Campfire

By Pier Maria Colombo

It was a nice sunny Saturday and Lucas, Emily, and James went to camp overnight in the picturesque woods right by their little town. They rode their bikes out and found the perfect camping spot. The two twelve-year-old boys and the thirteen-year-old girl built a fire, and spent the evening telling scary stories. Then, in the pleasant Sunday morning, they wake up refreshed and ready for more exploration. Strangely enough, the forest is silent. No birds, no bugs, not even the rare fox. It's eerie and unnerving, so they decide to cut their expedition short. But there's no one anywhere, not even back in town. They don't know what to expect, but they surely would never have expected that a time-traveling being from the future needs their help. Will they manage to recover the ancient device he needs, or will the timeline fall into disorder?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Seagull Editions
• Release date: May 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223122425

Book preview

1: Forest

"You know how, when you wake up from a deep sleep where you can’t remember your dreams, sometimes you can’t move? When you feel your body tingling, and you look up the ceiling at the moving lights from the cars passing by, and you can’t move a finger? It’s terrifying, isn’t it?

"What’s worse is that sometimes, you’re not completely awake, you’re still half dreaming. You might hear something, almost hear it, like you are imagining it. But you’re not imagining it, and you know it. It’s there, isn’t it? And you can almost, almost see something right there, at the edge of your vision. But you can’t move your head around to see better. You’re still frozen, your body’s tingling, and you can’t move.

"Sometimes, a few minutes pass, and you can finally move again. That feeling goes away, and you grab your phone and look at funny videos. You forget about it. It was a dream after all, right?

"But other times, a few, very rare times, that moment stretches for ages. You lie there, unable to move, looking up at your dark ceiling light. And that shadow at the edge of your vision, it moves. Only barely, slightly. You never catch it moving. But every time you focus on it, it seems closer.

"Must be the sheet, you think. Or the dog. Or a million other things. A bird on the window. A ball you didn’t put away like your mom told you to. Or there’s a breeze from the window making your backpack move.

"There’s no sound, though. You don’t move, so your sheet shouldn’t move. Your dog would breathe, you’d hear him. A bird wouldn’t move so slowly, you’ve seen how they flutter, all nervous. The ball would just roll away, and the breeze would have thrown the bag right down.

"Until it’s right by your bed. That’s when you hear the sound. It’s a sound you never expected it to have. It’s a whine, like Emily’s little sister makes when she doesn’t have her pacifier. And then, you see it getting on the bed. You can’t see how, it’s barely out of your vision. You don’t feel any feet, it moves like a spider, quiet and soft.

"You can’t understand how much time has passed. You can’t see the clock on your bedside table, the old one that still uses batteries. It’s still dark out, even though you’re sure hours must have passed.

"It’s on the bed, now. It has reached over your covers and is coming towards you. Why? What does it want?

"As the shape grows larger, still barely out of sight, you feel tired. Maybe the nightmare is about to end, and you’ll wake up in the morning, the smell of your mother’s pancakes coming from the kitchen. You’ll fall back asleep, dream pretty dreams, and wake up refreshed.

"It’s that point, though, that it uses. They call it the ‘threshold’ between sleep and being awake. It’s a door, some say. And it can use that door.

So, as you fall slowly deeper into sleep... Lucas said, his voice fading, as he held onto the branch. They had been sitting on a fallen log, he and Emily, and James on the fold-out chair he had brought, right on the other side of the little bonfire they had lit. The branch Lucas had found on the other side of the log was just long enough to reach to Emily on the other end.

It... Lucas continued, then lifted the branch suddenly, tapping Emily on her back, who had been completely absorbed by his story. Attacks!

Eeek! Emily screamed, her high-pitched shriek breaking through the silent forest. She jumped up and away from the log she was sitting on, violently shaking her hands around to push the imaginary enemy away. Lucas fell back over the log, laughing so hard he was tearing up. He held onto his stomach as he kept laughing. James also burst out laughing, almost falling over himself.

Emily stopped her shrieks and mad movements and stared at the two boys in a mix between anger and embarrassment. James had seen Lucas picking up the branch and had been preparing for the eventual prank, and his laughter was the first to die down. He looked at his feet in embarrassment as the girl put her hands on her hips, looking at them furiously.

James stood up and dusted himself off. He stood his ground against the girl’s glare and smiled. You gotta recognize that it was funny, Em, he said.

It wasn’t funny for me, so it wasn’t funny, period. It was mean, Emily replied. Was the story even based on anything, or was it just a setup for your silly prank?

No, it was something I read, Lucas said quickly. Look, sorry for scaring you. I didn’t think you’d be angry. I saw the branch and thought it would be funny, that’s all. Are we good, Em?

Sure, Lu, Emily sighed. We’re good. Just think how others will be affected before you do something in the future.

A moment of awkward silence passed as the three kids wallowed in their emotions, then Emily tried to shake it off. She looked at the dying embers of their little fire. We need more wood.

I’ll go, Lucas said quickly. He wanted to make it up to her somehow. I’ll look around for small branches.

Make sure they’re dry, and don’t cut from the trees, James said. If they’re still fresh, they’ll release too much smoke.

We would get into trouble if we go too deep into the forest, Emily added, so don’t go too far.

I, uh... OK, said Lucas. He was starting to regret going alone. He’d have no one to talk to. Without saying anything more, he took out his flashlight from the backpack he had brought and walked off.

The forest they were in that surrounded their city was made of tall trees with foliage so thick that blocked the sun. It was night, though, and no light filtered through from the stars or the moon. Lu’s flashlight helped him avoid the thicker undergrowth and navigate the surrounding forest. He kept their little campfire in view so that he wouldn’t get lost, though he did have his phone with him.

His parents had argued that him being twelve meant he didn’t yet need a phone, but as he liked to explore the woods and their city, they had eventually relented. Lucas knew that half the reason they did it was so they could see where he was at all times, but that didn’t bother him. He knew that he wouldn’t get lost, at least, since the three friends had all shared their location with each other.

There were many branches scattered on the forest floor. Lucas tried to find the driest ones by touch and smell.

Back in their campsite, James and Emily exchanged a look. James had been feeling the effects of their biking to the edge of the town and then their trek up to where they had set up their camping spot for a few minutes now. His eyelids were growing