Crocodile Swamp

[April_Rose]

Since it's getting closer to Halloween I thought that I would write another scary story and this one is about a family that unknowingly camps in a cabin in the woods by a haunted swamp.






Chapter One: The Mysterious Stranger




My name is Ella and I'm ten years old. Those are the only things that I remember about myself. As silly as it sounds I don't even remember my parents. Miss James says they were eaten alive by crocodiles, but I don't see how as there aren't any crocodiles where I live. Everybody else at the orphanage think that I'm really strange and creepy.









The only friend I have is my imaginary friend named Chris. He keeps me company by telling me stories all of the time. He says that he died when he was only six years old. He had gone to Camp Willow with his parents and older sister named Lilly and their Jack Russell Terrier that they called Scout. They were staying in a log cabin in the woods.








"Hey Mom, why is it so foggy around here?" Lilly questioned her after she got out of the car and slammed the back door behind her before scooping Scout up inside her arms and the poor little pooch started to whimper.








"I don't know, but it looks like we're out at sea instead of at a campsite." Her father told her while everybody else stepped out of the car and shut their doors behind them. That's when suddenly a man slowly started walking towards them. There was a rather eerie feeling about him as he started emerging from the mist.









He had auburn hair like Lilly's, but his was rather short and his eyes were blue instead of chestnut like hers. (Like Chris's) He was dressed in a white T-shirt and had a black leather vest and matching pants. "Hello, can I help you folks?" He asked them as he came to a stop in front of them.









"That depends, who wants to know?" Lilly wondered as the man suddenly smiled at her.








"Jack. Jack Ripper ironically." He replied with a little chuckle. "But I promise that I'm really nice and I won't try to kill you." He reassured her. "And who might you be?" He asked her.








"I'm Lilly Thrasher." She told him as she slowly reached out her hand to shake his but he just gasped and quickly backed away from her.








"Sorry, but I have OCD and I'm germaphobic." He began. "Anyways, I just have to say that you folks are extraordinarily brave for camping her."






"Why's that?" Chris wondered.








"Why it's haunted of course." Jack told him as everybody just simply looked at him and Lilly gulped.







"What do you mean haunted?" She questioned him.







"Well, the camp isn't really haunted,.. it's the nearby swamp that you have to watch out for. Legend says that the ghosts of pirates and the crocodiles that ate little children that didn't behave inhabit it. That's where it got its name,.. Crocodile Swamp." He explained.







"Okay so if the swamp is haunted then why do we have to worry about camping here?" The children's mother wondered.






"Because there's also another legend. A man supposedly hung himself in this camp. All because of a broken heart." He explained. "He's a friendly ghost though and he isn't going to hurt you,.. but still. Most people are afraid of ghosts no matter whether or not the ghost is friendly." He explained.







"Well umm,.. thank you for all of your help." The children's father told him.







"You're welcome." The mysterious stranger said before slowly turning back around and disappearing into the foggy mist.

 

[April_Rose]

(Hey guys, I apologize for the delay but I've been rather busy these past few days.)





Chapter Two: A True Hero







Once Lilly and Chris had finished unpacking they started playing in the woods together. Scout enjoyed rolling in the mud so he looked more brown (including his brown spots) than white. "Old scout is going to need a bath after all of that rolling around." Chris said with a chuckle but at this Scout let out a rather loud whimper and then started to run away.








"Christopher!" Lilly snapped while placing her hands upon her hips and glaring at him. "You know better than to say the B word in front of the d-o-g." She told him.







"Right, I'm sorry,.. I forgot." Chris admitted.







"It's alright, come on we better find Scout before a bear does or something." Lilly said taking him by the hand before he let out a nervous gulp.







"Or a crocodile." He replied.







"Oh come on Chris you really don't believe that silly story about ghost crocodiles do you?" She questioned him.








"I don't care if they're dead or alive I don't want one eating us or our dog period." He told her before they both started calling for Scout together. "Scout!! Here boy!!" Chris called through his hands while they wandered through the woods side by side.








"I wonder where that silly dog could have gotten to." Lilly said as Chris gulped again as they came to a stop and he started looking around and viewing his surroundings.









"Umm,.. Lilly,.. we're in the swamp." He told her.








"Oh Christopher you worry too much nothing bad is going to happen." She told him but as soon as the words escaped her lips a long black snake slithered towards them and with a great big angry hiss grabbed onto Lilly by her ankle and bit down hard sinking its fangs into them.








"Lilly!!" Chris hollered and that's when suddenly out of nowhere Scout reappeared barking and snarling and after sinking his teeth into the snake and tossing him around in his mouth several times the snake died and Chris started helping Lilly back to camp just as it had been starting to get dark.







"There you children are! You had me worried sick you know that!?" Their mother scolded.








"I'm sorry Mommy, we were only playing but we wandered too far away and wound up in the swamp and then a snake bit Lilly." Chris explained.







"Well that's what you get for wandering off you could have gotten lost. Technically you shouldn't be moving her but I know that you had to come back here so I'll go ahead and clean her up and take care of her. Sit down and don't move otherwise the poison will spread more." Their father told them and Lilly did what she was told.








"You know Scout's a hero he saved us by killing the snake." Chris explained as his father grinned down at Scout and scratched him behind the ears.








"Well in that case good dog Scout good boy." He told him as Scout wagged his tail and then let out an excited bark.









Later on Lilly started drifting off to sleep underneath the stars while Chris started getting ready for bed. His mother read him a bedtime story and then kissed him goodnight and tucked him in. Little did he know, the true horror of Crocodile Swamp hadn't even begun.

 

[mindlight]

Interesting concept a swamp that epitomises the fears of children, of man eating crocodiles or ghosts. All woven into a patchwork of feelings, foibles and responses to the invisible and visible world. Got to ask why the parents took them to the edge of the vortex in the first place. Or are the eyes of parents simply blind and their ears closed to what children see faster and hear more clearly