Daily writing prompt

What are 5 everyday things that bring you happiness?

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On the 4th of July weekend in 2023 Valerie a camper had pulled into a familiar spot in tese National Forest in East Alabama this was a place that she had been camping at for the past couple of weeks with her fiance but this time she was all alone she had arrived around 7:30 and immediately started rushing to set up before she lost dayl night and the campsite that she had set up was positioned in this kind of small area that was between valleys and her tent door was facing her vehicle which was pulled just off to the side of the road so looking out from the tent there was this almost kind of shallow Valley that led to some really thick trees and behind her Camp was a similar Valley with another tree line and if you look to the left there was a slight slope where the road disappeared into the trees to the right you could see about half a mile of brush in this winding dirt road that went uphill so basically this camper was in a small clearing completely surrounded by Forest on all sides and as she set up camp she could hear some of the other campers off to the left now these folks were just riding four-wheelers playing music and drinking just being really Rowdy and unfortunately inconsiderate pretty normal stuff you got to deal with if you’re camping anywhere near other people and after being exhausted from her day she settled into her tent around 8:15 or so and she just watched a few videos on her phone before laying down to sleep right around 9:00 and eventually she fell asleep now at some point she woke up briefly maybe more than once it was more like twice during the night because the neighboring campers were just really loud but she did not let that bother her and stop her from enjoying her little uh outing and then she was woken up a third time it was right around 1:45 in the morning but this time know instead of being woken by the campers being noisy she’s just rolling over trying to get comfortable but she realizes something that wasn’t making any sense it was this short strange kind of whooping sound that was coming from the left just inside the tree line hearing a sound like that really startled her and so she started listening closer and she realized just how quiet things were she could no longer hear the other campers who were were just Rowdy and making noise not that long ago and so she’s thinking okay maybe this is a coyote you know I’m out here in the forest I I don’t know what this could be I’ve never heard this

sound before and after going through the mental Rolodex of animals she’s like all right it’s either got to be a bird or a fox and she laid there for probably about 10 or so minutes just trying to force herself back to sleep but then off in the distance heard the sounds of dogs barking from the right kind of up on top of the hill so she thought to herself all right I guess I’ll stay awake just a little bit longer just to maybe monitor the dogs wondering if these dogs were going to approach her camp but eventually the dogs moved further away and everything got quieter so she went back to trying to get comfortable and fall back asleep and at this point noticed that it was completely silent now and it wasn’t just the kind of quiet where you know nighttime quiet it was her gut was screaming at her that things were not okay I mean her stomach was not and by this point she had heard absolutely nothing for like 30 minutes but instinctively she felt like she was being watched suddenly a crunching sound was coming from just to the right of the camp right outside the closest cluster of trees she sat up trying not to make any sudden movements because if there was somebody coming to investigate her Camp she didn’t want them knowing that she was awake it could be someone coming to rob her or worse and so she just strained to listen and identify the sounds hoping that you know if it was somebody approaching maybe she could just shout out and let them know that she was armed but she couldn’t tell if it was crunching wood or bone and whatever it was regardless the situation was terrifying she was simply too scared to look outside the tent so she quietly began searching for her phone and car keys and then that same crunching sound started coming from the left side of the camp too and this new sound was noticeably louder and closer than the first one breaking silence again was this nearby owl that suddenly began screeching and screaming the owl’s sudden alarm really intensified her fear and now she’s at a point where she realized that things were escalating quickly and she needed to be ready in case things got bad whoever was out there obviously had ill intent and so she grabbed her pistol disengaged the safety and the crunching sounds were coming from multiple directions simultaneously from left from the right and from behind folks she was surrounded she described it as sounding like bones or thick wood being chewed on and deciding that she had no choice and had to leave she put her phone in her pocket grabbed her keys chambered around in the pistol and very slowly and cautiously open the tent door she was ready to make a run for it as fast as she could and the moment that she emerged from the tent all the crunching sounds stopped it was just sudden complete silence but then a new sound began and it was what sounded like human weeping but it was coming directly across the road in front of her camp and it was this really animalistic sounding voice that clearly intentionally mimicking human crying it actually reminded her of the scene in Harry Potter where Professor Lupin transforms into a werewolf and in that moment her fight or flight kicks in. She doesn’t know what’s going on she doesn’t care it’s either do or die and so she just takes off into a full-blown Sprint back to her car that she can see all trying to stay alert to any noises around them and so she reaches the car she throws the door open she jumps inside she slams the door she locks the car and she’s running through all of her options now does she turn the car on does she drive back home what does she do? does she leave everything behind?…

Well No because of her belongings and valuables are there like her wallet and other expensive equipment so leaving right now isn’t an option and so just after battling with herself for a good few minutes she realizes that she’s just going to try to do her best and stick it out until morning until she can go out there strip everything down pack up and go and even through the remainder of the night they could still hear the strange random noises heing there and all of them alluding to her invisible guests close by unfortunately whoever or whatever it was that had visited her campsite that evening remains inconclusive .