Camp Fire

The sun slowly sank into the horizon as the five students sat on a log, staring at the pile of sticks and wood in front of them. One of the students stood up from the log and pulled out his lighter and lit the pile of sticks on fire and watched as it slowly started to burn. He then turned back to his 'friends' and gave them a grin before saying, "I'm glad you could all make it today." 1

"Why is it that you invited us here?" a student by the name of Chester asked. He was usually the shy type that sat in the corner and watched things happening but lately he had raised enough courage to speak out. Right now he felt like the old Chester, the cowardly one that wished he would have stayed home instead of coming to this stupid camp fire. He didn't even know what made him say yes to the boy's invite. He didn't even like him. 2

"You going to answer that, Micheal?" another student said, his light blue eyes watching the boy named Micheal's every move. He and Micheal use to be best friends but just a few days ago they had a fight and since then Micheal had been giving him the cold shoulder. He wondered why Micheal would invite him to stay out in the middle of no where with him. It didn't seem like something he would do.3

"Impatient as ever I see, Jaylen." Micheal muttered under his breath and then quickly recovered his composure. "I invited you all here because I though this would be the perfect way to settle our differences and to make peace with one another." Micheal explained.4

"You mean make peace with you." Jaylen corrected him and Micheal shot him a look that could have stopped a bird in mid-flight. Jaylen knew when Micheal was lying threw his teeth and this was one of those times. He just couldn't figure out what he was really up to. 5

"Micheal," a strawberry blonde said after a long pause, "you didn't have to drag us all the way out here to settle some differences." This blonde had once been the only one successful enough to get Micheal to trust her completely. Her name was Nicole and she and Micheal had been dating for about four months before she broke up with him because she thought she had a chance with his best friend, Jaylen, but Jaylen had never been interested in her. Micheal beg to differ. "I've been trying to be your friend since we broke up and all you've been doing is push me away. What else could I do to gain your friendship back?"6

Micheal had a couple of things in mind for Nicole to do but he chose not to say it. It would only start an argument and then whole point of this thing was to end all the arguments. Micheal sighed and pushed his bleach blonde hair out of his face before his dull brown eyes went to the last student.7

The last student at the camp fire was a brown haired girl named Ross and she was more of the book worm type with fast and witty remarks. Even at that moment she was reading a mystery book and not even paying attention to anything. She herself didn't even know why she bothered accepting Micheal's invite, maybe it was because she had always secretly wanted to go camping. Ross eyes went from the pages of her book to Micheal's narrowed eyes and she raised an eyebrow at him before asking, "Is there a problem?" 8

"Slightly." Micheal said as he looked away from the students and then back at the camp fire. "None of you seem up for this challenge."9

"I um--" Chester went to say but Jaylen cut him off.10

"Maybe because all of us have already tried to be your friend." Jaylen pointed out before pushing his black hair out of his face. 11

"I haven't. I don't see the point." Ross said as she turned the page of her book and then continued to red. 12

"Will You All Just Shut Up!!?" Micheal yelled, his paitence breaking in half before all of their eyes. Jaylen only grinned at Micheal's reaction because he knew it was only a amount of time before he went off. "I'm trying! I'm really trying here and all you guys are doing is mocking me!" Micheal added.13

"We're not--" Chester started to say but again he was cut off by Jaylen.14

"Try a little harder." Jaylen muttered.15

"But mocking moronic people like you is fun." Ross said with a smile.16

Nicole sighed before looking up at her ex-boyfriend. "Are you serious, Micheal?" she asked him and watched his face carefully, trying to see if this was just some way to waste their time or not. "I mean, do you really want to be friends with us all?"17

"Yes." Micheal said without looking at Nicole.18

"Then I'm willing to try again." she told him before looking over at Jaylen, her blue eyes refusing to move. Even though she knew now that he did not like her, it still didn't change the way that he made her feel. 19

Jaylen also sighed and then looked over at his old friend before saying, "Yeah, I'm willing to try too." 20

"I could care less if we are ever friends but just to join in on the fun, I shall try to be your friend as well." Ross said, still not removing her eyes from the book in her hand. She was nearly done with it but she had about five more just like it in her bag.21

"I am willing to try too?" Chester said, not sure if this friend stuff was implied to him as well. He didn't even know why he was here. The only time he had any contact with Micheal was when he finally decided to rat him out to one of their teachers.22

"Good." Micheal said and then flashed the students and smile. "Then we will start 'bonding' tomorrow morning. Good night for now." he added and then walked over to his tent. 23

"Good night!" Nicole quickly called out to Micheal but he was already in his tent by time she had. "Jaylen can we..." Nicole said to Jaylen but he just walked pass her. Nicole sighed as she watched the others walk over to their tents as well. Nicole shook her head, poured some water on the camp fire, and then walked over to her own tent. 24


Nicole woke up to the smell of fire and she quickly sat up in her sleeping bag and looked around her tent for the flames but saw nothing. For a moment she though she was just lossing it and then she heard Chester scream "FIRE!" Nicole quickly jumped to her feet and then hurried out of her tent to see Chester's tent completely engurfed in flames and the surrounding trees in flames as well. 25

Ross had sleepily stumbled out of her tent but then her eyes widened when she saw the flames surrounding them from all sides. Then she looked over at Micheal's tent and gasped when she saw the flames starting to cover it. 26

Nicole quickly ran to the tent and screamed, "Micheal!" but there was no answer. Jaylen quickly ran out of his own tent and then stared at the flames for only a moment before running inside the burning tent to save his old best friend. Suddenly their stupid argument didn't matter anymore. Micheal's life was more important than that. "Jaylen!" Nicole yelled when she saw the love of her life drive into a burning tent for the idiot that had made them come out here in the middle of nowhere in the beginning. A few moments passed and then Jaylen crawled out of the tent empty handed. "Oh my god...is he dead!?" Nicole asked and before Jaylen could answer she was starting to cry.27

"He's not in there." Jaylen told her and then pointed to a stop where the fire hadn't reached yet. "Come on, let's get over there." They all quickly followed Jaylen to the spot that he had been pointing at. He then glanced back at Nicole and before she could say anything he said, "What the heck!? Didn't you put out the fire last night?"28

"Of course I did!" Nicole shouted a bit defensely. She wasn't sure whether Jaylen was blaming this on her or not. "I remember pouring the water on the fire--"29

"Then why is everything burning as we speak!?" Jaylen shouted, he didn't know why but he was angry. Angry that something this stupid could be happening. How in the world had the forest started to catch on fire and they were stuck there in the middle of it.30

"Instead of fighting each other maybe we should look at the facts." Ross said before anyone else could yell. "Micheal brought us here for 'bonding' and now he's missing. So is his car if you haven't noticed and he was the one who lit the camp fire in the first place. You know, with his lighter."31

"What are you saying?" Jaylen asked Ross.32

"That guy, you know the one you almost killed yourself to safe in that burning tent. Yeah him, he set us all up. It's so obvious." Ross said, a mystery book clutched in her hand. She was scared out of her mind but she didn't dare let it show.33

"Impossible!" Jayle shouted.34

"He wouldn't do that." Nicole added. "He's stupid at times but he's not crazy..." 35

"Then why else is he missing? And why else would he invite us here? I don't know about you but he hates me. I correct and annoy him all the time." Ross told the others.36

"I told on him the other day..." Chester said quietly.37

"And he still doesn't trust me from when you broke up with him. Plus our argument the other day." Jaylen said as he glanced over at Nicole.38

"He never seemed to want to be my friend again, not until this stupid camp fire thing." Nicole said.39

"See." Ross said.40

"That doesn't prove anything. Micheal gets mad sometimes but he wouldn't set a forest on fire in order to get us back for what we did to him! He's Not Crazy!" Nicole assured Ross.41

"Says you." Ross muttered.42

"Can we please stop arguing!?" Chester slightly yelled. He couldn't see why they were all angering instead of trying to find a way out of this mess. "We need to get out of here unless you guys like the though of burning to death in a forest?" 43

Jaylen raised an eyebrow at Chester's outburst and then nodded his head. "You're right, let's find a way out of this forest." he said and then started to walk through the forest, not really knowing which way was the way that would lead them to safety and which way would lead them to the fire. 44


They four students were still unsure of where they were headed and they had been walking for hours now. Every now and then they would run into the fire but then they would quickly head in the other direction to get away. None of them knew how much longer they could escape the flames since it seemed like it had spread everywhere. A helicopter flew above them a couple of times, obviously trying to put out the fire but never once had it spotted them. 45

"There's a lake." Chester pointed out and then quickly ran over to it. He wasn't sure if the lake lead anywhere safe but at least being next to the water could help them. Right? 46

"How is this supposed to help? It's not like we have a boat." Ross pointed out and then sat down on the ground and started to read her book. To the others it probably looked like she had gone crazy or that the book she was reading was just that good but really Ross was reading to keep her mind off of what was happening. To keep her from going insane and freaking out.47

"Okay Miss Smarty Pants." Jaylen muttered as he stood right beside the brown haired girl and then stared down at her. "Why don't you use you brilliance to help us make one?"48

"Make a boat?" Ross asked and then looked up at Jaylen with interest but then she laughed. "I'm sorry, I never took classes that involved building things. Plus it would never work, we don't have any tools."49

"There's tools everywhere! We could use anything here!" Jaylen said and then decided not to continue when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see Nicole standing close by with worry written all over her face. Jaylen quickly turned back around and walked over to the water, dipping his hands in, and then splashing the water onto his face. 50

Nicole sighed as she followed the stubborn black haired boy. She should have known he'd be hard headed if he could take being friends with Micheal. "They're going to find us." Nicole told Jaylen before kneeling down beside him. "There know we're here and they're all here putting out the fire--"51

"But how do we know they know we're here? What makes you think that Micheal told them that we're here? Don't you think that maybe he told them that we left a while ago or that maybe we're already dead? What makes you think they're searching for us? Well?" Jaylen asked Nicole.52

"They have to be..." she repeated and then stared off into the lake. She then blinked when she noticed Chester trying to rip off a pieces of a branch. "What are you doing?" she asked the boy.53

"Trying to make a boat." he answered as he finally ripped the branch off.54

"With that?" Ross asked and then laughed once more. "If you plane on making a boat then you need something better than that." she added and then went back to her book. 55

"Then we'll find it." Chester said.56

"No tools, remember?" Jaylen said as he looked back toward the forest, the fire growing closer every second. 57

"We need to do something." Chester said as the wind started to pick up and then the fire was upon them. The had carried it right to where they were and with another blow, it threatened to set them all on fire. 58

"Get in the water!" Jaylen shouted as he shoved Nicole into the water and then grabbed Ross' arm and pulled her in as well. Chester loss his balance and fell into the lake by accident and that's when the fire was blown right over where they were and started to burn the trees on the other side. The students rose to the surface and looked at their surrounds before turning to each other. 59

"Now what!?" Ross asked, panic rising.60

"We swim." Jaylen told her and then stared to swim to the other side of the lake. Chester, Ross, and Nicole quickly followed the boy to the other side of the lake. Jaylen pulled himself up before looking back at the fire. He was hoping they'd be safe on this side. "We better get moving before the wind shifts again." he told the others as they pulled themselves out of the lake. 61

They didn't waste any time. They quickly ran into the forest and continued to run even after then saw the smoke getting thicker. What chose did they have? It didn't take long for them to see the fire face to face and then quickly ran to a spot where they was no fire but now it seemed like everywhere was filled with fire. Just as they were about kiss their butts good bye, a firefighter appeared and quickly lead them away from the fire and to safety. They had never been as happy as they were now to see a firefighter and they'd be glad to thank him as much as possible after they got out of the forest.62

The moment they made it to the road side was the moment they saw Micheal, a twisted smile on his face with a blanket wrapped around him. His smile soon disappeared when he saw his 'friends' emerge from the forest. His eyes widened and from the face he made, it was obvious that he wasn't expecting to ever see them again. Jaylen was just moments away from knocking every tooth in Micheal's mouth when his parents quickly wrapped their arms around him. They were crying, telling him how they thought he was dead and so on but right at the moment he could care less. He wanted some revenage of his own but when he looked back at the spot where Micheal had been, he noticed that he was gone and so was his car. 63

Jaylen let a sigh escape his lips before turning to his family and hugging them back. He knew he should just be happy to be alive instead of trying to plot a revenage scheme of his own but he couldn't help it. Neither could the others. Sadly for them, just an hour later Micheal was found strangled in his car and none of them had been able to use their revenage plot on him...or had they?