Chapter Text
June 30th, 2008.
Cars steer down the road, filled with disconsolate thoughts. Children too much for their home were taken down to Pitch Pine Camp, and everyone knew it. Everyone knew they weren't wanted, that they were bad kids. That's why they got sent away, why they got packed into vans and cars with bags and suitcases, and driven down to the campsite, equally as sad and deplorable as home.
'The ants go marching one by one',
The air was heavy and thick. Suffocating. Actually, it was almost pleasant, but soured by the tension building in the car as Toby's eyes bored into the back of his fathers head.
"Aren't I supposed to be on bedrest?" He asked finally, after hours of terse silence in the vehicle. He watched in satisfaction as his dad twitched at the sound of his voice, and there was another silent pause.
"Does it hurt you?" The man asked, and Toby could hear the sneer in his voice. He scowled himself, eyeing the man before looking out the window. Toby was born with a plethora of mental disorders. Tourettes syndrome, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, insomnia, ASPD and CIPA. His disorders were what caused him to be branded as a problem child, as if it was his own fault. Truly, the only problem in their family was his father. The jackass had been abusive for years before he'd ditched them, leaving a single mother with two confused and unwell teenagers. After his sisters death, of course, the man had come running back, claiming to have grown and changed. Obviously not. His mother might've fallen for it, but Toby knows. The mans the same old deadbeat he always was.
"..No." Toby responded finally, picking at his bandaged face. He doesn't exactly remember much about the day, but he could never forget that it had happened, considering the sudden absence, the empty bedroom upstairs just across from him, and of course, the permanent reminder on his face. The bandage hardly covered the massive tear in his face. He looked like an angry bear had come at him and torn his cheek open, and it was overpoweringly agonizing to look at.
'The ants go marching one by one',
"You'll be fine, then." His father grunted, gripping the steering wheel a tad harder. Toby felt a flicker of satisfaction at that, only to frown. His mother, poor Connie Rogers, would be stuck with him the whole summer. Toby couldn't anger him, lest he take it out on the poor woman. With a heavy sigh, Toby turned his gaze to look out the window, drifting across the other cars with unhappy campers inside.
The car slowed to a stop, and Toby lifted his head from the uncomfortable edge of the window, staring up at the big sign reading 'Welcome to Pitch Pine!' in vibrant, ugly shades of yellow and pink. Toby felt his nose scrunch involuntarily. He was 17, and the camp looked better suited for a 5 year old. One would think Toby was being dragged here as a camp counselor, but no, he was the camper, unfortunately. He slid one bandaged hand down to the door handle, popping it open and stretching his long limbs out of the car. His sneaker touched the ground, crushing the moss and daisies underneath his sole as he got up, hauling his bags out of the car.
The passenger door opened, too, and Connie pulled herself out of the car too. She took a bag into her own arms, smiling weakly at her son. "It's only for a few months, Tobes. You'll be okay, and you can write me at any time." She sighed, reaching out to ruffle his messy brown hair. Toby felt a smile worm its way onto his face, his eyes casting to the side to avoid his mothers eyes, leaning helplessly into her touch. Together, they walked into the camp, watching as several other parents and kids alike entered the camp, some arguing and some just glaring bitterly.
'The ants go marching one by one',
There was a small group of college students standing off to the side, whispering among themselves, and Toby couldn't help but observe them. A few looked distressed, while others seemed.. glad. Especially one, a tall and lean man with curly blond hair, a gap between his two front teeth. They wore shirts with the tacky Pitch Pine logo on it, and the angry one with glasses was holding onto a clipboard, scribbling mindlessly. Finally, they dispersed. The man with glasses awkwardly approached each family, speaking quietly to them, writing something down, before pointing each kid in the direction of a counselor, where they went and stood awkwardly.
Finally, the man approached Toby and his mother, peering over his glasses. "Uh.. how.. how old are you?" He asked, squinting. Toby could understand his confusion. Not many kids over 15 went to summer camps. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. His throat was dried out now, and his hands were shaking, and he could feel sweat soaking the bandages wrapped around his fingers.
"He's 17," Connie jumped in suddenly, saving him from the interaction. "His name's Toby- Toby Rogers? I- erm- emailed you about him a week ago..?"
The man nodded, glancing at Toby. He was tall, Toby noted, probably taller than the blonde. Super thin, hazel eyes, straight brown hair- He blinked, looking away. "Right, uh, Toby..." The man muttered, looking down the list before coughing, his fist lightly pounding against his chest as he did. "Sorry," He muttered, stepping away. "I'm Alex, and, uh- Toby, you'll be with.. me. Group one. Uh, you can go stand there," He motioned to a group off to the side. "I'll be with you shortly." With that, Alex wandered off to the next group.
'The little one stops to suck her thumb',
"I'll see you soon, honey." Connie said, resting a hand on her sons shoulder. She didn't want to embarrass him, so she refrained from leaning down to give him a kiss on the cheek or a tight hug. She knew how mean kids could be- It's why Toby was pulled out of school, anyway.
"Bye, mom." Toby muttered, resting his own hand on top of hers, casting her a weak smile before grabbing his bags, going to join the group.
They were all very quiet. No conversation was attempted, thankfully, so Toby had time to simply.. Observe the group he was stuck with. Two thin boys with brown hair, one shorter than the other. The short one looked around 13, maybe, and the taller one was probably about 16. At least, he guessed they were. He was never good at telling peoples ages. There was a little girl, too. Curlier brown hair, pale skin, a nervous look in her green eyes. She was probably 8, huddling close to another girl. That one looked closer to Toby’s age, and was.. Very pretty, he noticed. Maybe they were sisters.
The older girl was on the muscular side, and wearing a heavy looking jacket, despite the heat. Toby pulled his eyes away, kicking at sticks and rocks on the ground.
Finally, Alex returned, clearing his throat.
“So the- uh, the way this works.. You're gonna be randomly assigned a group every week. The leaders are me,” He motioned to himself, before turning to point towards the other groups. “Brian, the blonde one, Jay, the scrawny looking one, and Tim. He’s the ass-” Alex cut himself off, glancing at the little girl, before clearing his throat. “..He’s the short one. Uh, so, why don’t you get to know each other while we set up your cabin?” He suggested, leading the group off to an old, musty looking building with a sign on the door reading ‘Cabin One’.
‘And they all go marching down to the ground’,
All set up, Toby sat on the bottom bunk of the beds, hearing the ruffling from the guy above him. The 16 year old who, upon closer inspection, looked oddly similar to Toby himself. Alex was out, talking to the other counsellors, or something. Everyone was.. Exceptionally awkward. Finally, someone spoke up.
“Hey, um, my name is Liu.” A quiet voice spoke, sitting on a bed by himself. The two girls had also chosen to bunk together, understandably. Liu, the short brunette, smiled awkwardly, waiting patiently for someone to respond. “I’m here with my brother, Jeff, but- um- we got separated.”
“..I’m Cody.” Called a voice from above Toby. Of course, they had similar names, too. “My mom’s too busy to watch me all summer, so.. Here I am.”
Liu nodded in response, smiling awkwardly up at Cody.
Toby felt his throat drying out, so he spat something out while he could still speak.
“I- I’m Toby. I’m.. kinda.. loud, I guess, so I’m sorry in advance.”
He heard a low chuckle from the bunk across his, and looked over at the pretty girl sitting on the bottom bunk.
“Fair enough, man. I get loud sometimes, too. I’m Natalie.” She smiled, offering Toby a curt nod before laying on her back, staring at the bottom of the bed above her. Liu tilted his head, glancing up at the little girl above Natalie. “What’s her name?” He asked politely, crossing his legs.
“Oh, uh.. No clue, actually.” Natalie shrugged, sitting up.
“Really?” Toby inquired, tilting his head like a confused dog. “I thought- god ff-.. I thought you guys were sisters or something.” Nobody questioned the random tic, just glanced at him curiously, not uttering a word about it. Natalie, however, didn’t even seem to notice it.
“Nah, I’ve only got a brother. He’s a jerk. Not gonna lie, I thought you and uh.. Cody.. were brothers, or something?”
Toby looked up, just in time for Cody to peer over the edge of the bed. Their eyes locked, an emerald green that was like staring in a mirror suspended over his head, before Toby shook his head, looking back at Natalie. “Nope. No clue why you’d think that.”
‘To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!’,
There was a knock at the door, a moment of silence, before Alex entered, gazing around at the group before clearing his throat.
“Hey. So.. There's this pumpkin patch nearby. If you guys are.. Interested.. We’re gonna do a little contest. Like, a carving contest.. And we’re gonna bake the seeds after.. So…”
“I thought pumpkins were like, an October thing?” Natalie asked, raising an eyebrow.
“O-oh, actually,” Liu spoke up, sitting up on his bed. “They’re normally planted in early July so they can be ready for October. And… some are.. planted earlier.” He mumbled, trailing off after a moment.
“M’kay, I’ll join, but I want the plant nerd on my team.” Natalie said, getting up and grinning at Liu, who giggled in reply.
Alex chuckled lightly, shaking his head. “Teams are random, sadly. Come on, let's get going.” He sighed, leading their group out to the middle of the camp.
“The ants go marching two by two, hurrah, hurrah!” Voices called, capturing their attention. There was the tall, blonde guy- Brian, if Toby remembers correctly, leading his own group over to the centre of the camp as well. A girl with black hair, dyed pink at the ends, probably about 14, was right behind him, chanting excitedly. Right behind her, equally as eager, was a short blonde kid, maybe around 11 or 12. Trailing behind, much less excitable, was a girl with long black hair, a nervous smile on her face as she spoke quietly, trying to chant with them the best she could. And then some.. Random kid with scraggly red hair, arms crossed and an annoyed look on his face. He was familiar, in a way Toby couldn’t place.
“Hey, Alex!” Brian said, quickly rushing over to hook an arm around the disgruntled man's shoulders, jostling his glasses. “How's it going? Convince your grumpy campers to come pumpkin carving?” He asked, reaching up to fix Alex’s glasses for him.
“Yeah, they’re coming.” Alex sighed, trying to appear annoyed, but the smile crossing his face was enough give-away.
“Sweet! Tim’s already there with Seth and Sarah, and Jay’s running a little late. Apparently there was a fight, or something.” Brian shrugged, turning back to his group and leading the way to the pumpkin patch, as Toby and his own group followed along.
“Damnit, Jeff.” Liu muttered, rolling his eyes.
“You know the kid that got into a fight?” Asked the blonde from the other group, turning to walk backwards and face Liu, smiling.
“Oh, yeah. He’s my brother. He’s always getting into fights.. That’s why we’re here in the first place.” Liu sighed, waving a hand dismissively. The blonde laughed, turning back to walk forwards. “Ah man, that's cool.”
“No it isn’t!” Brian corrected in a sing-song tone, eyeing the blonde in a warning way.
“Shut up, Brian, I saw you knock a kid out in highschool.” Alex mocked, elbowing his friend in the side.
“You’re not helping.”
‘The ants go marching two by two’,
The feeling in the air was intoxicating, twirling around Toby's body and enchanting his mind, convincing him to relax. He slipped his hands into his pants pockets, his eyes drifting over the field of green and orange, trailing after his group.
“Since there’s an odd amount of you guys, we’re gonna have to cross groups a bit.” Brian called from up ahead, guiding everyone to a few tables set up nearby.
Tim was there with his group, as well as two other college kids, one blonde guy and a brunette girl. Probably Seth and Sarah. Tim cast the kids a short glance before refocusing on Sarah, speaking to her in a hushed tone.
“Tiiiiim,” Brian hummed, going over to slide an arm around the shorter male, smiling down at him. How could he be so chipper out here?
“Did you make groups yet?”
“No, not yet. We’re waiting for Jay.” Tim responded gruffly, wrapping his own arm around Brian's waist to return the side-hug.
“Sorry, we’re here!” Called the scrawny guy- Jay- as he rushed over with his group. Which only had two members, for some reason.
“Jeff and Keith kinda.. Um.. Seth, can you go watch over them for me?”
Seth nods, quietly departing from the group to go watch over the two troublemakers before another fight broke out.
“..Alright, well, since almost everyone’s here, lets set up some groups!” Brian said with a smile, grabbing the clipboard from under Alex's arm. “Okay, so- woah, dude?” Brians smile fell as he looked at Alex, giving him a bewildered expression. Alex’s face paled, snatching the clipboard back.
“I’ll set up the groups. Make yourself useful, go get a camera.” Alex hissed. Toby was almost curious- what was on the clipboard that could’ve caused that response from the both of them? Despite his temptation to peek at it, he knew that he’d get in trouble like Keith and Jeff.
“Liu, you’ll be with Natalie.”
Natalie grinned, ruffling the small boys hair and causing him to laugh. “Nice. I always get what I want.”
“Toby, you can be with Cody. Sally, honey, You’re gonna be in a group with another camper, is that okay?” Alex’s voice softened as he addressed the little girl, crouching down to her height. Sally nodded, not speaking a word.
“How about Lazari?” Tim spoke up, motioning to another little girl, a bit younger than Sally, with big brown eyes and long, straight red hair. “They’re around the same age, right? We can just help them when they need it.”
“Smart.” Brian chimed in, taking Lazaris hand and leading her to stand with Sally, briefly introducing them.
“Alright, so.. Jane and Troy, Jack and Helen, Nina and Kate, Ben and Randy, Lucille and Anastasia.” Alex listed off groups quickly before sliding his clipboard back under his arm.
“You’re gonna pick out a pumpkin and carve it. Then you can help collect the seeds and cook them. Sound good?”
He motioned to the tables, which had several little baskets set up for the seeds.
There was a collective cheer, some more motivated than others, and campers started to run off.
‘The ants go marching two by two,’
Toby and Cody walked leisurely along the patch, occasionally glancing at pumpkins next to them. The more competitive kids were rushing, and Brian was helping the two little girls pick out their pumpkin at an equally slow pace as Cody and Toby.
“..So.. what’re you here for? You’re a bit too.. Old to be here willingly, don’t you think?” Cody asked suddenly, turning his head to face Toby.
“I’m only 17, man,” Toby scoffed, crossing his arms. “And I’m not here willingly. Stupid drunk of a dad didn’t wanna deal with me defending my mother from him all summer, so he decided to dump me in ‘Shit Pines’ for the next few months.”
Cody laughed awkwardly, crossing his arms over his chest. “Ah, yeah. I didn’t know my dad- well, I did, but he ditched me when I was like, five, so I barely remember him. My mom does some.. Not legal shit for work, so.. I’m stuck here, too.”
It was quiet again, more awkward and tense than before. Then, Toby saw a pumpkin shaped weirdly. Almost like a square. He snorted, reaching down to pick it up, holding it out to Cody. “This one look good to you?”
“Oh, uh- H-hell yeah, man.”
They marched their way to the tables set up, placing their pumpkin at the far end.
“Where’d you find that one?” Brian asked as he approached the table. He was holding a smaller pumpkin, setting it on the table, just barely at the right height for Sally and Lazari to reach it.
“Over near the treeline. Pretty cool, right?” Cody said with a cocky grin. Toby stayed quiet, picking up the carving knife and turning it over in his hands. He stared at it for a long minute, emerald eyes flickering between the blade and the skin of the pumpkin, before he raised it and started to carve.
‘The little one stops to tie her shoe’,
It took a while for everyone to finish carving. In the end, they were all sat around a campfire, making smores, snacking on pumpkin seeds- It was an awful combo, in Toby’s opinion, so he stuck to the smores. A girl with short blonde hair was sitting next to him- her name was Anastasia, if Toby remembered correctly.. however, everyone was calling her Ani.
The conversation was light, but Toby wasn’t participating much. He didn’t care all that much, too focused on his own thoughts. He wondered what Alex had on that clipboard that was so messed up.. He was also wondering if there’s anywhere he could run off to, so he didn’t have to deal with this place anymore.
“Alright, time for bed.” Tim spoke suddenly, getting to his feet and helping Jay to stand as well. The groups split off, and it was quiet once again. Almost uncomfortably so. Toby frowned, his eyes casting around the camp, into the distance. Nothing but trees, and oddly enough, a tall light post. Maybe there’s a road just outside the camp, Toby thought. Could be a way out, if he needs it. Something felt wrong, though. He turned away, entering Cabin One and stepping past the bags and luggage tossed carelessly in front of peoples beds, making his way to the bathroom first.
He stood in front of the mirror, blinking blearily before reaching up, pulling open the medicine cabin. Alex had graciously offered to place his meds in here so nobody else would notice. Not that Toby was ashamed of his disorders- his neck jerked violently-... for the most part. They were, for the most part, just a nuisance. He downed his sleep medication, brushing his teeth and hair, before exiting the bathroom, allowing Natalie to get past him and into the bathroom.
With a heavy sigh, Toby laid down in his bed, curled up and staring off into the distance. He wasn’t tired- he never was, obviously. But hopefully, soon, he’d be asleep, and able to ignore the feeling of being watched.