A Ghost Summer

Chapter 1: My Bad News

" Mom, you can't be serious."

" Hon, like I told you the last five times, this is one trip you can't come on. Your father and I will only be gone for six weeks. Nobody in our family is able to take you in, so you are going to summer camp." My mother finished in a stern voice.

Nooooo! I screamed internally.

I dashed away upstairs before my mother could reprimand me even more. I snatched open my phone and dialed my friend.

" Maddie, no matter how many times I asked my mother, her answer didn't change. They're sending me to summer camp!"

A few seconds of silence. " You're serious?" She asked.

" Why would I be joking?" I practically fell off my bed in a jolt.

" Get over here." And she hung up.

Do not disobey the master. I leapt off the bed and threw open my door. Pocketing my phone and applying a layer of pineapple flavored lip gloss. I waved at the boy who sat near the hallway mirror and made my way downstairs. I could tell him to beat it and leave, but that was a bad idea. It'd just put him in a brooding mood and he'd drift aimlessly up and down the stairs until I told him to sit.

I picked my way down the stairs leaping two at a time. Popping my head into the kitchen and locating my mother washing dishes on the other side of the kitchen island.

" Mom, I'm heading to Maddi's. Be back by dinner. Bye!" I left before she could say no.

I snatched my home key off of the rack and threw on my thin sweater. I hooked the key to my belt and set off in a sprint. I eventually slowed to a jog and ran about a half mile before striding up Maddi's walkway. Pausing to look at the flowers her mother had recently planted. I don't how long I stayed staring at those flowers, because I snapped out of my stupor at the sound of a door being thrown open.

I looked up and smiled. " Think you can find a way of getting me out of my conundrum MADDIson?"

She tilted her head and nodded, tapping her head with her index finger. " I've got some ideas in my noggin. Step into my office."

I climbed up the porch steps and took her extended hand. With a tug, we were off. She whisked me through her house. I noted the recently painted living room in a glorious autumn bronze. The television cabinet had multiple DVDs keeping the drawers open. A hazard for anybody's hips. Eventually we made it through the maze of rugs and hallway tables to Madison's room.

" All right, have a seat, Rosalina." She smiled widely.

I chuckled and then raised an eyebrow. " It's Rosie, Maddi. It isn't short for anything, especially that."

" Fine, darling," she teased," now explain to me your exact situation." Maddi planted herself in the desk chair.

" Mom said they're actually sending me to summer camp. She gave me the brochure for the site and everything. Yesterday she took me shopping for a new bathing suit, and purchased these weird things call waders. I begged her not to, but she claims that I have nowhere to go for the summer. Mom and Dad don't want to drag me along this time, instead they're hanging me to dry at some haunted summer camp."

" And you don't want to go." She finished my thought.

" Precisely. So what do you propose we do Doctor?"

" Have you considered the amount of options in your midst? I've concocted a list:
Injure yourself
Fake a sickness
Persuasion techniques
Run away
Have the camp expel you the first day."

I pondered these ideas deeply. Weighing the pros and cons for each one. I gazed around her room, locking on the new Pageant of the Masters poster she'd put above her mirror. I dragged my fingers across the blue orange and green tribal pattern comforter.

" I don't think I'll be able to fake being sick. I rarely ever do. There's always the chance that my parents will just give me a pill and send me on my way. There are worse things out there than germs, they'd say. I've exhausted several persuasion techniques, and none of them have worked. I could try my dad, but he isn't good at fighting with my mom. She wins every argument." I raked a hand through my hair. " Haha, running away? I'd only get to the next county before my parents called the police. They'd be on me in less than a day, shooting me with a tranquilizer dart, and I would wake up in a camp cabin. And expulsion has a slight chance of working. Although, my parents might just ship me to another camp closer to where they're staying. I think our best option is the intentional injury."

" Maybe get them to send you to another summer camp? What's wrong with the one they're sending you too?"

I pulled out the folded up brochure from my sweater pocket. Unfolding it and placing it in Maddi's hot hands.

" It's called Bronson-Venus. I have reason to believe it's haunted."

I heard her let out a little squeak of fear. We spent a couple of minutes in silence while she looked over the brochure.

" How are you sure it's haunted? It doesn't say anything about it in the brochure."

" Yeah, Maddi. They're really going to put stories about death in a brochure in an attempt to bring in new campers." I drummed my fingers on the bed post.

" You would not believe how many people are crazy about that stuff." She leaned in closer to look at a picture. " I'm gonna ask again. What have you seen that makes you think it's haunted?"

" That picture you're looking at right now." I stood and pointed out the picture she'd been looking at. " For the past month, about every two or three days I have a dream about that field. The grass reaches your knees, there are flowers and bushes scattered over the meadow. Almost no trees, and it's relaxing to lay down in the cool dirt,"

" And here comes the terrifying part..." She hummed.

" Ghosts pop up everywhere. I can't escape the meadow, and they're grabbing at my arms and legs, begging me to help them. The beauty of the meadow distracts me for a few seconds before the wailing begins."

Maddi abruptly grabbed my hands.

" I think we should go for the intentional injury."