Lights Out, Campers

Chapter Six

The boat gently ports on the grassy bank by the car park. Wyatt and Dean hold the boat whilst Levi ties a rope to a nearby tree, stopping the vehicle from floating away. We have it hidden behind a few bushes so the kids hopefully won't see it and decide to destroy it. Arabella, Robyn and I collect everyone's belongings from inside the boat. We finish way before Levi can even tie one knot - Dean and Wyatt are having some concentration issues and a few times, the boat starts to drift away from the shore - so we end up sitting on the grass, waiting for them. We watch as Levi gets increasingly frustrated with the two of them. Arabella and I can't help but laugh. I even catch his gaze a few times and he gives me a shake of the head and an eye roll. I would help him, but I'm enjoying watching him for now.

Finally, Dean and Wyatt pull themselves together, and Levi can tie the knot. Then, he connects another rope to the next tree over. We hand them their stuff and head back towards the cabins. We make an agreement that all of us will meet at the dining hall at six, so we have about ten minutes to quickly shower and put on some dry clothes. Robyn takes the first shower (without asking) so me and Arabella sit on the floor of the main room, not wanting to get the beds wet. The sight of that little girl in the woods is still fresh in my mind, even though I keep telling myself it wasn't real. That I was mistaken, because why would a child be out there? There are no homes around this side of the lake so it's impossible she lives around here.

"You okay?", Arabella asks. It crashes my train of thought, and I glance up at her. She looks concerned and I know she's been watching me silently freak out for the last few seconds.

"Yeah, I'm...", I begin to say. I want to tell her that I'm fine but I don't want to give up on this topic so quickly. "It's just... Are you sure you didn't see anyone?"

She looks confused for a minute. She has forgotten all about the girl on the shoreline already. But soon, her eyes widen as she recalls it.

"Like on the shore? No, I didn't", she gives me a reassuring smile that for some reason feels a little condescending. I know she's not trying to, she genuinely didn't see anybody.

"I swear there was someone there. It was so clear."

"Well maybe you did", she says, and it feels good to receive even the slightest bit of validation. "A kid could have wandered over here from..."

She trails off. I know she's trying to be supportive but she doesn't even know how to explain it. Neither do I, but I know somebody was there. It's a painfully awkward few seconds of silence as she attempts to reassure me, but as time goes on, I can't bear it any more.

"You know what", I say, sparing her. "It was probably nothing. It could have been something else. I was so far away."

The conversation is dead. We both know I don't believe what I'm saying but it feels like there's no logical explanation to any of it. She has a look of sympathy on her face that makes me want to scream. I'm not crazy. I'm not some fragile mess who is having delusions of little ghost girls. I'm telling the truth. Maybe if she heard what that man said to me at the gas station, she'd believe me too.

But if I brought it up to her, I know her condescending comfort would only get worse. "You have to believe me because some crazy guy in a gas station said this place was evil!". Yes, Phoebe, I'm sure she'll be on your side then.

Robyn gets out of the shower, and Arabella lets me go first. Probably out of pity. In the shower, I try to forget about it. There's no reason for me to be taking my frustrations out on Arabella. There's no reason for me to be frustrated at all. I've met some really cool people, and I have potentially ignited a spark with a very attractive boy, things are good. As the shower washes away the lake, I try to focus on that. Not on the fact that as every second goes by, I feel more and more scared.