JUST SAY SOMETHING

CHAPTER SIXTEEN: The Lecture

Mike Williams

Where the hell are you? This is not funny.

Like · Comment · Share · 8 hours ago

View 4 more comments.

Mike Williams: Ollie will be here tomorrow. We'll meet up by then. Everyone has to be here.

Harvey Collins: The fag is finally gone? It's time that other fag, Gabriel, disappears too.

CHAPTER 16:

As boring as my first job was, Nicole and I got to our room dead tired. We had just had our dinner and it was finally time for some rest. I let her go to the bathroom first to get freshened up. I sat on my bed and stared at the blank wall. We were not allowed to communicate with anyone outside the camp. Apparently, daily and weekly reports were sent to whoever put us here. We were not allowed to have any visitors, which was a plus because I did not think I could stomach to see my parents.

"Hey," Nicole said as she got out of the bathroom. She was already dressed in the prescribed clothes. "What are you thinking about?"

"How am I so homesick after one day? I don't know how you've survived a week in here. I can really feel myself slip away."

"I am in no place to tell you it gets better, because it's not getting any better. The longer we stay here, we'll be stuck. You just give up and get used to it."

I nodded.

"I never got around to asking, but are you from Colestone?"

"No," she said shaking her head. "I'm from Sacramento. We're all from different places. I heard there are some from outside the country. It's really crazy."

"I just wish someone could shut this place down."

"Everyone wishes that. I have no idea how this place is so under the radar. You should get ready for bed. They're gonna shut the lights in half an hour." She looked at her camp-issued watch. I got one too, but I took mine off as soon as we got in.

"Yeah," I said getting up. I grabbed the provided towel and sleep clothes before getting in the bathroom. The shower ran and I waited for it to heat up a little. I disrobed and let the water run down my body. A sigh left my mouth as the heat relieved the aches in my body. I began to scrub away the day's dirt. My thoughts were filled with my friends and brother who must be panicking over where I was, while my parents were celebrating the delusion that this camp was going to fix me. Once I felt my skin become raw from the heat and scrubbing, I shut off the water, dried off, and got dressed.

"Are you feeling better?" Nicole asked.

"A little," I said. "I needed that shower."

I walked over to my bed and sat down. Nicole was looking at her hands, when she started crying. She was silent, but her tears kept flowing.

"Nicole, what's wrong?"

"I miss her." It was then I realized that she was holding a small picture.

"Who do you miss?"

I got up and sat on her bed.

"Her name is Savannah," she said as she showed me the picture. It was a picture a red-haired girl. She had a wide and beautiful smile. They looked somewhat alike and they were happy. "We've been together for two years. She saw me being dragged away."

"I'm so sorry, Nicole. How did you sneak this picture in? Don't they search you when you first come in?"

"I, um, I slipped it in my bra when I realized what was going to happen. It's small, so it wasn't so hard to hide. I look at it every night before I sleep and every morning when I wake up." She started to cry harder. I pulled her into a hug. I barely knew her, but I knew we were in the same state of misery.