emery
Gut had been located and removed. We had to tell
her the acid bunkers had been cleared out and deemed safe.
We had to pay her to let you come here.
Max chuckled, slightly maliciously. By any means necessary, he said,
that's what my mom said, By any means necessary, this
camp needs to not fail this time. Our famili's financial
and social success depends on it. Max then glared down
at me, glimmer of sinister intent in his eyes, And
that's when I realized he never even called the police.
The police aren't coming, are they? I asked, just as
a blast of thunder from outside shook the office. Max
shook his head. Why would the police need to come?
There's nothing wrong here. Everything's going smoothly. But your uncle,
Max shrugged, unclado. He died years ago. I couldn't believe it.
The lies that were coming out of Max were corrupt
and unreal. He was actually starting to believe everything he
was saying. How could he do this? How could he
act this way? I slowly started to back away from Max.
He just turned and faced me, not moving, but only
staring and smiling creepily at me. As I backed up
toward the door, another explosive boom of thunder sent shockwaves
through my body. The office door blew open, and an
onslaught of wind and rain funneled in. I spun around
and looked out into the storm. I saw a heavy
green aura outside, a wispy fog that swam across the
ground and poured out from the trees across the lot.
Then What I saw next made me scream. Through the
pouring rain and dusting winds that carried lost leaves from
the trees. Skinless Guts was eerily shambling across the swampy
parking lot, dragging Gemma and Null behind him by the
collars of their shirts. Part five. I couldn't even begin
to corral my fear. I was shaking, gulping in heavy
gasps of air. I felt sick and dizzy. How could
any of this have been real? Lightning lit up the
outside world, and not a second later, a thunder crashed overhead.
My nerves were already shattered from the horrors of what
I was seeing and experiencing, but the storm was only
making it worse. I turned back around and faced Max,
who hadn't moved from his spot near the wall. How
can you explain that, I desperately asked him. How can
you explain a monster outside dragging people away? You could
see him with your own eyes. Max oddly held his
sights on me, almost like he was refusing to look
past me and outside, where he would clearly be able
to see the horror. Seriously, I cried, You think that
if you don't look, it just won't be there. It's
there right now, taking away my friends. Max closed his
eyes for a moment. I felt like, maybe, just maybe
he was going to smarten up, but that wasn't the
case at all. When he opened his eyes, he immediately
charged at me. I didn't know what he was going
to do or what he was thinking, so I ducked
and rolled out of the way. You need to just
forget everything you've seen, Jay, he said to me, turning
to face me again. I can't, I said, bracing myself
on the check in desk. I won't. When I get
out of here, I'm gonna tell everyone us going on,
the police will come, maybe even the FBI. This place
will be shut down forever, and you and your family
will be held responsible for everyone who's missing. Max didn't
say anything. How are you going to explain this to
the parents, I pleaded, knowing we'd already asked this question.
Another blast of thunder and lightning exploded outside. Keeping my
eyes on Max, I reached for the phone on the
check in desk and put it to my ear. It
was dead. Then, with a deafening crack of thunder, the
lights went out. Max frantically looked around fear and panic
now pouring out from him. He turned and ran outside
into the storm. Max, I called out. I rushed to
the open door of the office cabin and breeched myself
on its frame. I looked outside, but the rain and
wind was too much. I didn't see Max anywhere. I
didn't see skinless Guts either, which meant Noal and Gemma
were gone. I rushed back into Max's little office and
scoured it until I found a yellow raincoat stuffed in
a closet with the camp resting stone logo on the
back of it. I tossed it on, covered my head
with the hood, and ran outside, splashing through the swampy
parking lot. I looked around. The storm was dark and intense,
hindering my views from its incursion of rain and furious winds. Luckily,
it was only the late afternoon, so there was still
a touch of daylight. If it wasn't for that, I
would have needed to find a flashlight to go trapsing
around the camp, and that would have been a death
sentence for sure. I wasn't sure where to go, but
then a sickening worry for the other campers filled my body.
I raced to the closest cabin, one of the girls cabins.
When I got there, I pounded on the door. When
there was no answer, I took it upon myself to
force my way in. The cabin was set up just
like ours, and it was empty. Hello girls, Arena, I
called out, not really knowing exactly whose cabin it was,
but my call fell on deaf ears. There was nothing
here aside from a dark, empty cabin. I rushed to
the next cabin, which was the one that Nola and
I had found Jemma lounging out in front of, and
found the same results. Inside dark, quiet and empty. I
ran down the slippery, muddy slope and through the trees
until I hit the boy sector at the camp. I
threw open the door and unsurprisingly found it empty. I
checked the next cabin, and it too was vacant of
any living or breathing thing. I stood outside the third
boy's cabin after only peering through one of the windows,
there was no one inside. Thunder crashed above and a
blinding blast of lightning. Maybe squint and shield my eyes
with my hand. I was alone. Everyone else was gone,
taken by the legendary skinless guts. The camp ghost story.
As I stood there in the pouring rain and thrashing winds,
I wasn't sure what to do or where to go next.
The camp was too far off the main road to
make a run for it. The phones were dead and
the electricity was out. I was trapped. I was alone.
My breathing began to pick up, my heart began to flutter,
and then it all stopped. The breathing, my heart, I
couldn't feel any of it anymore. After the cold, bony
fingers of someone behind me touched the back my neck,
I closed my eyes and just let him take me.
I was awake, but my eyes were closed, and I
was not conscious enough to understand what was going on
or where I was being taken to. I could feel
my limp body being dragged across the slick, muddy ground
and a relentless rain battering my face. I could hear
the thunder above, but it echoed and reverberated in my
head every couple of minutes. I could see the bright
flashes of lightning on the other side of my eyelids.
I seemed to dip in and out of consciousness. Things
eventually became quieter. The sounds of thunder and rain reduced
to deadened versions of themselves. I stopped moving and felt
like I was now standing upright. I could hear voices,
the voices of children. They were muffled, but they were close.
They seemed panicked and afraid. As their cries and words
became crisp and clearer around me, I used all my
strength my body to open my eyes. I was secured
to a dirt and wooden wall by heavy chains around
my wrists and ankles. I quickly realized I was in
an underground bunker. What are the old abandoned ones underneath
the camp above me? I could hear the muffled onslaught
or rain pelting the ground, and thunder commanding the sky.
The bunker was lit by flaming torches sporadically fastened to
the walls. There were overturned empty barrels of toxic waste
scattered about. There was a giant steel vat in the
middle of the room with the faded stenciled word acid
wrapping around the side of it. Then the real horror
kicked in. Along with myself. In the large underground room
were all of the other campers. They were all restrained
to the walls just as I was. Heavy metal chains
held their arms against the dirt and wood behind them,
and their feet to the ground. This is where Skinless
Guts had been taking everyone. This was where his spirit
had been laying in unrest for so long, only now
manifesting itself as the physical, intimidating presence of his skeletal remains.
Jay I heard my name shouted from a couple of
kids down. I looked over and saw Nol. No. Are
you okay? I asked, for now? He unassuringly said, I
don't know what this thing has in store for us.
I counted the kids. You were the last one he
brought in here. He has everyone now, even Max. I
was arguing with him at the office a little bit ago.
Got dragged him in right before you, Neel said, into
that room. Nul snapped his head as if you were
giving me a sub nod. I looked in the direction
he indicated and saw there was a dark arching tunnel
dug into the wall that led into another chamber. I
think that's where he took all the adults. Null, added Max.
Otto Irena Brody, where's Jimma, I asked him. He nodded
his head in the other direction. Cross the way, I
could see Jemma secured to the wall talking to the
girl next to her. It was Mallory Killin's, her missing
bunk mate. Now thinking about bunk mates, I frantically looked
around and spotted everyone else that I'd been curious about.
Arney Crumb was there, as was Riff Terreasi. Noel was right,
I was counting twenty four kids. Also, that was the
entire roster of campers. Hey, Noel whispered loudly over to me.
Now that Skinless Guts has everyone down here, what do
you think he is going to do with us? I
faced forward, pondering Noel's question for a moment, but ultimately
not wanting to know what our fates were going to
look like. Whatever Skinless Guts had in store for us,
it surely wasn't going to be pretty. As the storm
clamored mutedly above us, the cold breeze blew through the bunker,
giving rise to a sea of fear induced goosebumps all
over my body. I could only assume the other kids
felt the same fright. The rushing breeze carried the stench
of death with it, and then the room began to
fill with a soft green haze that took on a
wispy quality, a green mist. It was skinnless guts culling
card the imminent threat of his arrival. I told you, guys,
Riff called out, almost in tears. I told you on
day one that Dish was real. Riff was right. On
day one. He had stood at the cabin window, afraid
of what lurked outside. He told us about the legend.
He said his dad was the one who told him.
Could his dad have also been a counselor at the
camp twenty two years ago? Is that what this was
were the children of the parents who were all involved
with the camp beforehand, the ones invited to this little
soft reopening of Camp resting Stone. If the Cunningham estate
were to convince the people who were traumatized by the
events that happened here long ago that the camp was
safe now, they would have had some solid endorsements. They
just didn't realize the restless spirit of Emery Gut had
been lying in wait this entire time. I couldn't be
sure of the Cunningham estates true motives or reasoning for
inviting us all here. It didn't really matter at this point.
What matter now was what I saw materializing in the
dark tunnel that led to the adjoining bunker chamber. It
was the Camp boogeyman, Skinless Guts. His bony presence seemed
to float through the mist, out of the shadows, and
into the room that all the kids were chained up in.
He stopped in the middle of the room near the
large vat labeled acid. From what I could tell, the
vat was empty and didn't pose an acidic threat, and
could have still been there all these years later as
a relic from the past, possibly even the same exact
relic that Emory had fallen into that fateful day over
two decades ago. I trembled, as I'm sure everyone else
did in silence. We anxiously watched the skeletal wretch as
he delicately turned around in circles, looking at all of us,
taking in the sights as if he were looking for
his best option or best pick. Was he picking one
of us? And if so, for what? Oh my god,
I heard Jemma shriek from across the bunker. Skinless Guts
was facing me at the time, so whatever had alarmed
her to the point of screaming was something that he
had behind his back. He has a knife, she added
with a tense whimper. The word knife triggered a panicked
response in everyone. The kids all began to yell, scream,
and cry. The sudden commotion only enraged and disrupted Skinless
guts mysterious selection process. Without warning, he whipped the knife
out from behind his back and brandished it for everyone
to see. He emitted a mournful cry, a sound so
haunting that it ruptured my nerves. As all the kids
screamed and yelled, shouting at the ghastly creature in the
center of the bunker, it only provoked and overwhelmed him.
His jaw opened, his sorrowful cry, howling louder than ever,
threatening to slice through our ear drums. Then Skinless Guts
landed on someone, someone completely at random. It was Null.
The skeletal horror pointed his knife directly at Null, and
I was able to get a better look at it.
It was a large, curved forley knife, modified to include
a serrated edge on its spine. It must have been
a tool Emery had handcrafted himself to clean and scale
a fish with flawless, award winning precision. He was known,
after all, as the master of catching, cleaning, and frying
up the perfect fish dinner back in his day. So
why was he pointing it at Null? Why was he
Why were any of us? Oh no, I uttered out
loud in a shaky voice as I realized what Skinless
Gut's plan was. It was why he gathered all of
us here in the first place. He wanted revenge. He
wanted his skin back, any skin, He wanted all of
our skins. It didn't take long for Noll to come
to the same realization as I had. Skinless Guts had
risen from the hollowed grounds of camp resting Stone to
reclaim the skin he had lost twenty two years ago,
to bring a perception of life back to his death.
No no, nonl screamed at the ghastly horror before him.
Stay away, stay away from me. Skinless Guts wheezed and
hissed in a sickening way, and then adjusted the knife
in his bony grip. He sauntered toward Null, arousing further
screams from the kids shackled to the bunker walls. I
felt my heart beat faster. Nall was shaking, sweat pouring
from his forehead. Skinless Guts stopped in front of him
and slowly extended the tip of the filet knife outward.
The sharp point made contact with Null's shirt. He began
to squirm. He cried out for help, screaming at the
top of his lungs.
Speaker 1: This was it.
Speaker 2: Skinless Guts would start with Null, cutting the skin from
his body before moving on to the rest of us.
One by one, Skinless Guts, with a little more force,
poked the tip of his fleet knife through null shirt
and immediately sliced downward. We all heard the shirt material rip.
Everyone turned their heads and closed their eyes, including myself.
No one wanted to see what was going to happen. Next,
I heard another slice and rip of Null's shirt. I
heard him screaming and panicking uncontrollably. I had to look.
I slowly turned my head and watched as Skinless Guts
grabbed Null's shredded shirt and tore what remained of it
away from his body. Some what have me? Nells screamed out.
His shirt was gone, his exposed skin was visible, and
I was now certain that's what Skinless Guts had gathered
us all here for. I watched the knife twirl playfully
at his gaunt grip before securing it tightly, then aiming
it directly at Null's stomach. He slowly and methodically pushed
it forward emery stop. A woman's voice suddenly cried out
from nowhere. Everyone, including Skinless Guts, turned to look. It
was one of the girl's voices, and it wasn't IRENA's voice.
It did, however, sound familiar. Just then, mud and rain
water fell in from above through the hindered hole. We
were all dragged down in from along with the mud slide.
Someone wrapped in a black raincoat also dropped in and
perfectly stuck the landing as if she were spider Woman.
When she stood up and removed the hood, I couldn't
believe my eyes. It was my mom. In one of
her hands was a long spaded shovel. As she stood
to her feet, Skinless Guts faced her and released an
angry shriek. He raised the filet knife and charged at her,
but my mom was quick to wind up and whack
the fleeting monster with a shovel. Skinless Gut's bones jangled
as he flew to the side and slammed into the
dirt floor. One of the bones from his arms cracked
and fell off. He restlessly tried to stand on his feet,
but my mom swung the shovel again, smacking his other arm,
sending the knife soaring across the bunker, where the blade
was driven into the dirt wall right between Arnie Crumb's legs.
Skinless guts howled again, trying to unnerve my mom, but
it wasn't going to work. Not even a long, dead,
ghastly monster could stop a mother who was locked into
protective mode. She swung the shovel again, cracking guts in
his exposed rib cage. A couple of the ribs shattered
on impact. A couple more of them dangled off him
momentarily before eventually falling to the ground. With skinless Guts
still down, My mom had her first chance to look
around the underground bunker. She looked at all of the
kids with wory on her face until her eyes landed
on me. Then she smiled. Are you okay? She calmly asked.
I nodded back to her, also smiling and feeling safe
for the first time since I'd arrived here. My mom
turned back to the skeleton monster that was struggling to
stand again. Oh, no, you don't, she growled. She pulled
back on the shovel, and with one more hard swing,
she delivered the final blow. The metal spade crashed into
the side of skinless Gut's head, shattering his skull into
hundreds of sharp pieces that exploded all over the underground chamber.
The rest of his body collapsed, rattling to the ground,
where it then lay still and silent in a heap
of broken bones. My mom took a deep breath, dropped
the shovel, and came over to me first. She knelt
down and was able to unlock the chains in my
feet and hands. She hugged me tightly, and I felt
her warm tears fall onto my neck. How did you
know to come back, I asked her. I just had
a gut feeling, she said, when we dropped you off
here the other day, I couldn't shake it. This place
just doesn't feel right. I nodded. This place definitely isn't right,
I said, half joking, but also completely terrified. M Hey
Noel called out, can someone help me please? I feel
a little naked here, but then my shirt on my
minnows are exposed. My mom and I then went around
to all the other kids and helped unlock them from
their chains and shackles. Then in the adjoining chamber we
held Max, Brody, Arena and Auto as well. My dad,
who was trying to help from above, found a ladder
laying in the bushes behind Otto's cabin and brought it
to the bunker. He slid it down so we could
all climb out one at a time. Once we were
all out, we were relieved to see that the storm
had stopped. However, the gloomy clouds continued to linger over
the tops of the trees. It somehow felt like a
metaphor for what had just happened to everyone. The calm
after the storm, the bushy leaves on the trees all
dripped with remnants of rain, and muddy puddles were scattered
all around the woods. We then worked as a team
to cover the whole back up that led down into
the bunker. We tossed on fallen tree limbs, mud brush,
and well as many other things as we could find.
My mom drove the shovel spade into the soggy ground
next to the concealed tomb and then draped her black
raincoat over the wooden handle. She said it would act
as an easy beacon for the police to low kate
once we got back and were able to call for help,
and with that we began our march back toward Camp
resting Stone, only instead of Max or Brody or Irena
leading the way, it was my mom and dad who
heroically led us to safety. Camp resting Stone was shut
down for good after its experimental grand reopening. Fences and
metal gates were erected around the plot of forested land
the camp sat on, along with a few brightly colored
no trespassing and do not enter signs. My parents did
call the police once they were able to, and unfortunately
it took a couple of days for a search of
the woods to be conducted. The police were pretty skeptical
about the story we all tried to tell them from
the beginning, so the ground search was fairly minimal, and
of course they found nothing. When my mom asked about
the shovel with the black raincoat, which she had purposefully
posed in that very specific way to help the police
find the bunker, they confirmed that they did indeed find
a shovel, but it wasn't sticking out of the ground. Instead,
it was stuffed in an overgrown area of bushes. The
black raincoat, however, was not found, and that little fact
itself has always been interesting to me because in the
years that followed the horrors that I experienced at Camp
resting Stone, strange sightings have continued in the region. Sure,
the camp is closed for good and blocked off from trespassers,
but that doesn't mean it actually keeps people away. Teenagers
looking for a dare or a scare will hop the
fences to impress their friends or have a story to tell.
There's also a hiking trail that snakes through the woods
fairly close to where the old abandoned camp remains, and
it's easy to go off trail and get a little
too close. There have been many reports over the years
about the area, strange reports. Some say they've noticed a
strange miss crawling through the woods close to the camp.
Others claim to hear the mournful cry of Emery Gut
in the dark night time hours. But the most interesting
stories I find are the ones where people claim to
see a slow moving figure roaming the woods, cloaked and
a black raincoat with a hood up. They say as
it walks they can hear its bones cracking with each step,
they can hear its haunting moans, and if it ever
turns to face them, they claim, without a shadow of
a doubt, to see a rotting, cracked skull within the
awning of the hood. For me, this is proof that
legends never die. Sure, my mom saved us that day
by destroying Skinless Guts in the moment, But how can
you truly destroy something that's already dead and gone. You
can't kill a ghost. That means Skinless Guts is still there,
aimlessly roaming the woods, waiting for his next chance to
reclaim his skin. The end.
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From micro Errors Scary Stories for Kids