The Girl at Camp Green Lake

Untitled Part 8

Don't scream, Jadice, don't scream.

It hisses, the fan around its neck flaring out.

I swallow a small gasp. My heart is beating in strange uneven patterns, and it's all I can think about. I could weigh my options, I could think logically, try to come up with a solution, but all I can do is stare in silent terror. The butterflies in my stomach are going crazy, it feels like they're stabbing my heart with soft knives.

I almost like it.

Scratch that, I do like it.

That familiar rush of adrenaline. It's refreshing, invigorating. So instead of trying to calm myself, I let the rush of panic take control, wash over me lake ocean waves. I'm about to run for it, when a voice enters the situation. Guess who. 

"Sate- Jadice, Run!"

Squid. What's he doing here? I thought he was in the Wreck Room. But when I slowly turn my head to the right, I see him standing about thirty feet away. His face is pale and he looks about as afraid as I feel. I clench my teeth into a smile.

"What? Run? Why on earth would I do that?" I ask him calmly. Why do I have to be like this? I can tell Squid is thinking the same thing about me. He groans in frustration.

"Idiot, that thing will kill you!" Ohhh, he will pay dearly for that. I glare at him in anger.

"You know, I think I like it right here."

"Why," He asks me as ten fingers try to pull out his close-cropped hair. "Why do you have to be so- so stubborn?"

I almost laugh. Something about this whole situation is just so ridiculous. Me, possibly about to die, standing thirty feet away from the person who's trying to save me, arguing with him.

"Jadice?"

I focused my eyes back on him and sighed deeply. "Fine, I'll run. But if you ever call me an idiot again, I will find one of them," I point at the lizard. "And put it in your bed while you're sleeping."

I look over at the lizard. While we were talking, it seemed to have started sneaking closer, step by step. I caught it scuttling over a few inches when I looked at it. It was kinda cute how its stubby little legs ran so rapidly.

I shake my head out of the spell that the lizard had put on me. Anyway, if these animals were so dangerous, then why weren't there any traps for them? And where were all the night guards? Shouldn't there be night guards?

Shaking my thoughts away, I brace myself for the run to the tent. In my head, I count down the seconds.

One...

Two...

Three!

With that, I slammed my feet hard onto the ground, kicking up dust as I went. I guess all those evenings spent chasing Hercules around the lot while the boys played baseball had really paid off.

Warm wind whipped my hair into my mouth and I blew it out with an exasperated puff. Now more than ever I wish I'd thought to bring a couple hair ties to Camp Green Lake. I pass Squid in seconds, not stopping to wait for him. Looking back, I see him chasing after me, a grin spreading across his face. He's starting to catch up with me. Soon, we're both running side by side. Neither of us are tired. So instead of stopping at the tent, I kept on running, toward the dusty flat stretch of land where the holes begin. Taken by surprise, Squid didn't stop either. We both raced along the hole peppered ground, laughing and trying to trick each other into holes. As we ran, dying sunlight bathed us in an orange glow. It was almost familiar, but I couldn't figure out why.

Eventually, the stitch in my side was too painful to ignore, and Squid looked like he was about to collapse. We took refuge in one of the holes before we went back. Both of us were breathing heavily.

"So," Squid said between gasps of air. "Still wish you hadn't run?"

I rolled my eyes. "I haven't forgiven you for calling me an idiot, you know."

He slaps his hands to his face in distress. "Oh, no! How could I forget? What can I do to ever make it up to you?"

Resisting the urge to punch him in the face, (I really need to stop attacking every person who angers me) I turned to face him completely. His breath caught when I looked into his eyes.

"I can think of one thing," I told him softly.

"Yeah?" He inched closer. He smelled of Pine, which was strange, because the only tree within fifty of miles in every direction was the oak tree that grew in front of the Warden's log cabin. I silently wondered if he was wearing cologne. Which was a strange thing to wonder, because even if he was, I certainly didn't care.

I motioned for him to come closer, like I was going to tell him a secret. He scooted over to me in anticipation. Then I said in his ear, rather loudly I'll admit,
"You can dig half of my hole for me tomorrow."

"Oh."

I smirk at the downcast look on his face. "What were you expecting?"

"What? Nothing. No- I mean, yeah, I-I'll do that."

Really? That was strange. I had at least expected him to fight back about the proposement a little.

"Great." I told him happily. I stood up, brushing the dirt from my pants. "We should probably walk back now, I bet the lights' gonna go off any minute."

"Yeah." Squid answered, in some sort of a daze. "Ye- I mean no! What? I'm not diggin' your hole for you!"

There it was. I hopped out of the hole and leered down at him. "I said half of my hole. And yes, you will, you owe me it."

"I do not!" He heaved himself out as well and stood next to me.

"You called me an idiot!"

"So?"

"So?" I was starting to get irritated. "So you dig half my hole for me!"

"That's not how it works!" I was about two seconds away from punching his sorry face when a soft, purring voice rang out from behind us.

"And what, exactly, do we have here?"