The cool air of the July night smelled of needles and wet earth. We sat huddled around the campfire, which was slowly dying out under the pressure of an increasingly strong wind. At the Black Lake - a place full of stories and whispers from the past - we set up two old tents, a little too small for five high school students. Each of us tried to feign courage, but anxiety hung in the air, as if the storm that was yet to come was already seeping in between our thoughts. We were here for the adventure, sure. But not only - this was to be our last trip before matriculation, something to remember for a long time. Oliwia fiercely poked the embers with a stick, Michal glanced at his phone every now and then, as if the signal would save him from what could not be found online. Bartek threw in jokes, as if ridicule could supplant the unspeakable, and Klaudia was silent, staring into the fire as if looking there for answers to questions that no one was asking. I - Lena - felt the tension pulsing through me. Things had changed recently. We used to be inseparable, but now we each carried something at the bottom of our hearts that we didn't want to show. The fire shot sparks when Olive finally broke the silence: - Do you also feel that something is about to happen? We smiled nervously, but only an echo answered. The silence stretched like a rubber band from an old slingshot, ready to burst. Michael turned pale. Klaudia twitched slightly, as if something had startled her. Then a flash of lightning lit up the sky. The fire went out - all of a sudden, as if someone had snapped their fingers. We felt as if we were left alone in a dimension with no sound, only our own breathing and the thickening darkness. Bartek stood up suddenly and chuckled quietly: - Did you hear that? My heart began to beat faster. The air thickened, each of us was ready to run away or.... maybe something else entirely. Raindrops began to tap against the canvas of the tents, and we looked at each other hesitantly, unsure whether we were afraid of the storm or of something hanging between us. There was a crackling sound in the darkness. Was it just a branch? Or... And then - someone or something moved on the other side of the lake, reflecting the glare of another lightning bolt. For a moment we saw a silhouette. But before we had time to react, the wind drowned everything out. We didn't know whether to move to the tents or stay together. Each of us had to face not only the storm behind us, but also our own emotions, which were now coming to light under the cover of darkness.