As we drove closer to the campsite the tension between us dimmed. The road became swallowed by the vast pine trees, as the minivan began to slow down along a rumbling gravel path. I opened the creaking door of the van and glimpsed at the campsite.  There was nothing but the crunch of damp fallen autumn leaves and the faint screech of crows in the distance. Broken beer bottles and patches of dirt scattered the ground.

“Are you sure this is the right place?” I asked quietly. 

“My dad took me here all the time when I was a kid, don't worry,” Ben muttered. A muggy breeze wafted over me and shook me numb. I never was afraid of the wilderness, Ben and I always went camping together but something about this place seemed off. What if someone had followed me here?“It sure isn't as nice as it used to be,” Ben grumbled, kicking a beer bottle across a dirt path. The wind whispered a warning, as crows and ravens scattered on the branches of trees. Ben looked up, anxiously, his eyes flickered with fright. He had always known what I felt. “This doesn't feel right,” Ben quivered. I tried to ignore thinking of the worst, but like rain, my thoughts flooded my head with dismay and worry. What if someone was watching me?
We decided to set up our tents. I needed to get my mind off the matter of being watched. I hauled a bag onto my back and gripped the leather straps in the palm of my hand. My stomach was in a knot as I carried it to a patch of dirt. I dropped it to the ground in defeat, breathless, I began to unpack. My head looked up as my eyes landed on the woods. The trees lurked over me,  the insensible timid rustling of leaves, the daunting stillness. The forest began to feel like a prison with no escape.

I laid back In a camping chair, as the crackling sizzle of the fire breathed into my ear. Ben crouched looking into a foggy sky, the stars forever hidden behind a dense autumn mist.
I placed a marshmallow on a nearby stick and gently put it over the fire. The marshmallow bubbling, crisp, golden. I took a deep breath and inhaled the faint smell of char, haunting the late-night campsite. I snapped a rich piece of melting chocolate from its delicate tin foil wrapper and placed it on a graham cracker. I pulled the marshmallow off of its stick and placed it between the fragile and brittle crackers.
I closed my eyes, rested my head, and listened. An eerie creaking from the woods echoed into the horizon as a chilling rustle came from the leaves.
“I need sleep,” Ben groaned, as his lifeless eyes glared at the fire.
“It's getting pretty late anyway,” I reasoned. Ben put out the fire and I watched while towers of smoke billowed into the night sky. I wandered to my tent as the leaves crinkled under my worn-down Converse, like another set of footsteps creeping behind me. I looked back in dread, expecting my stalker to be waiting behind me or to hear an unnerving whisper in my ear. But the slow timid whistle of the wind was the only sound to hear through the forest.
I headed into my tent and embraced the warmth of my sleeping bag, the moonlight adrift in the pitch-black night sky. As I dozed off, the tormenting thought of being watched lingered ominously in the back of my mind. The breeze lurked through the forest, wanting to disclose my impending fate in the woods

Ben’s ghastly scream shattered me awake. My breath vanished, as I tried to search for answers. I knew it came somewhere from the woods. I gathered myself together and tried to find him. I slowly drowned in the thought of what might have happened.

 I dashed out of my tent into an endless and unforeseeable forest.  As I bolted into the woods, I seemed to lose a sense of where I was. I longed to hear Ben's trembling, familiar voice. But everywhere I turned towering, motionless trees surrounded me, I could no longer find a way out. 

“Ben!” I cried. The only response was the hushed whooshing of the tree branches. I collapsed in exasperation. My head boiled with panic, my eyes slowly watered. Despite my efforts, his presence was nowhere to be found. The formidable silence of the wilderness forever grew. 

Then that detectable, dreadful feeling pierced through me, something  I’d felt before. The feeling of being watched. Suddenly I knew what was watching me. Ben’s scream was nothing but a taunting distraction. I froze as a cold hand grasped my shoulder. I glimpsed and saw that familiar blue and green friendship bracelet tied around the wrist. Ben, the one watching me all along.