“Welcome to Camp Lunar!” The camp director yelled as everyone finally settled in the mess hall.
“I am the Camp Director, but you can just refer to me as Willow.” She flashed a smile and a wink at the kids. Willow’s family has owned this camp for years, and her family goes on vacation every summer, but she chooses to stay and run the summer camp. The girl was around nineteen and was a burst of energy, and that burst of energy was my best friend. Willow was gorgeous, and she had such beautiful almond skin and black wavy shoulder-length hair with some pink and blue streaks in it. She had a septum and eyebrow piercing, a heart-shaped face, round lips, and freckles on her nose and underneath her eyes. Oh, her eyes. They were round and light green, and such an extraordinary color to match her almond skin. Her beauty was mesmerizing, but the best part is her energy. She was a ray of light in the dark, a happy individual, independent, and her happiness and confidence were contagious. I was proud to have her as my best friend and to have her as my boss.
“There are seven counselors, and if everyone who signed up came, there would be one hundred and two kids. Here at Camp Lunar, for you new kids, we have a unique custom. When you signed up and saw the cabins, didn’t they have a particular style to them?” Willow glanced over at everyone, making eye contact with me before going back to her speech.
“Animals, specifically animals of the night and an animal that my family highly values: the owl, the wolf, the bat, the fox, the deer, the racoon, and the family favorite, the bear. Each cabin represents or has the design of its own animal. Currently, it is ten in the morning, and we will have everyone settled by one in the afternoon. But how will we do the organization? Why, by your answers to my questions! Not only will you get organized, but I will get one-on-one time with you before your counselor. Before we get organized by the questions, let’s give a warm welcome to your counselors!” Willow and the others had begun clapping as the counselors and I headed up to the stage.
“STOP! HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!” someone had exclaimed from outside the Mess Hall. Willow and I had quickly exchanged glances at each other before we looked at the big brown doors that were just slightly cracked. Who was yelling this early? It sounded like a man from what I had heard, and I think Willow thought the same. The thing, however, is that everyone was meeting in the Mess Hall, and they were not supposed to go anywhere else. A lost camper could have been what it was, but none of the campers sounded like a full-grown man. Willow clapped her hands to get everyone's attention, giving a smile to help ease everyone. Which usually worked, and I wasn’t going to complain because the tension soon faded away.
“How about these counselors introduce themselves while Counselor Monica and I go check to see what is going on? Yes?” She had shot a glance at the other counselors, so they knew to go along with it. Willow grabbed me by the arm and dragged me outside with her; her grip was already making my arm turn a bit pink.
“Will-” I blinked when I noticed two cops arresting a random guy in an all-orange outfit. I looked him over as he was on the grass with the two police officers hovering over him, trying to put the cuffs on. He was definitely pretty strong, with a muscular build, dark hair, a tan, and sweaty skin. I looked over at Willow to see her reaction, and when I regained my focus on everything else, she was still focused on him.
“Sorry for the disturbances; he was an escaped prisoner.” One of the officers said, finally cuffing the guy.
“It’s fine, officer; do we need to shut down the camp or anything?” Willow spoke, her eyes still lingering on the guy.
“No, you’re fine; we made the security system better. He escaped a month ago, so trust me when we say you’re fine to continue the camp. Just make sure to stay safe, though.” The second officer said he was standing up and smiling.
“Well then, that works out just fine!” Willow had said it happily as she regained her focus on the camp and the officers.
"Well, we will be on the way; you stay safe, though.” The officers said happily while the cuffed man was trying to regain his freedom. He looked at us with a mischievous grin. It sent chills down my spine from being in his presence; his smile freaked me out more, and I could feel my body shaking before I regained my composure. Willow tilted her head at me, confused at why I was so frightened when she was fine and going on with her life. We headed into the mess hall. The counselors were almost done introducing themselves when Willow and I sat down. I rested my head on Willow’s shoulder, still thinking about the scene that had just happened just outside the Mess Hall and inside our camp. This camp is far from a prison, and it took the officers a good bit to capture him. He did not fight as much as he could have, which was very weird to me. Why didn’t he fight back to his potential? Why did he fight back sloppily? Questions were running through my head before I suddenly saw an angel walk past me. That angel was sent from somewhere, and her goal was to take our breaths away. Everyone was staring at her with a huge smile, and my eyes were drifting over her from head to toe. She had gotten on the stage, the lighting hitting her as if she were actually just sent from the heavens. She had straight hair down to her shoulders, pink with blue streaks in it, and it looked like cotton candy. Her eyes were a light shade of gray, and she had gorgeous pale skin, almost like a porcelain doll with how light and perfect it was. Her eyes could cut anyone like a weapon, it seemed; they were sweet but had something to them. I can’t exactly put my finger on it.
“I am Counselor Yui; I am going to be the Counselor of the Fox Cabin! I am pleased to meet you all and can’t wait to bond with those in my cabin." She said it happily. Her voice was very soothing, and it was filled with nothing but love and tenderness. It was almost like a mother comforting her child. I was looking at her before I felt Willow nudge me off her shoulder, and she started whispering to me.
“Weird, I could have sworn that Nina was going to be the counselor for the Fox Cabin this summer." Willow had kept her voice low. Her voice was filled with concern, and her tone was rather agitated when she spoke.
“Maybe Nina got sick? It can’t be as serious as you think. You know Nina has a weak immune system, and we can always call her and ask.” I quickly suggested. Why was Willow so frightened over such a small thing? I mean, Yui seemed like an angel.
“I mean, I guess you're right; I’ll have to call her up and ask. I have weird vibes from Yui; I haven’t even interviewed her to be a counselor here.” Willow added.
“Maybe your parents interviewed her? Or she’s a friend of Nina, and Nina asked her to fill in until she isn’t sick?” I rolled my eyes. I was trying to help Willow not overthink everything again.
Eventually, it hit 2:00 p.m., and everyone was getting settled in their cabins. I was the counselor of the bear cabin, and Willow often stayed in there with me and my campers. However, this summer, she already seemed on edge, so she stayed in the director's cabin. I felt worried and asked the counselor of the bat cabin, Austin, to watch my campers as I went to check on her. He had agreed to do so, and before I could leave, he had wanted to ask me a question.
“Monica, what was going on outside of the Mess Hall earlier?” He asked me, raising an eyebrow.
“Oh, that? I’m sure we will discuss it later tonight at our meeting. Nothing to worry about, but if you can’t wait until the meeting, I guess we can discuss it.” I looked away from him as I was still stuck on what was going on at that moment. I felt him touch my arm and I jumped a bit. He looked at me some and tilted his head before giving me a small smile.
“You realize that you’re making it very noticeable that something is on your mind? You never were able to hide your expressions well.” He chuckled.
“Not true!” I spoke. Absolutely true. It hurts how true that was.
“Very true, and we both know it. You never hid it for as long as I have known you.” he spoke softly. He and I have known each other since we were in the 8th grade, we just graduated from high school. We were always close, but then when I met Willow, I noticed her and I had clicked more. Obviously I did not leave him behind, but we did both go our separate ways, it seemed. However, I felt as if it worked in his favor a lot more than how he made it seem. He was a lady magnet from junior year to senior year, and I could see why. Austin participated in a lot of clubs that were both sporty and sensitive. He was a perfect combination of the tough and gentle, masculine and feminime. Plus, he looked as if he was from a movie or a show. Wait, but how did he get that way without me? Well, what I mean by Willow and I clicking more is actually ‘I didn’t reject her and it just be awkward.’ Yeah. He asked me out sophomore year and I had to put him down gently. I’m lesbian which he did not know because I stayed in the closet to everyone until junior year. Obviously I told him when I rejected him and I went ahead and told other close friends, but he thought that if he changed himself that I would become attracted to him. It seems like one of those ‘I can change you’ type of thing guys would say to lesbians, and it was. However, he changed from what I see.
“When you think about it there is always something going on in someone’s mind.” I shrugged.
“True, but clearly it isn’t a good thing if you’re walking around in a hurry. Besides, you seem very... off.” He looked me in the eyes and tilted his head to the side.
“We will talk about it at the meeting, other than that I don’t know what else to say.” I snapped and began to walk off. I didn’t mean to snap, but it just kind of happened I suppose.
Eventually I had made my way to the Director’s cabin and I knocked on the door.
Knock Knock
No answer.
Knock Knock
Still no answer.
Knock Knock
“Monica come in.” Willow eventually answered and opened the door right away. She was clearly annoyed at the constant knocking, but that could have been avoided if she just opened the door.
“What took you so long?”
“It was for not even for a minute, you’re just impatient.”
“Am not.”
“Am too.”
“Actually, it’s Are too dumbo.” I laughed and jumped onto her bed, lying down.
“I don’t give a flying rats ass.” she rolled her eyes and plopped down next to me.
“So what is planned for the rest of the day?” I asked.
“Everyone just needs to settle in is all, and then we will eat dinner and do smores after.”
“Sounds like a plan, anything about Yui?”
She paused and looked at me before sitting up and sighing.
“I called Nina but she didn’t pick up, I’ll call her later. And my parents didn’t answer either, but they typically don’t pay attention to their phone.”
“Well, I say we give it a bit. Try to relax, deep breaths, and focus on having fun this summer.” I grin, nudging her some.
“Yeah, yeah. You keep trying to stay positive.”
“You also need to stay positive at least a little bit. You always let the beginning of camp stress you out.” I rolled my eyes.
“Easy for you to say when you don’t run it.” she groaned.
“I might as well considering how much I help you with budgeting.” I paused, beginning to grin. “And I might as well because I recall me having to be the one to open the gates while you was..what was it..dealing with your hangover yesterday morning? And I had to organize and clean up with the other counselors.”
“Okay, but I came in the afternoon to help clean up! Besides you owed me since I had to convince your aunt to let you come this summer.” she quickly grinned back.
“Only because a certain someone honked the horn when it was 10 at night! We had to sneak out but you honked the horn because of how impatient you are.” I rolled my eyes and looked at her, smiling softly.
“Yeah yeah.” she mumbled, clearly a bit embarassed.
“It’s all in the past and besides..it was funny.” I shrugged.
“Funny? I almost got you grounded for the whole summer.” Willow whined. “I would have had to live without my bestie all summer.”
“You would have been fine, only two months.”
“Yeah two months without you. Two months knowing you would be stuck with your whack ass aunt.” Willow rolled her eyes. “I don’t see why you just don’t come and live with me.”
“Because if I come to live with you then that only causes more issues. Besides, college is right around the corner so what’s the point?”
"The point is...the last thing I want to do is lose you. Your aunt is such a bitch and..." before she could finish we had heard someone knock.
"Hello?" A woman had yelled out. We went to the door to open it. It was a cop.
"I have some questions of Nina Robinson's dissapearance." the woman demanded.
© Mari