REDRUM──xavier plympton

two

-fireside tales
_______

I wandered over to the kitchen in the hopes that there was food.

"This is Chef Bertie." Margrets voice sounded. Chef? I turned the corner to see Xavier leaning against Berties truck.

"Dibs." I gagged internally. The chef, though she seemed nice enough was definitely not the best eye candy. I made my way over to the side of the lightly painted truck.

"You wouldn't know what to do with it if you got it handsome." The Chef said through her cigarette. Laughter rung out among the group.

"Tough burn." I muttered. The brunette who I now resided next to giggled. Shock flooded the boys face; his sunglasses now lowered to the tip of his nose, so that his eyes looked at the Chef in disbelief.

"Put those scrawny arms to work and help a lady fill her pantry." She handed Xavier a box of what looked like eggs. I couldn't help but notice his arms, and they definitely weren't scrawny, in fact they were quite muscular, not as much as his one friend, but his were definitely the right amount and attractive. "All of you, let's go this heat is a killer." Bertie mumbled handing boxes to the other counselors. I grabbed one of the boxes full of bread and butter. It was just light enough to the point where I didn't need to use muscle. I could see Xavier watching me out of the corner of my eye. His blue eyes pierced me and I somehow felt almost comfortable under his gaze. I swallowed, glancing at him before walking into the kitchen.

_____

It grew colder as the sun set. I had myself wrapped in a grey blanket as all of the camp "staff" sat around a fire. It was almost the perfect day. I just needed a good nights sleep and it would be complete. I yawned as an awkward silence grew around us. The only sound was the crickets chirping, the buzzing of hungry mosquitoes and the occasional click of a lighter. I sat next to Rita, the nurse, as Brooke, as I learned, roasted a marshmallow. Xavier and Chet passed a blunt back and forth eventually offering it to Rita.

"I don't smoke that bunny weed." Rita said barely glancing at the blunt in Xaviers hand. "Only thing I put in my lungs is marble red." she told them, standing up. I took the finished marshmallow from Brookes stick and put it in my mouth. The sugary, fluffy goodness melted in my mouth.

"Ya know that shit will kill ya."

"Well we all gotta die somehow." She retorted. "Any of you been camp counselors before?" Rita asked. I shook my head mumbling a small no, as did the rest of the group.

"Nah, we just hadda get outta LA." Ray told the nurse.

"I hear that, couldn't stand being in that city another minute. Not with all them gruesome murders going around." Rita retorted. I sighed softly, resting my chin on my hand.

"I don't lived in LA, I just had to go somewhere can't stand my apartment neighborhood." I told them all. Montana raised a brow. "My neighbor attacked me a couple nights ago. Said he would burn the place to the ground."

"I was attacked in my apartment too!" Brooke exclaimed, "I was attacked by the night stalker though." She was quiet for a moment. "He said he would come after me." I shuddered at the thought of a serial killer coming after me.

"Brooke take a chill pill" Montana piped up, annoyance in her tone. "He doesn't know where you are and nobody followed us. Nothing bad is gonna happen here." She reassured. Somehow an uneasy feeling settled in the pit of my stomach. Rita shrugged.

"Maybe not, but something did." Brooke looked around frantically. "Fourteen years ago. That's why they closed this place down." I raised my brow in confusion. My eyes focused on the nurse.

"Rita, I totally understand the tradition and usually im cool with that but my friend Brooke here had a fore-real assault and were just not in the mood for a bullshit ghost story." Xavier told Rita while walking over to sit next to Brooke. He flung his arm around the girl and she shifted uncomfortably. Xavier was like the king player, not even a day and he had already flirted with three people, me included and I did not know how to feel about it.

"It's not bullshit." Rita grunted leaning closer to the fire. "And there was no ghost." She explained glancing at me. I couldn't help but watch Xavier in the firelight though. How each flicker of flame shadowed a different part of his toned ass body. "I'll be honest with you, I've never been a nurse at a summer camp before. And you've never been counselors before." Rita looked around at all of us. She had a point. "So how'd we get these jobs with no prior experience?" She waited for a second before continuing "anyone who knows anything about camp redwood, doesn't wanna be in camp redwood. This is the site of the worst summer camp massacre of all time." Suddenly I didn't want to be in Camp Redwood anymore. My face paled, although nobody noticed in the firelight.

"Come on Rita." Xavier droned, still next to Brooke. He looked absolutely bored.

"His name was Benjamin Richter, but everybody called him Mr. Jingles." The air thickened when Rita stood up. She explained how he was in the Vietnam war and he liked to kill. Xavier rolled his eyes and I had the urge to throw a stick at him. "10 victims in all..."

"You're wrong." Margret said walking down to the fire. I visibly jumped at her voice, falling backwards on the log. Montana reached down and helped me up. I muttered a quick thanks before listening to Margret. "If your gonna tell a story, tell it right." Margret snatched Rays flask before dumping it out. "Alcohol is not allowed and neither are those funny smelling cigarettes. What are those ? Cloves ?" Chet rolled his eyes while Margret gave Ray the now empty flask. I chuckled airily under my breath. Yeah they were definitely cloves.

"So nothing happened here?" Xavier asked.

"No there was a massacre but only 9 died not 10." Margret said so nonchalantly it made me uncomfortable.

"So Mr. Jingles is real?" Brooke asked clearly shook. Margret didn't say anything as a response, instead she lifted up her hair to where an ear used to be. A small gasp escaped my mouth. There was no way this was all real.

"Now I don't usually show off but since y'all are helping me restart this camp I think you deserve to know everything." Margret carefully placed herself in between Chet and Montana. She opened her mouth to tell us her story of that horrible night, but I couldn't bare to listen. I zoned her out the best I could by focusing the flames and each popping coal. The warm air shifted into cold. Before I could even comprehend what happened next, Margret was gone, leaving us all alone.