Pure and utter hell.

The “Annual Kim Family Camping Trip” is a lie, a scam, the embodiment of

adult manipulation.”It will be enjoyable,” mom said. “You’ll never be able to forget it,” dad urged.

I can only hope the image of Aunt Teresa throwing up on her 2-month-old child encompassing

my brain would be erased. I turned my head towards the window away from the screaming

toddlers, away from the argument that was going to erupt from Aunt Teresa and her boyfriend of

the week, and away from the horrible stench of vomit and body odor. The view beyond the dirty

window was definitely not HD but I could still see the raining sun rays onto the field of poppies;

smiling as I admired the movements of the petals as the breeze passed. Suddenly a loud

piercing scream rang out in my ear, I turned around to see my cousin Angela smiling like a fool.

“Come on Alanis, you're being a buzzkill. Talk to us! Do something!” Angela yanked my arm

while the rest of my cousins continued their ‘I spy’ game. “This is going to be a long trip,” I

thought. 6 hours and two advils later we made it to the camping site, the trip was supposed to

be 3 hours long but Aunt Teresa’s two-decade-old car broke down..twice. Jumping out of the

car, I quickly tried to find reception; I was not going to stay here for a week without internet with

these people. After walking an hour to find reception but to no avail, I sat down on a log.

“Alanis! Help out!” my mom handed me a bunch of sleeping bags to set up. Dragging my feet, I

reluctantly set up the sleeping bags.

“Teresa, have you seen the lanterns we brought? I have no idea where they went,” my mom

asked while searching through the trunk of her car.

“Lisa, did you forget them again? It’s getting dark, you better find them before we spend the

night in the dark,” Aunt Teresa rolled her eyes at my mom. We all stopped working when we

heard a loud “Help me!” followed by a series of creepy giggles. We all looked at one another

confused and a bit horror but somehow I recognized the voice, looking around I tried to find

Angela in the pitch black but she was nowhere to be seen.

“Mom! Where’s Angela?”

“ I think she went to play with the other kids. Why?”

“Didn't that scream sound like Angela’s?” My mom shrugged and continued to look for the

lanterns. Was it nothing? I walked towards my tent but midstep I almost slipped on something,

pulling out my phone and turning on the flashlight I looked down to see a shattered lantern with

words etched into it, “​Looking for this?”​ .

“Mom! Oh my god! MOOOM!” this felt like a horror movie except it wasn't a movie. I sprinted

towards my tent and shot myself into it as quick as I can. I sat down on my sleeping bag trying

to catch my breath,

“Alanis,” a creepy voice whispered into my ear as I felt arms wrap around my waist. My heart

skipped a beat and I began profusely sweating. “This is just a dream, you got to wake up

Alanis,” I thought. I kept chanting and chanting in my head until a heard laughing. Turning

around I saw Angela laughing and slapping her thigh.

“Y-you’re so funny Alanis,” she said amid laughter.

“Was this a prank?” I was relieved it was a prank but mad that she scared me and even more

mad that she saw me like that.

“Oh my god! Wasn't it great? You freaked!”

“No, it wasn’t!”

“Come on. Stop being so pretentious, we both know that it was hilarious,” she said

“Fine, it was a bit funny,” I laughed a little thinking about how I ran towards my tent like such a

wuss. “Maybe this trip won't be that bad,” I thought.