LJ Idol Week 14: Campfire Stories

[flipflop_diva]

They came for us after midnight.

We were nestled into our beds in our little log cabin when it happened. There was no warning. No sound of footsteps below our window. No dog howling in alarm. Just the peaceful night shattering as the door was thrown open, the sound of wood bashing into wood shocking us into wakefulness.

We sat upright in our beds, eyes wide in fear, hands already searching for something to hold on to, something to use as a weapon. But there was nothing.

The intruders were inches from our heads. We couldn’t make out their features in the dark, but we could feel their eyes burning into us.

“Get up,” they commanded, and their voices were stern, demanding. They left no room for argument. “You have two minutes.”

They moved back a foot so there was a slight gap of space for us to slip down from the top bunks of our beds.

We landed hard on the floor, the sound of our feet hitting solid ground like an explosion in the otherwise silence, our stomachs in knots. I cast a nervous look over at Cindy, and she was casting one back at me. We didn’t think about talking or trying to make a move against our intruders. Instead, we fumbled around in the dark for our shoes and our jackets and gloves.

The door was still open, giving just the briefest hint of light from the moon above, but the chilly air already blasting into the interior had us both shivering.

I yanked my jacket on over my thin nightclothes and wished I had been wearing something warmer. But it was too late.

“Time’s up,” our intruders said. “Get out here now.”

They pointed toward our front door and we clambered nervously toward it. There were more people on our porch, standing in a long solid line.

We stopped in front of them, hearts in our throats, not daring to look anywhere but at them, anxious about what was to come.

“You’ll be wearing these,” our intruders who first came to get us said. We barely had time to see a flash of white before something was being placed over our eyes and tied behind our heads.

“Come with us,” our intruders said, and I could feel a hand on my arm, yanking me along.

The ground was uneven, filled with branches and twigs and rocks. I didn’t know where I was going. We’d been there in the forest for almost a week, but we had never explored it at night. Maybe we should have.

I tried my best to keep up with the intruder holding my arm, the grip firm on my arm. I wondered where Cindy was, if she was okay, if I would see her again.

It felt like forever before the intruder stopped, causing me to almost run into them.

“Put your hands out,” the intruder demanded.

I did as I was told.

I felt something in front of me. Something soft. Like a blanket. Or a sweatshirt.

A sweatshirt.

Another person.

There was another person in front of me, who I was holding on to. I wondered if it were Cindy.

A second later, another pair of hands was grabbing me from behind.

“Start walking,” a voice commanded a few moments after that, this time not the voice of my intruder but of someone else. “Don’t let go of the person in front of you.”

I gripped on to the sweatshirt in front of me as I could feel the person begin to walk. I was too scared to not obey, too afraid of being lost in the woods, too afraid of being left alone with any of the intruders.

We snaked through the forest, a line of who-knows-how-many people, connected only by our hands on each other’s shoulders.

I could hear breathing and sometimes a small whimper but no one spoke. Every so often, a voice could be heard commanding someone to do as they were told, to go faster.

The wind whipped across my face, seemed to blow into my clothes. My fingers on the person’s shoulders in front of me felt frozen, even with my gloves, but I was too afraid to waggle them. I just kept walking, one foot in front of the other, over branches and logs and mud pits, around trees and boulders and who knows what else.

It seemed like hours we walked, cold and scared, before we came to a halt.

“You will be taken inside one at a time,” a voice said, and I shivered even more.

I don’t know how long I stood out there, how many people went in to meet their fate before I did. I tried not to think of what was about to happen. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

But I couldn’t put it off forever. Soon the sweatshirt I had been grasping for hours slipped out of my fingers and then too soon after a hand on my arm was once again pulling me along.

The dirt underneath my feet turned into a sidewalk. I heard the sound of a door being opened. I was shoved inside.

It was warm in here. Hot almost. Specks of orange flickered through the dark, and I realized there must be a fire.

Then the chanting started. Low at first, then getting louder and louder.

I was shoved forward, before the fire, turned around. I felt my blindfold being loosened and then it dropped into my hands.

I blinked. Before me were hundreds of people, all dressed in black, chanting over and over and over.

One figure stepped forward, the tallest one.

He began to speak.

“It is time,” he said, and I could feel myself begin to tremble. “To take your place amongst us all, to become one with us.”

I stared ahead, could feel all the faces staring back at me.

“Turn around,” he said. “Throw your blindfold into the fire.”

I could barely breathe. I did as I was told — I turned around, felt the heat of the flames on my face, tossed the piece of fabric into the fire, watched its edges turn black before turning back around to face the figures.

“Congratulations,” he said. “You are now a full-fledged member of the Arcadia High School Apache Marching Band.”

I smiled.

The people in black — my bandmates — clapped and cheered.

I had made it through initiation week.



Thank you for reading! Band camp, you guys. Those were the days. Also the days before the dangers of hazing were known. This was written for therealljidol Week 14. If you would like to read other takes on the prompt, please go here. Voting will be up Monday night.

Comments

[i-17bingo.livejournal.com]

Usually when somebody throws in a twist at the end of their story, something awful happens to the main character after things seemed to be mostly innocent. You did the opposite, and have greatly entertained me.

[adoptedwriter.livejournal.com]

I like how you took the time to slowly reveal what was really going on.

[rayaso.livejournal.com]

What a wonderful story, with a great end! You set this up perfectly for some kind of horror story, and wound up with a band initiation. I loved all the little details and the mounting suspense. Well done!

[shadowwolf13]

:laugh: Fantastic! I was caught up in it and so happy it was harmless. Also quite glad my band didn't have anything like that. :)

[halfshellvenus.livejournal.com]

Wow-- that was an awfully disturbing experience up until the end, the kind of thing that totally unnerves a person. :O

Band camp is another type of activity I never got to do as a kid, partly because I played the violin and also because I think that was after my time. But it sure sounds like fun! Well, not the hazing part...

[rswndrlst.livejournal.com]

Ha, I went to band camp but I was in the color guard and we only stayed for about a week. I heard some stories about how the band hazed each other by staging an egg fight in the showers or something.

[bewize.livejournal.com]

Haha. Awesome. I remember those days!

[kschlotwrites.livejournal.com]

I was hoping for a "happy surprise" after the blindfold came off. This was better than I hoped!

[d0gs.livejournal.com]

this was so lovely and captured the emotion and nostalgia so so well!

[murielle.livejournal.com]

Oh! I laughed! I think it was relief. My mind was racing with anticipation.

You took me through this wonderfully. I had no idea of what was coming.

Brava!