Haunted Hunters

Good morning!  How was everyone’s weekend?  I had to work all weekend but I did get to do a Paint and Pour Fundraiser which was a lot of fun.  I, unfortunately, didn’t take many photos because we were so busy having fun!  But it was a lot of fun to do with my mom and some of our friends.

This week I bring to you a new story for Grammy’s Grid.  The last story I posted for Grammy’s Grid was The Retelling, and it was her featured post!  So if you want to go back and read it, click here.  This time, instead of having a story based off of an opening sentence, we are getting inspiration from a photograph.  I had a little difficulty deciding how I wanted to go about this story, but it all came together nicely.  I hope you enjoy this Adventure!

Haunted Hunters

“This is making me feel worse than it did before.”

Luis rolled his eyes.  “Serious Janay. We’ve been hiking for the past couple days to get to the most haunted cave this side of the Mississippi.  Now you think you have a bad feeling?”

She shrugged.  “No…But we’re now here and of course I’m getting more nervous.  What if we see an actual ghost?”

Luis wrapped his arm around her shoulders and brought her closer to him.  “Babe..we’ll be fine. We won’t go into the cave until tomorrow when it’s light outside.  So tonight we can relax and stay in the tent and tomorrow we’ll go inside the cave. When it’s light outside.”  He kissed her on the side of her head. “Does that make you feel better?”

Janay giggled and snuggled closer to him.  “Yeah, I feel a little better. I don’t know how well I’ll sleep tonight with the cave being like, 500 yards away.”

Luis stood up and grabbed another log for the campfire.  He walked toward the flames before pausing and setting it down next to the fire.  He sighed. “I know what you mean. I’m pretty nervous as well. But I was afraid that if we camped too far away we wouldn’t find the cave again in the morning.”

He heard a sigh behind him.  “I don’t know about you, but I am getting kinda tired.  What about you?”

“Did you just ask me the same question twice?”

Janay groaned.  “You know what I meant!  I’m tired okay…”

With a chuckle, Luis walked over to Janay and kissed her.  “I know babe, I’m tired too. How about you get ready and I’ll get the fire to die down.”  Janay slowly stood up and stretched her arms above her head. Luis watched her walk into their small tent and zip up the entry shut.  

He sat down on the mildly uncomfortable camping chair and looked toward the cave entrance.  It was huge, the top of the entrance was almost at the top of the mountain. They had looked into the cave entrance when they arrived, but decided to set up camp and settle in for the night instead.  It was probably better to go in during the day anyway.

Luis turned toward the tent to see if Janay was ready but he couldn’t tell.  “How’s it going in there?”

“How about I just give you your pajamas and a fresh pair of boxers and you can change outside?”

Luis laughed.  “You’re crazy. I ain’t changing out here when there is a haunted cave not too far away.  Nice try.”

There was a giggle inside the tent.  “What? You don’t want to change near a haunted cave?  That seems like something you would do.”

“Oh heck no.  Let me in to change.”  Luis unzipped the tent and quickly stepped in their tiny traveling home.  He grabbed his suitcase and unzipped it to change his clothes. There was low growl coming from outside the tent.  Luis froze. “What was that?”

Janay sat on the air matress and pulled the blanket closer to her.  “I don’t know, but you should go look.”

Luis slowly stood up and peeked out of the tent entrance.  He scanned the area but didn’t see anything that they should be worried about.  “I don’t see anything babe. That was weird.”

“It’s probably because we are staying near the haunted cave.”  

He ducked back into the tent and zipped the tent closed.  “Maybe. But…we’ve encountered spookier things than just a low growl coming from outside the tent.”  He took his shirt off and threw it into his suitcase. “Do you remember that supposedly haunted bridge in Arizona that we went to?”

Janay giggled and snuggled into the blankets.  “Yeah. According to the legend, if you mocked the bridge it would throw you off into the river below.  But no matter how much we mocked it we never got thrown in the river. I think that one is safe to say it wasn’t haunted.”

“And what about the Henrick’s Haunted House?”

“Pfft.  Please. That was a mistake on our part thinking that we were going to encounter a house that was haunted.  Not a legitimate haunted house attraction.”

Luis laid down on the air mattress and covered his body with the blankets.  “Yeah that was definitely a mistake on our part. But it was a fun thing to do.”  He kissed Janay. “Let’s try to relax a little tonight so we are well prepared for tomorrow.”

In one swift motion, Janay flung her arm off the bed and hit the switch on their solar lamp.  The tent went dark and it was quiet. The only sound that filled the air was the crickets that flew around the solo tent.  There was a slight breeze but it wasn’t strong enough to cause any issues with the tent blowing away.  

The two began to finally relax when that low growl sounded again.  Janay’s eyes flew open. “Do you think there’s wolves out here?”

Luis rolled over to face her.  “I don’t think that wolves would be interested in us.  But a mountain lion might.” He grabbed her hand and squeezed it.  “But there isn’t anything in this part of the woods. I checked with the ranger station before we left.”

Janay sighed a sigh of relief.  “Well that makes me feel better.  Though I am still concerned what that growl is.”

“Maybe it’s the ghost’s dog.  Maybe the dog is trying to warn us to not go in.”  He snickered. “Unfortunately that’s not going to work.”

And with that the two of them were finally able to relax.  The low growl never returned to disturb them yet again. The crickets continued to chirp and the breeze kept the tent cool throughout the night.  Luis drifted off to sleep first and Janay followed shortly after, dreaming of what they would experience the next day.