Just as I wanted, I sat on the front steps of the station's staircase and thought about the disappearance of Ranger Kate's child. It was so bizarre. Come on, you have to agree with me. Thinking would've been a lot better for me if there weren't any bugs around. I remember they would not leave me alone. The entire time I sat on the steps, they whined by my ears and caused me to lose concentration. Seriously, what was with this? Yeah, I'm a bug magnet and all, but am I seriously this magnetic? Dad had blackmailed my soul. I knew he did. I couldn't think. Not with all those bugs around. While I sat and dealt with them, I thought about the mystery. I thought about Ranger Kate, her son, and connected the pieces.
"Hm," I elucidated to myself, "The disappearance of her son may be the very reason why she's so depressed. He's been missing for years?" I shivered, "Yikes. Years she said, but how many years?" How could a child go missing for years? How? This case was serious, but it wasn't anything Detective Kylie Juniper couldn't solve.
I heard the ranger station's door open behind me, and before I knew it, Uncle Bart sat next to me. "Uncle Bart." I softly spoke. Uncle Bart and I together stared at the continuous trees. For a minute or two, we didn't speak.
Then, Uncle Bart peered into my face and smirked. "I know that look anywhere," he soon told me, "You're thinking aren't you, Kylie?" He put his fingers in between each other and rested his hands on his lap.
"Of course, I'm thinking, Uncle Bart." I said, and dropping my hand from my chin, I peered into his own face, "I can't stop thinking about that boy who went missing. Why would a boy go missing?"
Uncle Bart shrugged and answered, "Maybe he just wanted to start a lifestyle of his own, so he became a hermit." Normally, I would laugh at his jokes, but this time, I didn't. A case like this one was a case that shouldn't be taken lightly.
I slightly glared at Uncle Bart and said, "This is serious! A boy doesn't just go missing, Uncle Bart! I, Detective Kylie Juniper, want to solve this case! This will be the only thing that will keep me occupied on this worthless canoe trip!" A cloud of mosquitoes swarmed around me, and I quickly jumped to my feet, shooing them away. "These stupid bugs are really starting to get on my nerves!" I shrieked, and I forcibly rubbed myself down. I slapped a mosquito off my arm and started to pace back and forth. Perhaps if I paced, it would keep the bugs off me? That usually works, right?
Uncle Bart just watched me, and under his breath, I heard him mumble, "Welcome to Canada."
After a few more minutes, the ranger station's door opened again, and Dad, along with the rest of Camp Juniper, exited it. I begged for all the campsites to be full so we could return to North Tonawanda, but of course, we just had to get the last two open ones. My demons were really putting on a show for me.
In one hand, Dad was holding a bunch of maps, and in the other, he was holding a notebook. He announced, "We've got our campsites, Camp Juniper! Ranger Amelia said they're pretty full right now, but lucky for us, Sites 1 and 2 are open."
"Terrific." I mumbled. I know why we had to get two sites. It was because we had a freaking party of ten people! People can't fit ten people in just one site!
Uncle Bart soon stood up, and he said, "Excellent, Azul!" to Dad and gave my shoulder a pat, "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go to Sites 1 and 2!"
"Everybody to the cars!" Dad yelled, and he gestured at the cars.
I groaned and lowered my head. Sigh, why couldn't the campground be full? However, now that I think of it, if it had been full and we never made it to the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park, then I wouldn't have an amazing story to share with all you lovely people out there tonight. At this point in the story, I was still pretty grouchy.
All of Camp Juniper descended the stairs and piled back into our assigned cars. I stared out the window into the forest and watched for the mysterious shadow, but I didn't see it. Perhaps I had just been seeing things?
Dad soon turned on the Excursion, and we pulled back onto the gravelly road. We started forward, and he said, "The sites are just around the corner."
We drove for about five minutes. Sites 1 and 2 were very close to the ranger station. I was amazed by how fast we got to them. We turned left on the gravelly road into one of the most forestry, buggy-looking areas of Finlayson and pulled right up to Site 1. Uncle Clement pulled up to Site 2. Sites 1 and 2 were right next to each other. I remember both of them were right in front of a swamp hidden in the forest. The swamp was where all the mosquitoes lived. Awesome. This was just what I needed. A campsite that was right in front of a swamp in one of the most bug invested provinces in all of Canada. All right, I do have to admit that I kinda did like the site. The Excursion half of Camp Juniper was going to stay in Site 1, and the Explorer half was going to stay in Site 2. Dad actually did let me choose which site I wanted because I was the only kid there, and yes, I did pick Site 1. I just wanted to get out of the bloody car. I had already been in it for over seven hours. Site 1 was a decent sized site, and the ground was soft enough to make setting up a tent not that difficult. A picnic table was tucked in towards the back of it, and a fireplace was right next to it.
Dad turned off the Excursion, and just to my luck, the second I stepped out of it, bugs attacked me.
"Ugh!" I yelled, and I swatted my arms and legs.
Dad, Mom, Uncle Harrison, Aunt Delia, and Aunt Lydia all together got out of the Excursion, and I saw Aunt Lydia pull a baseball cap with a moose on it and a mosquito net out of it.
While continuing to swat mosquitoes away, I turned my back to her and examined the swamp because that same weird feeling that I was being watched washed over me. Seriously, what was with this? What could be watching me? Don't tell me it was that creepy eagle again! No, it wasn't. It was something else. Something that I'll get to eventually. No, it was not Ihaan. It's going to be awhile before he steps onto set. Now that I have you guys on the edge of your seats, shall I continue? All right.
I continued to stare at the swamp and swat away bugs, but suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I leaped out of my skin and whirled around. "Aunt Lydia!" I yelled. Yeah, it was Aunt Lydia.
"My, my," she said, and her eyes rotated all around the site, "This is quite the site." Then she focused in on me again, "Here, Kylie," and she held the cap and mosquito net she pulled out of the car to me, "Why don't you go ahead and put the cap on and the mosquito net over it? I'm a bug magnet just like you." That was true. Aunt Lydia too was a bug magnet, so she came prepared with bug supplies as well.
I thanked her and accepted the cap and net.
Aunt Lydia put her own cap and net over her head. The net protected her head, face, and neck. To me, she smiled and said, "This is what I do, Kylie. Watch." A mosquito sluggishly made its way towards her neck. She let it land on her. "I just wait until it lands on me," she explained, and she lifted her hand, "and then I smack it!" She smacked the mosquito on her net, and it fell dead to the ground, "These mosquitoes are sluggish, so they're easy to smack. That's the only problem with being a big mosquito vs. a small one."
I nodded and put the hat over my head. Then I put the net right over it, and officially, I was wearing my bug protection gear. The net made everything look a lot darker, like shades, but at least it kept the bugs off my face and neck. However, shoulders down, I wasn't protected, so the mosquitoes just whined around my arms, legs, and ankles instead.
Aunt Lydia soon tossed me a bottle of Deet, ultimate bug spray, and I caught it. She finished her explanation, "The bugs out on the docks shouldn't be as bad." There was a small marina in Finlayson Point Provincial Park.
I sprayed myself down with Deet and gagged when I smelled it. Whoo wee, it stunk! I can see now why mosquitoes hated it. I placed the bottle down on the picnic table and watched as Aunt Lydia also sprayed herself down.
I decided to take a tour of the campground. I didn't feel like hanging out with a bunch of adults while they set up camp. I wanted to do what every teenager would want to do, explore. I asked for Dad's, who was pulling camping supplies out of the back of the Excursion, permission, and he said that yeah, I could explore. I thanked him and picked up a water bottle that had been set on the picnic table. I first checked out Site 2 where Uncle Bart, Uncle Clement, Uncle Macon, and Aunt Jessie were staying. It wasn't that much better there. The bugs were still bad, and the site looked exactly like Site 1, except in Site 2, the fireplace was on the other side of the picnic table.
It was time for me to go on bathroom duty. Whenever I go camping with my parents, Mom always makes sure I check out the bathrooms and give them a rating, from 0 to 10. Now, I don't understand why Mom's too lazy to do it herself, but whatever, at this point in the story, I wanted to get away from my family for a little bit. I wanted to think a little bit more about the disappearance of Ranger Kate's child and the creepy eagles. Therefore, I just went ahead and decided to go on bathroom duty and tour the campground. Mom thanked me for agreeing to go on bathroom duty, and I just scoffed and nodded. I crossed the road and followed the path that was in front of Site 2. It was actually a bit chilly out here. Then again, it was Canada. I didn't even want to think about what the winters were like in Finlayson. Most likely they're quite desolate. I shivered and tried my best to ignore the chill.
When I managed to escape the forest, I tripped and fell onto some grass. I spit grass out of my mouth and very slowly lifted my head. My jaw dropped to the ground at what I found. I, Kylie Juniper, had made it to the wide open space in Finlayson Point Provincial Park where all the docks were! A rock rested next to me. I soon stood up and hopped onto it. While up there, I studied the wide open space. My eyes landed on a playground, which was a perfect place for children. There were two slides, both yellow, and it was a cute, little park. I didn't go over there. I'm too old to be playing on a playground. Instead, I went over to the docks and checked out the boats. There were so many boats. I couldn't even count them all. The water was calm, and to the left of it, on the grass, rested a red canoe. There was also another path that led to a long dock further down and a small hill that had a picnic table on it. Across the lake, the trees continued. There were more trees than houses. Boats sped down the lake, and I sighed. I thought that perhaps a good place to think would be on the docks. No one out there would bother me. Everything would be peaceful. I'd be perfect. That's what I did. I smiled, and my eyes landed on the closest dock to me.
Without further ado, I sprinted towards it and announced, "Detective Kylie Juniper is on the case! She will figure out what happened to Ranger Kate's child! Whoop, whoop!" However, I whooped too soon. I didn't even realize how wobbly the dock was. All y'all out there who were waiting for me to fall into the water... Well, too bad. That didn't happen. It almost did, but it didn't.
I sprinted onto the dock, and immediately, it tilted forward into the water, and I lost my balance. "Whoa!" I shouted, and I flung my arms. However, lucky for me, I fell backwards instead of forward. I slammed down hard on my buttocks. Splat! Reaching for it, I closed my eyes and yelled, "Ow!" Under me, the dock wobbled. When I recovered from my fall, I crawled to the edge of the dock, gripped it, and peered into the water. The water was very clear. Weeds swayed in it, and minnows flittered away from me. I lifted my hand and ran it through the water. Whew, it was quite chilly. I shivered. I did not want to go swimming in it. I knew I'd get wet once on the water in the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park, and if I caught a cold, then I would blame Dad. Keep in mind, he was the one who forced to come along on this trip when I didn't want to come in the first place.
I spent a couple minutes on the dock thinking about the mystery involving the disappearance of Ranger Kate's child. I didn't have enough information. If I could, I needed to find some witnesses. Who though? Who could be a witness? Ranger Kate, sure, but she was gone. She went back to Lake Temagami for some apparent reason.
I didn't stay concentrated for much longer, because from out of the blue, I heard the splash of a stone hitting the water! Gasping, I lifted my head and peered in the direction the splash had come from. It had come from the dock next and in front of me, the dock that had a boat tied to it. I saw ripples in the water. Somebody must've thrown a stone into it. Who though? There was nobody at the dock or on the boat! It was empty! I swear, there was something really weird about this place. I tried to not let it get to me. I decided to continue exploring the campground and fulfill Mom's request for me to check out the bathrooms and give them a rating.
I shooed mosquitoes away and stood up from the dock. At this point, I absolutely hated being there. The bathrooms weren't far from the docks, and they were up on a small hill. I passed a couple campsites during my expedition, and all of them were filled up. I heard children cheering, and suddenly, a few bikes whizzed by me. I quickly dodged them. Irritated, I clenched my fist and waved it at the children riding the bikes. The day would've been a lot more beautiful if there weren't any mosquitoes and we weren't going on a weeklong canoe trip. The day really was beautiful. I remember. There was a nice breeze, and the rays of the sun shone through the treetops. If we weren't going on a weeklong canoe trip and there weren't any bugs, then I would've considered it a perfect. However, of course, all my dreams never come true. Sigh.
I finally found the bathrooms. They were to my right, and I followed a brick road to them. No, not the yellow brick road but a brick road. The bathroom building was brown with a white roof. Like the ranger station, people could gain access to it by going up either ramps or stairs. I placed my hand on the railing and took the ramp up to the bathrooms. During the process, I swatted another mosquito off my bug net. I finally made it to the bathrooms, and just to my luck, I was facing the women's restroom. I concluded that the men's was on the other side. There were a couple papers pinned up next to the brown door that led into the bathroom, but I bothered not to read them. I had more pressing priorities. I had to fulfill my mother's request. Therefore, I brushed the papers off to the side and entered the bathroom. Once inside, my eyes widened at what I saw. There were four, white bathroom stalls and three, white sinks with mirrors over each sink. At least this bathroom had flushable toilets. I had to enjoy flushable toilets while I could. Once Camp Juniper got on the water, all we would have was the latrine. Oh, God. Well, I did use it. I used the flushable toilet before carrying on with my tour around the campground.
After I used it, I washed my hands and hummed as I did so. I didn't have my rating of the bathroom yet. The last thing I had to check and see if they had were showers. All you men out there should know that showers and flushable toilets are women's best friends. I can guarantee you that if you make sure there's always a shower and flushable toilet within range, your woman won't dump you. Trust me. I wiped my now wet hands on my jacket and stepped out of the bathroom. Okay, showers. Please say there were showers. Please say there were showers. Please say there were... Yes! There were showers! Oh, showers! I think I almost cried! The showers were on the left side of the building, and they were in front of a few long, brown benches. A long row of showers skewered the entire left side of the building. It was amazing! One of the best things ever. I knew they were showers because they had a shower symbol on each door and because I heard one of them running.
They were actually quite nice. I poked my head inside and checked one out. The shower had white walls and a few hooks where people could hang their towels or whatever up on. The floor was tiled and red. Oh I couldn't wait to take a nice, hot shower that night! As I mentioned before, I had to enjoy it while I could.
Even though there were showers and flushable toilets, I remember I gave the bathrooms a rating of 4. Just 4. Not 5. Not 5 because the bathroom smelled like latrine, and bugs buzzed all around in it and the showers. So yeah, that's my reasoning behind why I gave the showers a 4 rating instead of a 5. I still didn't want to return to my family after I checked the bathrooms out. I wanted to continue touring the campground. I just did a loop.
While I looped around Finlayson Point Provincial Park's campground, I studied each campsite and eavesdropped on a few conversations. Just as Dad had said, every campsite was full. You could easily tell there were some camping lovers here. There were not only cars but also tents, hammocks, brewing fires, and RVs. It was pretty awesome actually. Yeah, you can say I'm a bad person for eavesdropping on peoples' conversations, but some of them were actually quite interesting. I remember, one couple in a campsite was chitchatting about how their kid won the champion game in soccer, and another couple, who owned an RV, was chitchatting about how "mysterious" Finlayson Point Provincial Park was. I had to agree with them. It was quite mysterious.
I was just drawing towards the end of my loop when suddenly, speak of the devil, something else weird happened! Aw man, seriously?! I asked this question over and over again in my head. Why weird? Why did so many weird things have to happen to me that day? To this day, I still don't have the answer. It remains a mystery, as mysterious as Finlayson Point Provincial Park itself. What happened was I heard a crack in the forest. Something was in the forest but what? I thought about exploring it, – I even approached it – but then I decided that I didn't want to get eaten alive by the bugs. Since the day was starting to wind down at this point, it was rush hour for the mosquitoes, and they started to come out. I didn't run away from them. I had to figure out what was in the forest.
I placed my hands on my knees and peered into it. I peeled back my eyelids and waited for something to move in it, but nothing did. Standing still, though, allowed the mosquitoes to catch up to me, and they started to nibble away on my bug net. I shooed them away. The bugs finally got so annoying that I just gave up and decided to leave.
However, just before my eyes left the forest and I turned on my heel, I heard something else! As crazy as this may sound, but I heard a voice! A voice! A male voice! You may call me crazy all you can, but it's the truth! It was a voice, and it whispered, "There she is," from up above. I leaped out of my skin. What was that voice?! No, I wasn't hallucinating! I thought I heard a voice! I knew I heard a voice! It spoke again, "Give me another one." I then felt something brush my bed of red hair.
"Oh, God something's got me!" I shrieked, and I fell onto my butt in the gravelly road. I lifted both my hands and rested them on my head. Guess what I pulled down from it? Guess. No. I pulled down two gorgeous, pink flowers. Flowers! They were the most beautiful flowers ever. I stared at them, creeped out, and asked, "Where in the name of did these flowers come from?" There were no flowering plants in the provincial park! At least not what I'm aware of. So where did these flowers come from? Yeah, I know. This is all very mysterious. I think I mentioned this before, but I'll mention it again. There was something very weird about Finlayson Point Provincial Park. Aside from creepy flowers, what was that mysterious voice?
It spoke one last time before it faded away. "Go on, Ro," it whispered, and suddenly, from up above, another eagle stooped down from out of nowhere and whipped by my head!
My hair blew, and I closed my eyes. Opening them, I gasped and turned my head. With the flowers held tightly in my hand, I sat on my knees and watched as the eagle soared into the treetops and disappeared in the sky. Oh no, not the creepy eagles again! I had a headache. What was with this? Creepy eagles, disappearing children, mysterious shadows and flowers, and now a voice?! Once the eagle disappeared, I quickly looked in the tree the voice had come from, but nothing was there! Nothing! Slam dunk nothing! I swear, this was too weird. It was so weird, and I was so creeped out that I decided to go ahead and return to Camp Juniper's campsites. I did not want to stay there. I wanted to go home. It was strange, though.
Ken said that the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park was haunted, but not Finlayson. Perhaps he meant Finlayson? If he did, then honestly, I wouldn't mind getting to the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park. Then I wouldn't have to deal with all this weirdness.
I took the flowers back with me to the campsites. I couldn't just leave them! They were so beautiful.
There you go, my fellow audience. That was my tour of Finlayson Point Provincial Park's campground. Creepy was all over the place, and I warn you, it's going to get a lot creepier. It's called a ghost story, darlings.
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