Chimera

A weekend of camping in a supposed haunted forest. What could possibly go wrong? Just the thought that I had to go into the woods made my skin crawl but doing it with my idiotic friends made it a bit more bearable. Just slightly. I hated camping for one, and to go out ‘ghost hunting’ was one thing but to look for them while sleeping in their neighborhood, well that was a totally different dumbass move altogether. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t bail out now. We made the arrangements in the bar last week. What this had taught me is to never mix alcohol and stupid decisions along with peer pressure. After a few drinks, everyone is impressionable. It was a tradition to do something creepy on Halloween. Every Halloween. Last year we went ghost searching in the graveyard. The year before that, we went into an abandoned hospital, didn’t really think that counted as the place only closed a few months before that. The point being that we started a tradition and I wasn’t going to back out, not that my friends would allow me to anyway. “Are you almost ready? The guys will be here shortly.” Tish, my best friend, hovered around the room inspecting the trinkets I had on my bedside table. “Do you really think I’m going to need a loofa?” I asked as I took it out of the bag and tossed it into the small wardrobe space I had. “You never know what the woods will hold. And while you’re at it, maybe you should pack in some nice underwear.” She lifted her eyebrows in a suggestive manner. “Now why would I do that?” “Because sexy Jackson will be there.” “So? Your point being?” “Oh come on! There is definitely something going on between you two.” “I haven’t noticed.” I lied as I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks. “So you haven’t noticed the way he looks at you? Or the way he tries to flirt?” “Nope.” “Raven, with those dark brown hair of yours and those gorgeous oddly colored eyes, I’m surprised he hasn’t made his move yet.” “”He’s not like that.” “Oh so you have noticed, you little minx.” She teased as she threw the small monkey teddy bear I had at me. “Raven, even I have noticed the raw tension between you two, and my nose is permanently in my books.” My roommate Maddy commented without hardly lifting an eye in my direction. I loved how she knew and saw everything without letting you know about it. She was like a little ninja spy. You never see or hear her until she tells the truth. “There’s nothing going on guys.” I replied stacking the last of my things into the duffel bag and zipping it closed. Tish’s phone buzzed with a text message and I assumed that it was one of the guys. “They are waiting for us outside.” She locked her phone and started heading towards the door. Maddy and I started following suite, but when Tish stopped at the door I knew the earlier discussion wasn’t over. “Maybe this weekend will change all of that.” She glanced at me up and down with an evil vixen smile. “Oh would you just move it?” I asked pushing her forward so that we can get this weekend over with. I really hated camping.   ***   A few minutes later we were packing up the Van. It was a nice fifteen seater with more than enough space for all eight of us including all our camping gear, the food, and some needed extras. The seats itself was a bit uncomfortable, which means that the ride to the forgotten town will take forever, but the space made up for it. We climbed in after we were sure nothing has been forgotten. Chad even brought his stupid blue-tooth speaker saying that “You can’t have a camping experience without some sort of jam, man.” Jax and Logan sat upfront, driving and navigating with the human GPS and Tish occupying the first row seats. I sat in the second row with Maddy, justifying that I can’t sit at the back with fear of stupidity, aka Chad. He looked kind of stunned but then he noticed that he was left to sit next to Ronnie. I couldn’t help but smile and think of the poor torture that she will have to endure all the way to Madmoor. Chad was the kind of guy that was good for a laugh. He was ignorant to all the jokes aimed at him, but he was also loyal and fun to be around. Not too bad looking either. He had the whole skater boy vibe going. Longish mop brown hair that curled the longer it got, hanging in his dark brown eyes that always seemed to be stoned. I, personally, have never seen him smoke weed or take anything, but he was always on a high. Maybe it was just his personality. I haven’t known him that long. Met him around six months ago when Tish and Munroe started hooking up. Chad was like the shadow that Munroe just couldn’t shake. We half adopted him as the lost puppy of the pack. The only thing that can really get on your nerves with Chad is the fact that he is so sexually frustrated it’s not even funny. I swear he would hump a tree if it had a skirt on, but he struck out every time. I think that it was more about trying to lose his virginity than actually picking up ‘chicks’. Ronnie was a different case, and I actually felt sorry for Chad for this one. She didn’t like guys. I mean, she likes them as friends, but when it comes to having a bedfellow, well, she would much rather try her luck with me. She had amazing platinum blonde hair cut into a short Roxette style. Sometimes she would get bored with it and add some color to the tips. Ronnie always wore what I would classify as a grunge style. Shredded jeans, combat boots, plad shirts. Hell, if I was gay, I would probably go for her. The platinum hair makes her green eyes stand out more. She was thinly built, tall and defined. Even muscular if you want to put it that way. She always joked around and said she wanted to beat a man at his own game. She knows about cars, can do amazing woodwork, but currently working on becoming a special effects make-up artist. She is very contradictory in her hobbies, which just makes her more unique in my opinion. Jax switched on the ignition and the atmosphere amped up. The excitement of the trip filled the air and everyone started talking about what to expect when we get there. “Do you guys really think we will find something this time?” Tish asked as she made herself more comfortable by throwing her long tanned legs onto Munroe’s lap. I swear with these two, I had already developed whiplash from their relationship. This time around, they’ve been going strong for six months, but before that, it was on and off every few months for about two years. Yeah they’ve seen other people during the times when they were broken up, but they always seem to find their way back together, usually at some sort of party. The last time Tish saw Munroe chatting up another girl and she became so jealous that she ended up hosing the chick with the keg tap. “Who knows babe, hopefully this year will be ours,” Munroe answered as he rubbed her legs a bit too gingerly. I knew what that meant in their undeclared communications. It basically means that ‘I can’t wait to get you alone’. Luckily I was going to share a tent with Maddy. We worked everything out that night at the bar. Who was sleeping where. Ronnie will be sharing a tent with her brother Logan, Jax will try and keep Chad out of the Chicks’ tents. Obviously Tish and Munroe will share because no one wants to be near them, and then I will share one with Maddy. She was sort of like an outcast of the group. Maddy was my roommate but always kept to herself. Very introverted but also such a sweet girl once she opens up to you. She had brown curly hair, almost like Princess Diaries but a bit more tame. Also sported the specs which hid her puppy-dog brown eyes, while her style was more lied back and casual. Some would argue that her style represented the creative arts. Very flowy and colorful, nothing matched but though it worked. “Don’t worry, I will get whatever I can with this new bad boy,” Chad commented as he flipped open his new camera, “Maybe I’ll get some other things too. Hey Ronnie, big brother is watching,” he zoomed in on her breasts as if to emphasize his point. “I swear Chad, if you don’t put that away now, you will see how ‘big brother’ flies out the window.” Tish motioned to the camera and Chad quickly put it away. Laughter erupted from the car and it seemed to shut Chad up for a while though. As we drove out of town, the hype and the jokes quickly died down. Chad was playing with his camera, Ronnie was settling in with some headphones, Maddy pulled out a sketchbook and started doodling, with Munroe and Tish were playing on their phones. I opted for staring out the window. I get car sick if I read anything while in the car so I decided that was a bad idea. We drove for a while in silence while the radio played a mix of songs. No one was really paying attention until Tish sat up quickly startling everyone. “Hey guys! I think I found something,” “Dammit Tish! You can’t just yell when you feel like it. You know people are driving.” Jax shouted grabbing the wheel tighter as he swayed the van a bit. Everyone sat more upright and started paying attention.  “Oh shut it. But listen, I was trying to find details on where we are going, and found something interesting,” she said as she turned a bit sideways so that everyone can hear. “Founded in 1892, the town of Madmoor was once the star attraction for the mining industry. Many soldiers use to set up camps before the discovery of coal in the mountains. It is said that after the government declared the town as a mining station, most of it’s inhabitants who stayed there was employed by them. The town thrived until problems arose and people were killed in the Casming forest, a few miles from the town center. The town’s people blame the resident doctor and drove him away never to be seen again. Not long after that, the town was deserted claiming to be a health hazard and the government had no choice but to condemn it to a ghost town.” “Why is it that I find that hard to believe?” Ronnie asked from the back, not even opening her eyes but still having an opinion. “Maybe because it’s all a ruse,” Maddy commented not lifting her head from her sketchbook. Everyone was staring at her, waiting for her to elaborate. She dropped her pencil in her book, closed the pages and started explaining her thoughts. “A ruse is a deception. If the mines and the town was really a health hazard, there would have been quarantine and it would have been posted on every blog post, article and website regarding the town or incident. There would have been more evidence. Something else happened in the town that the government doesn’t want anyone to know about.” “How do you know that?” Chad asked leaning over the seat. “Because my absent minded friend,” she replied clearly getting annoyed that no one believes her “I am part of an institution that goes about debunking all the government lies and releasing the truth to the people.” “What? Really?” Chad seemed way too invested in the story that I struggled to keep a straight face. “Yeah. We are really close at divulging the truth about Roswell and Area 51.” “No way! What have you found?” “Well, there’s this creature that attacks you at night. It was a secret experiment that was scratched because the creature became too dangerous to control. He would sneak up on you, stick it’s tongue down your throat as it pumps eggs into your stomach while all the time thrusting its fist so far up your ass that it can grab hold of your balls and pull it through your sphincters and jack you off simultaneously.” “Why haven’t you released the details yet?” “Because no one will believe us with the name that was given to the experiment.” “What’s the name?” I couldn’t believe that Chad was going so far down the rabbit hole. I could see the rest of the group either trying to contain their laugh or are already laughing in silence. “It’s kind of hard to pronounce, so I’m going to say it in increments to you,” Chad just nodded as he waited for her to say it. “The first part of the name is ‘IMA’” “IMA” Chad repeated her words. “DUMBA” “DUMBA” He repeated again after her. “Now this last part is the most important so once you know this, you can never unlearn it. The last word is DOUCHES,” he nodded, mauling the words around in his head. “It works best if you say the words out loud.” “IMA - DUMBA- DOUCHES,” Everyone started bursting out with laughter and Chad just sat there not knowing what went wrong. I couldn’t let him suffer like that anymore even though I was thoroughly enjoying it. “Chad, come on dude. She’s bullshitting you.” He looked at me as if you wasn’t comprehending what I was saying. “Say the words together again, faster.” “Ima dumba douches … Hey!” we all laughed again hard and Logan spoke from the front seat as he turned all the way to the back, “Maddy’s f*****g with you bro.” “Not cool dude,” Chad sulked back into his chair as the laughter started dying down and Maddy kept working on her sketches. We had a few hours worth of driving ahead of us so some of us made small talk while others were left to snooze or whatever they wanted to do. We weren’t really a group of friends that forced anyone to do what they didn’t want to do, well, except for this weekend. Normally we would decide as a group what sounded the best and the decision would be unanimous. This year though, half wanted to do the ghost town while the others were more keen on doing a horror movie marathon in the town cemetery. Obviously the movie marathon lost due to mutiny. Chad basically annoyed the rest into agreeing to go, so when Maddy and I were the last ones left, they overthrew our decision like it was a pinch of salt over the shoulder. I started nodding off as the Van swayed like a rocking chair in the midday sun. I was woken up by Maddy when the town board came into view. Rubbing my eyes, I noticed the faded board reading ‘Welcome to Madmoor! The fiery heart of Hell’. The name of the state had been carved away and the word ‘Hell’ had been spray painted over the board. Well, that’s comforting, I thought as we drove past the the town line into what was suppose to be an interesting and fun filled weekend.