Hadley Murphy of Charlotte Central School writes about the quintessential camp experience – the scary creature in the night! Hadley wrote this piece as a seventh-grader last spring to share with her class in a story-telling segment.
Creature at Camp
By Hadley Murphy
Grade Seven, Charlotte Central School
Just after roasting marshmallows, we were getting into our tents. I was extremely tired after riding my bike all day. I was about to fall asleep when I heard a dribble, dribble and then a big boom ... crack! It was a thunderstorm.
We all tried to jump out of our tents, except my tent zipper was stuck. I pulled; it didn’t budge. I pulled again – nothing. I pulled one more time, and it finally broke open.
We rushed out of our tent; we were the last ones out. We were running in the pouring rain, trying to get to shelter.
It was 10 at night, and we couldn’t see a thing. I suddenly felt that my body was getting in front of my feet, and the next thing I knew I was in the mud.
Then we heard an “Oww!” Maddie had run into a tree. Next, we heard a loud thud! Kit had tripped into a pothole. Things were not looking too good for us.
We started running again, and we were almost there. I could see the door. I could almost feel the dryness inside. One more step … and then something sprang out of the bushes right in front of the door. We jumped back. It was a sly creature, with big sharp teeth and it was enormous.
“What is that?” Kit said.
“I have absolutely no idea,” I replied nervously.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Maddie screamed.
She was running around in circles. The creature didn’t like that! It hissed and showed its teeth, then followed her.
Kit and I slowly backed away, careful not to scream.
Slowly, the creature started crawling towards us. It was coming closer and closer.
I was just about to scream when I heard someone’s voice. It was a counselor’s.
She said, “What’s going on out there?”
We both just screamed and she came out. She shined a flashlight on the creature and it turned out to be just a raccoon. We all calmed down and went inside.
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