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Chapter Text

It was your first day at Camp Stillwater. You had signed up to be a counselor after your mother decided it would be good for you. You were a shut-in at your school, and she was worried because you didn’t have any friends. Your mom sent you to camp in hopes of you making some friends.

As if, you thought. You felt that this camp was a ridiculous idea. You boarded the bus that would be taking you to the camp, and sat in the very back with your headphones on, drowning out the sounds of the other counselors’ talking.
The drive to the camp took about an hour, and the counselors got louder and louder the closer you got to the camp. The bus pulled into the camp grounds and everyone began to get off the bus. You put your headphones around your neck, grabbed your bags, and followed everyone off the bus into the camp.

The camp director, Deb, was a tall, blonde lady. She walked into the center of your group, and she began to talk to you and the other counselors.

“Welcome counselors. It’s great to have you all here,” the counselors clapped, so you joined in, even though you had never been here before. You figured everyone else had gone to the camp when it was previously open.

“I decided to reopen Stillwater because I want to give you all a wonderful summer, just like the one I had many years ago,” the counselors cheered at this, “now, you guys can all get settled in your cabins. You have three days until the campers arrive,” the counselors dispersed. You picked up your bags and followed them to the cabins. The counselors were all talking to each other.

A blonde girl walked beside you. She wasn’t talking to anyone else.

“I’m Amy,” she introduced herself, “have you been to Stillwater before?” she asked you.

“No I haven’t. Have you?” you replied to her.

“I haven’t either,” she responded, “they all have, though. I guess we have to make friends with them,” she shrugged. You shrugged too, and the two of you began to laugh. It looked like you had found a new friend. You thought of your mom, and thought she would be proud of you.

“So, let’s go learn their names,” you suggested, picking up the pace. Amy followed you and agreed with you.

You walked into the loud cabin, everyone chatting and laughing, and set your bag down on a bunk. Everyone was telling stories about the years they had spent without seeing each other. You and Amy walked over to the group, and everyone looked at the two of you.

“Are you guys new?” one of the guys asked. He was holding a camera and filming everything.

“Yea we are,” Amy replied. She was very friendly.

“I’m Amy,” she said.

“I’m Joel,” the boy with the camera introduced himself, “and they are Alex, Jesse, Cricket, Blair, Blotter, and um, I don’t know his name,” Joel pointed at a boy sitting in the corner with his headphones on and his hair covering his face.

“Who is he? I don’t remember him,” Jesse said.

“But he sure is cute,” Blair commented, staring at the boy. You watched as Cricket slapped Blair’s arm for making a comment like that, and she reprimanded him. You found this pretty interesting and you enjoyed watching their friendship.

“New guy,” Alex called. The guy looked up and removed his headphones.

“What?” he asked, sounding annoyed.

“What’s your name?”

“Drew,” was all the guy said. You then watched him put his headphones back on and close his eyes, leaning back on his bunk.

“I don’t remember a Drew when we were younger,” Jesse commented.

You didn’t know any of the other counselors too well, but they seemed nice enough, and you could probably become close friends with them in the time you were supposed to be here. It didn’t seem that bad, and you didn’t hate your mom for sending you here, but you would much rather be at home in your room for the summer.

“Okay, so we just hang out and get to know each other before the campers come?” you asked.

“Pretty much,” Cricket said. You nodded. Okay, you could handle this. You walked out of the cabin alone, and walked over towards the lake. You could hear the other counselors shouting and laughing behind you as they ran around remembering stories from their summers here.

You stopped in front of the lake and stared at the water. It was so peaceful here. You couldn’t believe how nice it was, and you almost didn’t want to admit it after the grief you had given your mom about sending you to camp.

“Mom, I don’t want to go. This is ridiculous!” You yelled, crossing your arms.

“I’m worried about you, honey. You need friends. You can’t be alone your whole life,” she fought back.

“I’m not going to make friends there. I’m going to hate it there,”

“Well, I’m sorry, but you have to go there. The decision is final. It will be good for you,” your mom walked away, leaving you in your room.

You sighed, and walked down the dock, sitting at the end with your shoes beside you and your feet in the water. You moved your feet around and watched the water ripple. A voice called your name, and you turned. It was Blair.

“Hey,” you said as he sat down.

“Hey,” he said back, “why are you alone?” he sat down next to you and crossed his legs.

“I haven’t made many friends yet. Not my thing,” you shrugged and leaned back on your hands.

“Well, you should totally hang out with me and Cricket. She’s pretty cool,” he said, “I met her here actually,”

“You guys seem like best friends,” you remarked. You were almost jealous of their friendship, but you had to stop and remind yourself that after what happened last time, you couldn’t let yourself trust anyone like that.

“We are,” he smiled. You smiled back.

“So, do you know that Drew guy?” you asked. You watched Blair’s body language change. He seemed happy when you mentioned Drew.

“No, I don’t, but I want to get to know him. He’s really cute,” Blair said. He smiled and looked up to the sky, kicking his legs. You smiled at the innocence you could see in his face. He looked pleasant.

You felt good by the end of the day. You felt that you would be able to handle Camp Stillwater for the summer, but it was only day one, and you didn’t know what was yet to come.

Chapter Text

You awoke to something you didn’t expect at all. Cricket and Jesse were squirting everyone in the cabin with water guns. Some of the guys groaned and complained, whilst others were still fast asleep. Amy was standing behind them, watching the whole thing going down. You sat up, which resulted in them targeting you because you could give them a response. You held your hands up in surrender, and wordlessly got out of the bed and wandered into the bathroom. You shut the door behind you and placed your hands on each side of the sink, staring at your reflection in the mirror.

Your hair hung down over your face, hiding the large scar running down the side of your face. You brushed your hair back to look at it. It was still hideous as ever, starting at your left temple and ending by the corner of your mouth.

Memories flooded your mind, and you tried your hardest to push them away.

(memory begins) “You. Will. Never. Be. Good. Enough.” Each word was followed with a kick to your stomach. You laid on the ground, groaning in pain, and curling into the fetal position.

“Stop,” you whispered. You didn’t have enough strength to fight them off.

“Never,” they shouted, and continued beating you. One of them crouched down over you and pulled out a long knife. You screamed in pain as the knife was brought to your face and slashed down the side. (memory ends)

You snapped out of it, shivering in the cold air of the morning. You splashed your face with water, brushed your hair back over your face, and stepped out of the bathroom. Everyone was staring at you when you came out.

“What?” you asked quietly.

“You took a while,” Alex said to you, and then walked past you into the bathroom.

“Sorry,” you mumbled, going to your bed to get your things for the day. Deb wanted everyone to meet in the central grounds at 7:30, so you headed out to be there. Blair walked out of the cabin after you, and you almost smiled at his presence. He was comforting to be around.

“Can I walk with you?” he asked. You nodded.

“Have you talked to any of the other counselors yet?” he asked you.

“Not really,” you kicked a rock with your foot.

“You should. They’re really nice,”

“But they all know each other. I’m the new person,” you remarked.

“Drew is also a new person. Don’t forget that,” Blair stated. He had a point, but he didn’t know why you didn’t want to make friends. He didn’t know what happened the last time.

“Have you talked to him yet?” you asked. You wanted to switch the conversation over to him so he would stop interrogating you.

“Not really, but I think I’m going to sit with him for breakfast and try to introduce myself. He hasn’t said much yet, but I want to get to know him on a personal level,” Blair said. You winked at him and he laughed. You couldn’t help yourself, so you started to laugh too.

It felt good to laugh with someone else. It had been a long time since you had connected with someone like that. You almost stopped yourself, but you decided to live in the moment. You could enjoy this moment while it lasted. You wouldn’t do it again.
You and Blair walked to the central grounds. Deb explained to all the counselors that the campers would be coming tomorrow, and that later in the day, there would be a meeting to discuss the activities and cabin assignments. Otherwise, you had the day free to yourself.

Everyone went to get breakfast, and you sat with the other counselors in silence. You ate your food and listened to their conversations. You observed how they talked to each other with ease, even though they hadn’t seen each other in years.

After breakfast, you walked over to the lake and sat on the dock like you did yesterday, staring at the water. You brought some rocks with you and skipped them on the lake. You watched as they skimmed the water and sunk into the lake.

(memory begins) They pushed you into the showers in the locker room, fully clothed. The water was scalding and it burned your skin. You screamed in pain, but they wouldn’t let you go.

“Break it up!” the shout rang through the locker room. The hands let go of you, and you dropped to the floor, crawling out of the shower. Someone shut the water off, and you were thankful for the end to the stream of water.

“Are you alright?” a voice asked you. It was your English teacher, Mrs. Williams. You nodded.

“All of you, to the dean’s office now!” she turned and yelled at everyone who was in the locker room. (memory ends)

You couldn’t avoid the memories coming up. You had tried so hard to suppress everything that had happened to you, but this lake was bringing them back at a force.

You stood up and went back to the cabin, trying to wait out the rest of the time until the meeting began. You spent hours in the cabin, reading and writing, and staring at the wall.

When the meeting started, Jesse came back to the cabin to get a notebook, and she found you sitting there.

“You coming?” she asked. You got up and followed her to the arts cabin, where Deb wanted everyone to meet.

“I’m glad you’re all here. So, here are the bunk assignments,” Deb handed out lists to all the counselors. Counselors were in pairs of two to watch over the campers. You were paired with Blair, and you smiled seeing that.

“Look over the lists. You have to learn the camper’s names and you have to be nice to them,” she said this pointedly, mostly speaking towards Alex and Blotter who were busy joking around.

“So, for tomorrow,” she moved on, “we will be getting the campers acquainted with each other and the camp. They will settle in and they get to wander around play some games. There’s no schedule for tomorrow. The next day, they will be following this schedule,” Deb handed out papers with the schedules for the campers. You all looked at them and read them.

“When do we have to wake them up?” Amy asked.

“Around 7:30. They’re young. We don’t want them to hate us,” she replied.

“When do they go to sleep?” Drew mumbled.

“After the evening campfire, so around 9:00. They won’t be too tired if they go to sleep at these times. You guys will have from 9:00 until around midnight for free time to yourselves, and you can wander around or hang out in the staff cabin,” she explained, “Okay, you guys are dismissed,” she let you guys free and you had the rest of the day to do what you wanted. You went back to the cabin and listened to music to drown out the memories that flooded your mind. You hoped that you could suppress them enough to get through Camp Stillwater.

Chapter Text

You woke up earlier than everyone else in the cabin and went to get ready for the day. The campers would be coming at noon, and you wanted to get everything ready. After getting dressed, you walked to the central grounds. Deb was standing there, and she was getting sign in tables set up with nametags for each of the kids.

“Can I help?” You asked. She smiled brightly and accepted your offer.

“How are you settling in?” she asked you as the two of you worked on setting the tables up.

“Good,” you answered, quickly. You grabbed a pile of nametags and laid them in alphabetical order on the table. That should make it easy for the kids to find them.

“Have you made many friends?” she asked.

“Blair,”

“That’s nice,” you could sense the tension in the air. She wanted to be nice, but you didn’t want to talk to her right now. It was awkward. You almost wished someone else would come up so she would make conversation with them instead.

Just then, Joel walked up to you, filming with his camera.

“Joel,” Deb said. She seemed surprised that he was here this early.

You sighed in relief that you didn’t have to talk to Deb anymore. You worked quietly on finishing with the tables while Joel and Deb struck up a conversation.

“Is there anything else I can do?” you asked.

“You could set up in the arts cabin. We need the paints organized and the closets set up so everything will be easy to find,” she said.

“On it,” you have her a thumbs up and walked to the cabin. When you got there, you were relieved to see that you were the only one in there. You shut the door behind you and walked over the closet. When you opened it, paints and supplies came flying out of the closet and fell on you.

He shoved you to the ground and kicked you hard in the chest. You screamed out in pain. Another one sat on top of you, his hands around your throat. You could barely breathe.

“Stop,” you choked out. He laughed at you as he pressed harder. His weight crushed your chest, and you could feel your ribs breaking.

They laughed harder and harder at you as they beat you brutally. You didn’t remember much after that because you blacked out from the lack of air.

You woke up in the middle of the street with a car honking its horn at you. You stood up, in excruciating pain, and hobbled over to the sidewalk. You couldn’t remember where you were, and you didn’t know what time it was.

The car that honked at you pulled over and the driver got out.

“Are you alright?” she asked you. She looked concerned. You couldn’t answer; you just collapsed to the ground. The next thing you remember was waking up in the hospital with the stranger beside your bed.

This memory was too much for you to handle. You fell to the ground and curled up into a ball, shaking and crying.

“Please stop,” you muttered over and over again, “please stop,”

A voice shouted your name. Blair ran over to you and dropped to the floor. He wrapped his arms around you and tried to comfort you. He ran his hands through your hair and whispered calming words to you.

It took a while for you to calm down. When you did, you looked up through your hair and saw someone standing behind Blair. It was Drew. You shot back and tried to compose yourself. Blair’s face twisted with worry and he moved towards you. He went to brush the tears off your face, and when he did that, he pushed back your hair, revealing the scar. You tried to cover it quickly, but it was evident from the gasps that both he and Drew saw it.

Drew kneeled down next to Blair, and the two of them tried to get you to speak.

“What happened?” Blair asked.

“Nothing,” you tried to play it off and push them away.

“We heard you screaming,” Drew said.

“Sorry, the stuff fell. It scared me,” you tried to explain.

“Come on,” Blair tilted his head, “you know there’s something you’re not telling us. You can trust us, you know that, right?”

You thought about it for a minute, and another memory came to mind.

“You can trust us,” she said to you. Her whole group of friends nodded with her. You sat down with them and they began to ask you questions. They were about things you would never tell anyone, but you fired off the answers systematically. You didn’t realize what you were doing because you trusted them. Never again.

“I…I can’t,” you stammered.

“What do you mean you can’t?” Blair looked concerned.

“The last time,” you couldn’t even speak, “I can’t trust anyone,” you pulled your legs closer to you, and buried your head in your lap.

“Listen,” Drew came closer to you, “we don’t know what happened the last time, but whatever happened won’t happen again. You have to trust us. We aren’t the bad guys,” he said.

“Yea, we really aren’t,” Blair continued, “we are here for you,”

“How do I know that?” you felt bad for asking this, but you needed to see if you could trust them. Drew sat back on his heels and sighed. Blair looked confused.

“Because I trust you enough to tell you this,” Drew started, “I wasn’t born Drew and I’m not the new guy here. I came here so many years ago with all of them, and then, my name was Andrea,” Blair gasped at this, and I peeked out of my lap. Drew looked somber, and Blair was stunned.

“Drew,” Blair breathed.

“Please don’t hate me,” Drew shut his eyes and cringed. He looked like he was waiting for someone to hit him.

“We don’t hate you,” I spoke. Drew looked at me with relief. I could see calm flood his eyes. I uncurled from my ball and spoke.

“I trust you guys,” you said. That had to be the scariest thing for you to ever say. Blair and Drew both wrapped their arms around you.

“I’ll tell you what happened, but it may take a while for me to get through it all. It’s a painful memory,” you stated, moving your hand up to your side to clutch your ribs. You could still feel the pain from last year, because you hadn’t healed properly.

“Let’s get some food first, and then you can tell us. We want you to feel better first,” Blair said. You nodded. With that, the two of them helped you up and they stayed on either side of you all the way to the other counselors who were enjoying lunch.

Chapter Text

The campers had been at Camp Stillwater for three days now, and you were still getting used to having them around. They were really cute and they looked up to you which made you happy.

Blair was manning the cabin with you and that made you feel better because Blair was your friend and he wouldn’t push the boundaries with you.

You walked around the camp, watching the children play games and run around. They were doing all sorts of activities and today they were supposed to have races in the lake. You thought it was amazing how they all loved to be here.

Blair walked up to you and tapped you on the shoulder. You walked with him back to the empty cabin and the two of you sat down on your bed. Drew was already there, sitting on Blair’s bed.

“What happened to you?” Blair asked, softly. You sighed. You had to tell them now what had happened.

“I’m afraid of making friends,” you started.

“Why?” Drew came over and sat on the bed with you and Blair.

“Because of what happened last time,” you breathed out.

“Hey,” they waved you over to sit at the table with them. You smiled and placed your lunch tray down, joining the conversation.

“So,” she leaned closer to you, “tell us a secret,”

“I’m not really comfortable with that,” you replied. You were wary of them because you didn’t know them that well.

“Oh, come on,” she gave you an evil grin, “it’s tradition. Everyone who wants in with our group has to share a secret,”

“I trusted them and told them my secrets. They told me I had to because it was initiation into their group. They said they all had done it. I told them everything, and they turned on me. They told everyone what my secrets were and they beat me up every day. I had to go to the hospital with broken ribs and a concussion. I never trusted anyone after that because I didn’t want it to happen again,” you told them. You were shaking and you could feel tears welling up in your eyes.

Drew and Blair wrapped their arms around you and pulled you into a tight hug.

“We would never do that to you,” Drew said.

“We are here for you. We are your real friends,” Blair finished for him.

“Thank you guys,” you said. You really trusted them because they were so kind to you, which was something you had never really experienced before. They hugged you tighter as you cried into their shoulders. Once you stopped crying, you pulled away from them. They both smiled at you. You had never been so grateful for anyone.

“Let’s go back to the campers,” you laughed and wiped the tears off your face with your sleeves.

Drew and Blair walked with you to the lake and the three of you sat on the docks. Joel was standing with Amy and the two of them were dressed lifeguards.

The campers lined up along the dock and Joel began speaking.

“So when I blow my whistle, you guys start. You have to swim from here to the platform in the middle and back,” He announced.

“On your mark,” Amy shouted, “get set! Go!” Joel blew his whistle and the campers jumped into the lake. They started swimming like crazy, splashing water everywhere. Some of the water landed on you, Blair, and Drew and the three of you started laughing. It felt good to laugh with them, and it felt good to have friends. You knew you could trust them, and you were so relieved that you had them.

You spent time with them throughout the day, and by the time the night campfire came around, you sat beside the two of them. Deb led the campers in the camp song, which you thought was completely ridiculous, but you laughed at it.

Drew and Blair were wrapped in a blanket, but you could tell they were holding hands. You thought they were such a cute couple.

The woods were dark, but the fire blazed bright and it gave you a sense of comfort. The kids laughed, sang, talked, and roasted marshmallows, and they looked like they were enjoying themselves. You had begun to enjoy yourself too, after learning that here was a place you could open up and be yourself.

After the campfire, you walked your group of kids back to your cabin. Drew and Blair had left halfway through the campfire, and you smiled to yourself because you could guess what they were doing. The campers said goodnight to each other and got settled in their bunks.

You walked back behind the curtain to get ready for bed, and surprise, surprise. Blair and Drew were wrapped up in each other’s arms, kissing each other passionately.

“Awe,” you cooed. They broke apart and blushed a bright red. You laughed at the two of them, and they looked so embarrassed.

“You guys are such a cute couple,” you said. They blushed even harder.

“I’ll give you some privacy,” you winked and walked out of the cabin. Even though there was a bathroom in the counselor’s cabin, there wasn’t one in the campers’ cabins. You brought your things with you and walked through the woods to the bathroom.

You set your things on the sink and looked at yourself in the mirror. You pushed your hair back, revealing the scar on the side of your face. You shouldn’t be ashamed of that. It was something that happened to you, but you shouldn’t have to hide it. Now with Drew and Blair on your side, you felt like you could trust people.

You showered quickly, and brushed your hair back so it wasn’t covering your face. You looked at yourself in the mirror again, and then walked back to the cabin.

“I see you’re not hiding anymore,” Blair commented when you got back to the cabin. Drew was gone. You smiled at him.

“I don’t need to hide anymore. I’m not alone,” you said, confidently. It felt so good to say that.

“You have that right,” Blair said and smiled at you.

The two of you went to bed early that night, but the next night you planned to stay out late with the other counselors.

Chapter Text

The campers had been at Stillwater for a week, and you were beginning to get used to them running around at all hours of the night. You had to reprimand a few throughout the week, but most of them behaved, and they loved being at camp.

You were getting more and more comfortable with the other counselors. You spent a lot of time with Blair and Drew, but you were third wheeling them for most of the time. Since Cricket was Blair’s best friend, she had been hanging around with you guys too, so it made it less awkward.

“Hey,” Cricket skipped up to you and bumped your shoulder.

“Hey,” you bumped her back.

“So, the rest of the counselors are in the cabin for the night. Do you want to join?” She asked. You looked around you and realized it was dark. You had completely lost track of time.

“Sounds fun,” you agreed. She grabbed your hand and pulled you to the cabin. You entered the cabin with Cricket, and everyone’s head turned to the two of you. Alex wolf whistled from the back of the room, and the rest of the counselors chimed in with a chorus of “oohs”.

“Oh shut up,” Cricket snapped and the two of you sat down by Blair and Drew.

“So,” Alex started, “what should we do with our night?”

“Maybe go to the Plaza,” Jesse suggested.

“Sounds cool with me,” Joel said.

“What’s the plaza?” you whispered to Cricket.

“Townie bar,” she replied. You nodded, but you didn’t know what that meant. She could see the look of confusion on your face, so she explained what that meant.

“It’s a bar in town, basically,” she told you. They had weird words for things.

“Alright, let’s go then,” Blotter yelled. You all laughed and went to get your things. Alex’s car was at the camp, so you all piled into his car, and you went to the bar. It took a couple of minutes to get there, seeing as it wasn’t that far away.

“Yeah!” Jesse shouted as she jumped out of the car. You all walked into the bar and sat down all over the place. Drew and Blair went to the last booth in the corner. Amy and Alex went to sit at the counter. Blotter, Jesse, and Joel went to play a game of foosball. You and Cricket sat down at a table in the middle of the bar. Cricket ordered a screwdriver for herself and you just ordered a milkshake.

“So this is the plaza,” you remarked, looking around at your surroundings in the dimly lit building.

“This is it,” she said. She seemed proud of this place, like she loved it.

“Townie!” you heard Jesse shout. You looked over. She was talking to a cop. He walked over and gave her a big hug.

“Who’s that?” you asked.

“Oh, just some cop she used to date back in ’83,” Cricket shook her head.

“Oh, okay then,” you said. The townie bar seemed pretty interesting, but then again, you had never been here before, meaning you hadn’t spent as much time as the others in here.

“Where are they going?” Cricket asked. You looked where she was looking, and say Jesse and the cop leaving the bar.

“No clue,”

“Let’s follow them,” Cricket stood up, leaving the drink on the table and walking out of the bar. You followed her out, and the two of you watched them get into the cop’s car.

“What are they doing?” she whispered.

They sat in the car but they didn’t turn the car on. That seemed a little strange to you, but apparently weird things happen in Stillwater all the time.

“We should go back to camp,” you whispered, “it may be a good idea so we don’t get in trouble,”

“Sure,” Cricket went back inside to tell the others that you were leaving and together the two of you walked back to the camp.

“Nice night,” you commented, looking up at the stars.

“Yea, it is. What do you want to do when we get back?” Cricket looked at you.

“I don’t really know. Maybe a game or we could explore,” you suggested.

“What if we went swimming,” she said.

“Is the lake nice?”

“Cold, but that’s about it. You’ll love it,”

The two of you arrived to the camp and went to your cabins. You changed into your swimsuits and met at the lake. You were excited to spend time with Cricket. You liked her a little bit, and you had grown comfortable with her. You were starting to enjoy your time at camp.

“Full moon,” a voice said from behind you. You turned around. Cricket was standing on the dock wearing a bright red bikini. She looked beautiful to you. Her hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail with strands falling in front of her face.

“Let’s go,” you jumped in. She jumped in after you. The frigid lake shocked you when you broke the surface of the water. You shivered.

“Isn’t it nice?” Cricket shouted. She splashed you with water. You splashed her right back, and she shrieked.

“What’s over there?” she asked. Cricket waded over to an object in the water.

“What is that?” you asked. You followed her. The closer you got to the object, the bigger it appeared to you. Cricked screamed and she swam back to you. She grabbed your hand and pulled you to the shore.

When you got out of the lake, she wrapped her arms around you. Tears were streaming down her face.

“Cricket, what’s wrong?” you asked, “What was that?” She pulled away from you and looked into your eyes.

“That was the gardener. Dave is dead,” she choked out.

“We have to get Deb,” you grabbed her hand and ran to Deb’s cabin. You pounded on the door until she opened.

“What’s the matter?” she asked. She looked at you like you had two heads.

“Dave is dead,” you told her.

“Stay here,” Deb pushed past you and left you outside the cabin with a crying Cricket.

Chapter Text

You weren’t ready to face what had happened yet, but the rest of the counselors were more messed up by it than you. Weird things were happening at Camp Stillwater. Deb had to explain to the campers what had happened to Dave and why the police had been at the camp. A lot of them didn’t understand it because they were too young.

In the last few days, stranger things were had been happening. A Russian boy named Antoine kept wandering off into the woods talking about somebody called the “tall man”. You thought this was ridiculous, because kids make up imaginary things all the time.

Deb played that off as Blotter’s lack of caring, because she kicked him out of the camp for doing acid deals in the woods. All the counselors think that his drug dealer was the one who led Antoine off, but that still didn’t explain what had happened to Dave.

Tonight was the night of the big camping trip. You were supposed to take the campers through the woods to a specific camp site, where they would spend the overnight. This was to give them a real experience of camping. You were excited for this to happen, but you didn’t know how it would go over, especially with the drug dealer still out there.

“Come on, guys,” Cricket called. The campers followed her up the trail.

“Everyone follow Cricket,” Deb shouted, “she knows her way around here better than anyone else does,” Cricket smiled at this and continued to usher the campers up through the woods.

Joel came running up to you and Cricket.

“There’s a blood moon tonight,” he said, “do you guys want to watch it? Alex is organizing a get together for the counselors in a prime spot to see it,” he explained.

“Sure,” Cricket agreed. You nodded with her.

“Cool. It’s at 10,” Joel said and ran off with the campers.

You walked the campers to the campsite, and they complained that they were tired or that their feet hurt, but when you got there, they forgot all their complaints.

The counselors pitched the tents for the campers while the campers were hunting around the area for sticks to make the fire.

“Wow, you really love the outdoors,” you said to Cricket as the two of you set up a tent. She walked over to the food and moved around a cooler of meat. Flies buzzed around it, and she swatted them away.

“What’s that all about?” you walked over and opened the cooler. The smell of rotten meat hit you, and you backed away.

“Deb!” Cricket called, “someone forgot to put ice in the meat cooler,” she closed the lid and placed it down.

“That’s alright,” Deb looked panicked, “we’ll work with what we have here,”

As the night grew later and later, the campers were beginning to settle down around the fire. Everything had been set, so they would be put to bed soon. After you put them to bed, you and Cricket were going to meet the rest of the counselors to watch the blood moon.

“Alright, goodnight everybody,” Deb said. She left the fire going as she ushered the campers into their tents. You and Cricket walked through the woods for a little while, going to meet the counselors. Alex had said to look for a fire, because they would be sitting around it.

“How do you know these woods so well?” you asked Cricket.

“I used to love the overnight as a kid. It was my favorite part of camp. Sleeping under the stars always had a romantic appeal to me,” she sighed.

“That sounds wonderful,” you said.

“Watch out for the bear trap,” Cricket pulled your arm. You moved to the left and stopped walking. She pointed down at a bear trap on the ground.

“There are a lot of these around here, so you have to be careful,” she warned you. You nodded.

“Go ahead and meet the other counselors. I’m going to stay back for a few minutes and check on the traps. Watch out,” she said to you.

“I’ll see you there,” you said to her. You began walking to the small glow you saw in the distance. Right before you reached it, you heard a scream come from behind you, and then there was a sharp sound of metal scraping.

You turned around and walked back through the woods. You tripped over something and fall hard on your face. You pushed yourself up and looked to see what you tripped over. You came face to face with Cricket.

You screamed, got up, and ran. You ran all the way back to the campsite and found Deb. What you had found was completely disturbing and you needed to tell someone who could do something about it.

Cricket was dead.

Chapter Text

You ran through the woods. You couldn’t get the image of Cricket’s body lying there out of your head. Her memorial service was later in the day, but you just didn’t want to go. Blair was so broken up because of her death, but he had Drew to comfort him.

You couldn’t face what had happened to her, and you felt guilty because of it. You were the one who left her alone in the woods to fend for herself. You were the one who should have protected her.

You kept running to try and escape the thoughts that were running through your head. Maybe if you ran fast enough, you could outrun the horrifying images.

Cricket was just lying there dead. You couldn’t believe this had happened. You needed to get out of Camp Stillwater. Weird things were happening there and two people were dead already.

You ran further and further throughout the forest. Suddenly, you stopped. A large crash sounded behind you.

“No, no, no” you began to run even harder, trying to get away from whatever was out in the woods. Your feet pounded against the ground and your chest felt like it was going to collapse.

You felt a sharp pain in your chest. You stopped. An axe was lodged in your torso, and the person standing in front of you stared down at you. You looked down in horror at the blood running out from your body.

The last thing you saw before you died was a wooden mask in the shape of a goat.