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Her mattress was getting wet. There was a dark spot underneath where she'd been sitting and Evie knew she'd have to change her sheets before dinner and hope her mattress wasn't soaked through.
She sighed, pulling the ribbon out of her hair, the dark strands falling stiffly around her shoulders, waterlogged and disgusting. Her clothes would need to be washed, she didn't even know if the laundry block would be open yet. She knew that the only ones with a key would be the counselors on laundry duty or Nurse Lane.
She knew the longer she sat there, her skirt wrinkled around her thighs, a piece of seaweed hanging off her shoulder, sand in her hair, the worse she'd feel, but Evie didn't want to move. She hated coming to camp. She missed her house, she missed her sister and she missed the woods.
Her house backed right into them, and when she was younger, Evie would spend a lot of time in them with her older sister. Shirley would lift her, carry her on her back, and they would race through the woods.
Trees whizzing by, the whole forest a blur of green, the colour of the leaves, the ribbon in her sister's hair, Shirley's eyes, the brightest and most magical green. Her favourite colour.
She still went out there alone, spending hours after school so deep in the forest it felt easier to keep going than to turn back. Like she could run forever, and maybe then she would find somewhere that she could be as happy as she was with Shirley. She would lie on the dirt, twigs in her hair as she watched the inferno of reds and yellows falling around her. Once, when she was thirteen, she'd fallen asleep out there, and when she woke up, it had started to rain, soggy leaves covering her entire body, weighing her down. She'd closed her eyes, lying there until she heard her mom call for her to come back inside. She'd had to force herself to move.
She fell back on the bed, closing her eyes tightly. If she clenched her fists, digging half moons into her palms, and closed her eyes hard enough, she could pretend she was there. Water dripping down sideways off her cheeks, just like the rain had. Maybe she'd stay there for the rest of the summer.
The door creaked open, and Evie sighed, the tension she'd unknowingly been holding on to seeping out of her as easily as the water had. Cindy had a habit of doing that. "Oh my gosh, Evie!"
She opened an eye weakly, forcing a smile. "Hey,"
The redhead girl rushed over to her. "What happened to you?" she said, aghast as she helped her sit up. She looked over Evie, concern pooling in her eyes. "Is- is everything okay?"
"Your sister happened," she smiled. "Knocked me in the lake,"
Cindy frowned. "Ugh, I'll talk to her about it. I'm sorry Evie," she brushed some of Evie's hair behind her ear.
"It's alright," she smiled softly. "It was an accident,"
"She didn't stop to help you," Cindy pointed out. Cindy held her hands out and Evie took them, standing up off her bed. Cindy winced as she saw the state of the blankets. "That's my bed,"
