Holidays – time of fun and relaxation. Unfortunately, some of us have to go through horrible traumas.

Marta

It was last year when my friend Joasia and I went on an English summer camp. The camp was organized in the mountains – not very high but perfect for long walks.
One night there was a game organized. There were six groups with 6 people in each – you had to try to find a clue (wskazówkę) and then another and another… Finally everybody was supposed to meet in one place.
We were walking a bit and Joasia and I decided we would take a short-cut (skrót). We left the younger kids with two girls our age and we went up the hill. We were walking for a while and we noticed there was no path (ścieżka). We were worried but not panicking. We were trying to find the way back and I was getting more and more scared. It was getting dark (ściemniało się) and it started raining. We couldn’t find any path! We were walking for about four hours. We knew that our teachers would notice we weren’t there. We were scared of them and our parents and scared that we would die in the forest! Luckily, we found a clearing (polankę) and we decided to wait over there. We were lucky we stayed there because a few minutes later we heard a helicopter and saw the lights in the sky. We were so happy we couldn’t stop crying – from being happy this time.

Ania

My worst holiday happened about three years ago. I went camping with my parents. There was a small shop near the place we were staying but it was quite expensive and one day I wanted to buy something to drink so I went to another shop. It wasn’t very far but you had to walk through the forest. When I was coming back, a small car stopped. It was a guy… well, I’d seen him few times at the camp site but I didn’t know him. I got in the car and it was a mistake (błąd). It’s so difficult for me to talk about it… he didn’t turn to the camp site and I knew something was wrong. I was so scared and he became very strange. He stopped in the forest, said some horrible things… I don’t even remember exactly what he said… I was just so terrified, I wanted to run away and I tried not to let him touch me… but he was bigger and stronger and… I couldn’t even move. I screamed and luckily I ran away… I was lucky I wasn’t too far from the main road (głównej drogi)… and I found my way back to the camp site…
I can’t live normally now and I know I will never go anywhere on my own even when I’m an adult. I was thinking and I don’t know if he would have done it if I didn’t get on his car… I really don’t know.

Marek

I love sailing and I’ve been doing it all my life. At least two weeks of my holidays I spend with my parents in the Masurian District. Three years ago they weren’t happy holidays. We were sailing on a beautiful lake. We were sleeping on the boat but one night we had a sleepless night (bezsenna noc). There were some young people by the shore (przy brzegu) (camping I suppose) and having a party. They were drinking beer, singing and generally having fun. We were a little bit angry because we wanted to be rested for the next morning but finally they quietened down (ucichli) at about four in the morning. We got up at six and started preparing for the journey. We were sailing along the shore for about five minutes when my dad noticed something strange in the reeds (szuwary). I used his binoculars (lornetka). I was shocked… I couldn’t say anything. I just remember my parents shouting to me and trying to take the binoculars away from me…
What we found that day was a dead body of a young man. He was one of the people who had had a party the night before. Nobody of his friends noticed he didn’t come back for the night.