Lake George Disaster
Ena lazily stared out the window, watching the raindrops splash against the window.
"I'm bored." she moaned, tapping the windowsill as she watched the rain trickle down the window in tiny rivers.
She stood up and shuffled over to the bookshelf. She eyed the massive number of books, running her finger along the spines as she went. Her hand came to rest on a thick, dust covered book, its black leather coating tattered and worn.
"Here we go." She chimed as she slid it off the shelf.
She thumbed through the pages, eyes skimming each page briefly as she went. At long last she put the book down on the faded oak table in the center of the room. She grabbed a hand full of salt and scattered it on the table as she read aloud from the book. The table flashed in a blinding white light. As the light faded, she was treated to a bird's eye view of the entire forest surrounding her luxurious manor. As she scanned the forest, she noticed a small campfire a few hundred yards away from the mansion.
"Oh, guests. This should be interesting." She said with a grin.
Matt carried a massive pile of branches as he stumbled towards the campsite.
"Hey Rich, gimme a hand will ya?" he called out as he nearly dropped half the pile.
Rich grabbed some of the branches and threw them in the fire while Matt put the rest in a pile a few feet away. He took a seat next to Lenny and Charlie, who were leaning as close to the fire as they could.
"Why does it have to be freezing out?" Matt complained as he warmed his hands, numb from the cold.
Lenny struggled to keep his eyes open, fading in and out of sleep, while Charlie talked to his friends on the phone. Rich grabbed another branch and threw it in the fire before sitting down with the others. The fire suddenly let out a roaring boom, erupting into a massive plume of smoke. Lenny's eyes shot open as the heat of the fire overwhelmed him. A cackling laugh echoed around the fire. A shadowy figure formed in the smoke, glowing red eyes surveying her surroundings.
"Welcome to my humble abode." she said, her voice hissing and rumbling with the sounds of the fire.
"W-who are you and what do you want?" Matt stammered, backing away from the fire.
"No need to be afraid. I simply wish to play a game with you." she replied.
"What kind of game?" Lenny asked sleepily, rubbing his eyes.
"I am hiding somewhere in the forest. To win, all you have to do is find me in the next three days. I've already set up the boundaries. Sound good so far?"
Charlie's conversation with his friends was cut short as the reception on his phone fell into oblivion.
"I've got a better idea. How 'bout you jus' leave us alone and lemme get back to my call?" Charlie said angrily as he looked for reception.
"Trying to find reception now is pointless. As I said before, the boundaries have been set. Wireless signals can't get in or out. I don't want you cheating."
"Do we have a choice, or are we stuck playing your game even if we say no?" Matt asked.
"Until the game ends, no one enters this forest, nor do they leave."
"Why us? Just out of curiosity." Matt asked.
"I don't have to explain myself to you. Three nights, that's all the time you'll have to find me. If you do, you win."
"And if we don't?" Rich asked.
"Well... then you're stuck here, with me..." she said with a grim laugh.
"I don't like the sound of this..." Lenny groaned.
"That's too bad. Well, good luck boys, you'll need it."
The smoke suddenly dispersed with a strong wind, the shadowy figure along with it. The group stared at each other in a confused daze.
"We've been coming here for years now, how hard could this be?" Rich said enthusiastically as he pulled out a map.
"But we don't even know what she looks like!" Charlie protested.
"I guess we can go by the sound of her voice." Lenny suggested.
"I guess we should start with the game room then." Charlie said, finally giving up on getting reception.
After a short hike, the wooden shack came into view. As the group started walking around, they soon noticed it was completely deserted.
"This is really strange. There's usually at least one person here this time of night..." Lenny said as he gave the tether ball a good smack.
"Yea, this is creeping me out. I say we get out of here." Rich said as he quickly started walking back to the parking lot.
"I really don't think it'll be this easy to get out of here..." Matt said as he followed the rest of the group to Rich's car.
Charlie climbed into the passenger's seat while Matt and Lenny climbed in the back. Rich hit the gas and drove down towards the exit. He slowly made the turn leading to the highway, and and turned, and turned, and turned...
"This turn was never this long. This isn't working." Matt sighed.
"Just a little farther." Rich replied.
"Do you want to drive for three days straight? Now turn around so we can get some rest!" Matt snapped, agitated.
"No need to yell." Charlie said as Rich turned the car around.
"Sorry, just tired, and this game isn't helping." Matt groaned.
Rich pulled up in the campsite and parked the car next to the tent. Everyone got out and climbed into the tent.
"I guess it's safe to assume we're the only ones here." Matt sighed as he crawled into his sleeping bag.
"Should make findin' that bitch easier. When I find her..." Charlie grumbled, still upset about having no reception.
After a few hours, the group started to fall asleep, all except for Matt. Determined to figure out what was going on, he climbed out of his sleeping bag and started looking over the map. He scoured the map, marking off all the places they had already checked.
"There has to be something I'm missing..." he muttered.
It was then he noticed something, up in the corner of the map. He walked inside the tent and woke everyone up.
"Matt, whats the big idea waking us up this early..." Rich groaned as he rolled over.
"I figured it out!" Matt said excitedly.
"Good for you, now let me sleep." Charlie said as he put a pillow over his head.
"Remember that pond we tried to find at the corner of the camp that one year? No matter how hard we looked, we couldn't find it." Matt said.
"Yea, but what's that gotta do with this?" Lenny asked.
"Think back to when we tried to get out of here. Didn't it look like it was the same piece of road repeating over and over?" Matt continued.
"So you're saying the same thing happened with finding the pond." Rich said.
"Yes, she just made the bubble surrounding wherever she is bigger, meaning we shouldn't have a problem finding the pond anymore."
"Okay, we'll go in the morning." Lenny sighed.
"No, we need to go now, catch her off guard." Matt replied.
"And if we did? We're to tired to do shit right now. We go in the morning." Lenny groaned.
"Fine..." Matt said as he curled back up in his sleeping bag.