Jack Kelly was the first one I saw. It's hard to forget the first one you see down at Camp Lake Echo. Pale lips moved, and nothing came out. Transparent bodies roamed, and only select people could see. A tiny breath on each shoulder; yet everybody claimed it was only the wind. A memory that would haunt your mind (and cabin) forever.
Brooklyn woke up, partially nonliving. She died just a little bit more as the day approached. Camp. Who even thought of the concept of "camp" anyway? Did somebody really, truly, deeply find sleeping in a cabin for a week with strangers intriguing? And being forced into a whole two activities per day? Damn Camp Lake Echo. Damn mothers. Damn everyone. It's not like Brooklyn was a friendless loser, who would only be able to socialize if forced away from home for a month or two. Or like she was a bad drug-addict, who's parent couldn't stand to put up with for the whole summer. Or like she was ten, the age a camper should be. Nope. Brooklyn was a normal fourteen year old, socially-correct city girl with an abundance of friends, and a surplus of parties to attend.
Brooklyn's friends basically laughed in her face when she explained Camp Lake Echo. Everyone, including Brooklyn, knew sleep away camps were for kids. Brooke tried to defend herself and camp, trying not to sound like a complete loser, but instead of listening, her "friends", flipped their hair and turned away. It would be an embarrassment to see with Brooke now. She wouldn't be attending beach parties, sleepovers, or block parties this summer: as far as they knew, Brooklyn had already left.
When the dreaded day finally arrived, all Candice could do was wear a slight smile: Brooklyn couldn't believe it. Her own mother was happy about Brooklyn's departure. It was completely and utterly unfair. How could a sane mother smile as her beloved daughter was being driven four hours away to go to a disgusting cabin in the woods for five weeks? Candice would probably go to Europe with her new boyfriend while her daughter was gone. She obviously didn't care. She was just one of those moms, where all she wanted was for her daughter to be out of her way, without getting into tons of trouble in the process.
Actually, it was technically all grandmas fault. It was basically a dying wish of Grandma Hartley's that when Brooklyn was old enough, (twelve years old) she would join Camp Echo Lake. Of course at the time, Candice must have been too drunk to realize that Grandma Hartley was senile, and it was a wonder she could even sit up straight. Only after Grandma died did Candice find a note in her nightstand with information about camp on it. Realizing that it was technically a dying wish, (and that Brooke would be off her back for six weeks) felt it was her duty to send Brooklyn off to Camp Echo Lake, at age fourteen, and a freshmen in high school. So, Brooke was off.
The awkward car ride came to end, four hours later, and pretty soon the car rolled into the Camp Lake Echo parking lot. It was a large, dirt area, packed with parents hugging their children goodbye, while the children were just eager to meet their bunkmates. However, Candice was preoccupied explaining over the phone how expensive plane tickets were now a days, or so she said. Brooklyn slowly unpacked her luggage by herself, and looked around. There wasn't much to see. From what Brooke could see, camp was on a hill. She could only slightly make out the tips of the wooden cabins. She then saw what seemed to be councilors, surrounded by 12-16 year old kids, giddily jumping around.
"Bye, mom." Candice quickly waved, still on her phone, and drove away. Unsure of exactly what to do, Brooklyn found a female councilor encircled by a bunch of girls. She jogged over, and followed the other girls by giving her name.
"Uh, Brooklyn Hartley."
"Well," The councilor who had a name tag that said "Spinner" on it said. "I don't see an 'uh Brooklyn Hartley' on here. However, I do see a young lady named 'Brooklyn Hartley' on here, and she happens to be very lucky because she is in my bunk. Welcome to Laguna, kiddo!"
Brooklyn struggled to her best ability not to roll her eyes. Cheesy camp counselors. This place sucked already.
"Calico," Spinner turned to Auburn haired girl, with fierce, sharp, cat-like eyes. "As always, you're in Laguna. Show Brooklyn around, why don't ya?"
Calico shrugged and put a hand on Brooklyn, steering her in the direction towards the cabins. Calico had a cold hand, with a nonchalant expression on her face. She seemed… alright. In school, Brooke was all sorts of popular and found stirring up a conversation no problem at all. However, here at Camp Lake Echo, Brooklyn was stuck on her words.
Lake Echo. Even the name sounded creepy. It was certainly the strangest camp name she had ever heard of. Why had Grandma insisted she go to this camp, anyway?
"So… Calico…" Brooklyn finally spit out. Calico raised an eyebrow. The two had just begun to reach the woodsy part of camp. "Is that, um, your real name?" Brooklyn restrained from slapping herself. Who says things like that?
"No." Calico said.
"Oh. I just, uh, thought-"
"It's my nickname. Everyone at Echo Lake has a nickname. You'll earn one eventually." Calico finished. "That councilor you met down there was Spinner. She's kind of a freak."
"I could tell."
"Yeah," The girls made their way through the woods, hopping over tree roots, ducking branches, and swerving around tree trunks. As the girls ventured deeper into the woods, sounds of confused eager newbies decreased, and the voices of excited camper meeting old friends grew louder, and guitar strums danced in the air, buzzing around Brooke's ears. Distant cabins surrounded the lake from the left.
"Sweet!" Calico declared, stopping in her tracks. Not far ahead, four girls sat atop an old roof of a groggy, wooden cabin. "Laguna" was written in sloppy blue letters above the door, and to the left was where the small lake that separated the girls' cabins from the boys' cabins was located.
"Come on!" Calico yanked a chunk of Brooklyn's dark brown hair and ran towards Laguna. Brooklyn followed close behind.
Calico was already half way up thee creaky old ladder by the time Brooklyn caught up to her.
"Uh…" Brooke looked around. None of the other campers were on the roofs of their cabins. In fact, none of the other cabins had creaky ladders leaning on them. Instead, the other girls from cabin girls gleamed jealously at the five-soon-to-be-six girls on the roof. Although old and rickety, Brooklyn managed to make her way up the dirty ladder.
When Brooke finally reached the top, the campers didn't seem to notice. Until Brooklyn coughed. And then coughed a second time. And then a third, which made it seem like she was hacking up a lung. That was when all the girls turned to witness the newest addition to Laguna.
"Oh, you guys," Calico motioned. "This is Brooklyn. She's new, I guess."
Numerous "heys" were exchanged.
The girls all sat in an enclosed circle. Brooklyn felt like such an outsider. She wished, with all her might that this was all a dream. That soon she would wake up and be out of this camp with cliquey girls, and she would be getting dressed and ready for Noah's annual first-day-of-summer pool party with her friends. Slowly, Brooke attempted to sit down and squeeze into the circle, between Calico and a fair-skinned girl with dark hair. The dark hair girl turned, giving a small smirk and raise of eyebrows.
The five continued to exchange mindless chatter: how happy they were that the bitchy seniors from last year were gone, how sad they were that their senior friends from last year were gone, how annoying the new freshmen were, how happy they were that school's over and camp was back. Gossip in which Brooklyn would only occasionally nod and "yeah" at, mostly because she didn't know what they were talking about.
"What about you?" A girl with dirty blonde hair and hazel eyes turned to Brooke.
"Huh?"
"You're Brooklyn right?" She asked.
"Um, yeah." Brooklyn bit her lip. She couldn't figure out why she felt so nervous around these girls. Most of them seemed nice; it was just this whole camp thing. At home, she was confident, strutting like a lion with the eye of a tiger. At camp she was a vulnerable kitten.
"I'm Scout," The blonde said with a welcoming smile.
"It's kind of weird, don't you think," The Brunette next to her, whose name was apparently Ditty, (at least that was what the other girls called her), spoke. "How you're a fourteen year old junior, and you just started camp now. No offence or anything. It's just that most of us started when we were freshman or at least sophomores. What's up with that?"
All heads turned towards Brooke. She realized everybody had probably wondering the same thing since she arrived. She didn't exactly know what to say. Brooklyn didn't want her first sentence at camp to be a story about her dead grandma's wish. It was a bit ridiculous. "Well, you know…" She started as she realized the campers didn't know. "I… I just kinda found out about this camp recently and I… like sleep away camps?"
There was an awkward silence for a couple moments.
"Sounds good to me!" Scout finally said.
"I'm Reese, by the way," a small girl with light brown hair and a soft voice chimed in.
"And Stevie," a blonde girl with tan skin and a not amused face.
"Calico, obviously," Calico said realizing she was next in line.
"Ditty." Ditty stared down at her nails.
"And Scout. But you already knew that," She smiled. "Where are you from, by the way?"
"Brooklyn." Brooklyn tucked a strand of hair behind her hair. Then she noted everybody's disordered faces. "Brooklyn, New York." The girls probably thought she was just repeating her name and she pinched her elbow; a habit of hers when she did something stupid.
"Ooh…" The girls said in unison.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Ditty sat up. "So let me get this straight: your name is Brooklyn. You're from Brooklyn. And you came to Lake Echo because you 'like sleep away camps'?" She squinted her eyes examining Brooke for a second. "You are literally the strangest girl I've ever met."
"Thanks."
The bell rang for dinner, and the girls were off, all six of them sitting at the same table, five chatting like best friends, and one just not in the mood. Lake Echo was a continuing dream she couldn't escape.
And the dream cloud didn't deteriorate until ten that night.