Camp Riverbed

Chapter 5

When they let me out to the front, I am greeted with my mother's blank face. She has only done this once before, and that is because I got after-school detention for writing some "encouraging" words on a teachers car. Big misunderstanding, but bad punishment.

Now that I see her showing no emotion, I know that I am gonna get it. She walks us to her car and we both get in, me going into the back. I never sit in the back. 

We drive the rest of the way home in silence, hearing only the rush of the other cars and the occasional honk of someone's car. We get home, and pull in the driveway, and I can see the light in my room on. 

I exit the car and go straight upstairs and to my room. I enter and there is a duffel bag on my bed. I open it, and my clothes are in there, as well as my bathroom supplies and my phone charger. 

Next to the duffel bag is a brochure. The name Camp Riverbed is on the cover, along with the words "camp for troubled youth." 

My mother walks into my room. I turn around and look at her, holding up the brochure. "What's this?" I ask her.

She looks at me and purses her lips. "It's where you are going to go. You were caught at a party, drinking and doing drugs, and you were arrested. When I got the phone call from the police, I panicked. I thought that you were acting out. Dad leaving has been hard on the both of us. I..." She starts to tear up, and I'm about to get up and hug her when she calms down.

"You can't talk me out of it Zara. The bus arrives tomorrow. I expect you to be ready by seven tomorrow morning. Good night." she walks out and shuts the door, leaving me stunned. I throw my duffel bag across the room, along with the pamphlet, and cry myself to sleep.