Have you ever kept a secret? I'm not talking about when someone tells you something and you keep it to yourself it's more like when you know something that no one else knows and telling someone about it takes away from your pleasure, from your secret. The first real secret I ever had began when I was ten years old on our family trip to Clear Lake State Park.
             The summer trips that my family took to Clear Lake were a ritual; we went ever year no matter what else was going on in our lives. My sisters hated it, they did nothing but complain about how they did not want to go, but my mom and I loved it. I spent a lot of time alone, an amazing thing considering I had three older sisters. As a result, I spent many hours of my vacation hiking through the campground.
             There was a small general store on the main road right outside the campground; it was a good twenty-minute walk from where we set up camp. My adventures often carried me to the store to sit on the steps and have a Pepsi. I was sitting on the store's dusty old porch one day just starting to doze off in the sunlight when my head snapped up suddenly. Something had moved, ever so slightly, in the shadows of the pine trees across the road. I peered intently at the spot where I thought I had seen movement. I couldn't see anything, and I was just about to close my eyes when it happened again. This time I was sure, so I got up slowly to get a closer look.
             I crept across the road, shielding my eyes from the glare, trying to see whatever was moving. I took a step into the shade and paused to let my eyes adjust. That's when I saw her. It was my sister, Michelle, standing very still and looking straight back at me. I started to turn and walk back across the street to the store, I had no desire to listen to her complain. I began to go back across the road but she yelled for me to come back.
             I looked back to where Michelle had been st
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