My name is Ellen, but everyone calls me Ella. I'm 11 years old and right now I'm at camp. There are 3 other girls in my platform tent. Their names are Emerald, Bo, and Luna. Emerald and Bo are pretty normal, but Luna is really starting to freak me out. She was normal yesterday when we got here, but she's really weird at night.
I should probably tell you how she is during the day so you know how different she is at night. She likes horses (obviously because we are at a horse camp). She also likes stargazing and the moon. She told me all about the moon actually. She said her name is another word for the moon, which is why she likes it so much. She also told me that the moon has powers and the different fazes show you how strong the powers are each night. I don't know if I believe her, but I liked playing Mafia with her and the other girls so I ignored it.
The first night was a little scary. I’m always a little scared on the first night of camp, even though I have been to 2 other ones in my life. I guess there are some things you can't grow out of. I snuck my phone into the tent, even though I'm not supposed to have it at camp. (Please don't tell anybody, I don't want to get in trouble.) I only use it inside my sleeping bag so nobody is bothered by the light. It helps me feel less scared. Anyway, I was using my phone in my sleeping bag and started to get really hot so I turned it off and opened my sleeping bag. I could see a little bit, thanks to Bo's battery nightlight. I looked around the tent and saw that everyone else was asleep. Or so I thought. I saw a shape on the floor in the back corner of the tent. I was scared it was an animal because platform tents have little gaps between the floor and the fabric walls. They are up on stilts, but some animals could probably get in anyway if they know how to climb. Thankfully, the shape I saw was not an animal. Unthankfully, it was Luna.
I don’t actually know what she was doing out of her bed, but I think she was looking for her flashlight so she could go to the bathroom. I stayed quiet and pretended to be asleep, but I kept listening to her move around. After a little bit, she stood up and left the tent without her buddy! I didn’t know what to do so I just stayed put and waited for her to come back. I guess I fell asleep because the next thing I knew it was morning. But Luna was not back yet.
Emerald and Bo were already awake but they said they didn't know where she was either. We all got dressed and went outside to the picnic tables where our counselors (their camp names are Husky and Ghost) were waiting for us. I looked around at all the other girls coming out of their platform tents, but I didn’t see Luna anywhere. Emerald went right up to the counselors and told them that Luna was missing. Husky and Ghost looked surprised and asked her something I couldn’t hear. Then Ghost asked me if I knew where Luna was. I said no. She asked if I had seen her go anywhere recently and I told her the truth, about her leaving the tent last night without a buddy. Shark looked even more worried after I told her. She went to tell Husky and they talked to each other for a while.
After that we had a regular day at camp. Just without Luna. Bo is my buddy but Emerald’s buddy is supposed to be Luna. Obviously that was a problem for her. Thankfully another platform tent had an uneven number of girls in it so she buddied up with one of them. I felt kinda bad about the whole thing. I thought maybe I should have let Luna know that I was awake so I could be her substitute buddy to go to the bathroom with. But I didn’t do that. And now she was missing. But I didn’t have to feel bad for long because around lunchtime Luna was found! Hooray! I asked her where she had gone but she said she didn’t remember. She just said her head hurt.
Luna acted normal for the rest of the day but then when it was getting dark she started acting weird. We were walking to dinner on a trail when she suddenly stopped. She was right in front of me so I accidentally ran into her. Emerald and Bo also stopped and asked her what happened but Luna didn't say anything. She just stared ahead. I don't know what she was looking at. We finally got her to move but she didn't talk or look at us. She didn't sing taps at the flag ceremony and when we got dinner she didn't eat any of it.
I'm in my sleeping bag writing this here because I can't sleep with her sitting up in bed like that. She's still just staring off into space and sometimes turns her head and it's really freaking me out. I'll tell you if anything else happens. But I hope not.
Update
Luna got up and went outside again. This time I followed her. I tried to get her attention but she didn't seem to notice me, just like before. I was scared because I don't like being outside at night. I grabbed Bo's nightlight before leaving but it wasn't doing much. I heard noises in the woods. They were probably just bunnies or deer, but some of it sounded like whispering. I thought I saw someone standing behind a tree but when I looked nobody was there.
Luna turned suddenly and walked into the woods. She wasn't even on a trail! She just stepped over a bush and went in! I really didn't want to follow her there so I didn't. Instead I ran to the counselor cabin and banged on the door. Ghost opened the door and asked me what happened. I told her and pointed to where I thought Luna had gone and she ran off in that direction. Husky also woke up and took me back to my tent. She told me that I did good by telling them what happened and that made me feel better.
I can hear Husky talking to someone on her walkie-talkie, it's probably Ghost or the rangers that take ca
I hear screaming. I don't know who.
The screaming stopped. But Husky is still yelling into the walkie-talkie. Or maybe the rangers are here. I can hear a lot of voices outside. I can't tell what any of them are saying. Bo is awake now and I think other girls in other tents are too. I'm scared. I'll update later.
Update
Luna was found in the woods last night by the rangers. She is ok and was acting normal again. Ghost is still missing. Nobody knows where she went. We have a replacement counselor now named Clover. Husky seemed worried but still took us to activities. Word got around pretty quickly, even other units knew what happened. Luna got the most questions at meal times but Bo, Emerald, and I were also getting questions about it. I didn’t know how to answer any of them, especially the ones about the screaming I heard.
Luna is sleeping in the infirmary tonight, just so people can keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't “sleepwalk” again. I don't think she's sleepwalking because she never actually went to sleep. But they didn't ask me. I'm just glad she's not here tonight. Nighttime is scary enough on its own, without some freaky girl staring at you or wandering off into the woods. Hopefully she sleeps there for the rest of the week. I don't want to be around her anymore. This should be my last post. Thanks for listening.
Update
There's more screaming! I don't know why! It's more than last time! I'm scared, I don't know what to do!
I tried to call my mom but she didn't answer. I think she's asleep.
It finally stopped. I don't know what's going on but I'm going to try to go to sleep. I don't know what else to do.
Update
A lot has happened. I'm alone in the woods, it's dark. I don't know where I am anymore. I did manage to fall asleep for a little bit after the screaming stopped but I was woken up again by some banging across the tent from me.
I looked over and someone was on top of Emerald, holding her down. Bo woke up too and threw her nightlight at the intruder. The light landed on the bed next to Emerald and I could see that it was Luna holding her down. She was holding something thin. I didn’t see what it was but she stabbed it into the side of Emerald's head. Emerald stopped moving, Bo screamed, Luna turned and looked at me. I turned my phone flashlight on her to blind her but she didn't react at all. She lunged at me but I rolled off my bed and onto the floor. I landed on my back and my arm fell between the fabric walls and the floor. I could feel the open air.
Luna looked over the edge of the bed at me. Bo was still screaming and I saw a water bottle fly at Luna's head. It hit her hard and for once she stopped what she was doing. She looked at Bo instead and started to move towards her. Bo is a small girl, and even more afraid of the dark than me. She's younger than all of us and I knew she wouldn't stand a chance against crazy Luna. I reached up, grabbed Luna's shirt and rolled out of the tent, dragging her down with me.
Luna hit the edge of the floor hard before falling with me onto the dirt below. I grabbed my phone for the flashlight, got up, and ran away into the woods behind the tent. I looked behind and saw her running after me a ways back. She had a stripe of blood across her face but the same blank stare. I thought I could hide if I turned the light off. So I spotted a big tree up ahead and when I got near it I covered the light with my hand. I kept my eyes on where I thought the tree was and ducked behind it quickly.
Unluckily, Luna had not been fooled. She turned around the tree as soon as she got to it and tackled me to the ground. I dropped my phone and the light shone up into the trees. Luna raised her arm up and I could see the object she was holding. It was a long thin piece of metal, it looked like a needle.
Luna put her knee on my stomach and her other hand on my face and tried to turn my head to the side like she had with Emerald. Something dripped on my face, I think it was her blood. I grabbed her knee with both hands and kicked her in the chest. She fell backwards and landed on her back. I kept pulling her leg and held her body in place with my legs so she couldn't get up again. She struggled against me so I pulled harder and harder until I heard a wet sounding pop and felt her leg suddenly get a little longer. Luna screamed, louder than any of the others I had heard. She wasn't trying to get up anymore so I let go, grabbed my phone, and started running again.
Luna's crying and screaming got further away while I ran. I was also crying but I didn’t stop running until I couldn't hear her anymore. I stopped a little bit ago and I'm hiding somewhere in the woods. I tried again to call my mom but there is no service out here. I don't think I'll even be able to post this. I'm so scared, I don't know what to do. I want to go home. I hope Bo went to get help. I hope someone finds me. I hope the sun comes up soon.
I hear something moving in the woods. Like walking. I'm scared it's an animal or Luna so I'm staying hidden.
I saw someone walking around. But I stayed hidden. I'm glad I did because I don't think it was a person. I don't know what it was. I was afraid it was Luna because it was around her size. But its head was too big and I think I broke Luna's leg so she would've been limping, and this thing was not. I'm afraid to use my phone anymore because the light might give away my hiding spot. I'm going to try to post this but I don't think it will go through. I hope this is all a nightmare. I hope none of this is real. I hope Bo got help.
I'll update this as soon as I get to safety.