The two men from Quebec decided to be good Samaritans. They helped us get our supplies to the end of the portage. They carried our bags and paddles, and thanks to them, we were able to get everything to the end in a much shorter time frame than we would have if they didn’t help.
I remained at the end of the dock the entire time.
As time progressed, Red Squirrel Lake got foggier and foggier. Uh oh, fog. Would we be able to canoe in it? We wouldn’t be able to find the campsite if it was so dang foggy. I knew this fog was being created by the Ghost of Ontario.
I gulped and tilted my head back. I saw Aunt Delia.
She was standing with the two Quebecers, and she was thanking them. “We can’t thank you enough.” Both the men wore bug nets over their heads.
One man waved his hand and said, “Aw, don’t mention it.” He had brown hair and hazel eyes. He continued, “It looks like you guys have been through a lot today.”
Here, I spoke up, even though I made Mom mad because I wasn’t supposed to speak for the rest of the day. That was my punishment. However, I broke it. I stood up and called to the men which both of them and Aunt Delia glanced at me. “Oh, it’s been terrible! To celebrate getting through the first two portages, dudes, we have to next canoe and camp on Red Squirrel Lake where…”
One of the men interrupted me. “Where the Ghost of Ontario’s hideout it located. Not to worry, young lady, he’s not too feisty yet. This fog isn’t his doing. It’s normally foggy on this lake.”
“Are you sure about that?” I asked, “See?!” I glanced at Camp Juniper, “They know the Ghost of Ontario lives here too!”
Mom glared. “It’s a bunch of poppycock.” She helped load some things into our canoes, “The residents of Finlayson and the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park just wanted to scare us. But they’re not scaring me!”
I opened my mouth to speak, but she interrupted me. “I’ve had enough of your attitude today, lass! I thought we made a deal that you wouldn’t speak for the rest of the day! Perhaps tomorrow you’ll be more involved in this trip rather than complaining all the time about this so-called Ghost of Ontario.”
I scoffed and crossed my arms, turning away. “I want to go home.”
“Well suck it up!” Mom snapped, “You’re not going home for a week! Try to at least enjoy the trip instead of being a drag all the time!”
One of the Quebecers smirked and brought his fist to his lips.
Hearing him, I turned and glared, saying, “You think that’s funny? How would you like to be dragged on a canoe trip with just adults as a teenager with nobody else your age to hang out with? That’s just asking for trouble.”
Mom zipped up my lips and threw away the key.
I crossed my arms and plopped down on the dock again. I heard Mom behind me.
“I apologize about her. She’s normally not like this. When she’s in a good mood, she’s a lot of fun. However, she’s been in a bad mood all day.”
“Ah, don’t worry,” spoke one of the men, “It’s a teenage thing. It’s called mood swings.” They helped up load the canoes, and the fog kept moving in.
Finally, when we were ready to move on, the fog was intense. We would not be able to find our campsite in it. I tried to tell this to Camp Juniper. I told them, “Dudes, the fog’s too thick. We’ll get lost if we go out there! Why don’t we camp here tonight?”
“Stop being a wimp.” Dad said, “This is Camp Juniper, Kylie, and Camp Juniper’s been through a lot more than just mere fog! We’ll be fine.”
“But…” I started.
Dad interrupted me. “All right!” He clapped his hands together, “Mount up!”
“We’re going to get lost!” I yelped.
Dad ignored me. I groaned. We went ahead and put on our life jackets and climbed into our canoes, even though I knew we were going to get lost. It was getting dark, and it was foggy. That’s a bad combination, let me just tell you. No surprise, though, Camp Juniper didn’t listen to me when I said we should spend the night at the campground at the end of the portage.
Just as we were getting ready to push off and continue our journey into the Death Lake, one of the men who helped us said, “Be careful, friends. Don’t let the Ghost of Ontario get you, yeah?”
Right when he said the name, I shivered like crazy.
Mom shooed the men away. They waved goodbye to us.
Dad did too. While he waved, he thanked them. Then, just like that, we pushed off the dock, and Camp Juniper officially started their journey on foggy Red Squirrel Lake.
I was petrified. This was the lake. This was the lake the Ghost of Ontario’s canoe sunk in. He was going to drown us. We already had the fog. All we were missing now was “Lucilla,” and then he would grab us. If we ever did reach the campsite, we wouldn’t reach it until dark. That day was a very long canoeing day for all of us. I just wanted to get off Red Squirrel Lake. I didn’t want to stay here.
Since it was so foggy, Camp Juniper stayed close together. Dad constantly checked the map for the campsite. We wouldn’t be able to find anything in this fog.
Uncle Bart soon nudged me with his paddle, and I peered back to him. “Whoo-wee,” he said, and he took his hat off his head, “This fog is so thick; you could cut it with a knife.” It really was really thick fog.
Aunt Lydia, who was actually a bit nervous, grabbed hold of Aunt Delia, Dad, and Mom’s canoe and asked Dad, “Are we almost there, Azul?”
We paddled on. Yep, we were definitely lost. I knew this was going to happen. It wouldn’t have, though, if Camp Juniper just listened to me! They thought they were invincible because the year before, we hiked the Grand Canyon rim to rim in 120°F. However no, we weren’t invincible. It’s called reality, Camp Juniper. Get that in your head.
Dad soon stopped paddling, and he searched the area. “We’re not lost,” he mumbled, but he continued to search for land.
“No.” I told him, and I paddled towards his canoe, “You don’t know where you’re going, Dad.”
Dad glanced at me.
I glared at the rest of Camp Juniper. “If you freaks just listened to me, then we wouldn’t be stuck in this situation!”
“We’re not lost.” Dad sternly told me, “We’re going to find that campsite, Kylie. Come on, Camp Juniper.” We paddled after him, and he checked the map again.
The deeper we canoed into the fog and Red Squirrel Lake, the more frightened I grew. I felt so much fear. I could hear moaning coming from the lake. I guessed that the Ghost of Ontario would turn our canoes over right now, but nothing happened.
I paddled as fast as I could, and I head Uncle Bart say, “Whoa, you’re really working the stern, Kylie!”
I didn’t care. I just wanted to get the heck out of there. It was too scary to even be on the lake. To make my day even better, my eyes soon caught a dark figure seeming to float above the water in front of us. Oh, God, there he was! It was him!
“IT’S THE GHOST OF ONTARIO!!” I screamed. My yell caught everybody’s attention. We all looked in the direction of the figure.
It slowly started to approach us.
I started to panic, and I quickly turned mine and Uncle Bart’s canoe back.
Suddenly, the figure shot out of the water and into the sky.
I screamed again and dropped my paddle, covering my face with my hands.
However, it turned out that the figure was a loon instead. Yeah, yeah, you can go ahead and laugh. Ha, ha, you can now walk around and say to other people, “Ha, ha, Kylie Juniper’s scared of a teeny loon.” Why don’t you paint a picture of it? It will last longer. Yeah, the figure wasn’t the Ghost of Ontario. Not yet, at least. It was a loon, and it soared by my head.
I pressed my hand to my chest and inhaled breaths of air.
Behind me, Uncle Bart started to laugh. “You should have seen your face!” he laughed.
I turned and glared at him.
Uncle Bart lifted his hands and mimicked me. “‘IT’S THE GHOST OF ONTARIO!’”
I turned red with embarrassment. I was so embarrassed.
Mom soon spoke to me from her canoe. “Seriously, Kylie? That was unnecessary! It was a loon!”
I heard something in the sky. It sounded like flapping. My eyes widened, and I asked, “What’s that?”
“Probably just the wind.” Aunt Jessie told me, “Yehaw! Let’s get to that campsite!”
We stayed trapped on the foggy lake for forever it felt like. Dad kept on leading us in a bunch of circles. We couldn’t see anything in the fog. After a bit, everybody was just as miserable as I was. Everybody started to grow nervous.
“We’re not lost.” Dad repeated over and over again, but we knew we were. I’m telling you, Camp Juniper, if you just listened to me, we wouldn’t be stuck on the Death Lake. You should all be ashamed. Especially you, Dad, because you’re an Eagle Scout.
After about ten more minutes, we all started to float, while Dad checked the map some more. It was getting darker and darker by the second.
I was even more petrified than I was earlier.
Uncle Bart set his paddle down in his canoe and leaned back. He placed his hands behind his neck and closed his eyes.
“We’re all going to die!” Aunt Lydia cried. She literally was crying; she was so scared.
Dad peered back to her and said, “Nobody is going to die, Lydia. We’ll find a way through this. Keep in mind that I’m an Eagle Scout. I’m a professional when it comes to surviving in the wilderness. This is what you call an adventure, Camp Juniper. Enjoy it!”
We all merely glared at him.
Dad chuckled nervously, and without another word, he locked his eyes on the map again.
I groaned and leaned over the edge of the canoe. With my hand, I skimmed the water. My whistle hung in front of my chest. I thought about blowing it, but then I made a conclusion that most likely there wasn’t anybody else out here who could help us. I mean, that’s what I thought, but I was wrong.
Within ten more minutes of intimidation, my eyes caught something in the fog. It was a light. That’s right, a light! There was a light in the fog! The light was orange, fire-like, and it seemed to move back and forth. I then heard the flapping sound above me again. Blown away by the light, I reached back and nudged Uncle Bart.
“Uncle Bart.” I whispered, “Uncle Bart. Uncle Bart.”
“Hm?” he asked, “What is it, Kylie?”
He sat up, and I pointed at the light, “Look over there.”
Uncle Bart did. He gasped, “It’s a light,” and he called to the rest of Camp Juniper, “Camp Juniper, there’s a light on the lake!”
“Light?” Dad asked, “What light?” He lowered the map, and all heads of Camp Juniper landed on the light. It was still there, and it was still waving back and forth.
“Yep.” Uncle Harrison soon said, “That is definitely a light.”
“What do you think it is?” asked Uncle Macon.
I gulped and under my breath mumbled, “What do you think?” The light still waved.
Uncle Bart soon made an observation. “I think it wants us to follow it,” he spoke.
“Follow it?” Dad asked, “Hold on, Camp Juniper.” He stopped us from moving a muscle, “We have no idea what it is. Let me take care of this.” He cleared his throat and faced the light. We watched him. Dad soon nervously lifted his hand, and he waved at the light, calling, “Hi! Who are you? Do you want us to follow you?”
There was no answer. The light continued to wave.
“Who are you?” Dad repeated, “Do you want us to follow you?”
Again, nobody answered.
Dad soon turned to us and asked, “What’s wrong with it?”
We started to float closer to the light.
Dad added with, “We’re not going to trust it if it won’t answer.”
“Yeah, Dad.” I mumbled, “This is some adventure.” Right after I spoke that, from out of nowhere, all four of our canoes jerked! They jerked so fast that Aunt Lydia almost went overboard, but Uncle Harrison grabbed her.
“Lydia!” he yelled, and he pulled her back into the canoe.
Aunt Lydia cried and hugged him.
“What did we hit?” Dad yelled.
All of us looked over the side of our canoes, but we didn’t see anything in the water. What happened next was totally bizarre! Something started to push all of our canoes towards the light. How do I know this? Well, I lived to tell the tale, and also, the light was getting closer and closer. Oh I knew it! This was it! The light was the Ghost of Ontario! We were so done for! He probably summoned some waves to push our canoes right to him. Before long, the light started to move.
Terrified, I mumbled, “I’ve doomed us all.” I yelled at the other members of Camp Juniper, “It’s the Ghost of Ontario! Brace yourself!” Mine and Uncle Bart’s canoe suddenly jerked terribly, and I yelled.
Well, audience, are you ready? Are you ready to see me fall in the water? Well, I did. This was the first place I fell in. Here you go.
Old Town #1 shook so terribly that it tipped, and I went splashing into the cool water of Red Squirrel Lake, life jacket and all. I screamed.
“Kylie!” Uncle Bart yelled. Old Town #1 balanced out, and he grabbed its side, “Man overboard!”
“Oh no, Kylie!” Mom yelled after him. Surprisingly, there was actually a current in Red Squirrel Lake...a pretty strong current.
It pulled me away from my family, and I reached for them, yelling, “Mom! Dad!”
“Kylie!” I heard Dad shout. I didn’t see him. The fog was just so thick. However, I did hear him. “Blow your whistle!” he added with, “Blow you’re whistle! We’ll follow the sound to you! Hang on!”
I nodded and quickly picked up Uncle Bart’s whistle. This was the first time I blew it in the wilderness. Since I was wearing a life jacket, I was floating. Life jackets save lives, people, just like how seatbelts save lives. Quickly, I brought the whistle to my lips and blew into it as hard as I could. TWEEEET!! The sound engulfed the entire lake. I had forgotten how loud the whistle was. My ears rang, but I blew the whistle again. TWEEEET!! My eardrums screamed. I saw the mysterious, orange light. It had moved again. Where I saw it now totally told me that it was the Ghost of Ontario. The light floated in midair, in the sky, about twenty feet up.
“Ah!” I screamed, “The Ghost of Ontario!” I then heard something else. I heard a splash. It sounded like somebody had dove into the lake. Oh no, he was coming for me! I was the Ghost of Ontario’s first victim! He was going to drown me. “HELP!” I screamed, “HE’S COMING FOR ME!!” and I blew the whistle again. TWEEEET!!
I heard the voice of Dad. “Kylie! Hang on for just a little longer!”
I flung my arms and tried to make as much noise as possible so I could lead my family to me. “HELP!!” I screamed again.
What happened next is what changed the big canoeing trip up in Ontario, Canada forever, in both a positive and negative way. Want to know what it was? Well, just keep listening.
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