I began my story. “A brother and sister went to sleep one night in their grandparent’s house. They were told not to go into the room that always had the door closed. At midnight, the little girl needed to use the bathroom.”
“This isn’t scary,” a boy I didn’t know interrupted me. I ignored him.
“She passed by the forbidden room quickly but couldn’t help hearing a tapping noise coming from inside. She worried that an animal might have been trapped inside and pressed her ear against the door. A creaking joined the tapping.”
“Lame-o.”
I sped up, trying not to leave any gaps for more insults. “The little girl didn’t want to go inside but the thought of a poor animal in distress made her heart lurch. She put her hand on the doorknob and turned it.”
I looked around, half the kids were paying attention. The other half were more interested in their marshmallows roasting on the fire. I guessed my story wasn’t for everyone.
“Inside was a child’s swing, hung from the rafters in the ceiling. It swung back and forth with nobody on it. There was not a breath of wind in the room. The little girl was satisfied there were no animals and closed the door again.” Nobody seemed to get the story was over. I added: “And she lived happily ever after.”
I quickly handed the flashlight to Lola, wishing the ground would open up and swallow me whole.
“That was the worst campfire story ever,” someone yelled out.
“So boring.”
“Terrible.”
“Come on, Lola, it’s easy to beat that one.”
I tried not to take the comments personally. Considering it was my first ever campfire, surely they could have cut me some slack? I was going to have to think up something spectacular for the next one. I wouldn’t suffer that embarrassment again.
Lola launched into her story, a tale of mummies and a curse that haunted everyone for all time. She had a real flair for the macabre, it was easy to get sucked into her story.
The stories continued until it was late – well past the bedtime we were told was mandatory. We wandered back to the room at almost midnight, warned to get some sleep because tomorrow was going to be a big day. If I had been paying more attention at the meeting earlier, I would have known what the day entailed. But I had been too busy loathing Lochie to listen. Damn him.
Showering in the communal bathroom was an interesting experience. Even though the shower stalls each had a door, it didn’t feel like it was keeping out the prying eyes. It was moments like that where I was so glad I looked human.
All the girls in the cabin settled into their beds shortly afterward and the lights were turned off straight away. I was still too buzzed to sleep. I stared at the ceiling, frighteningly close on the top bunk, and tried not to hear all the noises outside.
Unfortunately, each rustle of leaves made me think of ghosts and every twig snapping sounded like a monster lingering outside the window. I wondered if the door had a lock? Did the windows? What was stopping those on the outside coming in? I desperately tried to push the thoughts away. Why did my brain try to scare me?
Of course, I had a lot more reasons than most to worry about the noises outside. There were real people in the world with real reasons to hurt me. They could be hiding anywhere, just watching and waiting for an opportune time. That was the reason why my parents had been so reluctant to send me to camp. I had downplayed their concerns while safely at home. Now, they seemed quite reasonable.
Footsteps. I swore there were footsteps outside. All the campers were supposed to be in bed, or at least in their cabins. Perhaps it was just a counselor, checking for rogue kids? That was probably it, I shouldn’t be jumping to conclusions.
Snap. Another twig snapped. That sound wasn’t natural, even in the middle of the woods. It would be so easy for someone to waltz in and snatch me from my bed. The snoring girls in the other bunks wouldn’t even wake up to witness my kidnapping. It would be morning before anyone even knew about it. And by then I could be long dead.
I sat upright, hitting my head on the wooden ceiling. I groaned with the pain, cradling the sore spot. I tried to ignore the ache and angled myself so I could see out the window. It was only covered by a thin gauzy material, hardly enough to hide anything.
A shadow passed by the window. I wasn’t imagining it, there really was someone out there. Another shadow hurried through the night. They had an accomplice. I frantically looked around the room, trying to find a hiding place. Besides the small chest of drawers next to each set of bunks, there was nothing. With only one door, there was nowhere to run either. I was trapped, we all were.
Without warning, the door to the cabin burst open. Six figures came crashing in. I screamed, the commotion waking the other girls.
The figures were covered in white sheets with holes where the eyes were. They ran around the cabin, holding their arms up like spooky ghosts.
Bodies went everywhere. All the girls jumped out of bed with fright, some getting caught up in the arms of the ghosts. I jumped down from my bunk, trying to get to the door. I couldn’t be caught, not when I had made it this far. There were so many people that didn’t even think I would make it to sixteen, I couldn’t let them down now.
“Ooooh,” the ghosts bellowed.
“Get out!” Lola shouted over them, nonplussed by the whole thing. She wasn’t aware of the danger they were all in just by having me there. If anything happened to them because of me, I couldn’t live with myself.
“Ooooh,” the ghosts continued.
In the chaos and small space, I ran smack bang into one of the ghosts. I jumped back, trying to get out of their reach. His hand shot out to grab my wrist, clamping it in place so I couldn’t go anywhere.
“Let me go,” I begged, trying to keep the quiver out of my voice.
I looked up at my captor, there was something familiar to his shape. I knew the outline of those shoulders, that head.
He wasn’t anything to be afraid of. I reached up with my free hand and pulled the sheet off him. It billowed to the ground like a wave of feathers.
“Lochie, let me go,” I demanded, pulling at my wrist. He didn’t let it go, just stood there staring at it. I looked down, trying to work out what was so fascinating about my arm.
I saw what he did and wished I could turn back time. If there was anyone in the world I didn’t want to see the inside of my left wrist, it was him.
The mark was small, only the size of a quarter but there was no hiding the perfect black outline of a triangle on my wrist. It was the only thing that visibly set me apart from the humans.
“What is that?” He asked, all the humor gone from his voice and leaving only unabashed curiosity.
“Nothing. Let go of me.”
His eyes flicked up to meet mine, as if only just now realizing he was holding me captive. He released my wrist, reaching down to retrieve his sheet from the floor. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
I could still feel his hot fingers wrapped around my wrist even though it was free. “Well, you did.”
“What’s with the triangle?”
“It’s none of your business. Get out of here and take all your stupid friends with you.” Two out of the six boys had been shooed out by my cabin mates. That still left four. “I’ll tell the counselor if you don’t go.”
“Like I’m scared,” Lochie mocked. “Geez, you can’t take a joke, can you? We’re at camp, we’re supposed to do things like this.”
“Well, it’s not very funny.”
“Depends on who you are, I guess. It looked pretty funny from here.” The moonlight caught his eye, making it sparkle with mischief. I knew he was goading me into reacting and I didn’t want to. But he was pushing all the wrong buttons and it was late and I was grumpy.
I pushed his chest, forcing Lochie toward the door. “Small things amuse small minds. That’s probably the only reason why you’re laughing.”
He allowed himself to be pushed back. Either that or I had suddenly developed superh
uman powers. Lochie was fit from all the hours he spent practicing as part of the school basketball team. There was no way I was stronger than he was.
Lochie’s hands flew up as he surrendered. “I’m going, I’m going. See you tomorrow, Jones.” I really hated it when he called me by my surname.
The other girls managed to get the rest of the ghosts out of the room. I helped Ella slam the door and we found the small bolt to lock it. I leaned against the door, trying to slow my heart rate down to a normal speed again.
“I can’t believe those boys,” Lola moaned, flopping back into bed and pulling the covers up to her chin. “They’re so immature.”
Ella returned to her bed too, as did the other girls. “They did the same thing to Melody’s cabin last year. Such boys.”
“Amery, are you okay?” Lola asked. Obviously I looked as bad as I felt. I didn’t want to admit how shaken up I was by the whole prank. I could never explain to them the reason why.
I climbed the ladder to my bed, careful not to bump my head again. “Yeah, they just took me by surprise, that’s all. Should we expect any more pranks from them?”
She shrugged. “Probably. They’re such babies. Don’t worry about it though, they’re not going to do any real damage.”
“Yeah, I know,” I lied. If someone was going to come for me, what better way to get closer to me than by pretending to be a teenage boy? They would be hiding in plain sight, it would be perfect.
I settled into my bed and tried to calm down. It wasn’t just the shock of the ghosts bursting in like they did, but the fact Lochie had seen my mark. I normally wore bracelets or a watch so it didn’t look so obvious against my white skin. But in the middle of the night, I didn’t think I needed to worry about it.
The only thing I could do was hope Lochie would forget about it by morning. If he didn’t, I would have to make something up to explain it. My head was too fuzzy to think of something convincing, hopefully I wouldn’t have to.
By morning, I was feeling more positive. I was at camp, summer camp, a place I could only dream about before. So the boys played a prank on us, so Lochie had seen my mark, so what? It was just a joke and I had overreacted. I needed to take my paranoia down a notch or two. Or twelve.
After breakfast we received our itineraries for the entire four weeks. My schedule was full of fun craft classes, outdoor activities, and group challenges. I was in Team Bear with Lola and a few other kids I knew from school. We were going to smash the competition.
I headed off to my pottery class, the night before forgotten. I had my watch covering my mark again, nobody would see it. I wouldn’t make that mistake again, even if I had to sleep with my watch on every night.
I took a seat next to Sarah as we were given a block of clay and told we’d turn it into a vase by the end of the class. I wasn’t the most creative of people but was willing to give it a shot. It was in the rules to try new things, I didn’t really have a choice.
We started to spin the turntable and our lump of clay whirled around in a circle. It was fun getting my hands wet and dirty in the mud. Even if it wasn’t a rule to be happy and enthusiastic, I still would have felt it anyway.
My vase started to take shape. It was lopsided and not very tall, but it might be able to handle a small flower. Perhaps even two. Sarah’s lump of mud was almost a perfect vase. She definitely had the artistic flair I was sadly lacking.
With ten minutes left of the class, the bell started ringing outside. I guessed it was for lunch, albeit early. Our teacher, on the other hand, thought differently. “Wait here, campers. I’ll see what’s going on.”
She stepped out of the room and out of view.
I panicked. “She looked worried. Should we be worried?”
Sarah smiled and shook her head. “She’s a counselor, they’re all a little uptight. It’s probably nothing.”
I relaxed a little. If I didn’t start relaxing and enjoying the summer break, it was going to race past too quickly. I wanted to savor every beautiful day of the experience.
The teacher returned, her brow wrinkled with concern. “Everyone needs to gather in the meeting circle. Something’s happened.”
All the hairs on the back of my neck instantly stood on end.
CHAPTER 3