Duality (slashers x reader)

3. The Adults Are Talking

We walked down to the main cabin, which was situated just beside the lake and near a dirt path I assumed was the way into the camp. There were many other cabins identical to the ones we had stayed in last night, which I guessed housed other people the same age as me. As we neared the big cabin, I could hear the sound of conversations and walking, and the smell of breakfast wafted through the air toward me.

Sarah was speaking but I wasn't listening: my mind was too preoccupied with the news that I was at Camp fucking Crystal Lake. You know, the fictional campsite from the Friday the 13th franchise? A major slasher series in the 80s? What the fuck was I doing here?

True, there is a real Camp Crystal Lake in Florida as far as I know, but if we're including the time travel I'd clearly gone through, I thought I could rule out that being the place.

My main issue was: how was I going to get home, when I didn't even know how I got here? If I at least knew the first thing, I could somehow work out how to do the opposite to, possibly, get home. But no, the universe couldn't give me this one little thing, could it?

Sarah and I entered the building, and I followed her to the back of a queue leading to the food table, deciding to push my worries from my mind for now. I was surprisingly underwhelmed with how many people were there: it must have been 15 tops. Given the number of cabins we passed, that meant there would be some that were either empty or unusable.

I grabbed a plate when I reached the table and grabbed the most appealing-looking foods from the selection (slim pickings). Then, I followed Sarah to a table and sat across from her, as an older-looking man with a long mustache walked in and stood in front of the tables, seemingly waiting for some quiet. When that didn't work, he cleared his throat a couple of times before giving up and yelling 'QUIET'.

Silence fell and everyone turned to look. The man cleared his throat and began to speak, 'Hello, and welcome to camp! Many of you already know me, but in case you don't, I'll introduce myself. My name's Keith and I hope everyone had a good first night since today will be a busy, busy day!' He chuckled and rubbed his hands together. 'So, the buses will arrive at approximately 10, which means we have 2 hours for finishing touches and ensuring everything is up [clap] to [clap] standard [clap]. I turned to Sarah, who raised her eyebrows as if to say 'wow'. 'He's quite a character', I mouthed to her, causing her to snicker and leading to a resentful look from Keith.

He paused, making a point of waiting until we'd finished speaking (even though that had happened 2 minutes ago), sighed, and carried on. 'As I was saying, teamwork is the most important thing at this camp. If we all work together, we can make this a fun, happy, and enjoyable experience for everyone! Okay? That's all, thank you!'

Everyone rose out of their seats and began filing out of the cabin, so me and Sarah followed, watched by the close eye of Keith. I whispered to Sarah 'Where are we going?'.

She shrugged and replied 'No idea. Our best bet will be to follow her I think' and she pointed to a girl I recognised from this morning. The mystery girl walked around to the side of the cabin, where a board was nailed to a wall. It held multiple notes and documents, pinned up with bright red pins. She scanned her finger down a sheet of paper, stopping half way, reading along that row and then walking away, presumably getting the information she needed.

'Come on' Sarah said, before darting forward to the board. I followed her and saw a sheet of paper titled 'Schedule for 13/06/84', which contained a list of names in a table, an assigned group, and a row of activities following each one. Sarah found her name and group - Sarah Campbell, group c - and read her activities aloud:

'8.30 - checking on group's cabin
10.00 - welcoming group
10.30 - setting up swimming gear
11.00 - lifeguarding for group
12.30 - lunch
13.00 - archery with group
14.30 - leading group in treasure hunt
16.00 - taking group back to cabin to wash up
17.00 - dinner
18.00 - free time
20.00 - bonfire
21.00 - back to cabins
22.00 - lights out'

'Okay, not bad' she said, stepping back. I walked up and found my name - Y/N L/N, group e - and read that our timetables were the same except archery and lifeguarding were swapped. I was pissed we weren't assigned to the same group, since it meant there was a possibility I'd be paired with someone insufferable. Though they'd also be paired with me, so... pros and cons.

We returned to our cabin and sat for a while on our respective beds, chatting about what we thought our groups would be like, and when we'd have the chance to catch up. We resolved to meet up at lunch and parted ways, walking to our assigned group's cabins to check on them. I wasn't entirely sure what that entailed, so I just walked around, looking at the beds and the bathroom for anything 'wrong'. By the time I'd done my rounds, it was only 9.15, so I sat on an available armchair and returned my attention to how I got here, and how I might get home.

After 40 minutes, I was no closer to finding an answer than I was when I started, and I was also dangerously close to being late to my next activity. I jumped up, quickly scanned the room for any mess and ran out of the cabin to the camp entrance, just as the buses were pulling up.