𝐬𝐢𝐱

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———
"stay, away, away,
(i'm hearing voices all the time up in my mind)"
———

19 july, 1978

lunch flies by and all of a sudden everyone's standing up and heading outside to meet up with the leaders to discuss game plans.

tommy and i head off to meet the campers who have made a small group. "you right to talk or do you want me to?" i ask him, noticing he's rubbing the back of his head again.

"yeah, yeah i'm good to talk, at least it's not in front of the entire camp." he laughs and i frown, he's never worried about public speaking before, in fact he's really good at it. "are you sure you're okay? and don't lie to me." i say sternly. he just shrugs "i'll be okay, just a headache."

two campers run and give him the blue flag, which will almost definitely be in the hands of sunnyvale by the end of tonight. "alright alright alright!" tommy calls out and everyone stops cheering to pay attention. "now, remember to keep at least three defenders by this all the time! and who's the jailer?" he asks, scanning everyone's faces.

jeremy raises his hand and i smile "hey remy" i mouth and he smiles back. he's my younger brother, although people often get him confused as tommy's brother which makes a lot more sense; they look at lot more similar than we do and they're a lot closer with each other, which is saying something. it's his third year of camp and the only thing he's been talking about all summer is winning colour war.

"okay jeremy, you may be the most important player in the uh... in the-" all of a sudden tommy starts zoning out, staring off into the distance. "tommy?" he doesn't reply, his face a sickening pale "tommy!" i place a hand on his shoulder and he jumps out of his trance, almost as if he was startled that i was there.

"oh my gosh tommy are you okay?" cindy's voice makes us both jump this time. "yeah are you okay mr slater?" jeremy says from behind us. he shakes it off, pushing his hair out of his face "yeah i'm fine, i promise." he turns his attention back to the campers, staring at him in concern. "okay you guys get started, go plant the flag and i'll be right there. lets go shadyside!" he smiles enthusiastically, passing the flag to jeremy and claps, getting the campers back in the spirit. he turns back to us both, rubbing his head again. 

"tommy, do you need to lie down or something? you look terrible." cindy asks, concern plastered on her face. he smiles at her half-heartedly and shakes his head "no, no i'm fine." she nods and turns to face me "good. i need your help... and the key to the infirmary." i look at tommy in confusion and he looks back at me. what is she up to?

------

dusk falls on the camp, the campers playing the game and god knows what the other counselors are doing. we walk up to path to the infirmary, tommy handing cindy the keys who inserts it in the keyhole, opening the door. "so what exactly are we looking for?" tommy asks, walking into nurse lane's office. cindy holds out the key for him to take and he grabs it "answers." she says matter-of-factly.

tommy sighs and looks back and forward between us "c'mon guys, it doesn't matter." "yes, it matters. you could've died today and i'm not gonna settle for 'doesn't matter'" i argue, much to the annoyance of tommy. "tommy, there's a reason mary did what she did and said what she said and we're gonna figure it out. right now." cindy insists.

we all walk into mary's office and cindy immediately goes over to the desk, checking each draw, rummaging throw the papers until she finds something and shuts the draw in excitement. she holds up a small bottle, half-filled with pills. "no label, half empty. like i said, she was on drugs." she laughs "we just gotta get this to the cops and they'll tell us what they- what is that?" she cuts herself off as tommy pulls out what looks like a diary, buried underneath a pile of papers. i walk over to tommy, peering over his shoulder, looking at the symbol drawn onto the page.

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