Shadows Over Camp Darkness

Outed

Gideon dropped off her newest Intake at the Mess and Meet and then immediately escaped outside the moment she had a clear path to do so. By now she could recite everything the Dragon was going to say, word for flipping word and it would drive her mental to stay for it all again. So as had become long tradition, she skipped it, slid outside and found her friends had the same lack of patience she did. It was good to see the witch and the golem again, even though they’d met up a few times in the year the Camp was closed, it hadn’t quite been the same.

“You know what? I actually kind of missed this place.” Xavier confessed with an almost nostalgic look on his face. It was an odd expression on the almost granite visage.

“Really? I actually kind of feel like this is going to be my last year here.” Lisa admitted with a shrug. Her words made something in Gideon’s stomach sour and her internal Fury grumbled something to her but Gids kept her darker aspect tucked away still.

“Great that means we’ll have to break in a new Counsellor to you replace you!” Gideon tried to sound jokingly disgusted with the concept. “You looking forward to that one boulder boy?” she asked the golem, expecting a smart ass remark. But Xavier suddenly looked away, his entire demeanour giving away his thought process. The golem had never really been able to hide his internal emotions well at all. “You too? But you just said that you’d missed this place!” Gideon felt another sharp pang but couldn’t explain why. Like all things she couldn’t figure out, she ignored it to handle later; when there weren’t witnesses to see it if things got messy.

“Well yeah, but it’s not the same now is it? It’s like going home for holidays after finally moving out. You miss what you had back then but going back to it just reminds you even more how it’s not the same fit it was before you left.” He tried to explain, seeming to realize that the Fury wouldn’t understand. Then again, using a familial metaphor would be lost on her as well and he should have known that too.

“Exactly.” Lisa nodded enthusiastically. “I’ve actually applied to go to Dusk University. I might get a partial scholarship thanks to all my work here too.” She sounded so excited by the prospect that Gideon managed to plaster a convincing smile to her face when inside things felt a lot less happy.

“That’s amazing!” Xavier enthused.

He might be made of earth, clay and rock but it was Gideon who suddenly felt like a statue, a false look of cheer chiselled into her features to match her friends. She didn’t know what to say and she had no clue why her belly felt so twisted. It was almost as if a phantom had thrust a barb into her gut and wrenched it around, but there was no would or blood to indicate a physical attack. It still felt eerily similar to her though and her internal darkness was trying to respond as if it was a life or death situation. Her friends continued on, oblivious to her shell shocked silence.

“I’ve got a chance to work at a placement for witness protection. Since I’m a golem I’m a great guard and naturally inclined for the work.” Xavier sounded so proud. And even though Gideon could readily imagine him in the role, part of her wanted to deny the idea at the same time. It was a surreal sensation.

The Fury was actually wishing she had stayed inside to endure the meaningless babbling speeches that the kids were enduring right now. They were tedious, repetitive and mind numbing, but safe in their familiarity. The routine she had felt at odds with only this morning suddenly felt safe and secure compared to the nebulous, different futures her friends were talking about. Her guts felt pierced, her chest felt vulnerable and she had a weird sensation that her feet had been kicked out from under her and yet she was standing firmly in place, unwounded.

“How about you Gids? What are you going to do when you leave this place?” the witch finally turned the question on Gideon, forcing the Fury to confront a future she’d never considered.