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Chapter Text

Winston Frost was a noble man who made his way from rags to riches. He was the type of successful man everyone strived to be. That was unless you were one of the members of his family, in which case you saw him as the truly sorry man he was.

His wife, Hazel, reflected his harsh tendencies. In turn their four children learned to endure the cold. It was only during the children’s summer camp that they could finally thaw out. 

Winston bought Camp Athelstan as an investment. It was originally a run down house with an additional shack, a complete dump. Frost demolished the house and put the main cabin there, he added additional smaller cabins around the mouth of the lake. He never found the original shack, it didn’t bother him, it just meant less towards demolition.

He got the property for cheap, southern folk were scared of the land. Their superstitions over Lake Lanier kept prices low. And for a man like Winston, a few spooked souls was nothing compared to a large profit.

Winston and Hazel started the camp when their oldest child, Adrienne, hit Kindergarten. The next year Christian, their only son, joined her. They separated the kids into cabins based on their schooling and sex, it was easier that way. 

This year was going to be the first year Emma would go to Athelstan. Winston was pleased to finally have her out of the house for an extended period of time. The child was a complete bore and was rather uninteresting as a person.

“Don’t forget to bring your bathing suit. You’ll want to swim while we’re there,” Christian helped his little sister pack.

“Right,” Emma folded her swimsuit with diligence.

Winston cleared his throat loudy. The children jolted in response. Christian looked down at his sister and then back up towards his frowning father.

“Sorry,” the boy left the room.

“I know this is your first year leaving us. Do not bring shame on our family. There is no excuse,” Winston’s sentences were blunt.

The five year old nodded. She wouldn’t let her dad down.

There was a honk outside, their limo was here.

“Bye daddy. I love you,” Emma grabbed her designer bag with one arm and then tried to wrap the other around Wintson.

The man stood stiffly, “Behave,”.

Emma nodded, her brown hair moving as she did. Maybe if she behaved her father would hug her when she made it back home.

The ride to the airport was a blur. Emma was nervous, but tried to not let it show. She could read her siblings body language and saw their ease, she breathed in and relaxed.

Emma and her sisters shared the ability to read others. It was commonly referred to as deduction, but to the five year old she might as well have been telepathic. 

Adrienne sat with her legs crossed facing out the window. A large pair of designer shades adorned her face. 

Christian in turn faced Emma and gave her a smile. He wasn’t capable of deduction, but happened to be the most empathetic in the Frost family. If she had to choose her favorite sibling, without a doubt it would be him.

The driver unloaded their luggage and helped them onto their flights. Emma thanked him quietly, her father wasn’t a fan of her fraternizing with their help. 

The brunette girl had flown more in her five years of life than most people had their entire lifespans. First class meant having the plane to just her and her two older siblings. Emma couldn’t even fathom flying economy or business, she’d only heard of the horrors from her mother.

When their plane landed another car picked them up, then they were dropped off at a bus station. Emma looked at the state of the station and was appalled, she missed the limo.

A bus arrived, filled to the brim with children of all ages. Adrienne got on first and all but yelled when she was reunited with her group of friends. Christian grabbed Emma’s hand and stepped in next. He took her to an empty seat and sat next to her.

“Boys on the left! Girls on the right!” the driver looked at them through her mirror.

Christian sighed and then plopped on the open seat beside Emma on the ‘boy side’. 

“This sucks,” Christian frowned.

Emma nodded, she didn’t want to be without her brother.

“Didn’t you throw up when hiking?” the boy in front of Christian asked, now turned to face him.

“That was a long time ago,” Christian replied, his face beginning to blush.

“It was last year,” the blonde boy supplied.

“Exactly,” Christian agreed.

“You were in my cabin,” the boy remarked.

“Yeah, I was,” Christian nodded his head.

“If we are together again, please don’t puke on my shoes,” the boy seemed genuinely worried.

Emma laughed, it was like the boy thought of her brother as a bad cat. 

The rest of the ride was uneventful. Emma learned the boy’s name, Bobby, and no one ever sat in the open seat beside her.

The children unpacked their bags and met in front of the main cabin. There was a board that had papers all over it, most of them detailing the dangerous wildlife and poisonous flora in the area. 

There was also a sign that simply read ‘Camp Athelstan’. It was green and yellow and seemed recently painted.

Georgia as it turned out was incredibly humid. There was so much water in the air that Emma’s Gucci shirt stuck to her skin.

More buses arrived and more children joined around the main cabin. After a few minutes a handful of camp guides appeared with megaphones. They told everyone to separate based on their ages and sex, to place them in their cabins. 

Emma was placed in cabin 1F, she was delighted to see her sister wasn’t. Adrienne was in the cabin to the right of hers with the rest of the girls her age.

There were bunk beds in rows inside the cabin. The interior had exposed wood on every surface. Emma picked a top bunk and sat her stuff on the bed.

Soon the camp counselors began helping the girls fix the linens on their beds. Emma was thankful as she’d never done it herself before. 

After everyone was settled in, the counselors rounded up their groups to take on a camp tour. They were shown the bath houses, mess hall, gym, and the dock. In the main cabin there was a cubby that was correlated to each camper. It was for them to receive and send letters to their families, Emma hoped her parents would write.

Afterwards they were allowed to eat in the mess hall for supper. Emma frowned as she waited in line just to receive some slop on a small tray. She then tried to find her brother to sit by.

Christian was with the blonde boy from earlier. Emma sat in front of her brother and the trio began to discuss their day.

“So are you sharing a bunk?” Emma asked.

“No way. Can’t trust this guy not to get sick,” Bobby joked.

“We both wanted a bottom so we couldn’t,” Christian clarified for his younger sister.

“Oh. Nobody picked me…” Emma picked at her food.

“I’m sure someone will want to bunk with you next time,” Christian tried to cheer her up. 

After enough time had passed it was time for them to check their cubbies for mail, nobody had received anything which seemed normal for the first day based on all the other empty boxes.  After that the trio headed for their bunk houses. They parted ways with the boys heading off together.

Emma didn’t know what to think of the camp as she crawled into her bed. She pulled her designer sheets up to her neck and sighed. It wasn’t long until she drifted off to sleep.

Emma was awoken by the sound of rain. She tossed over a few times before pausing, she needed to use the bathroom. She dropped down from her bunk and exited the cabin as quietly as she could. 

Emma squinted in the dark trying to figure out which way was the bath house. She picked a direction and began her trek, drops of rain rolling down her nightgown. 

Emma found the bathroom and relieved herself. On the way back to her cabin she froze. There was a flashlight on infront of her brother’s cabin.

“Really? On the first night?” the voice belonged to a counselor.

“It woke me up,” her brother’s voice replied.

Emma took several steps closer and tried to hide behind a tree. She could peek to the side of it and see the interaction.

“God damn it,” the counselor huffed and looked down at the third figure, a small boy.

His posture was closed off, his body doubling over on itself. 

Emma shifted her weight. A stick broke under her foot and the boys looked in her direction.

Emma waited until they looked away before she made her way back to her room. She puzzled over the conversation as she faded out of consciousness.

The next morning Emma was woken up by an intercom. The female voice listed off the date and the weather, then told everyone to meet by the main cabin in a number of minutes. Emma rolled her eyes as she got out of bed, didn’t they know she needed her beauty sleep?

Frost yawned as she stood with the rest of her group, to her left was her brother’s group. Christian and Bobby were whispering to each other. To her right Adrienne was talking to a large gaggle of girls, she then pointed a finger towards Emma and then her brother. 

The girls then giggled. Emma tried to ignore them, deciding to look at the sky. It was a cloudless day and the sun shone down in harsh waves. 

A counselor with a megaphone explained that they would be hiking today, they would be divided by age group. This made Emma feel more at ease, she’d have Christian. 

Emma discovered a quarter of a mile in that velvet slippers weren’t practical for the outdoors. The blisters on her feet grew with every step that she took. Christian frowned and expressed his regret for not telling her to pack sneakers.

“So what were you up to last night,” Emma asked her brother.

“The boy on–” Christian began.

“He got peed on!” Bobby exclaimed excitedly.

“Really?” this was the most interesting thing Emma had heard since arriving.

“He didn’t mean to, but yeah,” Christian wiped the back of his neck.

“He was on the top bunk so he basically showered him,” Bobby grimaced.

“Ew!” Emma’s face scrunched.

“That’s him there,” Bobby pointed towards the boy directly in front of him.

The boy’s shoulders were hunched forwards, he had definitely been listening to their conversation.

“Are you potty trained?” Emma grabbed the boy’s shoulder.

The brunette boy whipped his head around and frowned. He was barely taller than Emma, but had a much more slight frame.

“Emma, that's not polite to ask,” Christian’s face was red with embarrassment. 

“I’m sorry. I just wanted to know,” Emma replied.

The boy nodded his head ‘yes’. Emma took that as a win.

“So why did you pee on my brother?” Emma tried again.

The boy then tried to escape. Emma grabbed the hem of his shirt and he paused.

“Are you always quiet?” she asked earnestly.

“Emma, stop. He doesn’t want to talk to you,” Christian grabbed Emma’s hands to loosen her grip.

The boy looked down at the now two sets of hands on his shirt. He then looked up and shook his head side to side, ‘maybe’.

Emma let go of his shirt and the boy took a step away from her. He didn’t immediately flee so she took it as a good sign.

“He didn’t wet me on purpose. Isn’t that right Robert?” Christian tried to ease the boy.

In turn Robert nodded his head in agreement.

“You have a bad name,” Emma told the brunette.

“Emma that’s rud–” Christian stopped himself as Robert nodded his head in agreement. 

“I’ll rename you. I’m good at naming things,” the five year old told him.

Robert shook his head ‘maybe’ and left the group without a word.

“He’s kinda weird,” Bobby supplied.

“Maybe we could name him weirdo?” Emma tried.

The boys told her that it was a bad name in response. The trio kept storming names as the trail thinned and the terrain got increasingly more advanced.

By the time it was lunch and they made it to the mess hall Emma thought her feet were going to fall off. Christian and Bobby made it to their seats first, Emma carried her tray towards them and passed by Robert, sitting by himself. They made eye contact before the boy put his head down.

“Boys, I think Robert really is a weirdo. He’s eating by himself,” Emma sat her tray down.

“Nobody wants him to pee on them,” Bobby replied, shoveling food in his mouth.

Emma hummed in reply, she didn’t know what to think.

After lunch Emma was pleased to take her first shower of the trip. She had packed her luxurious soaps from her house and was ready to put them to use. Emma scrubbed the day away and used the water until it turned cold.

As she exited the shower she was greeted by Adrienne and her friends.

“I told you she was a baby. Look at her towel,” she pointed at the towel in her hair.

“Charmmy Kitty is not for babies!” Emma protected herself.

The girls giggled in reply. Emma was horrified, she couldn’t be bullied this soon. 

“Adrienne still sleeps with a teddy,” Emma faked confidence, a hand on her hip.

“Not anymore kiddo. Why don’t you leave before you embarrass yourself anymore,” Adrienne replied.

Emma’s face heated. Why was her sister always so mean to her?

Once she made it back to her bunk she attempted to decompress. Instead she was told that her group would be playing soccer, which made Emma regret showering so soon.

The soccer field was fairly bare, it was not well maintained and there were no bleachers to sit on. Emma attempted to hide to avoid the entire game, but was forced onto a team with blue vests. She then sat in a corner in protest of the situation and was unfortunately met with a ball to the head.

Emma jumped up in furry and threw the ball far away from her. The other girls let out a series of ‘oohs’ in response to her strength. 

“You should be goalie,” a ginger spoke as the ball continued to roll.

“No thanks, I want to pretend to not be here,” Emma replied, already returning to her corner.

The girl nodded at Emma’s wise words.

Afterwards Emma was greeted by another empty cubby, no mail. She looked around and frowned as she noticed the number of empty boxes had decreased.

Soon going to the soccer field became a daily activity for the group as the days began to roll on. There was a tournament set for later in the summer amongst the different teams. Emma rolled her eyes at this, she couldn’t care any less.

Christian seemed to share her sentiment, but was forced to participate by Bobby, who really wanted to win. The boys had begun to get closer and had Robert switch with Bobby, making them bunk mates. This was better for everyone as Christian claimed that Robert often shook the bed and sometimes woke him up in the night by screaming. This was news to Emma as she still hadn’t heard the boy speak.

Today the boys and girls got to practice together in preparation for the tournament. Bobby ran around with the ball and rarely passed it. When he did pass it it was only towards Christian who was more liberal with sharing. 

Emma watched from her corner as Robert started picking flowers on the field. 

“I’m naming you Shy,” Emma called over to him.

The boy stopped mid pluck and faced her. He pointed a finger towards himself in question.

“Come here boy,” Emma patted her legs as if he were a dog.

The boy finished picking his flower and then sat down beside her. His eyebrows were drawn together.

“You’re so sassy for a guy who doesn’t talk,” Emma started.

He put his hand on his hips in response.

“My brother said you can talk. He said you scream at night,” Frost continued.

The boy stared at her and then blinked slowly.

“You don’t have any friends do you?” Emma asked.

Shy’s lips flattened into a line, ‘no’ he shook his head.

“We can be friends if you want. But you have to promise not to pee on me,” Emma decided to be nice.

The boy’s face got red and then he stood up. He nodded his head in a ‘maybe’ and then resumed picking flowers.

Bobby scored a goal and let out a yell. The rest of the boys ran over to congratulate him, Emma rolled her eyes.

“Are you going to help us?” the red headed girl asked her.

“We don’t need her help. That’s Adrienne’s cry baby sister,” a blonde girl replied.

“Adrienne’s the cry baby not me,” Emma replied not getting up.

The brunette girl could feel panic beginning to bubble up in herself. It was now obvious that her sister was telling everyone bad things about her. What if that was why she didn’t get a bunk mate? 

The rest of the camp went by in a blur. Emma continued to hang out with her brother and his friend at every opportunity that showed itself. In turn most of the girls pretended she didn’t exist, which was better than being laughed at. 

On the last day of camp Emma was shocked to have Shy join them for lunch. The boy approached with quiet steps and hovered over them with his food tray.

“You can sit with us,” Christian gave him permission.

The boy instead sat beside Emma, slowly lowering himself. He made flickering eye contact as he did, making sure nobody had changed their minds.

“You remind me of Bambi. Maybe I should’ve called you that instead,” Emma puzzled.

‘No’ Shy shook his head.

“Fine, but you do kinda look like him,” Emma pointed towards his large brown eyes.

“He walks like a sad baby deer too,” Bobby added on.

The rest of the day had the little group say their goodbyes before heading their separate ways. Emma, Adrienne, and Christian met up and they went on their way.

Emma had expected her parents to be sitting on the couch waiting for them to return. Instead she opened the door to her father bustling on the phone while her mother was nowhere to be seen.

“We’re back,” Emma reached out towards her father.

Winston batted her hand away. What had she been thinking?

Emma watched her father speak on the phone for another few minutes before giving up and heading into her room.

Her good behavior wasn’t rewarded with a hug.

Chapter Text

The following summer had Emma ready to leave the house. Her father had been in a terrible mood for the entire year, his camp was going to have competition. Another less expensive camp was going to open on the other side of Camp Athelstan, on the opposite bank of Lake Lanier.

His constant bad mood made his wife uptick on her consumption of alcohol. Hazel now had become a lush, always having something in her hand.

Adrienne in turn took some of her mom’s nice watches, she was too drunk to notice them missing. Christian tried to get her to return them but Adrienne refused, causing more tension between the siblings.

Cordelia would be joining the rest of her siblings this year to camp. She didn’t seem nervous at all, if anything she seemed the most excited to leave. 

This year Emma packed actual tennis shoes, she wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. She also chose a plain white towel— no Charmmy Kitty. She wouldn’t be made fun of this time if she could help it.

After finishing up her packing she went down stairs with her bag. She still had to request something from her parents.

“Mom, could you write me letters this year? I didn’t get any last time…” Emma tried to be casual with her question.

“Hmmm?” her mother turned around, cup in hand.

“Please write to me,” Emma put on her puppy eyes.

“Oh yes, of course Adrienne,” her mother waved a hand towards her.

“It’s Emma,” the six year old corrected her.

“Same thing,” she took a sip.

Emma frowned, her appearance was already beginning to differ from her older sisters. She had shorter brown hair while her sister had natural blonde highlights. 

There was a horn and Emma ran towards the door. Christian already had it open and was letting the girls through it. 

Once in the limo the four children got situated. Christian and Emma sat on one bench while Cordelia and Adrienne got their own.

“Is there monsters in the lake?” Cordelia was the first to speak.

“No,” Christian assured her.

“Damn, I wanted to see one,” Cordelia frowned.

“You can’t say bad words,” Adrienne corrected her.

“Damn isn’t a bad word. It’s a building,” Cordelia replied.

“Sometimes words mean different things,” Christian tried again.

“Like hell and hell,” Emma nodded her head.

Christian let out an exaggerated sigh, “You people make me miss Bobby,”.

The flight to Georgia wasn’t bad and they didn’t have to wait long for the camp bus. Emma scanned the aisles for Shy, but she didn’t see him. Instead Cordelia sat on the window seat while Emma took the aisle. Christian sat in the row beside them with Bobby.

“Is that your baby sister?” Bobby asked pointing to Cordelia.

“Yeah, now we’re all here,” Christian replied.

“I’m not a baby though. I’m five,” Coredelia corrected him.

“Right,” Bobby chuckled.

Once they made it to camp they all met up by the main cabin by the sign. The other buses dropped off the additional children, Emma watched as Shy got out of one. He had his head down and didn’t notice her.

Soon the children were placed in their cabins. Emma stayed in 1F for the second time with Cordelia joining her. Christian graduated out of his cabin into the next one 2M, Emma noticed Shy was still in the original cabin though.

Emma picked the same top bunk and was surprised to have her sister choose to be her bunk mate. Cordelia shrugged at her sister’s stare. Emma then shrugged back.

The girls stayed in their groups tour around campus, with Emma telling stories about events that happened at each place. When they made it to the dock this year they could make out construction on the opposite side of the water.

“That’s why dad’s so mad,” Emma told her sister.

“Dad’s always mad,” the five year old shrugged.

The buildings were in their beginning stages of construction, it would take a year or two to complete. 

After the tour the girls made their way to get dinner. They were supplied with the same drab food and plates. Cordelia stuck her tongue out in disgust.

Emma gestured for her little sister to follow her to sit by Christian and Bobby. The four began to eat when Emma felt hovering over her.

“Sit down,” she didn’t have to look up to know who it was.

Shy went through the motions of slowly sitting down.

“This is Cordelia, my baby sister. You know everyone else,” Emma told him.

Shy nodded and then waved at her sister.

“You’re the quiet boy Emma was talking about. That’s cool,” Cordelia replied.

Shy turned his head, blush creeping up his face.

The siblings caught Bobby and Shy up on their lives. Bobby told them he had joined a recreational soccer league. Shy nodded along.

“What do you think the new camp will be called?” Bobby asked.

“Camp Lanier?” Emma guessed.

“Camp Battle Blood,” Cordelia shoveled food in her mouth.

“Probably something important to the owner. That’s what dad did at least,” Christian replied.

“What?” Emma’s eyebrows drew together.

“The coin dad was gifted that made his money had King Athelstan on it,” Christian explained.

“So dad was given money?” Emma had assumed her father made all of his earnings.

“Yeah, then he invested and now he has his own,” the boy clarified.

Emma read her brother’s body language. There were no tells for a lie, his posture held no tell-tell signs. This changed things for the child, even if she didn’t understand why.

After the group finished eating they went to the main house to check their cubbies. Bobby had received a letter, but the siblings came up empty handed. Shy grabbed a single item out of his.

“What is that?” Emma approached him.

Now they were nearly the same height. Though Emma was still the shorter and stockier of the two.

Shy showed her a folded paper crane. He held it out for her to examine. Emma grasped it and looked closer at it. The folds were crisp and the corners were sharp. It was made out of white printer paper and whoever did it was gifted at origami. 

“That’s cool. Did it come with a letter?” Emma handed it back.

Shy looked at his box, it read R.B.B., his initials. It was empty now so he shook his head ‘no’. He then pointed to Emma’s empty box and then her.

“I know. I’m getting something later this time. My mom said so,” Emma assured him.

Shy nodded, lowering his gaze.

Emma hit the bath house with her younger sister. They took turns sharing the body wash and hair care. Emma was relieved that Cordelia didn’t pack an embarrassing towel for her hair. Their older sister wouldn’t have let it slide.

Emma was ready for bed when it was lights out. Cordelia also seemed slumped as she fell asleep quickly based on her heavy breathing. 

Emma was an excellent swimmer so when her age group was lined up on the dock with swimming vests she wanted to roll her eyes. She was raised with both an indoor and outdoor pool, she didn’t need the vest.

She looked over to the rest of the girls, most looked confident. She then looked towards Christian before reminding herself she was now in a different group. Instead she saw Shy, holding onto the vest with large brown eyes. He wore a shirt to cover his body under the vest.

They made eye contact, he swallowed thickly. He was scared and she felt embarrassed for him. 

They were told to pair off so she took pity upon him and grabbed onto his vest, “You’re with me. The boys will eat you up,”.

Shy nodded once. She could tell he was slightly shaking now and felt her embarrassment towards him melt into sympathy. 

The first group were two boys. They were told to jump off of the dock and to then get back on it using a ladder. They did it with no issue.

Other groups went without any trouble. Then it was their turn. Shy reached out slowly towards her hand, she grabbed his slender fingers with force.

They jumped off of the dock and their hands broke. 

“Emma!” Shy’s voice squeaked.

She grabbed his hand and led him back onto the dock, “You said my name,”.

He nodded.

“Don’t do that. Please talk,” Emma tried to dry off her hair.

The boy stared at her.

“How about you talk to me and I’ll be your mouth for everyone else,” Emma stopped and looked in his eyes.

His eyes flicked to hers for a second before they met the ground once more, “Okay,”.

Emma felt herself smile, “Yay!”.

“Can you call me Bruce?” the boy pressed his hands to her ear to whisper.

“Do you not like the name I gave you?” Emma frowned.

“It’s okay, but it’s not my name,” Bruce replied.

“Your name is Robert though, not Bruce” Emma was now confused.

“Robert is my dad’s name,” Bruce explained.

“Oh so you’re like a junior then,” Frost caught on.

“I’m actually the third,” he itched his leg.

That was a good enough for Emma. She’d respect his wishes.

The two jumped off the dock a handful of other times, never breaking their hands. Eventually they got to where they’d run off the dock, making the swim back much longer.

Once they made their walk back to their cabins Emma began to speak, “You can’t swim can you?”.

“No. I’m from Ohio,” Bruce shrugged.

“I’m from Boston,” Emma replied.

“I can tell,” the boy shook his wet hair.

“What does that mean?” Emma’s eyebrows drew together.

“You have a strong accent,” Bruce shrugged again.

Emma frowned, “No I don’t. I would hear it,”.

“Nobody hears their own accent. Unless you really try to that is,” Bruce’s hair was plastered to his face.

The two parted ways to go to the bath house. Emma went with Cordelia to hopefully avoid Adrienne. She hadn’t ran into her yet on her trip.

“People act weird about me,” Cordelia toweled her hair.

“Why?” Emma asked.

“I think Adrienne said something about me to people. Something bad,” she hair was poofy.

“Everything Adrienne says is bad,” the six year old responded wisely.

“I haven’t made a friend yet. I thought you’d be my partner at the dock,” Cordelia’s voice was thick.

“I’m sorry. I knew you could swim, Bruce couldn’t,” Emma replied.

The sisters hugged before Cordelia pulled back, “I thought his name was Shy?”.

“Oh I just named him that. His name is Bruce so you should just call him that,” Emma replied.

“I want to name someone,” Cordelia was jealous, Emma could see it in her eyes.

“You could name the lake monster,” Emma offered.

“Good idea. I’ll catch him,” the younger child nodded.

Emma was met by another empty cubby, she’d checked every day. It had been over two weeks without so much as a scrap of paper.

Christian’s and Cordelia’s boxes also sat empty. She looked over to Bruce, he had another paper crane. He got a new one every Thursday like clockwork. 

“Look,” he pointed to Adrienne’s box.

There was a single letter in the box, Emma knew better but looked around the room. She then grabbed the letter to inspect it. It was from Hazel, her mother. 

Emma didn’t mean to make the low noise that escaped her throat. Bruce rubbed her shoulder.

Emma placed the letter back into the cubby, her hands shaking. 

“I’m sorry,” Bruce’s eyes were soft.

“She told me she would send me a letter!” Frost tried to fight the shake in her voice.

“I could send you something,” Bruce tried to soothe her.

“You aren’t my mom Bruce,” Emma didn’t mean for it to come off as aggressive, but her words were spoken harshly.

Bruce nodded stiffly.

Christian entered the room, and looked at the pair, “You guys okay?”.

Emma pointed a shaky finger towards Adrienne’s box. 

“No way. I’ve been here three years and I’ve never received a single letter,” Christian shook his head.

“I asked mom…I—” Emma bit her lip to keep it from trembling.

“I know. She’s uh, not very reliable Em,” Christian brought out the pet name.

Emma nodded and quickly left the room. She climbed into her bunk and put her pillow over her face to keep others from seeing her teary face.

“Adrienne got a letter from mom,” Cordelia’s voice came from beneath her some time later.

“I know,” Emma took the pillow off her face.

“I hate her,” Cordelia replied.

“Adrienne is a—” Emma was cut off.

“Mom. I hate mom,” the five year olds voice held certainty.

“You shouldn’t say that,” Emma chastised her.

“One day I’m going to run away,” Cordelia continued as if her sister never spoke.

“Don—” Emma pleaded.

“Then you’ll see how little she cares about us,” Cordelia finished.

Emma felt hollow. Why would Cordelia ever say something like that? Her parents cared, they just had a difficult time showing it.

“I love you, Delia” Emma used her pet name for the first time in months.

“I love you too Em,”.

Emma was invited to play in a soccer match by her brother. Bobby wanted to play and Emma missed Christian. She brought Delia and Bruce who chose to sit the game out.

It wasn’t really much of a game, just two people versus two. Delia sat in the goalie box while Christian did the same on the opposite side of the field.

The game was obviously a way for Bobby to show off his new movies which Emma didn’t mind too badly. Bruce picked flowers sitting on his bottom as the four played.

Bobby was a lot better than Emma, but it didn’t stop her from trying. Bobby scored over and over on Delia, but the second Emma got a point the boy fell over and said he was ready to go eat. 

The food was terrible slop as always, but the children wolfed it down. 

“Do you guys have a personal chef at home?” Bobby asked.

“Yeah, she’s really good,” Christian replied.

“So your dad could definitely afford to hire a better cook for here then,” Bobby said between bites.

Christian nodded, “This place could be a lot nicer if he actually cared for it,”.

“I figured,” Bobby chewed.

“I need to check my mail,” Bruce whispered.

So that’s what the pair did, they left the mess hall and went to their cubbies.

“It’s not Thursday,” Emma warned him.

“I know,” the boy gave her a small smile.

Emma was shocked to see something in her box. She reached in and pulled out a paper crane with a small flower crown. 

“Did you do this?” Emma asked.

“Yeah, I’m not as good as my mom, but I tried,” Bruce replied.

Emma’s chest felt lighter, “Thank you,”.

Emma slowly encircled the thin boy in a hug. From this position she could feel his sharp bones beneath his clothes.

The ride back home was silent. Everyone wore matching sunburns from the Georgia heat. 

When Adrienne opened the door to their house their mother was in the kitchen. Delia ran up stairs to her room not caring about speaking to her. Emma attempted to walk past her without speaking to her, but was stopped.

“How did you like the letter?” her words sounded funny.

“Fine,” Emma tried to keep their conversation brief.

“I told you I wouldn’t forget about you,” her mother chuckled before taking a sip from the cup in her hand.

“Right,” Emma bit the inside of her cheek and headed upstairs.

Once she made it to her room she unpacked and inspected her paper crane. She then placed it on her nightstand. 

A beacon to remember what she had to look forward to the next year.

Chapter Text

The camp next door was not in fact what the Frost family had expected. It wasn’t a place for relaxation, it was going to be a juvenile boot camp. A place for young delinquents to change their ways before it was too late.

This didn’t improve Winston’s mood though, now he felt like the desirability of his land had diminished. If a shock camp could afford to be there then maybe it was beneath him.

Emma wished her parents well before she left with her siblings to Camp Athelstan. She didn’t try to hug them and she was okay with that. She knew they wouldn’t reciprocate.

Frost stood by the sign waiting for her friend to arrive. Christian had already found Bobby and Delia stood by her while she scoured. 

“There he is!” Delia found him first.

Bruce was carrying a large book with him and was wearing a large pair of sunglasses. The boy fell from the bus. A larger boy behind him grabbed him up by the back of his backpack and sat him on his feet.

The brunette approached the two girls, “Look what I have,”.

The book seemed to be about Lake Lanier based on its title. Emma pretended to be interested in it with a faux smile.

“Does your book talk about the lake monster?” Delia asked.

“I don’t think so, but I could check the index,” Bruce opened the large book.

Emma was saddened to leave cabin 1F, her sister waved sadly at her as she approached 2F. Still, being alone was better than being with Adrienne. She also would be back with Christian and Bobby, which would be nice.

There was no tour this time, just the new kids were shown around since they graduated to the bigger cabin. Emma picked another top bunk and tried not to be demoralized by nobody else picking her. She told herself it was a reflection on Adrienne not her. 

Emma waited in the woods outside of 2M wanting to see Bruce. They had free time since they weren’t on the tour.

The boy stumbled out, hands in his pockets.

“Are you bunking with Christian?” Emma asked.

“No, he’s with Bobby again. So I’m just with myself,” Bruce shrugged.

“Same, I wonder if Delia found anyone,” Emma mused.

“She’s a cool kid, someone will eventually become friends with her,” Bruce tried to soothe her.

“What’s with the glasses?” Emma asked, the frames were feminine in design.

“Oh. I fell from the bus and bruised my eye,” Bruce quickly turned his face away from her.

“You were already wearing the glasses before you fell,” Emma raised a brow.

“Um I—” Bruce stilled as Emma took off the frames.

There was a huge bruise that went across the boy's inner eye to the beginning of the bridge of his nose. It was cakey and semi-concealed by makeup.

“Did one of the boys on the bus hit you?” Emma felt a hot anger flicker inside her.

“No,” the boy tried to move away, but Emma held onto the sides of his face.

“Who did this then?” Emma tried to read his body language, but it was closed off.

“Nobody, I had an accident at home and my mom helped me cover it up,” Bruce replied.

Emma didn’t press him any further, but she knew something was off. The boy's body language was more tense than usual.

The pair found themselves at the dock. They swung their legs over the wood and into the water. It was cool to the touch.

“I think this place is haunted,” Bruce kicked his legs slightly.

“My dad said people from here thought the same thing,” Emma began to copy his motions.

“This lake is manufactured. Caused by a dam somewhere in the area,” Bruce added.

“Aren’t most lakes fake?” Emma looked at him.

“Yeah, but not the way this one is. There was a town here and they flooded it,” Bruce looked into the depths of the water.

“Like people’s houses are down here?” Emma now stared into the murky water.

“Cemeteries too,” Bruce confirmed her guess.

“Delia still wants to find the monster down here,” Emma’s mouth was a flat line.

“If there was ever a monster, it would be in Lake Lanier,” Bruce replied.

The two took their feet out of the water, now not in the mood for the lake. It was time to eat and check their mail cubbies anyways.

Bobby brought another boy with him to lunch named Warren. They’d met on the soccer team and Bobby convinced him to join him at camp. Christian looked at the new blonde boy with a look Emma didn’t understand.

Cordelia seemed to pick up on the different dynamic and watched with hungry eyes at her brother’s every move. Emma sighed and decided to just read his body language, he held tension in his jaw and his left foot continuously shook. Christian didn’t like the new guy.

“So Warren, what do you like to do?” Cordelia asked egging the new boy on.

“Oh I enjoy dancing, art, and bird watching,” the boy replied and then paused, “I also like soccer,”.

“Oh I’m sure you like soccer ,” Christian’s last word felt loaded.

“He does! He’s a goalie,” Bobby confirmed, seemingly unaware of Christian’s mood. 

Emma was in no rush to leave the table, but she knew Bruce would want to check their cubbies.

Emma was delighted to have mail. It was another folded crane to add to her collection.

“You need to teach me to make them,” Emma smiled at the paper.

“Okay, but I’m not that good as a teacher,” the brunette boy replied.

“I want to be a teacher one day,” Emma wasn’t sure why she said it.

“I think you would be the best teacher ever,” Bruce assured her.

The pair spent the rest of their time before bed carefully laying out paper and folding it into distinct shapes. Most of Emma’s looked crumpled and were covered with her fingerprints from her sweat. She was satisfied with the last one she made of the night and she handed it off to Bruce to keep.

Emma slept in her bunk that night with the thought of Cordelia in her head. She hoped she felt less alone.

Emma had never played dodgeball before. It wasn’t something her high profile school allowed, so when the game was brought up she was confused.

Her age group was taken to the gym for a game. There were two large teams consisting of both girls and boys. Emma was fortunate enough to be paired up with both Bruce and Bobby. 

Emma watched as Christian’s jaw clenched when he realized Warren would be on his team. It seemed that her brother had been hoping to hit the other boy and his plan was foiled.

The counselor explained the rules of the game. You hit someone on the other team to get them out, but if they caught the ball without it hitting the floor you were out. You couldn’t cross the half court line and you weren’t supposed to aim for faces. 

It seemed easy enough to Emma, but she was shocked to see the mayhem the game caused. As soon as the whistle blew everyone ran to the center of the court to pick up a ball, then red orbs flew all around the gym. 

Emma ran towards the back of the gym. She didn’t want to be hit. Bruce just stood beside her awkwardly, sunglasses still on indoors. Bobby on the other hand was in the front hitting as many people as possible.

Christian seemed to channel Bobby’s energy as he threw the ball hard and hit a girl in the leg. Warren just watched him get the out and tried to high five him, Christian left him hanging.

“They’re crazy,” Emma laughed at the boys.

“Yeah, I don’t know what’s gotten into your brother,” Bruce agreed.

“I’m not too sure. He doesn’t seem to like Warren too much though,” Emma sidestepped a ball.

“Oh, I like Warren. He’s the first person to bunk with me,” the boy stepped closer “Since the accident,”.

“That’s nice of him,” Emma felt a bit bad about her brother now.

Bruce looked towards her and nodded. Then he was hit in the face by a speeding red ball. It made a satisfying smack as it made contact with his glasses and then face.

The sunglasses flew off his face and skidded on the floor. Bruce blinked heavily, his already bruised eye began to swell more. The boy bit his lip and turned towards the ‘out’ box.

Emma didn’t have to guess who threw the ball. It was a boy snickering towards the front. Emma grabbed the ball that hit Bruce and launched it into the boy’s groin. 

The boy fell over and a whistle was blown. Everyone paused as the counselor went towards the boy.

“No aiming at anyone’s private areas alright?” the man spoke towards Emma.

“You said no hitting faces and he hit Bruce in the face!” Emma wasn’t going to stand for it.

“Ms.Frost come here please,” the man curled his hands inwards.

Emma walked over with her fists balled up. 

“Apologize to Emma,” he spoke to the boy.

“Sorry Emma,” the boy rolled his eyes.

“Now Emma it’s your turn to say sorry,” the counselor faced her.

“He said sorry to the wrong person,” Emma frowned.

“I’m not telling the night terror sorry,” the boy replied.

“Alvers, Frost, please just get along,” their counselor sounded tired.

“Sorry,” Emma mirrored the boy’s action earlier and rolled her eyes.

Alvers then grabbed her legs and knocked her over. The counselor bent over to separate them, but was not quicker than Bruce who had launched himself on top of the boy.

His bony fists made contact with the chubbier boy’s face. Alvers let go of Emma in shock, Emma in turn kicked her foot at the boy landing a blow on his shoulder. Emma stood up as Bruce continued to attack Alvers, the counselor tried to grab the slim boy off of the larger one to no avail.

Bruce didn’t let go until he was restrained with the additional help of Warren and Christian. Emma watched in complete shock, she knew the child in front of her wasn’t Bruce, but someone else wearing his face. All his features seemed warped, unfamiliar. 

The counselor dismissed the rest of the campers and left with Alvers and Bruce in tow. Emma felt the back of her eyes burn, they were going to kick Bruce out. 

The boys surrounded her and assured her it was okay. That Alvers was gone and that everything was fine, but she knew it wasn’t true.

The rest of the day slugged by. Emma held onto Bruce’s sunglasses and found herself fidgeting with them for extended periods of time. Her bottom was bruised from falling and she knew it’d be sore for a few days. 

She needed to do something, though she wasn’t sure exactly what. She checked her cubby, which had another crane when inspiration struck.

Her dad owned this camp and that was something she could definitely use. Emma grabbed her crane and then grabbed Bruce’s typical white Thursday crane, knowing he would still want it. Then she headed towards the only phone in the entire camp, a landline behind the main cabin.

She picked up the phone and sucked in a breath, she needed to do this. She pressed the first two numbers and stopped, Bruce was limping towards his cabin, 2M.

“Bruce?” Emma slammed the phone down and went towards him.

The boy’s bruised eye looked painful. A new bruise on top of an older one. His knuckles were wrapped up as well.   

“Hi,” his voice sounded small.

“Hey,” Emma held out his new paper crane.

“Are you okay?” he asked taking the bird.

“Yeah, my butt is a little hurt, but that’s it,” Emma replied.

“Oh that’s good. I was scared you were really hurt,” Bruce inspected her face for any additional injury.

“You look terrible Brucey,” she attempted to give him a smile, but failed.

“You should’ve seen Alvers. I don’t even remembering hitting him, but it was bad,” the boy’s shook towards the end.

“You jumped on him, it was actually pretty impressive. Don’t feel bad, you were just protecting us,” Emma then checked to see if anyone was around, “Alvers is a bitch,”.

Bruce laughed along, but his eyes were shiny. 

“Did you get in trouble?” Emma asked the question she was dreading.

“Yeah, they made me choose between calling my house or getting camp detention for the rest of the summer,” Bruce replied.

“You chose the detention didn’t you?” it wasn’t too big of a guess.

“It’s not too bad. I just have to help the lunch lady serve lunch and dinner to everyone. It’s basically a helper job,” Bruce explained.

Emma was glad things weren’t as bad as she had thought. Bruce wasn’t being forced to leave and they’d still get to spend time together.

“Let’s do something,” Emma grabbed him by his elbow.

The something Emma had spontaneously planned was arts and crafts. They took a bracelet set and sat down on the grass on a blanket. 

Bruce had some trouble beading his thread, his injured hands shook. Emma started his for him and the boy was grateful. Emma tried not to judge Bruce’s ugly bracelet, but the boy lacked an artistic vision. He used a variety of different colored beads in a nonsensical pattern, it looked as if a rainbow had thrown up. 

Emma’s bracelet was a lot more sleek and, in her opinion, not ugly. She braided a blue thread into a thicker strand and wrapped it around her wrist twice. She then fished around the bead box until she found the letter ‘E’ which she used as a charm on the thread.

“Yours is so much nicer than mine,” Bruce admired her work.

“Then switch,” Emma grabbed his.

“This doesn’t feel like a fair trade for you,” Bruce took Emma’s nicer bracelet.

“This is…charming. It has a lot of character,” Emma put the hideous bracelet on.

Emma felt better as she drifted off to sleep that night. She didn’t know why Bruce had acted in the way that he had, but she was glad he didn’t get kicked out. She was also glad to not have had to call her father. She hoped the rest of her stay would be more lowkey than today.

“What do you think?” Cordelia asked, twirling around.

Emma’s hand flew to her mouth with a slight pop.

“You don’t like it do you?” she stopped the motion.

“Cordelia, mom is going to kill you,” Emma couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

Cordelia had shaved half of her head, leaving the other side intact. Emma had only seen people her parents wouldn’t approve of with this particular haircut. She knew Cordelia would be in trouble when they returned home.

“I asked if you liked it. Not mom,” Delia frowned.

“It’s very,” Emma paused looking for the right word, “You,”. 

“I think I’m going to join a band when I get home,” Delia was unfazed.

Emma blinked, what was happening?

“You have got to wear a hat or something when we go home,” Emma decided to get on damage control.

“Fine, but I get to pick out which one,” Delia replied.

Emma nodded her head in reply, this child would be the death of her.

When it was time for them to return home Emma had a heartache. She was really going to miss the camp throughout the year. She would also miss Bruce and Bobby, the boys had come to mean something to her.

She added all of her new paper cranes to the original one at her house. She now had the beginnings of a small army. She would start making her own during the year to give to Bruce the next summer she had decided. 

Chapter Text

Things had begun to change around Emma’s ninth birthday. Christian had begun to keep to himself, only interacting with her when it was necessary. Cordelia had gotten even more rebellious, constantly getting in trouble for spray painting the nice buildings in their neighborhood. Adrienne had bleached her hair, it was now platinum and she was still a bitch.

Their parents were more or less the same. Hazel was still only able to function when she had a drink in her hand. Her husband was mad at the shock camp opening, but that wasn’t anything new.

Emma had folded a crane for everyday that she’d been back home. She packed them up and was jittery with excitement for the trip. Once again she left without saying bye to her parents, her siblings did the same. Cordelia flipped their house off as she got into the limo last.

The trip to camp felt like forever to Emma, but she was glad to make it there. She stood out by the sign waiting for the bus to drop off Bruce. The next two buses came and went without the boy getting out. 

“I don’t think he’s coming,” Cordelia touched her sister’s arm.

“Why couldn’t he come?” Emma tried to keep her emotions in check.

“Maybe he got sick? Or maybe he couldn’t afford it, dad raised the prices this year,” Delia guessed.

Emma felt an angry flush go up her back. Why would her father do that?

Cordelia and Emma got to bunk together again. Emma took the bottom this time, she needed something new to get her mind off of a certain brunette.

Then the two checked their cubbies while the new campers went on tour. Emma’s was empty, she examined Bruce’s which was also vacant. Emma went ahead and put her paper cranes in his box, there were so many some fell on the ground.

“When did you learn origami?” Delia asked, scratching the buzzed side of her head. 

“Bruce taught me. His mom is really good at it,” Emma replied.

“Could you teach me?” Delia asked.

“Sure,” Emma would do anything to relieve the pit in her stomach.

The girls practiced their folding skills together on the grass. Adrienne dropped down beside them, her friend group not with her.

“Origami?” she looked at the folded papers.

“Right,” Emma tried to be brief.

“Teach me,” Adrienne replied.

“No,” Delia frowned.

“I wasn’t asking you. Emma can you teach me? I’m bored, the girls wanted to swim and I didn’t feel like getting my hair wet,” Adrienne explained.

“Sure,” Emma usually wouldn’t have agreed.

Emma showed both of her sisters the steps again. The girls were all on different levels, Adrienne was naturally gifted while Delia was decidedly not. Emma took a great joy out of teaching her sisters, it made her forget about Bruce for a while.

Once her girl group returned Adrienne jerked up and left her sisters without a word. Emma didn’t even blink at the interaction.

Dinner consisted of just Delia and Emma. Bobby, Warren, and Christian all ate by themselves in a different part of the mess hall.

“Something is wrong with Christian,” Emma told her sister.

“I agree. He’s been so tense and grouchy lately. And now he’s not even wanting to be around us,” Delia replied.

The girls came up with their own theories on what was the matter with their brother. Cordelia believed it was a change in his personality. Emma believed it was because he was getting older. Neither girl felt confident in their guesses though.

Emma didn’t sleep well that night, she rolled around and around in her bed. She wondered why Bruce wasn’t there. She hoped it didn’t have anything to do with either her father or the bruise on the boy’s eye.

The next few days were incredibly drab. The only person who seemed to want to spend time with Emma was Delia. The girl was dead set on finding the lake monster, who Emma was certain didn’t exist.

The girls went to the dock every night with a flashlight Delia stole. They would sweep the light over the water and look for reflective eyes. None of them belonged to the monster, most belonged to alligators if the red color that shone back meant anything.

During the day when the girls weren’t doing group activities they would take a dip in the cool water. It was unnerving knowing they were alone in the water, but that was half of the point. Maybe the monster ate gators if they were lucky.

On their second week Delia told Emma she was going to dye her hair black. Emma wanted to tell her not too, but knew it was no use. Instead Emma became an accomplice. 

Delia had found she could dye her hair using a marker by one of the older girls in the cabin. She removed the nib of one of the markers, a black one. She then let it drain into a bowl with a small amount of water in it.

Emma warned her to wear gloves when applying it, but Delia said her hands being dyed was part of the experience. Delia globbed the black onto her hair and Emma grimaced.  Delia wrapped her hair in saran wrap from the mess hall with a wild smile on her face.

At least someone was happy. 

On Thursday Emma checked her cubby, it was more of a habit from Bruce than anything. Once again the boy’s cubby was still filled with all of Emma’s origami. 

Emma looked at her box and paused. There was a single white crane sitting in her box, her heart jolted. She slowly placed it in her palm, scared it was a figment of her imagination. She inspected it and noticed one of the wings had writing on it.

She opened the crane, praying it was a message. She dropped the paper after reading it. There were only a few words on the page: I’m sorry.

Bruce didn’t want to get out of bed. His body ached and so did his soul. 

It had been three weeks since his mother’s death. 

Three weeks since he was moved to his Aunt Susan’s house. 

Three weeks since his father was sent to a mental institution. 

The boy was tired. He could hear a piano playing softly in the house, he tried to just be.

The music stopped and then there was a knock on his door, it was soft in nature.

“Bruce baby, I brought you lunch,” Susan’s voice was soft.

“Thank you,” Bruce’s voice was anything but.

Bruce crawled out of bed and opened the door once he knew she was gone. She made him ravioli, and the boy drug it to his bed.

Susan was a music teacher, she was also one of his dad’s sisters. She was a small quaint woman with a large heart. She took him in when no one else would, he was almost given to the state. 

Both Susan and his dad, Brian, had been abused as children. Their father, Robert Bruce, was a mean spirited alcoholic man. In turn Brian became the same violent alcoholic man.

Robert the First. Robert the Second. 

And now the crumpled bruised boy in bed, Robert the Third.

Names carried weight and damn if Bruce wasn’t crushed.

Susan was proof that the cycle could be broken. Even Elaine, his other paternal aunt was proof, though she wouldn’t take him in. 

Bruce ate his food while Susan began to play piano once more. The sound was soothing, better than the harsh silence in his previous home.

Brian made his home quiet. His mother tried to add laughter when possible. Bruce learned to walk the line.

The boy’s entire body was littered in cuts and bruises from his father. The only places spared from his father’s wrath were those seen by the public eye. That was unless the man become sloppy with his motions, liquor made him jerky which led to Bruce’s very public bruised eye.

Rebecca knew how to cover the marks on her son’s skin so she slathered cheap makeup on his face. His mother was not safe from his father’s wrath, but he only hurt her when she tried to protect her son.

Brian claimed to love his wife. 

Brian claimed to hate his son.

He only lied once in those statements. 

Rebecca had died of blunt force trauma. Watching his mother die at his father's hand had shaken up the boy. Bruce lost his mind, and for the second time in his life he went blank.

When Bruce came to, he had his father’s blood on his fists. The police had a shock blanket on him and were asking him questions he couldn't quite answer. 

Bruce learned being a Banner was a curse.

His Aunt Susan was now a Drake following her marriage. Bruce thought of changing his last name to his mother’s maiden name, but realized he didn’t even know it.

The nine year old knew he was missing Camp Athelstan, but he knew he couldn’t go. His body showed his battle against his father. His eyes would show his soul was dimmed.

Bruce thought of Emma, her brown hair. Her Boston accent and her passion for teaching. 

He folded a crane and just wrote two words on it. He knew the address to the camp and would send it in the morning.

Bruce let sleep over take him. The nothingness of the void was better than his current suffering.

Chapter Text

Emma rubbed the hideous bracelet Bruce had gifted her two summers before. She told herself that if she wished for him to show up to camp hard enough it would come true. 

She stood by the sign, her eyes closed tightly. This year she would graduate to Cabin 3F and leave Cordelia behind. It also meant she was back to being with Christian's age group.

“There he is,” Delia’s voice pried Emma’s eyes open. 

Bruce stepped out of the third bus. He had a better backpack this year and was wearing glasses, the frames thin and wired.

He saw them and paused at the last step of the bus. The guy in front of him pushed him. Bruce stepped down and then ran past the girls.

“Do you think he saw us?” Cordelia asked her hair half grown back on the side.

“Yes,” Emma’s voice held thinly contained anger.

“Let’s go find him after we put our stuff up,” Delia offered.

Emma nodded in agreement, body tense as she did. 

Emma once again was alone in her bunk, but she didn’t care. She just threw her luggage in the bed and left, not even making time to unpack.

Emma and Delia waited for not even two minutes outside of 3M before Bruce emerged. The boy attempted to turn back into the cabin, but Delia grabbed his shirt.

“Where were you?” Emma asked.

“When?” Bruce didn’t look her in the eye.

“You know when,” Emma tried to remain calm.

“Oh…family stuff,” Bruce shrugged looking at the earth.

“Are you poor?” Delia asked.

“No? Not anymore I don’t think,” Bruce frowned.

“Are you okay?” Emma tried a different approach.

Bruce did a stiff nod ‘no’. 

“What happened Bruce?” Emma asked.

“I can’t,” the boy hugged himself.

Emma got closer to him, she was officially now taller than him. 

“Why no–” Delia was cut off by Emma elbowing her.

“Go,” Emma wasn’t asking.

Delia huffed, “Fine,”.

“I made you cranes,” Emma tried to cheer him up.

Instead Bruce fell downwards. His body shook and Emma felt the pit of her stomach harden.

Inside 3M she heard some boys giggle. Here was not the place to do this.

Emma bent down and reached out her hand. Bruce stared at it before taking it in his own. Emma pulled him to his feet.

“Let’s go on a walk,” Emma felt it was a good means of de-escalation.

The pair were silent as they made their way to the trails. Bruce leaned into Emma, his breath ragged but slowly regaining stability.

“My mom is gone,” Bruce’s voice was scratchy.

“I’m sorry Brucey. I know she meant a lot to you,” Emma wrapped an arm around him.

“She did. I uh, live with my Aunt now,” Bruce wrangled his hands together.

“Do you like it?” Emma felt it was an important question.

“She means well. I love my Aunt, but her husband doesn’t like me,” Bruce replied.

“Is there anyone else who you could live with?” Emma frowned.

“My other Aunt is my Godmother. She was supposed to take me, but she didn’t. She claimed I would be a bad influence on her daughter,” Bruce explained.

“I do–” Emma was pelted by a pebble on her back.

She turned around to be faced by Alvers and a handful of his friends following them into the woods. They all held various stones in their grasps.

“Run,” Emma drug Bruce onwards.

The duo ran as fast as they could as rocks rained down on them. Eventually the pelting stopped and they lost the boys. Emma looked down, they had also lost the trail.

“We’re lost,” Emma rubbed her bruised elbow.

“Let’s just pick a direction and just follow it?” Bruce sounded scared.

The two walked for what felt like hours until they made it to what looked like a small house. As they approached they realized it was an old shack lost to time.

“No way we found it,” Emma’s mouth opened.

“What? A shed?” Bruce took another step.

“This is the shack my dad couldn’t find when he bought the place. It’s part of the original part of the camp,” Emma slowly approached its door.

“Be careful, you don’t know what could be in there,” Bruce was wary.

Emma nodded and slowly opened the door. It swung open with her touch with the sound of an old hinge.

“Wait,” Bruce got right behind her and held onto her hand.

The shed was bigger on the inside than she had expected. It was just one main room, a bedroom, and a bathroom that had seen better days.

Bruce flushed the toilet and it worked, “The water’s still on,”.

“This is crazy” Emma was stunned.

“It’s like you have your own house now,” Bruce looked at her.

“ We have our own house now,” Emma smiled.

The pair agreed that they would keep the shack a secret. Only Delia and maybe the boys could be told, nobody else.

The couple laid out sticks to their right on the way back to the trail. Just so they could remember from which way they came. By the time they made it back it was already dinner.

Delia was waiting for them and they sat down beside her. She cast a look between Bruce and Emma and squinted.

“Alvers, chased us into the woods,” Emma broke the silence.

“I hope he gets eaten by the lake monster,” Delia replied, her face serious.

Emma chose to not tell her sister about the shack that night. It felt nice to have a secret that only her and Bruce got to share.

Teaching Bruce to swim was a high priority to Emma, she felt it a necessary life skill. The boy complained when Emma took him to the shallow swim area, he didn’t want to take off his shirt.

“Fine,” Emma replied.

First Emma tried to teach him how to tread, keeping his head above water while not tiring himself out. Bruce seemed to get a hang of it, keeping his hands in circular motions while his feet kicked as if he were walking.

Next Emma tried to teach him to float on his back in case he were to tire. This seemed more difficult for him as his body had very little fat to keep him afloat. Emma pressed up on his back and told him to breathe in deeply.

Bruce’s body went slightly upwards as his lungs filled with air. Emma tried not to notice the way his shirt rose up, there were jagged lines on the flesh there. His ribs poked at the girl’s fingertips, but she ignored them as well. 

“Let’s try doggy paddling next,” Emma let go of him.

She showed him the simple moves required for the beginner stroke. He nodded as if he got it, and then proved that he did. Emma felt pride in his new abilities, she was a good teacher.

The pair dried off on the shore with their towels and headed their separate ways for the bath house. Afterwards they met at the mess hall, Delia waved them down.

“I’ve decided to dye all my clothes black,” the girl smiled at the thought.

“So you’re going full goth?” Emma asked.

“No, it’s grunge,” Delia scrunched her nose.

Bruce tugged at Emma’s shirt, she looked at what he was pointing at. Christian was eating all by himself, Warren and Bobby were at their usual table without him.

“What happened?” Emma asked the boy beside her.

“I’m not sure. They were still bunking together as of last night. I’m still with Warren,” Bruce seemed as confused as she was.

“I’m going to get him,” Delia left the table.

The couple watched as the girl approached her older brother and sat down beside him. Christian didn’t even look at Delia as she talked. The girl then shrugged her shoulders and rejoined her sister.

“He acted like I wasn’t even there. Whatever is wrong must really be irking him,” Cordelia caught the duo up.

After their supper Delia headed for bed while Bruce and Emma went to their cubbies. It was Thursday and Bruce pursed his lips as he received no mail. Emma saw his body begin to shake slightly.

“It’s okay, I have to make you something for all the cranes you taught me to make,” Emma rubbed the top of his head.

Bruce didn’t speak, but he pulled on the blue bracelet Emma had gifted him two years prior. She took this as a good sign, maybe she’d make him a second one.

The pair split up and Emma hopped into bed. She thought briefly of her brother and his issues, she wished to know more about his struggles.

The next few days were chaotic, someone had spray painted ‘Alvers sucks’ on the main welcome sign. Emma knew without a shadow of a doubt that it was Delia’s doing, it had her written all over it.

“How’d you get the paint?” Emma asked.

“It was two paint markers. I could hide them in my luggage,” Delia didn’t deny it.

Lance Alvers was red in the face about the event. Emma had to hold back a laugh as he passed by, she made eye contact with Bruce and almost lost it.

The rest of the day was spent sneakily trying to figure out Christian’s issue. Emma decided to question Bobby while Bruce questioned his bunkmate. 

“So how’s life?” Emma asked Bobby.

“I know why you’re here, Emma,” Bobby replied.

Emma tried to read him. His neck held tension and his hands were on his hips. Not happy.

“I’m just worried about my older brother,” Emma didn’t lie.

“I don’t know what triggered him. He was fine one day and then the next he started lashing out at Warren. Then I stood up for him and he just got really red in the face and left,” Bobby frowned.

“Could he be jealous of you and Warren? It used to just be the two of you,” Emma asked.

“No…wait? Maybe?” Bobby shifted on the balls of his feet.

“You should talk to him about it,” Emma encouraged him.

Bobby’s face flushed, but he nodded his head in agreement.

That night Emma and Bruce sat by a small fire making smores. Emma told the boy what Bobby had said, catching him up.

“Warren said he thought he and Christian were cool until he snapped at him. He thought they were just having a friendly rivalry,” Bruce stuck his stick in the fire.

“Hmm. How well would you say you know Warren?” Emma asked, placing a graham cracker on top of her marshmallow.

“I mean we don’t really talk too much. He seems nice though, he still shares a bunk with me even when I make him up with my night terrors,” Bruce blew off the flames from his snack.

“I just hope Bobby and Christain’s talk goes okay,” Emma sighed.

“Same. They used to be such good friends,” Bruce bit into his cracker.

The fire died down some so Emma grabbed a large piece of litter and threw it into the flames. This caused hot embers to fly into the air, some hit Bruce in the chest. The boy instinctively stood up and jerked off his shirt exposing his chest.

Emma hadn’t meant to chuck in her breath as harshly as she did. She just didn’t expect to see the horrible condition Bruce’s torso was in. The jagged lines she’d seen earlier were on both sides of his body, intersecting and crossing over each other.

“Sorry!” Emma tried to find something else for him to wear.

“Uh, it’s okay…I just didn’t want you to see me like this,” Bruce covered his chest with his arms.

“I can close my eyes if it helps you any,” Emma tried to assure him.

“It’s okay. I just didn’t want you to see me as weak,” Bruce looked up at her.

“If anything I can see you’re strong,” Emma met his eyes.

The two gravitated towards each other and met in a hug. All of the night terrors, the accident on the first night, the eye bruise, and now the scars were painting a story that Emma didn’t quite like.

Emma would have a much harder time leaving him knowing this part of him.

“My dad, he’s locked up for this…and some other things,” Bruce confided in her.

“I’m glad he’s gone,” Emma let him go and looked at the cuts more closely.

“You can touch them if you want,” Bruce could tell she was curious.

She placed a single finger on his chest and followed a single angry line. She then retracted her finger, if she were to run her fingers down his body it would feel ribbed. 

“What are you two doing?” Adrienne stood behind them.

“It’s not what it looks like,” Emma quickly replied.

“Well it looks like a Frost is fraternizing with a poor commoner,” Adrienne turned her nose up towards Bruce.

Emma slapped her, palm open. The smack was satisfying.

“You bitch,” Adrienne rubbed her face before spitting on her younger sister.

Emma wound back to hit her again, but a warm hand pressed into her back. She turned and left with Bruce against her side.

“You’re a whore!” Adrienne yelled back at them, but neither child cared to listen.

Adrienne had the remnants of a bruise on her face from the slap when they made it back home. Nobody else noticed and body cared.

Chapter Text

The first time it happened was an accident, Bruce didn’t mean to cut himself. He had discovered a picture of his father when he was younger at his Aunt Susan’s house. In a moment of pure range he punched the glass and it shattered, leaving lacerations all around his hand.

His Aunt Susan heard the noise and ran into the room. There was no use denying what had happened, there were still shards in his hand while blood flooded down his fingertips. Susan looked at the picture and then her nephew.

“I was meaning to get rid of that anyways,” Susan shrugged.

Bruce blinked once then nodded.

“Let me get you fixed up,” she looked at the boy’s hand.

While his aunt got the tweezers and dug out the remaining glass Bruce realized he liked the way the cut made him feel.

This was the beginning of a harsh cycle for the boy.

He already had many scars from his father, what could a few more hurt?

Bruce packed heavy that year for camp. He knew Emma was going to want to return to the shack so he decided he’d pack things for the small building. He was grateful for his aunt getting him a new backpack. It had a lot more room than his old one.

Bruce made sure to pack some essentials too, his new medication included. He had visited a therapist who referred him to a psychiatrist, they believed he was schizophrenic. Bruce didn’t feel like he had it, but he wasn’t the professional.

Susan dropped him off at the bus stop with a brief hug. Bruce copied her embrace, she was going through a tough time. Divorce was on the horizon and Bruce knew he was partly at fault. 

Warren sat with him on the bus ride over, the blonde was getting noticeably taller. Bruce was only slightly jealous as he seemed to be on the shorter side.

Bruce bounced his legs as the ride went on. He was ready to see Emma after the year-long wait.

Emma was incredibly easy to spot, she was already getting to be taller than the rest of the girls in her cabin. Cordelia was behind her with a new haircut that involved a lot of layers. Both girls waved at him when he exited the bus.

“I like your haircut,” Bruce looked at Cordelia.

“It’s supposed to be scene,” Delia replied.

“Oh, I can see it,” Bruce smiled.

Emma laughed and shook her head at him. Bruce didn’t get the joke, but he was happy to see her beautiful smile.

Everyone went to their cabins, Delia rejoined Emma’s and the put their stuff up.

Bruce finished first and waited outside their cabin. They wanted to paint rocks while the new campers got their tour.

Emma was unsurprisingly a talented painter. Her brush strokes were even and she knew how to make colors pop. Her younger sister painted her rock all in one color, black and claimed it was a representative piece. Bruce nodded like he understood what it meant.

Bruce tried to paint a cat on his, but it looked more like a sad raccoon. He wanted to gift it to Emma, but felt embarrassed at his poor skill level.

“Do you have any pets?” Bruce asked her.

“No, our dad says animals shed too much,” Emma replied now starting a second stone.

“I don’t have one either,” Banner tried to fix his rock.

“Do you have any siblings?” Emma questioned.

“No, just me,” Bruce managed to make his art even worse.

“That must be nice,” Emma looked at Cordelia.

“Rude,” Delia rolled her eyes.

“Sometimes I wish I had a big brother,” Bruce replied.

“He might’ve turned out like Christian though,” Emma began to bedazzle the stone. 

“So he’s still acting off then?” Bruce asked.

“I don’t think it’s an act anymore,” Delia replied.

Bruce frowned, it wasn’t the news he was hoping for.

After the trio got their fill of painting, they headed to the dock. 

“I bet I can skip my rock the farthest,” Emma launched her stone which skipped a few times.

Bruce’s rock immediately sank the second he let it go. At least then nobody could see his cursed art. Delia’s rock jumped once so Emma was proven right.

The trio then left to get their dinner. Christian was back to sitting with Warren and Bobby, which made Bruce less sad for the older boy. 

“Looks like they're back together,” Emma noticed as well.

“Seems like it,” Delia agreed.

After dinner Delia left for bed while Emma and Bruce headed for the main cabin. Bruce was surprised to see paper stars in his box.

“You did this for me?” he inspected one in his hand.

“I told you I would get you something last year,” Emma nudged him gently.

“Did you teach yourself?” Bruce asked fighting back a teary smile.

“Of course. I’m a good teacher after all,” Emma replied.

Bruce grabbed her and and squeezed it. He could decorate his bunk with the little pieces of paper that night

Joe had no clue where he was. It wasn’t his old house and it sure as hell wasn’t Susan’s place. The interior of the building he was in had rows of bunk beds stacked together. It also smelled like musty body odor, Joe grimaced.

Joe exited the building of boys and was greeted by the outdoors. It was hot as hell and Joe rolled up his long sleeves to reveal new scars. He frowned, Bruce had obviously been the cause of them. Brian was locked up so that was the only other option.

Joe took a quick stroll around the campus and then stopped when he heard a girl yelling. 

“Bruce!” it was a brunette chick.

“Yes, it is me…Bruce,” Joe turned to face her.

“Did you pack your backpack for the shack? I convinced Delia to just let it be us today,” the girl explained.

“I left it in the cabin. Let me go get it and I’ll see you in a bit,” Joe went back the way he came.

When he made it back he just put everything, but the little bits of paper into Bruce’s bag. He then closed his eyes tight and tried to remember the girl’s name. 

“Dude, what are you doing?” a tall blonde boy asked him from the top bunk.

“Uh yoga?” Joe stood up and ran out of the building.

He found the brunette girl again and they headed down a hiking trail. At one point they abandoned the trail and began to follow a line of sticks. Joe was concerned that they were lost, but he remained quiet. He didn’t want to confuse Emma just yet.

They stumbled upon a small house that looked worse for wear.

“That looks like shit,” Joe frowned.

“That’s why we brought stuff to make it nice,” Emma replied.

Joe nodded, but was disgusted by the old place. The inside was run down, but it seemed to mean a lot to the girl.

The girl opened her bad to reveal some blankets and pillows.

“Did you get the lights?” Emma asked.

“Let me check,” Joe didn’t know the contents of Bruce’s bag.

Joe opened the bag completely up and then shook everything out. He could imagine Bruce yelling about him getting his stuff dirty. The boy tried not to smile at the thought.

Halloween lights in orange and purple bulbs was the only form of light the boy had so he handed them over. He also had snacks, more clothes, and a giant thing of pills. The girl noticed them, but didn’t say anything about it.

The two made a pillow fort with Joe doing most of the work. Emma claimed to like watching him use his brain to build stuff, he swore he felt a twinge of jealousy that didn’t belong to him.

Joe crawled into the pillow fort and spread his limbs to starfish, “Thanks for helping me build my fort,”.

Emma tried to squeeze in, “You mean our fort,”.

Joe put out a leg to keep her from entering, “My fort,”.

Emma then stood up and pushed the pillows down, causing them to fall on Joe.

“Damn, you almost suffocated me! Are you crazy?” Joe threw the pillows off of him.

“What has got into you?” Emma put her hands on her hips.

“Nothing you’d understand,” Joe copied her hands.

“It’s like you’re a whole other person or something,” Emma’s nose scrunched.

“You wouldn’t believe how close you are,” Joe replied.

Emma’s eyebrows drew together.

“I’m not Bruce. I’m Joe,” the boy tried his luck.

“I don’t get it,” Emma frowned.

“See this?” Joe grabbed the pill bottle, “This is to treat us,”.

“Hmm,” Emma inspected the bottle.

“Whatever, you don’t get it,” Joe grabbed the bottle back with more force than necessary.

“Did you attack Lance Alvers?” Emma asked.

Joe paused, “No, that was someone else,”.

“But it wasn’t Bruce either?” Frost questioned.

“No,” he agreed.

Emma nodded at this. Maybe she was catching on.

“So who did that?” Emma was now pointing at the single sleeve Joe had pulled up.

Joe folded the sleeve back down attempting to hide the cuts, “Our dad,”.

“Your dad has been away for longer than those scars have been there. I know Bruce,” Emma called out his bullshit.

“If you have to ask me then you don’t know him at all,” Joe replied.

The brunette girl swallowed.

The two were quiet for the rest of the day. When they headed back to camp Joe ate supper with Warren, Bobby, and Christian. He didn’t know their names, but he knew one of them was his bunkmate from earlier. 

Bruce was the one to wake up the next day. He was still wearing his clothes from the day before and was sweaty from a night terror. His dreams kept getting more and more vivid. He showered and then went to see Emma.

Emma was with Cordelia when Bruce found her. The girls were whispering to each other and stopped when he approached.

“Are you Bruce?” Emma asked.

“I’m always Bruce,” Banner nodded.

Emma shook her head once, “Joe is an ass,”.

Bruce felt his heart sink to his stomach. He had never wanted to show anyone else any of the “hallucinations” his doctor had convinced him he was having. 

“So… you saw him too?” Bruce scratched his head.

Emma nodded. Bruce swallowed thickly, how could she see someone who was only in his visual hallucinations? 

“Can we go swim?” Bruce asked, tired of the topic.

Emma took him to the shallow swimming hole again. This time she taught him a simple back stroke. Bruce had trouble with this, his small frame flailing.

Emma gave him some pointers on his technique and he did slightly better, though he was by no means a pro. The entire lesson Bruce kept on his long sleeve shirt, scared of what Emma would say about his marks.

Finally Emma took him to the dock and grabbed a float. She got in the water and then told him to jump in. Bruce bobbed in and out of the cold water, breathing heavy.

Emma told him to breath deeply and he tried to listen to her soothing voice. Soon he was floating in his back beside Emma. The outside world was muffled to his ears.

If the outside world were his problems then Emma was the water silencing the sound. Peace was something he could find with her.

On the last day of camp they checked their cubbies, Emma had cranes. Bruce had stars.

It wasn’t until the boy got home that he opened up the stars. They each had little short messages on them. 

You’re strong.

Thank you for the cranes. 

The last one contained an address, one from Boston.

Chapter Text

It had been the most emotionally and physically draining year of Emma’s life. It all started with her brother coming out as gay. Winston instantly lost it and in no less than five minutes kicked him out.

Emma cried for days on end and stopped eating. Cordelia threatened to run away again. Even Adrienne acted out by stealing even more of her parents belongings.

After Christian was found by the police he was brought back home. He was just thirteen and Winston had to pay the cops off to keep himself out of trouble. ‘Rules were for the lower class’ he told his girls.

Emma slowly allowed herself to relax but the house was tense as ever. Christian would be sent to the shock camp instead of Athelstan this summer. Though the boy technically did nothing wrong her father was able to pay to have him join the intensive camp.

When Emma resumed her usual eating she began to get intense head pain. She originally believed she had a sinus infection, but after a doctor's visit she was told she had a migraine with auras.

The sharp pain would come and go without warning. Sometimes it would be there for a few hours, on her worst flare up she was bed bound for three straight days.

Nobody bothered her when she was having these episodes and Emma was almost glad to be alone and unable to fully concentrate. Then she couldn’t think of her poor older brother.

The mood on the way to camp was dreary. It rained and Emma watched raindrops race to the bottom of the limo’s window. 

On the plane Emma moved away from her siblings and began to read some of Bruce’s letters to her. The boy had sharp precise strokes when he wrote. Emma’s were much more bubbly and cute. 

His words melted some of the ice in her heart, but didn’t keep the dread at bay. When Emma and her sisters bordered the bus without their brother Emma felt sick.

“Where’s Christian?” Bobby asked.

“He’s at that other camp. My dad sent him away,” Emma’s voice was unsteady.

“Fuck your dad,” Bobby was heated.

“That’s what I’ve been saying,” Delia nodded her head in support of the boy’s rage. 

“Do you think he’ll be back next year?” Bobby asked.

“I don’t think so,” Emma frowned.

“Why did he send him away?” Bobby’s face was flushed.

“I’m not sure I should tell you,” Emma looked down at her legs, it wasn’t her business to tell.

“Right,” Bobby slapped the top of the seat and then stood up going to a different part of the bus.

“Do you think Bobby would still be friends with Christian if he knew he liked boys?” Delia asked, whispering into her ear.

“I don’t know. I hope their friendship is stronger than that,” Emma replied. 

The girls waited by the sign for Bruce. He arrived by his usual bus and frowned when he saw them without Christian. Emma hadn’t mentioned the fiasco with her father in their letters, she wanted to escape when she wrote to him.

“Your brother?” his eyebrows were raised.

“He’s next door,” Emma gestured towards the lake.

“Is he okay?” Bruce frowned.

“No. He’s not,” Delia replied bluntly.

Bruce nodded once, “sorry”.

Emma was placed in 4F and sat her stuff down quickly. She placed her letters in places no one else would see. She didn’t want them to get lost on the trip.

When the trio went to the dock they looked out towards the water. It was quite strange to have Christian on the other side of the water.

Emma wondered if he was scared to be by himself. Another part of her wondered if his personality would take another hit, or if he’d be happier now that he was out.

“I think the monster died a long time ago guys,” Delia broke her train of thought.

“Maybe,” Emma replied.

“Maybe we could find its bones?” Delia squatted on the wood of the dock.

“We could steal some strainers from the kitchen. When I was in detention I learned where they kept their stuff,” Bruce offered.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you so rebellious before, Brucey,” Emma smiled sharply at him.

The boy nodded his head once and then jerked his face away. Emma could see the red go up his neck.

“I need new friends,” Delia sighed.

Emma ditched her sister, she wanted to revisit the cabin with Bruce. She swung by his cabin and told him to pack his bag. 

The duo found the shack in record breaking time, Emma entered the building first. It was exactly as she and Joe had left it the previous year, pillows still on the floor. She flopped down on one and gestured for Bruce to join her.

“Do you think I’d look good as a blonde?” Emma picked up a few strands of her hair.

Bruce plopped down beside her and covered his face up before nodding.

“Do you think I could use bleach from the bathroom to d–” Emma began.

“I can make your hair stuff. Uh, bleach is bad for your lungs,” Bruce removed the pillow from his face.

“And how will you do that,” Emma raised a brow.

“Chemistry,” Bruce paused, “With lemon juice and water,”. 

“Huh,” Emma hadn’t considered that as an option.

“They have lemons in the mess hall too. I can get you some,” the boy offered.

“I’ll make you another bracelet in return,” Emma nodded her head towards the blue bracelet on Bruce’s covered wrist.

“Deal,” Bruce replied quickly.

The two ate some snacks and talked for a few hours. Emma laughed at one of Bruce’s terrible jokes and noticed one side of her mouth didn’t open fully. She paused and breathed in deeply, a nostril on the same side also remained stiff.

Emma knew a migraine was beginning to set in, she asked for Bruce to turn off the light. He did and made a confused face.

“I have a headache,” Emma partly lied.

“Oh, is it light sensitive?” Bruce asked, an aura already appearing around him.

Emma nodded once and placed her head back on the pillow. She closed her eyes tight trying to block out all light.

To his credit Bruce seemed to understand the severity of the situation. He blocked out the light under the door using a blanket and then tried to cover the windows.

Emma felt him sit down beside her, “Is this better?”.

Emma gave him a week thumbs up and what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

“Are you having a stroke?” Bruce’s voice squeaked.

“No, a migraine,” Emma replied.

“But your face,” Bruce leaned down closer to her head.

“It’s a migraine. I’ll be fine,” Emma hoped she was telling the truth.

“Is this okay?” Bruce placed a hand on her hair.

Emma nodded. Bruce then began to massage her scalp, his fingers carefully threaded in and out of her hair.

The boy continued the soothing motions until he heard her make a noise. He paused to realize she was snoring, he fought off a smile.

Emma slept while Bruce rubbed her head for a long while. The sun was already beginning to set before Emma awoke.

“Ugh,” the girl muttered.

“How are you feeling?” Bruce half whispered.

“You don’t have a halo anymore,” the girl looked up towards him.

“That’s good?” Bruce tried to smile reassuringly.

“I’m feeling a little sick to my stomach though,” Emma sat up.

“Do you feel good enough to make it back to camp? I can carry you if I need to,” Banner offered.

“Brucey, you’re kind but not very strong. I can walk myself back,” Emma began to stand.

Bruce jumped to his feet and grabbed her my her arms up. For a brief second they were face to face and staring at one another.

“Let’s go before the sun is gone,” Bruce let out his hand.

Emma took it and nodded. The camp counselors would notice if they weren’t in their bunks past lights out.

The pair made their way back to the camp, Emma clutching her stomach with her free hand. She then bent over and begun to dry heave. Bruce held the ends of her hair.

Once Emma regained her composure the pair moved more slowly to not overdo it. The sun was going down with even step and before long fireflies began to appear. 

The couple walked together hand in hand. Their path was lit up by the low light of the bugs.

There were still lights on the cabins when they separated. They gave each other a quick hug before departing. 

“How does this look?” Emma tied the ends of the bracelet together.

“Like you really like stars,” Cordelia replied still working on her own.

“It’s for Bruce,” Emma inspected the piece of jewelry.

“Oh, I’m sure,” Delia rolled her eyes.

“Isn’t that also for him?” Emma questioned her sister.

“Only because he took care of you when you were sick. Where were you guys again?” Delia looked at the brunette.

“Walking,” Emma didn’t know why she lied.

“Right. Well I hope he likes kandi,” Delia handed her sister the finished piece.

While Emma’s bracelet had small white beads with blue stars. Cordelia had created a massive abomination of different colors. There were three rows of different colors with an outside row of solid colors on each side. 

“Watch,” Delia showed that the outsides of the bracelet could move.

“He’ll love it,” Emma collected their bracelets.

They found Bruce attempting to fish on the dock. He was still wearing his long sleeved shirt and his face was covered in sweat.

“We come bearing gifts Brucie Boy,” Delia spoke.

Bruce jerked before he turned around to face the girls.

Emma held out the two pieces of jewelry, “This one is from me. Delia made the bigger one,”.

Bruce slid the large one Delia made him on his free wrist. While he placed the one Emma made him with the one from the previous years.

“We made them so you can wear short sleeves,” Emma whispered in his ear.

She could hear Bruce swallow thickly.

“Thank you guys,” Banner’s top lip tried to not quiver.

“Awe you’re too soft,” Delia pushed him gently.

“Would you guys like to fish with me?” the boy asked.

“Hell no,” Delia shook her head and began to make her leave.

Bruce waited for the girl to go before turning back to Emma, “I knew she’d say that. I was just trying to get it to just be us for a bit,”.

“Oh?” Emma quirked a brow.

Bruce threw the fishing stuff down and opened up his backpack.

“It’s the stuff for your hair,” he took out an unmarked bottle.

“Yes please,” Emma turned around for him to soak her head.

Bruce got on his tiptoes to spray the top of her head. He dosed her in the lemon scented concoction.

“The longer you’re in the sun the lighter your hair should get,” the nerdy boy explained.

“Do you think I’ll be blonde by the end of the summer?” Emma asked.

“Maybe? I’m unsure,” Bruce shrugged.

The two spent the rest of the day at the dock and occasionally got in the water when they got too hot. 

“I hope Christian’s okay,” Emma spoke, her back in the water.

“He’s a tough guy. Maybe your dad will let him come back next year with you,” Bruce floated beside her with more effort.

“Christian got sent there for something that won’t just change in a year,” Emma bit the inside of her cheek.

“Sounds like less of a Christian problem and more of a problem with your dad,” Bruce replied.

Emma hummed in response. 

On the last day of camp Emma and Bruce promised to write each other letters. They hugged each other tighter than before and Emma swore her heart nearly leapt out of her chest. She ignored it and promised herself it was a subject to next summer.

Chapter Text

Emma’s migraines continued on the next year. The oftentimes debilitating condition flared up on its own accord, ruining many of her days.

Hazel had mentioned taking her to a neurologist briefly, but the idea was shot down by her father. He didn’t want to admit another one of his kids was ‘defective’.

Hazel and Winston fought often that year. It mainly had to do with her father coming home with the smell of another woman on his collar.

The two caused a great tension that was impossible to ignore when they were in the same room. Often Emma would hide in her room with the light off, making cranes and stars.

Delia sometimes would invite her to her room where they would open the window and sit on the exposed roof of the house. Christian rarely joined them for anything anymore. He seemed more distant than ever before, his hair buzzed to his skull.

Sometimes the boy would sit on the part of the roof closest to his room. He’d smoke something that smelt strange and would ignore his sisters when they’d ask for him to join.

When Emma got into the limo on the way to camp she was surprised to have her father get in as well. He got on one of the benches which forced Adrienne to sit with Christian. 

He poured himself a shot of whiskey. He took it as if it were water and then looked at his children.

“Your mother and I are divorcing,” Winston took another shot.

None of the children said anything.

“What? Aren’t you going to give me more grief?” Winston asked hastily.

The children just stared at their father. They’d all seen this coming. Or perhaps they’d learned not to care.

The rest of the ride was silent, as was the plane. Nobody dared to speak with Winston present.

They skipped the bus this year, Winston found the transport as ‘tacky’. Instead a secondary limo took them from Atlanta to Athelstan. 

Mr.Frost all but kicked Christian out on the way. He muttered under his breath about his son’s sins.  He then left his remaining children to head to the main cabin, he would be staying in the master suite.

Emma and Delia waited for Bruce to arrive off his bus. He hopped out of the yellow bus and waved at them.

“Your hair is more blonde,” Bruce noticed the large number of highlights in Emma’s hair.

“Thanks, someone taught me how to do it,” Emma smiled.

“Ugh” Delia made a noise.

“Oh your hair is also different! It’s um…more layered?” Bruce tried to find words to say.

“You two are impossible,” the dark haired girl shook her head.

The trio waited for the morning announcement before getting into their cabins. They were surprised to hear Winston’s voice come from the speaker instead of the voice from years prior. 

“No way,” Cordelia’s eyes widened.

“Yeah, it sounds like they hired a new guy,” Banner replied.

“Bruce, that’s our dad’s voice,” Emma explained.

“Oh my gods. Emma, look,” Delia pointed towards the main cabin.

Their father was standing in the window of the building while reading from a sheet of paper. He lowered the paper and then quit his announcement, his mouth unmoving.

“Is there any reason why he’s here?” Bruce asked the sisters.

“Divorce is the main one,” Emma replied.

“Ah, right,” Bruce’s face flushed, feeling embarrassed for asking.

The group then disbanded with each person putting their things away in their allotted cabin. Delia got to be Emma’s bunkmate again which eased the girls into the summer. The girls then found their way back to Bruce who was by the dock.

“I know you guys don’t have the best relationship with your dad. So, I got this,” Bruce showed the sisters a cooking strainer.

“Oh hell yeah. We’re getting all sorts of cool shit today,” Delia grabbed the flimsy metal from the older boy.

The trio went to the edge of the water and then Delia bent down with the strainer. She lowered it to the bottom of the lake where it met the shore and then shook. She then raised the metal out of the water and inspected it on the shore. 

She mostly got sand and a single piece of trash, “That’s a bust,”

It was now Emma’s turn, she placed the strainer into the cold water. She was gifted an old bottle cap in return. Its colors had been muted from it’s time in the water and sun.

“Trash,” Emma got ready to throw the item back.

“Wait! We can use that for a craft or something,” Delia stopped her sister mid-windup.

Bruce was next to use the strainer and received nothing worthwhile, just more trash.

The group continued to pass the strainer with them each taking turns. They’d make an impressive soda cap collection, but no lake monster evidence.

“We may need to go deeper,” Delia shook out the container to another bust.

“Fine, but not too deep. Bruce isn’t a great swimmer and I don’t want him to drown,” Emma replied.

“I wouldn’t want you to drown either,” Bruce grabbed a floaty.

“Wow. Nobody even mentioned me drowning,” Delia rolled her eyes.

“That’s because you’re an excellent swimmer,” Emma walked further into the water.

“The best actually,” Delia followed behind her older sister.

“That title probably goes to the lake monster,” Bruce joined them.

The group stopped at chest level. Anything more would make the panning much more difficult. Emma got to go first and was gifted more sand.

“For Christ sake,” the girl sounded annoyed.

“My turn,” Delia all but snatched the strainer from her sister.

Delia screeched at her find. She was gifted a tooth the size of her pinky. It was blunt, but still bleach white.  

“It’s real! The monster is real! I knew it!” she waved the artifact around.

“We should give it to the counselors to preserve for other campers,” Bruce suggested.

“Hell no. Finders keepers,” Delia replied and then returned to the shore with junction. 

“She doesn’t really have that much respect towards authority,” Emma shrugged.

The pair got out of the water and dried off. They then went to check their cubbies for mail. Both of their boxes were empty as the pair had been exchanging letters via their home addresses the rest of the year.

“Who’s this?” Emma jerked as her father’s voice came from behind her.

“This is Bruce,” Emma replied trying not to give anything away.

“But he looked in a mailbox with a name starting with ‘R’,” Mr.Frost didn’t miss anything.

“My birth name is Robert. I choose to go by Bruce,” the boy’s tone was respectful.

“Emma, I want you and Robert to join me at dinner tomorrow night,” Winston replied only looking at his daughter.

“Right,” Emma bit the inside of her cheek.

“Good girl,” the man turned away and went towards his suite.

“He does seem like an asshole,” Bruce waited for the man to leave.

“He really is. I’m sorry about the whole Robert thing,” Emma touched his shoulder.

“It’s alright. It’s my name even if I don’t like it,” Bruce’s eyes flickered to hers for a moment.

“You’re more than your name,” Emma reassured him.

“And you’re more than just Winston Frost’s daughter,” Bruce replied, holding eye contact.

Emma spent the rest of the day trying not to be nervous. There was a solid mass that wouldn’t leave her stomach no matter how much she willed it to go away. Bruce looked no better, his posture stiff and uneasy. To the boy’s credit, he did try to play normal attempting to make Emma feel better.

Bruce asked her to join him in the shed the next morning. Emma found herself lying to her younger sister before finding Bruce on the trail there.

“I brought lights from home. That way if your head hurts we can just not use the big light,” Bruce untangled a string of thin wire with tiny warm lights.

“Let’s put them in the trees behind the shack. It can be our party area if we move some tree branches around,” Emma suggested.

The pair spent the next few hours making the backyard of their shed nicer. They were careful to make the lights obstructed from view from anyone who possibly got lost in the woods.

“We need to get ready for dinner with my dad,” Emma frowned.

“We still have two hours,” Bruce replied.

“We need to look nice and take showers,” Frost tucked her hair behind her ear.

Bruce’s face heated and he nodded once. The pair then made their way back to Athelstan, careful of the tree roots on their trek. 

Emma knew nothing good was to come from their dinner. When she saw Bruce approach the main cabin in just a plain black t-shirt, she had become certain. 

The girl knew Bruce only got clothes off of his aunt’s income and she was happy that he had better than what he was allotted when they first met. Her father wouldn’t care and would instead insult the boy for his lack of flare.

“Nice of you to finally join us boy,” Winston sat on one side of the table.

“Thank you for inviting me sir,” the boy chose the seat closest to Emma.

The food was actually very good, Winston had one of his personal chefs prep it. It made Emma think of how little care was put into the food daily for the campers.

“Emma, how long have you known this fellow?” Winston cut into his food.

“Since I first got here,” Emma took a sip of water.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you mention Robert, even once,” Winston swigged his bourbon. 

“Bruce,” the boy spoke up.

“To be fair to Robert, I don’t think I’d want to be called that either. Who would want to be called the same name as their mother’s killer?” the older man shrugged casually.

Bruce dropped his fork. 

Emma froze.

“Oh he didn’t tell you? Doesn’t sound like a good friend to me,” Winston smiled coldly at the preteen boy.

Only he wasn’t looking at Bruce, he was looking at Hulk. The boy stood up and in one motion flipped the nicely adorned table over.

Winston stood up angrily, “You’re banned. Once I file paperwork Wednesday you’re out of here!”.

Hulk rolled his shoulders and just walked out of the building. Hot tears burned in Emma’s eyes as she looked towards her father.

“Clean it up. This is all your fault, just like the divorce,” Winston crossed his arms expectantly.

“No, I don’t think I will,” Emma turned and began to leave the room.

A glass shattered on the wall by the door, Winston’s glass of bourbon. Emma was struck by a single blade on her cheek. 

“Stupid fucking whore!” Winston yelled towards her.

Emma swallowed thickly and opened the door. She left her father by himself in the cluttered room. 

The girl found Hulk by the dock, staring towards the water. His posture was much more animalistic than Bruce’s not dissimilar from an ape.

“What’re you looking at?” Emma’s voice shook as her throat burned.

“Thinking,” Hulk looked towards her, his eyes wet.

“Is it about what my dad said?” Frost asked.

“Miss mommy,” Hulk nodded a tear leaving his eye.

“I know that she’s gone, but I’m here,” Emma wrapped around the smaller boy.

She wasn’t sure when, but at some point in their hug Hulk changed. She could feel his energy shift and she knew it was now Bruce in her arms.

“Can we float?” Bruce asked.

The pair were on their backs in the water, looking up at the stars. The tears in both of their eyes reflected the cosmos above.

“That summer when I didn’t come, was right after my mom died. My dad, he uh, he killed her. He cracked her skull all because she loved me,” Bruce’s words became sobs.

“It’s okay Brucey. I’m here for you now,” Emma put each of her hands into his.

The pair were head to head with their arms connecting, making a circle with their appendages. They sat in the cool water until their fingers pruned up. 

For the third morning in a row Emma sighed as her father read their daily spiel. She stood outside holding Bruce’s hand away from the crowd. The two stood as close to the main house as possible as he spoke. 

Emma peered into the window hoping to make Winston feel guilt for how he treated her and Bruce. Though Emma had begun to doubt the man had a soul.

“There is a chance of ra–” Winston stopped suddenly and fell down as if he were hit.

Emma ran to the door and pried it open. She then made her way to the master suite with two set of footsteps behind her.

Emma knew she made an inhuman noise when she found her father. He was unconscious and when she felt for his heartbeat she felt none. 

She sobbed harshly and fell to her knees. She was then in the embrace of two other warm bodies. Bruce whispered words into her hair while Delia sniffled.

Emma and Cordelia were sent home early from camp. Even Christian got to leave the neighboring facility. Winston also left, this time in a box.

The coroner had ruled the incident as a possible brain aneurysm.

Emma cried at the funeral, her mother didn’t. 

The Frost family was now without their head of household. 

Chapter Text

Emma knew she was changing and had come to hate who she was. Or maybe it was who she wasn’t that she hated the most. 

It began with her father’s passing. Though her cheek had healed all but a tiny scar, her mind had not. She both hated and loved the man who created her.

Then came the silence, a complete lack of response from Bruce. She wrote to him a total of ten times before she gave up. She was supposed to be her shoulder to cry on, but she received nothing.

Then finally she met him. She knew it was wrong, but he told her she was so mature. He said he cared about her dead dad. He said she could cry on his shoulder, though he got mad when a single tear touched his clothes.

Ian gave her all the attention her father had denied her. The only problem was that he was her teacher.

They kept their relationship secret as it was what Ian requested. She could only visit him on his break period where she would sit on his lap. They only kissed once before they were caught.

The smoothness of the man’s chest made Emma pause. She briefly thought of the scarred chest of the boy she missed. The boy who hadn't responded to any of her letters.

When Ian Kendall was caught he was promptly fired. That left Emma back alone and even more miserable. Now the people in her class saw her as the girl who got their favorite teacher fired. She was tainted.

Emma got her hair professionally bleached and then toned. A nice shade of blonde became her look, she even tried to change her voice.

A British accent was different, it made her not herself. She enjoyed that.

When Emma left for camp that year she didn’t wear the ugly rainbow bracelet Bruce made her. It wasn’t something that was a part of her anymore. If he didn’t want to be her friend, or anything more, then so be it.

Emma stood by the sign and waited by Cordelia. Their brother had rejoined them at Athelstan and he stood silently beside them.

Bruce exited on his usual bus and Emma pretended to not notice. She turned her head away, but watched him in her peripheral vision. 

Bruce waved shyly and then made his way to the group. Emma felt her eyes burn, she couldn’t do it. Emma fled the area and instead went to put up her items in the cabin. 

Frost would have nobody this year as a bunkmate having moved up a cabin. Emma was grateful, she needed space.

Emma decided not to check her cubby for mail, it was in the main cabin and that wasn’t a place she could bear. Too many memories of her father tarnished the halls.

Instead Emma went to the soccer field, she hadn’t been there in years. It was less kept than she remembered and the lines were faded by time.

Emma sat down where she did as a small child and tore out fistfuls of grass. She tore and tore at the green until her hand spasmed. 

For a moment she thought about Bruce, or Shy as he was known then, picking flowers. At the young boy then weaving the stems together into a crown to give her.

It made her stomach lurch. Emma attempted to straighten her fingers and she watched as her fingers twitched.

“Emma? No way,” Bobby’s voice came from behind her.

“I can go,” Emma began to stand.

“No, please stay. We haven’t got to hang out in a bit,” the boy’s words seemed genuine.

Emma agreed to stay and the pair passed Bobby’s ball between them. It was silent minus the tapping of feet on the ball.

“Are you okay?” Drake asked.

“I’m fine,” the blonde replied.

“Then why do you sound like that?” Bobby tipped the ball.

“Needed a change,” it wasn’t a lie.

“Your brother is back,” Bobby changed the subject.

“He is,” Emma nodded.

“I want him back,” the boy paused, “the old him,”.

“I do too,” Emma agreed.

The two continued to pass the ball until it was dinner time. Emma ate with Bobby and Warren, she looked over to her old spot and saw her two siblings. 

Bruce was nowhere to be seen, not that she was looking. Emma leaned slightly and then found the teen boy, he was back by the trash by himself.

“You two break up?” Warren asked.

Emma startled, “There was nothing to break in the first place,”.

“Right,” Bobby laughed.

Emma straightened her body, she didn’t want Bruce to know she’d been looking for him. 

“Damn. He’s still wearing those bracelets,” Bobby was now standing up to get a better view of the younger boy.

“Bobby, sit down!” Emma half hissed.

“Wow he actually looks pretty pathetic,” Drake continued to stand and narrate.

Emma grabbed the boy’s arm and drug him into his seat. Some small part of her hoped the bracelets were the ones she and Delia gave him. 

That night Emma tossed and turned. She wanted to rip her skin off and clean it with bleach. She’d felt dirty ever since Mr.Kendall first touched her. Uncomfortable in her own skin.

She constantly had dreams of him. They weren’t pleasant and always made her wake up in a cold sweat. She’d even found herself wetting the bed once when it first happened.

It had officially been one week at camp, the entire time Emma had either been alone or with the older boys. Bruce had attempted to talk to her at least twice, but she ran away every time he got near.

Why would he try to talk to her after ignoring her for a year? Would he even want to talk to her if he knew about him ?

Emma was miserable, but forced herself to continually move. She avoided two places: the shed and the cubbies. Everywhere else was free game to her antsy feet.

For lunch she rejoined her boys. She did her scan of the room and saw her siblings once again together. She then looked towards Adrienne and her cronies and stopped. Her group was there, but Adrienne was not. 

Emma’s heart stuttered when she found her older sister. The platinum blonde was bent over talking to Bruce who was still by the trash. Adrienne lent out a hand and the scrawny boy took it.

Then Emma watched in horror as Bruce joined the girls table at the edge by her sister. For a second Emma thought she was going to break the table.

“Oh I get it now! You broke up because he liked your older sister!” Bobby spoke with the enthusiasm of a detective solving a case.

“I don’t think that’s right,” Warren replied, looking sheepish.

“I need to breathe,” Emma stood up and quickly exited the building. 

Emma walked and walked. She threw rocks and kicked trash. She wanted to scream and scream until her throat gave out.

Emma didn’t notice she’d made her way to the shed in her rage. She briefly thought about turning around before remembering Bruce was still eating.

She inspected their backyard and found it to be a little disheveled but otherwise good. She then hovered on the porch before opening the door to the building. 

The inside was as she’d left it. Old Christmas lights sat on the floor waiting to be plugged in. Emma’s heart tugged and she crossed her arms.

Emma entered their pillow fort, though now it seemed smaller than it did originally. She stopped once her head popped in. There was a lone crane sitting in the fort.

Emma grabbed the origami and slowly exited the pillows and headed outside. She looked at the sharp edges of the paper and imagined Bruce carefully crafting it.

Frost kept the paper as she made her way back to the camp. She stopped when she heard footsteps and hid in a bush off the unofficial path. 

“Emma?” it was Bruce.

Emma sat silently in the bush.

“Emma?” the teen turned “Emma please!”.

The begging in his voice made Emma clench her sides to keep from running out.

“I-I miss you,” Bruce tried again.

Emma missed him too, but she held firm. She waited for him to leave towards the shed before leaving her green hiding spot.

Emma itched her legs as she made her way back to Athelstan. By the time she was in her cabin her skin was starting to turn a pinky red.

Her skin itched and she scratched it. With every fingernail on her skin it made the irritation worse. Emma frowned and then left for the sign.

Emma sighed as she looked towards the list of flora and then made her way to the nurses station. Her fears were confirmed when the nurse told her she had gotten into poison ivy, a leafy three pronged plant. 

Emma was given a cream and then sent on her way with her legs wrapped up. Emma paused at the main exit of the building, it was the first time she’d made it to the main cabin.

Curiosity burned in Emma’s mind. Had she received any mail? 

Emma made sure nobody else was in the room as she entered. One look at her box confirmed that she had mail. A stack of papers in familiar handwriting sat in a straight column.

Bruce wasn’t sure what constituted blackmail, but he felt like Adrienne might’ve. He had been forced to stay at the older girl’s side under duress. 

Banner should’ve pieced together why he hadn’t received a single letter from Emma, even after he sent her a letter with his new address. He had moved in with his Aunt Elaine and her immediate family. 

The answer came in the form of the blonde by his side. Adrienne had collected the first several letters the boy had originally sent, which in turn had Emma send letters to a vacant house.

Those letters contained an embarrassing amount of personal information that Bruce couldn’t risk getting out to the other campers. They still saw him as the boy who pissed himself and lost control in his fight with Alvers. 

Having other people know about his dead mom, abusive dad, and now divorced aunt wouldn’t help the situation. So, when Adrienne revealed what she’d done he was forced to do as she said.

For the most part he just hung around her and her friends. Occasionally they would make him carry stuff for them or make him fetch their items they left behind.

After the first few days of him being her lackey she started to want more. Asking for him to hold her hand like he used to with Emma. This was also something she only wanted him to do in her younger sister’s presence.

“I don’t really like this,” Bruce frowned, looking at their laced fingers.

“I’m not doing this for you or for me,” Adrienne sighed.

“Then why are we holding hands then?” Bruce didn’t get her motive.

“You wouldn’t understand,” the older girl let go of his hand after seeing Emma leave the area.

“I know I’m younger than you, but I’m pretty smart,” Bruce replied.

Adrienne just looked down at him and seemed to contemplate telling him. She then shook her head and gestured for Bruce to follow her back to her friend group.

Bruce hated eating lunch with the girls. It wasn’t that he hated being with them, but more so that he missed where he used to sit. 

He hadn’t even spoken to Christian since he was allowed back into camp. Cordelia seemed to be helping him readjust, but part of Bruce felt guilty leaving them. After all, Christian had been so nice to him all those years ago.

“Bruce, can you please be less depressing? I’m trying to enjoy this slop a little bit,” Adrienne spoke.

“Do you get along with them?” Bruce asked.

The girls at the table stared at the teen boy and then back at Adrienne.

“You’re so nosey Brucey ,” Emma’s nickname for him sounded wrong in her voice.

“I’m not the one who looked through other people ma—” Bruce started.

Adrienne slammed her palms on the table, “Don’t you finish that sentence,”.

Bruce closed his mouth. Maybe he shouldn’t play games with someone who knew his secrets. He looked over his shoulder to see Emma missing from her seat with the boys.

A small part of Bruce got hopeful that Emma had gone to check her cubbie, he’d been leaving old letters in the box. After not getting any letters back the boy just wrote and kept them for camp. 

Bruce was silent for the rest of his lunch and as soon as the girl’s finished he told them he needed to shower. Instead the boy ran to the shack where he thought he heard someone. 

After not receiving an answer to his many calls to Emma he wasn’t very hopeful for any signs of her at the shack. When he arrived he was instead greeted by a missing crane. 

Someone had been there and it wasn’t hard to piece together who. Bruce swallowed thickly, maybe this was a sign Emma would start talking to him again.

Bruce all but sprinted back to camp. His heart pounded as he tried to watch the main cabin’s doors. He ached to see Emma.

When she exited the building with a large stack of papers Bruce was almost certain his heart was going to jump out of his chest. Her face was a bright pink, alongside the rest of her skin.

Had she already read the papers? Bruce wasn’t sure.

Banner watched the girl make her way to her cabin, papers in tow. He watched her pass by the trashcan and not throw the papers away. It was a little win, but it counted. 

When Bruce checked his mailbox he was greeted with a letter, a message from his cousin. Jennifer had become closer to him after he moved into her house. Bruce pocketed the letter and made his way to his cabin.

The next day Bruce woke up extra early to see Emma. Adrienne tended to sleep in so this was the best time to walk freely. 

He found Emma on the grass by herself, her arms crossed. 

“Hey,” Bruce almost whispered.

“Hi,” she replied looking up at him.

“Did you get my letters?” Bruce asked.

“Yes, they were nice. You should’ve given me them before now,” Emma frowned.

“I tried to. Can I sit down?” the brunette asked.

Emma nodded once and Bruce plopped on the Earth beside her.

“Your sister, Adrienne…She uh, has the letters,” Bruce chewed on his bottom lip.

Emma’s brows drew together, “What?”.

“I moved and I sent you my new address. Adrienne has the original letters, she knows way too much,” Bruce tried to not think too heavily about the contents of his letters.

“Is that why you and her have been…,” Emma trailed off.

“Yeah, she’s been playing games with me,” Bruce nodded in confirmation.

“That bitch! I’m not even sure what she gains from this,” Emma’s new accent broke slightly as she raised her voice.

“I’m not sure either, but I think it has something to do with you. She makes me hold hands with her only when you’re near,” the teen boy supplied.

“Does she make you…do other things?” Emma’s voice sounded strange, as if the words had possessed her as she asked them.

“No! There’s no need to worry. I promise,” Bruce reached a hand out to touch the oddly behaved woman. 

“No!” Emma jerked her arm away from the smaller teen’s hand, “I meant, I just don’t want to be messed with at the moment,”. 

Bruce had almost jumped out of his skin when the girl had yelled. He then just nodded wordlessly at the other’s explanation. 

“What the hell are you doing?” Adrienne’s voice came from behind the couple.

“He’s spending time with a person who actually cares about him,” Emma replied.

“Oh is that so?” Adrienne popped her hip and placed a hand there.

“Yeah, it is!” Emma began to stand.

“Would he care about you though if he knew about Ian?” Adrienne’s words were sharp.

Bruce’s head tilted. He’d never met anyone with that name at camp.

“Stop Adrienne,” Emma froze, her words sounded desperate.

“She doesn’t care about you Bruce. All she cares about is stealing other people’s man,” Adrienne was now speaking directly down at the boy.

“She cares about me,” Bruce stood up, smaller than both sisters.

“Hmm. I don’t really think Emma was thinking about you while she was kissing him, ” Adrienne replied, her voice cold.

“Bruce! Adrienne! Please,” Emma’s face was bright red and her lips quivered.

Bruce looked from one sister to the other. Adrienne oozed contempt towards her younger sister. Whereas, Emma seemed to be in a state of pure agony, tears now leaked from her eyes.

Bruce lowered his hand towards Emma slowly. The girl took it and Bruce lifted her onto her feet. If he had to trust one of the Frost sisters it would always be Emma who’d win. 

The two then walked away from Adrienne who had begun to yell causing a scene, “I’m going to tell everyone about you! Everyone will know Bruce Banner is the son of a murder!”.

People had begun to circle the trio. Watching with hungry eyes, ready to be entertained.

“His dad killed his mom!” Adrienne added even louder.

Bruce felt his throat go dry, he would always be seen as other. No matter what he did the truth would always be out.

“Let’s go,” Bruce tugged on Emma’s hand.

The two began to leave the area, tired of being perceived as a spectacle. They kept walking until they made it to the hiking trail and didn’t stop til they made it to the shed.

“I hate her,” Emma was still teary eyed.

“She doesn’t matter. Are you okay?” Bruce asked.

Emma shook her head ‘no’.

“Do you want to lay in my lap?” Bruce questioned.

Emma nodded ‘yes’.

Bruce plugged in the old Christmas lights and plopped down on the floor. Emma then laid on her back and placed her head in his lap. Bruce slowly eased his fingers to her head and wove his digits into her hair.

They stayed there for a bit. Emma with her eyes tightly closed, occasionally having a tear escape. And Bruce carefully massaging her head, admiring the new shiny blonde of her hair.

“Ian w–” Emma began.

“You don’t have to explain anything to me Emma,” Banner cut her off, he didn’t want to rush her.

“No, I need to tell someone this,” Emma took a deep breath, “Ian was my teacher. He taught English and I thought he liked me. Well, he did and he started to treat me differently. He made me feel special sometimes, other times he called me names. He liked to keep me guessing, that was until we were caught. He got fired and everyone said it was my fault,”.

Emma’s eyes watered over and Bruce wiped them away.

“He shouldn’t have looked at you like that. We just got out of elementary school. He’s going to hell,” Bruce attempted to soothe her.

“He would t–touch me and I…” Emma began to fully sob again.

Bruce slowly moved his hands, allowing for Emma to see the motions. Emma gave him a slight nod and he wrapped their hands together. Emma then brought their hands closer to her face and gave them a small kiss. Their hands were wet from her tears when he brought them up to his mouth and gave them an additional, soft kiss.

“Promise me you won’t kill yourself,” Emma looked at the scarring on Bruce’s wrists.

“I promise,” Bruce replied, looking down at the woman in his lap.

There was a long pause before Emma spoke again.

“I knew it was wrong, but I just wanted the attention,” Emma unwound their hands and reached outwards towards Bruce’s chest.

Bruce let her slip a hand under his shirt, his breath hitched as she made contact with his chest. Emma stopped sobbing as hard as she made contact with the scarring on his front. Her nails made contact with the different textures and sizes of his lacerations, she seemed to be mapping them out mentally.

“Emma, I just want you to know that none of that was your fault. Everyone around failed you,” Bruce consoled her.

“You think too highly of me. I’m contaminated,” Emma started to pull her hand back.

Bruce slowly pressed her hand back towards his chest, “If someone touches you and it makes you contaminated, it sounds like they were the ones who were truly dirty,”.

The two stayed in the shed overnight, cuddled together with Emma’s hand under Bruce’s shirt. Emma didn’t care when the counselor's called her mom, or when she was grounded. She had Bruce’s new address in her pocket and the next summer to look forward to.

Chapter Text

Bruce popped his antipsychotics into his mouth and swallowed them dry. He’d been on the same medication for years and he swore it did nothing, but cost him money.

He’d moved into his Aunt Elaine’s house following Susan’s divorce. He missed the woman’s soft music playing in the house, but he understood that she needed her own space at the moment.

One thing Bruce had gained in his move was Jennifer. His spunky cousin was just a year his junior and had been a serious motivation for the teen. She was bright and opinionated and it made Bruce want to crawl out of his shell some.

Uncle Morris had explained to Bruce that if he wanted to go to Athelstan he’d have to pay his own way there. Instead of being bothered he looked towards Jen, who just gave him a nod to follow her.

They made their money back by selling lemonade and picking up bottles on the side of the road. Empty used glass were thrown into the pairs bags. Then they took them to the donation center and were awarded a nickel per bottle.

By the time summer rolled around the pair had enough to get two tickets to camp. 

“You’ll need a hat. If not the sun will burn your scalp,” Bruce watched his cousin pack.

“Relax, it’s a different state. Not a different planet,” Jen rolled her eyes, but grabbed a cap anyways.

“You’ll thank me when we get there,” Bruce laid on her suitcase as she zipped it shut.

The pair made their way towards the door to leave. Jennifer kissed her parents and hugged them bye. Morris glared over her shoulder at Bruce, a silent warning.

Bruce just looked away. He was used to people hating him, his uncle couldn’t hurt him any worse than his father.

“Let’s go!” Jennifer slung open the door.

Bruce ran after her, waving awkwardly behind him towards his relatives. He didn’t need to stay longer than necessary. 

The pair walked on foot until they made it to a Greyhound bus. Bruce handed the driver a fistful of quarters and they sighed before letting the duo on.

“Wow! Everyone here looks like they want to kill us,” Jennifer picked a window seat with nobody around.

“They always do,” Bruce flopped down beside her.

Banner started on a crossword puzzle while Jen listened to her MP3 player. Bruce loved word games and any type of activity that allowed him to use his brain. 

The drive was long and the air in the bus was stuffy. The pair shared a bag of gummy worms and stared out of the window. Bruce grabbed their bags and took the lead to the pair’s next stop. The cousins walked two miles beside a highway and nearly got run over a thousand times. 

“Here we go,” Bruce tossed his bag on the ground and flopped on the dirt next to it.

“This sucks,” Jennifer wiped sweat off her brow.

“You should’ve seen my walk when I lived with Susan,” Bruce got out a bottle of water and took a sip.

Jennifer reached out and took the bottle. She then attempted to waterfall the beverage and missed her mouth. A cool rush of water ran down her shirt.

“Damn,” the teen girl frowned.

“It’s oka–,” Bruce stopped speaking as the girl poured the entire beverage on her head, drenching her body.

“Now that’s better,” Jen smiled.

“You know we have to get on the bus soon,” Bruce frowned.

“We have time. I’ll dry in the heat,” Jennifer popped an earbud in her ear.

The bus came an hour later and Bruce gestured for Jen to board. Jen took a seat on the girls side and Bruce sat on the boys. 

“This is really old school,” Jennifer turned to face him.

“Yeah, the camp itself is actually okay though. It’s not the best, but I have fun,” Banner replied.

“You have fun because of Emma not camp ,” Jen teased him.

“Nuh-uh,” Bruce turned around to avoid looking at his cousin, his face red.

The two then went back to their forms of entertainment, with Bruce cracking open his puzzle book. He listened to the music that leaked out of his cousin’s cheap headphones. The voice was hushed, but the bass buzzed, the boy hummed along.

A body flopped into the seat in front of him, Bruce looked up. Lance Alvers was in the seat, turned completely around to face him.

“Banner! Do you know her?” he pointed at his relative.

Jennifer looked up and took out an earbud, “She has a name. It’s Jennifer,”.

“You’re too pretty to hang out with this loser,” Alvers cast a side eye towards Bruce as he spoke.

“We’re cousins, nasty,” Jennifer scrunched her nose.

“Huh,” Lance looked at the pair slowly, “I guess you do have the same hair,”.

“So you think my hair is pretty?” Bruce couldn’t help himself.

Lance huffed and then turned around. A rare action, one that Bruce thought would be filled with violence instead. He would have to tell Jen later all about his past history with the meanspirited boy.

Bruce stepped out of the bus first when they arrived with Jennifer in tow. He knew where to meet the Frost family and guided his cousin to the spot.

“Hi I’m Cordelia! You can call me Delia!” the youngest sibling flung her hand towards Jennifer with more enthusiasm than Bruce had ever seen.

“Jennifer Walters,” the brunette shook her hand with equal energy.

Emma looked at the two girls' hands and then straight at Bruce, her expression puzzled. She also didn’t seem to understand Delia’s sudden attitude change.

“They’ll go over some boring announcements. You’re supposed to go on some introductory hike because you’re new. You don’t have to go though, I’ll let you bunk with me,” Cordelia grabbed the girl’s bag and began to drag the luggage away.

“Wow…that was interesting,” Bruce watched the girls go.

“You’ve been replaced,” Christian almost smiled at Emma teasingly.

“It’s okay. She needs someone else to be around,” the blonde replied.

Emma and Bruce threw their clothes in their cabins and met up at the soccer field.

“Do you have it?” Emma asked, trying to peep behind Bruce’s back.

“You tell me,” Bruce pulled out a kite, it was small and in the shape of a butterfly.

“That’s adorable,” Emma grabbed the piece and inspected it.

Emma unwound the string and threw the body of the kite. It in turn looped and crashed into the earth, tangling in its own string.

“Hmm,” Bruce squatted and began to untangle the mess, “Maybe we should try a different strategy,”.

Once everything was straightened Emma grabbed onto the body of the kite and ran. She then released it as a breeze began to blow. The thin contraption flew for a handful of seconds before crashing back down.

“Maybe Georgia isn’t the place to fly kites,” Bruce reached out slowly to touch the teen’s arm.

Emma allowed him to make contact and she nodded in agreement. They’d have to find a more windy place to have a successful flight. 

“I have a treat I wanted to surprise you with,” Bruce led her towards the mess hall.

“Is it something you’re supposed to have?” Emma asked, her eyes glittering in mischief.

“It’s not anything too crazy,” the boy entered the building and then came back with two cups and a coke.

“This doesn’t seem like contraband,” Emma watched as the boy handed her a cup.

Emma looked inside the container to see peanuts on its bottom. She frowned, was she supposed to eat them? 

Bruce cracked open the coke bottle and then gestured for Emma to show him her glass. Then the boy poured coke over the legumes and filled half the glass. He then repeated the same for himself.

“I read a magazine on southern traditions so we could do something special together,” Banner explained the weird concoction.

Bruce took the first sip and nodded his head that it was good. Emma followed and was pleasantly surprised. The salt on the peanuts and the fizz on the coke made for a tasty treat. It was unlike any flavor she’d experienced on her more refined pallet.

“Wow! That’s actually pretty good,” Emma looked down into her glass in wonder.

“I know, I thought it was going to be gross,” Bruce gave the girl a smile.

“I told you we would find them together,” Delilah’s voice came from behind them.

“They really are glued to each other,” Jennifer stood beside her.

The four ate dinner together, they even got Christian and the boys to join. All the Frost siblings minus Adrienne ate together once again.

Emma wasn’t a fan of team sports or group activities. The girl was even less enthusiastic at the notion of being a participant in a tug-of-war. She and the girls in her age group stood at one end of the rope, its fray in their hands. On the other side was Bruce and the rest of the boys. Bruce looked miserable, his glasses perched on his slender nose, his small frame radiating anxiety.

It was nice to know that Emma wasn’t the only unwilling participant. She looked at the dingy rope and sighed. A flag was tied in the middle of the old string, ready to tell who was the victor.

“Ready, set, go!” a counselor yelled louder than necessary. 

Although Emma held indifference to the game, she wasn’t a fan of losing. Being the best was simply one of her favorite hobbies.

The boys tugged harshly in a sharp succession, the rope burnt Emma’s palm for a moment. Then Emma tugged once and instantly felt the rope listen to her action. She was already the same height as the counselors at just fourteen years of age. She used her size to her advantage, pulling again. A few boys in the front stumbled.

Emma smiled, then tugged once more. The girls closest to her stopped pulling and stared at her. The boys in the front fell, Bruce included. Emma paused for a second allowing Banner to regain his footing. The brunette struggled, the ground beneath him now mostly a muddy muck.

The boy slipped and skidded, unable to gain footing. Emma sighed and decided to take the teen out of his misery. She gripped the rope and began to pace backwards, dragging her comptepors towards the line. She had no issue passing the flag over their line, winning the game.

A whistle blew, announcing the girl’s victory.

“No fair! The girls had Emma! She’s huge,” one of Lance’s friends complained.

“It is fair!” Bruce attempted to stand, his legs and torso covered in black mud.

“Of course you’d say that. You like that she’s freakishly tall,” the boy frowned.

“You’re just sad that you’re short,” Emma rubbed her hands on her shorts, “Plus you’re mad I won,”.

The boy’s face turned a shade of red and he made his way to the rest of his friends.

“I need a shower,” Bruce frowned, inspecting his muddy attire.

“That you do,” Emma replied.

While Bruce got refreshed Emma allowed herself a moment of introspection. She thought of her life outside the camp and swallowed harshly. There had been a recent development in her life, a series of emails. They had been vague, but semi-threatening in nature. She knew who they’d been from, a certain disgruntled teacher who’s life she had ruined. 

At least at camp he couldn’t reach her. His words couldn’t affect her when she was at Athelstan. Ian couldn’t touch her when she was with Bruce.

The decision to allow their family to see the shed was made on the last week camp that year. Bruce and Emma had tired from making up excuses for where they were going. There was only so many times you could lie before the truth was revealed.

One thing the couple had agreed on was pretending that they’d just found the building. It was Emma’s idea, afterall Delia would be crushed to know that they’d kept it from her for so long. If she knew where they went when they left her alone time and time again.

The duo led Christian, Delia, and Jennfier down the hiking trail. Then they led them down the path they knew in their bones. When they made it to the shack Christian laughed.

“Damn, dad really fucked up leaving this building here,” the boy’s chuckles held no warmth.

“Well that’s not the only thing dad messed up,” Cordelia gripped the back of the older boy’s arm.

Christian shook the girl’s hand off and approached the shed with speed. He then punched the wood of the door, there was a solid thunk in reply. 

“Can you not break our secret house on the first day?” Emma asked her brother.

“I’ll consider it,” Christian brought his fist towards his face, his knuckles were a shade of red.

Jennifer and Cordelia were immediately smitten by the place. The girls loved the atmosphere the old Christmas lights gave the aged building. Christian laughed at their idea of a yard they’d built a few years prior, his eyes a shade of red. His emotions seemed to be dialed up to an eleven and he smelled dank. 

Once everyone got in their “yard” they made a fire and sat in a circle around it. They used fallen trees as benches and looked into the yellow flames.

Delia reached into her backpack and grabbed out a pen, and a needle, “Who wants a tattoo?”.

“You are way too young to be doing anything like that,” Emma scolded her sister.

Delia shrugged and began to get the ink out of the pen. She then got it on the needle, it’s metal reflecting the light of the fire.

“I’ll go first,” Bruce offered himself, shockingly.

“What do you want?” Delia smiled, one of passion at the idea of creating.

Bruce walked over to the younger girl and whispered in her ear. Delia nodded and Bruce sat down in front of her. He then reached to the bottom of his shirt and revealed the sliver of his lower stomach.

Emma had never seen someone receive a tattoo before. She had a good feeling that whatever method she was seeing was more similar to a prison than what would be given in a professional setting.

Bruce took the ink like a champ, he laid on his back, his elbows propping him up. His head was tilted back which exposed his Adam's apple, for a moment Emma wanted to bite it. She shook the intrusive thought out of her head. 

“Done, don’t get in the water for a few days,” Delia instructed him.

Bruce stood up and admired his new ink. Emma leaned over to admire it, it was a small paper star. Emma bit the inside of her lip, she knew what she was going to ask for.

Delia’s lines were mostly straight with little error, Emma inspected her paper crane. It was on her rib cage, about the size of a quarter. She smiled at it, and thought of what it represented to her.

Jennifer ended up getting a ballet flat while Christian opted for what looked like an upside down wishbone. Delia gave herself a variety of stick and pokes all on her appendages, she claimed they were a form of personal expression and she didn’t care who judged her.

Emma doubted their mom would even notice them enough to care.

Emma and Bruce spent the rest of their vacation with each other and their families. Delia and Jennifer seemed to get along in a way that made their group stronger. Christian continued to have confusing behavior with his low eyes, but he seemed to really enjoy being at the shed.

Part of Bruce missed having the shed to just himself and Emma, but when he thought of the other three’s smiles and laughter he felt justified in their decision to show them. Emma on the other hand became more quiet on their last day together and held him extra tight before leaving.

The blonde teen knew her inbox would be flooded with vague threats when she arrived back home.

Chapter Text

The number of fake emails Emma had been receiving had nearly doubled in the past few months. It was obvious that Mr.Kendall’s mind was slipping. With each new email, Emma blocked the sender. 

Then she would receive another email days later from a different address. It was tiring and had become to disturb her. Emma mentioned the messages to her mother. Hazel blew her concerns off.

Emma thought of one message that mentioned the softness of her lips as she waited for Bruce. The thought that her teacher still thought of her younger self like that gave her chills.

“You okay?” Delia asked.

“Yeah, just felt a breeze,” Emma lied.

Cordelia nodded but Emma knew she didn’t believe her. Bruce and Jennifer got out of their usual bus, the pair waved at the siblings.

“We should do arts and crafts after we put our stuff away,” Delia suggested.

The group agreed and met up at the art station a while later. Delia and Jennifer sat side by side, attempting to wrap the tooth from the lake Delia found. The pair tied the tooth up carefully and made it into a necklace.

“You’re amazing,” Cordelia beamed at Jennifer.

“You were the one to find the tooth. So I’d say you did most of the work,” the teen replied.

Bruce and Emma were working on something entirely different. The duo were busy making more decor for the shed. Emma was folding as many paper stars as possible while Bruce threaded a needle. He then began to string together Emma’s creations into a garland of stars.

“I was thinking we could hang them from the ceiling. I would put them outside, but with the amount of rain Georgia gets it wouldn’t work out,” Emma creased a corner.

“Whatever you think will work the best,” Bruce reached out and grabbed a star.

Their fingers touched briefly and Bruce wanted to scream. He was beginning to be so repressed in his feelings for Emma that it had begun to cause him pain.

“I was thinking we could spend one afternoon watching the sunset at the shed together,” Emma spoke oblivious to the teen’s anguish.

“That sounds like fun,” Bruce tried to keep his voice steady.

Sitting down didn’t stop their height difference from being noticeable. Bruce was easily four inches shorter than the tall blonde. The boy half hoped that he would grow to be taller, but knew the years of his youth he spent malnourished were against him. Even his cousin Jennifer had reached his height.

Bruce, Jennifer, Emma, and Cordelia ate supper together. Christian decided to sit with the boys, the trio leaned over talking together. 

“Do you think he is doing better?” Bruce asked, looking at the blonde haired boy.

“He’s al–” Emma started.

“He’s been doing drugs to deal with life,” Delia cut her off.

“Oh,” Jennifer stopped mid-bite.

“How do you know that?” Emma’s eyebrows touched.

“He’s been smoking on the roof of our house for the past few years, Emma,” Delia rolled her eyes.

The table got quiet. Emma tried not to stare at the back of the boy’s head, now overly conscious of her eyes. The rest of their meal was awkward and Emma counted down the seconds to leave the mess hall.

Once she made it to her room she changed into her pajamas and made her way to her bed. She missed having Delia as a bunkmate, but her sister seemed happier with Jennifer. The two girls giggled and Emma pretended she was laughing with them.

Emma acted as the lookout while Bruce and Cordelia ran into the mess hall. Emma looked around the corners of the building making sure no staff was near. Instead she heard her brother’s voice, she flattened herself on the wall.

“We can just tell him later,” Christian’s voice rang.

“Why wait? The longer we take the more betrayed he’ll feel. Plus I think he already suspects it,” Christian replied.

Emma held as still as possible, the shadows of the two boys passed. Soon Bruce and Delia popped out of the building, holding a watermelon a piece.

“Told you, I knew where it was,” Bruce smiled at her.

“I never doubted you,” Emma replied.

Bruce quickly looked away at her praise, still holding the melon on his slight hips as if it were a baby.

Emma and the girls got into their swimsuits. Bruce had his trunks on with a shirt covering his many torso scars. They got to the edge of the water and then Delia took out a large knife.

“Where did you get that?” Jen asked.

“Stole it from the kitchen. We need a way to crack these melons,” Cordelia replied.

The grunge girl was the one to cut the green rinds of the watermelons. She cracked them in half so each person could get an equal portion. The group then sat at the edge of the water and began to eat the watery treat.

“My book said that the sweeter the melon is, the more juice it should have. I think we have some real winners,” Bruce spit out a black seed.

Cordelia laughed, “That’s the most innocent way to say ‘nice melons’”.

The girls laughed, Bruce didn’t. He didn’t quite get the joke, but he half smiled to fit in.

“How’s your ink holding up?” Delia asked Jennifer.

Jen showed the part of her leg with the ballet flat, it looked decent. Its color had become slightly less dark, but you could still tell what it was.

Their watermelon floated in the water, the rinds buoyant in the fresh water. A small part of Emma screamed that letting the water touch the food wasn’t hygienic, but she couldn’t find it in herself to care.

The water was cool and the sun beamed down on the set of teens. They would likely get sunburns from the harsh rays.

Once the group exited the water they split off into two groups. Bruce and Emma went to get changed to spend the afternoon with each other at the shed. Meanwhile Delia and Jennifer headed towards the showers.

“I want you to help me dye my hair,” Cordelia pulled out a box.

“Okay, but I haven’t dyed anyone’s hair before,” Jennifer replied, touching her poofy brunette hair.

“It’s okay, I’ll talk you through it,” Delia replied.

The girls stepped into an open shower stall with their swimsuits still on. Delia handed Jen a pair of plastic gloves and shut the door. Delia then wet her hair and washed out the lake water. She then opened up the box and told Jennifer to mix the ingredients together.

Once Jennifer had completed the mixture she slathered it into Delia’s hair. Her hair was saturated with the dark goo. The girls stood with Jennifer’s face towards Delia’s back as they waited for ten minutes to hit.

“I bet you didn’t expect to be doing this today,” Delia spoke.

“I wouldn't bet against anything where you’re concerned,” Jennifer replied.

“Is that supposed to be a compliment or?” Delia asked in a moment of vulnerability.

“I guess it is,” Jen replied.

The girl sat in silence for a minute before Cordeila lost her patience and dipped her head under the stream of water. 

“It wasn’t time yet,” Jennifer looked at the dark water floating down the drain.

“I got tired of waiting,” Delia smiled as the dark water washed down her face, leaving a trail in its wake.

Jennifer felt something she didn’t quite understand.

“I just wanted you to know that all the stuff that happens here isn’t your fault,” Delia closed her eyes, her head tilted back.

“What do you mean?” Jennifer tried to avoid getting splashed.

“This place. This land. It’s haunted, built on the backs of people who didn’t deserve their fate. It makes people do things they normally wouldn’t,” Delia shook her short hair, droplets landing on the other girl.

Jennifer nodded, so that was why she felt the way she did about the girl in front of her.

“Are you alright?” Bruce's words startled Emma.

“I was just thinking,” Emma tried to give him a warm smile.

“About?” concern glistened in the teen’s brown eyes.

Emma swallowed, “Do you remember the man?”.

“That man?” Bruce asked.

Emma nodded once, “I think he’s been emailing me. It wasn’t too bad at first, but now…” the girl trailed off.

“Emma you’ve got to tell someone about this,” Bruce replied with urgency in his voice.

“I told my mom, but she didn’t care. I don’t think I have any adults in my life who care,” Emma replied.

“Then tell the police, please. I don’t want anything to happen to you,” Bruce begged.

Emma’s eyes burned and her throat felt tight. She nodded and then faced towards the setting sun. She heard Bruce open something and turned to see him pop one of his pills.

“Let’s go outside to really experience this together,” Bruce reached out a hand.

Emma took it and the pair left the shed to sit on one of their tree benches. The two sat side by side, Bruce slowly reached his arm around Emma and she nodded. His small arms held them together, Emma slipped a hand onto the skin of his stomach, the lacerations of his skin keeping her grounded.

The sunset was a watercolor of reds, pinks, and yellows. Emma watched the sun go down, Bruce watched her beautiful face be bathed in the richly colored light. He stood up once the sun had disappeared and led Emma towards the path home.

Halfway down the path the boy stopped and led Emma to a tree. He took out a pocketknife Joe had stolen and wrote his initials ‘B.B.’. Emma wrote hers after she was given the small knife, she didn’t mention how he chose to ignore the ‘R’ in his name. 

She added a plus sign in the middle of their two names, and then closed the knife. Bruce inhaled sharply.

“What’s wrong?” Emma asked her brows knit together.

“Nothing,” Bruce rubbed the back of his neck.

Bruce was not having a good morning, his father’s voice rang in his ears as he awoke from a terrible dream. The teen sat upright as he remembered fragments of the horrid scene. 

He shook his head in the darkness of the room. It wasn’t a fictitious dream, but rather an instance of his own life melted with his horrid subconscious.

His mouth was watery, saliva pooling. He felt nausea bubble up and he knew he’d have to run to the bathroom. He was quick to make it to the door and was greeted by rain outside.

It had been raining in his nightmare as well. Bruce ran to the outhouse like he ran from his father.

He slipped on the wet grass, just like his mother had fallen on the concrete of their carport.

Bruce vomited, mud and half digested food littered his clothes and body. Rebecca’s skull cracked, brain matter and blood stained the concrete.

Bruce sobbed once, inhaled unevenly and then threw up again. Rebecca Banner never moved again,besides the shaking from her young son who urged her awake.

The fifteen year old sat in fetal position while the rain pelted his body. By the time the sun had begun to crack into the sky the nausea had begun to subside.

He then stood up and attempted to weasel his way into the cabin. He prayed nobody was awake to see his appearance as he grabbed clothes from his bag and ran towards the bathroom to shower.

He was already the piss boy, the crybaby, the son of a murderer, and the shared child of the victim. Bruce couldn’t also be the kid who threw up on himself.

During his shower he shivered, his skin burnt in the stream of water. He kept the shower short and changed into his new dry clothes. 

Warren stood outside the stall, “Dude are you alright?”.

Bruce nodded, his face heating up even more. He’d awoken his bunkmate in his haste.

“You really don’t look so well,” the older boy’s face showed concern.

“I’m okay, I just need to lay down,” Banner replied, trying to ease him.

“Here, let me walk you back,” the blonde led the way back.

Truth be told Bruce really wasn’t feeling the best so he allowed himself to be escorted back to his bed. Warren, Christian, and Bobby shared a look. Then Bruce laid flat on his back shivering, waiting for sleep to reclaim him.

The teen wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he felt someone touch his arm. He pried his eyes open to see Emma standing above him. He opened his mouth in surprise and was awarded one of her soft hands over his lips.

“Hush, I’m not supposed to be here. We’re going to the shed and I’m going to take care of you,” Emma’s voice held no room for argument.

Bruce nodded once, he was obviously having a fever dream. Once he made it out of the cabin Emma led him to the rest of her family and Jen.

The teens took turns supporting Bruce’s slight weight on the way to the shack. By the time they got there the boy was coated in sweat.

Cordelia and Jennifer made a pillow and blanket fort while Emma sat down in it. 

“Sit his head on my lap and make him comfortable on some pillows,” Emma ordered the others.

Emma’s thighs were very warm, Bruce thought his mind was going to melt. She stroked his wet hair which shined with sweat.

“Mmmng” Bruce groaned.

“Hush. You took care of me, now I’m going to take care of you,” Emma’s voice was both stern and warm.

Bruce slept for a while, softly snoring in Emma’s lap. When he woke up it was just the two of them in the house, their family outside.

“When we get too old for this place I’ll miss you like breathing,” Bruce kept his eyes closed.

“We still have three more summers to share,” Emma rubbed his back.

“I need more than that with you. I don’t care if it makes me selfish,” Bruce’s words were as intense as his fever.

“You’re sick, Bruce. You don’t know what you’re saying,” Emma paused, her hand still on his back.

“I know exactly what I’m saying. I’ve been wanting to say these things forever to you. Emma, I love you and I can’t keep it to myself anymore,” Bruce opened his eyes now staring into the pair of baby blues above him.

“We can talk about this when you’re better,” Emma’s voice was soft.

“Okay,” Bruce’s heart sank, what if that was her way of letting him down?

Music played outside and Emma drug Bruce to his feet. The pair stumbled outside to see Delia’s old vinyl playing while the girls braided each others hair.

Christian hummed to himself and stopped as the couple approached. He then took out a pocket knife and began to chip away at a block of wood.

Emma and Bruce swayed to the music under the string of fairy lights. The sun began to set and fireflies began to light up the sky. Emma took the lead with Bruce flopping around lazily against her.

Jennifer began to swirl in circles near them, her braids trailing behind. She showed off her skills from her classes at ballet while Cordelia sat on a log and clapped.

Bruce and Emma’s dance had begun to devolve into just a messy hug with a slight sway. Emma looked towards her brother and saw that she was gone. She frowned and untangled herself from Bruce and sat him down.

“I’m going to check on Christian. You need to rest anyways,” the blonde started her way back to the house.

She knew something was wrong the second she entered the shack. The door was cracked and Christian was in the pillow fort facing downwards, his nose on the floor with no cushion beneath him.

Emma ran over and shook her brother. He didn’t respond so she began to check for a pulse, it was fast and erratic. 

“Help!” Emma screamed now scooping her brother up, his head in her arms.

Jennifer and Cordelia were there in a second. A few beats later Bruce shuffled in. Delia instantly flopped onto the floor beside her siblings.

“What’s wrong with him?” Delia’s face scrunched as if she were in pain.

“I don’t know,” Emma pried his eyelids open, his pupils were huge.

Jennifer helped Bruce down to where the other three laid. Jennifer rubbed on Delia’s arm while Bruce erratically began to slap around in the fort.

“I knew it,” Bruce held up an empty bottle, it was his antipsychotics, “we need to get him to the hospital now,”.

Delia kissed her brother’s forehead and then her sister’s. She then ran her hand through Jennifer’s hair and gave Bruce a hug.

“Goodbye,” Cordelia ran out of the room.

The rest of the night was a blur. Christian was taken to the emergency room for a possible drug overdose. Bruce was also taken in on a suspicion of pneumonia.

The next day Jennifer woke Emma up. She took her awake, a look of fear on her face.

“Do you know where Delia is?” Walters asked.

“What?” Emma sat up.

“She didn’t come back after she got help. I thought she’d be back by the morning but nobody knows where she is,” Jennifer chewed on her thumb.

Emma didn’t change out of her pajamas she left in such a hurry, Jennifer trailed behind. Once Emma found her older sister she knew Adrienne was upset.

“Did you take my watches?” Adrienne asked, her face red.

“No! We have bigger issues than the watches you stole from mom,” Emma replied.

“What do you mean?” Adrienne frowned.

“Your little sister is missing,” Jennifer burst in.

“Oh no. Oh my God,” Adrienne covered her mouth.

“She’s been gone since last night,” Emma supplied.

“You don’t think she took my watches when she left?,” Adrienne’s red face deepened in shade.

The idea that her sister left on her own freewill was both a blessing and a curse. It was better than her being kidnapped, but it would also mean she chose to be alone versus with her family.

“She did mention wanting to run away before, but that was years ago,” Emma began to sweat.

“Wait…she did act kind of strange when I dyed her hair. She was talking about how nothing was my fault,” Jen’s voice cracked.

“What the fuck. We need to look around for her just in case,” Adrienne no longer seemed to care about the watch.

“Don’t act like you suddenly care about this family,” Emma barked at her sister.

“Are you that daft?” Adrienne laughed without any humor, “Why do you think I act the way that I do?”.

“Because you’re a bitch,” Emma replied back.

“Do you really think that mother and father cared to take care of you guys as babies? Or do you think they made their oldest daughter their maid? Just ask yourself if you’d want to be around the people who you were forced to raise as a child,” Adrienne spoke without taking a single breath.

Emma didn’t know that. She didn’t know if it even mattered at this point.

“Guys let’s stop fighting and look for Delia,” Jen tried to stop the siblings.

“I have been looking out for your ass your entire life and you treat me like shit! Yes, I wanted our English teacher. Yes I saw you two kiss. And yes I was the one who snitched on you two. You know why Emma?” Adrienne couldn’t be stopped.

“Be—” Emma began.

“Because I saw how fucked up of a person he was through you. The amount of disgust I felt seeing you, my baby sister, with a grown man was revolting! He was taking advantage of you and if I had my way then she would’ve done the same to me! You can call me a bitch all you want, but it doesn’t change the truth,” Adrienne’s voice was shaky.

Emma wanted to punch her sister, hard and directly in her teeth. Instead she hugged her and Adrienne returned her embrace. Jennifer stared at the two of them awkwardly.

“So can we look for her now?” Jen asked.

“Let’s” Emma agreed.

Chapter Text

Emma and the girls never found Delia. The girl had left for what seemed like for good. It made Emma ache and she told her ails to Bruce. 

The boy shared the sentiment that he missed Delia, but it wasn’t the same. Emma had always had Cordelia in her life as long as she could remember. Bruce stuffed his letters to the brim with tiny paper cranes.

Soon the two exchanged phone numbers, Emma had a Blackberry flip phone and Bruce had a landline. He told her that he was able to get it by doing odd jobs around his neighborhood.The two made an effort to at least speak to each other twice a week. That wasn’t including their snail mail they exchanged in secession. 

Emma finally told the police about the emails she had been receiving. They told her there was nothing they could do until it escalated, but it was good to have a paper trail. The girl now printed out every scary anonymous email she received.

Emma was nervous to go back to camp this year. She and Bruce never finished their conversation from the summer before. Bruce’s sickly confession bounced in the back of her mind, she knew it would have to be addressed.

The ride to camp was quite the whole way. Christian was completely still gazing at his phone. He’d confided in Emma that the cause of his overdose was a conflict with Bobby. He’d explained that the boys were an item and that they told Warren who didn’t know what to think.

This caused tension in the couple, which he decided to ease with Bruce’s pills. It wasn’t till Christian was in the hospital that Warren settled on the idea of his best friend dating each other. 

Adrienne’s last year at the camp would be this year, she was now an adult. It reminded Emma of how short the time left at camp with Bruce really was. 

When she arrived she stood by her brother at the sign. Soon Bruce and Jennifer joined her. Emma noticed that Jen had dyed her hair a few shades darker, but kept the comment to herself. Bruce just looked the same as he always did, and for that she was grateful.

“Hi,” he looked sheepish.

“Hey,” she wrapped around him for a hug.

They spent their first day back together in the company of Jennifer. The trio picked flowers and Bruce taught them how to make flower crowns.

His fingers wove the green stems of the plants together with a grace that Emma had trouble finding. Emma watched his moves intently yet still struggled in her craft. Jennifer seemed to have an easier time which led Frost to believe that her large hands put her at a disadvantage with the fragile flora.

Bruce placed his crown on Emma’s head, it consisted of a variety of different colored flowers. Jennifer’s crown was made of a single purple flower, but Emma preferred Bruce’s. 

She wasn’t biased. Or maybe she was.

They spent the rest of their day doing crafts. Jennifer was a professional when it came to making hair wraps and she tried to teach Emma. This was a skill that she caught onto quickly and soon the two had colored string all in their hair.

“You guys look like if summer threw up,” Bruce smiled at them.

“You’re not getting out of this without a wrap,” Jennifer grabbed her cousin by his hair and held him in a headlock.

“Do it now!” Jennifer urged Emma.

Bruce really didn’t put up much of a fight as Emma began to tie the string and wrap up a piece of his hair. Jennifer still held onto her cousin as if he’d run the second she let go. It was a very basic wrap, a single blue string that matched one of Emma’s.

“Does it look dumb?” Bruce touched it once he was let go.

“Do you think I’m capable of making dumb things?” Emma asked.

“No?” Banner replied, looking away.

Emma and Jennifer couldn’t bunk together, they were in separate cabins. With Emma entering C7, the last traditional cabin before the senior only cabin.

Frost felt bad for Jen, being by herself after having Delia almost all to herself for the past two years. She also felt for herself of course, but she mainly felt bad for Delia. 

Why had she left them? Would she ever come back?

Emma popped a pill the second she felt her head swell. She’d finally gone to a neurologist and was prescribed a medication to take as symptoms showed. 

This was part of a pack she made with Bruce. She’d get her migraines looked at and in return he would go to a different psychiatrist. He was officially diagnosed with some type of trauma disorder, not schizophrenia.

The two walked together down the path towards their shed. They’d have to do their yearly cleaning as it was their first visit back. 

“Do you hear that?” Bruce’s brows scrunched.

“Hear wha—” Emma stopped.

There was a small meow coming from a bush. The two teens slowly approached it, trying to be quiet. It was Emma who eventually grabbed the small animal.

“Poor baby,” Emma inspected the malnourished kitten.

It had fleas and had crust over one of its eyes. She meowed loudly as Emma loved it around. It’s gray fur was covered in dirt.

“Maybe we should keep it in the shed and just come back daily to take care of it. I don’t think cats are allowed in the cabins,” Bruce suggested.

It seemed like the best bet so Emma agreed.

“How about Stormy?” Bruce asked.

“No that’s too common,” Emma replied not liking the name.

“Hmm, how about Dusty?” the boy tried again.

“Just because she’s gray doesn’t mean she has to have a matching name,” Emma sighed, holding the baby to her chest.

“What about Emma Junior?” Bruce looked at the bundle of fur.

“Tempting but no. Let’s just call her Jemma,” Emma rubbed her head.

Bruce agreed with her, mainly because he knew he wouldn’t win an argument against her.

When they made it to the shed Bruce cleaned while Emma doted on Jemma. She found a piece of string and drug it across the floor. Jemma seemed interested in the string and wobbled after it. After a while she sat down and just watched Emma, tired and ready for a nap.

Bruce dusted off the inside of the shed with a torn piece of an old shirt of his. He then tired to make their yard presentable. The boy thought of his life outside of Athelstan for a second, his father would be released from his institution in a matter of years. He tried to mentally prepare himself for it.

Bruce sighed, sweat dripping from his brow. He returned to the shed after moving the fallen branches from the yard. 

“We should probably get supplies from the nurse for his eye. I can also steal stuff from the kitchen that it might eat,” Bruce flopped down with the girls.

”Sounds like a plan,” Emma handed the kitten over to him.

Bruce had never owned a pet before. His mother refused to let an innocent creature possibly get hurt by his drunken father.

”I think she’s trying to purr,” Bruce smiled at the small vibrations coming from the cat.

”No fair, she should’ve purred for me first,” Emma scrunched her nose.

”She just likes me more,” Bruce teased,

Emma knocked his arm.

”What I was just joking, everyone prefers their mom,” Bruce assured her.

”Oh? So now we’re pretending to be parents to the cat,” the blonde quirked a brow.

”No, uh, I mea—“ Bruce’s face flushed.

”Joking, Bruce. Of course I’m it’s mom, the favorite. And you can be the dad, the spare human,” Emma smiled.

Bruce hated how her words affected him. His heart skipped at the idea of them sharing something so special together. 

It reminded him that she didn’t tell him that she loved him back.

”We need to get the supplies before it gets dark if were going to take care of her today,” Bruce suddenly stood up.

Emma laid the cat down and stood up, the pair exited the shed. They passed by the tree with their initials carved as they made their way back to camp. Jennifer was waiting at the edge of the trail.

”We found a cat. Emma named it Jemma, she’s super cute!” Bruce told her the second she was in ear shot.

”Who is?” Jennifer asked with a mischievous smile on her face.

”The cat,” Bruce wanted to strangle her.

”Just making sure,” the look still glued to her face.

Bruce raided the kitchen by himself while the girls feigned ill at the nurse’s station. Jennifer rubbed her eye multiple times to make it red for drops. Emma grimaced at the action, but played along to get what they needed.

On the way back to the shed they saw Adrienne and her friends walking the trail. They waited until they had passed and then went off towards the shed. Jennifer stared at the tree with the carvings for a second too long, Emma wondered if she wished Delia and her did the same.

”I’m sure she still thinks of you,” Emma spoke.

”Well she didn’t think enough of me to want to stay,” Jennifer tore her eyes away from the tree.

Bruce got to the small house a few minutes later. He had a few bottles of water and canned tuna. When he opened the can the smell immediately filled up the house.

The cat ate with fervor, barely breathing in between bites. Afterwards Emma held onto Jemma while Bruce placed the drops in her eyes.

”So what are you going to do once the summer ends? She’s too little to stay here by herself,” Jennifer asked the important question.

Emma and Bruce looked to each other. Bruce shook his head and Emma sighed.

”She’ll come home with me. My mother won’t even notice she’s there. Not unless the cat smells like her favorite wine,” Emma replied.

Jennifer got to hold Jemma and was instantly smitten. She seemed to charm everyone who came in contact with her.

”We need to tell Christian about her. So he won’t accidentally let her out when he visits here,” Emma pulled back a strand of hair.

”I’ll tell them tonight in the cabin. I still bunk in the next bed over,” Bruce replied.

The teens hated to tell the kitten bye as they left the shed for nightfall. They swore they would see her the next day, a promise that they fulfilled.

Bruce had continued the tradition of leaving Emma cranes in her mail cubby. Today was the first time that there was something in the mailbox before he got there. He paused for a second before deciding to leave the origami on top of the paper and to go fetch Emma.

Emma seemed confused when he told her that she had a letter. She wasn’t expecting anything so she wanted to go check it out immediately.

The teen extracted the letter under the crane and opened it up. She read it for a second before shoving it into Bruce’s chest.

”What do you notice?” She sounded excited.

Bruce looked at the envelope, it had no return address. He then opened it up and glanced at the letter, it was done using cut out letters from magazines. It was rather strange to see it be done outside of television. The contents of the letter itself was short, it just wished Emma a happy summer.

”It seems like it was made by someone who doesn’t want to be found.” Bruce looked at her, returning the letter.

”I think it’s from Cordelia! Think about it, she’s off on her own and she’s just not ready to go home yet. So she’s writing me these letters to let me know she’s thinking about me,” Emma smiled widely.

”Wow, that would explain a lot actually,” Bruce agreed.

Emma’s spirits were a lot higher. She kept the letter in her pocket folded up in it’s envelope. She even read it to Jemma who meowed when she finished. Emma didn’t show either of her siblings or Jennifer, she was scared it would cause animosity. That they would be jealous that she received a letter and not them.

It was late one day when Bruce asked if they could go swim. Emma agreed, she hadn’t swam much that summer. She noted that he had taken his backpack with them to the dock. 

She watched, her eyes boggling out of her head, as he removed his shirt. Bruce had never purposefully taken the article of clothing off in front of anyone else, her included. She glimpsed and caught sight of his exposed ribs and slight hips. She swallowed and adverted her gaze.

Bruce laughed, it was self deprecating, “I know,”.

”I promise you that you don’t,” Emma replied.

The two got in the water, it was now sunset. Bruce floated on his back now with ease. Emma truly was a gifted teacher, her future was bright.

“Why did you want to get in the water so bad?” Emma asked.

”I figured we could use some alone time. Plus, I have a super secret plan,” Bruce replied.

”And you aren’t going to tell me, are you?” Emma questioned.

”Pretty and smart,” Bruce looked towards the sun.

”Guilty,” Emma accepted the compliment.

”My dad is going to be let out in two years,” Bruce suddenly changed the subject.

”Well, you’ll be an adult then. You can just keep away from him,” Emma replied realizing how serious the conversation was turning.

”I think…I might take him in. The state is offering me money if I take him in while he goes to rehab,” Bruce his face taught with tension.

”No, you can’t do that. Stay with your cousin,” Emma reached out to him, her shriveled fingers wrapped around his thin arm.

”Once I turn eighteen my uncle isn’t going to let me stay with them anymore. Morris already warned me,” Bruce looked at her, his brown eyes sad.

“Live with me then,” the offer came out of the girl with the ease of a breath.

”Emma I can—“ he was cut off.

”You can and you will. When I become an adult I’ll get my inheritance my father left me. I wasn’t planning on using it, but if there ever was a good use it would be this,” Emma’s grip on him tightened.

”Emma I can’t,” he turned his face away from her, looking at the red sky before them, “It would be to painful to live with you. In your house. I would go insane pretending that we were something more. Seeing you eventually get with someone else while I have to sit there and pretend to be happy so I’m not homeless. I would rather live with the man who slaughtered my mother than go through that,” Bruce’s voice shook.

He now faced her, tears gleaming in his eyes with the red of the sky reflecting, “I am sorry, but I love you. I can’t do it, I have to put myself for once in my life,” his breaths came in uneven intervals.

”God, you’re so fucking stupid,” Emma leaned in and kissed him.

Bruce’s eyes were still open in shock, it wasn’t much of a first kiss. It was brief more of a peck than anything. It was also technically the boy’s first kiss.

”Wait can we have a retry? My eyes were open an—“ Bruce began.

The second kiss was a lot better, they wrapped their arms around each other. The sun had now gone completely down. Bruce got out of the water and told Emma it was time for her surprise.

Banner took a firework out of his backpack and sat it on the dock. He then took out a lighter and showed Emma who was still in the water.

”I just want you to know. I wasn’t actually the one who got the firework, it was Joe. He stole it from some guy selling them in a tent. Joe said it was illegal to shoot off so he thought it was okay to steal, like two criminal activities cancel out or something,” Bruce knelt beside the firework.

”Maybe you should jump in the water after you set it off? So you don’t blow yourself up,” Emma suggested.

Bruce nodded and lit the fuse. He then ran as fast as he could and plopped into the water.

The firework sounded as if a bomb had been dropped before it even exploded. It actually caused ripples in the water which caused Bruce to cling onto Emma for stability. The firework was a bright red color that lit up the entire area, it was as beautiful as it was bright.

As soon as it went off the couple got out of the water and quickly dried off. There was no way camp staff didn’t see what they did. The two hid in a bush until they were certain it was clear to go into their cabins.

That summer was probably one of, if not her favorite summer so far. There was no crazy event that hurt her or anyone she loved. She actually fell in love for the first time, and she got to bring her new kitten home.

Hazel, didn’t care about the cat just as she had guessed. Her siblings doted on the creature and they took turns taking care of it.  

Chapter Text

“Are you sure it’s a good idea?” Christian frowned at the cat in the bag.

“I literally got her from camp. It’s like her second home,” Emma replied.

“You could just leave it home and I would take care of her,” Adrienne offered.

Adrienne had aged out of camp the year before, while this year was now Christian’s last. It was sad to think about how quickly the time had gone.

Christian entered their limo first and while the driver loaded Emma’s belongings she realized she forgot something in her room. She quickly ran back inside and saw Adrienne holding her letter.

“That’s not yours,” Emma reached for it.

“No, but it looks like mine,” Adrienne looked over the paper at her sister.

“Did you also get yours at camp?” Emma asked now curious.

“Yeah, with no sender,” Adrienne scratched her head.

“I think it’s Delia,” Emma grabbed her paper.

“I don’t know. Mine was almost threatening, but maybe she was mad. She never really did care too much for me. Always called me a bleach bottle bitch,” she smiled at the nickname as if it were a good memory.

“I’ve got to go. If you need me, you have my number,” Emma left her sister after giving her a stiff and painfully awkward hug.

One day Emma hoped to have a good, or even neutral relationship with her older sister. She had already lost one and wasn’t ready to loose another.

Christian and Emma sat on the same bench. They didn’t speak about it, but it seemed right. It was his sendoff year and the next year it would be only her. It was never supposed to be this way, her sister was supposed to be last. Cordelia was to bear the burden of being the one left behind, not Emma.

Once they arrived to camp Emma was relieved, it was apparent by the stench that her cat had been sick in her bag. Kids looked at her with scrunched noses, in disbelief that the heiress had shit herself. 

Once Bruce and Jennifer approached her she watched as their happy faces morphed into fake smiles as the hit the range of the smell.

“Jemma shit herself,” Emma frowned.

“You really brought her?” Jennifer asked in disbelief.

“I told you she would,” Bruce nudged his cousin.

The three teens left for the shed, with Bruce stealing more bottled water on the way. They didn’t drop off their belongings so they had their soaps to clean the cat. The walk there was hot and felt longer having to carry their backpacks.

Once there Bruce was the unlucky soul who had to hold Jemma, he wrapped her up in one of his shirts. He nodded once and then Emma emptied a water bottle on the cat’s fur. Jennifer then rubbed in her soap onto the gray of the cat. Jemma wasn’t happy as she yowled what were certainly obscenities. 

Bruce held firm as she squirmed and then Emma rinsed off the suds. Jemma then hissed as they tried to dry her off. She was now the size of an adult housecat.

“She’s actually really big,” Jennifer noted.

“She has really fat cheeks too,” Bruce squished them.

Bruce sat her down and she ran away. Bruce then freezed and looked up at Emma.

“Jemma has balls,” the boy frowned.

“What?” Emma’s brows touched.

“Jemma has testicles. She’s a boy,” Bruce grimaced.

“No,” Emma sounded defeated.

“I noticed it earlier,” Jennifer confirmed Bruce’s observation.

“Fuck, I guess we can rename her–him,” Emma caught herself.

“How about Jeff? It’s close enough to Jemma that it’s not too big of a switch,” Bruce offered.

“Fine,” Emma wasn’t happy about the switch.

“Uh, why don’t we listen to music outside or something?” Jennifer tried to lift the mood.

“Fine,” Emma repeated her earlier statement.

Jennifer decided to put on one of the only two vinyls that Cordelia left. It was a collection of older songs, the music floated into the trees as she showed off her ballet prowess. Bruce and Emma shared a tree bench, their bodies pressed together. Bruce traced his finger along Emma’s back, making a variety of shapes attempting to calm her down.

Emma leaned down, placing her head on his shoulder. It wasn’t comfortable with her tall height, but she could manage. Jennifer continued her routine, jumping and spinning. Dust stirred with her moves, but she kept on.

The song ended and Jennifer posed dramatically. Emma thought for a moment that it was very apparent that the girl was an only child.

After returning to camp Emma and Bruce checked their cubbies, Emma was hoping to receive anything from her sister. The girl tried not to be ungrateful when the only thing she received was a crane from Bruce. He took her hand and kissed it, Emma felt slightly better.

On their way towards the cabins, the phone booth rang. The duo paused and listened to it ring another time. Then Bruce went to the phone and lifted it from its receiver.

“Hello?” Bruce frowned.

He paused and then hung up the phone, “It must’ve been the wrong number,”.

After much debate Emma and Bruce decided to allow Christian to tell his friends about the secret shack. They were under direct orders not to tell anyone else, though the chances of that actually happening were slim. They were also reminded to not let Jeff out of the house, that would cause a meltdown the weren’t prepared to face.

Bruce and Emma decided to make the cat a new collar, as it’s name tag was now outdated. They weaved paracord together in Emma’s favorite blue shade. It wasn’t perfect, but it was passable. They made sure that the clasp was capable of coming off so the animal couldn’t choke.

Jeff himself wasn’t very pleased with the new piece. He had originally worn a pink collar with pearls, Emma claimed it was his favorite. Bruce was tempted to put the collar back on him until Bobby reminded him it was coated with cat shit.

Bobby, Christian, and Warren were attached at the hip. It being their last year together seemed to be at the forefront of their psyches. For a moment Emma thought of how she’d feel having to leave Bruce the next year before she remembered they were going to move in together. Poor Jennifer would be on her own, hopefully she’d visit along with Emma’s siblings.

Warren seemed to have moved past the betrayal of his friends dating for so long without telling him. If he hadn’t he was able to hide it well.

The teens played hide-and-seek with the seeker wearing a torn cloth over their head in the shed. This was to up the difficulty with the seeker being unable to see.

Jennifer stifled a giggle as Warren reached out blindly, nearly missing her. Warren paused in front of her, sensing she was near. Jen broke into a nervous laugh, he swiped an arm out wildly and touched the top of her head.

“Gotcha!” Warren smiled in glee as he removed his blindfold.

The rest of the night was filled with laughter, the teens enjoying each other's presence. As they headed towards Athelstan, Emma pulled Bruce to the side. They stood in front of their tree and Emma asked for the knife.

Bruce handed her the pocketknife Joe stole, unopened this time. She carved a heart around their names. 

“God, I wish you would just marry me already,” Bruce smiled warmly at her.

“Hell, let’s do that too. Next summer once we leave Athelstan let’s get married since we’re already moving in together,” Emma replied, closing the knife.

Bruce launched himself at her, hugging her tightly. Emma laughed and hugged him back.

They made their way into camp, the phone rang again. Bruce ran up to it again, this time he sucked in a breath before answering it.

“Hello?” the boy frowned before hanging up.

“I think someone is pranking us,” Banner looked towards Emma.

Emma’s Blackberry phone lit up. She pressed the green answer button. She didn’t hear anyone on the line. She didn’t speak into the phone either and hung up. The same number called back instantly, she blocked it.

“I don’t like this,” Emma spoke nervously.

“Neither do I, maybe you should tell the police?” Bruce suggested.

“I’ll print out the call log to my phone when I get the chance,” Emma agreed.

The two were reluctant to separate that night, their eventful day running through their minds. Nevertheless Bruce went to an empty bunk, the boys all having left for the senior cabin. Emma got to be reunited with Jennifer who for a moment she wished was her little sister. 

Joe took out his trusty pocketknife and began to whittle away at the wood in his hand. He was a master at woodcarving and decided today was the day to show off his impressive talent. He made his first carving in a matter of minutes and then decided to make another of the same thing. By the time he was done he had an army of small wooden penises.

Joe waited for his target, Emma’s older brother, to fall asleep on the dock. His friends were in the water and looked at him questioningly as he approached. Joe put a finger over his mouth ‘shush’.

The boys nodded and giggled as Joe placed the carvings around the older boy. The giggling woke Christian up who looked up at Joe questioningly.

“What the hell dude?” Christian squinted at him and the dicks around him.

“You ate my meds like tic tacs. I think I’m allowed to play a little prank on you,” Joe replied.

“Fair enough,” Christian covered his face with his hand blocking out the sun.

“That’s what I thought,” Joe turned around with more sass than necessary.

It was always a treat to have the body. Joe wanted to see the cat he knew Bruce loved so he headed to Emma.

“I want to see Jemma,” he gave her a smile.

“Jeff?” Emma asked,

“The cat, yes,” Joe nodded.

“You’re him,” Emma looked over at him as they walked towards the shack.

“Yes, I am. As always,” Joe confirmed.

“Bruce wasn’t very transparent on what your new psychiatrist thought you had. Could you maybe tell me what they said?” Emma asked.

“Oh, for sure. They said Samson had no clue what the hell he was talking about saying we were schizophrenic. He was saying that it usually doesn’t even develop till you're like almost thirty or something. Then our new doc told us to stop taking the pills we had and that we had some sort of trauma disorder. Multiple Personality Disorder he called it, it felt more right. It felt like us ,” Joe flopped his hands wildly as he spoke.

“Hmmm,” Emma weighed the boy’s words.

“Hulk also trusts our new doc. Mainly because I told him too and he actually listens to me, but still,” Joe assured her.

They passed by the carved tree and Joe frowned. He was a part of Bruce too and also wanted to be included. He was mostly sure Hulk would feel the same.

The cat let Joe play with him and he really enjoyed his time with the creature. He had never experienced petting a cat before, it was a mundane task he had been denied. Before long Joe felt himself fade and soon Bruce was holding Jeff.

“I can tell who you are a lot better now,” Emma spoke.

“And I promise to always see you for who you really are,” Bruce smiled back.

On the way to Athelstan, Emma carved Joe and Hulk’s name to the side of the original names. They weren’t in the heart, but were near it. Part of them.

Nobody called them that night.

Emma and Bruce checked their cubbies, Emma yelped in excitement. There was another envelope in her box. She quickly opened it, tossing the envelope down to get to the letter. This time Bruce knew something was wrong, her color drained from her face.

“What is it?” the boy asked.

She handed him the letter. It was just a picture taped to the page, no words were on it. It was Emma’s yearbook picture from a few years prior based on her age. Bruce’s stomach clenched, he reached for the envelope off of the floor.

There was information on it at all. There wasn’t even a recipient name, something that the last one did include. Someone had placed the letter in the box for her to find.

“Emma, there’s nothing on it. We need to call someone,” Bruce tried to keep his voice even.

Emma nodded and typed in her sister’s number. Adrienne picked up on the second ring.

“This better be important. I’m watching a show right now,” she sounded bored.

“I got another letter,” Emma answered, her voice shaking.

“What did it say,” the television in the background clicked off.

“Nothing. It was just a picture of me when I was a kid. The letter didn’t have anything marked on it either. No addresses at all,” Emma went on.

“I’m calling the police station. You spoke to ours about this earlier, right?” Adrienne clarified.

“RIght,” Emma agreed.

Adrienne hung up the phone without saying goodbye. Emma stared at Bruce in silence, the two held hands. Bruce squeezed once, Emma squeezed in response. They’d get through this together.

The two decided to go to the shed, hoping whoever was terrorizing Emma didn’t know about it. They told Jennifer where they were going before they made the trip, believing it would be good for her to know their whereabouts. They made it there just as the boys were leaving, Christian smiled happily at them as they passed.

“He was in an abnormally good mood,” Emma noted.

“Maybe it had to do with the wooden dicks Joe gave him the other day,” Bruce replied.

“What?” Emma’s brows scrunched.

“It’s nothing,” Bruce shrugged. 

The two entered the cabin to a pleasant aroma. It smelled like someone had been baking something sweet. On the floor sat a container of brownies, Emma picked them up.

“They’re still warm,” she smiled.

The couple checked on Jeff before sitting outside on their tree bench. Birds chirped loudly and cicadas buzzed as they held each other. 

“What do you think the senior cabin is like?” Bruce asked, thinking of the older boys.

“I don’t really know. I didn’t ask Adrienne, I guess we could ask Christian if we were really curious,” Emma pondered.

“No, I think I’ll just wait till I see it myself,” Bruce replied, wanting to be surprised.

“Right,” Emma flopped her head back, “we’re so old now,”.

“Compared to when we first got here, yeah. I think in general we’re still pretty young, all things considered,” Bruce tried to make her feel better.

“You talk just like a nerd,” Emma leaned down to kiss him.

Bruce pressed his mouth to hers excitedly, their lips made contact and he pressed his body closer to hers. Emma reached over and scooped him off of the bench and into her lap. They two continued to lock their lips. Bruce let out a little whine when Emma pulled back.

Emma looked down at him. Bruce looked down in horror at his britches, he was hard. He stood up quickly and sat down on a different bench. He crossed his legs to hide himself, his face flushed in clear embarrassment.

“Brucey, there’s nothing to be ashamed of. Nobody should be punished for loving the person they’re going to marry,” Emma looked at him.

Bruce swallowed thickly and then nodded. He walked over towards Emma who stood up.

“It’s getting late. Let’s head towards the others before nightfall,” Emma led the way towards Athelstan brownies in tow.

The two passed by their tree, but didn’t stop. They missed the many slash marks across their names done in an angry succession. 

They made it to the dock and sat down, nobody else was there. Emma handed Bruce a brownie, he accepted it. It was still mostly warm and was moist. It had a slightly different taste to it, but the boy downed it. Emma popped piece after piece in her mouth while Bruce delicately ate his second.

“Wanna swim?” Emma asked.

“WIth you? Always,” Bruce smiled.

The boy once again took off his shirt, this time Emma allowed herself to stare as long as she wanted. They were going to get married, he was basically her fiance and damn if he didn't look good. Skinny and scrawny had definitely become her type, she figured she could throw him around if she wanted to. The idea made her feel things that she was more than willing to better understand.

Bruce put out his hand, for a moment she thought of when he was her Shy. When he was so scared of the water they had to hold hands. She wrapped his fingers around his and they jumped in. 

They two splashed each other, trying to see who could make the biggest wave. Emma had an advantage with her size and she used it, flopping using her whole body. Poor Bruce was powerless as he bobbled in her ripples.

Bruce latched onto her as she led them a little deeper in the water. It was now over his head and held onto her, she liked his fingers digging into her. 

“I love you,” Emma smiled at him in earnest.

“I have loved you for years,” Bruce replied, his eyes wide.

“Really?” Emma mostly believed him, but liked to hear him talk about her.

“Really, really. When your sister stole my mail that was half of the reason why I had to do what she said. I confessed to you years ago,” the brunette replied.

Emma felt a lot. She felt stupid for not realizing it earlier. She felt cheated for not being with Bruce for longer. And she felt really weird.

Her blinks felt longer and heavier. She felt his words a thousand times stronger. She felt like her mouth was filled with cotton.

“We’re going to get married,” Emma wasn’t sure why she replied like that.

Bruce looked at her strangely. Maybe it was normally? What was happening? Emma began to feel paranoid, she got out of Bruce’s grasp.

Bruce reached out for her for some reason. Emma swam backwards, her breathing feeling like it had to be done manually. 

Emma went under water. Emma got confused. Emma went up for air. Emma was confused. 

Was Emma headed the right way? Where was the air? Where was safety? Why were her lungs burning?

Emma could hear the sound of male screams. She felt warm familiar hands grip her. She felt nothing.

Bruce drug Emma’s larger body towards the dock. There was something wrong with him and something even worse happening to her. His head felt weird and his body felt heavy and warm.

Bruce couldn’t throw Emma onto the dock above so he had to try to make it to land. He told himself she was okay, that she was just unconscious. His head was thinking about everything at once, his mind pounding.

His head kept bobbing under the water, his vision swam. By the time he reached the water’s edge his breaths were half sobs. He laid Emma flat on her back before harshing pressing into her chest. He gave it his whole body weight, keeping up a quick steady rhythm.

“Emma! Emma!” Bruce leaned over and threw up into the lake.

“Emma!” he called his word a pathetic sob.

“Emma,” a male voice spoke from behind him.

Bruce jerked up, it was an older man. He was attractive and held a gun in his left hand, his expression was unreadable.

“Did you do this?” the man asked.

Bruce groaned, his mouth was very dry for someone who had just vomited. 

“I asked you a question!” the man jerked Bruce by his wet hair.

The teen boy stumbled, his balance nowhere to be seen. What were in those brownies?

The man looked at Emma with a look of equal hate and lust. Bruce knew who this man was. He hated this man.

Bruce looked down at his arms, he swore they were the color green for a brief second. Bruce came to a realization, he was the monster of Lake Lanier. 

He looked to the lake one more time and he saw a crane. It was white, a Sandhill Crane, the type that migrates from Ohio. Bruce thought of his promises to Emma and realized his out. Bruce smiled at the older man and jumped towards him.

Ian Kendall shot the boy before him, the close range shattered his skull and brain matter splattered all around. He didn’t know what his name was and he honestly didn’t care. He was obviously involved with his Emma and that was enough. 

Ian bent over to touch Emma before he heard commotion behind him and straightened. He needed to flee now. So he left, looking back at his perfect mess one last time. 

Chapter Text

Jennifer’s fingers were sore. Her hands had paper cuts and ink all on them and she imagined the men’s hands were the same way. She loaded her handiwork into a plastic tub and placed it in her car.

The drive from Los Angeles to Georgia was long and mostly boring. Jennifer had forgotten how flat most of the south was. She had moved to California following her passing of the bar exam. She had done it on her first try, her hard work studying for years paid off.

When Jen parked her car in front of the old camp she sighed. It had been abandoned following her cousin and Emma’s deaths. Nobody wanted to take their kid to a camp where two teens were killed in cold blood.

Jen had been the one to identify their bodies. The things she saw often haunted her dreams. Bruce had been ruled as a victim to first degree murder. Emma’s was held as an accidental death due to illicit substances. Ian Kendall was sentenced to life without parole.

She walked towards the rundown park, there was another car parked by the entry sign.

“Jennifer, you look well,” Bobby exited the car on the passenger side.

“Thank you, Bobby. You look tired,” Jennifer replied with a smile on her face.

“It’s because of this one here,” he opened the door to the back of his car.

A small girl got out, no older than ten. She looked nervously at Jen and waved. Jennifer smiled and waved back trying to seem harmless.

“Are you guys just going to forget about me just like that?” Christian got out of the driver’s seat.

“Daddy!” the girl hugged him.

Bobby and Christian got married and adopted their daughter two years prior. That was following the celebration of Christian’s fourth year of sobriety. He struggled with his part in Emma and Bruce’s deaths for years and tore him apart.

Bobby helped put him back together.

“Do you have your portion?” Jennifer asked the men.

“We have more than what we promised,” Bobby grabbed two large totes out of his car.

“I’ve been outdone,” Jennifer sighed, looking at her handiwork.

“I had help,” Bobby looked at his spouse and daughter.

“I didn’t,” Jennifer hadn’t dated anyone in years.

It was sunset and the group made their way towards the dock. The closer they got to the scene the harder it was to progress. Each step felt heavier than the last.

Jen was shocked to see someone already there. It was a smaller man with dark hair facing the water. They turned to face Jen and she felt her heart in her throat.

It wasn’t a man. It was Cordelia, her hair now in a pixie. Jennifer made a faint groan noise in her throat. She walked towards her, towards where her cousin was slain.

“Almost twelve years and you’re still as beautiful as ever,” Cordelia smiled at her sadly.

She had a beautiful smile. Jennifer wanted to push her fist through it.

Christian ran over and threw his arms around his younger sister. His daughter pointed at her and asked her other father who she was.

“That’s your aunt,” Bobby explained.

“I already have an aunt,” the girl frowned.

“You can have more than one,” Bobby replied.

Warren showed up closer to dark, he didn’t have what they asked him for. Instead the man had watermelons that he cracked open and shared between everyone.

It had been ten years to the day that the young couple’s life had been taken. Ten years of missed life, Jen wondered if they’d have a kid by now. She liked to think that they would and in another life she would as well. Then they could have the same relationship she and Bruce used to have. 

Across the water Adrienne sat alone. She was unsure if Emma or Bruce would want her to be there. Instead she opted to recarve their initials into another tree. She thought they approved as cicadas sang with her every letter. 

It was dark when the main group began to unload their bags. They unleashed an army of paper cranes into the murky water. The origami floated in the dark expanse, the only light coming from the stars above.

Cranes and Stars were reunited once more.