It's a Good Thing

It was my senior year of high school, it was around the middle of May and I had a little over a month left of school . I was packing up my stuff for a field trip, with my AP environmental science class. The trip was a three night stay at a camp called "Evergreen Hill Camp". The price was $150 which is, a pretty good deal. There were 3 Ap environmental classes going, it was a mix of juniors and seniors and with the price being pretty cheap everyone was going ,all 90 of us.

The purpose of this trip was to learn about trees and water and all that other crap. My friends and I were going to share a room .Curious of what the rooms looked like I checked the camp website to see what they got, it looked like your usual camp but it had a lot to it zip lining, rock climbing, kayaking they had a lot of farm animals up there too and bird shows featuring owls and falcons, it also had an arcade ,a small movie theater ,a weight room and many camp fire spots and so much more. There was star gazing, and they even provide you with telescopes to get a better view.

I clicked on the rooms it showed a couple of lodges I clicked on the virtual tour and I was surprised ,the cabin looked like the inside of a 4 star hotel room I immediately clicked to go into the rooms and there were 4 beds all of them looked like hotel beds of the finest kind and it had 2 bathrooms and a closet and its own TV, this place was going to be a blast I thought .I couldn't wait to go, I've never zip lined before or ever went kayaking .I looked forward to having a campfire and eating s’mores and singing songs with everybody and then watch the stars.

My teacher Mr. Ploth specifically stated we had to be in front of the school by 6:40 and said the buses would leave by 7:10, he said if you miss the bus then it’s too bad. I had all my stuff ready ,tooth brush, clothes, shampoo, my motion sickness pills since I get car sick ,my DS and some money for souvenirs. I went to bed ,I couldn't sleep I was too excited for the field trip ,it was also going to be one of the last happy moments I would have with my friends before we all part ways and go to college.

...... *BAM* "Ughhh.... my head" I had a pain on the side of my head from falling off my bed.
Until I realized ...

" SHIT WHAT TIME IS IT!!!?"

I darted my eyes at my alarm it was 7:00 am.

"SHIT,SHIT,SHIT I FORGOT TO SET MY DAMN ALARM!"

I quickly threw off my pajamas and put on some clothes ,I ran out my door with my luggage without taking a bath or brushing my teeth I kicked my dads bedroom door open.

"DAD GET THE CAR I'M GONNA BE LATE FOR MY TRIP!!"

I rushed him out the room, he picked up his keys from the kitchen counter and we went into his SUV, I rushed him to go quicker I didn't care if he was still in his pajamas, I looked at my phone it was 7:05. Damn it was around a 20 minute drive to school but luckily since its pretty early there wasn't much traffic. My dad noticed my panicking and tried to reassure me " Look son maybe you wont exactly leave at that time, when I was your age my teacher said to be at school at a certain time for a trip as well and when I got there a little late we ended up leaving an hour later than what we had scheduled to go."

“Dad you don’t know Mr. Ploth he doesn't work that way he’s really strict on time, but I hope your right” I said.
After a couple of minutes my phone started ringing it was my best friend Jeremy he was also one of my roommates for the trip I picked it up "JEREMY!!! Hey, I’m running a little late but I’m almost at the school tell Mr. Ploth to wait for me I only forgot to set up my ala-"
“JACOB!” Jeremy yelled

“Look man, I don’t know how to say this but…. we already left” my heart sank

“….What? What do you mean?”

“Look Jacob I pleaded with Mr.Ploth I told him to wait a few minutes for you, but he said he didn't want everyone to wait for one person who couldn't make it on ti-“

“hold on … your telling me I’m the only person who couldn't make it…. it’s just me, everyone…. but me is... going?”, Jeremy was silent

“I’m sorry but I tried, I wish you could be here ….bye.” Jeremy hung up. I stood frozen for a minute at what I just heard until I let my phone slip from my finger tips and let it fall to the floor, my dad stopped the car he turned towards me “son, are you alright?” tears were dripping from my cheeks “dad they left without me.”

I turned and crawled towards the backseats ,laid down and cried. My dad tried talking to me but I ignored him, he drove to a nearby diner went in, after a couple of minutes he came back with a large paper bag he then drove to the park he patted my back “ let’s go eat” we stepped out of the SUV and sat on an empty picnic table next to a play ground ,the sun was out the blue sky was cloudless there was laughter of children and singing of birds and the sound of the wind was all I could hear, my dad took out some food and handed it to me, it was my favorite ,eggs sunny side up with bacon , home potatoes , buttered toast and a Tropicana orange juice. He handed me a plastic fork and salt and pepper. My dad started eating his food while I didn't even touch mine I had my head down the whole time

“you’re not gonna eat?” asked my dad

“no” I quietly responded ,

“ so they left you behind huh?” said my dad

“yeah… I was the only person who couldn't go, if only I had remembered to set my stupid alarm clock ,I could have made it” I took a breath and then a sip of my juice “ and it’s all fucking Ploth’s fault, I was almost there but he chooses to be a fucking asshole and leave me behind.” My dad took a bite out of my toast

“How about you stay at home for a couple of days while I try to figure out how to get your money back” he said.

“Dad all payments are final I can’t get a refund ,that’s one more thing for me to hate Mr.Ploth for.”

When we got back home I went to bed and took a nap, when I woke up it was 1:00 PM I almost forgot about missing the trip, I went on my computer to distract myself, I then went on Face book,I wish I hadn't people were already posting pictures from the camp they seemed to be having a fun time even Jeremy with the rest of my friends , I got off face book and played some video-games for the rest of the day. The next morning I awoke to a knocking at my door I struggled to get up I looked at my alarm it was 9:30 I dragged my feet to the door and opened it was my dad “ hurry up get changed and go to the kitchen for some breakfast” I did what he told me I took a bath and put on some clothes and walked to the kitchen I was surprised at the numerous plates of food on the table pancakes, eggs , cereal, oatmeal and more “dad what is this? is someone coming to visit?”

“ No silly I thought since you couldn't make it to the trip you might as well make up for it and spend some time with your old man.”

I really have the best dad in the world ,my mom died when I was 6 so it’s just me and my dad he’s not really a strict parent he treats me like a friend. The first thing we did was go to the arcade and then we went to the baseball game after that we ended the day with paint ball. The next day while eating breakfast my dad asked me “which do you think is better a regular amusement park or a water park?”

“Well since its quite hot out I would say a water park why do you ask?"

My dad grinned

“cause were going to six flags!!.”

I jumped up in excitement “You’re shitting me really!!!???”

This is a whole lot better than some damn field trip in the woods. We had a great time, my dad was cool enough to let us go into both parks, we went on all the rides ate a shit ton of food and bought some souvenirs .We talked about the whole thing all the way back home by the time we returned it was 1 am.

“ I died when I went on the Kingda Ka I almost threw up the lunch I ate”

“ really ? I nearly died in the Nitro it looked crazy” said my dad

I went to my room, I threw myself on my bed ,I was exhausted and then it got me thinking, Jeremy and everyone else are coming back tomorrow from the trip. Honestly I’m not too upset about missing the trip anymore I got to do some awesome stuff, I hung out with my dad went to Six Flags and miss 4 days of school it's better than if I went to the camp. Maybe it was a good thing I didn't go ,the thought made me feel happy and a little relieved for some reason, I went off to sleep.

That same night I had a really weird dream, I was in front of the school with my luggage, everybody was there all the classes Mr. Ploth , Jeremy all my friends. They took my luggage and placed it with the rest under the bus I went inside the bus and sat next to Jeremy he turned to me and said “ you actually made it on time!”

I found it really strange but didn't question it, the next thing I knew we were already at the camp like 2 minutes later but in dreams you just go with the flow you never seem to question anything. The camp looked just as I saw in the website. The first thing we did was go to the dining hall for some lunch .I sat with all my friends and we ate hot dogs with some French fries and talked about what we would do in the camp first. After lunch we went outside and everybody did their own thing my friends and I played some basket ball and then some football Jeremy caught the ball and then he started to walk towards my direction he stopped when we were face to face he looked down and observed the football gave it a few pats and placed it under his arm and looked back at me “ you know I was really upset that you couldn't make it on the trip , I really pleaded with Mr. Ploth to wait for you we all did “,

All my friends walked up to me they all had sorrowed looks on their faces.

“ What are you talking about I’m here with you guys”

Jeremy continued

“ No you’re not with us, it would have been fun if you went”

Jeremy paused he placed his hand on my shoulder and took a breath and said

“ but ….it’s a good thing you weren't there.”

“huh what?”

The sky slowly turned pitch black

“ Jeremy what the hell is going on?”

All my friends gave me a pat on the back or rubbed my head and all walked away into a certain direction so did everyone else from all the classes they all were walking toward somewhere. Jeremy took his hand off my shoulder and before he walked away he turned around and with a saddened look on his face he finally gave a smile, he said “ thanks for everything.”

I looked as he walked away after he said those last words I felt a wave of sadness in my heart I didn't know why. Then I smelled something burning but couldn't see the source of it ,then there was a light flashing in the distance ,it was a blood red colored light coming from the direction from where everyone was headed to .They were car lights and there was an eerie fog covering the vehicle where the lights were coming from ,the vehicle seemed to be a tractor people were surrounding the vehicle and when the car turned on it gave a strong powerful roar from the engine so loud that I immediately woke up from my dream. I looked at my alarm, it was 7:00 am the dream got me a bit worried so I reached for my phone and called Jeremy I waited for a bit, 3 seconds later the machine came on it said the number was not in service ,

“hmm the camp must not have signal” I thought but I was worried so I checked him up on Facebook I went on Jeremy’s page and saw that he had changed his profile pic , he was at the camp and behind him was a water fall , this was posted yesterday, I sighed in relief I couldn't get the dream out of my head, I needed some water, I headed for the kitchen I walked into the living room and my dad was up already it was weird why was he up so early, he was on his chair he had his hands covering his face I hesitantly walked up to him “hey dad are you .. Alright?” he didn't look at me and while in that same position he said

“Jacob … check the news.”

He stood up and went into the kitchen it seemed like he didn't want me to see his face I did what he said I picked up the remote and put on channel 3 there were commercials I waited until it went on.

“ Good Morning America this is Wendy King this just in a tragic incident occurred last night at the Evergreen Hill Camp in Nebraska a large group of students from Middle Hollow High school have been found dead last night ,police reports say their bodies have been located in the forest far from the camp the cause of their deaths was a fire , it all started when on their third day into the trip there was a scheduled hayride at 10 pm the vehicle had 5 hay wagons that could only fit around 70 people and with all 90 students wanting to participate the ones in charge of the ride said it was alright for everyone to go if they squeezed in, during the ride one of the students in the last wagons was smoking and threw their cigarette into a small pile of pine leaves, the small light from the cigarette started a fire on the pine leaves which then spread to the rest of the leaves until the flame reached a leaking gas tank nearby which caused a large explosion, the last two cars near the explosion caught fire the ones who sat in the back of the wagon who were closest to the explosion were blown apart, students who were trying to escape from the fire were not able to due to the overcrowding of the wagons have made it difficult to get out ,the flames then spread to the forest surrounding everyone ,one of the burning branches fell on the tractor immediately knocking out the driver, the tractor caught on fire and when the flame reached the engine it caused it to blow up, the students who were able to get out of the wagon were not able to leave because of the flames surrounding them have later died from carbon monoxide poisoning with their dead bodies then engulfed in flames, all 91 students including the teacher and driver have died , police are currently identifying the bodies of those who died, here is footage from one of the students phone recording the hayride and of the students last seen alive.”

The video started it was dark out and the only light came from the tractor and the girls phone. She was directing her camera to everyone's faces and told them to say hi and they all waved, one of the people who were waving was Jeremy ,they seemed to be in the middle wagon ,after a few minutes there was a loud explosion the girl turned her camera toward the last wagon ,people were on fire and the ones in the very back were censored since it was too gory to show on TV ,the students everybody was screaming.

"Alex! Alex!!!" it was Jeremy's voice.

" Holy Shit!!! they're dead they were blown ..up it's horrendous." another student yelled.

"let me out, LET ME THE FUCK OUT!!!!" screamed another.

A second explosion was heard ,the screams grew louder and people began hitting one another and pushing each other to get out of the wagon their only concern was their own safety, one student hit the girls phone and the camera shut off, I immediately turned off the TV. I set the remote down on the table. I stared at the floor and tears streamed down my face I began to sob " Jeremy and everyone else are dead ,they all suffered a painful death while I was at Six Flags having fun ,everyone was burning to death" I thought . Was the dream a way of Jeremy giving his final goodbyes? Had I actually set my alarm on the right time and actually made it to the trip ,I would've have also shared the same fate as Jeremy and everyone. My dad returned with a glass of water "here" he slid the drink in front of me and he sat down right next to me and said " It's a good thing you didn't go."