Women's Empowerment Camp

Chapter 5: Hives

Gwen was tuned in to her latest trash TV program while the campers hung out by their tents. Apparently her car was taken in because of some technical problems and it was estimated to take about a week to fully repair. So she and David had to share his crappy, old station wagon until she got hers back. The counselor relaxed in her seat until she was cut off by the sound of David's car pulling up. "Oh great they're back." She sighed, getting up out of her chair. She went to the door and opened it to be greeted by the overly cheerful David, along with Nikki. Her skin was red and blotchy around her mouth and she looked upset. "Oh my God, David what happened to Nikki?!" Gwen exclaimed. "I guess she got some chocolate all over her face and it made her skin all itchy!" David replied, clueless as to what had happened that day. "Come here, Nikki. I'll get you checked out." Gwen said, taking Nikki by the hand and leading her into the counselor's cabin. 

Nikki sat on the bed and fidgeted her hands a bit. Gwen could tell something was off, so she decided to try using her duel major to help the distressed camper. "So David said you got chocolate on your face?" Gwen asked, putting some anti itch cream on her pointer and middle finger. Nikki couldn't say much and just nodded while the counselor applied the medication on her face. "How did this happen, Nikki?" Gwen moved her hand away from the camper and wiped it off with a paper towel. "I...Don't wanna talk about it." Nikki said, blushing with embarrassment. "Are you sure? It could help you feel better." Gwen replied. "I'm sure..." Nikki said, trying to prevent any tears from forming in her eyes. "Well do you at least have the wrapper from the bar you rubbed on your face?" Gwen asked before Nikki pulled the wrapper out of her pocket and handed it to Gwen. Gwen read it and noticed that the chocolate that Nikki used was the most expensive bar Cameron wanted to sell: The Beyond Bar. This candy bar was a vegan option that also had CPD oil as one of the ingredients. "Thank you for saving this, Nikki. I'll let David know so we could remove it from our list of products." Gwen put the wrapper in her short pocket as Nikki hopped off the bed without a word. When the camper left, Gwen had this sinking feeling in her chest. She knew Nikki was hiding something... But what?

Once everyone was gather in the mess hall for supper, David was sitting at a table by himself while the other campers socialized. He was counting how much money they had made that day and it was only a mere $250. It wasn't much to people with experience in sales, but when it's your first day, that's a lot of money. David set his clip board aside once he saw Gwen enter the mess hall and waved her down. Gwen came closer and David grew confused when he saw the look of worry in his co-worker's eyes. "Something wrong, Gwen?" David asked. "I think there's something going on with Nikki..." Gwen said concerned. "Well sure, she had that rash from the candy bar!" David scoffed. "It's more than that, David!" Gwen retorted, pausing to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Then what is it?" David questioned. "That's the problem! I don't know!" The other counselor said. "Did you notice anything strange happen today while you were selling those candy bars?" Gwen asked. "Well...Not really." David thought. "The Flower Scouts were having their cookie sale right next to us. So everyone was feeling a little competitive, but that's about it." He shrugged. Gwen knew Nikki had some sort of past with the Flower Scouts before joining Camp Campbell. All she knew was the experience was, in Nikki's words, "traumatizing." She began to scan the room and saw Nikki sitting with Max and Neil as usual, but she was just picking at her food, not even bothering to take a bite out of anything.

"You haven't touched your food since we sat down, Nikki." Neil pointed out. "Yeah, usually it's gone in seconds and you'd normally take my plate afterwards." Max added. Nikki didn't even respond and just shoved her plate away. Not eating any of the QM's food was usually Max's thing, but Nikki not eating anything was very out of character for her. "I'm not hungry..." Nikki said quietly, holding her legs to her chest. Nurf just so happened to be passing by so conveniently and saw the two trays. "You guys gonna eat that?" Max shook his head while Nikki looked away. "Dibs!" Nurf said, taking the trays from the table. "Look, Nikki. You can't let those bitches get to you!" Max tried to give his friend a pep talk, practically cringing at his words. "There's only one little bastard you have to deal with, and it's me!" He gave a game face, but Nikki didn't pay attention. Gwen approached the table and saw that Neil was the only one with a half empty tray. "Hey, kids... Max? Nikki? Where are your trays?" She asked. "Nurf took em." Max said, avoiding eye contact. "Again? I'll go get them for yo-" Gwen began to walk away before Nikki finally spoke up. "No..." She sniffled. "H-He can have them..." Gwen felt like someone had shot an arrow straight through her heart. ...And not like if she were writing her fanfics. "Boys? Could you leave the table please? I need to have a word with Nikki." Gwen asked, prompting Max and Neil to leave the table. The counselor went over to Nikki and got down to her level. "Nikki. You know that you can come to me or David if there's a problem, right?" Gwen said softly. Nikki just nodded slowly. Gwen waited for Nikki to tell her, if she wanted to. But the child refused to budge. "It's ok...You don't have to tell me right now." Gwen reassured her. 

As sales continued to rise, Gwen noticed Nikki's behavior began to shift. She isolated herself from the other campers, stopped being her normal hyperactive self, and refused to eat. Normally giving the food to Nurf. The worst part was David had no clue what was happening despite the fact that he was supervising the campers on sales days. One evening, David sat Gwen down to talk sales numbers that week since the end of the month was fast approaching. But Gwen didn't wanna talk about sales numbers. She wanted to get to the bottom of the one thing that mattered to her in that moment. "David. There's something going on with Nikki and I don't like it." Gwen said, sitting down in her chair. "What do you mean, Gwen?" David asked. 
She's not acting like herself and it's really concerning!" Gwen replied. "She's been distancing herself from Max and Neil, hasn't been participating in camp activities, and refuses to eat a thing." She explained. "Now that you mention it, I did notice her not wanting to go hiking this afternoon." David said. "Max of all people came to me last night about this too. And the last person you'd expect to care is Max." Gwen added. "Maybe you could try talking to her tomorrow?" David suggested. Gwen agreed and told David she'd be in charge of checking on the other campers before bed. 

The counselor stepped outside and made her way to the campgrounds. She made sure to check everyone's tents to make sure no one had smuggled anything that would be deemed either dangerous or not allowed on camp property. Nerris didn't smuggle any wild animals to serve as her sidekick, Harrison didn't start a fire.... This time. And Space Kid was dreaming about space. Again... When Gwen approached the last tent, something caught her off guard. She heard...Sobs. Sobs coming from Nikki's  tent. She was conflicted on whether or not she should check on her or not. But the more she listened in, the more her heart ached. So she caved and opened the tent flap. 

"Nikki?" Gwen whispered....