The cicadas were in full chorus, a buzzing symphony that usually lulled me to sleep at Camp Evergreen. But tonight, sleep was an impossible dream. My bunk bed, usually occupied by my best friend, Alex, was empty. His sleeping bag was still there, rumpled and smelling faintly of pine and sunscreen, but Alex was gone.

It had happened this morning. I woke up, ready to drag him to breakfast, and his bed was already stripped. Confused, I asked our counselor, Mark, where Alex was. Mark just shrugged and said, “His parents picked him up early. Something came up.”

But that didn’t feel right. Alex had been talking for weeks about the camp talent show, practicing his terrible magic tricks every chance he got. He wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye, especially not without rubbing his imminent “victory” in my face. I asked around. No one had seen his parents. No one had seen him leave. The camp director, Ms. Albright, just repeated Mark’s story, her smile a little too tight, her eyes avoiding mine.

Days bled into a week. The usual camp fun felt dull and hollow without Alex. The canoe races, the crafts, even the gooey s’mores around the bonfire – it all just reminded me of him.

Then came the final bonfire. The flames crackled, sending sparks dancing into the inky sky. Stories were being told, laughter echoed, but my gaze kept drifting to the dark line of woods beyond the clearing. It was a habit I’d developed, an unconscious search for a familiar face.

And then I saw it.

At the very edge of the tree line, just where the firelight barely reached, a figure stood. Tall, slender, with that familiar unruly mop of dark hair. My breath hitched. It was Alex. My heart hammered against my ribs. He was just standing there, watching us. I started to call his name, a joyous shout bubbling in my throat. But before I could, a shadow shifted, a cloud passed over the moon, or perhaps it was just my eyes playing tricks on me in the flickering light. When I looked again, the spot was empty. He was gone.

Was it a trick of the light? A wishful hallucination brought on by exhaustion and longing? Or had I really seen Alex, standing there in the shadows, just out of reach? The questions swirled in my head, as unsettling and elusive as the figure I thought I’d seen. Camp Evergreen suddenly felt less like a summer paradise and more like a place holding a very unsettling secret.