The Camp

Chapter 17

I was woken by a stream of bright sunlight that had found its way in through a pinprick in the roof. Its still surreal waking up to so little amounts of people. There's three of us in here now, myself, a red-head and a silent girl who appears to have lost her voice. We get up at the same time, slipping our feet into our boots and lacing them up in the silence. I combed through my hair and then followed the others outside into the blaring heat. Its hotter outside now, I presume its because of a summer heat wave but it could be any number of reasons, I prayed that it wasn't a thunderstorm. My hand came up to shield my eyes from the sun as I walked across the yard and entered the cafeteria, it felt way to big for the amount of people inside. I queued up behind the girls from my lodge and received a generous portion of porridge. Finding a seat on my own I placed it down on the table and dug my spoon into the thick, cement mix. It was better than some of the food we'd been given, this time it was thicker and held the consistency of concrete but it also had more flavour and I was grateful for the sweet tingle that it left on my tongue.

My eyes drifted up and I found Jack, sitting in his usual seat beside Finn eating the same porridge and discussing something intently with the others. It was trivial to watch because I'd never seen him talk like that, he was engaged with the whole table and nodding excitedly as they conversed. To say that there were only 20 people in the room including the five celebrities made the whole thing a lot more daunting. All I had to do was make it through to tomorrow evening and I was safe, homeward bound with Jack smiling by my side. My stomach twisted at the thought of it, I was so close yet so far. Suddenly a thought dawned on me, Rachel wasn't here. In fact, I hadn't seen her since the incident yesterday. Someone else had sod in for her at the second trial and it was as if she'd been wiped from the face of the world.

The doors opened themselves and she stalked in, brown hair tied up in a fancy rose on her head, dressed in a high neck shirt and three-quarter length trousers that didn't hide her injuries. She was paler than normal, a ghost. I found the scratches on her neck, deep, bloody scratches that oozed onto the white collar of her shirt, then my eyes drifted down to the bulky lump on her leg: a bandage which meant that she'd been bitten and my the looks of it bad enough to warrant multiple layers of padding. She stopped as she saw us, flickering her eyes as tears began to well up. Her body went rigid and stiff and she flexed her hands at her sides. After taking a deep breath she stalked into the centre of the room and held the microphone to her lips, which trembled slightly as she addressed us. "Today marks the fourth of July," She announced, a slight hitch on July, "Which means that there will be no trials today..." A few of the girls made whooping sounds, the majority of us stayed silent. "As a treat for behaving well we have decided to take you to a play, an Independence Day show." People started talking then, turning to each other and whispering about what she'd just said, I stayed silent and focused on Rachel, "The celebrities will also choose their running favourite and she will accompany them to the play." People gasped, it was exciting news, first we we're going to be taken of site and secondly five lucky winners would get to meet the celebrities they hoped to marry. "Outfits have been picked by our bachelors and finding a silver box on your bed will mean that you have been chosen." People were stirring now, they were talking and moving about, and Rachel was standing awkwardly stiff at the front, trying to watch all of us in one go. "Alright, back to your cabins to prepare." She commanded as she moved out of the way, circling the celebrities table so that she was behind them. We did as we were told and began to file out. Passing the celebrity table as we headed for the door. Rachel flinched anytime anyone got near her and I realised with both sadness and a hint of excitement that she was scared of us, frightened of what we might attempt should we turn mad like her crazed attacker. I was desperate to growl at her and make a cat claw with my hand, but I kept to myself and followed the others outside into the bright light.

The red door of our cabin came into view and I climbed the steps and entered into the stuffy room. My eyes found Emily's bed first before anything else and I smiled, no doubt she was watching me, cheering me on from her sofa beside her Mama. I placed a tender hand on her spot and drew it away and addressed my own bed. As I'd expected there was a glittering silver box with a beautiful turquoise bow sitting neatly in the centre of my bed. I smiled as I lifted the tag attached to the ribbon and read it aloud, "To the most beautiful person to ever grace my eyes..." I smiled, cheesy as usual, "Would you do me the pleasure of attending the play this afternoon with me?" It felt slightly surreal that he'd even bothered to ask, it wasn't like I'd had a choice. "P.S you have no choice..." With a smiley face drawn very badly beside it. With a huge grin on my face I pulled the stray ribbon of the bow ad it fell away like silk, clutching the sides of the box I lifted the lid and stood back to admire my dress. A hand lifted to my mouth and then I was laughing, mostly out of relief as I ran my hands through the ruffles at the waist and began to tear up. It wasn't a replica, it wasn't a tailors best copying work, it was Ma's actual wedding dress, down to the puff of the sleeves and the frills of the waist. I hooked my hands beneath it and lifted it to my nose, it smelled like lavender and had the slightest hint of dusty straw. Ma always loved to tell me stories about her wedding day, how her and Father had rented a barn with what little money they had at the time and had twirled the night away in the straw. I'd always smelled the wedding dress as a child, sneaking into her room after a story and holding it up to my nose so that I could inhale the deep aroma of fields. I was glad that despite being washed the smell of straw was still there. "See Ma, he rescued your dress..." I whispered into it before realising that I'd taken too long reminiscing and needed to change. I slipped into it without a word and smoothed down the skirt, smiling as I did before turning back to the box which also held a small tray of pink bush powder. My eyes widened, I'd never had the luxury of makeup before, my hand reached out greedily and found the powder puff which I was to apply it with. The bristles of the puff stroked my face as I applied a thin layer then placed it back into the box; the final thing inside was a small hairbrush which I immediately pulled out and began to use it to comb through the lugs in my hair. I could feel their eyes on me, the other girls in my lodge but no one dared say anything until I was finished.

Deciding that the silence was my worst option I decided to speak first and address their potent eyes. "Would you like to borrow this hairbrush?" I asked and as if on cue they both nodded and rushed forwards, the sile t girl got it first and combed as quickly as a flash before handing it off to the other girl and staring at me again, her eyes flicked between me and the makeup and I smiled. "You can borrow that too if you want..." I muttered and she nodded, dashing forward and plastering it across her face. The ribbon sparkled out of the corner of my eyes and I snatched it up, afraid that they'd steal it from me. Now the other girl had finished with her hair and was obsessing over smearing the blush across her eyes with her fingers. "That's a good idea." I complimented and she gave me a harsh look that I took as a warning not to steal from her.

A drone entered our cabin and announced my name, "Would Miss Enola Jane Seabridge please join Jack Grazer outside imminently." It screamed rather than spoke but I followed my orders and instinctively headed for the door with the ribbon in my hand. I paused once I reached it, turning back to look at the other two who were still busy with the makeup and brush, I felt a pang of sorrow pass over me, tomorrow they'd either be dead or married and I was pretty sure which. I pushed the door open and exited as I'd been told to.