I felt bad about leaving Ihaan, but I had to get his arrow. The only problem was, the arrow was in the forest, and the forest meant bugs. I went anyway. In the direction where I had shot Ihaan’s arrow, I found a path. It was a path that led into the forest. Where does it go? I wondered to myself. Well, there was only one way to find out. At least I wouldn’t get lost in the forest. I braced myself for the mosquitoes and stepped onto the path. They hammered me. No surprise. I actually was starting to grow a little used to it now. Everything became a little brighter once Ihaan came into my life. I ignored the mosquitoes and searched the area for his arrow. The further I went into the forest, something caught my nose. A scent, and it was a pretty nasty scent too. It smelled like an outhouse. I choked on it and grabbed my nose. “What is that vile scent?!” I asked myself. “Ugh!” I covered my nose and mouth with my shirt and trekked on forward.
It turned out that the scent did come from an outhouse. Well what do you know? The rangers did stick outhouses out here. I mean, outhouses are still pretty nasty, but they’re better than having to use a latrine or the forest. Speaking of outhouses, that reminds me. When my family and I went camping in Nova Scotia, I lived a nightmare! I dreamed once that I got locked in an outhouse with an excruciating, terrible scent, and guess what, that happened in Nova Scotia! I got locked in an outhouse, literally, for about twenty minutes, and it was the worst thing ever! I had to hold my breath, and I ended up nearly dying. To save myself, I broke the outhouse’s door down and hurried to where the air was fresh. I considered it a miracle that I was actually still alive.
Well anyway, seeing this outhouse in the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park reminded me of that experience. Oh hey, what do you know? There was Ihaan’s arrow! Oh great, I ended up shooting it at an outhouse. Even better, the arrow rested right in front of its door. I dropped my shirt from my nose and slipped Ihaan’s bow over my shoulder, mumbling, “Oh, goodness.”
I made this fast. Holding my breath, I slipped over to the arrow and grabbed it. It slid out of the soil, and before I knew it, I held it. I sighed and searched the area. The forest was quiet. It was almost too quiet. Suddenly, I felt that I was being watched again. I gasped and turned to the forest. Wind whistled through the treetops, and leaves and branches started to sway in them.
Through the wind, I supposedly heard an evil chortle. “Ha! Ha! Ha!” Fear pierced me like an arrow. No fair! The Ghost of Ontario was only supposed to be on Red Squirrel Lake, but no! He followed me all the way here! I still was his first victim! Removing Ihaan’s bow from my shoulder, I quickly put the arrow in it and prepared another shot. The wind continued to whistle, and it wasn’t long until I heard something else in it. A voice. Oh snap, I’m dead! It was the Ghost of Ontario! Or at least, I thought it was the Ghost of Ontario.
His voice surrounded me like pillars. This was because it was in the wind, and the wind was everywhere.
I frightfully turned my body in the directions the Ghost of Ontario’s voice was clearer. Terror flashed through my green eyes. The voice leaped all over the place, so I frequently turned.
“Leave,” moaned the Ghost of Ontario. “You have hurt nature.” I think that was what he said. Oh no, he was upset with the fact that I had knocked out Ro. “You don’t deserve to be here,” continued the ghost. “Leave. Leave!”
“Okay! Okay!” I cried out. Terribly scared, I prepared to fulfill the ghost’s request, but before I turned, he said something that really left me confused.
“Ihaan. Ihaan is not what you think.”
“What are you talking about?” I shakily asked.
“Leave!” repeated the Ghost of Ontario. “We don’t need any likes like you terrorizing the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park!”
“How do you know Ihaan?” was my next question. I felt really dumb asking that. “I think I know who Ihaan is, Ghost of Ontario.”
“No, you do not. Let me tell you something, Kylie Juniper, Ihaan will never accept you as his friend. Not ever.”
“Stop it!” shouted I. I reached for my head. The Ghost of Ontario was messing with it. “Ihaan and I are friends!” I continued. “And Ro is too!” The wind picked up speed.
The Ghost of Ontario’s whispering voice faded to a whistle instead. It had gotten really dark.
I backed up and decided that it was time for me to go. I didn’t want to deal with the Ghost of Ontario’s anger anymore. However, when I turned around, I experienced one of the scariest things ever! My heel shifted, and I twisted my body. A gush of wind blasted through the forest, and it was followed a clap of loud thunder. That’s not the scariest part, though. The scariest part was this. Standing directly in front of me when I turned during the blast of wind and clap of thunder…was IHAAN! I’m not joking! He appeared from out of nowhere! WHAT?! I literally just saw him UNCONSCIOUS on the beach!
He flicked a small wave at me and said, “Hi, Kylie.”
“AHHH!!!” I screamed. My entire face turned blue. Ihaan’s bow and arrow dropped from my hand, and I scurried to the outhouse. I ignored the smell and just threw open the door, diving inside. I latched it shut and hid in the corner of the outhouse. My heart felt like it was about to fly out of my chest. Sweat fountained down my face. I inhaled breaths of air and yelled for my dad. “DADDY!”
“Kylie, come out.” I heard Ihaan say. He pounded on the door of the outhouse. “It’s only me.”
“IHAAN?!” I shouted. The outhouse’s smell was starting to come to me now. I gagged and plugged my nose. Just as quickly as I was in it, I was out. This outhouse smelled as bad as the one I got trapped in in Nova Scotia. I hurried to the door, unlatched it, and threw it open with so much force that it smacked Ihaan in the face and knocked him down.
“OW!” he shouted, and he covered his nose with his hands.
My words were totally stuttered. For the time being, I tried to ignore the outhouse’s scent and knock some sense out of Ihaan. “HOW-HOW ARE YOU OUT HERE?! I LITERALLY JUST SAW YOU UNCONSCIOUS ON THE BEACH! YOU WERE IN SO MUCH PAIN!”
“I think you broke my nose!” Ihaan groaned. He massaged his nose. I didn’t break it, but I did make it bleed.
“I DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR STUPID NOSE!” I shouted, “SHAME ON YOU, IHAAN! HOW DARE YOU SCARE ME!” I grabbed his ear, and he flinched.
“Sorry, Kylie,” he apologized. “I didn’t mean to scare you. Honest. It’s just, when I woke up, I noticed that my bow and one of my arrows were missing, so I assumed you had them.”
“YOU NEARLY GAVE ME A HEART ATTACK!” was my next shout. I tightened my grip on Ihaan’s ear. “YOU’RE NOT EVEN SUPPOSED TO BE STANDING! YOU’RE HURT!”
“Sorry, Kylie. I’ll never scare you like that again. I promise.” Ihaan kept his hand over his nose and struggled to his feet.
I saw the blood on his hands and gasped. “Oh, my gosh! I did not mean to make your nose bleed, Ihaan!”
Ihaan chuckled. “My nose is fine, so don’t worry.” He reached into his back pocket. From it, he pulled out the rag I used on his forehead. He balled it up and brought it to his nose. “Let’s return to the beach,” he continued, and he held his hand out to me.
I nervously peered into his wide, deep brown eyes. Eyes tell everything. Ihaan’s told me that he was still in pain. The wind continued to whistle. Something told me that aside from the Ghost of Ontario, the spirits in the woods were also trying to tell me something. Except, I made the dumb decision of not listening to them. My focus was on getting Ihaan a doctor. Instead of grabbing his hand, I took his arm and led him back towards the beach. The Ghost of Ontario continued to mess with my head.
“Don’t trust him, Kylie,” he moaned.
Geez, what was with this ghost? I knew I could trust Ihaan. He and I were friends, and good friends never let each other down. To help Ihaan out a bit, I took his bow out of his hand and slipped it over my shoulder. He held onto his arrow. I worriedly clenched my teeth. Ihaan was falling asleep again. I had to hurry to the beach. The entire time I led the mysterious hermit, the wind whistled, and leaves swirled around us. No doubt about it, the spirits were definitely speaking. However, they kept on repeating themselves. “Don’t trust him, Kylie. Don’t trust him.” In a split second, another arrowhead, greased with fear, stabbed my heart.
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