Young Writers Society

Welcome to Summer Camp! It's an exciting time for all of us, experiencing one of the pinnacle summertime experiences. Whether you're working the camp or showing up as a camper, it's for sure going to shape up to be a fun time. And, well, your whole year has been leading up to this point! And, as far as you know, life has always been like this. You've always lived on earth, where things are what you call normal, by normal standards. Summer Camp is a normal thing to do, so why not? Life isn't without it's flaws, but for the most part, life is easy-going. Compared to what? Well, you couldn't say.

On occasion, something feels a little off. Maybe, while you're settling into your cabin everything feels foreign in an otherworldly way. You think it's something like deja-vu or the homesickness getting to you. And maybe that's all it is. It's easy to shake off. Easy to explain away. And you keep going about your day.

Business as usual. Everything's fine. You're at Hike's Peak Summer Camp! With every sense of irony, you ought to be at a peak in your journey, right? Enjoy it. It's a unique part of your life, and things will never be quite the same again!

Aeron was stoked. First day of camp! Well, first day of camp-camp. With campers. And all that. Real camp. Not just camp counselor training. Which was fun, too, yes, of course. All important stuff to know and he felt like he had high potential of making friends with the other counselors and staff members. But the campers, man. That's where it was at. Getting to hype up kids and give them a magical summer camp experience and stuff.

He'd cleaned his cabin a stupid number of times at this point. Made sure that the mattresses of the bunks were fluffed -- even though he couldn't do much about the lumps -- and the curtains were opened and the cabin aired out and inviting. He had little welcome-packets prepped and ready to go, too, and labeled with the names of each of the boys that were going to be under his watch this summer. He also had snacks. Lots and lots of snacks.

He absolutely was not above bribing children into liking him. But not in a weird way. Just a he-fully-intended-to-be-voted-best-camp-counselor-by-the-end-of-the-summer way. Buying loyalty, one kitkat at a time.

He gasped in excitement when he heard a car door shut outside and went rushing towards the nearby parking lot to see if it was one of his campers.

Stepping away from a sleek black vehicle with tinted windows was a teenaged boy, backpack slung over one shoulder and a duffel bag over the other. He was watching as the car pulled away, sending small plumes of dust behind it on the dusty road.

He stood there, still, until the car sped around a corner beyond the trees, out of view. Then, a broad smile grew on his face, and the boy burst into a full sprint down the dirt trail that wound through the campgrounds, bags bouncing around him. As he got closer (moving surprisingly fast), Aeron could see him a little clearer. He looked like the athletic, sporty type, and his light brown hair was messy, sticking up almost like it defied gravity.

The boy's eyes locked onto Aeron, and he altered course, speeding up to him. He practically screeched to a stop, almost running into him.

"Whoa, hol' up, hoss!" Aeron put his hands up with a chuckle, ready to block if he needed to slow the boy's momentum himself. "How are you today?"

"Great, now that I'm finally free," he said, glancing over his shoulder from where the car had disappeared. "Are you who I'm supposed to talk to about where to put my stuff?"

"Yep! Are you Kazimir?" He may or may not have memorized the files given to him about all the campers from their registration.

"Kaz," the boy emphasized. "I go by Kaz. Exclusively."

"Kaz it is." Aeron dipped his head to him and offered a hand. "Aeron. I'll be your counselor this summer."

"Shit, counselor like therapy?" the boy asked, leaning away a bit.

"Nuuuuu." Aeron shook his head, deciding to leave his hand out in the offered shake for a moment longer. "Counselor like teach you how to do a bunch of cool stuff and hang out and beat all the other cabins in camp competitions."

Realization visibly showed on Kaz's face, and he smiled, then rapidly swung out his arm to very aggressively shake Aeron's hand up and down a few times before he pulled away. Aeron chuckled. He dug this kid's energy. Even though there seemed to be a lot of it.

"Cool," he said. "You seem cool."

"Back'atcha," Aeron said with a grin.

Kaz looked him up and down.

"Do you lift?" he asked.

"Sometimes." Aeron shrugged, turning towards the cabin and gesturing for Kaz to follow him. "I prefer sports, though... you need a hand?"

Kazimir was quick to follow behind him, adjusting the bags on his shoulders.

"Nah, I got it," he said with a smug smile. "What sports do you play?"

"Shot varsity hoops in high school until I tore my ACL, so now it's just pick up these days." Aeron held the door open with his heel. "But I've been known to try anything once. You play anything?"

"Oh, I've done everything," Kazimir said quickly with a proud little smile. "Football, soccer, basketball, baseball, swimming, volleyball, wrestling, weight-lifting, lacrosse, track, cross country, hockey, gymnastics, tennis, water-polo, hockey, golf, even horseback riding. Except the horses couldn't keep up with me."

"How do you outpace the horse you're riding?" Aeron lifted an eyebrow.

"That's what the horse said," Kaz said, pointing at Aeron meaningfully, as if that was some kind of comeback that made sense.

Aeron opened his mouth to respond, squinting slightly, then realized he didn't actually care. Kids were weird. Whatever. "...Okay. Well. You're the first one here. What bunk do you want?"

Kazimir's eyes lit up instantly, and with the deft agility of a monkey, leaped up onto the nearest bunk bed and crawled into the top bunk, throwing his bags on to the mattress. It bounced under his weight as he rolled out of view and then poked his head back out over the side, looking down at Aeron.

"Top bunk kinda guy." Aeron nodded, not at all surprised based on what he'd already seen so far about the boy. "Nice."

"No one can get the jump on me up here," Kaz said. "I can see everything."

"Well no one's gonna be jumping anyone, dis be camp not da hood." Aeron walked over to his own bunk back in the corner which he had carefully arranged things around to make it abundantly clear that the top bunk over him was off limits.

"Can I sleep in your top bunk?" Kazimir asked anyway.

"Nope." Aeron bent down to grab the envelope with Kaz's name on it off his mattress. He grabbed a pen too and scratched out the 'imir' at the end of Kaz's name then handed it over to him. "Here's this, though. It's some, like, orientation stuff? Or whatever. Just helpful stuff for you to know."

Kaz reached down and plucked the envelope out of Aeron's hands and sniffed the envelope first before hesitantly opening it. The top page inside was a classic get-to-know-you sheet asking for interests, expectations for the summer, and a box for anything he wanted Aeron to know heading into camp.

"You got a pencil?" Kazimir asked, looking at the paper closely.

"Pen work?" Aeron gestured with the one still in his hand.

Kazimir grabbed the pen and, resting the paper on his leg, quickly began to scrawl onto the paper. It was unclear if he was even writing, as his movements seemed more... chaotic. But, hey, at least he wasn't arguing. That was something, right? After a mere few seconds, Kazimir clicked the pen shut and offered the paper and pen back to Aeron.

At the top of the page, Kaz had written "KAZ" in all caps by the space for his name. He'd written "your mom" as a response to almost all of the questions except for the last one, where it was an open space for anything Aeron wanted to know.

Instead of words, there was a shaky drawing of a smiling dog and a mud-pie, with squiggly smell lines coming off of it. The dog had wings.

Ah. Or not. So much for the hope of compliance. Oh well. He'd merely have to figure out how to establish dominance soon. Get to the top of this pecking order quickly so that Kaz would chill.

"His name's Stinky," Kazimir said, pointing to the dog drawing. "I draw him on everything."

"Now I know," Aeron said, glancing at the drawing. "...And why should I know that?"

Kazimir smiled in a way that seemed... genuinely innocent.

"Why shouldn't you?" he asked instead, swinging his legs off the side of the bunk, swinging them a little.

"Alright..." Aeron scanned over the page. "And is my mom your only interest?"

"I dunno," he said. "Is she hot?"

"Well, she's dead," Aeron deadpanned. "So bit of an outdated interest, I'm afraid."

"Oh, shit," Kazimir said, his smile falling. "I'm sorry, man. R.I.P."

"Thanks, man." Aeron set the paper on the bunk next to Kaz's leg. "Been a long time now so it's all good, but I'll leave this paper here with you in case you think of anything else. Be easier to find common interests if I know more about yours... though I think we'll, uh, vibe? with sports. And I'm sure there are others, too. Just gotta find 'em."

Kazimir seemed a little deflated after the dead mom comment, and looked off to the side, continuing to swing his legs over the side of the bed. One of them started to shake a little, up and down.

Was he a bit of a jerk to pull the dead-mom-card this early? Maybe. But it was all part of establishing dominance. Show the shithead that he didn't pull punches, either.

"'S your dad still around?" Kaz asked.

"Nah." Aeron shook his head, forcing himself not to put any more emotion into that statement than he did about his mom. Even though he felt very, very, very different about both of his parents. Well, about his mama and sperm-donor. "We uh... we don't talk much." At all. In years. Thank god. "Got a lotta friends, though! That's what counts, right? Chosen family and all that."

Kaz made a face, looking down into his lap. His brows furrowed together as he pursed his lips to the side, and his eyes briefly flashed what looked like sadness. But as quickly as he looked down, he sprung back up, leaping off the side of the bunk bed to land on the floor beside Aeron.

"How tall are you?" Kaz asked, completely changing the subject.

"6'2"," Aeron said, straightening his back a bit. "6'3" at the DMV and on Bumble though."

Kaz stood up a bit straighter as well, like he was measuring himself against Aeron. He looked like he was just a few inches shorter. Maybe 5'10" or 5'11".

"My dad's 6'5"," he said. "And my mom's 6 feet."

"Nice." Aeron nodded. "And you're how old?"

"Sixteen," Kaz answered. "You?"

"Twenty." Aeron looked him over with another little nod. "You may get me beat eventually, then. My old man's just a little shorter than me but my mom was like 5'5" or something. You've got the advantage if both 'rents are tall."

"I want to be 7 feet tall," Kaz said.

"Nah, fam." Aeron furrowed his brow and shook his head. "Haven't you heard of, like, Andre the Giant and all of 'em? You die like super young if you get that huge."

"I mean, I'm going to die young anyway," Kaz said matter-of-factly. "From coolness. It's a fatal disease."

"Dunno, you may be safe," Aeron teased.

"I guess you would know from experience," Kaz said, raising his eyebrows.

"Weak. 4 out of 10."

"That'll be you next to me when I'm 7 feet," Kaz said with a shrug. He started walking towards the door.

"Where do y' think you're goin'?"

Kaz stopped at the door, looking back.

"What? Can't a guy go climb some trees?" he asked.

"Nah, fam." Aeron shook his head, somehow having no other words to counter that.

Kaz stared at him.

"0/10," he said, and then opened the door and darted out.

"Hey!" Aeron rushed out the door after him, but slowed on the porch so as to not engage in a full on foot-chase. "Bruh. Be chill; get back here."

But Kaz was already in the nearest tree. He was moving quickly, shimmying himself up the trunk until he reached the branches and began to pull himself up into the leaves. Aeron watched him with a sigh. Well... he at least would know where the boy was. That was something, right? Counselor points for not losing a camper within half an hour. Gold star to him.

Aeron briefly considered climbing up after him. Proving a point that this kid ain't shit and that he could out-climb him any day, any time. But he dismissed the idea when he remembered he was supposed to be the big kid here and set a good example. And not, you know, get in a pissing contest with a teenager and end up with one of them getting hurt.

Kaz dropped out of the bushy leaves, hanging from one of the larger branches. He had a big smile and swung his legs up onto the branch, holding onto it like a koala.

"Feel better?" Aeron asked flatly, leaning against the support beam of the porch and crossing his arms as he looked up at the boy coolly.

Looking over to Aeron with his head upside down, Kaz flashed him a big smile.

"Yeah," he said, and he seemed genuine.

"Well... good, then." Aeron shrugged. "Be careful, though. You'll get us both in trouble if you get hurt."

"Good for you then that I'm very durable and made of jello," Kazimir said.

"Those are opposite qualities my dude," Aeron said. "Ain't no one ever looked at a bowl of Jello and thought 'ayup that's some durable dessert right there'."

"Guess I'm just different, then," Kaz said dismissively.

No doubt about that. Hopefully his other kids would be more... normal. Not that Kaz didn't seem great. He did. Really. And he was excited to get to know him more. He seemed like a good kid. But good gods this was going to be an exhausting summer. Especially if he had more than one hyperactive kid like this.

Kaz uncurled his legs from around the branch and let himself hang there from both arms, suspended about ten feet in the air. Aeron watched as he inched his way inwards to the trunk and then slid down it, pushing off just before he hit the ground and rolled onto the grass. He sprung up and jogged back over to Aeron.

"What's your name again?" Kaz asked.

"Aeron," Aeron answered.

"What are your thoughts on going by A-a-ron?" Kaz posed, reaching out to lean on the cabin's porch railing.

"Well, technically, my name's A-e-ron, which isn't as catchy, y'know?"

"A-e-ron," Kaz echoed, looking off to the side like he was in deep thought.

"Yep." Aeron nodded. "Even Key and Peele can't do anything with my monstrosity."

Kaz hummed.

"Ron," he said conclusively.

"What's wrong with Aer?" Aeron countered playfully.

"You want to be called air?" Kaz questioned.

Aeron shrugged. "Honestly, nicknames don't really stick on me."

"Air pod," Kaz said, pointing at him.

At least he didn't resort to airhead right away, somehow. "Airplane."

"Air bud."

"AirBnB." Why in the world was he matching this energy, roasting himself?

"Air force ones."

"Swoosh."

Kaz smiled at that, and let out a little laugh that very much was exactly like a: "heh heh."

"Ok Air," Kaz said. "You can write this down. My interests include --" and at this he held out his hand and started counting on his fingers. "--Sports, eating food, anything outdoors, anything with cars, and punching stuff. Things you need to know are that I have nine toes, a 2.4 GPA, and dyslexia. It's contagious, so watch out."

He paused, and then quickly interjected.

"Also I can do this," he said, and then immediately pulled away from the railing and did a back-bend into a handstand.

"Nice." Oh, thank goodness. It seemed like he'd passed whatever test Kaz had had for him. He could work with this more than he could work with his dead mom. He took mental notes of everything that he said as he rattled off the list. "Jokes on you, I caught the dyslexia first... which nine toes do you have?"

Kaz turned around, still walking on his hands, and looked at Aeron with confusion.

"Huh?" he asked. "You want to see?"

"That is not what I--"

He brought his legs down and stood back up on his feet, spinning around as he yanked off one of his shoes, taking the sock with it. It was his left foot, and it did, indeed, only have four toes. He was missing the pink toe.

"Cool, huh?" he asked, wiggling his toes as he held his foot up.

Aeron snorted but smirked. "'Cool'."

"I lost it when I was a kid," Kaz continued, sitting on the ground to put his sock back on. "Dad said I was lucky I only lost one."

"What happened?"

"Well the way my dad tells it," Kaz said. "Is I had a knack for finding all of the sharp objects in the house. Said I was playing with a knife. Or maybe it was something else, I don't remember. Anyways, he likes to use it as an aneptote for how I've 'always been insane just like my mom' or whatever."

"Damn, that's crazy. Glad it wasn't worse."

"Well, I think I would've been okay," Kaz said with a shrug as he stuck his foot back in his shoe. "Mom's missing an eye, I'm missing a toe. Everyone's missing something, you know? You just can't always see it."

At that, he popped back up on his feet.

"Anyways, when's lunch?"

"Not for a bit, but I've got some snacks inside. C'mon, let's see if I have anything you like." At that, Aeron turned and headed back into the cabin, and Kaz trailed behind.

Alan wasn't sure why he was feeling nervous. He had been attending Hike's Peak Summer Camp every summer since he was 12. This summer wasn't any different.

Well, maybe a little different. Okay, a lot different - because this time, he wore the counselor badge. For the first time ever, he would be the one to counsel the campers. He had been on the campgrounds for a week now, getting up-to-speed on training with his fellow counselors, and mingling with the other teachers and staff. That was a lot of fun, and he was grateful for the friendships he had already made so far, but he was antsy to begin his job.

Alan craned his neck to see who could be arriving. He had been watching others say hi to their campers and introducing them to the cabin, and he had studied his roster long enough to know the names and faces of who he would be looking after. It felt a little weird and creepy at first, but he knew Aeron did the same, so either they were both weird and creepy, or this was totally normal.

In the midst of the crowd of cars and parents saying goodbye to their kids, Alan noticed a boy walking his way. He immediately recognized him to be Kieran, one of his campers.

Alan smiled and hopped on top of a nearby stump, waving and trying to make eye contact with him so he'd know where to go. Kieran saw him immediately and offered a tiny, shy smile and ducked his head and started towards him, a heavy-looking dufflebag slung over his shoulder.

"Hey there, you must be Kieran," Alan said warmly when he was close enough to hear, stepping down from the stump and crouching down to be more at his eye level. He offered a fist bump. "I'm Alan, your counselor for the summer."

Kieran glanced at his face, then his hand, then he hesitated before giving a half-hearted fistbump. "It's nice to meet you."

Alan was impressed that the 12 year-old kid was so polite. He smiled, standing up straight again then gestured back to the area of the cabins. "I'll walk you to the cabin. Need any help carrying anything?"

"No thanks!" He clearly needed help but seemed stubborn enough not to accept it regardless.

Well, Alan wasn't going to push it. He nodded and started to walk towards the cabin, making sure that Kieran was following.

"Are you excited for camp?" he asked enthusiastically, deciding to break the ice some more.

"Yes sir." Kieran nodded with a smile, keeping up.

"Oh, you don't have to call me sir," Alan said with a little laugh, again pleasantly surprised that he was overly polite for his age. "Alan's fine."

"Okay." Kieran nodded, shifting his pack. "...Is that the cabin?"

"Yes, right on ahead," Alan said with a smile as he gestured ahead towards the cabin with the sky blue door and painted balloons on it.

He didn't really know why this cabin was balloon themed, but he figured it may have something to do with the fact that the cabin housed kids twelve years and younger. Alan didn't exactly have a lot of experience working with young kids, but it made sense since he was one of the younger male counselors. He was excited nonetheless to get to know all of them.

"Have you ever stayed in a cabin before?" Alan asked.

"No s--" Kieran shook his head, cutting himself off. "This is my first time coming to camp, ever."

"Well, glad to have you here." Alan considered channeling more enthusiasm and energy that he was prepared to have for littler kids, but with Keiran being so polite and calm, he decided to switch gears and talk to him more like... well, an adult. "What are you most excited about?" he asked.

"Um..." Kieran considered for a moment. "I've heard that we can learn how to play a lot of different kinds of sports here... and... archery? Is that still offered this summer?"

Alan nodded, taking mental notes on Kieran's interests. "Yeah! There are instructors who can teach you archery. And you'll have lots of time to play as well. Do you play sports for school?"

"No." Kieran shook his head, adding sheepishly, "... it's very expensive to play."

Alan hopped up to the steps of the cabin first, opening the door open for Kieran as he stepped up.

"Well..." he said as he watched the kid take one step at a time with his giant backpack. "You'll have lots of opportunities to play here. You don't have to worry about that."

Alan would argue that 12 year-olds really shouldn't have to worry about costs at all, but he kept that to himself.

Kieran smiled an innocent boy-ish grin, nodding to him as he strode into the cabin then hesitated to take it all in.

Inside were three bunkbeds, one on each wall on either side of them and one on the back wall. There were windows on each wall as well, letting in ample natural sunlight. There were blue curtains pulled back but otherwise the cabin was relatively unimpressive though tidy and inviting. Alan was glad he had taken a moment to tidy his bags in the corner, otherwise Kieran would have walked in to a bit of a mess.

"You're the first one here, so you can take first pick on any of the beds," Alan said as he gestured towards the three empty bunk beds.

Kieran hesitated a moment then walked to the one on the back wall. He tried to get his massive bag up on the top bunk and it immediately fell on him since he was both too short and too weak to get it up there on his own.

Thankfully, Alan was right behind him. "Whoa, let me help you with that," he said as he already grabbed for the straps so the bag couldn't weigh him down too long. He gracefully picked up the bag off him but hesitated to throw it up the top bunk. "Are you sure you want to sleep up there? It might be easier to get in and out on the bottom bed."

Kieran furrowed his brow and looked at him sourly for a moment before you could visibly see the realization of what he was doing cross his eyes. Then he returned to a neutral expression and nodded and reluctantly said, "Okay. That's fine."

Alan hummed, deciding to gently set the bag down on the floor, a few feet away from the bed. "Tell you what. I'll set your stuff here, but if you can move your items to your top bunk yourself, then the bed is all yours. How does that sound?"

"... Are you sure?"

"Of course. I don't have a preference where you sleep," Alan said with a little smile.

Kieran smiled a little, placated, and nodded. "...I guess it'd make more sense to leave my stuff down here anyway. There won't be room to sleep if I put all my clothes up there."

Alan nodded. "Yeah. There isn't much storage space, so we'll have to make do. But you can always put your stuff under the bed if you'd like."

Kieran nodded and then kicked his bag, sending it sailing under the bed. Alan wasn't really sure that was entirely productive since, you know, he'd now have to crawl under the bed to retrieve it, but he only smiled and shook his head, pulling up his wrist to see the time on his watch.

"Well, we do have some time before orientation. You hungry?" he asked.

"Always," Kieran agreed with a nod.

Alan chuckled, already heading out the door. "We have that in common."

Yeona was already doubting her decision to work here this summer. They were only starting the second week of a many, many week long summer and now that the kids were arriving she was getting anxious. It was hard enough to figure out how to interact with the other counselors and staff members, much less adding chaotic children into the mix. This was going to go badly.

No. She needed to stop having that kind of attitude. She... needed... to just be prepared. That's all. No crisis that a bit of preparation couldn't, well, prepare her for. She just needed to be in control of the situation. As much as humanly possible.

Yeona was in the dining room folding the cloth napkins they used at the camp, being sure that the folds were crisp and perfect, just like the rest of her life. She glanced up when she saw Alan and a very small boy walk through the door and immediately make a bee line for the snacks laid out on a small table in the corner.

She watched them for a moment, not sure whether she should try to engage or not. On one hand, she didn't want to. On the other, Alan had been very kind to her up to this point and seemed like a generally good guy. Especially when Aeron wasn't around.

Yeona blinked as she realized she had accidentally made eye contact with Alan who had waved at her, and she forced a little smile and awkward wave. "Hello."

Alan looked to be a little embarrassed that he was holding a big plate full of the snacks. There were muffins, cheese, crackers, granola bars... at least two of everything. But he glanced at the boy behind him and then gave Yeona a quick nod.

"Hey there. Mind if we sit next to you?" he asked.

"Be my guest." Yeona gestured at the table, moving to take her stack of folded napkins and switch it to her other side so there'd be enough room for both of them. She looked the boy over quickly. "I'm Yeona."

"Kieran, ma'am," Kieran said with a grin, plopping down next to her. Alan slid the plate towards Kieran and then sat across from Yeona.

Yeona raised an eyebrow at the 'ma'am' but didn't say anything about it. "Nice to meet you. I take it you're in Alan's cabin?"

"Yep!" He tore into the muffin, taking an entirely too big bite and ending up with chipmunk cheeks as he munched.

"Kieran just now came in. We were both hungry so we thought we'd come by," Alan said with an amused smile, watching Kieran eat. He turned his attention back to Yeona. "Have you been here the whole time?"

"Um... I mean..." She gestured at the piles of napkins around her. She had already anxiously folded far more napkins than they'd need for a full day of meals with the number of campers they had signed up, and showed no indication that she planned on stopping anytime soon. "A little while. Just... trying to get things ready before the campers get here."

Alan nodded, then gently reached over to take half the pile of the stacked napkins. "How do you fold them?" he asked as he readied one.

"Like this." She shook one of the unfolded ones out and laid it flat on the table, then folded one of the corners over and waited for him to copy her. She then did the next move and the next, waiting for him each time. "That's it."

"That's not so bad," Alan said with a smile, setting the folded napkin on top of the pile of other folded napkins. "If we work together, we can finish this quickly."

"Thank you." Yeona gave a small but genuinely appreciative smile. "Are any of your other campers here yet?"

"Not yet, just Kieran so far," Alan said as he started a rhythm of folding the napkins himself. "What about you?"

"No." She shook her head. "None yet."

"We can check if any more have arrived when we're done with this."

Yeona nodded in agreement. Frankly, it was just fine with her that she was still stuck folding napkins rather than trying to figure out how to interact with children. But she couldn't say that, obviously. Especially not in front of, you know, a child. Besides, she was... excited, in a sense. It'd be interesting if nothing else.

A few moments of silence passed as Yeona and Alan folded napkins and Kieran hungrily ate. Then, Alan spoke again.

"I hope this doesn't sound too forward or weird," Alan prefaced, "but I saw you reading The Strange by Albert Camus. I read that book last year and really liked it."

"Oh?" Yeona looked at him with a little smile. "How was it? No spoilers, please. I'm still pretty early on."

"I'm sure you've picked up that it's not just about a story of man going through a mid-life crisis and throwing away his life for it," Alan said as he flicked his eyes up to Yeona, offering a little smile himself. "It has interesting themes of existentialism. Specifically absurdism, that nothing really matters in this universe. The message kept me up thinking for a while, but that's how you know it's a good book."

"That's true." Yeona nodded. "It seems like a fascinating concept so far. I've quite enjoyed exploring it a bit lately."

"Any reason you picked it up? I know it's not a common book for people our age to read."

Yeona shrugged. "I prefer more difficult literature."

Alan smiled. "It's a nice challenge. What's your favorite book?"

"Um." She hesitated a moment, trying to think of a respectable answer. No chance was she admitting her guilty pleasure of young adult trashy novels. "I actually enjoyed reading older literature when I was younger. Particularly Antigone by Sophocles."

"Oh, wow. Ancient Greek. That is older," Alan said as he mulled this over. "Have you read the Oddesey or the rest of the Oedipus trilogy?"

"Yes." She nodded. "I preferred Oedipus to the Odyssey. It..." She shrugged. "Felt deeper in terms of long-standing themes of human behavior. Not Mr. Toxic Masculinity off to fight god." She blushed a little. Was that too forward?

Alan chuckled. "I can really see that. Even if an epic, it feels like the same story getting told again and again with a male hero and god-like villain. It's nice to give atypical characters the spotlight sometimes."

Yeona nodded in agreement. She glanced over at the boy, Kieran. "Do you like to read?"

He shrugged.

Well, that wasn't an answer. "Mm... okay, that's okay. What do you like to do, then?" She glanced at Alan, wondering if he'd gotten an answer from the boy beyond a shrug. And also wondering if she was doing this right. Was this how one spoke to children? She didn't know.

Alan seemed to pick up her nonverbal cues, but waited patiently for Kieran to respond before responding himself.

Kieran shrugged again and swallowed his massive mouthful of cheese. "Um... I don't know. Sports, I guess? And I like animals. And stuff."

"Lucky for you, there's lots of sports and animals out here," Alan said with a smile. "What's your favorite sport and animal?"

"Soccer and iguanas... but not together."

"Hold on to your dreams, kiddo. There may very well be a soccer league for iguanas someday," Alan said with a laugh.

Kieran giggled. "I'd watch that."

Yeona glanced between them. What an absurd thing to say. And yet Kieran responded well. Was that the trick to kids? Just being as ridiculous as possible? She decided to keep watching quietly to figure it all out.

"I would too. Do you think they'd kick with their heads or their feet?" Alan asked.

"I don't think they'd be good at soccer," Kieran asserted. "Their claws are really sharp they'd pop the balls... though I guess maybe their tails?"

"Oh, that's a good idea. Say, why don't we try that later today? Not kick with our tails, obviously, but move the ball around with--"

"Our butts?" Kieran offered eagerly.

"I was going to say with anything but our feet and hands, but yes," Alan finished with a laugh.

Kieran grinned, giggling again. "That sounds fun! I bet I could run on my knees."

"Okay, but only with kneepads. I don't want you to scuff your knees the first day of camp."

Kieran shrugged. "Okay, I guess. But my knees are pretty tough."

Alan was still smiling, shaking his head as he was folding his napkins quickly, halfway through his pile already. "What about you, Yeona? Do you play any sports?"

Yeona wrinkled her nose. "No. That's not my... interests." She glanced at Kieran. "I bet you're good at them, though."

Kieran puffed up. "Bet I will be."

"He might even be better than me," Alan said innocently. "He's got much more experience."

Kieran shrugged. "The point is to have fun."

Alan paused, looking up at Kieran to give him an appreciative smile. He seemed pleased that Kieran was mature enough to say something like that. "Yeah. That's right. That's a good mentality to have."

Kieran nodded and promptly dove back into the granola, munching happily.

Yeona smiled a little. He seemed like a good kid. She was glad to see it. She hoped the other kids would be this easy, too.

Vincent hopped out of the car and grabbed his suitcase out from the seat next to him. He already had his bookbag on his shoulders and so he began pulling his suitcase handle up so he could roll it down the dirt path into camp.

"I'll see you later!" He shouted to the car behind him as it honked and sped off.

He looked ahead of him. There were a few campers already roaming around, some still with their luggage as well. He knew from the last couple of years when the perfect time to show up was. Come too early and you're left trying to make awkward conversation with someone who might as well be twice your age- come too late and you've established yourself as tardy, and you won't have the time to fix that reputation. There was a delicate balance to these two ends of the spectrum that Vincent believed he found the solution to, and so here he was.

He looked around at the trees and the cabins that he could see. Nothing much had changed, which was a good thing- less room for surprises. He wondered if all of the counselors would still be the same.

Before he got too far down the trail that led to camp he wondered out loud, "So who will I be stuck with this year?"

"Hi," a cheerful voice said from behind Freddy.

Freddy jumped. He had just watched his mom drive away—with Sammy, who he had always been joined at the hip with—and had been mentally preparing himself for the walk up to the camp. Freddy wasn't exactly afraid of new situations, but he liked knowing what he was about to get into. And it wasn't like he had ever been to camp before.

He hadn't realized that someone had come up behind him when the car had pulled away. They must have walked quietly, or maybe he had just been too much in his head.

He turned.

There was a girl standing behind him. She easily towered above him with her lanky limbs. From the way she held herself, it seemed like she didn't know what to do with all of the space her body took up.

"Hi," Freddy said, a little bit wary and very much politely. "Are you one of the camp counselors?"

The girl grinned at that.

"No," she said, then thought a minute. "I bet it would be fun to be one. I'm Mari. I'm a camper, too! This is your first year, right? I'm a returning camper."

Freddy nodded. "I've never been to camp before."

"Oh, you'll love it here," Mari reassured him. "The activities are great. You just have to be...careful sometimes."

Freddy blinked.

"...Why?" he asked.

Mari froze.

"Oh, you know," Mari said vaguely. He very much didn't. "We're outdoors. You could slip on some wet rocks, fall doing the ropes and climbing courses, or get struck by lightning during a thunderstorm. What's your name, by the way?"

Freddy didn't miss the change in topic, but he went along with it. "Freddy."

"Good name," Mari said. "Want me to walk over to camp with you? I need to check-in with my counselor, too. I haven't done that yet this year."

Freddy looked her over. She seemed nice, even though something about her felt weirdly...off. Freddy wasn't his best friend Matt, though, so he didn't try playing detective like Matt would have. Matt was obsessed with Sherlock Holmes this year, and Freddy knew far too much about the mysteries Holmes had solved because Matt kept talking about them.

"Sure," Freddy said, fixing the straps of his backpack and rolling his suitcase along with him as they walked together.

Looking back, much later on, Freddy really should have questioned why Mari didn't have any belongings of her own on her.

She had never been to a summer camp, so she didn't exactly know what to expect. But this seemed underwhelming.

Maybe it was the production of it all. It all felt like she was in a movie, not in real life. Kids were coming in and running up to their cabins with excitement and eagerness for the days to come, but so many of them seemed familiar with everything already. They knew where to go, how to act, who to talk to. Some even knew each other, which told her they'd been here in summers past, or their parents had all just sent them to the same camp.

It was annoying, thinking already of how she'd probably end up in the group of "weird kid" outcasts, even if it was true. She didn't care that much about popularity, but she didn't like being put in a box, either, even if that box was mostly accurate.

She stood at the base of her cabin, looking up. It was a small, single-story cabin, and the front porch was well-worn in the walkways, the faded wood showing where campers had come in and out over and over again. In the corners of the ceiling, in the nooks of the rafters, she could see cobwebs, and at least one active spider lurking in the shadows.

She'd kill it later when she got the chance.

There was a lady waiting on the porch, looking down at her. Sam couldn't really pinpoint how old she was, but she had to at least be an adult, because she was wearing one of the counselor uniforms. She had long, dark hair, dark eyes, and pale skin. She seemed like she was actively pretending not to be anxious as she offered a little smile and awkward wave. "Um... hello?"

Sam adjusted her backpack on her shoulders.

"Are you in charge?" she asked.

"I am." Yeona dipped her head. "Yeona. Are you in this cabin? If so, I'm your counselor!" 

"Yeah," Sam said, coming up the steps. "I'm in this one, I think. Cabin twelve."

"Wonderful!" Yeona smiled a little. "What's your name? And do you need a hand?"

"I'm Sam," she answered, holding onto her backpack a little tighter. "I've got it. I don't need help."

"Alrighty." Yeona stepped back and pushed the door to the cabin open, stepping in first and holding the door for her. "Nice to meet you, Sam!" 

Sam walked in and looked around, scanning the bunks before picking hers - a top bunk, but on the side that looked less cobwebby. After taking a second to assess the stability of the bunkbed, she decided to go for it, and began climbing up the side with her backpack on. It wasn't very difficult, though, and she got up quickly.

She shrugged her backpack off and stuck her legs off the side, looking down at Yeona.

"When do we eat?" she asked.

"Soon," Yeona promised. "I think they're planning to combine the welcome and dinner, then some more formal orientation after you've all been fed." 

"Sounds boring," Sam said with a sigh. "But okay."

"Nah, we'll make it fun," Yeona promised. "There's lots of games and little prizes and such involved."

"What kinds of prizes?" Sam asked, climbing down the bed.

"Mm... not sure," Yeona admitted. "I know we've got some stickers and temporary tattoos and such. Maybe some pencils and bracelets?"

Sam hummed. Those weren't worth a whole lot, but she did like bracelets.

"What do I have to do to win?" she asked.

"You'll see." Yeona smiled a little. "Don't wanna ruin the surprise."

Sam pursed her lips into a pout. Surprises. She didn't like surprises, but Yeona seemed like the person to think everyone must like surprises, or at least she acted like it.

Without saying anything, she turned for the door.

"Okay," she said. "I'll see you later. I want to look around."

"Oh, uh... okay." Yeona nodded hesitantly, clearly not sure how to respond to that. "Just stay in the main camp area, please. Don't go down by the water or near the woods. You'll have the chance to see those areas later but not unaccompanied, please."

"Okay," Sam said, noting to go to those places unaccompanied. "Bye!"

She hopped out the door and down the steps, circling around the building so she'd soon be out of Yeona's view. 

The front of the camp was where all the cabins were - and there were a few dozen, all lined up in rows. A lot of the space in-between was occupied by kids and counselors gathering around picnic tables, or swings, or various campy versions of playgrounds. There was a group of children that had started a game of tag, and they were taking up a lot of space, running around.

As she quietly made her way to the last row of cabins she noted that seemed to be where the older kids were staying. There were teenagers coming in and out of them, and some of them were really tall. Way taller than her, at least.

Now, where was the lake? She wanted to get by the water.

She had begun sneaking, weaving between the cabins when no one was looking. She just had to find a map somewhere, probably. There had to be a map of the camp, right? Maybe on one of the bigger buildings across the dirt road, where they were probably going to eat and stuff.

That just meant crossing the road without getting seen. Even if Yeona wasn't following her, she wouldn't put it past any other counselor to keep an eye out and try to stop her.

She waited at the back of a cabin, back against the wall, watching for the moment the traffic either cleared or got crowded enough to get lost in.

The latter happened first. A few cars pulled up all at the same time and parents came out with their kids while counselors all came up to welcome them and talk. Other kids swarmed around to see the newcomers, and Sticky seized her window to slip into the chaos. She managed to get by to the other side of the road and dart into a grove of trees unspotted, and from there, it was easy.

When she poked her head out of the trees, she could see the lake, and there was a pretty clear path to get down there aside from the obvious, stone-paved one.

She always leaned towards the paths less traveled.

She ended up climbing through some thick grass and other forest plants she didn't really know the names of. The only one she knew to watch out for was poison ivy, and she didn't see any of it, so she was in the clear.

There was a little drop before the land turned semi-beachy, so she had to climb down a few boulders before she made it to the shore.

Landing lightly on the sand, she looked out at the blue water and the small, lapping waves. There was a little boy a few dozen yards away crouched and looking at something on the ground.

So she wasn't the only one going to the lake unsupervised.

With a little grin, she ran over to meet him. He looked to be around her age.

"Hey," she said when she got within a few feet of him. "What's your name?"

He tensed a little, jerking his head up in surprise as she approached. Then he stood up and brushed his hands off, smiling a little. "Kieran. You?"

"Sam," she said, then paused. "But people call me Sticky."

"Why?"

"It's a secret," she said with a little smile, sticking her hands in her pockets. "Maybe I'll tell you why, maybe I won't."

"I think I already figured it out," he said, then crouched back down. He had a little pile of rocks that were smooth and round and flat.

Sam squatted down beside him, looking at his pile of rocks. She reached down into the sand and found another one, smoothed out by the waves.

"That's a good one," Kieran commented, glancing over. "I'm getting good skipping stones."

"Are you good at skipping them?" Sticky asked, beginning a search for stones of her own.

"Yeah," he said proudly. "I can usually get at least three or four skips. Once I got seven!"

"That's cool," she said. "I've never really lived by water before. But I'm pretty good at throwing. How do you get rocks to skip?"

"You gotta get 'em flat so they hit at the right angle, like this." He picked one up and showed her how he was holding it. "You curl your fingers around it like this. Then you aim and try to get it to bounce off the top of the water--" He demonstrated, getting three skips. 

Sam hummed, observing closely as he showed his technique. She squinted and looked down at her rocks, picking one up to imitate how he held it. It didn't look too difficult, really. It looked like it was more about the angle...

Plop.

Okay, so she didn't get it the first time. That was fine. She'd try again.

Focusing more, she launched another rock. This time, it skipped. Once.

Her eyebrows shot up, and she smiled.

"Ey! Good job!" Kieran grinned, delighted on her behalf. 

"You said seven skips, right?" she asked. "Was the most you ever got?"

"Yeah," Kieran said. 

"We should try to get to ten," Sam said with a grin.

Kieran snorted. "I been trying for years, you're not gonna beat me the first day you try."

"Maybe not," Sticky said. "But give me a week and maybe I will."

"You won't," Kieran said confidently. 

"You don't know that," Sticky retorted.

"Yeah huh," Kieran argued, turning back to his rock pile. "I'm better at it than you."

"For now," Sticky said, starting to grab more rocks.

"Forever," Kieran said. 

"Yeah, right," Sticky said. "No one lives forever."

"Then I'll be better than you once we die, too." 

"Wow," Sticky said. "How dramatic of you."

Kieran shrugged, unbothered.

Sticky rolled her eyes and tossed another rock out over the water. Two skips this time. She was only eight away. Take that, Keiran.

Glancing over her shoulder to take a look around, she noticed... they weren't alone.

There was a guy. A camp counselor guy, watching them from a distance.

Seriously?

"Wh--has he been there the whole time?" Sticky whispered.

"Huh?" Kieran looked up, then followed her gaze. "Oh, yeah, he's looking for rocks, too." He looked at Aeron and shouted. "You find any?"

Aeron nodded. "Yepperoni." And started over towards them, using his t-shirt like a pouch filled with little skipping stones. "Oh, hey, there," he said to Sam as he approached, nodding to her. "What's up, Girl Scout?"

Sam frowned.

"I'm not a scout," she said, tucking her pile of rocks closer to her.

"...Okay." He shrugged, unbothered. "I'm Aeron, what's your name?"

"Sam," she said. "Who are you?"

"Aeron," Aeron repeated. "I'm a counselor. Whose cabin are you in?"

"Why? Are you going to tell on me?" she asked.

Aeron raised an eyebrow at that, looking at her skeptically. "Are you doing something you shouldn't be?"

"No," Sam said quickly. "Are you?"

"Why would I tell on you if you weren't doing something wrong?"

"I don't know," Sam said. "You just seem like you might."

"Mm... how about you just act right and save us both the trouble?" 

"Okay," Sam said, getting to her feet. "I promise to be good."

She picked up her stones and dropped them into Aeron's pile.

"Good luck stone skipping," she said. "Keiran's going to be better than everyone even when he's dead."

At that, she didn't wait for him to reply, and whirled around. She ran away.