Later that night, long after the guys had hauled too many tackle boxes from their side, my girls carried a large duffel bag of goodies over their threshold. Despite being emotionally exhausted, trying to bow out of the prank wasn’t a possibility. If Loraine caught them on the guys’ side of the cabin, without me around, there would be no one to take the fall.
Revenge was my idea. No way could I let them go down without me.
I entered the guys’ side of cabin two, pulling my hoodie closer to my body to fend away the artic temperature inside. With some restraint, my temper had stayed calm enough to keep me from lashing out at my campers. Starting a fight would only make things worse. Another confrontation was the last thing I needed.
“You take that end of the tarp,” Brie said, squatting in her all-black ensemble. She had even gone so far as to draw a pair of black lines beneath her eyes. Like the camouflage would really work. Her blond ponytail would give her away long before anything else would.
Jess grabbed the opposite end, evenly spreading the tarp across the floor. Steff and Jules taped down the sides with duct tape. When they stood, Julie got a bottle of baby oil and started slathering it onto the tarp.
“You want to help with the shower heads?” Jess said, pulling a tub of Kool-Aid from the bag.
“I’m good,” I said, shaking my head.
She shrugged and carried the tub into the bathroom, followed by Steff, who hauled an entire roll of Saran Wrap in after her.
I took a seat on Grant’s bed, my mind more focused on the past than the present. Parts of camp had made me better, but nothing could fix what had happened with Nikki. At the end of the day, my ghosts were ghosts. They refused to leave and I couldn’t shake them.
I rested my head against the pillow, letting out a long sigh as I took in Grant’s familiar scent. The smell on his blankets was fainter than on his clothes, but it was just as comforting as having him around. I took another embarrassingly long inhale, scanning his section of the room while my girls continued whatever elaborate prank they came up with.
For the most part, his space was exactly the same as mine—same bed; same comforter set, except his was navy and white; same Camp Kenton flag hung over the bed; same kind of window letting in light above our beds. The only differences between his space and mine were that his window leaked condensation and that the plastic storage unit beside his bed was semi-organized.
An alarm clock sat there. Ten thirty, four brilliant red numbers staring back at me. Beside the alarm clock, a framed portrait of five people lay flatly against the plastic storage unit. From this angle, Grant was the only recognizable one. I sat upright, reaching for it, as Brie sprinted across the room.
“Spider!” she said, still running. “Large spider.”
I scrambled upright, my perception of every corner and cobweb heightened. For the most part, Grant’s side was devoid of spiders. But the cobwebs in the corners held serious potential.
“Burn it down!” Steff said, running out of the bathroom behind her. “That thing is a brown recluse. Burn it all!”
She hit the baby-oiled tarp, sending the Saran Wrap straight into the air as she hit the floor with a sickening crack. Panicked, I maneuvered through the beds. She was already clutching her leg, biting down a scream.
“It’s fine,” I said, spotting blood before I was close enough to see the damage. I squatted, the overwhelming scent of teenage boy growing stronger the closer I got to the floor.
“Okay, so you might need stitches,” I said, swallowing as I peeled my eyes away from the five-inch gash running the length between Steff’s knee and ankle.
Jess reached us, paper towels in hand. “I leave for one minute, one minute to handle a spider, and this happens? Geez. This is why we can’t have nice things,” she said, handing the towels to me.
I used them to apply pressure to Steff’s leg, apologizing as she gasped. “We need to get her to Medicine and More, without drawing too much attention to ourselves.”
We helped her up, drops of blood hitting the floor as we tried to get her outside. We made it as far as the porch before she stopped, shaking her head with a frown.
“There’s no way I can walk there,” she said, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I have this fear of blood and I feel like I’m literally about to pass out. I’m trying but I can’t. I just can’t.”
I looked at Jess and Jules. “Okay. Can y’all go get the nurse? Tell her one of our campers fell walking into the bathroom and we’re having a hard time getting her to the nurse’s station. There’s a golf cart she can use.”
“I thought someone stole the golf cart?” Jess said.
“They found it behind the mess hall,” Brie said, shaking her head. “Remember? It went missing from the office but someone found it at the mess hall. Loraine was talking about it the other day.”
“Just get to the nurse’s office,” I said, looking at Jess again. “The quicker she gets here, the more time I have to get the guys’ side back in order. The last thing anyone needs is Grant or one of his campers breaking themselves.”
“I mean, that was the goal,” Brie said.
“For crying out loud!” I said, looking at her.
Jess and Jules fled the porch while I kept a wary eye on Brie. Her lack of sympathy for anyone and anything was astounding, to say the least.
“Do you think you can manage to stay out here until the nurse shows up?” I said in a breath. “I’m going to start working on that tarp.”
“You’re really going to kill our prank?” Brie said, crossing her arms.
“It’s better than hurting someone,” I said, standing.
I didn’t wait for her response before racing across the porch. If the nurse rolled up quicker than I planned, it would be hard explaining why I was on the guys’ side. It would be even harder if being in there after dark was really as serious as Grant had made it seem.
Inside the room, Steff’s blood left a trail from the door to the spot where she had landed on the floor. I avoided the blood and squatted beside the tarp, cringing as baby oil coated my fingers.
“This was stupid,” I said, rolling the tarp as quickly as I could. “Why did I agree to this?”
Shuffling to the left, I continued folding the tarp like a burrito. By the time I was comfortable with the baby-oiled blob, the crunching of gravel beneath a golf cart yanked me outside.
Night air hit me as my feet touched the porch. Nurse Harriet was already hopping off her golf cart. Luckily, her interest was focused on Steff and far away from me.
“Can you move it?” she said, her frizzy black curls blowing in the breeze.
“Yeah, but it hurts,” Steff said, looking at her.
I discreetly crossed the porch, avoiding the nurse’s line of sight. “I think it’s superficial,” she said, checking the leg. “But we need to get it cleaned and bandaged. Y’all help me get her on the cart.”
I moved from my position close to Grant’s door, hooking Steff’s arm around my shoulder as the other girls helped her stand. Two minutes later, she was loaded on the cart, gagging over the sight of blood on her shoes.
“But it’s her blood,” Brie said as they drove off. “If anyone should be gagging, it should be us.”
“You’re heartless,” Jess said, shaking her head.
“Am I wrong?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I interrupted, drawing their attention.
I stood in the middle of the porch, filthy and too exhausted to function. An argument over the legitimacy of Steff’s blood phobia was the last thing I wanted to hear. My brain couldn’t take the conflict. I couldn’t take the conflict.
“I think the three of you should head to bed,” I said, shifting my weight. “Grant’s guys will be back any minute. I’m going to finish the cleanup in his cabin before they get here. If they have any questions, I would rather be the one to answer them.”
“You weren’t the only one who made the mess,” Jess said, stepping forward. “We can help.”
“I got this,” I said, holding up a hand. “You three go to bed.”
Her lips spread into a thin line, the look on her face shifting into something I hadn’t seen in a while. Maybe my tone was the reason, maybe something else, but Jess gave a huff and turned for our side of the cabin.
“We didn’t mean for someone to actually get hurt,” Jules said, lingering outside as Brie and Jess exited through the door. “It was an accident. Please don’t be mad.”
“I never said I was mad,” I said. “I’m just doing my duty as a counselor and ensuring no one else gets hurt. That means the three of you need to be in there while I handle the guy’s side. Easy.”
“And that’s the only issue?” she said, crossing her arms.
“That’s the only issue,” I said, turning my back on her.
I walked into Grant’s side of the cabin, letting out a long sigh. I had to get his side pulled together before I crashed completely. With the way the night was going, that task was getting harder by the minute.
I grabbed the tarp, heaving it across the porch to our side of the cabin with a trail of baby oil dripping behind me. It was easier to rinse it in our shower. Then I could dry it quickly and store it in one of the closets before questions were asked.
“Sure you don’t want us to help?” Jess said, changing clothes as I dropped the tarp in a shower.
I shook my head and moved back toward the door, returning to Grant’s side a few seconds later. Except for the blood, the room looked almost normal. Good. At least I was on the right track.
I hurried to the bathroom and grabbed a handful of paper towels and some cleaning supplies from beneath the sink. Short on time, non-watered-down Pine Sol would have to do the job.
With my nerves on edge and my heart in my throat, I quickly scrubbed what blood spots I could find on the floor. After finishing, I carried the bottle back to the bathroom and tossed the paper towels in the trash. Buried beneath a mountain of clean ones, nobody would notice them there. Hopefully.
Maneuvering through the guys’ side one last time, I switched off the light in the bathroom and returned to Grant’s bed, fixing the blankets I’d ruffled. My eyes briefly landed on the picture beside his bed. Three kids, two adults, and a dog looked back at me, all of them standing in front of the Camp Kenton sign still present today.
With the youngest kid in the picture looking strikingly like Grant, there was no denying this was his family. I grabbed the picture carefully, scanning it with close attention.
Dark hair ran in his family; all five boasted chestnut-colored locks. His mom had her hands on either side of his shoulders and was wearing a power suit instead of street clothes like everyone else. She looked important, the kind of woman who could walk into a room and demand attention. Just like Grant.
I studied her a little longer, feeling a pang of familiarity. I hadn’t met her, but I recognized her from somewhere. Where?
Footsteps on the porch drew my attention and my pulse raced again. If Loraine caught wind of the accident, and found me here, it was game over.
I turned, sneaking across the wood floor until I spotted Jess creeping across the threshold. I let out a long breath, my hand at the base of my throat.
“I thought you were Loraine,” I whispered.
“Not even close,” she said. “But I saw the guys through our back window and they’re almost to cabin four. Unless you intend to get caught, you need to hurry.”
“I’m done,” I said, racing toward the door.
We closed the screen door to our side just before Grant and his boys reached the porch. They spoke in hushed tones, contradicting their heavy footsteps.
“Could they be any louder?” Brie groaned, tugging up her covers.
“Let them enjoy tonight,” Jess said, sitting on the bed beside her. “They’ll be much quieter in the morning. Just wait.”