Valipers

Chapter 1

You could feel every bump in the road. The busses were old after all. The 17-year old Amanda had seen it because of the damaged yellow paint and the filthiness on the outside of the bus. Inside the bus it smelled stale and the chairs were, just like the paint, damaged. Probably the residence at the camp was so expensive that there was hardly any budget left for the busses, Amanda thought.

With five busses packed with students they drove to a camp where Amanda and the rest of the school would spend three months. It's a long school trip that begins at the half of summer holiday and lasts till the beginning of a senior year. They are planning this to celebrate it’s senior year at Hilson High School and to have a good time before all the hard work at school starts. The school planned fun activities and what else the students wanted to do, they’d have to figure it out for themselves. The bus had been packed with all kinds of suitcases to get through the three months. Cellphones were left at home. There would be no signal at the camp, the teachers said. At the camp itself you could call with the phone when necessary. All of the busses had been on the road for four days and would arrive at the destination this afternoon.

Amanda never liked long drives, Amanda had never liked long bus drives, you can hardly ever do anything and only if you were lucky your friends were sitting nearby so you could talk to them. Amanda was sitting on the window side and luckily her good friend Kate sat next to her to make this trip still bearable.

Scarlett sat in front of them, she was also a good friend of Amanda’s. And there was a girl sitting next to Scarlett. Olivia was her name, Amanda thought.

'Amanda, what's the name of the camp again?' Kate asked all of the sudden. Her shiny green eyes were looking at Amanda.

Scarlett bent over the chair. Her long light-brown hair fell over the backrest she just bended over.

I can’t remember,' Amanda said.

'It's camp Eastwood,' Olivia said. She suddenly joined the conversation without moving in her chair. You could hear a sign of fear in her voice.

'Is something the matter?' Kate asked when she had heard the tone of Olivia's voice. She slightly moved her face towards Olivia's face and Scarlett and Amanda were listening carefully.

No, it’s nothing, I...' she kept silent for a couple of seconds but then continued, 'I just don't have a good feeling about this camp,' while she still hadn’t moved and hadn’t looked at anybody.

Suddenly a voice spoke in the bus and ended their conversation abruptly.

’Just one hour until we arrive!' Someone said through a microphone.

It was a teacher who was yelling at everyone, hoping someone would listen.

Finally, Amanda thought, just one hour left.

Everybody straightened up in their chairs and Amanda grabbed her iPod and plugged in her earphones. Kate closed her eyes so she would sleep through the last hour. It didn't last long before Amanda sank into deep thoughts.

After a while Amanda looked out her window because she noticed it was getting darker in the bus. There was not much to see. The window was dirty and the road was dark. Dark because all of the trees with their big long branches with leaves that covered the sky above the road. There was forest on both sides of the road. It was a deciduous forest with trees that were standing close to each other here and there. Suddenly a boy came into Amanda's sight, he was standing between the trees. Amanda was shocked. She didn't expected a boy at all after seeing numerous trees. She looked at him, but because the bus was moving he disappeared out of her sight. She quickly nudged Kate.

'Did you see him too?'

'See who?' Kate asked while she was on the verge of falling.

'A boy with black hair, on the side of the road!'