I'm working at a Christian summer camp. All Hell has broken loose (Part 7)

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
(Got this email a few hours ago. Regarding the incident he describes below, I'm personally not familiar with it)
Right after I sent my last email, I got back on the bus and went back to Yawnywanna. I had dinner (leftovers from the week before. Quite a crapshoot, but this time it was pretty good), and then I went to Jordan?s tabin for the emergency meeting he had called. I was joined by about ten other counsellors, making our group just under a quarter of all the staff. Not bad.
Once we were all there, Jordan spoke. ?Thank you all for coming. I invited each of you here because you've all expressed concern with what's been going on here this summer. We all suspect that there may be a demonic presence at camp. After last week, I'm sure of it.? He looked right at me. I wasn't sure if he wanted me to speak up and confirm it. I stayed quiet and he kept talking. ?The leaders here don't seem to care about it. Or if they do, they sure as heck aren't showing it. That leaves it up to us to stop this thing.?
?And how do we do that?? one of the girls asked. ?Twice this summer my campers have gone missing in the middle of the night, only to be back in their bunks in the morning with no recollection of where they went.? A few others nodded in agreement. I bit my lip to keep from cursing aloud. I didn't know it was that bad. ?If this is spiritual warfare, how do we fight it??
Jordan reached over to his bunk and grabbed a paperback book. I couldn't read the title, but the cover had fire and pentagrams on it. ?I found this in a bookstore in town. It's basically a guide on how to fight off demons.?
?Like an exorcism?? I asked.
?No, exorcisms are for possessions. And are also a load of bull.? He threw the book back on his bed. ?I'll read through it tonight. Let's make plans to attack this thing on Tuesday.?
?That's three days from now,? one of the girls said. ?What do we do until then? This thing isn't going to wait for us.?
?We protect our campers,? I said. The idea was forming in my head as I spoke. ?Set your phones to wake you up during the night. Do a quick check of your campers and the area around the tabins. We need to be vigilant.?
The others agreed, and we set a basic schedule for the nights. The next day we were given our tabin assignments, and I was back in with the ten-year-olds. Fortunately, I also had a co-counsellor, a guy named Scott with an absolutely ripped body (imagine Chris Hemsworth, but bigger) and yet one of the most gentle people I've ever met. Having him in the cabin provided two benefits: I personally felt safer to have a young Hercules sleeping a few feet from me, and with this being just his third week at camp, he had energy to make up for what I was lacking.
The first night, my phone woke me up at 4am. I got up and checked on each of my campers. They were all present and accounted for. I stepped outside and walked through the area, looking for any activity. Nothing. I went back to bed, and then repeated the same thing the next night. Again, nothing.
Come Tuesday, no one in our group (I really wanted to call us Dumbledore?s Army, but there was no way they'd go along with it) had witnessed anything. I felt a bit better, though it was like going to the doctor and hearing ?Well I don't see anything wrong here.? No demonic activity for two nights didn't mean it was over for good.
As I was leaving dinner, Jordan came up to me. ?I'm ready. Tonight, 3am. Meet at the bathroom, we?ll walk over together. Bring a flashlight and your Bible.?
Despite my nervousness, I was still able to fall asleep pretty easily?the exhaustion that comes with this job is the ultimate insomnia killer. I woke up at 2:50, got dressed and grabbed my Bible and flashlight. I took a deep breath and walked outside. Jordan and a few other male Staff were waiting for me. Once we were all together, we headed for the Burnt Place.
The trip this time was significantly easier than the last. Having a group of six people to travel through the dark woods took away a lot of the fear, and we reached the Burnt Place in just a few minutes. As we arrived, I could see the girls coming down their respective path.
Once we were all together, Jordan gave us our instructions. We were to stand around the debris and read out Bible verses, and then he would pray and expel the demon for good. I hesitantly took my place and flipped through my Bible to find what he wanted me to read. It all seemed too easy. Also, there was no smell of sulfur in the area, nor any of signs of a demonic presence, such as the coals Kyle and I had found. But then again, maybe a demon didn't have to be physically present in order to be expelled. Maybe that was for the better.
Once we were all in position, we went around in a circle, each of us reading out the passages Jordan had given us. When it was my turn, I loudly read out "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, but by me." Then it moved on to the next person.
When we were all done, Jordan raised his hands over the wreckage and in a loud voice said, "Oh Lord, in your name we cast this demon out from this place. We are on sacred ground and evil is not welcome, nor does it have any place, here! In the name of Jesus Christ, we cast all demons out!"
I waited to see if anything would happen. I'm not sure if I was expecting a sudden flash of light or a big explosion, but when the only thing I heard was a few branches moving deep in the forest, it felt a little underwhelming. Had this ritual even worked? Or was there no way to tell?
Jordan finally lowered his hands. "There," he said confidently. "It's done. Let's go."
I really wanted to ask if that was it, but beyond a few murmurs of "Amen" no one said anything. I closed my Bible and walked back in silence with the rest of the guys. We said goodnight and went back into our cabins. As I climbed back into my bunk, I really, really wanted to believe that what we had done had worked. But there was something about it that was too easy. I know this wasn't a movie or some horror story, but shouldn't there have been more to it than some Bible readings and a quick prayer?
Nothing seemed different that morning, nor during the day. No campers had gone missing or were disturbed by something, and the day seemed a bit sunnier. More than a few times, I exchanged looks with the others who had been at the Burnt Place, as if to ask if it really was over. Maybe? It was hard to know.
That night my phone woke me up at 4am?I'd forgotten to turn the alarm off. I was about to roll over and go back to sleep when my nose caught the all-too familiar scent. I pushed myself out of bed, grabbed my flashlight and walked outside.
The overcast sky gave me very little light, and I had to rely on my flashlight to see anything. I walked around the tabins, shining my light around to look for anyone, ever-aware of the burning sensation in my nostrils. I didn't see any movement, though as I approached the centre of the tabins I saw flickers of light. I cautiously walked out from around the wall and saw that a small fire was burning in the pit. No one was around it.
"What now?" I muttered to myself. I went into Jordan's cabin and stirred him awake. He looked at his clock, then back at me, and then got out of bed without a word.
I brought him out to the fire. He stared at it for a second and then took a step back. "Did you just find this here?" he asked. "Like, right now?" I told him I did. "Look at the sticks. That's not a normal fire."
I took another look. It wasn't a normal fire, with logs propped on top of each other. Instead, a bunch of sticks and branches had been laid out in some sort of pattern and set alight. I walked around the pit, trying to figure out the pattern. And then it hit me. "It's a pentagram."
Jordan was biting hard on his lip, probably trying his best not to swear. "It wants us to know that it's still here." He turned and walked back to his tabin. A few seconds later, I heard him curse, loudly, and then shout for me.
I ran back to his tabin and found him staring at it. "Your flashlight," he said breathlessly, pointing at the wall. I aimed the beam at it. A string of obscenities?I really hope no campers were awake at that point?poured out of my mouth.
A claw mark, the same as the one on the girls' tabins, had been burned into the wall next to the door. I ran back to my tabin and found the same. This couldn?t be a coincidence. I checked the cabins of the other staff who had joined us at the ritual and found that they, and they alone, had the marks as well.
I met Jordan back at the fire pit, as he poured water over the flames and broke the pentagram with his foot. He looked up at me with narrow, angry eyes. "Well ****."
Come breakfast, the marks on the tabins were all anyone?staff or camper?were talking about. The girls' tabins had been hit as well, but only the ones of staff who had been at the Burnt Place the previous night. Of course, we didn't reveal this to anyone. As far as the rest of Yawnywanna was concerned, the tabins had been hit randomly. And fortunately for us, the sulfuric smell had disappeared by the time everyone else woke up.
At the end of breakfast, Beth stood up in front of everyone and reiterated that the claws were a stupid prank and that if anyone knew anything about "expensive damage to camp property" they should report it to a Staff member. Donald was conspicuously absent from breakfast, and when I asked Beth about it she said he had been feeling sick and was resting in his cabin.
I could barely focus while teaching rock climbing, which led to a camper nearly falling from the wall. Jordan's plan hadn't worked, and now each of us who had been involved with the ritual were being targeted by? whatever this thing was. Had we made it angry? Were campers now in even more danger? I had to do something?but what? At the start of the summer I didn't even believe in demons, and now I had to protect a whole bunch of kids from one.
No, that wasn't right. It wasn't MY responsibility to protect these kids. It was Donald's, and he was seriously neglecting it. He obviously knew something and was keeping it from the rest of us. Which meant I had to confront him. Put all the cards on the table and let him know what I knew. And why I felt the camp was in serious danger.
As I came back from rock climbing I stopped at Donald's cabin and knocked on the door. No response. I knocked again, this time harder. Still nothing. I thought I could hear movement inside, but if anyone was in there they sure didn't want to answer.
Donald wasn't at any of the meals or activities for the rest of the day, and what a long day it was. I kept looking over my shoulder, as though I was expecting some demonic entity to suddenly appear among the kids, and I noticed Jordan and the other Burnt Place Staff doing the same thing. We were all super on-edge.
That night, as Thor?I mean, Scott?and I worked to get the campers into bed, there was a knock on the front of the tabin. One of the other counselors poked his head in "Hey, Donald wants to see you in his cabin."
A chorus of "ooooooooh"'s erupted from my campers. I looked at Scott, who nodded, and then I put my shoes on and started towards Donald's cabin. My mind was racing?why did he suddenly want to talk to me now?
I reached his cabin and knocked. A voice shouted for me to come in. I opened and door and found Donald, sitting on his bed. He smiled as I came in and motioned for me to take a seat. "I hear you've been looking for me," he said.
"Yeah," I said, my voice shaking. I had gone over this conversation in my head a dozen times during the day, but now, sitting in front of him, I'd forgotten everything I wanted to say.
"Y'know, I was actually looking for you a few nights ago," he said. "I woke up in the middle of the night on Tuesday and wanted to make sure you were okay, you know, with everything that's happened, so I went to your cabin and you weren't there." He didn't seem angry?more concerned than anything else.
I sighed. No sense in lying about it. "I was at the Burnt Place." His mouth twitched slightly. I went on, explaining the ritual we had performed and then the sulfur, fire and claw marks that happened last night. I must have gone on for a good five minutes, and by the end my hands were shaking. "I'm really, really scared about this camp. I think something evil is attacking it."
Donald rose from his bed, opened his fridge and threw me a bottle of water. "Here. Drink. I don't trust the water here. The pipes, they're very old."
"O? kay?" I opened the bottle and took a few gulps.
"But don't drink all of it," he continued. "You might want to save some of it for later."
My eyes went to the rosary, once again hanging over the fridge. What was he saying?or more so, not saying? I decided to ask him just that. "Do you know something I don't?" No, that wasn't the question. "Do you think the camp is being attacked by a demon?"
He sat back on the bunk. "You ever read CS Lewis?" he asked. "Chronicles of Narnia and whatnot. He also wrote The Screwtape Letters, and there's a great quote in it about demons. Basically, there are two equal and opposite errors we can make about demons. We can disbelieve in their existence. Or we can believe, and be obsessed with them. And Lewis writes that they themselves are equally pleased by both errors." He looked right at me. "Honestly, I think there is an explanation for all of this. But if it is a demon, I promise you that the camp is prepared. These campers are my responsibility and I'm not going to let them get in harm's way."
That was probably the best I was going to get out of him. If he admitted that there really was a demon, he'd have to explain why he was allowing the camp to remain open. Also, he'd look insane. I thanked him, grabbed the water, and stepped outside.
I simultaneously felt both reassured and anxious, though I guess that was to be expected given Donald's ambiguity. From the front of his cabin I looked over into the forest. Whatever was happening there, all I had to do was keep the campers safe for another nine days. I could do that. I had to.
I was about to head back to my tabin when I saw a flicker of light within the forest. I walked up to the edge of the trees and tried to get a better view. It was hard to see?so many trees in there?but it looked like a light was coming from deep in the woods. And it was moving.
Towards me.
Was someone coming from the Burnt Place? The way the light flickered, it didn't look like a flashlight?it was more like a flame or a torch. I felt drawn to it. I stepped into the path in the forest and started walking towards the light, feeling a mixture of curiosity and fear.
I'd gone about 100 feet in when the light suddenly vanished. I waited in place for a minute, listening for any sounds of movement, but I didn't hear anything. I rubbed my head and sighed. I really needed to get some rest.
I turned around and I saw it. The hooded figure stood?hovered?right in front of me, its massive cloaked body towering over me. I stared at it in shock, feeling my whole body go numb. This wasn't a dream. This wasn't some waking hallucination. This was real.
From the black void in its hood came sparks that turned into a flame, burning just inside the ratty dark fabric. It "looked" down at me, as though there were eyes in that fire, and then it said my name. Or more, I heard my name in a harsh whisper, echoing all around me. Its arms raised up and the talons emerged, coming just inches from my face.
The shock wore off and my body started to shake. I tried to get some words out?a prayer, a scream, anything?but all I could get out were a few stutters.
"Confess." The word echoed around me. The fire in the hood seemed to burn brighter.
"C-confess?" I found a way to get the word out.
"Your sin." Sin? sin? sin?
"W-what sins?" It was taking all of my strength to not fall to my knees. "I-I cheated on my Chem test and?"
"Your sin."
My body felt hot, but I could feel Jordan's cool cross on my chest. I put my hand against it. "What are you?" I asked. "What do you want?"
The talons moved apart, so that they were above either side of my head. "Confess," it said again. "Your sin."
Sin. Singular. My knees buckled again. I knew what it wanted. What it wanted me to say. I narrowed my eyes, in both fear and anger. "You leave this camp alone. These campers too." What did Jordan say? "Uh, in Jesus name I?"
"CONFESS!" There was fire all around me. Every tree, every branch, everything. Burning.
"Please, no!" I collapsed to my knees. I could feel this thing peering right into my soul, trying to destroy it. "I'm sorry! Oh God, I'm sorry."
"YOUR SIN!"
Tears fell from my face. "I'm sorry. I did it. I know I did it." And I confessed. I told that thing what I had done, what I knew it was trying to extract from me.
I don't want to repeat it here, but some of you may remember that in my first year I got into some trouble for an incident that took place in my residence. I've always claimed that I was too drunk to know what was happening, and I was believed, but truthfully, I was just tipsy. I knew what I was doing. And I have never forgotten it.
I told the figure?the demon?as much. I was a blubbering mess by the end, on my hands and knees, my face just a foot from the ground, sobbing. I said how sorry I was over and over. I begged it for forgiveness.
Finally, I looked up at the thing. It still stood there, flame burning. Its talons raised up. "You are not forgiven."
I have never been as scared in my life as I was that moment. I was sure I was about to die. I brought my arms up to defend myself and I realized I still had the bottle of water Donald had given me. He had told me to save it. Was it for this?
I twisted the cap off and sprayed it at the figure. There was a loud, reverberating hiss all around me, like a thousand snakes, and then the figure and the flames were gone and I was alone in the dark woods. I fell back onto my hands and vomited. Camp food does not taste as good the second time around.
I'm not sure how long I stayed in that forest, but eventually I got up and stumbled out. I passed Donald's cabin?now dark?and kept moving until I reached the boys' section. My head spinning, I found Jordan's tabin and walked right in. His campers were asleep but he was still up, reading in his bunk. "Please," I gasped, "pray for me."
He came outside, put an arm around me, and prayed for a good thirty minutes. Afterwards I hugged him, tightly, and went back to my bed. I honestly can't remember how long I laid there before I fell asleep.
The next day?yesterday?I was an absolute wreck. I'm sure it showed, but I didn't care. I got through the meals, rock climbing, the games and the end-of-week goodbyes, all pretty much on autopilot. I saw Donald just once, at lunch, but all I could do was look at him from afar. What does he know?
Today, as I sit in this bright little park, writing this to all of you, I'm feeling a bit better. I mean, I encountered a demon and survived. That's a positive, right?
And now my task is clear: protect Yawnywanna, at all costs, for the final week ahead. I have no idea who I can trust or what I can do (if anything) to stop this thing, but I am going to try. I have to.
Pray for me.
(About an hour later, I received this message from him)
Holy ****. I didn't realize it before I sent this week's update, but there was an email in my inbox from Kate. It's long?really long?but from skimming over it I? I don't even know what to say. It changes everything.
I think I might have a chance.


Source.