Max stepped onto the shore of Spooky Island and pulled the end of the boat up to the dry land. That would hold it until he got back. He looked at the thick forest, slightly daunted by the darkness and loneliness of the whole situation. He just needed a break from David. That was why he was here. To get himself just lost enough that he felt good and lost, but could still find his way back to camp when he wanted to. He had picked Spooky Island because that was the last place David would think to look.
He took a breath and looked behind him, at the considerably more welcoming forest surrounding Camp Campbell. There was a split second where Max wanted to go back, but he was here now so he swallowed the desire and started walking into the woods.
The trees grew close together here, with room for mushrooms and some grass, but not much light. Well, really no light at all. It was warm and humid, but there were no bugs. The lack of things crawling on his skin made his skin crawl. The whole island didn't seem quite real. It hadn't felt real the first time he had been here, either. He took that as a sign that it was more real than anything across the lake.
He pressed on until he came across a path. It looked like it had been used a lot, fifty years ago. There was no grass and the dirt was hard, but there were leaves and dead things all over it. He looked both ways, then decided that either way would lead at least somewhere. Besides, he couldn't possibly find anything scarier than what they had seen in the basement of Campbell's mansion, and that was confined to the mansion. He hoped. No, he really didn't need that image in his head right now.
He kicked a dead squirrel to the side of the path and headed left. The weather and the creepiness of the island didn't seem to go together, but they far from negated each other. In fact, they almost amplified each other. The heat seemed hotter because he was expecting it to be cold. The dark seemed darker because he wanted it to be light.
After a few bends in the path, he got used to it all. The heat, the dark, the general creepiness, the feeling that someone was watching him; maybe even writing down everything he did for the entertainment of some sad little social outcast with no hope of real human interaction(Please note that the views here are Max's own and do not reflect those of the author). Eventually he even started to relax a little.
"Hey, Max. What's shakin'?"
Max jumped out of his skin and swore so loud he almost expected David to have heard him. He put a hand over his heart to make sure it didn't pound right out of his chest. "Jasper, what was that for?"
The ghost held up his hands as if that would protect him. He was grinning, though. "Chill, man! Saw you come over and thought you might want someone to talk to."
"Well, I don't. Especially not one who materializes in front of me with no warning in a place called Spooky Island! You almost gave me a heart attack." Max walked right through Jasper and didn't even blink.
Jasper caught up with him a second later, but now there was a seriousness in his eyes.
"I'm real sorry, man. Didn't mean to scare you like that, honest. I just… I'm just a kid, for Pete's sake. Why are you even here? Shouldn't you be at the camp?"
Max sighed. He figured he had no reason to lie to Jasper, and who would Jasper tell? The old people? Max pushed a branch aside and let it snap back into place when he passed. "When you were, you know, alive, was there anyone you just didn't like for no reason?"
The ghost floated beside him, not even bothering to walk. "No, not that I can think of. I know Davy didn't like me, but that was before… before…"
"Before you died?"
Jasper sighed and his shoulders dropped. "No. I was alive for quite a while after… Cambell got us lost and I almost got killed by a bear."
"Yeah, David told me the story."
"David? Like, Davy David? He's still around?"
Max shrugged. "Yeah. He's a counselor now. Happiest guy I ever met. Most annoying, too."
Jasper stuck his hands into his pockets and looked at the ground. "So, that's why you're here? Because Davy gets on your nerves? He's a good kid, just give him a chance."
They walked in silence for a while, and as the silence went on, the pressure to say something increased. Eventually, Max couldn't take it anymore. He snapped a branch off of a tree and broke it in half. "This is boring!"
"Well, do you want to stop for a while? My secret spot is really close to here. I could… I could show you where it is." Jasper smiled a little, but it was the kind of smile that made Max's chest hurt. Genuine. It was a genuine smile, one that was fighting the darkness and winning.
He couldn't violate this kid's secret hiding place like this. He stopped walking and just stared at Jasper. "No, that's okay."
"Really, you should come." Jasper reached out to take Max's hand, but he just passed through it. He looked into his eyes again. "Max, it's fine. I really only call it my 'secret spot' because the old people don't know about it. I don't think even Campbell knows about it. It would be nice to have someone to share it with."
There was something about the way he said it that broke Max's heart. It hit him just how alone this kid really was. He hadn't had anyone to talk to since the early two thousands at best. "If it means that much to you, I'll come."
Jasper nodded and pointed off through the trees, walking forward and letting his finger lead. "It's right over here."
A few minutes later, Max and Jasper were standing in a quiet little clearing with sunlight filtering through the leaves and flowers on the ground. "Wow, are you sure we're still on Spooky Island?"
Jasper laughed, then sat on the grass. "Hard to believe, I know. I found this just after I died, and it made me feel safe again."
Max sat beside him and looked around. It really did feel safe. He felt like he could tell Jasper anything in this place and no one could tell him he was wrong or somehow at fault. He glanced at the ghost and had to smile a little.
Jasper had gathered a few flowers from the ground and started to weave them together while he talked. "It was a miracle, really. I had waited so long for my life to end, and then it was over and I still couldn't leave. I don't know what I would do if I hadn't found this place. But enough about me, tell me about Davy."
Max leaned against a tree and folded his hands over his stomach. He looked at Jasper and told the truth. "David is… quite a guy. He's tall, I guess. He's a dork. He hates it when I swear. Oh," he sat back up and Jasper looked at him. "One time, this cult leader who looked exactly like him showed up and tried to kill everyone."
"That's… not cool. Is everyone okay?"
"Well, he drank his own poison and we haven't seen him since. He didn't hurt anyone, but man was he creepy."
Jasper laughed a little and added a bright purple flower to the chain of mostly yellow. He wove the ends together and set it on Max's head. "There. Yellow for friendship, and purple for respect. Go with my blessing."
Max wasn't sure how to feel about being blessed by a ghost, a typically malevolent spirit, but Jasper was the nicest ghost he had ever met. "Thanks, I guess."
Jasper laughed and stuck a white flower behind his own ear. "You don't have to keep it."
"What does that one mean?" Max pointed vaguely at the flower in Jasper's hair.
"White flowers are for purity, or sympathy. This one is for death. I'm dead. I get a white flower."
Max blinked and furrowed his brow. "That doesn't seem fair. Why only one? Why do I get a whole crown?"
Jasper looked thoughtful for a second, then smiled again."Because I had time to make you one."
"Okay, so the different colors mean different things. What about this one?" Max picked up a red and white flower from the grass and slid the stem between his fingers, watching the top twirl like a dancer. He suddenly felt really sad and the emotion pressed at the back of his throat.
Jasper looked at the flower too, waiting until Max stopped spinning it. He reached out as if to touch it, but halted. "Oh boy, that's a complicated one."
Max had asked, and now he felt the need to follow through. His voice was cracking around the edges, but he got the words out. "Just tell me what it means."
"It's called an anemone." Jasper looked strained and hesitant, as if telling a terrible secret that would make Max hate him. "It means anticipation and good luck, but it also means abandonment and loneliness and mourning."
Max took a breath and stared at it for a while longer, then reached over to put it in Jasper's hair right over the white one. "There. Because you were even abandoned by your own body. You don't need to only have white flowers, that would be racist."
Jasper laughed and nodded. "So that's still a thing out there? Racism?"
Now Max was the one laughing. "Still a thing? It's the thing. It's about as big a thing as LGBT rights and stuff."
"That's a thing, too? Man, I need to get off this island. I used to be all up in social justice."
They sat in silence for a while, both wanting to say something but not quite knowing what. Both of them were soon just lying in the grass, getting comfortable with the silence, looking up at the tiny pinpricks of blue among all the green.
Max turned to look at Jasper and his breath caught in his throat and he forgot what he was going to say.
The kid looked like some sort of hippie, with the flowers in his hair. His eyes were wide and blue and content. His lips sat in an organic smile, the kind that had been pulled out of the dirt instead of purchased in a plastic bag. His skin was white and smooth, almost like glass except that he didn't look at all fragile. The whole thing was lit with sunlight turned green by the filter of leaves. He looked like he had just grown there with the rest of the flowers. He glanced at Max and his smile widened without losing any of its naturalness.
Max was still struck by the simplistic beauty, but he slowly found his voice. "I should get going."
Jasper looked back at the leaves, but now his expression was more serious and pensive. He still looked like some sort of bohemian, hippie, fairy, earth god. It wasn't bad, though. It was just pastel and quiet and overflowing with positive energy. Max could use some of that.
He looked away and tried to convince himself he was fine. "Really. David and Gwen are going to start worrying pretty soon."
"I thought you said nobody cared about you. Now they'll worry about you if you're missing for one hour?" Jasper's voice was even and gentle.
Max sat up and pulled the ring of flowers out of his hair. "Come on, Jasper. You know what I mean. I have to go back or they'll think I don't like their wonderful camp."
Jasper's laugh was sweet and easy to listen longer he laughed, the more alive he looked. He sat up and put a hand on Max's shoulder. "Max, you're so close. Just open your mind and look around. They do care. And even if they don't, I do. You don't have to take the flowers, but take my blessing and take this; I love everyone, and you're a part of everyone."
The words hung in the air like the echoes of a silver bell. Max wasn't sure how he felt, but whatever it was was strong. He looked down a the grass and smiled. "Thanks Jasper. I'll remember that."
They stood and Jasper walked with him back to where he had left his canoe.
"Well, I guess this is it. Thanks for visiting. Come back again sometime, okay?" Jasper still had the flowers in his hair and that smile on his face.
Max stood with his back to Camp Campbell. "Yeah. I think I'll do that."