Yeah, me neither.
10
It’s nine at night. I’m outside with Kayla, Tia, Rebekah, Olly and Jake. We’re going for a walk.
The campers are tucked in bed and it’ll be lights-out soon. Not that they’ll stop whispering and go to sleep. It’s such a relief to be able to relax after all of the lost-in-the-woods excitement. Except I didn’t find it very exciting.
Kayla has stopped being clumsy, so I’m pretty sure she’s moved on. She’s very good at pushing something out of her mind if she doesn’t like it. I wish I could do the same.
It was probably someone from town messing around. At least, that seems to have won the whodunit votes. It’s not the first time that teens have wandered onto camp property and messed around, according to Andy; occasionally they’ve been caught and cautioned by the cops.
Now that we’re out of the woods and I’ve eaten, I can see how over the top I was being. Kids have been hauled away by cops and taken back to town. The path through the forest leads our way, so it’s easy for townies to reach the camp.
The fear of being lost and thinking that Ava saw someone got to me in a big way.
Just because the camp looks like a horror movie set does not mean it is one.
I don’t know exactly when we’re going to sneak into town. There was talk of next week, but after we got lost today, I think the others are hesitant.
It better be worth it. I’ll probably stress the whole damn time that we’ll be caught.
“Almost to the other side,” Rebekah says as we walk around the lake.
I hate being this far away from camp.
Every day after the accident I would almost hyperventilate being so close to where it happened. I still remember taking this very route, then Kayla and I veered left into the woods and things got…bad.
But that was years ago. I’m not the same person I was back then.
It was easier to be on this side of the lake earlier, when we finally arrived back from the hike. Everyone was so relieved to have found camp again, I didn’t think about how close we were to the accident site.
After getting lost in the forest, I don’t much feel like being very close to that place again. But that doesn’t mean I need to fear it.
The others turn, and I follow them between the trees, my stomach tightening.
“Will you stop stressing,” Kayla hisses in my ear. “I can see those dark eyes filling with anxiety.”
“Kayla, I don’t like this—”
“Stop. You always look on the negative side whenever something is even slightly suspicious. Or not suspicious at all!”
“This isn’t about the forest thing. I get what that was now, okay?” I shake my head. “It’s passing that place….”
“Don’t. We’re not talking about that ever again, remember? We made a pact. A blood pact.”
It can hardly be called a blood pact. We both cut ourselves while we were running through the edge of the forest to get back before the counselors woke up. We promised not to tell and shook on it. There was blood on our hands.
“Fine. Okay, you’re right,” I tell her. “I thought it would be easier to be back here after so many years.”
“It freaked me out too at first, but you have to get over it. What happened wasn’t our fault. We were kids, Esme.”
Smiling, I nod. “I’m forgetting it. Let’s join everyone else; they’re ahead.”
Olly looks over his shoulder as Kayla and I speed up.
His frown is wiped away by a smile. “Come on, Esme, we’re almost there.”
“Almost where?”
“To the fire damage.”
Kayla’s steps falter at his words and she trips. I grab her elbow, holding her upright. “Tree roots,” I say aloud to cover up the real reason Kayla almost wiped out.
That’s where we’re going?
No way.
“You okay?” Jake asks, jogging back.
Kayla blushes. “I’m so clumsy!” Jake holds his hand out and she takes it.
Can’t she pretend to faint and get us out of this?
Jake and Kayla walk ahead of Olly and me.
“Why are we going there?” I ask, trying to keep my voice even and not Minnie Mouse high. Olly doesn’t so much as blink, so I know I sound normal.
“Andy won’t say much about the fire. I think he’s embarrassed on behalf of the camp that it happened. Kids alone in the woods, starting a fire, almost burning the place down…It doesn’t look good.”
“Huh? How do you know?”
“People talk, Esme,” he says.
Do they? No one was caught. There were rumors circulating, but no one talked. Kayla and I have never talked.
“What happened?” I ask, trying to figure out how much Olly knows. He thinks the fire was started by someone at camp?
“Word is a group of kids from town snuck into the woods and their campfire got out of hand.”
Yeah, that’s what everyone thinks. The fire department and police. I remember the cops the morning after the fire talking to the counselors.
Kayla and I were petrified that they’d come for us, but the damage wasn’t to camp property.
“There’s another theory, however,” Olly continues.
I hold my hands behind my back. “About campers?”
He nods. “Some people think a group of campers snuck out of the cabin and lit a fire in the woods in the middle of the night. It got out of hand, but by the time counselors were alerted, the campers were already back in their beds.”
I lick my lips. Diffuse, diffuse, diffuse. “How could they sneak in and out during a fire and not be noticed?”
Olly shrugs. “Kids are sneaky.”
Play. It. Cool.
I gulp down what I think will come out as manic laughter. “True. So, we’re going to look at burned wood. We’ve really peaked on the boredom scale, huh?”
Olly laughs. “All right, there’s not a lot to do, I’ll give you that. We’re out of here soon and heading into town.”
“What happens if we get caught?”
“Andy will likely tell us how disappointed he is. Then we’ll never be allowed out of our cabins in the evening. We’ll have to be asleep by nine like the campers.”
“We’re not getting caught, then.”