Voices on the Mountain

Voices on the Mountain part 3

Sam woke up in the morning to see Sarah standing over her bed with a bucket. Sam couldn't do much but think, uh oh, before a rain of water came down on her head, clothes and bed, leaving nothing dry. Sam wasn't a girl to sit and do nothing, so she grabbed the bucket and put it over Sarah's head, making sure to get it snug, so that when she finally pulled it off, Sam would be long gone out the door and Sarah's hair would be a complete mess.

"You did what to her?" Lauren said giggling.

"Well, she did deserve it," said Sam, who just finished telling Lauren about her morning. They were sitting in the mess hall eating scrambled eggs and hash-browns talking over everything that had happened to them in only the first two days here.

"What about that Travis kid? I saw how you looked at him, you can't hide it from me!" said Sam smiling. Lauren returned the the smile and played with her fork to see how many pieces of scrambled eggs she could fit on it.

"We're really gonna do it huh?" Lauren said with seriousness in her voice.

"I can't back out now that two boys want to, but you can."

"That's okay, I said I would."

Then there was a crash in the cafeteria, which made everyone turn to look. Sarah was there looking furious at a girl who was standing by an overturned tray with it's contents strewn all over the floor. Apparently one of her servant girls dropped Sarah's tray. After the awkward silence, everyone started to talk again, like someone flipped a switch to off, and then on again. 

"I feel bad for that girl who dropped the tray," Sam said, watching as Sarah left her alone, gone with the rest of her servants. 

After they left the mess hall, they had archery. Sam wasn't too good at it, but Lauren was gifted. She could hit the bull's eye every time, even the counselors were impressed. Later they climbed the rock wall. Sam was good at this, and she raced up the wall faster than anyone, but Lauren was pretty good and was right behind her. They changed into their swimsuits and jumped into the cool, deep lake. Sam and Lauren swam farther away than the others and wandered into the cove covered with treetops. The girls pulled themselves up onto the edge and laid back, with their feet dangling in the water. They looked up and could see the light shining through the trees. Sam closed her eyes and remembered that the last time she was here she saw the boy named Jaron. She was broken of her thoughts as something came out of the water and grabbed her ankle. She gasped and sat up to see what it was. Of Course. 

"Travis! What are you doing here?" Sam asked. 

"I thought that you should meet Jaron before we meet here tonight," He said, as he shook lake water from his hair. "

He's here?" asked Sam.

"Yea, he didn't want to join me in the water, so he walked around," Travis replied.

Sam stood up and stretched, moved over to where the sun could warm her up, then stood at the edge of the cove. She looked out at the lake and watched ripples run through the water, extending far from it's original source.

"Are you Sam?" asked a voice behind her. She whirled around to find herself standing in front of Jaron. Another volt of electricity ran through her. She swallowed. "And you're Jaron?" She asked, even though she knew the answer. 

"Yea," He replied, "And you must be Lauren," he said, turning his attention to her. 

"So, are you guys ready for tonight?" Travis asked.

"You bet," Sam heard herself say. Lauren looked a little worried, while Jaron and Travis looked like they couldn't wait. 

"Is anyone scared?" Travis asked, smiling evilly, while pulling out his cell phone and using the light to silhouette his face, though it didn't really have the same effect as it would at night. Jaron rolled his eyes and said, "I don't even think we're supposed to have cell phones in here, but then, who am I to be talking?" 

pulling out his own sleek black one, then adding, "I don't really use it much, but my aunt got it for me because she wanted me to secretly call her every once in a while, I guess to make sure that I wasn't mauled by a bear or something like that." 

Then Lauren's eyes widened as she stared at the phone. "Oh my gosh, that's the new Mayan 30! My dad owns the company that makes them, but that version isn't even out yet. I don't even have it and my dad always gets me the newest. How did you get it?"

Jaron looked at the phone and thought. Then he replied, "My aunt got it, but I don't know where from. Now that I think about it she wouldn't tell me anything about it, not that I really cared at the moment."

"So she just handed it to you and said, "here you go?"" asked Sam. 

"Yea, pretty much," he replied. Then they went on to talk about their camps. "So your camp has a rock climbing wall?" asked Travis after Lauren had told him of a couple of things the boys camp probably wouldn't have. "And a cute little store to buy snacks and disposable cameras," she added, somehow knowing that the lack of snacks to Travis would be a major jealousy point. She grinned and added, "Do you have a camp mascot too?" Sam asked, and Jaron replied, "Both the camps have mascots, they change every year."

"Oh, so what's yours?" She asked him.

"Ours would've been a tiger, but it wasn't a forest animal so now it's a bear. What's yours?"

"Um, a chipmunk," She replied, and the boys nearly cracked up. Then Travis said, "A bear against a chipmunk! Wow, what made them pick that?" He said chuckling.

Back at camp, they had a dinner of fish and rice and sang songs around the campfire, but Sam's mind always seemed to wander toward the mountain. She went to bed and laid awake for what seemed like hours, waiting for the moment where she could leave the cabin.