Lights Out, Campers

Chapter Fourteen

NOW

Amelia is slipping away from me. She's moving backwards, but she seems to get further away when I follow her. I outstretch my hand to hers, but they never meet. She just watches me, a smile on her face, as she fades into the black. I want her to come back. I don't want her to leave me again. I scream her name. I cry out for her embrace, but she doesn't listen.

"Please, Amelia!" I wail. "Don't go! I'm sorry!"

I see her mouth form a word, but I can't hear it. It's too muffled. What is she trying to say? She opens her mouth again, and it's a little clearer. But it's not until the third time that I finally hear her.

"Phoebe?"

But it's not Amelia's voice. It's Arabella.

"Phoebe!" She shouts again, and this time, I wake up.

When my eyes open, I see Arabella's face mere inches from mine. She is grasping my shoulders and shaking me back and forth. I gasp and push her away. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"You have to come outside," Arabella says as she rushes out the front door, still in her pyjamas, and disappears out of view. I groggily sit up in bed, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. When my vision returns to focus, I notice that Arabella and Robyn's beds haven't been made. Arabella looked panicked when shaking me awake, and she left the cabin still in her pyjamas. That can only mean that they went in a rush. Something terrible is happening outside.

I have only been awake for less than a minute, and panic has already overtaken me. I jump out of bed and slide on my Birkenstocks before following Arabella outside.

Once again, the camp is in a panic. All the children are out on the lawn, gathered around cabin eight. I scan the crowd for my group, and thankfully, I see them huddled around the outer side of the building, along with the other counsellors, Mr Foster, Miss Caddel, Mrs Bates, and Verna. I feel a slight sense of relief until I notice someone is missing.

Trinity.

I race toward the group, pushing through the crowd of children who are similarly confused as to what's going on. When I get past them, I race to the children in cabin eight, ensuring they're alright. But they're not. All of them are crying, and none can form a coherent sentence. That's when I notice what everyone is gathered around.

On the side wall of the cabin are three long claw marks stretching from above the window to the ground. But what really makes my knees weak and my head dizzy is the sheer amount of blood.

There's so much blood.

–––

"We suspect a bear caused this," Mr Foster explains, too calmly for my liking. He has ordered the children to stay in their cabins whilst he addresses the counsellors and staff in the dining hall.

"A bear?" I say, unable to hide the disbelief in my voice.

Mr Foster sighs. "Yes. Black bears are known to roam this area. I warned you all about them in your induction."