The Cave

Day Three: Jared

We decided to stay on the campsite for the day. The weather was still nice enough to sit outside, and we were all feeling pretty relaxed. Beth, however, was proving to be a bit of a problem.

I’d been with Beth for just over a year, and I did care about her a lot. I’d invited along to our camping trip because I thought she should get to know everyone better. But more than once, I’d considered breaking up with her. The thing was, I could never quite be sure what was wrong with Beth, because she generally refused to talk about it. I knew for a fact that she’d suffered from an eating disorder for at least two years, because her mum had told me, in hopes that I’d be able to keep an eye on her and maybe help her somehow. I knew Beth would go mad if she knew that I knew, so I’d never said anything.

She was also extremely temperamental; mood swings was not enough to describe it. One day she would be really upbeat and happy and fun; that was the Beth that I liked. But the next, she’d be really moody and upset for no reason, and snap at me for the slightest thing. When she was like that she was almost impossible to get on with and unfortunately, today was one of those days.

As soon as I’d woken up in the morning and seen her sitting outside, I knew something was up. Her expression was sullen and stroppy like a child’s, and when she looked up at me, she didn’t smile.

“Hey,” I said softly.

“Hi,” she replied.

I poured myself a plastic cup full of Coke, then handed one to her as well.

She shook her head. “I’m alright.”

I put the cup down anyway, and sat down next to her on the grass. Everybody else was still asleep, and we sat in silence for a full five minutes, until it became too uncomfortable.

“So, what do you wanna do today?” I asked. Pretty neutral question, I thought. There was no way she could get annoyed at me for that

Beth shrugged. “I dunno. Whatever.”

“Maybe we could go into town?”

“I said I don’t know.” Her voice was firm now, and irritated.

“Fine.” I finished up my drink and stood up, just as Amber came out of the girls’ tent.

“Morning,” she smiled at us warmly.

Beth smiled back at her, trying to make an effort. “Morning.”

“Hey,” I said. “I’m, er, going back to bed.” I wasn’t really tired, but Beth was wearing me out already. Maybe Amber’s serenity and niceness would rub off on her.

When I got up again two hours later, it was to see Beth striding off into the distance with Amber.

“Where are they going?” I asked the others, who were all up now.

“They said they were going to the, er...” Tyler gestured vaguely into the distance. “I can’t remember, shops or something?”

“Hm.” I sat down on the grass next to Annaliese, pulled out my mobile and tapped out a text to Beth:

Where are you? x

I put my phone back in my shorts pocket. “What are we doing today?” I asked the others.

Everyone sort of mumbled non-commitally, and shrugged.

“Might as well hang out here for a while,” said Elle.

Tyler and Annaliese made sandwiches for us, and we sat around eating and chatting for a while.

“Isn’t it weird that we’re all going to be in completely different parts of the country in like, two months?” Annaliese said thoughtfully.