Cabin 9

Chapter 4

The next morning I didn't feel like going for morning dip, but as usual Cory convinced me to get moving.

Farther down the beach, I saw one of the younger cabins doing their morning dip as well. A girl with shockingly red hair whipped her towel off and jumped into the water. A few other girls started to prepare themselves to slip in too. Then I heard her scream.

Nothing like on the night of the campfire. It ripped through the tranquil silence of the lake and pierced our ears. My counsellors took off running down the beach and us campers followed behind. I saw the young girls' counsellor jump into the water, and suddenly my thoughts were calmed. But the young girl wasn't drowning, and we soon heard the screams of the counsellor who jumped in and the rest of the cabin.

We came to a halt and saw the counsellor swimming to the dock, completely forgetting the camper.
"Terra!" someone screamed.
"Get Emma!"
I then realized that it was one counsellor telling the other to get the girl in the water. But Terra had completely forgotten about Emma, so Lucy jumped in to get the girl.

I glanced around frantically to see what was causing the panic, and when I did I nearly fainted. A blond head, bobbing out from the dock. Her body clothed, the red pouch that all counsellors wore, her eyeballs rolled back into her skull.

There was a dead girl in the water.

"Get to the dining hall! Get Ben, get them out of here!" Lucy screamed, as she hauled the redheaded girl out of the water. We all ran off the beach, the other counsellor sobbing. The younger girls were crying and screaming as well. I saw Ben come out of the directors house looking around frantically, and counsellors rushing up to us from all sides. But before I could have heard their conversation, I was shoved into the dining hall with the rest of the crowd.

Breakfast was awful. Nothing like the chatty, energetic, lively meals we had had before. Everybody spoke in hushed voices. Most of the older campers and counsellors knew what had happened. Nobody wanted to tell the younger ones. I couldn't focus on eating, all I could think about was the girl. What had happened to her to end up like this? My counsellors weren't answering any of our questions, though I doubted they knew the answers. I hoped that I would be able to go home , and never think about this day again.

As the meal came to an end, someone came up to my counsellors and whispered in their ears. They nodded. I soon realized what was going on. The younger cabins were filing out while the older cabins stayed behind. Ben took to the front of the hall to talk.

"As I'm sure you're all aware, a body was discovered this morning down at the main beach."
A few gasps and more sobbing were heard.
"The body belonged to a counsellor here at Malnary named Amalia Lutton. I would like to have a moment of silence to acknowledge Amalia before I continue."

Only the quite crying of many individuals through out the hall were heard, while we all payed our respects.
"Thank you." said Ben.
"We have drawn the conclusion that Amalia has also been murdered," he said slowly.
Screams and more sobs ripped through the hall. Why was he telling us this? Shouldn't he have called the police by now?
"There were multiple stab wounds on her body, and her killer has cut off all communications from the camp. All of our boats have also been destroyed."

I thought back to the canoe Cory and I had paddled on just yesterday. We had kayaks at camp too! How could they all be destroyed?

"Evidently our killer does not want anyone coming on or off the island, which is why we are turning to you. We did a full headcount this morning, and none of us are missing. This means that Amalia's killer could be amongst us. We are asking if anybody has seen anything, heard anything, of even feels anything that might help us figure out who has done this. Please speak to your counsellors if you think you could be helpful. Thank you."

We headed back to our cabin with Kendra. Lucy was talking with Ben and some other counsellors.
"What are we going to do, Kendra?" Courtney asked.
"We're going to stay in our cabin until Lucy comes back" she told us shortly.
That felt like forever.

When Lucy returned, she informed us that the camp would be following an altered schedule while Ben figured thing out. Cabins would be rotating stations with different activities.

We headed to the firepit to find out our first station. Nearly the whole camp was either there, or on their way. I was looking around for Ryan when an announcement came on the loudspeaker that could be heard throughout the camp. A slow, robotic voice began to talk.
"Hello Camp Malnary. I bet you're wondering who I am." the voice said.

"I killed poor little Amalia, who's body you just found. And I will continue to kill until my needs are met. I want back what was taken from me. I want back Cabin 9"