Chelsea had the feeling she was falling. The wind rushing through her hair, and that funny feeling forming in her stomach. She didn't know where she was, until she hit the ground hard. It all came back to her.
She was on a "bonding" overnight at Camp Lakeview. The camp in which she loved going to, but always felt like she didn't belong because the other girls thought of her as mean and rude. They had been camping out on Shadow Lake, when she got into a heated fight with the other girls. In the end, she compared Alex to a drug addict because she saw her with her insulin. She knew that Alex was diabetic, and that it wasn't her fault or anything, but the other girls didn't know at all how she felt! Nobody asked her about her father and how he was doing, but everyone cared about Alex's well being. She wasn't even sick! So when Natalie asked, "What's wrong with you Chelsea?" Chelsea stormed out of the campsite, while her counselor Belle watched with confused and unknowing eyes. It was just starting to get dark, and with her eyes welled up with tears, it was incredibly hard to see. She ignored the branches stinging her face and kept running. She was letting go of herself, letting the tears fly. Then, she tripped over a tree root, and as her ankle throbbed, she rolled down a steep hill, covering her head as she continued going down. As the hill became steeper, she felt nothing- because the ground had dropped straight down underneath her.
The last thing she remembered as she hit the cold ground was thinking of her family, already going through so much. And then, as she landed with a thud, her world went black.
Gaby walked next to Belle on her left and held Priya's hand to her right. As they marched on through the woods, following Belle's flashlight beam, Gaby yelled out weakly. "Chelsea! Can you hear us?" Her voice cracked, tiredly. As they went on, Gaby couldn't help thinking about how stupid her sort-of friend was. Why would she say that? Even I understand what Alex is going through. How mean can she get? She shook her head, knowing that she was being just as bad. Gaby also had a reputation of being quite snappy. Sometimes she just felt so left out! Suddenly, her and Priya came to a hult as Belle put her arm in front of the two girls. "What is it Belle?" Asked priya, breaking the silence.
"That," She said pointing the light a couple feet in front of them. "A drop-off." Priya gasped and took a few step backwards stumbling on some rocks. Gaby stayed put, but fear entered her eyes.
We could've fallen off that! Thought Gaby, silently thinking about how she was so lucky Belle was her counselor. "You girls stay here. If Chelsea was running, she could've stumbled down that hill over there," She said pointing to her right. "And then fell down. I'm good at rock climbing, if she's down there, I might be able to climb down and grab her."
"Be careful." Gaby said quietly. As Belle creeped forward closer to the edge, Priya couldn't help of think about what Candace had said. She had seen Chelsea trying to help make dinner, but her and the other girls didn't think of it when they just said they had it. She felt really bad about it, and if Chelsea was hurt, then she would feel guilty too. She was sure that the dinner preparation had to do with her cabin mate running off like that. She snapped out of her daydream as Belle let out a huge gasp and yelled, "CHELSEA!" as loud as she could. Belle waited a few seconds, thinking of a plan before turning to the girls. "Priya, take your flashlight and guide yourself back to the campsite. Tell Clarrissa to grab my walkie-talkie and to call camp. Tell her to say that we are at Shadow Lake campsite number 7 and we need emergency services now. Say that a camper is fell down a cliff and is not responding and may be seriously hurt. You have to run, and not get lost." She paused to take a breath. "GO!" She screamed and Priya turned and sprinted away from where Gaby had her hand over her mouth. "Gaby, you need to come here and stand at the ledge. I am going to climb back up with Chelsea and you need to help me pull her up."
Gaby slowly moved up to the ledge, her eyes filled with tears. She cautiously held onto a nearby tree and muttered a small, "okay."
As Belle started to descend the steep decline, Gaby held her breath and tried focusing on how long the drop was. She decided it was only around 20 feet- almost two stories. She started balling and whimpering a little because she knew her friend was hurt. Even though her and Chelsea bickered about this and that, Chelsea knew how she felt about being left out, and she could relate. From the ground below, Belle called out.
"I need you to get a hold of yourself, Gabs. I know this is extremely hard for you to see, and I understand that you've known her for a long time, but if you want to help your friend, then you have to listen to me." There was a break of silence before Belle spoke again. "Okay, you need to shine your flashlight down on the cliff side, but not at me. I think if I hold onto her waist then I can hull her up the less steep part over there." Gaby looked to her left, where belle was pointing the light. It was definetly a smaller incline, and she could probably walk up there by grabbing trees. "You need to be there when I get near you to grab her arms, okay?"
"Is- is she all right?" Gaby asked and Belle pondered the answer. She knew she couldn't tell Gaby about the huge gash in her campers head, or the fact that her ankle had swelled up to a grotesque size.
"She's hurt, but she'll be fine. Do you understand what you need to do?" The truth was, Gaby did know what she needed to do, but she didn't want to do it. All she wanted to do was be back at home, sleeping in her plush bed as the warmth surrounded her and let her go. And she was free forever. But she also knew her job, and how important it was for Chelsea.
"I know what to do. Just go as fast as you can. We have to get Chelsea out of there. Be careful." Gaby could practicaly see Belle smiling.
"That's my Gaby." Soon, Belle was climbing up the rock side and Gaby was lighting the way. Gaby could see Belle getting closer, and as Belle was less than 4 feet away, Gaby began to reach out. "Okay, you have to really pull because I can't push her from here on." Belle said as Gaby set the flashlight to the side and grabbed Chelsea's limp arms. "One. Two. Three!" Gaby pulled as hard as she could and dragged her cabin mate up to her feet.
"I've got her!" Gaby yelled to Belle. "Are you okay?" She then shined the light down to where her counselor was and followed her as she came up to Gaby and put her hands on her shoulders.
"Good job." She said panting. Gaby zoomed the flashlight down to her friend where her breath caught in her throat. Chelsea was bleeding from the side of her forehead all the way to a chin, and she was had blood on her chest. "We have to go now Gaby. Fast, remember? Like you said?" But Gaby couldn't. She fell to her knees, clutching her head in her weak arms. All she could think about was if Chelsea actually didn't make it. Her aunt had gotten in a car accident five years ago and bled out. Could that happen to her dear friend?
