It\u2019s Joe\u2019s turn to tell a story by the campfire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne night, a boy went missing on Scout Camp,\u201d he whispers. I shiver, despite the heat, and huddle in closer. I\u2019m not scared, it\u2019s just that it\u2019s hard to hear him when he\u2019s whispering like that. Behind him, the shadowy outline of tree branches could be horns growing out of his head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEvery year, on the anniversary of his disappearance, another boy goes missing. But right before he does, he sees the missing boys. No-one else can see them\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fire spits and we all jump, then we\u2019re laughing uncontrollably. This is way more fun than singing boring camping songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Sweat is starting to pool on my forehead. It really is hot, considering it\u2019s the middle of the night. I look around the circle and all the other boys look red too. It could be because we\u2019re all wearing our Scout uniforms. John and David must be super hot in those hats. Why do they insist on wearing them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The sound of high-pitched chatter drowns out Joe\u2019s voice and something moves over by the trees. My heart is hammering as the silhouettes speed past. It\u2019s a group of boys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Joe has stopped talking, and when I look back, I see with relief that everyone\u2019s head is turned towards the boys. They can all see them. Phew!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We burst into laughter again. My friends\u2019 faces look misshapen in the flickering light as different bits of them light up and then disappear. For some reason this makes me laugh even harder. Joe is the colour of a tomato. John\u2019s face is slick with sweat. Mark and Tom have angry blisters on their cheeks. And what is that burning smell? Someone must have dropped their marshmallow in the fire. Probably Darren.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Out of the corner of my eye, I notice that one of the boys has stopped running.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLook!\u201d he shouts, and we all stop laughing. He\u2019s pointing at us. \u201cThere\u2019s another group of Scouts!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His friend stops too and stares in our direction. \u201cWhat are you on about? There\u2019s no one there. Come on, last one\u2019s a rotten egg!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the boy just stands there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCome, join us!\u201d says John, and my friends chime in, raising three fingers in the Scout\u2019s Sign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJoin us! Join us! Join us!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s so crowded around the fire, why would we want someone else squeezing in? Still, I find myself making the Scout\u2019s Sign and saying it too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJoin us!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The boy breaks into a run, this time towards us, his smile glowing white in the firelight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s unbearably hot now. I try to back away from the fire but my seat won\u2019t budge. My friends\u2019 raised hands and faces are melting like candles, eyes and noses and fingers dripping into the flames.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWelcome!\u201d booms Akela\u2019s voice behind me, and I might be a tiny bit scared now. \u201cTake a seat. You have some catching up to do. These boys are almost cooked\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It\u2019s Joe\u2019s turn to tell a story by the campfire. \u201cOne night, a boy went missing on Scout Camp,\u201d he whispers. I shiver, despite the heat, and huddle in closer. I\u2019m not scared, it\u2019s just that it\u2019s hard to hear him when he\u2019s whispering like that. Behind him, the shadowy outline of tree branches could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1490,1539],"tags":[859,1547,8,122,601,1051,722,12,491,128,1548,170,129,1549,172],"class_list":["post-2338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1490","category-heat","tag-boy","tag-boys","tag-he","tag-him","tag-joe","tag-look","tag-missing","tag-my","tag-night","tag-out","tag-scout","tag-see","tag-them","tag-went","tag-when"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-BI","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2338"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2339,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2338\/revisions\/2339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}