• Chapter 13: The First Night

    Kauri got out of the car that only contained Nancy and Cameron. The first step she took towards the clearing that contained her tent, she heard the car window roll down.
    “If you need anything at all, don’t be afraid to call!” Nancy shouted after her.
    “I won’t, don’t worry. Thanks!” was Kauri’s reply. She continued to walk, thinking reverse directions since she was only conscious on the way out of the woods. Once she reached the tent, she was extremely thankful that no one had touched her stuff. Everything was in the exact position of how she left it.
    Kauri opened her tent and crawled in, taking her stuff with her. She hadn’t realized it before, but she took a three-man tent. She turned on her lantern, and then began to make her tent like a cozy bedroom. She tossed her bag off to the corner and unrolled her sleeping bag. Once she made sure there were no little bumps or stoned under where she planned to sleep, she grabbed her pillow and put it at the end. She untied her teddy bear, gave it a little squeeze, and put that next to her pillow. She left her bag in the corner, knowing she would have plenty of time to unpack it tomorrow. She pulled back the top cover of her sleeping bag, got in, and zipped it up beside her. She turned off the lantern and snuggled back into the coverings. Her eyelids grew heavy and…
    What was that?! She panicked as she heard a strange sound. It’s probably nothing, she comforted herself. There it is again! Kauri sat up straight and looked at her watch, wondering if it was too late to call Cameron and ask him to pick her up. Once she realized it was 1:53 am, she knew there was no way she was making any phone calls. She grabbed her teddy and sank back into her sleeping bag, knowing there was no way she could possibly get to sleep if there kept being noises. Kauri decided to investigate, just to be sure no one was there.
    Gripping her bear tighter than she had ever gripped it before, she slowly moved over to the tent opening. She moved the zippers as slowly as she could, trying to make them be quiet. “Shhhh!” she told the tent when she slipped and moved the zippers quickly, causing a loud sound. Once the gap was big enough, she poked her head outside the tent. Just as she was about to pull her head back into the tent, she heard the noise again. She whipped her head around to the source, seeing only a raccoon climbing a tree. “I must’ve heard him breaking branches,” she laughed about how jumpy she had become over a raccoon. She pulled her head back into the tent and tried to go back to sleep.
    After 10 minutes, Kauri realized that no matter how much she tried, she just couldn’t get back to sleep. She opened her bag and pulled out a spoon. She looked at the spoon, studied the spoon, and got to know every curve and edge of the spoon. Sometimes she would turn to her bear and talk to him about the spoon. This got her mind off of everything else, and that was her goal. After about 45 minutes of this, she drifted off to sleep.