The Camp

Chapter 7

I was woken by the alarm, not the type of alarm that you imagine when hearing that phrase but a blaring siren that was being played across every speaker in the yard. My crusty eyes opened as quickly as they could, and I found myself shooting up and out of bed. Now stood on the hard-wooden floor with bare feet I looked round in shock, the other girls were climbing casually from their beds, brushing their hair back with their fingers and securing it with small elastic circles that I knew as hair ties. I was boggled by the overall tranquillity of the situation, it really was as if nothing was happening at all, as though the screaming fire sirens weren't being immitted from every speaker possible. Something shifted behind me, but I didn't hear it very well because of the siren and so when Emily placed a hand on my shoulder I almost jumped out of my skin. "It's ok. Have you never watched this show before?" She was yelling and it still wasn't quite loud enough, as I shook my head the ear burning siren disappeared and left behind a stark silence. "We don't have good tv signal back home." I explained, sounding significantly louder than I normally did but then again, the ringing in my ears was clouding most of the background noise. "It means that there's a task now, you're suppose dot dress as quickly as possible then follow the instructor out of the door." I noticed that as she spoke, she was securing her boots, tying tight, little nots into the laces then checking hr suit buttons. I was about to ask what instructor when Rachel burst through the front door of our lodge, swanning along in a knee length red dress. "Good morning girls." She cooed down her microphone and I realised that she was flitting towards me with her microphone gripped just below her mouth. "How are you feeling about today's activity?" She asked, shoving the chunky mic towards my face. In the brief second that I took to answer I remembered that I was supposed to be gaining fans across the world and put on my best groggy smile. "I'm a little tired but excited for todays competition." Rachel smiled even wider at my response; it had clearly delighted her as she opened her mouth to respond. "Well, as Jack's favourite you have a lot of weight to carry on your shoulders today." I froze at that, the smile dropping from my face to a surprised and confused expression that I was forgetting to hide from the camera. "Oh, look at that folks, isn't that sweet." The camera zoomed in on my face and I had to stop myself from waving it away. "Now we've got to move on sweetie, but do you have any final comments for the camera?" I stood in complete silence and Rachel took that as a no, hovering on to the next unsuspecting victim.

Emily's cold hands clasped my shoulders from above and she said something that I didn't quite hear over my own thoughts. Rachel had just announced that I was Jack's favourite, I hadn't heard her wrong, that was evident by little Emily's excitement. Turning back to her I gave her a relieved smile, so he was talking about me at the opening ceremony, I thought and something inside me jumped up, a flame that wouldn't quite die. "I can' believe it!" Emily was yelling, still holding firmly to my shoulders and jumping around on her knees. Her hair had been tied back from her face with the long pink ribbon that had held back her fringe the previous day and I remembered that I was supposed to be getting myself ready as well.

Slipping from Emily's grasp I sat on the side of my bed and pulled on my boots, tying the laces and giving them a quiet stomp to ensure that they were tight enough. I then tended to my hair, combing through it with the tips of my fingers then fishing for the string in my bra to tie it back with. 'Two bunny ears and a knot' I could hear Ma's voice in my head, explaining how to tie knot and I swear that I could see her smiling face hovering in the distance.

Rachel was suddenly stalking past me, talking into the drone to waste some viewing time and behind her was a trail of my new roommates, all the girls appeared to be following her and I found myself looking to Emily for guidance. She had obviously seen The Camp many times before because she was merrily climbing down from her ladder. I followed her across to the trail and joined somewhere towards the back with the knowledge that I was Jack's favourite still floating around in the back of my head, had she just said that to distract me after seeing our interaction yesterday or was I really his favourite? The thought of it made me giddy and as I followed the others down the steps and into the yard, I thought that I almost fell down the steps. Sudden realisation hit me after stumbling and I looked down at my hand, the previously gritty, bloody mess was now a neatly healed line although the surrounding rocks still protruded menacingly. Wincing and in an attempt to distract myself I looked up in order to find Emily and saw the pink bow in her head bobbing gracefully along a few people in front.