《Grizzly Summer Vacation》 The Worst Summer Vacation of My Life! Grizzly Summer Vacation By Daniel Propst Chapter 1: The Worst Summer Vacation Ever If you ask my little sister, Sam, she¡¯ll tell you I¡¯m a complete witch. I¡¯m not. Not completely anyway. She¡¯s just jealous because I¡¯m so cute and popular. Our parents must¡¯ve been reading Archie comics when they named us, though. Ugh. Abigail and Samantha? Please. And for the record, it¡¯s Abby, not Abigail. Of course, my sister loves her name. She thinks it¡¯s cute that she has a boy¡¯s name or something. ¡°Oh, look at me, I¡¯m Sam! I love baseball and soccer, yay! Wanna see me kick a goal?¡± The other day she found my makeup kit and asked why I had so many different shades of eye shadow. Like, hello, sometimes I need to wear different colors. It¡¯s called matching. She thinks a match has something to do with tennis. Like I said - jealous. I need to explain what happened last summer. With the car, you know. By the cabin. At the lake. If you¡¯re from Krebville, you already know what I¡¯m talking about. Everyone at the school was talking about it anyway. But if you¡¯re not from around here, you probably don¡¯t know. Which means someone has to tell you. Sadly, that¡¯s me. Okay, so, Dad came home from work one day, and he was, like, way too excited. We were all sitting around the dinner table. Mom, who is a complete witch, doesn¡¯t let me bring my iPhone to the table anymore, so I¡¯m basically forced to listen to whatever the family wants to talk about. ¡°Hey, listen up everyone,¡± Dad said, grinning ear to ear. ¡°This summer we¡¯re going to a cabin by Teeter Creek Lake! I rented one of the places out there. It¡¯s going to be perfect!¡± Sam¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Oh my gosh! That¡¯s great, Dad!¡± My mom and I shared a look. Neither one of us is a big fan of the outdoors, so I thought I could count on her to rescue me. Shows what I know, right? ¡°Are you sure that¡¯s a great idea, honey? A cabin sounds really dirty.¡± I smiled at her, finally some common sense. Dad waved his hand. ¡°I already looked into that! There¡¯s nothing to worry about: these cabins have electricity and running water. The girl¡¯s room even has bunk beds and there¡¯s a full kitchen.¡± I saw Mom nod in agreement. Oh no. She was falling for it. I panicked. ¡°Oh no! There¡¯s no way I¡¯m sharing a room with Sam!¡± ¡°Hey!¡± Sam shot back. ¡°Abby! Apologize to your sister!¡± Mom said. I muttered an apology. ¡°Teeter Creek Lake has cabins with toilets, right?¡± Mom asked. Dad was beaming at this point, knowing he¡¯d already won. ¡°Of course! They even have televisions in all the bedrooms, a fridge in the kitchen, and a garage to park the car. They¡¯ve even got a washing machine and a dryer. It¡¯s like a home away from home.¡± ¡°Then why don¡¯t we save some money by staying home? Do they at least have internet?¡± I asked. ¡°Who cares?¡± Sam said. ¡°They have a lake! Can we get a boat?¡± ¡°Sure can. The cabin we have has a dock with a small boat,¡± Dad said. ¡°Great, so I can drown myself when I can¡¯t get online.¡± ¡°Abby!¡±The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Later that evening I was in my room ¨C same as always. I had my TV on, but I could still hear my parents talking cheerfully about going to the lake. Sometimes my sister¡¯s piercing laugh interrupted them. I scrunched my eyes tight. Were they just pretending my feelings didn¡¯t matter? I grabbed my cellphone and dialed Caroline. ¡°Hey, Caroline, it¡¯s me. Yeah, listen. I gotta tell you something, okay? I might be dead before school starts up. We¡¯re not going to the beach this summer. We¡¯re going to a lake.¡± ¡°Shut up,¡± she said. ¡°Your mom hates the outdoors.¡± ¡°I know! Dad¡¯s talked her into it! He¡¯s got a cabin at Teeter Creek Lake,¡± Caroline gasped. ¡°Oh no he didn¡¯t! Tommy said there¡¯s a bear out there!¡± What? That made me pause. ¡°¡­a bear?¡± ¡°Yeah, for real. Tommy said there¡¯s a bear at Teeter Creek Lake. So what, though, Abby? I mean, think about it. Tommy¡¯s just a stupid boy trying to scare a bunch of girls, and the lake is by the woods anyway! That¡¯s not weird.¡± I thought about that for a second. It made sense. Before I could say anything, I heard a knock at my door. Sam pushed it open and stood in the hall. ¡°Caroline, I¡¯ll have to call you back later. My sister¡¯s at the door.¡± I turned to Sam. ¡°What do you want?¡± ¡°Are you really not excited about going to the lake?¡± she asked. ¡°Oh jeez! I knew you were going to bring that up!¡± I said. I threw myself onto my bed dramatically. I waited, but I didn¡¯t hear her walk away like she usually did. I opened my eye to peek, but I saw her standing by my headboard looking down at me. Then I opened both my eyes, and Sam rolled hers. ¡°We¡¯ve never been camping before, or anything,¡± Sam said. ¡°Our parents are so stupid sometimes, Sam! They must like sleeping with bugs or something. This cabin is a waste of our time, and I don¡¯t see what they¡¯re so happy about. They¡¯re bringing the entire family down.¡± ¡°You¡¯re the only one who doesn¡¯t want to go.¡± I groaned. ¡°You¡¯ll see what I mean when we get there! I¡¯m not stupid.¡± ¡°I saw a picture from the cabin¡¯s webpage. Dad showed me and Mom. It looks pretty. We have a boat and we¡¯ve never been fishing!¡± she started. ¡°Yeah? So? I¡¯ve never been and I don¡¯t want to start.¡± She ignored my interruption. ¡°Anyways, these guys on TV, they go fishing for like sword fish and sharks! How cool is that? We¡¯ll get to go fishing too, Abby!¡± Sam threw her fist up like she was celebrating a game-winning goal. I scoffed. ¡°There aren¡¯t going to be any sharks in the lake. God, that¡¯s so stupid. Mom and Dad are taking us to a hovel beside a mud puddle. The sooner you realize that the better!¡± She just crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. Sometimes I can really hate Sam. It¡¯s like my own little sister won¡¯t listen to me! I think she just wants to suck up to Mom and Dad, like, all the time. And she even tries to make me feel bad about it. ¡°You know, none of our friends are going to be out there,¡± she said. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m going to be stuck with you,¡± I said. I crossed my arms and looked away. What? Was she just trying to make me angry or something? It was working. ¡°That¡¯s my point! It doesn¡¯t have to suck, you know. I mean, I¡¯d rather hang out with you than be stuck on a boat all day with our parents.¡± I looked over at her curiously. She continued. ¡°That¡¯d be lame, right? Maybe we could, I don¡¯t know, pick wildflowers together or something? I just don¡¯t wanna be out there by myself with them, Abby.¡± I wondered if she was onto something. After all, hanging out with Sam couldn¡¯t possibly be as bad as being stuck on a boat with Mom and Dad. I mean, when the two of us were younger, I guess she wasn¡¯t so bad. But, of course, we both got older. She got into sports somehow, and I¡¯ve always been really pretty, so I get to sit with the popular kids. I remembered the time when we played at Grandma¡¯s two years ago, and Sam found a toad in the front lawn. She tried to show me. She said I should feel it because it wasn¡¯t slimy or anything. But I didn¡¯t care, so she chased me around with it as the whole family laughed. Remembering that made me angry again. ¡°I¡¯d rather share my bed with squirrels,¡± I said. Suddenly one of my pillows hit my face and I heard Sam run out of my room giggling. ¡°Who even said you could come in here?¡± I yelled. Welcome to Hell I¡¯m not a snob, you can ask anyone at my high school. Anyone worth asking, that is. But they¡¯ll tell you I¡¯m so easy to get along with. I just don¡¯t get why so many people think my friends and I are so stuck up or something. I really wish I could have gone out to the lake with my friends Caroline, Jessica, and I guess Brittany could have come too. Maybe Caroline could get Bobby to drive us out because when my family and I got to the lake the cabin where we were staying was pretty. My sister and I had to share a room, which I hated because she complains when I wake up early to fix my hair and makeup. She has no concept of what it¡¯s like to be a girl. I swear, if my hair were as straight as hers I¡¯d shave it off and wear a wig. I¡¯m so thankful for my natural curls! Anyways, we had to share a room, but the living room has an awesome picture window that looks over the entire lake! Seriously, the first morning I brushed my teeth as I watched some people go water skiing. I¡¯d never seen anything like that before, and watching it in real life is so much cooler than on tv! Then the rest of my family woke up and reminded me that I wasn¡¯t alone in this cabin. Mom came our room, flipped on the bedroom light, and started yelling at me for no reason. ¡°You gonna go down to the dock with the rest of us? We¡¯re going fishing this morning,¡± she said, like I was doing something wrong by hanging out in my room. ¡°What do you think?¡± Mom frowned. ¡°Oh, come on! Don¡¯t be such a baby about it! What if you go and you like it?¡± I looked over at her, annoyed. I couldn¡¯t wait for them to be gone, I hoped they would stay on the lake all day. ¡°Not going to happen because I¡¯m not going,¡± I said. Mom told me earlier that I didn¡¯t have to go with them on the first day at the lake since most of the day they would be taking a boat safety class. ¡°Tomorrow though, the whole family is going fishing, Abby. The whole family.¡± ¡°Oh, jeez, Mom, I get it. You guys probably want me out there so you can laugh when I slip off the boat.¡± Mom sighed. ¡°We want you out there because we¡¯re a family. You don¡¯t even have to come for the safety class because your father and I know you¡¯ll just be bored. Heavens knows we don¡¯t want you around strangers when you¡¯re bored.¡± I looked over at her suspiciously. ¡°Are you embarrassed of me?¡± I asked. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Honey, that¡¯s just silly. I don¡¯t want you to accuse me and your father of torturing you by making you stand by a lake all day. Why don¡¯t you take a walk around the park? Just make sure you¡¯re back here in time for supper.¡± At first, I was really glad when they left until I realized there was nothing to eat, no cell phone service, and the television only got local channels. I hate this place because it reminds me of how bad it sucks like every five minutes. I went to the kitchen to find something to eat. But there wasn¡¯t anything, unless I actually wanted to cook. Why couldn¡¯t there be a McDonald¡¯s nearby? Stupid lake. There¡¯s lots of places to eat at the beach where people, like, actually go on vacation. I finally settled on some toast with butter then picked up the cabin¡¯s phone to call Caroline. But the phone was stupid or something because I couldn¡¯t dial out without a credit card number. Whatever. Mom brought some really sweet butter with honey mixed into it, so that was something. There was nothing to do at the cabin so I had to go outside. I was so bored, I wanted to take the car and go see my friends no matter what! Instead, I walked down this dirt path behind the cabin for a couple of minutes. Then, I began to feel the sun baking my sweat into the back of my shirt. Gnats hung in the air everywhere out here. I began to breathe a little harder and snorted one up my nose. Then I screamed. ¡°Do people really enjoy walking around in this? Is this what people love about camping?¡± I shouted. I wanted to just run back to the cabin, slam the door, and cry, but I didn¡¯t want my parents to think they¡¯d won by breaking me or anything. I tried to calm down and find something, anything, I could like about this place. As much as I hated to admit it, Mom and Dad were right about one thing: this place was pretty. Lots of wildflowers grew along the dirt path in golden and violet clumps. I picked several of them to make a bouquet for the kitchen table in the cabin. ¡°Abby, where did you find these flowers?¡± Dad asked. I could tell by the way he asked that I¡¯d done something wrong. ¡°They were growing all over along the trail behind the cabin. Why? What¡¯s wrong?¡± I asked. I scratched my forearm. It had been itching a lot lately. ¡°Hey, sweetie,¡± Dad called for Mom. ¡°Come in here for a second. I think we might have a problem with something.¡± Of course we had a problem with the flowers I¡¯d brought in. They weren¡¯t just pretty yellow and purple wildflowers. I¡¯d picked a whole bouquet of poison ivy. ¡°I hate this place! Look at me! I¡¯m ruined!¡± Sam started to giggle and ran out of the room. Dad went into the bathroom and took out the first aid kit. Mom began asking me more questions. ¡°You didn¡¯t put the flowers all over your face and neck, did you sweetie? Are these the only flowers you picked, or did you make another bouquet and leave it somewhere?¡± For once I didn¡¯t feel like saying anything bitchy to Mom. I could have said something like ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m allergic to this place and need to leave right away,¡± but I didn¡¯t. Her and Dad were really trying to help me. Dad came out of the bathroom with a pink bottle in his hands. ¡°You¡¯re covered in poison ivy. Stop scratching, Abby, this¡¯ll help.¡± I watched in horror as he poured this gooey liquid onto a cotton ball and stepped towards me with it held out. It looked like a Mark Kay experiment gone wrong, and smelled even worse. ¡°Oh my god, Dad! You¡¯re not going to put that stuff on me!¡± ¡°It¡¯s this calamine lotion, or you could scratch your skin off. Your choice, kiddo.¡± I bit my lip trying to resist the urge to tear into the rash climbing up my legs. That calamine lotion looked terrible, not like my buttermilk lotion at all! And that horrid smell! Why didn¡¯t they make all lotion vanilla scented? ¡°Well?¡± ¡°Fine.¡± The Bear ¡°That¡¯s so gross,¡± I said when I saw all the pink crumbs in my bed the next morning. After a shower I put the lotion back on my rash. My arms and legs looked swollen and had dime-sized bumps all over them. I looked at myself in the small medicine cabinet mirror and wondered what Caroline would do if she were here. I could hear my mom and dad fixing breakfast and my sister excitedly telling them about something. Why didn¡¯t I fit in with them I wondered. I bit my lip, wishing I could just enjoy breakfast with them for once. How many family vacations could we even have left? Then I remembered that it was Mom and Dad who brought me to this stupid cabin. Poison ivy didn¡¯t grow by the ocean. I tried to warn them about something like this! Just because I¡¯m in high school doesn¡¯t mean I don¡¯t know anything! I angrily flicked the bathroom lights off. ¡°Abby, you want some breakfast?¡± my mom called from the kitchen. I walked towards the kitchen trying not to be grumpy. ¡°Hey, good morning,¡± Dad said. ¡°We might get to go water skiing!¡± Sam chirped in. ¡°Oh, are you serious? I¡¯d love to go do that!¡± ¡°Well why don¡¯t you?¡± asked Dad. I held up my pink-stained arms. ¡°You think I want to go skiing looking like this?¡± Sam chuckled to herself, but Dad and Mom looked annoyed. ¡°Abby, it¡¯s not that big of a deal. You just got some poison ivy.¡± ¡°Not a big deal? I¡¯m covered in the stuff! You think I want to put on my bikini and go skiing in public when I look like I was dipped in a strawberry milkshake?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like you¡¯re disfigured. We wanted you to come because we thought this would be something you would enjoy,¡± Dad said. I shook my head trying to process how they thought I¡¯d like wearing a swim suit with poison ivy. ¡°What if there¡¯s some cute guy down there?¡± ¡°Oh jeez, here we go,¡± Sam said. ¡°Then he¡¯ll probably see you¡¯ve got some poison ivy. Do you think you¡¯re the only person by the lake that has calamine lotion? People get bug bites, scrapes, sunburn and worse camping. I doubt you¡¯re going to stand out.¡± I crossed my arms. ¡°I¡¯m not going. I don¡¯t want anyone to see me like this.¡± ¡°Fine, stay here. Sometimes there¡¯s just no arguing with you.¡± I don¡¯t know why I felt like the dumb one when my parents were the ones who thought Teeter Creek was a good idea. After they left, I sat in my bedroom, staring at the ceiling, trying to think about anything other than my poison ivy. But I finally got up, put on my bikini and a long shirt that covered most of the rash. I grabbed my dad¡¯s keys, locked the cabin, and started walking towards the lake. I could see the lake glittering through the trees and hear the sounds of motorboats cutting through the water. I smiled and wondered if my parents would be surprised to see me. Our trashcans lie haphazardly on their sides at the edge of the cabin¡¯s driveway. I saw a shaggy, black dog shaking one of our black garbage bags, tearing it apart and scattering trash everywhere. Mom, Dad, and Sam must have missed it by just a few minutes. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Hey puppy, what are you doing? Get away from there!¡± I yelled. The dog raised its head, and that¡¯s when I noticed. Too wide. The ears were too short. Then it stood up on its two hind legs, swiped at the air, and roared. My heart leapt in my chest. A bear! I wanted to run back to the cabin, but my feet refused to budge. Then the bear put its front paws on the ground and started towards me. I bolted back towards the cabin. I heard the aluminum trashcan slam onto the ground with a metal clang as the bear charged forward. I ran faster and I heard someone screaming. I cleared the drive way and leapt to the top of the front porch stairs, fumbling for the cabin¡¯s keys. The bear climbed up the stairs in an instant, and I knew I¡¯d never find the right key for the front door in time. But the cabin had a garage door, and my dad¡¯s key fob had a button he¡¯d programmed for it. I punched it, and heard the cabin¡¯s garage door begin to rise. The bear was already on the porch, between me and the stairs. Thankfully, the drop from the porch onto the ground wasn¡¯t very high, so I leapt over the railing and landed on the ground. The bear turned, lumbered back down the porch stairs, and began to chase me again. I had just enough time to take a quick breath before jumping back on my feet and staggering towards the garage. My heart sounded like a drum in my hears, and my throat burned every time I took a breath, but I pushed myself to run under the cabin¡¯s garage door. As soon as I made it inside the garage, I pushed the button on my dad¡¯s key fob, and the garage door began to descend. Slowly. Too slowly. The bear squeezed through the gap just as I screamed, and the door slammed shut ¨C locking me in with it. The key ring had a button on the side that raised the cabin¡¯s garage door. I hit it and slid under the door before the bear made it. I could see it running on all fours straight towards the garage and I frantically hit the button trying to get the door to close. Slowly the door began to descend but not before the bear ran in. The garage door shut, trapping me and the bear inside. The bear heard turned, looking confused as to where the exit had suddenly disappeared behind it. I didn¡¯t even think about it. I hit the button on my dad¡¯s fob, but I wasn¡¯t about to stand there and just wait for the door to rise again. I opened my dad¡¯s car door and jumped inside. As I sat in the driver¡¯s seat and reached over to shut the door, the bear was right there. I had just enough time to scramble over the driver¡¯s seat and into the passenger¡¯s before the bear put its front paws into my dad¡¯s car! I grabbed the passenger door handle and tried to push it open. Locked! The bear was trying to climb into the driver¡¯s seat while I was messing with the key fob again. I heard the car start as I pressed another button on the fob. The garage door stopped and began to descend! Finally, I pressed the right one and the passenger door opened. I climbed out just as the bear reached across the driver¡¯s seat and into the passenger¡¯s. I slammed the car door shut and dashed out of the garage just as it closed. I had just enough time to stand there, in the cabin¡¯s driveway, to catch my breath before I heard the crashing sound of metal twisting and snapping. I turned and ran onto the cabin¡¯s porch stairs as I saw the back of my dad¡¯s car came bursting through the garage door and onto the driveway. The bear must¡¯ve accidentally put the car in reverse! I watched in part wonder and horror as my dad¡¯s car, bear inside, rolled backwards down the driveway, onto the road, and disappeared into the woods. I stood there for a long time after the car was gone, just waiting to wake up. I¡¯d never really been sorry before, but I was sorry when my parents came back later. It was funny, the things I was sorry for weren¡¯t the stolen car, or the broken garage door. Instead, I was sorry I didn¡¯t go skiing with them that morning. I should have been with my family the whole time. Everything I made such a big deal out of? Kinda petty. They saw the garage door straight away. Then they saw the missing car. Of course, they blamed me for everything. ¡°Quit blaming this on a bear,¡± dad said. ¡°Abby, it¡¯s obvious what happened here. You hated this place so much you waited until we were gone and tried to take the car to see your friends. Now, where is it?¡± ¡°Dad, I swear I don¡¯t know!¡± I cried. Mom threw her hands up, exasperated. ¡°You can¡¯t really expect your father and I to believe that a bear climbed into the car, reversed it though the garage door, and drove it into the woods!¡± ¡°Until we figure out what¡¯s going on, we don¡¯t want to see you! Go to your room and stay there!¡± said Dad. I wanted to do something really dramatic, like knock over the television or scream so all the other cabins heard. I wanted them to just listen to me for once! But I didn¡¯t. I listened to them instead. I walked slowly back to my bedroom and shut the door. I wasn¡¯t in there very long before I heard Sam open the door quietly and walk in. I sat up on my bed and she sat beside me. ¡°Hey,¡± she said. I wiped some tears from my eyes and said hey. ¡°They found the car in the woods, like a few miles from here. It was just left on the side of the ditch.¡± I shrugged. I didn¡¯t put the car there. Sam looked at me skeptically at first, then tilted her head slightly. ¡°Did a bear really take the car?¡± I looked at my sister and smiled at her.