Lena was crying again, like she'd been doing every night for the past week. Santana turned over to lie on the cool side of her pillow, trying to ignore the soft noises coming from the bunk beneath her.
In the past week, they had discovered that the 'camp' wasn't quite as fun and organic as they claimed to be.
Sure, there were the normal camp-type of things to do. Cabins and bunks, a tight schedule that started with breakfast at 8 and ended with campfire time at ten.
However, Santana was pretty confident that at a regular camp, campfire songs would be sung. Not here. Instead, every night, they were treated to a new graphic story about the crimes commited by gay and lesbian perpetrators.
Tonight's had been the lovely story of the two men who'd abducted a 12-year-old boy and used him as a sex slave before finally killing him by suffocating him with a pillow, and then proceeding to abuse his dead body.
And this was just the 'summer' portion. In two months, they'd have to take a bus up to a boarding school in the mountains, and then, though Santana's mother had only mentioned it once, 'stricter measures would be enforced', which she took to mean that the real hell would start.
Santana could sort of understand why Lena was crying, but it wasn't helping to take her mind off of things. She shifted again on her pillow to find a cooler spot and began to sing softly over the noise of Lena's sobs.
For you, there'll be no more crying
For you, the sun will be shining
And I feel that when I'm with you
It's alright, I know it's right
Lena's crying quieted, and Santana raised her voice slightly so that it lifted to the ceiling and filled the room, with something other than sadness.
To you, I'll give the world
To you, I'll never be cold
'Cause I feel that when I'm with you
It's alright, I know it's right
The crying stopped entirely, and Santana heard a rustling noise underneath her as Lena turned over under the stiff sheets.
And the songbirds are singing now
Like they know the score
And I love you, I love you, I love you
Like never before
A tear trickled from Santana's eye and trailed down to her hairline, leaving a cold path behind. She thought of Brittany, beautiful Brittany, innocent Brittany, Brittany who could make her forget everything and just be. Brittany who she loved, and Brittany who she missed.
And I wish you all the love in the world
But most of all, I wish it for myself
It was an oddly intimate feeling, to be singing this song, if not exactly to Lena, then definitely for her. She'd only ever sung for Brittany like this before.
And the songbirds keep singing
Like they know the score
And I love you, I love you, I love you
Like never before, like never before...
A pale hand appeared over the edge of the bed, and, without thinking, Santana took it. She cried quietly there, on a bed that wasn't hers, in a cabin at a campsite full of strangers and people who were quick to hate her, in a place far, far from home. As her eyelids grew heavy with sleep, she clung tightly to Lena's hand, as if it were a lifeline.
