Welcome to Camp Hell:
Day 5: Is Goodbye Forever?

I didn’t feel remotely excited about the beginning of this day. This day…this day was the last. At the beginning of the week…at the beginning of the week, I was all but counting down the seconds until this day. But then I had met him. I had fallen and I had fallen hard for the one boy I could never have. And it left me feeling empty.

I finally forced myself out of bed. When I had been lying in bed, it was almost like the day was put on hold. And the longer I stayed there, the longer I could stay at camp. The longer I could stay with Kier. But now I had to greet the morning whether I liked it or not. Carpe diem, baby. Or something like that.

I started to roll up my sleeping bag with the sheet sloppily folded inside it when I remembered that the sheet wasn’t mine. It was his. I picked it up slowly and rubbed it with my fingertips. It was just a sheet, nothing special. I could buy one just like it at Wal-Mart. And yet I felt like I would put up one hell of a fight if someone tried to take it from me.

Finally, I folded the sheet and set it on the bare lumpy mattress. My rolled-up sleeping bag and pillow sat beside my bag, which I was currently cramming things into. I looked around, checking over things. That was everything. I looked back to my bag. Could I zip it up? Such a simple task seemed like a trial, now.

Reaching down, I clasped both zippers with my thumbs and forefingers and pulled them until they met. I sighed and glanced toward the cabin door. The other boys in my cabin had already left, piling their things by the road. They had had fun, sure, but they were ready to go home. At this point, I would sell my soul just to stay. Sure, the camp itself was practically hell. There was no cable, no air-conditioning, no other real civilization for miles…but this was where Kier was.

I hoisted my bag onto one shoulder, tucked my sleeping bag and pillow under one arm, and held Kier’s sheet tightly in one hand. I would give it back to him in breakfast.

I set all my things down by the road and looked down at them with a deep feeling of sadness. Holding the sheet tightly in my hand, I headed to the mess hall.

* * * * *

”Hey, Kier. Thanks for letting me borrow this.” I held the sheet out to him. He looked puzzled for a moment before recognition hit him.

”Oh, hey. No problem,” he replied as he reached to take the sheet from me. He smiled and our fingers brushed briefly.

I looked down at my plate of food. Why was this so hard?

”I’m going to miss you,” I heard Réz say. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her hugging Kier tightly. “You’d better write to me or else I’m going to hunt you down and strangle you!” she exclaimed. They laughed.

I smiled a little. I guess we could write letters, if he wanted. But that wasn’t the same, was it? Besides…never seeing him again was probably better than getting a letter from him that started out with ‘Dear Trav, You won’t believe it, but I just met the most amazing guy! I think I’m in love…’

I could hear The Box outside telling campers to hurry and say their goodbyes; it was time to leave.

Réz, Will, and Kier were exchanging their tearful ‘It’s been a great summer, I’m really going to miss you’s, ‘I promise I’ll write every single day’s, and ‘Don’t ever forget me!’s. It all blurred together as I struggled to decide how to say goodbye forever to one of the only people I had cared about in a long time.

”Trav…?” came Kier’s voice, quiet and uncertain.

I shook my head. “I…I…excuse me,” I said quietly, standing up and hurrying out of the mess hall, leaving my untouched plate of food on the table.

I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t say goodbye.

* * * * *

I sat by my things, deep in thought. A small ghost of a smile made its way to my face as I got an idea. I got off of my bag and unzipped it, then proceeded to rifle through the contents until I found an almost-empty notebook and a pen. Finding a blank page, I began to write.

It took only a minute, maybe two, to write it all. I had just torn out the page when I saw Kier heading over to me. Réz and Will followed close behind. I quickly folded the paper and crammed it in my pocket.

”Trav…is something wrong?” Kier asked timidly.

I shook my head. “I…I don’t want to say goodbye, Kier,” I croaked.

Normally Réz would have squealed about how ‘cute’ it was, but this time she remained silent. I wasn’t sure if I was thankful for her silence or if I subconsciously wished she would say something to break the uneasy mood of it all.

”You don’t have to,” Kier replied quietly. I looked up from the ground at him as he nudged his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. He looked so…sad. And why shouldn’t he be? He was leaving behind his best friends.

”But…” I protested quietly. I paused a long while, trying to decide what I was going to say. “I won’t see you again, will I?” I asked finally.

”You might,” he replied, giving a small smile. I stared at him, confused. “If you came to this camp,” he said slowly, “then there’s a chance that you don’t live too far from one of us.”

I looked down at the ground. My mouth felt dry, but I swallowed anyway. I don’t want to live close to just -one- of you…I want to live close to you, Kier.

He seemed to sense how upset I was. “I mean…Réz, Will, and I are going to try and come up with some way to get together before school starts.” I looked up and he smiled a little. I vaguely noted that Réz and Will had moved away a little, as if they wanted to give us our ‘privacy’. It was probably Réz’s idea. I smiled a little at the thought.

”Goodbye isn’t forever, Trav,” Kier said quietly. I smiled weakly at this.

”Yeah…but it can be a long time,” I replied. His face fell and looked down at the ground. I immediately regretted what I’d said and looked at the ground as well, biting my lower lip. It was now or never, wasn’t it?

I reached over, placing a knuckle under his chin to make him look up from the ground. He looked at me, confused, and I swallowed, letting out a breath. Letting my arms snake around him, I moved closer and tentatively pressed my lips to his.

For a moment, he didn’t move. I felt my stomach fall and was about to pull back and apologize when he wrapped his arms around me and started to kiss back. Casually as possible, I removed one of my arms and reached into my pocket for the piece of paper from earlier. Retrieving it, I pressed it into one of his hands. Then I pulled back.

”Goodbye, Kier,” I murmured, giving a small smile.

He adjusted his glasses, then unfolded the paper I’d given him. I watched his lips as he mouthed the words and numbers; my address and phone number. He looked up at me and slowly returned the smile.

”Goodbye, Trav,” he replied.

And it was finished.

There you have it, folks. The end of Welcome to Camp Hell. I'm going to miss you guys. *sniff* *huggles to all*

Senko has suggested a sequel, and since I'm so reluctant to give up my babies, I might just do that. ^^

Of course...I have no clue what to do for a sequel. There are two things I can think of at the moment. The first is to do basically the same thing, only with different characters (no!!). The other is, remembering that Travis had just moved when the story began, have it so that he moved to Kier's town and they go to school together or something. See if Travis could hold up to his feelings under the effects of peer pressure and such. I would be happy to have suggestions...extremely happy. In fact, I'm practically begging for them. ^^;; If you have any ideas, either include it/them in a review (*hinthint*), or send it/them in an email. Make sure to include 'WtCH' or 'Welcome to Camp Hell' in the subject line, or else it's likely to get deleted along with all the spam mail I get. ^^;;

Now that all's been said and done...goodnight, folks. ^^