Dinner ended forty-five minutes after Uncle Harrison shared the flyer with Camp Juniper, and immediately after it did, we got ready for the ranger talk. Before actually going to the amphitheater, we had to do a few things. We had to clean up, wash the dishes, and get ready for our one hour drive to the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park the next morning.
Since I was actually kind of interested in the legend, I decided to help clean up. Cleaning up is something I don’t do best. I make things messier than cleaner. However, I tried. I tried my best to clean up well. The entire time I worked, I thought about the ranger talk. I hoped it would be worth it. The talk wouldn’t begin until it got a little dark out, and fun fact, Canada actually gets dark a lot later than the U.S. does because it’s so far up north. I always thought it got darker earlier, but I was wrong. Oh well.
Camp Juniper worked for a whole hour, and finally, when we finished cleaning and packing, it actually was a little dark. We were finally ready to head to the amphitheater. I’ll be honest, I actually really like ranger talks. I always enjoy going to them. However, this ranger talk was a little different.
Once Camp Juniper was ready, we met up with each other, and Dad took roll again because duh, he was the big boss of the trip. All of us were there. We weren’t missing anybody. I remember, everybody was super interested in the ranger talk, and I actually was too. While Dad took roll, I watched as a few, young children hurried down the familiar gravelly road in front of us, with their parents, and headed in the direction of the amphitheater. All members of Camp Juniper held a headlamp, but they weren’t on yet.
After Dad took roll, he excitedly stated, “All right, we’re all here! Awesome! Are we ready to go to the amphitheater, Camp Juniper?” We nodded, and he added with, “All right then! Without further ado,” He put his headlamp over his head and turned it on, “everybody follow me!” The bright light shone on all of our faces.
There was a sudden blast of wind, and I held my mysterious flowers in place. Hm, it got windy all of a sudden. Strange.
Dad turned on his heel, and he led Camp Juniper onto the gravelly road where we ran into a bunch other campers who were heading towards the amphitheater. While we made our way towards it, I hummed a tune to one of my favorite songs.
The amphitheater wasn’t right next to our campsites, but it definitely wasn’t a super long walk. It wasn’t short, but it wasn’t long as well. We had to take a small path through the forest to get to it. Since we were in the forest, it was much darker in there than out. However, lucky for us, all the mosquitoes had gone to bed, so we didn’t need out bug nets and Deet. All we needed were our headlamps. We turned them on the second we stepped onto the dark path that led to the amphitheater. We soon marched on the trail, in a line, and I was in the very back. I kept on humming the tune to one of my favorite songs. Aside from my humming, I also heard the voice of Uncle Macon.
“So, Azul,” he said, and he patted Dad’s back, “let me clarify. Do we by any chance have a summary of what the legend is about?”
“I don’t think so.” Dad answered, “I’m sure it’s all going to be told to us once we get to the amphitheater. Yeah, Macon, I’m curious too.”
“Do you think it has to do something with canoeing?” Uncle Macon asked.
He stayed close on Dad’s tail, and he answered, “I sure hope so. That’d be pretty cool.” Another blast of wind blew one of the pink flowers out from behind my ear, and gasping, I stopped humming.
I reached for the flower and called, “Come back!” but the flower blew down the path behind me. I couldn’t just leave the flower. I loved my flowers, even though they were given to me in a mysterious way. I had to chase after it! Before I did, I glanced at my family who were starting to leave me. I just had to stay on the trail. Then I wouldn’t lose them. I would find them at the amphitheater. They wouldn’t mind if I took a small detour, right? They wouldn’t. I nodded and turned on my heel, whispering, “I’ll be right back.” Without another word, I jogged down the path, back in the direction of the road, and chased after the flower.
The wind blew it quite a ways down. I dove after the flower numerous times, but I always missed it. This flower just did not want to cooperate with me. I dove for it one last time but missed and fell onto my front. A final blast of wind blew the flower into the treetops, and that was the last I saw of it. No, not my flower! I loved that flower! It was true that I did have another one, but the thing is, without both the flowers together, they weren’t as special. I got them both at the same time, so I wanted them both with me at the same time. I hope you understand.
“No!” I groaned, and I begged for the flower to come back, but it didn’t. I lost it. I lost one of the mysterious flowers I was given that day. I was deeply saddened. The flowers looked beautiful together. It wasn’t the same with just one of them. I sank to my knees and sat on my heels, lowering my head. Since the final flower wasn’t as special anymore because it didn’t have its partner, I just took it out from behind my ear, sighed, and tossed it away. I sighed and closed my eyes. Another final blast of wind gushed through my hair. I kept my eyes closed.
A few minutes passed, but then suddenly, something else strange happened. From the forest, I heard another crack of a stick. Oh, God, things were really getting creepy now! It was weird, though. Ken was so wrong. He must’ve meant Finlayson Point Provincial Park was haunted instead of the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park.
A stick cracked again. I opened my eyes, took a deep breath, and shakily stood up. I turned my body in the direction the cracking had come from and stared into the forest. I studied it very carefully. After a bit, I saw something. Guess what I saw? It was the same mysterious shadow that popped up from behind the dumpster! The mysterious shadow! Oh no, it was back! First the eagle, and now the shadow! Please, just kill me now! I couldn’t see the shadow very well because it was so dark, even in the light of my headlamp.
It made sure it stayed in the shadows and not in the light. Yep, the shadow was definitely the shadow of a person. It seemed to stare at me.
I narrowed my eyebrows and asked, “You again?!” I pointed at the shadow, “Who are you?! What are you doing here?!” What if this shadow was a bad person? What if it was someone planning on doing something terrible to the campers and workers of Finlayson Point Provincial Park? Gasp, what if this shadow had kidnapped Ranger Kate’s child? I had to figure out what it was. Waving my hand, I yelled, “Come out here!” to it, but the shadow didn’t move. It just stood there. I finally narrowed my eyebrows and took a step closer to the forest and a step closer to it.
Immediately, the shadow jumped, and turning, it dove back into the forest. Hm, it was a skittish shadow. That made it even more suspicious. Boy, for once, I actually couldn’t wait to get to the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park.
I waited for a couple more minutes, but the shadow didn’t return. I shook my head and yelled, “Fine, be that way!” into the forest, “But I’m going to turn you in, dude, and you can explain your plot to the rangers!” I scoffed and turned on my heel. However, suddenly, from out of nowhere, a great tumble came from the forest – it sounded like somebody had fallen – and then a scream! A scream! The voice belonged to a male, and it sounded like a boy. It sounded like whoever was screaming was getting tortured by the mysterious shadow! By this point, I was gone. Talk about creepy! That scream beat it all! I didn’t bother to go back and search for my flowers. I instead forgot about them and took off with a full sprint. The entire time I ran, I didn’t look back. Na hah. No way.
Eventually, I made it to the end of the trail, and I leaped off it, out of the forest, and landed right at the amphitheater, totally out of breath. I brought my hand to my heart, and sweat fountained down my face. Oh, God, I had never experienced something as scary as that before! I did not want to go back down that trail. I thought that perhaps the ranger talk would calm my spirit, but I was wrong...so wrong. When I managed to catch my breath, I stood up and frightfully searched the amphitheater. I felt a little safer here. There were a lot of people, and a great bonfire was brewing. It lit up the forest like a lamp. Behind it, numerous benches were set up, and people sat on every bench. A few people had brought their dogs along. Okay, good. I definitely felt safer with dogs around. After all, a dog is a man’s best friend, right? A lot of people had come to the amphitheater that night.
My green eyes landed on Camp Juniper. They were sitting together across one bench, and noticing me, they gestured me over.
With my eyes opened wide and face white, I approached them and shakily sat down next to Uncle Bart. I was in shock. I thought I just heard a torture or murder scene in the forest!
All members of Camp Juniper peered into my eyes, and Uncle Bart soon asked me, “What took you so long? What happened? You look like you just saw a ghost.”
“I-I saw something!” I stammered, “I-I saw a-a shadow in the for-forest! I then heard a great tumble and a scream!”
“A scream?” Dad asked, “What are you talking about, Kylie?”
“Yes a scream, Daddy!” I answered, and I wrapped my arms around my body, “It sounded like it belonged to a boy! Camp Juniper, I don’t think we’re safe here! I think there’s a serial killer on the loose!”
“A serial killer?” asked Mom next. She chuckled, “Oh come on, Kylie, that’s not possible. If there was a serial killer on the loose in this park, then I’m sure the police would’ve shut it down. You must’ve been hallucinating.”
“No I wasn’t, Mom!” I snapped, and unwrapping my arms from around my body, I peered into her and the rest of Camp Junipers’ faces, “I heard a scream! I’m not crazy! I know what I saw and heard!” I shakily took my headlamp off and turned it off.
I suddenly felt a tap on my shoulder, and I leaped out of my skin. Quickly, I threw down my headlamp and turned my neck. I met eyes with a golden-haired, young man who sat behind me.
He waved and said, “Hi,” in a low voice, “My name is Kyle. What’s yours?”
“Ky-Kylie.” I shakily answered, “What do you want, sir?”
The rest of Camp Juniper glanced at this Kyle and his family of two little kids, a girl and a boy.
“Kylie,” he repeated after me, and he nodded, “I don’t believe it was a serial killer you saw, young lady.”
“Then what was it?” I asked, “I know I saw something, sir! I know I did!” I wish I never asked that question because Kyle’s next line really made me shake with fear. All members of Camp Juniper, including me, listened to him.
He crossed his arms and softly told us, “You may have seen the Ghost of Ontario.”
“Ghost of Ontario?!” I shrieked. Great fear tore through my flesh like a bullet, “What’s the Ghost of Ontario?!”
“You don’t know?” Kyle asked, “Ah, are you guys from out of town then?”
We nodded. I lifted my hand and started to chew on my nails.
“That makes since.” Kyle added with as one of his kids, the little girl, crawled into his lap, “All Ontarians know about it. I’m not so sure about Americans, though. Are you guys Americans?”
“We are, sir.” Daddy spoke in a slightly angry voice, “We’re from North Tonawanda, New York. Do you have a problem with that?”
“Oh no, sir.” Kyle answered, and he hugged his little girl close to him, “We love it when Americans come to Ontario. We don’t always get to share the legend of the Ghost of Ontario with you guys because all the people who hear about it are from here, and they already know.”
“What is the Ghost of Ontario?!” I cried out, and I gripped the edge of the bench.
Uncle Bart took my arm and tried to calm me down.
“The Ghost of Ontario is the reason why we are sitting here right now.” Kyle explained, and he pointed at the ground, “The Ghost of Ontario is The Legend of the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park.”
“It’s a remarkable legend,” spoke his little girl, and she hugged her dad’s neck, “Daddy, Mommy, Parker, and I love to hear it. We hear it all the time, and it never grows old.”
“She speaks the truth,” next spoke her mother, “The Ghost of Ontario, dudes and dudettes, is defined as the ‘most extraordinary legend in all of Ontario.’”
“Really?” Mom asked.
“Really?” I repeated, “Hm.” I shrugged. Perhaps the legend wasn’t scary, even though it was known as The Ghost of Ontario? My mind returned to Ken. He’s bluffing. The Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park is not haunted. I calmed down and nodded, saying, “Thank you,” to Kyle and his family.
They nodded back, “No problem.”
Right after we talked with them, suddenly, from the bonfire, we heard the voice of Ranger Amelia. “Good evening, everyone!” she announced.
Uncle Bart shook my arm and excitedly spoke, “It’s starting! The ranger talk is starting!”
When Kyle and his family first mentioned the Ghost of Ontario, I remember I was sure it wouldn’t be something as petrifying as Finlayson Point Provincial Park, but actually, it was. It really was. And I thought Canadians were nice.
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