After some time, Giselle finally does.
“Ron,” she says, almost a whisper, “The bush is getting thicker. Plus, I think if the camp were this way and people walked by recently, we’d be able to see that.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Ron says in a fake defeated tone.
Giselle pulls out a smartphone from her pocket and presses the home key. “Already past noon. Jeez, we’ve been out here for a while. Let’s head back and call it a day. Don’t want to get stuck out here overnight.”
“Good idea,” Ron says.
They walk for a couple more hours back to the truck. The motorcycle is gone.
As they drive home—home, easy for Ron to call it that, since she doesn’t really consider anywhere her real home—the sky turns orange.
Giselle says nothing as she drives back, which is perfect for Ron to focus on her thoughts.
Cherry red Harley Davidson. 3RFP5A.
Cherry red Harley Davidson. 3RFP5A.
Chapter 12
I wake up, blinded by the yellow light overhead suddenly being turned on. I groggily look at the watch on my wrist.
5:54 AM.
“Why’d you turn on the light, man?” I hear Remington say from his bed.
I sit up in bed and rub my eyes. Remington is still lying down on his back with an arm over his face. Hunter is in front of his wardrobe, pulling on a pair of jeans.
“Cabin 2 is in distress,” Hunter says.
“Distress?” I say, stifling a yawn. “What kind of distress?”
“I don’t know but it… it’s too hard to ignore. I have to go see,” Hunter says.
“And you had to wake us all up for that? One of the kids probably wet the bed or something,” Remington says, turning over to his side and pulling the blankets over his head.
“I don’t think that’s it, Remy,” Hunter says.
“Whatever, man. Turn off the light when you leave.”
I throw off the covers and climb down the ladder, feeling more and more awake with every passing second. “The entire cabin is in distress? When did it start?”
“Just now—a moment ago,” he says, closing his wardrobe door. “You coming?”
“Uh…” I look down at myself. I’m in a pair of loose running shorts and a T-shirt with some cartoon character I don’t recognize on it. I suppose I’m presentable enough. “Sure, I guess. I doubt I’ll be able to fall back asleep anyway.”
Hunter heads to the door without another word and puts on his shoes. I follow his lead, turning off the light as we leave.
It’s still dark outside, but each cabin has an outside light on that’s enough to light the way to Cabin 2.
A little girl with messy pigtails is sitting on the steps of Cabin 2, sobbing loudly.
Hunter sits down next to her. “What’s wrong, Yumi?”
“Adrien,” the girl says between sobs, “he’s… he’s…”
A man comes out of the cabin, holding a young boy in his arms. He’s short and balding with skin that looks red in the glow of the light.
“Oh good,” he says, out of breath like he just ran a marathon. “Please watch the young ones for me. I have to go to the infirmary.”
“What happened?” I ask.
But instead of responding to me, the man looks to Hunter and says, “Please take Yumi inside. The others are… quite upset.”
The man walks down the steps and stops in front of me. The young boy in his arms is very still.
“You, Chrys, was it?” he says, talking quickly. “Please wake up Elise and tell her to come to the infirmary. Try not to wake up the young ones in the cabin though.”
“Uh, okay…” I say.
He jogs past me and heads across the field.
“Go get Elise,” Hunter says. “I’ll take care of things here.”
I nod and head to Cabin 1. I raise my hand to knock on the door but then remember that I shouldn’t wake up the kids in there. I try the door knob. It’s unlocked.
I enter as quietly as possible. This cabin is a lot like ours—four bunk beds—but there’s one single bed near the door. I peer at the person in that bed.
Elise.
I look at my hands. I didn’t think to bring the gloves with me.
But, Elise is under a thin blanket, so as long as I touch her through the blanket, it should be fine.
I shake her shoulders a little.
Her eyes open slowly. She props herself up on her elbow and looks at me, confused.
*Chrys?
There’s a problem in Cabin 2. The guy there said to tell you to go to the infirmary.
She throws off the covers and gets out of bed.
*What happened?
I don’t really know. It’s just… Hunter sensed some distress or something and so we came over and this girl said something about Adrien and—
I feel Elise disconnect from my mind. She puts on a pair of sandals and leaves.
I leave too. As I close the door, I see Elise running across the field to the Main House.
I go back to Cabin 2 and go inside. Hunter is sitting on the rug, hugging three crying kids. He looks up at me as I enter.
“Did you get Elise?” he says.
“Yeah,” I say, sitting down.
The girl from earlier screams and moves away from me. She points at me. “It was her! It was her! Get out of here, Grim Reaper!”
Hunter pulls the girl closer to him. “Relax, Yumi. Chrys didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Then why won’t Adrien wake up?” she yells. “It’s just like she said—his heart stopped or something. He wasn’t breathing! She did it!”
The other kids shuffle away from me while sniffling, agitated and suspicious.
I put up my hands defensively. “I would never—”
The girl screams again. “Don’t touch us!”
“I’m not—”
“Get away from us!”
“Yumi!” Hunter says. “Please stop shouting.” Then he turns to me. “Chrys, maybe it’s best if you, uh, go back to our cabin, okay? I can handle things here.”
“Sure…” I say. “Yeah.”
I stand up and leave, the kids’ glares hot on my back.
I start to walk back to our cabin, but end up turning on my heels and heading toward the Main House instead. I
