"𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗿" \\ Camp Camp

☆ prologue

word count: 1224

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Hell.

That's what this is. Absolute hell.

Everyday was the same torturous cycle, and everyday I grew more and more sick of it.

If only there were a way to just... go back in time. Maybe I could've prevented being born. Pop out of nowhere and tell my parents to wear a condom before they decided to bring upon me this horrid life. Maybe a time traveling machine would do...

My thoughts were interrupted when some smashed potatoes splattered my face. A heavy sigh escaped my mouth, and I begrudgingly wiped off the food with a napkin that was on the table. I had managed to tune out my environment for 10 minutes. A new record!!

For context, I live in this shitty foster care house. All 10 kids, including me, live in this foster home run by two adults. It's like Annie, but without the cheesy happy ending where I get adopted by a millionaire and sing songs about how grateful I am to be alive. 

All 10 of those kids have made my life an absolute hell the second I arrived here. And that was about 8 years ago, when I was 7. I was given the excuse that my parents couldn't take care of me due to some shitty reason. Bullshit, that's what I call it. They just didn't want to deal with me anymore and dropped me off here.

The workers... they're fine. They're not the problem at all, it's the kids. Well, maybe it's partially their problem. If they learned to educate them better maybe I wouldn't have smashed potatoes scattered on my face and all over the walls.

Wait, who am I monologuing this to?? ...Maybe I've finally lost my mind.

Another sigh escaped me as I focused back on where I was. Dinnertime. The worst part of the day. It always turned into a food fight of some sort, or with me having to clean it all up because neither of the adults are bothered to do something, and I'm the one the kids like to pick on. Like Cinderella, but without the magic.

"Hey. HEY!" An annoying voice interjected my thoughts once more as I got harshly poked on my shoulder. I only side eye the person next to me. It was Karina, the second oldest of the bunch. She liked to bother me the most.

"It's your turn to take out the trash." She orders, handing me a black trash bag that most definitely was leaking, and was practically overflowing with trash.

I raise an eyebrow at the blonde girl. "Isn't it always my turn? Why do you feel the need to announce it every time?"

"Are you trying to get smart with me, little shit?" Her piercing red eyes turned into slits. "Take out the trash. NOW."

I roll my eyes and stand up with a small stretch, looking down at my untouched food. I wasn't hungry anyway.

I snatch the bag and throw on a gray jacket before I went outside. It was already summer, yet Mother Nature decides to torture us with cold winds and smoggy weather.

I open the trash can behind the house and throw in the bag, grimacing in disgust at the liquid it had left on my hand. What the hell did those kids even put in the trash??

I start making my way back to the front of the house when something caught my eye. What seemed to be a brochure in red color.

It was flying in the wind and landed only a few feet away from the mailbox. I look at the front door, then back at the paper.

Not like I'm in a hurry to go back anyway.

I head towards the brochure and flip it over to read. Something about an Arts and Crafts camp, and veeeery small lettering underneath it that I could hardly read. At the bottom it said "Campe Diem!" Whatever that means.

I blink once. Then twice.

A camp. How did I not think of this before?? I could just sign myself up and not have to worry about being stuck here all summer. Who cares about what happens after? I got 3 months to think about it.

I flip it to its side and there was an address to the camp, alongside a link to their website. A small smirk grew on my lips as I shove the brochure in my pocket.

I freeze and groan in disgust, holding out my wet hand from before. "Ugh, I forgot about this." I frown at my jacket which was now dirty.

Shaking my head, I return back to the old house, practically running up the stairs to make it to my room (though not before washing my hand with extra soap). Well, our room. I shared one with the younger kids because I'm "still too young to be with the teens", despite the fact I'm 15.

The floorboards underneath my feet squeaked as I walked into the room, taking a laptop one of the little kids had stolen from the workers and sitting on one of the lower bunks in the room.

Clearly, the kid using it wasn't done with doing whatever the hell they were doing on it.

"Hey! I'm not finished." The freckled boy complains as he tries to snatch the computer with his sticky fingers. "Wait your turn!"

"Suck it up, Weasley." I snark, moving the device out of his reach. The boy's frown at the undesirable nickname was amusing. "You'll get your turn in a second. Go play with your toy cars or something."

It was enough to make him leave me alone, but he made it clear he was still upset with the way he stomped off.

I quickly get on the web and type in the link to their website before any other grubby kid tried to steal the computer, and tried to find more information. It all seemed really suspicious... but it had to be better than this place.

I quickly sign myself up and put in Arts and Crafts as my activity. A pop up appeared saying the information has been sent and a bus will come to get me in 3 days. Huh.

3 days.

I frown. I wanted to leave earlier, but I had to be grateful. I finally found a form of escapism, even if it's just 3 months. I'll just have to figure out how to leave without anyone suspecting.

Then, for the first time in a while, I felt my lips turn into a smile. Hope was bubbling inside me as I closed the tabs and deleted any evidence that I had visited that website.

It was almost too good to be true.

☀️

Yep. Too good to be true.

I stare at the old man who had a hook on one of his hands. He was the bus driver that was taking me to my destination. He looked... terrifying. The bus had "Camp Campbell" on it, which I'm assuming is the camp.

I make eye contact with him for a split second before turning my head back at the house. Is it really worth it? What if I get kidnapped by this weird ass man??

I shake my head and inhale deeply. You only live once, and I'm not wasting another second in this dreadful house. I enter the bus cautiously and sit down on one of the middle seats. I look around the empty bus and press my lips into a line.

I really hope I didn't just make my life worse than it already is.