A Camping For Two

Sebastian I can say I’m not an avid fan of camping and outdoors activities. Although my family LOVES outdoors—my parents hiked once every two weeks and my grandfather went a year-round outdoor expedition on his motorbike—I didn’t possess their trait of loving what they like. Until one day, when my lecturer of my course urged us students to complete an assignment about nature and wants us to take a legit picture—not the ones coming from the net. So here I am with my girlfriends, hiking in one of the camping sites near New York, which was the only one available in the autumn. Sheesh, why must they open a camping site in autumn? Are they nuts? And to add more of my annoyance, the hiking trip didn’t go as planned. Let me tell you what happen. It all started when one of my girlfriends woke up late and we missed the exact time to register into the camping site. If you think that kind of thing—which scars my punctual self—is already bad, then think again. I took photography as my course in college, and when they said photography, what would you first think? It’s camera, right? Let it be DSLR or any cameras in general, we photography students shouldn’t be separated from that device which helps us took pictures in any type of situations. Yet, yes, my group is formed with three members—one male, me, and two females, Mary and Helen—and guess what, those blockheads didn’t bring their cameras with them! I’m not trying to be rude, but they’re definitely an a*s. Not bringing camera is still okay if you have your smartphone, but those two persistently begging me to let them borrow my camera—my precious Nikon D3500 that I bought using my own part-time work money—And then carelessly used them like my precious baby is just some kind of a cheap camera that you would find in a second-hand shop. Again, I’m not trying to condemn anyone, but those two are an a*s. My rage reached its peak when Mary slipped and fell into a steep ground that looks like a shallow cliff. I’m glad that she’s okay—having light bruises and all—but my camera is hanging onto its dear life on a low branch of a tree, almost falling on the ground. That scene is enough to send my mind in a chaotic state. “Sebastian, help!” Helen’s shrill tone resonated in the air like some sort of banshee and screeched the inner part of my ears, forcing my petrified body to move. Meanwhile, she’s helping Mary got out from the cliff, in a form of her looking at Mary grappling the earth in horror. She’s not even reaching out her hands to help Mary out, yet she called for me? What am I? Your servant? I dithered for a bit, keeping a small grudge for those two because of their recklessness. Though, some part of me delayed in helping them because of our distance—the two of them were standing somewhere near the steep hill—initially wanting to take a scenic hillside picture from that spot—while I was at the roadside taking pictures with my phone. Although my camera was with them, I have to finish my assignment too, don’t I? Back to present, I trudged towards where the were—slowly pushing through bushes and carefully stepping down the path—because of how rocky the terrain is that it’s almost impossible for me to reach where the two of them went to. In the meantime, while I was stepping down, I looked around to search for help. The sun is setting, which means the chances to help Mary get out from the cliff gets thinner each moment. Suddenly, my eyes caught a movement in a form of a floating light, moving in uneven motions in the rising darkness. “Hello? Is anyone there?” I yelled in the light’s direction, betting my luck for the light to be some people walking nearby. Helen and Mary panicking made things worse, because of how loud their shrieking were. The light stopped precisely when the two of them start panicking. Then, it dimmed, indicating whoever person or thing who held the light had gone. An image of any scary creatures haunted my mind in an instant. It’s non-existent, I know, but with how dark the surrounding had become, my mind couldn’t help but wandered into that part of my mind. Helen’s shriek broke my daze. “Sebastian!” I grunted before forcing myself to trudge to their location. I have to take a few minutes just to go to where they are. Then, I reached out both of my hands to Mary and started to pull her out. I don’t know if I’m weak or whatever, but Mary is undoubtedly heavy. I softly cursed before grunting again to boost my strength. “Ow ow!” Mary winced. I peeked down to see her legs got stuck in some sort of vine plants. Dangit… My mind drifted for other alternatives to help her get out. While I do so, I turned to Helen. “Helen, go look for help!” Her face grimaced into a look of dismay. “I don’t want to. It’s too dark!” I rolled my eyes. “Then use the flashlight from your phone.” She still refused, this time with an excuse, saying the terrain is too hard for her to walk. Then, why go here in the first place? I urged Mary to shake off the vine while pulling her up little by little. Even so, the vine is hard to be taken off and she’s starting to feel tired. “Sebastian, pull me!” “Then what am I doing right now?!” Her face contorted in a disagreeing look as she puckered while still grabbing hold of my hands. All of a sudden, my shadow grew as a light appeared behind me. I turned to look around while Helen screamed in shock. Standing there not too far from us, a female, clad in warm outfit with a dark red infinity scarf wrapped around her neck until it covered her mouth, was holding a lamp in her left hand and a wood cutting knife in her right hand. I froze in shock.