Girls' Night Campfire

Emma

I’m so glad it’s finally the weekend. I like working in the shop with Mom, but I also need some time away now and then. It’s so hard to stare at all the beautiful scenery around Emerald Valley without having the time to get out and experience it for myself. 

“You pack like you’re going to the French Riviera,” I tell Kara as she piles a few of her sexiest lacy bras and underwear into her duffel bag–and believe me, her sexiest is beyond skimpy. “We’ll be in the woods, girl, camping in tents surrounded by trees and the lake. Besides, this is a girls’ night in the woods thing, remember?”

She looks at me with a grin. “You never know who you’re gonna run into out there,” she says. “We might meet some cute forest rangers or something. I’m just being prepared. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do when camping? Be prepared?”

I shake my head. “You’re going to freeze out there,” I insist.

“Not with the right company, I won’t,” she replies, but she digs back into the drawer and adds a few pairs of practical undergarments anyway. “There,” she adds. “You happy?”

I laugh. “You’re crazy, and I love you.”

“I love you too,” she says. “But I still would rather share my tent with a gorgeous hunk of a forest ranger. No offense.”

“None taken,” I say with a laugh. “Are you about ready? We’re meeting the girls in ten minutes.”

“Ready,” she says. “Let’s go have some fun!”

***

We got out to our spot by the lake and had our tents set up in a circle before sunset, so a couple of us are working to get the fire started while the rest get the food ready to barbecue. 

Most of the gals are friends of mine and Kara’s from high school, along with a few newer people who’d moved into town a few years ago. One of those is Tasha, who’s helping me get the fire started. 

“You’re pretty good at this stuff,” I tell her as we watched the flames shooting up.

She stops fanning the sparks and looks up, hesitating for a few moments before saying, “I spend a lot of time outdoors.”

“I don’t blame you,” I tell her. “I’d rather be outside than anywhere. It’s almost weird how much I need to breathe fresh air, to smell the scents of the forest.”

She takes a step back and sits on a log bench. “Have you ever wondered about that?”

“Wondered?” 

“About why you ache to be in the forest, and why you catch scents so easily?”

“How did you–”

I’m cut off by Kara, who is practically dancing up to the campfire with some other women, all of whom have either trays of food or coolers of drinks. “Gather around, ladies!” she sings. “We’ve got food and drinks, so let’s get this party going!”

All the other women run over from where they’d been finishing up with camp setup, and we all gather around for dinner.

***

It’s a few hours after dinner, and it’s dark outside, but a nearly full moon lights up the sky. It’s just enough to see the shadows of the treetops against the backdrop of star-filled space.

We’re all huddled around the fire on the makeshift log benches. By now, we’ve all had more than a few drinks, and we’re halfway between tipsy and passed out. 

“Let’s tell scary stories,” Laura, one of my friends, suggests.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Kara asks. “These woods are spooky at night. I have to be able to sleep, you know.”

“Maybe we should call one of those hunky forest rangers for you,” I suggest with a laugh.

“He’d better bring a friend,” Laura says.

“Or twelve,” Diana, another friend of mine, adds. 

We all laugh, and Laura starts in on the first story about night walkers, ghostly figures who march through the forest. 

“They march in a line, all dressed in shimmering white gowns. They never deviate from their straight line, even if there are trees or buildings in the way,” Laura explains.

“What happens to the buildings?” another woman asks. 

I’m too engrossed in what Laura’s saying to know who said that.

“Nothing,” Laura explains. “They go right through the walls. There have been people lying in bed who watch them walk straight through the corner of their bedrooms, ghostly figures staring straight ahead and marching quietly.

I have to admit, that really creeps me out.

“That’s it,” Kara says, slapping her knee. “I’m never sleeping again.”

“That’s nothing,” Tasha says. “I’ve got a few good ones for you.”

“Let’s hear it,” Laura says, folding her legs and pulling her jacket tighter around her.

Tasha nods. “There are people, people of the night, who live out in the woods. You know them as humans, but they take on another form at will. They shift into wolves, with sharp teeth and soft, thick fur.”

“Werewolves,” Laura says. “That’s not scary.”

“Wolf shifters,” Tasha corrects her, taking another sip of her drink. I may be wrong, but it seems like it has taken Tasha twice as many drinks to get as wasted as the rest of us. “Shifters are different from werewolves. And besides, they’re not the scary ones in my story. The true beings to fear are the vampires. They stalk you in your sleep, sucking away all of your blood.”

“Vampires are sexy,” Laura says, taking a sip of her drink.

Tasha ignores her. “Vampires do more than that as well,” she continues. “They aren’t satisfied until they’ve completely obliterated you–you and everyone you love or have ever known. When they came to the village, they burned every home to the ground and killed every shifter who didn’t run away fast enough. And they were powerful, not just from their natural vampire curses but from some unknown boost of magic we’d never seen before.”

“Wow,” Kara says. “Girl, you are wasted. You just said ‘we.’ And you said that in the past tense, like it actually happened or something.” She giggles, putting her hand to her mouth. 

Tasha just stares straight ahead and doesn’t answer her. 

She really doesn’t look drunk at all, considering how many drinks she had. 

Weird.

“Maybe we should hold off on the scary stories for the night,” I suggest. “It’s been a long day and we had quite a hike to get here, so maybe we should rest up for tomorrow.”

The others nod and murmur in general agreement, so we all get up and head off to our tents. 

“I’ll put the fire out,” Tasha says.

“You sure?” I ask. “You’ve had a lot to drink tonight.”

“I’m fine,” she insists. 

“Alright,” I say, walking away as she starts poking at the fire with a long stick to spread out the glowing embers. I turn around after a few steps. “What you said about wolves and vampires–”

“Was just silly campfire talk,” she says, forcing a smile. “I was just kidding to see who fell for it.”

“Oh,” I say with a laugh. “You’re a pretty good actor, too. Kara was right. It sounded like it was something that actually happened to you.”

“Thanks,” she says distantly. She looks down and stirred the logs around again. Looking back up and seeing I’m still standing there, she adds, “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” I say, and I walk toward my tent.

But just before I enter it, I turn around to look at her again. She’s sitting on the log bench again, and I’d swear she’s whispering to the moon up in the sky.