For the rest of the night, I had haunting dreams about the Ghost of Ontario and “Lucilla.” When morning finally hit Finlayson Point Provincial Campground, I was in an even worse mood than the day before. No, seriously! It was awful! You would’ve been embarrassed immediately if you saw me. That’s how bad I was. Anyway, today was the day I met Ihaan the Hermit. Y’all remember when I mentioned that I met somebody on the second day of the trip, right? Well, I met Ihaan, and I met him that night. However, a lot of stuff happened before I did meet him, and I don’t want to rush it. So please, be patient for just a little bit longer. Ihaan the Hermit is coming, and he’s coming very soon.
So yeah, I’ll start off by sharing one of the haunting dreams I had about the Ghost of Ontario. I dreamt that I was canoeing on Red Squirrel Lake, just enjoying the ride, and then all of a sudden, waves, enormous waves, appeared! I tried canoeing out of the fray, but the current pulled me back. I fought to escape, but then, my eyes shifted, and they landed on the water. I gasped. Above the water, floating, was the white, shadowy figure of a five-year-old boy! The Ghost of Ontario!
He glared at me and pointed his small hand forward. Suddenly, at his cue, two, twenty foot-tall waves appeared, and they crashed down on me and my canoe. The canoe capsized, and I yelled. I went splashing into the water, and the current pulled me under.
Underwater, I closed my eyes and spun around and around. From up top, I could hear the Ghost of Ontario laughing an evil laugh. Yeah, that was my dream. Talk about scary! Ick. Just before I could drown, I woke up.
“Whoa!” I yelled, and I shot to a sitting position. Cold sweat fountained down my temples, and I took deep breaths. While I recovered from my dream, I thought about the Ghost of Ontario and Ranger Kate. Hm, so let’s see. Let’s piece together what we know so far. According to legend, the Ghost of Ontario’s canoe sunk ten years ago on Red Squirrel Lake. Remember that, audience? Well, you have to remember. It’s a key component that drives this story. Aside from the sinking, do you also remember that Ranger Kate mentioned that she moved to Finlayson ten years ago? She did. I thought she did. I thought about this. My mind returned to the Ghost of Ontario. The sinking also took place ten years ago. Ooh, the mystery! This was more than a mystery! This was much more than a mere mystery, and I was desperate to figure out what!
I decided to not go back to sleep after I woke up from my nightmare. It was about five in the morning and already it was pretty bright outside. Another fun fact about Canada, people, is that morning arrives about 4:30 am. So basically, it gets dark at ten and light at 4:00. You know, win, win. I, Kylie Juniper, was actually given quite a surprise when I crawled out of my tent this morning. Yeah, quite a surprise. I rubbed sweat from my forehead and took deep breaths. I then changed into my canoeing clothes, ugh, the clothes I wore the previous day. When I did, I grabbed my travel kit and ran my fingertips through my scalp. Oh no, today was the day! Today was the day the Ghost of Ontario would surely drown us!
I took deep breaths and shakily crawled to the entrance of my tent. Unzipping it, I flicked a few mosquitoes away, mosquitoes that had been snoozing under the fly during the night, and undid the Velcro. Now that it was morning time, they were back out. Another mosquito whined by my ear, and I swatted it away. I looked like Riley in National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets when he swatted the fly away while at Mt. Rushmore. Mt. Rushmore. Why couldn’t we go there instead? Why did we have to take a weeklong canoeing trip up in a haunted provincial park? I asked this to myself as I lugged half my body out from under the fly. A cool breeze washed over me. It was at this moment that I saw my surprise.
I gasped, and my jaw dropped to the ground. I reached down, and guess what I picked up? My flowers! No seriously! My flowers! The flowers I lost the previous night to the scream in the forest! It was them! How though?! I brought the flowers to my nose and sniffed them. Oh, they were so beautiful, and they had such a lovely scent. I had both of them. This was so strange. Why had my flowers come back unless someone found them and delivered them to me? Who though? That’s not the best part. I found something else on the ground. I found something that would surely excite my Uncle Bart! I found tracks, moose tracks! No, not Moose Tracks as in the ice cream but moose tracks as in the animal! However, now that I think of it, that actually would’ve been quite something if I discovered Moose Tracks as in the ice cream instead of moose tracks as in the animal. I mean, imagine this. You crawl out of your tent after a really rough sleeping night, and guess what you find in front of you? A big container of Moose Tracks that just appeared from out of nowhere. Sigh, that would’ve been amazing, but unfortunately, I didn’t get the ice cream. I got the moose tracks as in the animal. But still! A moose had walked through my half of Camp Juniper’s campsites overnight! Awesome! The tracks weren’t there when I went to bed! The moose must’ve come overnight after the Ghost of Ontario left! It must’ve!
I slowly lifted my hand and set it down next to one of the tracks. It was unbelievable! The track was three times the size of my hand! Are moose feet really this huge? Up, don’t answer! Just let me continue. Well there you go. Those were the few surprises I received that morning. I immediately put the flowers back behind my left ear, and I left the moose tracks where they were so Camp Juniper could witness them as well. They got up soon after I did. I ventured to the women’s restroom and used a flushable toilet and sink one last time. Once we left Finlayson, I would be on my own.
I spent a good amount of time in the restroom brushing my hair, adjusting my flowers, and doing my makeup just because I wanted to say a proper goodbye to sinks and flushable toilets. By the time I returned to the campsite, I noticed that the rest of Camp Juniper was up, and all of them were examining the moose tracks and taking photos of them.
“Isn’t it quite something?” I heard Uncle Harrison ask. He glanced at the other members of Camp Juniper, and Dad nodded.
“What do you know?” was his question, and he nudged Uncle Bart, “There are moose around here, Bart. Let’s hurry to the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park so we can see if we can find any more moose or moose tracks!” Everybody was so excited. Nobody was worried about the Ghost of Ontario. Nobody except me. I was sure that if by any chance we did see more moose tracks while on the lakes, then they would belong to moose that the ghost drowned.
Camp Juniper didn’t waste any time to get to the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park. After everybody admired the moose tracks, we had breakfast, which consisted of: oatmeal, grits, and cereal, and immediately after we finished, Dad made us pack up and get going. Uncle Bart and I finished packing first, and I actually managed to get him to play some Frisbee with me, but after a bit, he had to sit down. Sigh, if I had another teenager to hang out with, then I’d be able to play Frisbee longer because unlike older people, teenagers didn’t have aches and pains. Older people did. Older people like my Uncle Bart. Until Dad told us to climb in our assigned cars again, I just played Frisbee by myself.
Finally, everybody finished packing.
Dad clapped his hands together and announced, “All right, Camp Juniper, mount up! Let’s drive to the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park!” I gulped as I climbed into the Excursion. The second my butt hit the seat, images of the Ghost of Ontario flooded my brain, and an arrowhead, full of fear, pierced my heart. I shakily buckled up and sat on my hands.
Uncle Harrison, Aunt Lydia, Aunt Delia, Mom and Dad soon climbed in after me, and Aunt Lydia glanced at me, saying, “Kylie, lighten up. This is going to be a wonderful day of canoeing.”
“But what about the Ghost of Ontario?” I shakily asked.
“It’s a myth, Kylie.” Mom told me, “Don’t let those Canadians fill you full of lies.”
Right after she spoke that, Dad turned on the Excursion, and I jumped when I heard the Diesel fuel. He pushed down the gas pedal, and we turned onto the gravelly road. Before actually starting the drive, we first had to check out, and that meant another visit to the ranger station. Camp Juniper drove towards it to check out, and I peered back to our campsites. While we ventured towards the station, I asked myself if we would see Ranger Kate again.
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