It was a dark gloomy night. We set off in the family clunker, an old beat up Corolla. Dad was already passed out and Mom was driving. She drank three-five hour energys, eyes wide with determination. The back seat was littered with remnants of cheetos and some weird stains that made the car smell like an old cafeteria. Christy, my sister, is an annoying hormonal teenager. She is distracted by her phone five hours a day. During the car ride she was cracking up every minute or two. I'm from the suburbs of New York and kids there are not nice. They pick the stray cats before they pick me.

Mom stopped at a gas station in the middle of nowhere. The man in charge was a scary looking guy. He wore a torn cap and a Mets jersey. I'm sure my mom thought he was scary too, because we flew out of there faster than a cheetah. Eight gruesome hours later we finally arrived, at Shining Meadows Campground in Georgia. After checking in at the front desk we drove slowly through the campground to this creepy looking cabin in the woods.

“I don't know about you”, I said to Christy, “but this place gives me the creeps!”

“This place better have wifi!” said Christy with an anxious face.

“Sorry honey, this is an electronic free vacation”, said mom. “Besides, this place beautiful, take a walk.”

“MOM! I yelled, I’m gonna go to the lake.”

I didn't hear a response so I went anyway. The lake was beautiful! Its still water acted like a mirror in the sun. I had my clothes on but I couldn't wait to get in the water. I jumped in off the nearby dock. The cool, soothing water wrapped around my body like a blanket. I dove beneath the mirror-like surface into the depths of the lake. There were fish everywhere, swimming in and out of seaweed. An astonishing fish glowed in the sunlight, it seemed to have all colors of the rainbow on it.

I got out of the water with a smirky smile on my face. I dried off as quickly as I could and hurried to the cabin. I realised I had totally spaced on taking my stuff in and left my dad to take it in. I checked out my room and noticed what seemed to be a patched up hole in the ceiling. It didn't look like the handyman who installed the board did a very good job. My room had a great view of the forest, it was at the back of the cabin. I unpacked my bag and lay on my bed for what seemed to be an eternity. I woke up around six to find an unbelievable sunset outside my old saggy window.

I walked out to the kitchen and ate some of the snacks we brought with us. I made myself a nice cup of hot chocolate, as I brought it to my lips a loud banging noise came from the attic. The hair on my arms stood up. I ran to my room to find the board covering the ceiling was gone.

“What are you doing?” said Christy.

I jumped and leaped across my room.

“Whoa, calm down scaredy cat,” said Christy.

“Oh my gosh, I almost peed my pants,” I said.

“What are you so freaked out about?”

“The board covering the ceiling is gone. Like gone, gone.”

“Dad probably took it, you know his OCD. He might have just gone to the front desk to get someone to fix it, no big deal.”

“Ok, well I have to take a shower.”

I walked to the clubhouse, I noticed the forest looks really eerie at night. When I arrived at the clubhouse my mom and dad were partying. The staff was partying too, it was more of a snooze-fest than a party. Then I remembered it was my dad's birthday. I played along like I knew but I didn't. I gave him a birthday hug and stayed for a couple more hours. Once the party was over we walked home. The first night sleeping in that room with an open ceiling was terrifying. I felt as if I was being watched for ten hours. The next morning I walked to the clubhouse for some wifi and looked up information about these cabins. A newspaper article about cabin 31B, which was the cabin we were staying in, was it had been a squatter home. Apparently teenagers were squatting in the house for years and room service never cleaned it because it was,
“Too far away from the clubhouse,” said one of the cleaners.

After my tedious research I walked back to the cabin. I told my mom and she was amazed how the clean up team did such a good job on this place. Later that night I felt relieved that no one is in the house but I still feel like I was being watched. All of a sudden I heard a loud banging noise, and the whole ceiling shook.

I screamed,”MOM, DAD, ANYBODY. HELP!”

My dad, wielding and knife, ran in followed by my mom and sister. Seconds later a man fell through the ceiling onto an old desk. Lets just say the desk wasn't as lucky as the man. The man stood up and said he was ok, and to not tell his mom. My dad quickly subdued the man and called the cops. Fifteen minutes later the cops finally arrived and took the man. I was pretty shaken up, probably because a dude just fell through the ceiling of the cabin that we've only been staying in for two days! That night we hurried home after getting a two hundred percent refund. When we arrived home after a twelve hour drive I told my parents I am never staying in a cabin again. The next two months I slept with my parents. It has now been a couple years after the incident and I still will never stay in a cabin alone ever again.