Somebody Stole Our Balloon!

By Jamie

It was the summer of 1998, and Ashlyn , Kristen , Kristen S and I were all very exited about camping at Emerald Bay's boat camp for my birthday. Little did we know what was in store for us that night!

We had all planned to meet at the boat dock, where we would load up the boat and go to Emerald Bay, but Ashlyn couldn't get a ride so we picked her up.

On the way to the dock, Ashlyn said, " Let's play that game where you clap your hands and make up a story!"

"Okay," I agreed.

The next thing we knew, we were there! Kristen S. and Kristen E. arrived shortly after. We soon loaded up the boat and headed out.

On the way over, we were playing a friendly game of poker when all of a sudden, my step dad, Don, yelled, " Speed bump!" as we hit a huge wave.

We heard a sound go "WHOOSH" as we all hit our heads on the carpeted yet hard ceiling, giggling as the cards scattered everywhere. It was so awesome that we all forgot about our throbbing heads and concentrated on the excitement of the waves' impact!

When we got there, the camp had already been set up with a tent and many party favors. Considering the fact that it was almost dark, we explored a little, then got ready for bed.

We all laid down and started to gossip about the different guys in our school.

"Justin Berfield is so hot!" Ashlyn blurted so loud we swore they could hear it at least three camps over!

"Yeah," said Kristen S."if you like older guys!"

We all laughed hysterically as we went on and on about how Ashlyn was obsessed with Justin! Then, just as we were getting into a conversation about different ways to make a banana split, there was a loud sound coming from outside! I peeked out a hole near the zipper in the old tentš

"I see a light," I explained to the others, " I think it's a flashlight!"

Ashlyn looked next and complained as she looked out the hole that she saw nothing at all.

I looked again and saw a man! He was holding a lighter! I gasped in such a silent voice I could barely hear myself! He was lighting the string that held one of the balloons to the tree.

After a while, I worked up my courage and yelled, " Hello!" He ran off holding our balloon under his arm.

We started giggling and talking about how weird he was to take one of our balloons, but then Kristen said, " What if he wasn't here just to steal our balloon?" We all stopped giggling and got worried. Soon, our imaginations got carried away and we were terrified. We were so scared, we almost told the campers on the other side of us, but we thought better of it, and decided to try to keep our cool, which was very difficult to do considering the circumstances.

Now that I think about it, how crazy would it have sounded if we had told them that, " Somebody stole our Balloon!"