Smokey's Night of Indefinite Flames
Smokey the Bear was secretly the one who started the fires. Smokey the bear, was the animal I loved. One of his biggest supporters in the war against the KKK. A bear who wanted to protect me and to make sure I didn't get hurt. I didn't believe it, that he had started this fire. But I would never realize that until the day Smokey, Smokey's friends, and I returned to the scene of what had begun to be my greatest fear.
We went back to a camp that was built by Smokey. After our victory over the Klan, Smoke built a campsite over the grounds of one of our greatest battles. When we arrived, we found that Smokey had been murdered. I felt tears run down my cheek. One of my closest friends (besides my two friends from high school, Kathleen and Charles), murdered at his own campsite. We followed the police officers there to his body. It laid upside down, with his head twisted a full 180 degrees around and his shovel stabbed through his midsection. "We don't know what happened or who did it," the officer says, "Just one of the local park rangers found him this morning." I broke down sobbing, and Charles put a hand on my shoulder. "It's OK, Sam. His spirit will always be with us."
At the time, I didn't know this, but that is called foreshadowing.
One evening, six months after Smokey's funeral, I got a phone call from Kathleen.
"Uh, Sam? Are you there?" Kathleen said in a slightly frightened tone.
"Yea Kathleen. What's up?" I said in confusion.
"Charles called and told me to tell you to meet up at Smokey's camp."
"Wait, why?" I asked.
"He said he found something that might point to who killed Smokey." She says.
I stand up and start putting on my sweater. "I'll be there."
Half an hour later, I arrived at the campsite and put my bike on the grass next to Kathleen's and Charles's bikes. I walk through the campsite and find them near the spot where Smokey's body was.
"Oh good. You're here," Charles said, "I found this." Charles holds up what looks to be a driver's license with the name, address, phone number, and face scribbled out with permanent marker. "It was in one of the bushes near the spot where Smokey's body was."
I look closer at the license. Most of it was scribbled out, but I could see that the person had dark brown hair that went down to their shoulders. I looked at the scribbled name. All I could read from it was: "_i____es___ " I couldn't tell who it was from that, but I pocketed it and we walked around the campsite as the sun fell behind the trees.
"Who do you think that was on the license?" Charles said as he looked at me.
"I don't really know." I said, sticking my hands in my pockets.
"Me either." Kathleen said.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, I catch a whiff of smoke.
"Uhh, hey, guys, do you smell that?" I say.
They both sniff and say, " Yeah. Is that... smoke?"
We follow the smell and end back up at the spot where they found Smokey's body, except all we saw was a massive fire. And in front, was what looked to be a figure shaped like Smokey holding his shovel in one hand, and a long neck lighter in the other. The figure turned its head 180 degrees to look right at us. It was Smokey, it looked just like him except his eyes were mostly black with white lizard pupils, and a wide grin of sharp teeth. Smokey then says to us, " Welcome, friends. I have been waiting."
"Sm- Smokey?" I say in a frightened tone of voice.
"Smokey? Oh no, friends," Smokey says, "I'm not Smokey. But you can call me Smoke."
We turn around and try to run, but are knocked unconscious by the smoke, which must have had some sort of knockout gas in it.
When I woke up, I looked around. I was in the camper that Smokey always lived in. I see the head of one of the KKK members he killed sitting atop a wooden post in the corner, the mask of him having a blood stain. I see Kathleen and Charles still unconscious. I try to stand up, but I feel a sharp pain in my back and I fall onto my stomach. I thought I could run, run all around the camp, but my back was broken and my hands were cuffed behind my broken back.
Where was I? What happened to me? I was afraid. I felt a force pull me to my feet. There was nothing there I could do and nothing to fight back with. Nothing. And then, there was the fear of dying. Everything was blurry, blurry and bright, like I wasn't even there.
A single tear fell down my cheek. I look back and see Kathleen and Charles on the ground. Kathleen looked at me with disbelief. "What is going on?" I said. "I don't know, Sam." She says. Her legs were completely bent 90 degrees and her arms were all torn up. Charles had glass shards through his left leg and his mouth sewed together.
She reached out and grabbed my hand. Once again, a tear dropped down her cheek and Kathleen looked at Charles. He climbed to his feet along with Kathleen and we all tried to get out of the campsite. In the corner of my eye, I see more flames.
As we reach the edge of the campsite, I feel a slight bit of relief. But as soon as we stepped out of the campsite, I blacked out.
When I woke up, I was back in Smokey's trailer and lying on the floor. Kathleen and Charles stood over me, looking down at me.
"S- Sam? Are you awake?" Kathleen said. Her voice was deep and loud. My vision went blurry for a second and then focused back in. Her fingers were purple and bruised, as were her legs, which she had to stand on.
"Ughgmn... Yeah." I said, my head throbbing. I struggle to get up and then we all walk out of the trailer to something horrifying.
The whole border of the campsite was engulfed in huge flames. Smoke then walks around one of the corners and looks me in the eyes.
"Hello, Sam, Kathleen, Charles. Welcome to your forever home." Smoke says.
"Wha-" Kathleen says.
That night was an endless nightmare of running around, screaming, yelling, crying, being tortured, bleeding and dying in the dark. It never truly ended. Every time, instead of dying, I just wake back up in Smoke's trailer. It felt like a purgatory of sorts, but for eternity we were being tortured and played with by someone I once called one of my closest friends.
Credited to JoetemReelsYT
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