Into The Night

Chapter 1 - The Musician And The Party Animal

June 23, 2022

10 years later...

Salt Lake City, Utah

Alex lies on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He has earphones plugged in his ears, listening to Strange Days by Panorama Panama Town. Today is the last day of school, and the next day will be the graduation ceremony for the seniors. Next week, Monday will be the first day of summer camp at Sunnyside Summer Camp.

Alex has been in Sunnyside Summer Camp ever since he was a freshman in high school, but he's especially nervous this year since he will be a camp counselor, specializing in music. The previous camp counselors have had awesome introductions about themselves, but Alex will just stick with a simple introduction.

Hi! My name is Alex Hayashi. I just finished junior year of high school recently. I can play the piano and the guitar, and I'm excited to be this year's music instructor! Hope we get along well!

That is if he can manage to go through his introductions without nervousness and stuttering.

"Hi!" Alex says. "My name is Alex Hayashi. I just finished junior year of high school recently. I can play the-"

He began to stutter and completely lost thought of the rest. "Dammit..."

He sighs and just closed his eyes. Alex isn't the best at talking to people, let alone talking in front of a bunch of campers at a summer camp that's mostly kids aged 12-15. That's why every morning before he leaves for school and at night before he sleeps, he rehearses his line so he would deliver this introduction without failure. Such a thing like this can easily drain Alex.

Realizing that it's already 30 minutes before school, Alex gets up from his bed and grabbed his backpack from his desk. He made sure he brought everything before leaving for school.

* * * * *

"Hey, hey! Doug Mc Dougal here! I'm your new camp counselor for this year's summer camp. Are you all ready to have fun?!" Doug says with enthusiasm and energy in front of his mirror.

"Too hype?" He asks himself in the mirror. "Yeah, okay..."

He stands in front of the mirror thinking about what to say next.

"Heyooo, it's DJ McDoggy in the house! Ready for another year of summer camp?!" He points at himself in the mirror with both fingers and an open-mouthed smile.

His smile slowly drops. "No, that's cringe. And DJ McDoggy? Really, Doug?"

Hands on his hips and looking down, pacing from left to right in a small area, he was thinking of more ways to introduce himself. "Come on, Doug. What better and non-cringe way could you introduce yourself without looking or sounding annoying?"

He claps his hands once as he is struck with an idea. "He-"

An aggressive knocking on the bathroom door made Doug jump. "Jesus Christ, that scared the shit out of me!"

"Doug, come out of there now!" It was his younger sister, Lisa. "I need to use the bathroom, I have school too you know!!!"

"Alright, alright! I'm coming out now!" He sighs and placed his hands on his hips. "Well bathroom mirror, I guess we can continue this tonight. A date, if you may."

"Doug! Out! NOW!"

"Alright, alright! Jeez!"

Opening the door, he sees Lisa, crossed arms, looking at Doug with sass.