July 30, 2016 1 am
Dear Diary,
I knew what I had to do.
I could not let the ranger come back and endanger my family. He actually had the nerve to come to the tent
where my brothers and sisters were staying.
I needed to get him away from the family.
Luckily, the storm passed quickly. My dad told me to stay in the tent but this
was something I had to do. I quietly got
up, grabbed my knapsack and snuck out of the tent. The moon was now out and I could actually see
without a flashlight. I knew where the
ranger station was and headed that way.
I wasn’t sure what I would do when I got there, but I could not let him
near my family again.
There was a light in the small house, or should I say ranger
station? I knocked on the door and
waited as I heard the footsteps coming to answer my knock. I didn’t know what I was going to say. The door opened and to my surprise it was a
different ranger.
“Yes, may I help you?”
“I am here to talk with the other ranger. Could you get him please?”
“Sorry, but I am the only ranger here.”
“When will the other one get back?”
“You misunderstand. I am the only ranger. There is no other ranger at this site.”
I now knew for sure that what I was afraid of was actually
true. That thing had come back with me
and was determined to take me back again to where I had been.
“Why do you think there is another ranger?”
“I am so sorry; this has been a terrible mistake. I should never have bothered you.”
“Hold on a minute. I
can see that you are very upset and that something is really wrong. Please tell me what it is and maybe I can
help.”
“You can’t help. You
would never believe what I told you. I
really have to go.”
“I will believe what you tell me and I will help.”
“How can you say that?
You have no idea how crazy what I have to say is.”
“Tell me, does it have anything to do with the stream?”
He could tell by the look on my face that he was right!
“Please, come inside and sit down. I will tell you why I will believe you.”
It looked like he had tears in his eyes. Maybe it was the light but he really did look
sad.
“Okay, but I can’t stay long as my parents do not know I
left the campsite.”
We sat down and he looked at me and said, “I had a son about
your age. Twelve years ago we came here
camping with some other families. My son
was the oldest and pretty responsible.
The other families had six kids altogether. I offered my son’s services to watch the kids
for a couple of hours each afternoon to give the adults some time to do other
things. On the third day, my son came to
me and said there were some weird things happening down by the stream. He said he did not feel comfortable taking
the kids there anymore.
The stream is not that big and it isn’t really very
deep. Even the smallest kid could stand
at the deepest point and walk out without a problem.
I asked him what he meant by strange things. He said that he tied the tube we gave him to
a tree and the kids would all get on and float down a little ways. He would then pull the rope and they would
come back up and do it all over again.
He said that one time it felt like someone was holding on to the tube as
he tried to pull it back. He said
another time the stream started to rush really hard and one of the kids started
to go downstream. He caught him and was
able to drag him out of the water but thought he saw something in the
water. Finally, he said one time half of
the tube disappeared and he really had to pull to get the tube back. He said again, ‘I am not going to take the
kids there anymore. Something is wrong’.
Well you can imagine what I said. I told him that was the most ridiculous story
he had ever told. He was really good at
making up stories, but this one was one of his best. I also told him if he had come to me and said
he did not want to watch the other kids anymore, I would have said ‘okay’ and
figured out another plan. But, since he
created this lie, he would be watching the kids tomorrow and they would be
going down to the stream. He tried to
explain it wasn’t a story but I knew better.
Finally, I said I would not listen to any more, and sent him to bed.
The next day he tried again to get out of it, but he finally
did as I instructed and took the kids down to the stream to play for a couple
of hours.
That was the last time I saw my boy.” (This time I could see
his eyes were filled with tears. His voice was shaky as he told more.) “When he didn’t come back with the kids, we
went down to see what they were doing.
There was no sign of them, no sign of the tube and no one saw what
happened to them.
I looked for my boy for the rest of the summer and had no
luck. I quit my job and became a ranger.
Eleven years ago I got them to let me be the ranger for Katahdin Stream
Campground. I have been here ever since.
So, yes I will believe you and I will do everything I can to
help you. But, you have to tell me what
happened.”
I looked at the ranger and said, “I know where your son
is. I know where the other children are
as well.”
I actually knew it was his son. He had somehow gotten out of the water with
the kids. When he left the campsite, he
was going to the kids. He kept them out
of sight in case I was a threat to them.
That is why he couldn’t leave. He
couldn’t take them with him and he wasn’t leaving them alone. I think he planned all along to get me home
by jumping back in the water and going back to the kids.
“What do you mean?
How can you possibly know where my son is?”
I then told him the whole story and pulled my diary out of
my knapsack. You need to read this. I wrote some in the beginning and some at the
end, but I did not write what is in-between.
He opened the diary and started to read. A couple of pages in to the diary he gasped!
“This is my son’s handwriting! I would recognize it
anywhere. He always kept a diary.”
BAM, BAM, BAM! “OPEN
UP NOW!”
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