In The Dark (Frerard) ✔

Chapter 4

Frank's POV

What just happened?

I dusted myself off, standing and making sure I didn't have any leaves or dirt on my clothes. I remembered the face of the kid, he seemed startled, though it was brushed off as I saw the person run. I flipped my hood up and started to walk to the mess hall, humming as I avoided the kids that were walking around me. It was loud as I walked into the large area, crowds abundant but orderly as I headed off to the foxes.

I sat down in a chair, crossing my left leg over my right, and then crossing my arms across my chest. My stomach growled, the sound only being apparent to me, mostly because I could feel it, but I made a note to myself to poke out for dinner. I tried to rub the hunger pangs away, sighing as I gave up and brushed it off, knowing I had some snacks in my bag in my dorm room or whatever.

I looked around, feeling rather bored as I waited for whatever bullshit that they were going to do. Then I spotted someone. Their hair was kind of long, now that we were standing still, I could see their slender fingers that sketched on a page in front of them. "Whoa..." I whispered, trying to see what they were drawing. It was messy but clean in a mesmerizing way. Just then, the kid popped up his head and looked in my direction, his eyes widening. I waved a little bit and was about to compliment the drawing that I could barely see, but they quickly turned away and shut the sketchbook. I frowned a little, but they weren't obligated to talk to me.

I kind of wanted to apologize for running into them, or at least for staring. I guess that was on me, but I started to get anxious as I sat there, waiting for anything to happen. Something did happen, a few minutes later a very shrill whistle was blown, successfully shutting up every teenage boy in the room. I looked to the front, a very lanky man stood there, holding a whistle.

"Hello! And welcome! I'm Ben," The man cheered, too happy for my taste and too loud at that. I sighed and kind of pulled the strings of my hoodie to spare my ears from the shrill voice. "This summer, you will have a few rules, but otherwise, everything is all fun!" He chimed, putting the whistle against his chest. Again, this man needed to take a chill pill, or maybe some Ambien*.

(Ambien- A very strong prescription sleeping medication that can render a person unconscious for several hours.)

"Rule number 1: Clean up after yourselves, we do have a custodian, but you guys mustn't leave the camp a mess," The man told us, reading from the notecards in his hands. "Rule number 2: Abide by curfew, there are consequences for not following it," He stressed the importance of this, but God knows that someone is going to definitely break that rule.

"Last two rules are very simple, so stick with me, I'm aware some of you are anxious to have fun," The man spoke, looking up from the cards and scanning the room for a minute. "The girl's camp is across the lake, 120 feet that way, but none of you are allowed to cross the boundary. The line of buoys is not to be crossed, you must stay on our side," Ben spoke, throwing the cards down on the podium beside him. "Lastly, have fun, dinner is at 5:30," He finished, finally, and dismissed us to go outside. Supposedly, it was just a wandering kind of day, getting acquainted with the camp. I immediately booked it out of there, wanting to get to my dorm room as soon as possible.

As I walked, I thought about rule number 3, kind of chuckling to myself. Who would want to find love at a camp? Imagine you end up living across the US from the person you end up "falling in love" with. I can only imagine the fights. It's so easy to drift apart, and that's why I decided that I'd never participate in a long-distance relationship. I was bi, I had plenty of time for one, to find a person that lived somewhat close to me, and I had a widespread of options. Or this is what I told myself all the time to avoid having to work through platonic and romantic bullshit.

I saw that kid again, not even knowing their name or pronouns, which was frustrating at best. I took a glimpse of their shirt/hoodie, which was something I didn't expect as I saw a Misfits logo. They walked pretty fast, so I didn't get the chance to say anything. Maybe, just maybe, it was because they were avoiding everyone but at the same time, I think it was a choice to avoid me the most. I slowly walked to my dorm, watching ahead and seeing them go to the wolf dorms on the left. So, they're a wolf.

I sighed and looked away, going down the path to my dorm building. There were boys galore, one without a shirt and allowing people to put pen doodles on his chest. I cringe and try to open my door faster, almost dropping my key and then finally getting it to unlock. As I almost fell into my room, I closed the door right as I heard screaming, locking it quickly and sighing with relief. "What the fuck," I whispered, sitting against the door and hearing fast footsteps running down the concrete hallway. "BRIAN NO!!" I heard beyond the door and then even more footsteps.

A slam of a door and silence left me alone, just looking at the dark room before me. It was 2 months here. These guys running around and screaming, sweating, being dudes. It felt terrible, the pit of anxiety sitting in my stomach, which mixed with the hunger. I held my stomach and shook my head, sighing once more as I reached for my bag and grabbed a little snack to hold me off until dinner. I didn't know how these couple of months were going to go, but I wondered as I sat on the thin carpet.