HSC (Donate the money to AutismSpeaks.Org to stop the spread of fortnite) On a warm humid sunny day in Florida I decide to go camping. Although I was more of an indoors person I decided to go because my friends said it’ll be fun. I pack my bag with a 6 pack of Dr Peppers, a good can of bug spray, my sleeping bag and a flash light. It was near the end of summer so I wanted this to be fun, don’t want my last days of summer to be a waste. The next day, my dad drives me to my friends house where we would meet up at. As we get there I watch the Floridian sunrise. The heat reaches my face, man, I’ve been missing out. As my dad pulls into my friends driveway I hear his dog barking. I walk out with my bag and knock. “Hey man, how’s it been?” “Good, you ready for the camping trip?” “Ready as I’ll ever be.” “Come in, man.” I enter my friends house. His dog, a husky named Puff, greets me with licks to my hand as I walk in. I make myself comfortable on the couch. “So, how long are we gonna be there?” “1 night, at Hannah Park.” “Hm, how many tents?” “Hopefully 4.” I hear a knocking from the front door. “Hey Mark, someone else is here.” My friend goes up to answer the door. A man in a red shirt with khaki shorts greets my friend at the door. My friend has a bit of a conversation with him before welcoming him in. “This is my older brother, Brian.” I shake hands with him as I introduce myself “Hi, I’m Nick.” “So, where’d you meet Mark at?” “Oh, school.” I hear a phone text message notification. I look over to the source. It was Mark’s phone “The rest said they’re gonna meet us there, Austin and Colby. “Alright.” We get up from the couch and make way for the front door. We go out and take Brian’s car to the camping area. We drove for about 15 minutes and we were there. “Man, I hope this camping is gonna be fun.” I already feel as if something is off here. It just seems..strange. Maybe because I spend so much time in doors. We walk down to our selected campsite and meet up with Austin and Colby. When we got there they were arguing about who gets to light the fire. Austin and Colby are brothers so they already sort of have a bit of a rivalry. “You got to light it last time we went camping!” “I gave you my food!” Austin takes the lighter from Colby and puts it in his bag. “Fine,” Colby mutters. The sun began to set as we ate dinner. We ate flame grilled hot dogs along with a bit of beef jerky. I still felt a clenching in my stomach. My gut was trying to tell me something. Is there something wrong? Am I sick? I cleared my head and tried to focus on having a good time. After dark we cooked marshmallows over the same fire. Brian grabbed a flash light from his bag and shone it at his face. Brian was working as a novelist at the time or at least trying to become one. He wrote stories about horror stories but with a modern twist. Whether it was about being socially rejected or the struggles of life. He began to speak “On night like this, 20 years ago the Marsh Murderer killed 19 year old Ethan Baker.. The culprit still hasn’t been found but I can tell you the legend of the Marsh Murderer..” He spoke about some urban legend circulating around Florida, one that’s been going on for about 5 years. After he was finished we decided to sleep. I sprayed down the area with my big spray to root out any lurking mosquitoes. The night settled and the day was over. I settled down in my sleeping bag and closed my eyes. I woke with a cold sweat, my gut still having that strange feeling. I nudged the sleeping bag beside me, which was Mark’s. It was empty. I looked around, darkness. I got out of the tent and investigated. I must’ve tripped over a foot and fell. I slammed into the ground and heard an eerie noise. It kept droning on and on... I heard a voice, it was rough and sounded like a scratched record. It was a whisper.. “You were wrong about coming here..” I felt a sharp pain in my back as if a claw had pierced it. I felt trapped, I tried to resist but I couldn’t. I was... paralyzed.. I hear a scream followed by a slashing noise and a thump. More victims? I was wondering what this all meant. Was this the end? I had a sudden burst of strength as a tried to resist against whatever was holding me down. I stood up and ran. I ran to the shoreline, waving my flash light. I spotted a police patrol vehicle. I ran after it. I told them what I reported. The police took me to the police department. I again explained what happened. A week passed, and investigation revealed that there was a criminal in the area who was wanted for murder and -blam!-. I could’ve been one of his victims. The body of my friends were found.. All of them were torn with what seemed like.. claws. I still can’t believe what happened. The next night I was in bed, then I heard the same voice.. “[i]The fear of being in the darkness is not about being alone, it’s the fear you aren’t alone..”[/i]