Maybe it was one of the most exciting days for me. I had already prepared my whole camping bag before I went to bed last night. I couldn't sleep during the night because I was so excited, but I still had to get up early in the morning and get on the bus before the traffic.
I quickly brushed my teeth, put on some warm clothes, checked all my camping gear one last time, tied my boots and went outside.
It was really cold.
Chilly...
I wrote to other friends in the Whatsapp group and started texting them to see where they were, if they were asleep or still asleep. One of them had fallen asleep. I called him many times but he didn't pick up. I was thinking why people leave their phones on silent mode on days like this when the bus arrived.
I got on the bus and the driver looked at me differently. I guess he wasn't expecting a young man with a camping bag on his back and camping equipment in his hands so early in the morning. Also, my thick coat and the beret on my head made me feel very hot when I got on the bus. The journey was going to be over an hour and I quickly took them off.
As time passed, the bus filled up, but I continued the journey half asleep. I had my headphones on and was listening to Iron Maiden - Final Frontier Album
I got off at the bus stop a few hundred meters from the campsite and started waiting for my friends.
I was the first one to arrive, it was cold as hell.
Some of them came in a few minutes.
Some kept me waiting for more than half an hour.
Fortunately I was not alone and the conversation made me forget the cold weather.
Then we quickly set up the campsite. We went deep into the forest, we didn't want people to disturb us. We were going to play loud music and we didn't want to disturb people either. We went through the forest for about 25 minutes.
We set up the campsite.
We cleaned the area.
We set up the tents.
We made a fire.
We had breakfast and started chatting.
Everything was going perfectly, until dinner.
While my other friends were taking care of dinner by the fire, I decided to wander around. For the first time in my life I was going to stay in the forest until morning. For the first time I was going to sleep in camp. I didn't go very far, about five meters. I leaned against a tree about five meters away.
Like in the movies, with my back to my friends. Then I would slowly slide down and sit at the base of the tree.
zzhzrrrrrriiiippppp
I felt a pain in my back. I immediately put my hand on my back and when I looked at the tree, I saw that a nail was stuck in it.
A rusty, thin nail had been driven into my back and as I slid down, it scratched my back. Fortunately there was not much blood.
I immediately went to my friend and explained the situation.
The sun had already set.
Shocked. Everybody was.
He quickly took me by the hand and we started walking through the forest. In the dark. Just the two of us and a flashlight.
We were afraid I might get tetanus.
I was very scared until we got out of the forest. Because there were only two of us, I thought what would we do if a wild animal came.
Fortunately, nothing happened to us and we found a taxi outside the forest. We went straight to the hospital.
When we arrived at the hospital, the doctor gave me a dressing on my back. Then he gave me a vaccination. He said it might be better if I stayed there tonight. At least for a few hours... and... the camp night was ruined...
My friend and I looked at each other face to face and decided there was nothing to do. We waited in the hospital until the morning hours.
For nothing. Just a precaution.
When the morning hours came, I felt very tired. The doctor said it was probably because of the vaccine.
My first day of camping was spent sleeping in hospital corridors. My hopes and dreams were crushed...
...
Thank you so much for reading 📚 This is inspired by and written for Inkwell Creative Nonficton - Hopes and Dreams