Camp Echo Falls (Completed)

Chapter 38

I turn to see a boy about the age of seven, sprinting towards me. His small brunette head looking back over his shoulder, a gap filled smile playfully spread across his face, grass stained blue shorts flapping in the wind as he nears me.

He gets closer to the big chunk of glass laying on the floor and my heart starts pounding. My eyes go wide as his little feet catch on the outer parts of bottle, a split second going by as though time has slowed down. My feet glued to the floor unwillingly, the only thing I can do it shout out; "Wait!"

But he doesn't stop. Suddenly, his weight begins to fall, the realisation of danger hitting, followed by a high pitched cry as the boy starts to topple, pale hands going out in an attempt to catch himself.

"No!" I cry helplessly, too far away to do anything but watch. The next few moments happen in slow motion, the boy's face nears the sharp glass, his arms raised to cover his face. And then out of nowhere, a pair of tanned muscular arms snatch around the young child's waist, hoisting him up and pulling him backwards.

I watch as the boy's eyes widen, crying out as the stranger man handles him, securing him away from the conflict that he could have be a victim to. My head is racing trying to process everything in front of me, my feet finally allowing me to move, I run towards the boy and his saviour.

The boy's wailing causes the leader of the kayaking group to sprint down over to us. My eyes flick from the glass so close to hitting the boy to the person who saved him from the pain. His green eyes meet mine before anything else and my chest tightens as I see who it is.

It's Leo.

I can't take my eyes off him as he awkwardly holds the crying child out in front of him. Both his hands under the child's armpits, Leo's own arms straight out, as though he's trying to keep distance between him and the boy. His brows furrowed, as he looks at the glass around us and then back at the small human in his hands.

A girl a little older than us, appears next to Leo and they share a look before he hands over the child to her. The boy grabs her shoulders and cries into them and she rubs his back comforting. She smiles gratefully at Leo before heading back to the group of waiting children on the dock, waving her free hand out to get the audience of children to disperse.

"What the hell happened here?" A voice booms from behind me and I spin around my heat racing knowing were about to get into trouble. I spin around on my heels, my hands in tight balls anxiously.

Please don't send us home. Please.

I physically relax when I see who it is, letting out a shaky breath, a smile appears on my face. "Hunter, hey." My eyes lighting up as I see the familiar tanned boy, his dark brown eyes and hair make him look much older, even though he's only one year above us.

Hunter is an old time friend, one that we've known practically from the first time we attended camp. Even though he was never in our activity groups because of the age difference, he spent ever free second hanging out with us. He's become apart of the group, especially as he gets along with the boys so well. Him and Will are practically brothers, nothing can get between them.

"Um, there was a bunch of glass and that boy almost stepped on it. Luckily, Leo was here to stop him." I say looking to the side of me, to see Leo shoving his hands into his pockets giving Hunter a quick look up and down.

My gaze goes back to the other boy as he asks, "Do you know how the glass got here?" His responsible side showing as his brows furrow, knowing that he has to get this cleaned up.

"We heard a few people here last night, not sure who it was though, sorry." I lie easily, moving my hand and placing it onto his arm, giving him a sympathetic smile.

His dark eyes flick to my hand on his bicep and then back up to meet mine. He falters for a second, almost so quick that I miss it, before clearing his throat, "Don't worry about it."

"It's just good to see you," he chuckles and he title his head down to look at me, his eyes glistening with something that reminds me of warmth.

"Everything was a lot easier when all I had to worry about was making sure Will didn't drown in the lake after getting hammered." Hunters familiar laugh reminds me of all the nights spent with him and the group.

Sitting around the camp fire telling us stories about girls from his school and how him and his friends got in trouble.

I notice how attractive he's got since last summer, his jaw has sharpened and his features have matured.

"I know right," I laugh, "I haven't seen you in ages, are you alright?" He moves his hand over mine that resting on his arm, his fingers graze mine and I feel Leo's eyes on me blazing into the side of my head.

I feel the heat raise to my cheeks and get self conscious all of a sudden, dropping my hand from his arm, I cross my arms over my chest going quite.

"Yeah, it was crazy last night, you heard about that kid with the knife right?" He asks and I nod my head politely, "well we had a meeting about it and they still dont know what to do becuase his parents put a lot of money into the camp every year."

"They don't want to loose all that support, if you know what I mean." Hunter explains and I do understand what he mean, money is everything in this world.

"I get what you mean." I laugh and out of the corner of my eye I see Leo roll his eyes and look out to the water, obviously annoyed.

"I miss you." My head snaps towards Hunter confused by this sudden confession, "I mean, the group and everyone." He corrects himself, rubbing the back of his head embarrassed.

His cheeks turn a light shade of pink and I get the feeling that he's lying about the rest of the group. An awkward tension suddenly airises and the air feels thick.

"We miss you too, come hang out with us one night yeah?" I ask trying to move the conversation on.

Hunter was a lot of fun to hang out with, it got a bit awkward last year when he tried to kiss me and then had a breakdown when I rejected him, reminding him that I was still with Will.

He was drunk off his face though, so I don't think it meant anything, I'm now wondering if that was why he would mainly hang out with us when Will wasn't there.

"Yeah, we'll see." He replies before we're interrupted, someone calls his name and we all turn to see its the girl from earlier still holding the boy.

"Anyway got to go. I'll get someone to clean this up." He says looking down at the glass frowning and then taking off down the dock leaving me and Leo standing in silence.

"That was clo-" I start.

"You know him?" I turn around to look at Leo, his eyes fuelled by something I can't read.

"Yeah? He used to hang out with us last year. Why?" I ask narrowing my eyes.

"Nothing." He states sharply, looking away from me, shoving his hands into his short pockets.

"Okay?" I question tilting my head to the side confused, why would Leo care if I knew Hunter?

"Why did you lie about not knowing who smashed the glass?" He asks and I decide we should get off the dock as the glass is still around.

I carefully step over the pile and start to walk up the dock away from the water. It takes a moment for him to follow, but then I hear as he steps over the glass.