Don’t Let Your Mind Go There

Prologue

TATE

It was our family’s tradition to go camping every year, and while we usually went during summer break, this year, our camping trip happened in the fall.

It was Dad’s idea, but we weren’t all on board with it at first.

Why would we give up camping in beautiful weather by the lake, just to freeze to death in the middle of the woods? Dad was quick to point out that we’d be in a cabin, not a tent like we usually were. But even that wasn’t very convincing to me.

“There are two rooms. Big, warm beds. A kitchen, a fireplace,” he had told us enthusiastically.

“I thought you liked camping in the tents. You’ve always been super excited to use that little gas grill to cook our food on.” Mom had a point, and she also didn’t seem to understand why Dad had this sudden change of mind.

“You and the kids don’t enjoy the food I cook on that thing anyway. With the kitchen and a dining area inside and out, we can have big dinners.”

“I’m all for that,” Ronan, my twin brother, said.

“Me too.” I shrugged, agreeing with him.

It took another hour or two before Mom agreed to go camping in Jasper, Alberta in October, instead of spending the summer by Lake Tahoe in California like we usually did.

Shortly after, Dad had already booked us a cabin, and with a couple of months to wait, he already started to look up things to do in that area. We had been to Canada before. Well, we basically lived right at the border. Our hometown was Whitefish, Montana, and it was an hour drive up to the Canadian border. To be fair, Whitefish was a beautiful place. We lived right by the lake, and nature was all around us. Still, for holidays and vacations, Mom and Dad always took us somewhere else.

The closer we got to October, the more excited I became.

I’ve always loved vacationing with my family, but this one would be different.

And nothing could’ve ever prepared me for what that campsite in the Jasper National Park had in store for us.