Nighttime Exploration of the Campsite

The rain finally stopped and after being cooped up in the RV for two straight days, jumping at the sounds of falling acorns on the roof, I decided it was time to take advantage and get out and go for a walk.  It was getting dark quickly because of the low cloud cover and the wind had picked up considerably.  This added a chill to the air that I was not quite dressed for as well as some spookiness that comes around Halloween.  With seemingly no one else in the campground, the many RVs throughout the campground took on an eerie presence; all closed up for the season and their owners gone till spring.  I had no qualms walking past them or disturbing anyone.  The campground is completely deserted and the only lights I saw were from passing cars about a half mile away along County Road 8.  

Now, at 7:00, it was pitch dark.  I had my small flashlight with me but could just about see the outline that marked the path of the grassy roadway.  The campground is huge.  In addition to one hundred-fifty RV sites, there were four cabins for rent and tent sites.  At the end of the season, there was nothing and no one around.  I wandered deeper into the rest of the campsite past the playground, the empty, dark country store and wandered into the area of the rustic cabins.  I turned onto a road labeled Brook Road at the opposite end from where I was parked.  Here is where I saw the light.  In a distant cabin, the last one on the road of four cabins, there seemed to be a flickering like that of a candle.  These cabins were so rustic they didn't have electricity.  Why was there a candle burning inside if no one else was here?  With the temperature in the forties, the lack of heat would definitely present a problem for the occupant within....if there indeed was anyone inside.  This cabin on the edge of the campsite could not belong to the owners.  Their residence was near the entrance and country store that also served as the office for registering when you first enter.  I hesitated not wanting to be noticed or startle anyone so I turned off my flashlight and quietly approached the cabin.  

The windows just had screens.  The two day rain allowed me to walk carefully on the wet leaves.  I tread very quietly as I approached the side window of the cabin.  I told myself, I shouldn't be doing this.  It was quite a distance now from my own RV which, in turn, was a distance from anyone else including the office...and there wasn't anyone else around.  When I was close enough, I peeked in from the edge of the opening and was shocked at what I saw.  There, lying on the floor, was a lump, the size of a body, underneath what looked like a rug or a blanket.  This was not good.  I waited and stared to see if there was any movement.  The candle had burned low with just a few minutes left before it would be extinguished.  That lit candle should not have been there.  That bundle of something shouldn't be there.  What do to.  There was no way I was going inside to see what was underneath that blanket or rug.  There was no movement that I could tell from outside the window.  I couldn't call the owners because the number of the campground was on the brochure back at my camper and that would involve another ten minute hike back to my site.  Yet that burning candle made it necessary that I do something.  I tip-toed back to the trail that led me here and walked briskly back to my campsite.  I made a wrong turn and thought I'd get lost but remembered my site was on Mulberry Lane.  I eventually found it and it was late when I got back but called the campground number and got the owner's wife.  I told her my story and she said there was no one registered to be at any of the cabins; that they were all shut down for the season.  She sent her husband on a golf cart to come and pick me up and together I retraced my walk to that secluded cabin on Brook Road.  By cart, I realized just how far it was; further than I thought.

When we arrived at the cabin, it was completely dark.  No candlelight.  We passed other cabins so I knew it was this one, the last one on the road.  We approached the cabin and something I hadn't noticed before...the front door was open.  It wasn't open when I last approached it.  He shined his flashlight around the sides of the cabin and finally inside through the open door.  I followed him in expecting to see the lump in the middle of the floor.  All we saw was a rug laid out flat; the same rug that covered the lump.  I told him to shine the light onto the table where the candle was.  There was no candle and no holder.  To my satisfaction, however, I was able to point out the drops of hardened wax on the floor beside the table.  To satisfy me, the owner went out and around the entire cabin shining the flashlight everywhere and determined nothing was out of the ordinary.  He thanked me for informing them about something not right on the premises as he drove me back to my RV.  I'm sure also that he had his own theories about this guy occupying site B-35.  Something wasn't right.  As he left with his thoughts, I looked at my lonely RV at the end of this very long, dark, road.  The wheels began to turn in my head as I considered and imagined the possible explanations for what I witnessed.  That candle.  That body under the rug.  That open door.  Their disappearance.  It just didn't add up.

Now, with no sounds of rain or acorns dropping on my roof, I'm noticing the silence is now deafening.  I made no noise walking on wet leaves and that's all that surround me tonight.  I think tonight is going to be a very, very long night.