Camp of the Irish Hills Series 1: A New Light

Episode 1: The Noise from the Attic

It was a dark and stormy morning. My brother Gustin was driving us to Camp Macbrady. I was still drowsy from the night before. My father still finds it hard to believe that I'm Irish, or a Quinn. I am not used to drinking, and when I do I get the world's largest hangover no matter how little I drink. I think I have an allergy to Sulfate. My father thinks I'm a wimp. I'm not a wimp! Your face is a wimp!
The radio signal was still alright, a little fuzzy though. Gustin whistled along to Dean McLean, by by miss American pie drove my Chevy to the levy but the levy was dry. I sighed and checked my cellphone for a message from Ryan or Rose, and low and behold, nada. I glanced out the window, "Holy hell, it hasn't rained this hard in weeks" I said, as another bolt of lightning shot above, fallowed by a loud crash of thunder. Our young Golden Retriever Sunny wimpered and paced in the back seat. "Sunny, lay down" said Gustin, after glancing in the rear view mirror. Sunny circled once again and settled in a position on her Blue's Clues blanket. "Good girl" I said.
My phone buzzed, and sounded Hell's Bells by ACDC. I picked it up immediately. "Hey Ryan! What's the stitch?" I could sense Gustin rolling his eyes without even looking at him, but I just ignored him. "Well its pouring over here in the hills" I heard thunder crack on his line, "where are you?" He shouted, he sounded desperate. I heard Rose was there as well. She shouted something to Ryan that I couldn't quite make out, something about the lake? I don't know. "Uh, we should be there in about 45" I said, glancing at Gustin for reassurance. He nodded. "Can't your brother drive any faster? We're dying out here" whined Ryan, "wait really?" I asked, "Well, no but" there was a short pause, before I ushered him to continue, "but! But what?" I said, "this storm is awful! The lightning's already taken out three trees and two roofs of the girls cabins" he said, "Oh fuckin hell" I said, rubbing my forehead. "Well try to hold up as much as you can, Ryan we'll be there as fast as we can" I said, then hung up. "What's going on" asked Gustin, "oh, nothing just some" I scratched my head and put my phone in my pocket, "electrical problems" and I sped up my voice as I said that, "but don't even worry about it, Ryan and Rose have it all under control" I leaned on the door, in attempt to look as sure of myself as possible. "Then what wa-" he started, "you know what, never mind, I'll find out when we get there".
The rest of the trip was quiet and awkward, two of my least favorite things. First of all the radio completely fuzzed out on us, and we had no Cd's or tapes to compensate for us, and second every time I went to make conversation, Gustin would always stop me, said I was distracting him or something. Eventually I succumbed to my migraine and took a trip to the stars for a bit, or until we got to the campsite. It happened so quickly that I don't remember anything happening between when I closed my eyes to lessen the pain, and when the back of my head hit the headrest. I was "out like a light" as my mother would say. One minute I was awake, next I wasn't, plain and simple. I woke up what felt like a second later, to Rose, my best friend, gently shaking me awake. "Hey, May. Mabel, wake up" My eyes sprung open. The downpour had quieted to a gentle drizzle, and the clouds had lightly separated to reveal a blinding light. I shielded my eyes as soon as I opened them and rubbed my head, making a quiet sort of screaming sound. Spots! Spots! Then looked around and blinked, sitting up slowly. I still felt awfully dizzy. "Whoa there" said Rose, "you don't look too good" I squinted at her with a tired, confused, and mostly annoyed look in my eyes. "What happened to you May?" She asked, "I don't want to talk about it" I said, and attempted to stand up, taking her hand when I had established I couldn't do it alone. Gustin approached us, "oh look, she's awake" he said, "how fast was I out" I asked, "no idea" he said, "2 seconds?" "New record" said Rose, "oh hush" I said, then made my way to the trunk to grab my bags, Rose helped.
After putting my stuff in Rose and my bunk, and I put on something less pajama-e, so like skinny jeans, black rain boots, and a red flannel and my yellow rain coat, all over obviously underwear and thermal leggings and a waffle shirt, Rose took me to see the damage. We passed the trees that looked to both be split down the center by an obviously pissed of Hercules, and then finally made our way to one of the 3 girls cabins that was attacked in this storm. It looked to be a whole the size of a bowling ball. Two of our mail councilors were up there, Ryan who I already semi introduced, and a new councilor of now 3 years, David, age 23 I believe. "What do you think, May" he asked, "doesn't look too awful from here" I said. "We'll have to check how badly its gonna effect the inside of the cabin" said, Ryan, who carefully made his way to the latter and climbed down. He and Rose kissed, I completely forgot they had a thing going on. David climbed down and approached me, all the times he's hit on me and I turned him down. I held a finger up before he could even pucker his lips, "not so fast there tiger" I said. He smiled and closed his eyes, "of course, how could I forget?" he said, in a sad, sarcastic tone. I smiled sarcastically, "oh you poor thing, lets just check the cabin" I turned him around and shoved him forward.
I stepped through the cabin door slowly, David fallowed, then Rose, and Ryan. The floor creeked below us. Dust coated the walls and the beds and frames. Ryan flicked the light on and the dust skattered, all four of us coughed and hacked. "God we gotta get these cabins cleaned before the kids come" said David, "yeah, definitely" I agreed. Ryan opened the door to the attick as the rest of us looked around. I stood by the window and found an old wedding photo of the first head councilor of the camp. Mom and dad were campers, their parents were councilers. I dusted it off and stood it up on the windowcil, then I looked up, I thought I saw a figure in the window of the cabin next store. It was like a dark shadow. For a moment it stood still didn't move, then moved across the window. It looked to have something in it's hand, looked gun shaped. It turned to face me, my head throbbed as I saw it hold the rifle to it's head, and the gun fired. I gasped and jumped back. Again my head throbbed, I groaned at the pain. I stood stared out the window still, intently waiting for something else to happen. Behind me my friends pased the cabin and searched the attick. The more I stared the more it looked like I could see feet dangling from above, and I felt like I was choking. What the hell is going on. I heard Rose talking, she was speaking loudly as if trying to get my attention, but she sounded distant. Suddenly a hand on my shoulder pulled me out of what must've been a trance. I startled, and stumbled backwards, "what" I yelped and screamed. "Mabel! Mabel it's me!" I looked up to see Ryan, hands on both of my shoulders. "You okay?" He said. I looked around, confused. "Yeah, why?" I asked. "Um, no reason, I guess" he said, then helped me to my feet, and patted me on the head, and walked away. I shook it off then fallowed him to the stares of the attick, "how's it looks up there?" I asked, "not too bad" said David, I slowly stepped on the creeking steps and looked around. There was slight rain rot on a wall on the one side and a puddle on the ground, but every thing looked to be fixable. I approached a window and watched as a spider spun its web. "Yeah, everything should be ok" I said.
Later during welcoming time, when all the campers were starting to arrive, Rose and I took the bags and checked in all the kids, while Dave, Ryan and Gustin split each group by cabin. "I'm telling you to give David a chance" said Rose as she handed me one of the girls bags. I tagged it with a red ribbon and put in the pile. "Rose, I just don't know if I want to do the dating thing anymore. You know what happened last time I trusted love" I said, and put the bag down in the correct pile, and sighed. My last boyfriend promised he would never leave me, I promised I would never let anything happen to him. Then one day, he found a skull while wandering around in the woods behind the camp. He came back possessed, didn't act like himself all day. When he didn't show up I got worried and went to go find him. I found the skull in his bed, and a note written in Gaelic, and back in my cabin up in the attic I found him dead. I was fifteen, I hadn't went out with anyone since. "Mae, you can't let fear stop you, I can see that way you look at David. You like him" said Rose. I groaned and rubbed my face, and looked over at David rounding up the kids. Rose was right, I did like him, I was just afraid. "Yeah, okay maybe I will give him a chance" I said.

Then came time for the traditional beginning of summer bonfire, and all the kids gathered round, ate beef stew, caught up and listened to the councilors tell spooky stories come sundown. I approached Rose and my brother, who were just chatting about something I couldn't really tell. I stood there behind her patiently and smiled, then lightly tapped her shoulder. She turned around and saw the look in my eyes, nervousness and dread. "Mae, what are you doing. Now's your time to make a move. Become more acquainted, tell him how you feel" she said, I twiddled my fingers and looked over at David. He was so nice, good with the kids, good friends with Ryan, good judgment, and so funny, also kind of a hunk. "I" I started, "Can't" I wanted to, everything inside me wanted to just kiss him, "Mae, seriously what's the worst he could say? No? So what? At least you gave it a go. But I doubt he would, he likes you, a lot"  said Rose, with so much fire in her eyes. I nodded, "Okay" but I didn't move, "Well" said Rose two minutes later, "I-I need a push" I said, she stepped behind me and gave me a gentle nudge in David's direction. I stumbled forward like an idiot then stood up straight and strolled forward with confidence, and he turned and saw me. "Mabel" he said so cheerfully, "Dave, hi" I said, just looking at him my feelings for him grew, damn! Rose was right. I watched as he cut up carrots for the stew, then tossed them in, and the mix bubbled in the pot. "Smells great" I said, as I watched him rub some spices and stir, "hey, thanks" he said, "I was just gonna set it aside and let Ryan take over" he said, "Oh, cool" I said, "hey, I was thinking of taking a walk by the lake, you want to join me?" I asked, "sounds like fun" he said, "I'll just put my coat on and I'll be right there". I smiled and nodded and slowly stepped away, play it cool Mabel, play. it. cool.

David met me by the fence post near the beach entrance. We both had on our raincoats and were both carrying umbrellas.