Chapter 5: Camping

                                    

                                          
We walked into the noisy classroom and sat down. Claire suggested going to the park the next day and I agreed immediately. I needed something else to think about and get everything weird out of my system. At the same time, I felt I owed her.
Barely two minutes later, Mr Fredrick walked into class. It was only then that I remembered the proposed field trip. 
"Good day class!" He greeted. "Good day, sir" we all chorused the words like it was some kind of mantra. He moved to place his textbook on the table. 
"So I had a meeting with the principal regarding the field trip I had mentioned." He stopped talking and looked at every member of the class, one by one. I didn't like the suspense. "He thought it was a brilliant idea but recommended we go camping. According to him, it'll make it easier to understand yourself.", he continued. Everyone began murmuring and honestly, I didn't like the idea very much either. "Quiet!" He ordered.
"All the arrangements have been made and we leave on Monday. Get your things ready. We're going camping" he said.
I had mixed feelings about the idea of camping. A part of me wanted to go but a greater part didn't. But it was planned already and we had to go.
The weekend went smoothly, Claire and I went to Crestview park, had fun, got back and watched a couple movies at her place. 
It was Sunday night and Claire and I were at my house. She had already packed her own stuff before coming over. I, on the other hand was still packing. I needed to be sure that all the clothes I carried fully covered me from my neck down. I couldn't risk exposing the mark. Luckily, it was already cold so that made it a lot easier for me to cover up, even from Claire, without suspicion. As I packed, Claire kept telling me how dangerous camping could be. I really didn't blame her. I felt a bit nervous too.
I was finally done packing and we went to the kitchen to make dinner. 
"We'll stay in the same tent right?" She asked with pleading eyes that I could not resist 
"Of course, who else would I possibly tent with?" I answered while turning on the cooker. We made a lazy dinner of fries and hotdogs. 
We ate there in the kitchen and finally retired to bed. Before that, I greeted my mom goodnight. I always felt bad for her. She was mostly by herself because the time she would've spent, hanging out with Claire's mom or do something fun for herself, like shopping, was used for work. I felt horrible that I'd have to leave for camp. Things had been so different since my dad died. I only wanted the best for her. 
"Love you, mom" I said softly. 
"Love you too Evelyn"
***
All eight of us; seven students and Mr Fredrick stood in the school's driveway, with our luggage, waiting for our designated driver to arrive. 
"I can't stand here for two extra minutes. My feet are killing me", Jessica complained. She wore a pair of  timberland boots, a fancy pair of mom jeans, a pink cropped top, pink sunglasses and a scowl on her heavily made-up face.
"Take off them shoes then." Christian mocked. The rest of us erupted with laughter, except little Dylan. He looked frightened and hugged his backpack like his life depended on it. Something was off about him today. 
Ryan, on the other hand, looked confident as always. He still had his usual charm. He wore a pair of blue jeans with a t-shirt and a nice converse. His white hair was perfect, as usual, and he kept his hands in his pocket. 
"Raymond" Mr Fredrick called 
"Yes sir" he answered. 
"I want you to take the leader role at the camp. You have the boldness I look out for. Take orders from me and give them out. Do you understand?" I thought it was hilarious. This man was taking this camp thing a bit too serious. 
"Yes sir" He answered. 
On the bus, Mr Fredrick decided that it was the best time to tell narrate his life experiences to us. He was still young so there was not really much to say but I admired the way he took it upon himself to keep the trip lively. The only person who really paid attention to him was Dylan. 
Jessica took selfies, probably to upload to her social media with dumb hashtags. Ryan watched a movie on his laptop, Christian played a game. I could tell it was a soccer game because he had yelled 'goal!' twice already. And Claire, her eyes were screwed shut and she covered her mouth with her hands, probably trying to supress a vomit. I wondered how long she'd keep up.
I brought out my phone and quickly typed a "hi mom". I was sure she wouldn't see it till after she got off from work but I sent it anyway.
After an hour of black tarred roads and traffic and twenty minutes of nothing but green lands and trees, our bus finally screeched to a halt beside a forest. 
Claire was the first to get off, she bolted for the door and went barely five steps away before she emptied the contents of her stomach on the ground. I didn't think she'd be able to hold it till we got there. 
Now, talk about where we were. This place looked pathetic. How were we supposed to 'find ourselves' in a place like this? It was ridiculous. As if he heard my thoughts, Ryan said, for the first time, "Excuse me sir, how exactly are we gonna find our purpose in a forest?" I could tell Mr Fredrick was a bit embarrassed. He just shrugged and replied.
"We'll see"
We took out our luggage and walked in a little. Behind a curtain of trees was a large space which I assumed was where we'd set up out tents. 
Mr Fredrick had his personal tent. Jessica insisted that she wouldn't share, so she had one to herself.  Ryan and Christian shared one, Raymond was made to stay with Dylan, and Claire and I shared a tent.  
I could tell there was something wrong with Dylan today. At school, he looked really scared and on the road, I had initially thought he was listening to Mr Fredrick, but on close observation, it seemed like he was staring at something I couldn't see. I ignored it and told myself that he was probably daydreaming or doing something thirteen year olds did. 
Towards evening, Raymond announced that Mr Fredrick wanted all of us to meet. So we all gathered and sat round an already prepared fire. He spoke to us on the importance of being there and told us that we'd be assigned tasks the next day. After that, we ate and went back to our respective tents.
As I was about to enter the tent, I saw Dylan, he looked like he had lost his way so I decided to help him out. He was staring into the forest with his back to me. I tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention. Immediately he turned to face me, I screamed. He looked...dead. He was very pale with blue veins on his face and hands. His eyes, or rather, his empty eye sockets freightened me the most. Blood was flowing from them. I gagged and covered my mouth then ran as fast as I could, to my tent, without looking back.
All night, I couldn't sleep. I tossed and turned. What the hell was that? I knew something was wrong with him. I forced myself to believe it was all in my head but I wasn't convinced enough. It was definitely Dylan. His ginger hair. It was him. I even touched him. I shuddered at the thought.
Before I finally fell asleep, I remembered that I had screamed. Very loudly at that. Did nobody really hear me? My mind spun as thoughts tumbled around, half-formed. I tried to latch onto them but they stayed out of reach, taunting me. I eventually managed to fall asleep much later.