Chapter 3

After lunch, the campers all split up and went to separate places. Gwen and Lindsay checked out Lina's cabin for clues to prove she was behind the hauntings at camp. Lindsay picked the lock on the door with her hairpin and then opened the door. Lindsay said, "We're in." Gwen and Lindsay walked into Lina's cabin, turned on the lights, and looked around. Gwen investigated her desk and saw a book on it. She also noticed that her computer was connected to her printer. Gwen picked up the book and read what was in it. Gwen said, "This is her journal, but nothing is incriminating. Not even a clue." Lindsay looked at the mirror and saw her reflection, but then her image vanished, and the ghost of a camp counselor appeared in the mirror.

The ghost said, "Get out." Lindsay screamed and then fell to the floor. Gwen ran up to Lindsay and helped her up. Gwen stated, "What is it?" Lindsay said, "I saw another ghost." Gwen said, "Where?" Lindsay pointed at the mirror and stated, "There, in the mirror." Gwen stood before the mirror and only saw her reflection in it. Gwen said, "There's nothing in the mirror now." Lindsay looked behind the mirror and stated, "There's nothing behind it either. That ghost couldn't have got projected." Gwen said, "Unless the camera is somewhere else." Gwen looked around but didn't see any cameras anywhere. Gwen stated, "Nope, I don't see any cameras." While investigating, they heard the doorknob turning and figured Lina was coming in. Gwen said, "Uh oh." Lina walked in and didn't see anyone in her cabin. Lina then locked the door and went to the bathroom at the back of her cottage. While there, Gwen came out from under Lina's bed, and Lindsay came out of Lina's closet. Lindsay said, "Come on, let's get out of here." Gwen and Lindsay quietly snuck out through the window, left Lina's cabin before getting caught, and then returned to their cabin.

On their way there, it started to rain, and all the boys and girls quickly ran to their cabins and spent all day indoors. The boys played cards all day while the girls thought about the hauntings. Sally said, "I just don't get what happened to Hannah and Heather." Susan stated, "That's easy; the monsters took them. We all saw Heather get grabbed by the shadow creature." Gwen said, "True, but these aren't monsters. They're just the counselors in masks, and Lina is probably the mastermind." Lindsay stated, "But what about the ghosts? I saw one in Lina's mirror, and they pulled us off the ground." Lindsay then pointed at the ghost writing on the wall and said, "They even wrote these words on the wall in our cabin and the boys' cabin." Gwen stated, "Someone probably did it to scare us. The ghost you saw might have been a projection, and one of the boys could have carved the words in while we weren't around and then did the same thing in their cabin. As for the levitation, that's somewhat less explainable." Tina said, "Right, but maybe for once you can accept that maybe some mysteries have no rational explanation, and maybe the camp is haunted." Gwen said, "No."

As the hours went by, the rain got worse and poured down. Lindsay looked outside their window and saw it pouring down. Lindsay said, "Looks like we won't be leaving our cabin. At least not until the rain stops." While it was raining, Lindsay tried to get a cell phone signal but couldn't because of the rain. Lindsay said, "Great, the storm even took out my cell phone signal." Gwen brought out her cell phone and saw she didn't have a signal either. Gwen said, "No Service." Sally and Susan brought out their cell phones and saw neither had a network connection. Sally stated, "Took out our signals too." Susan said, "No bars." Tina checked her cell phone and saw she didn't have a signal either. Tina said, "No signal. Not even one bar. It's probably because of the storm." Gwen said, "I guess we'll just have to have fun indoors while we wait for the storm to lift." The girls set up a board game and played it while they waited for the storm to end.

Meanwhile, the boys checked their cell phones and saw none working. Duncan said, "Great, my cell phone isn't working." Ben stated, "Neither is mine." Chris said, "Mine, either." Cody said, "No bars." Harold said, "No service." Luke stated, "My phone's out of service, too." Timmy said, "Mine too." Duncan declared, "Great, none of our phones are working. We're trapped in this cabin until the storm ends." Harold said, "Don't worry, we can watch a scary movie while we wait." Cody stated, "What about dinner?" Chris said, "Well if the storm doesn't end soon, we'll have to consider the popcorn and pop our dinner." Harold put on the movie, and all the boys watched it while they waited for the storm to end.

Once the movie ended, the boys were terrified and turned off the DVD player. The girls also finished their game, and Lindsay won. Then the boys and the girls looked out their windows and saw the storm had ended. They also checked their phones and noticed they got their cell phone service back. Harold said, "Great, the storm's over, and our cell phone service is back." Then, the campers went to the mess hall and had pizza for dinner. While they were eating, a portrait on the wall was watching them. Cody walked up to the picture of Zeke Lakewood, looked at it, and saw it watching him.

Cody said, "That's a weird-looking painting." Lina approached Cody and stated, "That's a portrait of Zeke Lakewood, the camp founder." The portrait looked down at Cody and Lina, and then Lina left. Once she did, the ghost of Zeke Lakewood came out of the painting and tapped Cody on his shoulder. Cody said, "Lina?" Cody turned around, and Zeke Lakewood's ghost returned to the picture. Once it did, Cody looked behind him and saw no one. Cody said, "Probably just my imagination." The portrait of Zeke Lakewood said, "No, it's not." Cody stated, "Who said that?" Cody looked up at the painting of Zeke Lakewood and saw it speaking to him. The picture said, "That was me talking." Then the ghost of Zeke Lakewood came out of the painting again and stated, "Boo." Then Cody screamed in terror and ran for his life. After he did, the ghost returned to the picture, and Tina grabbed Cody while he was running. Tina said, "What is it?" Cody pointed at the portrait of Zeke Lakewood and stated, "That portrait's alive. It spoke to me and came out of the frame." Tina went over to the portrait and waved her hand in front of the portrait's face, but he didn't even blink. Tina said, "There's no ghost here now." Cody looked behind the painting and didn't see anything. Cody stated, "There's nothing behind it either. He must have left to scare Someone else."

After dinner, the campers all sat at a table and did arts and crafts together while a counselor, Marcia, watched them. Marcia said, "Everyone having fun?" Timmy said. "Yes." While making arts and crafts, a platter with drinks floated towards them and then by them. Then, all the drinks flowed off the platter and in front of all the campers. Once they did, all the campers saw them and wondered where they came from if nobody got them. Timmy said, "Who gave us these?" Susan stated, "Who cares? Let's enjoy." All the campers enjoyed their drinks, and after they finished their arts and crafts, they went to the campfire to roast marshmallows and tell ghost stories. While telling ghost stories, the campers and counselors started to hear moaning. Lindsay said, "What was that?" Luke ignored the moan and stated, "What was what?" Then, the campers and counselors heard the whine again. Lindsay said, "That." Susan said, "Sounded like a girl in agony." Chris got up, listened to the moaning, and pointed toward the direction of the moan. Chris said, "It's coming from over there."

Chris, Sally, and Susan all followed the moaning into the woods with their flashlights. While looking around, they all fell to the bottom of a hole. Once they got to the bottom, they saw a skeleton down there with them. They all looked at the bone structure, and it glanced at them. Susan said, "Chris, the skeleton is looking at us." Chris stated, "Impossible." Chris cast his flashlight on the skeleton and looked for himself. Sally said, "It's moving." Chris declared, "Yeah. Let's get out of here." Chris lifted Sally out of the hole, and she climbed out. Then Chris lifted Susan out of the pit while the skeleton got closer to them, and Sally grabbed her and helped her out. Then Susan reached her arm back in the hole, and Chris took her hand. Then she lifted him out of the pit while the skeleton walked towards him. While Susan was helping Chris out of the hole, the bone structure grabbed Chris's leg, and Chris screamed. Then the bone structure tried pulling Chris back into the hole, but Chris kicked him off his leg. Once he got out of the hole, the twins saw the skeleton's arm still on Chris's leg and moving by itself. Sally screamed in terror and said, "Chris, look at your leg." Chris looked at his leg, saw the skeleton's arm, and yelled in terror when he noticed it. Then he shook it off his leg and kicked it back into the hole. Chris said, "That was close."

A strong wind blew after they escaped the skeleton, and the camp bus showed up. Once it did, the headlights turned green and flashed on Chris and the twins. Then horror movie music started to play on the radio, and the bus drove after Chris and the twins. Then Chris and the twins ran while the camp's bus chased them. Chris looked behind them and saw the bus still pursuing them, but he didn't notice anyone driving it. Chris said, "Quick, up the trees; it can't chase us up there." Chris and the twins climbed up a tree and sat there until the bus left. Once it did, it drove off by itself without anyone driving it. Susan said, "OK, I'm calling a meeting of all the campers in the mess hall before bed."