Iris lays in the tent in the dark. Her family is sleeping, but she can hear whispering outside. At first she thinks it’s just people on neighbouring campsites, but the voices seem to be coming closer and closer.

“Iris.” The whisper is hoarse and sounds almost like static.

“Hello?” she says, trying to sound brave. There’s a sliver of fading laughter and then silence.

Iris is sitting up straight in her sleeping bag. After a few more moments of silence, she lays back down and tries to relax.

As soon as she’s back on the ground, the voices start to whisper again.

She tries to wake her mother up by grabbing her arm and shaking her.

“Mom, mom,” she whispers loudly, but it’s like trying to wake a rock. She tries her brother next.

“Cam, wake up.” He just mumbles in his sleep and turns over.

Someone outside grabs one of the tent poles and shakes it violently. She feels her heart jump in her chest like a kite that’s being jerked around by a strong wind.

She grabs her cell phone and turns the flashlight on. The tent stops shaking, but her hands do not. The light from her phone bounces around the tent nervously.

Iris takes a breath. She slowly unzips the door. She sticks her head out and shines her cell phone flashlight around, but she doesn’t see anybody.

“Are you coming?” the voice says in her ear.

Iris gasps and falls back into the tent in a panic. With her cell phone still in hand, she pulls the top of her sleeping bag over her head and presses her eyes shut.

Once she has again become used to the stillness and her breathing is more calm, Iris lowers the sleeping bag. She shines her light at the door of the tent, but she just sees trees. Frantically, she moves the light in a circle.

The tent and her family are gone.

“Are you coming?” the voice says again.

She tries to pull the sleeping bag over her head again, but that is gone, too. She’s just sitting on the bare ground.

“I guess you have no choice,” the voice whispers. She hears a soft, croaking laugh and a chorus of voices whispering, “I guess you have no choice, I guess you have no choice.”

Iris stands up and says, “What do you want?”

“I want to show you something. Follow me.”

Iris decides that whichever way the voice wants to take her, she will go the opposite way.

“Come this way,” the voice says. It’s on her right. Iris turns to the left and starts walking with determination, with her feet bare, and with her cell phone lighting the way.

“No, not that way, this way,” the voice says behind her. It sounds annoyed. Iris ignores it and continues to walk.

The voice follows her down the path, urging her to turn around. Iris pretends it’s not there.

Eventually, the voice says, “It doesn’t matter which way you go. I can still show you what I want you to see. You will just walk to it no matter what.”

“Then I’ll just stand still until morning,” Iris says stubbornly. She stops walking and crosses her arms.

“Do you hear that?” the voice whispers, fading.

Iris hears loud, rushing water. “Is that a waterfall?” she says.

She looks down to see that she’s standing on a rock. Her toes are hanging over the edge. She shines her cell phone on the waterfall and then drops it. The water is so loud that she cannot hear it land at the bottom, but she can see the tiny light float down and then go out.

Iris takes a few, cautious steps backwards, and then she turns and runs. She trips over a tree root and crashes to the ground.

She wakes up in the morning in the tent.

Cam is awake, too. He stumbles out of the tent. Iris gets out of her sleeping bag and looks for her socks and shoes. She notices that her feet look clean.

Once her feet are properly attired, Iris steps out the tent. Cam is talking on his phone.

“What do you mean?” he screams. “Where are you? Dad? Dad!” He looks down at his phone.

“What did he say?” Iris asks. Cam ignores her and sits on the ground and starts crying.

“Cam, what’s wrong?” Iris asks. She crouches next to him and puts a comforting hand on his back. He does not acknowledge her.

Their mother comes out of the tent and says, “Good morning,” but she’s looking at the picnic table and not at them.

“Good morning,” Iris says with her brow furrowed.

“How did you sleep?” their mother asks.

“Actually, something really weird hap—”

Her mother interrupts and says, “I didn’t sleep great. Your father’s snoring kept me up.”

Iris says, “What?”

Her mother laughs. “Okay, you were definitely asleep if you didn’t hear him snoring.”

“Mom,” Iris begins.

“Where’s your brother?” Mom interrupts. She is still looking at the picnic table and not at Iris or Cam.

“He’s right here,” Iris says. She puts her arm around her brother’s shoulders as he continues to sob.

“I’m sorry, he’s doing what?”

“He’s crying,” Iris says, confused.

Her mother turns around, still not looking at them, and says, “Good morning, sweetie. You’re up early.”

Iris feels hot, like she’s locked in a hot car. She says, “What the fuck is going on?”

Her mother finally turns and looks at her.

“Hey, watch your language,” she says.

“I’m sorry,” Iris says. “Oh my god, what’s that smell?” Her mother goes back to not looking at her and sits down at the picnic table.

“That sounds great,” her mother says. “Why don’t you see if your dad wants to come?”

“Dad’s not here,” Iris says. “He hasn’t been here this entire time.”

Her mother looks directly at her.

“Maybe it’s you who hasn’t been here this entire time.”

Iris is growing hotter and feeling sick. She is overwhelmed by a horrible stench. She faints.

She wakes up lying on her stomach on a trail in the woods. There are people standing around her. She sees her mother, her brother, and herself.

“Wait, this looks familiar,” Iris says.

The Other Iris is saying, “Whatever. Mom, can we please go back? I have to go to the bathroom.”

“Just use that one,” her mother says impatiently. She points at a porta-potty.

“No,” Iris says like she’s watching a horror film. “Don’t go in there.”

“Do I have to?” Other Iris says.

“No, you don’t have to,” Iris says. “Just turn back like you wanted to.”

Other Iris cannot hear her. She is walking to porta-potty.

Iris looks at her mother. “Help her,” she says. “I mean, me. Help me.” Her mother is just wandering in the opposite direction and looking at some trees.

Iris jumps up and sprints to the porta-potty, but Other Iris has already gone inside and Cam is already standing outside the door. He turns to give Iris a slow and malicious smile, and then he takes a padlock out of his pocket and locks Other Iris inside.

Iris stumbles before collapsing again, and then she’s back in the porta-potty. The smell surrounds her and sticks to her. She looks like she jumped in a pool with her clothes on because she is sweating so much. She is crying and banging on the plastic door with her fists.

“Let me out!” she screams. “Cam! Mom! Please! Please help me! Help me! Mom, mom!”