R. Stine: The Curse of Camp Cold Lake

“Excellent!” Briana repeated, smiling too.

She slapped me on the back. “A fresh start!”

Richard was still making announcements. “Tomorrow at four-thirty, those interested in windsurfing…”

Aaron will probably try that, I thought. I watched Briana and Meg walk away.

A fresh start, I thought. I began to feel a lot happier.

The happy feeling lasted for about two seconds.

Then my back started to itch.

I turned to the fire and saw Briana and Meg staring back at me. They were both giggling.

Other kids had turned away from Richard and were watching me.

“Ohhhh.” I groaned when I felt something warm wriggle against my back.

Something warm and dry, moving under my T-shirt.

“Ohhhh.” It moved again.

I reached one hand back. And poked it under my shirt.

What is it? What did Briana put back there?

I grabbed the thing and pulled it out.

And started to scream.

The snake wriggled in my hand.

It looked like a long black shoelace. With eyes! And a mouth that kept snapping open and shut.

“Noooooo!” I totally lost it.

I let out a shrill scream. And I heaved the snake with all my might.

It sailed into the woods.

My back still itched like crazy. I could still feel it wriggling against my skin.

I reached back and tried to scratch with both hands.

Kids were laughing. Telling each other what Briana had done.

I didn’t care. I just wanted to rub away the feeling of that snake against my skin.

My whole body tingled. I uttered an angry cry. “How could you?” I shrieked at Briana and Meg. “What is your problem?”

Aaron came hurrying over to be the grown-up again.

Just what I needed. Mr. Mature Kid Brother.

“Sarah, did it bite you?” he asked softly.

I shook my head. “I can still feel it!” I wailed. “Did you see it? It was three feet long!”

“Calm down,” Aaron whispered. “Everyone is staring at you.”

“Think I don’t know it?” I snapped.

“Well, it was just a tiny snake,” Aaron said. “Totally harmless. Try to get yourself together.”

“I–I-I-” I sputtered. I was too upset, too angry to talk.

Aaron raised his eyes to Briana and Meg. “Why are those two girls picking on you?” he asked.

“I don’t know!” I wailed. “Because… because they’re creeps! That’s why!”

“Well, try to calm down,” Aaron repeated. “Look at you, Sarah. You’re shaking all over.”

“You’d shake too if you had a disgusting snake crawling up and down your skin!” I replied. “And I really don’t need your advice, Aaron. I really don’t-”

“Fine,” he replied. He spun away and hurried back to his friends.

“I don’t believe him,” I muttered.

Dad is a doctor, and Aaron is just like him. He thinks he has to take care of everyone in the world.

Well, I can take care of myself. I don’t need my little brother telling me to calm down every second.

Richard was still talking. But I didn’t care. I stepped away from the campfire circle and started back to the cabin.

The path curved through a patch of woods, up the sloping hill where the cabins were perched. Away from the glow of the fire, I was surrounded by darkness.

I clicked on my flashlight and aimed the yellow circle of light at my feet. My sneakers crunched over dry leaves and twigs. The trees whispered above me.

How did I get off to such a bad start? I asked myself.

Why do Briana and Meg hate me so much?

Maybe they’re just mean, I decided. Maybe they’re total creeps. Maybe they’re mean to everyone.

They think they’re so hot because they were at camp last year.

Without realizing it, I had wandered off the path. “Hey-” I swung the flashlight around, searching for the way back.

The light swept over tilting trees, tall clumps of weeds, a fallen log.

Panic tightened my throat.

Where is the path? Where?

I took a few steps. My sneaker crunched over leaves.

And then my foot sank into something soft.

Quicksand!

No. Not quicksand.

There’s no such thing as quicksand. I remembered that from some science book I read in fifth grade.

I lowered the flashlight.

“Ohhhh.” Mud. Thick, gooey mud.

My sneaker sank deep into the ooze.

I pulled my leg up with a groan-and nearly toppled over backwards.

It’s just mud, I told myself. It’s disgusting-but it’s no big deal.

But then I saw the spiders.

Dozens of them. The biggest spiders I ever saw.

There must have been a nest of them in the mud.

They were crawling over my shoe, crawling up the leg of my jeans.

“Ohhhh. Yuck!”

Dozens of spiders clung to me. I shook my sneaker. Hard. Then I began batting at them with my free hand.

“I hate this caaaaaamp!” I screamed.

I beat some spiders away with the flashlight.

And then I had an idea.

I mean, why shouldn’t I pay Briana and Meg back for what they did to me?

They embarrassed me in front of the whole camp. And I hardly did anything to them.

I emptied the batteries from the flashlight. I took a deep breath. Then I bent down-and scooped a bunch of spiders into the flashlight.

Yuck. I felt sick. I really did.

I mean, can you imagine-me handling spiders!

But I knew it would be worth it. Soon.

I filled the flashlight with the squirming, black creatures. Then I screwed on the top.

I stepped over a fallen tree trunk. Found the path. And carrying the flashlight carefully, I eagerly hurried to the cabin.

I stopped outside the door. The lights were on inside the cabin.

I peeked in through the open window. No. No sign of anyone.

I crept inside.

I pulled up the blanket on Briana’s bed. Then I emptied half of the spiders onto her sheet. I carefully pulled the blanket over them and smoothed it out.

I was pouring the rest of the spiders into Meg’s bed when I heard a shuffling noise behind me. Quickly, I pulled Meg’s blanket back into place and spun around.

Jan stepped into the cabin. “What’s up?” she asked in her hoarse, croaky voice.

“Nothing,” I replied, hiding the flashlight behind my back.

Jan yawned. “It’s Lights Out in ten minutes,” she said.

I glanced at Briana’s bunk. I’d left one corner of the blanket untucked. Briana won’t notice, I decided.

I realized I was grinning. I quickly changed my expression. I didn’t want Jan asking a lot of questions.

She turned and pulled a long white nightshirt from her dresser drawer. “What did you sign up for tomorrow?” she asked. “Free Swim?”

“No. Canoeing,” I told her.

I wanted to be in a nice, dry canoe. Not flopping around in the dirty lake with fish and other slimy creatures.

“Hey. Me too,” Jan said.

I started to ask if she would be my buddy. But Briana and Meg came strolling through the door.

They saw me-and burst out laughing.

“What was that wild dance you were doing at the campfire?” Briana teased.

“You looked as if you had a snake down your back or something!” Meg declared.

They laughed some more.

That’s okay I thought. Go ahead and laugh.

In a few minutes, when you climb under your covers, I’ll be laughing.

I couldn’t wait.

A few minutes later, Jan turned out the lights. I lay on the hard mattress, staring up at Meg’s mattress above my head, grinning. Waiting…

Waiting…

Meg shifted her weight in the bunk above me.

I heard her gasp.

And then both Briana and Meg began to scream.

I laughed out loud. I couldn’t hold it in.

“It bit me! It bit me!” Briana howled.