“I’d help you clean up, but the guys want to have a meeting,” Rachel said when she came into the kitchen.
“That’s okay, Rachel. You’re not supposed to be working for me. You guys have your own stuff to do, but I do appreciate everything you’ve done for me.”
“I like helping out here. It’s nice to have another woman around too. I spend most of my time with the guys, and while I love them, it’s a bit much sometimes. Anyway, I’ll come find you when we’re done with our meeting.”
Sammy finished up the dishes and changed Oatis’s cage. By the time she was done with those chores, Rachel had come back.
“The guys wanted to leave, but I talked them into staying tonight.”
“Thanks,” Sammy said. “I do need the money. Plus, I’m not sure I want to be alone here tonight.”
“You know, it’s going to be all over the internet that a guy died here on your first night. Your reservations will go through the roof. You should raise your prices.”
“You really think I should?” Sammy asked.
“Oh yeah. Do it now, and then let’s go out for a while. The guys want to go see some other allegedly haunted sights. Do you know any urban legend spots around town?”
“I think I know a place,” Sammy said. “Let me get online and raise my prices, and then we’ll go.”
There was one spot in town that Sammy had been terrified of ever since she was a kid. She’d almost forgotten about it until Rachel brought up the subject.
Taking The Boo Crew there was the least she could do after they’d endured a death at the bed-and-breakfast. “I’m assuming you all have good hiking boots or something appropriate for trail walking. Wear long pants too. I haven’t been to the location for years, and for all I know, the paths could be grown over with the spikey weeds that are legion around here,” Sammy said.
Everyone went upstairs to change into hike-friendly clothing, and while she was upstairs, Sammy tried not to look at the doorway where Zach had laid dead earlier that day. Once she was dressed in boots and jeans, Sammy flipped open her laptop. She felt slimy doing it, but she made the price of the room where Zach died the highest. It was just business she told herself.
Jim had the biggest vehicle, of course, so everyone filed into his Cadillac Escalade ESV. When they were getting in, Jim patted the hood and called it his baby. Rachel rolled her eyes, but Jim didn’t see. Sammy did begin to pick up on the fact that Rachel might have been protesting too much. There was an energy that passed between the two of them, and it wasn’t as hostile as Samantha had originally thought. Elliot, on the other hand, glared daggers through Jim’s head.
“Calm down, bro,” Jim said to Elliot. “I know you’re jealous of my whip, but it’s okay. Someday you’ll be able to afford a grown-up car.”
Elliot turned away quickly, but Sammy saw him blush. He mumbled some obscenities under his breath but never responded to Jim.
“Can it, Jim,” Rachel chastised.
“Sorry, Elliot. You know I’m just kidding, right? I respect the fact that you’re trying to reduce your carbon handprint or whatever. Your hybrid is kinda sharp, and I hope if you ever buy one of those Tesla’s, you’ll let me drive it.”
“It’s cool, man. I know you’re just messin’ around.”
With that, they all buckled up and drove off. Sammy thought the dynamic was interesting. Jim and Elliot were both in love with Rachel, and it was becoming clear that Rachel still had feelings for Jim. Elliot was clearly in the brother zone, but he hadn’t given up hope. Poor Elliot. He had no chance.
Sammy gave Jim directions to the location. The SUV crunched over the gravel of the practically abandoned trail’s parking area.
“What is this place?” Rachel asked. “I know you said it would be a surprise, but now we’re here. Spill it, Sammy,” Rachel said and poked Sammy playfully in the ribs.
“It used to be a popular hiking trail, but there were some murders back in the 90’s. After that, people stopped using it, and eventually the park district cut it out of the budget. So, be prepared for the disrepair. What’s at the end of the trail, I’ll let you discover when we get there,” Sammy said.
“How far is it?” Jeremy asked.
“As far as I remember, I think it’s around three miles. I haven’t walked the trail since I was a teenager, though,” Sammy replied.
“Let’s do this,” Rachel said enthusiastically. “Eliot, you take readings. Lance, make sure you film the whole thing. You too, Jeremy, and you should get some b-roll when you can.”
The first thing Sammy noticed as they walked the first few hundred feet of the trail was how quiet the surroundings were. You’d expect to hear birds singing, insects buzzing, or animals off in the distance, but the forest around the group was completely silent. Even the sounds of their footfalls were absorbed into the soft dirt below.
Once they were well on the trail, the light fell to the point that it almost looked like dusk, but that was impossible. It was early afternoon. Sammy looked up, and dark clouds had rolled in above.
“Should we go back? It looks like rain,” Sammy said.
“Not a chance,” Rachel answered. “I have to know what’s at the end of this trail.”
“I can just tell you,” Sammy said. “Are you sure it’s worth getting soaked.”
“It might not even rain,” Jim said, and he picked up the pace.
Thunder crashed in the distance, but it was obvious that any storm was far away at that point. An uncomfortable feeling crept up Sammy’s spine. There was a reason she’d never come back to this place after the last time, but she’d let herself get caught up in pleasing her guests.
“I can see a clearing,” Elliot said. “The trees break up ahead.”
“I thought you said this trail was several miles long?” Rachel seemed confused. “Were we walking that fast?”
“My GPS says we’ve gone just under four miles,” Jeremy offered. “We’ve been walking for a little over an hour.”
“Huh,” Rachel said. “It feels like it’s been minutes.”
They’d all lost time. As they neared the end of the trail, a large wood sign with brown letters burnt into it loomed above them.
“Camp Pine Grove,” Jim said as he craned his neck to look up at it. “It’s an old summer camp?” he asked.
“Yeah, and before that, it was a poor farm,” Lance interjected. “Sorry,” he said sheepishly when everyone whirled around to look at him. Lance held up his phone. “Google.”
“A poor farm?” Rachel asked and cocked her head to the side.
“It’s a place where the local government took care of the sick and disabled people who couldn’t afford regular care. Sometimes they took in indigent people who weren’t sick as well.”
“Most of the people who lived here when it was a poor farm were mentally ill,” Sammy said flatly. “They kept them out here so that they didn’t bother the good people in town. It was shut down in the 60’s. Rather than let the place go to waste, someone turned it into a summer camp. It already had the facilities needed.”
“That’s kinda messed up,” Elliot whispered. “So the summer camp cabins are the same ones they used to house the mental patients? Or did they tear down the original building and build the cabins.”
“They slapped a coat of paint on them and called it good,” Sammy said. “So, you guys want to go check it out.”
Samantha watched them all as they stood at the trailhead and stared into the camp. She’d figured they’d have been excited to find a place like that, and it wasn’t something you could find a lot of information about on the net. Lance must have had some excellent research skills, or it had been because he had a specific name and location to look into.
They were all motionless and it almost looked like they were afraid to step over the threshold. Sammy had to admit that Camp Pine Grove did have a creepy vibe, but she was far less nervous about entering than she’d expected.
“Are we going to get busted for trespas
sing?” Elliot asked.
“I mean, I guess technically we could, but it’s highly doubtful. No one comes out here. The cops haven’t needed to patrol it since I was a teenager, and there’s no one that lives close enough who would call them.”
“You would think that this place would draw teenagers in like a moth to a flame,” Rachel said. “How on earth is Camp Pine Grove not a haven for drunken parties and also completely vandalized? It looks like we just stepped back in time.”
“No one younger than me knows about this place. The murders in the 90’s weren’t the last deaths. People stopped talking about the camp in the hopes that kids would stop coming out here and turning up dead. Other than that, it seems that Pine Grove sorta takes care of itself,” Sammy said matter-of-factly.
“What does that mean?” Jim actually whined a little. It was clear that the old summer camp freaked The Boo Crew out a bit.
“Well, look at it,” Sammy said and swept her hand across their view like a spokesmodel. “The grass is a little long, but it’s not overgrown the way you’d expect. It looks like the last campers left a week ago, not decades ago. Come on, let’s go check it out. I’m sure you guys will get a lot of good stuff here.”
“It is creepy,” Rachel said with fascination. “Okay, I’m in. Besides, what’s the worst that could happen? It’s broad daylight. I mean, other than the clouds.”
That time, Rachel led the way and the others followed. Her enthusiasm would not be dulled by the all-consuming feeling of dread that punched each of them in the stomach as soon as they stepped onto the grounds.
“Can you feel that?” Elliot asked. “There must be some sort of magnetic thing here.”
“Or it could be the storm. You know that storms can produce inaudible sounds that arouse a feeling of dread. They use those vibrations during horror movies to make people more afraid.” Jeremy said.
“Well, then we need to start filming now, guys,” Rachel said authoritatively. “Everybody put your game face on. We need to make the most of this. Sammy, I hope you don’t mind being on camera. We can always edit you out later if you decide you don’t want to be part of the episode.”
“We don’t have a script for this.” Jim still sounded like a frightened child.
“You’ll be fine. I know you can do it,” Rachel said. She patted him reassuringly on the back. “Lance, you follow me and Sammy. Jeremy, you go with Jim. Elliot, you should find a quiet place and get some EVP.”
With that, they split up. Jim and Jeremy walked off to the left, toward some cabins that skirted the tree line. Elliot moved quickly through the center of the camp. Sammy knew that if he went all the way to the other side, he’d find a rec center. If Elliot kept walking beyond that, there was a small cemetery that dated back to the poor farm. She doubted he would find that because it was in the woods and there was no path to it because the people who ran the summer camp didn’t want campers messing around in it.
“Where should we go?” Rachel asked Sammy once the others had gone their own way.
“There’s a particular cabin where we might pick up some activity,” Sammy said quietly.
“Okay,” Rachel said. “Lead the way.”
Sammy started walking in the direction of the cabin that had just torn its way back into her memory. What had happened there all those years ago had almost been forgotten. A decade had elapsed between her and the memory, but it had been long enough that the images had been wholly suppressed.
She’d pushed it down so deep, but somehow what had happened that day had forced itself back into the light. If the video of the incident hadn’t shown Sammy screaming for the other girls to stop and then running off to get help, she probably would have landed in jail with the rest of her friends. Her parents’ money and a sealed juvenile record was all that had kept her from having to pay for the pain they’d cause Tabitha Murphy and her family.
“Is this it?” Rachel asked when they came to a stop in front of one of the cabins near the back of the campground. From there, they could see the rec building and Elliot walking around.
“Yeah, this is the one. We should go in.”
Sammy felt it creep up. It was that old, familiar feeling of anticipation. She’d been afraid of it when she was younger, but now it felt a great deal more comfortable.
“What happened here?” Lance asked. He pointed his camera at Sammy instead of Rachel.
“A girl died. At least, that’s what happened here that I knew of. Who knows how many people died in this building when the camp was a poor farm.”
“A girl died,” Rachel said. “In here?”
“Yeah. A group of teenage girls from my school got her drunk, tied her up, stuffed her in the trunk of one of their cars, and brought her here. They said she had to pay.” Sammy said.
“Pay for what?” Rachel prompted.
“Tabitha was beautiful, but she was quiet and kind of weird. The rumor was that her mother was a witch and she was too. Unfortunately for Tabitha, one of the football players took an interest in her. That was something that was not allowed. Football players were for cheerleaders only. Some people said the guy put the girls up to it rather than lose face over being interested in the school weird chick. The police never even questioned him, though. The football coach intervened on his behalf. You know how those things go.”
“What did they do to her?” Lance swallowed hard.
“Back then, there was more of the old furniture from the camp still lying around,” Sammy said. “The girls tied Tabitha to a chair. At first, they just slapped her and pulled her hair. But then, the ringleader of the little gang, Hannah, told the other girls to go find a switch. Hannah was the head cheerleader, and everyone that came with her that day was one of her pathetic minions. They did exactly what she said because they couldn’t face the idea of being unpopular.
“At first, they just hit her legs and arms with the sticks, but eventually, Hannah lost it. That girl had rage in her. She beat Tabitha until her face was unrecognizable. One of the girls ran off at that point to get help. Hannah sent her minions after the girl, but she was All-State track and the others couldn’t catch her.
“Worried that they would get caught, Hannah decided the only thing they could do was kill Tabitha and get rid of the evidence. They dragged the chair she was tied to outside and doused her with gasoline. By the time help arrived, the cheerleaders had already burned Tabitha and buried her smoldering bones. Hannah claimed that she panicked and only killed Tabitha because she was afraid she’d get caught. She swore up and down that the killing wasn’t premeditated.
“Her lawyer told the court that Hannah and the other cheerleaders had only meant to scare Tabitha Murphy, and perhaps slap her around a little bit. The problem was that Hannah had the gas can and matches in her trunk already. Some people said that those items were just a part of an emergency kit that her dad had put together for her. In fact, Hannah’s father testified that he’d done just that, but the jury didn’t buy it. They did believe that the other girls hadn’t known about Hannah’s plans and just got caught up in hysterics. So Hannah was the only one convicted of first-degree murder. The others got lesser charges.”
“What about the one who went for help?” Rachel asked.
“She got mandatory counseling and community service. Her record was sealed.”
Rachel looked like she was about to say something else, but Lance cut her off. “Do you guys smell smoke?”
“Stop messing around, Lance. That’s not funny,” Rachel said.
“I’m not kidding,” he retorted.
“Wait, I smell it too,” Sammy said.
“Oh, you’re right,” Rachel said. “I want to go back outside.”
The three of them filed out of the cabin. They saw Elliot off in the distance. When he noticed them looking at him, he waved at them as if he wanted them to join him.
“Come here, guys!” he called. “I found something.”
“What could he have found?” Rachel asked. “Let’s
go see.”
“I’d guess it’s the poor farm cemetery. It’s back there in the woods,” Sammy said.
“There’s a cemetery here too? An old one?” The notion had obviously piqued Rachel’s interest. “Let’s go check it out.” Her fear from the cabin had completely dissipated.
They walked quickly over to where Elliot stood. Jim and Jeremy had heard him too, so they joined the group as well.
“You’ve got us all here. What did you find?” Jim asked.
“Did you know about this?” Elliot asked Sammy directly.
In fact, she had. It wasn’t something she thought about often. Her parents had gone to great lengths to hide that part of their past. They had money and status, but they were only the second generation of the family to have wealth.
Elliot brushed back some of the tall plants that surrounded a tombstone. Everyone in the group except Elliot and Sammy gasped. The name on the stone:
Samantha Hainsley
“It’s my great-grandmother,” Samantha said. “She ended up here after my great-grandfather died and none of her children would take her in.”
“The headstone is far more ornate than I would expect in what could be considered a pauper’s cemetery,” Elliot said. “It looks newer too.”
“None of the people who were buried here originally had headstones. Some of the families added one later. No one in my family will admit who put it here, and the headstone company said that the request came in anonymously and was paid in cash. That’s how the story goes, anyway. It all happened back before Pine Grove became a summer camp.”
“This place is creepy. That’s for sure,” Lance said.
“Yeah, I think I’ve got some good stuff here,” Elliot said. “But I need to get back to the inn so I can use my equipment to analyze these recordings.”
“You guys want to go?” Rachel asked.
“Yeah,” Jim said. “They said they got some good recordings. Let’s get out of here.”
Dark Ends: A Horror Collection Page 35
