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Camp Burkheart by Jessica Fine
Camp Burkheart was buzzing with noise.
Campers scampered all around. The silver crescent moon glowed brightly forcing
the stars to fade around it from its blinding light. I walked clutching
my bag, I was so nervous my knuckles were white from gripping it so hard. I
strided past the archery lane and weapon/armory shed. Kids of ages nine
to nineteen came to Camp Burkheart, they came to learn to survive and find the
rest of their soul.
I’m ready
for this, I encouraged myself. I stood there eyeing everyone while I fiddled
with my hair re-braiding it over and over. I checked over all my stuff I
needed for tonight, bow, two dozen arrows, some food, clothes, compass, and a
pocket knife. That was probably my hundredth time. The cabins around glowed a
summery orange from torches that lit up around camp, but the training area was
dark, silent, and eerie. Just like the Garboloth Shadow just thinking of him it
sent shivers down my spine making me shudder. I could barely imagine the
amount of people that disappeared around its cave.
A loud
voice boomed throughout the camp, “Please all gather around the fire for
dinner.” The leader of Camp Burk Heart continued, “Then we will start the
search.”
As I got
closer the smell of Bar-B-Q wafted through the air making my stomach grumble
loudly. The whole camp was able to fit around the fire, seventy-eight. Everyone
conversed and watched the flames dance in the night sky sparks going
everywhere. We nibbled on our hamburgers even though we felt as if we lost our
stomachs to our nerves.
“Okay,”
Marrow the leader said. “As you all know tonight is the night you younglings
find your ride or well, the other part of your soul, the lost part. Kids who
already have found there’s help others prepare. Don’t be discouraged if
this is your third, fourth or whatever, your time will come,” He cleared his
throat. “You each will be given what looks like a twig, snap it we’ll will be
there to save you from whatever danger occurs in less than five minutes.”
He snapped
the twig in half a searing noise came out making everyone cover their ears.
“I think
my ears are bleeding!” One muttered in the crowd, making others laugh. Marrow
even cracked a smile.
“In
twenty minutes gather round in the sparring yard and we will start,” he
instructed and walked off well he was pushed off in a bathtub on wheels. Being mer
and all.
Only a
few stayed at the fire as it died down. I was one of them finishing my
root beer. I had twenty minutes to settle my nerve. I was probably the most nervous
being my first time. I zoned out watching the flames. I finally relaxed some
until a horn blew making me rattled all over again.
We all
grouped up and listened for our name to be called by Marrow.
“Alma-Rose
Greenwood!” He called at last.
I walked
a few steps forward; it felt like I took my first few steps from crawling. He
smiled warmly and handed me my stick we called the whistle stick. Soon everyone
had theirs. He told us how this all became. How when we are born we
aren’t born with our whole soul, we have to find them meaning the rest of our
soul basically. This is what this camp does.
“Okay,
when I blow the horn scatter off into the woods,” He blew a horn.
We all
ran into the woods yelling and cheering. I must’ve run two miles until it was
pretty quiet and torches faded from other kids. I wasn’t as jittery now as I
slowed to a walk. The deeper I got in the woods the more I heard
scampering wild beasts, hissing, and every so often a neigh.
I hoped I
wouldn’t share a soul with a Pixie; they were nasty little things, I thought as
I hiked through the trees. I didn’t even know how to find my other part of soul
. Some say it will come with destiny. My muscles started to ache and I
was parched luckily I heard a creek not too far away.
I sat
down on my knees on the edge of the shimmering creek. I would have to wade
through it soon and it was freezing. I cupped my hands and drank the icy water
making my fingers go numb. I looked at the moon’s reflection and the ripples
until I heard a crash behind me. I jumped up and turned towards the sound.
There he was, the Garboloth Shadow. He looked just like the drawings I
saw on a map once. His lair, the most scarce place. He arched his long
elegant neck towards the stars like he was a glorious king praising his people.
His dark blue scales with silver tips glinted in the moon light. I ran to
a tree and hid behind it before he saw me. I heard a few snorts and a stomps
then everything got hotter in the air. The Garboloth Shadow was a dragon.
I had
left my bag. I turned and looked around the tree to see what he was burning. He
was burning trees to a crisp. I watched him burn others till he looked my way.
My tree was next.
The hair
on the back of my neck stood up. Just as the flames licked my tree I had ran. I
grabbed my bag and bow splashing through the creek sprinting as fast as I
could. I heard a few crashes behind me a while ago but I kept running. Well,
until I ran into someone.
“Oww,
watch it!” A boy said rubbing his head trying to sit up.
“Sorry,”
I said quickly searching the woods.
“Why are you running, anyway?” the tall lanky boy asked.
“I thought I was being chased by the Garboloth Shadow,” I whispered loudly.
He looked at me like I was insane, “Did you hit your head when we fell?” He
went on, “No one has seen him for over a decade. Even if why didn’t you break
your stick?”
I had no idea why I didn’t.
“Well, I’m going,” I said. He followed. “We have to find our other part of our
soul on our own.”
“We’ll split soon.”
We walked in silence but the night was loud.
“What’s your name?” He broke the silence.
“Alma-Rose Greenwood.”
“Ah, Rose,” he looked at the sky. “Red Ravenswood.”
“Alma-Rose,” I said snidely.
“So Rose, this your first time?”
I rolled my eyes, “Yes.”
“Sixth, people say they find you they come with destiny,” He said. “Not me.”
“Have a little faith.”
“Faith, ha I’ve heard that so many times.”
I heard a growl behind us and snarling. We turned ever so slowly. There stood a
wolf like creature a black one, with horns, and a spiked tail with red beady
diamond eyes. I swung my bow with and arrow and pointed my arrow at it. Red
struggled to unsheathe his sword until he stabbed it toward the creature wolf.
I shot an arrow wounding its leg; it howled in pain and hurdled away. Red and I
nodded at each other and started to run a few step with more growling this time
around us. They were everywhere surrounding us in every angle.
“How many arrows do you have left,” He asked.
“Six, I must’ve lost some when I was running.”
“Don’t
move.”
I slowly reached for my bag searching for my whistle stick, but I stopped when
a huge crash started to get closer and louder I stood frozen while I saw the Garboloth
Shadow grab Red’s collar of his shirt and yank him in the air. Finally, I
unfroze and grabbed his ankle, yanking me into the air too.
We climbed high screaming as we went up and up. My feet finally stopped
clipping the tops of trees. My arm was ripped up, feeling like it would pop out
of its socket as I landed on the back of the dragon. I gripped on to Red’s side
as we soared through the dark sky with the glow of stars. The dragon couldn’t
hold our weight together that much and we started to lose altitude. We finally
started to dive down and the dragon struggled to control his wings. Until we
started spinning and I lost my grip and fell. I sailed down maybe twenty feet
hitting the lake. I breached to the shore and saw Red running my
way.
“You okay?”
I nodded. The dragon followed him but I scooted away.
“It’s okay she is my other well, part of my soul!” He said I looked at him with
a crazy expression. “Everything glowed when I touched her and then I could
understand and talked to her with my mind.”
“Her
name is Faith.” He said. “She saved us. She’s good!”
All I
could do is stare at them wide eyed.
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Find information about my next writing contest, interviews, book news and more on my website.
In bookstores 6-5-2012
A superb short Jessica. Very impressive. I can understand why you were the 'most potential' winner. I love the characterisation and the build up - very effective.
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