Summer Nightmares

Eighteen

Regina Spring

"What even happened that night, Miles?" I asked for the fourteenth time I guess and Miles still had no answer.

Ms. Warren had asked everyone to stay inside the camp due to frequent bear attacks. And Kai had been telling me over and over again that it was something else. Yesterday, a lot of weird things happened. Weird enough to not ignore the signs.

Miguel was acting strange and then when we got back to the cabin no one was inside. As far as I could remember, Miles and Sydney were sick and they should've been in the cabin resting. We were going to go out and find them but a counselor stopped us and forced us to go back in because Ms. Warren had told everyone about the bear attacks except for our group.

"Did she forget?" Kai was making up reasons not to judge Ms. Warren.

"Why would she? I mean, we are the most annoying out of them all and the first to come to mind when talking about breaking rules."

I wondered how severe and frequent these attacks were because we weren't even allowed to go eat in the cafeteria. It was barely a few steps away. The food was given to us as per the schedule and it was basically prison life. Another reason to hate Camp Lakesville.

We were pretty much in confusion when Miles Dunne walked in late at night. He seemed scared, confused, hesitant and relaxed at the same time.

"Where were you?" Kai asked.

No answer.

"Where is Sydney? Is she still outside?" He asked again.

"Emily." Miles said, holding back the disappointment in his voice. "She's uhm- with Emily. She'll be in her cabin for a few days."

"Did something happen?" I asked.

"Not really." He replied after taking a long deep breath.

And we didn't ask any further because we knew we were not going to get any answers.

"We should sleep." I mumbled and pulled the sheets over my body. Even though I had zero plans of sleeping tonight, I slept longer than ever. Weird.

There was no sign of Miguel or Sydney. Emily would come in the morning and we'd do random camp things- make bracelets, talk about movies and just pass the time and then, it'd be evening and Emily would leave.

Miguel had caught a cold and Sydney was sick too. And then, I saw Miles leave the cabin one night. Kai woke me up and asked if we should follow him. I was too tired to do this again.

What was happening in this camp?

Nothing ever comes straight to me here. Heck I wasn't even straight and yet I had no idea what was going on. No one said anything about where they were. They lied about Miguel. They lied about Sydney. They lied about the bear attacks. Why the heck did they lie so much!

Where the heck was the truth.

"I've got some other plan and it's going to answer all our questions, Kai!"

"Where exactly are we going?" He asked after a few minutes of us walking outside the cabins of other groups. It was the kind of risk I was willing to take. I didn't care if they punished us or sent us back to our home. I'd make sure it was me and not Kai.

"Ms. Warren's cabin."

"Why?"

"Kai, the camp's weird. We need to know why! And what better way to know about the camp than to go search for answers in the owner's cabin?"

"You're right!" A girl whispered this time and I froze right where I was standing. She was hiding behind the bushes and I couldn't figure out who it was until she came out.

I didn't recognize her at first. But, I had seen her before for sure.

"Ashley?" I asked.

"Oh, you remember me!" She smiled.

"Who's this?" Kai asked and she faced him.

"I should probably give an introduction otherwise you guys are definitely going to judge me."

I nodded as my cheeks grew red. Maybe it was the cold wind. I don't know.

"My name's Ashley. You probably know by now and I find this camp as weird as you guys do. I was going to the abandoned cabin, the one where we're not supposed to go when I heard you guys walking. I thought it was the counselors so I hid in the bushes. And you can tell the rest..."

She was wearing a sleeveless top and it was freezing cold. Weird camp weather, I sighed. And like the night in the shining armor I offered her my jacket which she took.

"Also Maitreyi would love to meet you, Kai Young! She's seriously in love with you and she can't hold it together anymore so let me know when I should bring her!"

"Who's Maitreyi?"

"Dude, you seriously know no one except for your group?"

"We should go." I said, clearing my throat.

Ms. Warren's cabin was empty when we reached there. And by empty I mean it! There was nothing inside. No furniture, no light, no nothing!

And we got back empty handed to the place where we saw Ashley first.

"Should we check the abandoned cabin?" She asked.

"Yes, we should."

When we got there I figured out why Miles was so quiet after all, why Sydney wasn't coming back and where Miguel was all this time and why Ms. Warren was so strict with this cabin.

It all made sense.