The Dark Side of Serenity

“… and they were never seen again!” this was the end to a not so terrifying story told by one of my fellow delinquents. I guess it could have been scary, for someone that was scared easily. As for me, I’m tough. When I was young and my fellow students would be terrified of things like monsters and ghosts they’d say, “Bailey, aren’t you scared?” and I would just laugh.

I hate this place. My parents put me here. They said it was for the best. New Beginning Youth Camp, that’s the name of this hell I’m living in. It’s even worse than how I used to live. Lonely, sad, drug addicted, and bitter. I guess this might be for the best after all. I mean so long as I can find friends. I don’t need many, just someone to talk to.

“WAKE UP!!,” that was the loud, obnoxious greeting I got the next morning. It was Lucinda, my cabin’s personal camp counselor. There were four of us in this cabin and she had to deal with us all, I didn’t like any of the other three. She was nice enough but the way she woke us up was inhuman, and her bounciness in the morning, it was like having a piece of candy after losing a game, the candy tastes so good and you want to enjoy it but you’re still so bitter from losing that you can’t.

“NO!!” I yelled back. I was quiet stubborn in the mornings. I hated to be woken before noon. This was my first week here and I wasn’t used to it.

“Come on, today is the buddy hike! You have to get up and see who your buddy is going to be! It’ll be loads of fun!” the cheerfulness, it burned. I had forgotten all about the buddy hike. I was kind of looking forward to it, it would give me a chance to meet someone new.

“Okay, okay, I’m up!” I said when I saw her open her mouth to yell again. I threw on a pair of loose jeans, a t-shirt, a small jacket, a cap, and hiking boots. In my bag I packed five granola bars even though they were giving us lunches, three oversized water bottles because I dehydrate easily, and a big jacket just in case. I was more than ready to start this trip.

Out at the post, a large pole that we meet at, there were girls rushing around checking the lists and finding their partners. There were disappointed faces and happy ones. I had to wait almost ten minutes to catch a glimpse of the ever evasive list. I saw that I was with a girl named Kira Alheim. I had never heard of here but then again I had only been there a week. I looked around expecting some tough looking girl that would really be able to hike and wouldn’t have trouble keeping up. Someone that I could really have a good time with. Someone that could be my friend. Someone that was nothing like the girl my attention was drawn to when I heard someone say, “Hey Kira! You’re with that new girl, Bailey!” She was kind of short and kind of pale. She didn’t look very strong and she didn’t have on hiking boots. So I guess this is kind of where our story starts.