Max shuffled a bit in his steps. "Yes, Neil, I told you. I'm fine," he said in a slightly annoyed tone, but quickly regained his thoughts. "It's just...something about what David said. It sounded like I heard it before."
Neil shrugged. "So? It's probably just deja vu."
"Deja who?" Nikki leaned in.
"It's a psychological phenomenon in which a neurological discharge sparks a strange sense of familiarity in the temporal lobe," Neil explained, his voice beaming with confidence.
Nikki scoffed. "Sounds like a lotta stuff your dad talks about, Neil."
Neil's face suddenly became flustered, eyes shifting in all directions. "I-it's common knowledge, Nikki!" he squealed.
Max stepped in between the two, practically pushing them away from each other. "Hey! We're talking about David, here, not Neil's even nerdier dad!"
"Maybe you dreamt that David said that." Neil pointed out.
Max rolled his eyes. "Please. The only dreams I have that involve David are the ones that don't involve him. I know I've heard it somewhere before, okay?! Not in a dream! I just don't remember where. I feel like I should be obvious, but it's all so blurry." Max strained, feeling as if his head would explode at any moment.
Nikki and Neil exchanged a concerned look before Neil decided to approach his friend, laying a comforting hand on Max's shoulder. "Hey, man, it's okay. You wanna lie down?" He gestured to their tent.
The blue-clad boy paused for a second. A nice moment of tranquility and comfort did sound very pleasing, almost tempting. Max shook his head, however. "No, I still wanna know what David is up to. I say we go back to camp and look for clues."
Nikki leaped in excitement. "Yeah! Treasure hunt! Come on, Neil!" She followed Max, dragging an aggravated and embittered Neil by the sweater collar out of the woods.
Little did they realize the blue eyes gazing at them from within the shrubs.
As the trio made their way back to the camp, the rest of the campers had already partaken in their own disasters of so-called "activities", of which Gwen was stuck in the middle of, yet again. Her outfit and face were soiled with dirt and dust, strands of her ponytail stuck out, and her face was stained with sweat and stress. Her twisted expression twisted even further when Max, Nikki, and Neil approached the scene. "Ohhh no! Don't you little shits even think about adding to this pile of tom-fuckery! My promised "vacation" has shitty enough as it is!" She was struck with a sudden wave of pain as a flying rock collided with the back of her head. Gwen angrily picked up the rock and yelled over her shoulder. "Nurf! What the fuck did I say about throwing rocks!"
Nurf yelled back. "Sorry, Gwen! That was supposed to hit Harrison!"
"I told you that's not how levitation works!" yelled Harrison in response.
Gwen sighed, rubbing the sore spot on her head as she pocketed the rock so it can never be used on her again. "See what I mean?"
"Relax, Gwen. For once, we're not here to torment you." Max said, earning a suspicious look from the counselor.
"Yeah! We're trying to find out what David's up to," said Nikki.
"Well, Max wants to find out what David's up to," Neil explained.
Max gave Neil a sour look before turning to Gwen. "Yeah, so do you know anything about what the guy's planning?"
The woman scoffed. "You're kidding, right? I've had to deal with this shitstorm all morning, I barely got a chance to even get a word to David since breakfast! Honestly, I couldn't care less because if it isn't worth all this, I am going to castrate him with a plastic spork!" Max and Neil winced at that last threat, practically feeling the pain.
"Ok, well, we're going to...go look for clues over there. Have fun with all of this." Max said cautiously before the trio disappeared in an instant.
Gwen took a breath before being struck again with a rock but in the face this time, causing blood to spill from her nostrils. "Ok, that's it you little shit!" she yelled before storming off to Nurf's direction.
"That was Harrison, that time!"
"I'm sorry, Gwen!" cried Harrison as he scrambled to his feet.
There was no escape.
"Alright, first thing's first," Max started, as the three strolled back to camp, nearing the councilors' cabin. "Gwen wasn't any help, and David's probably still picking off more poisonous berries, so I think the best place to start looking for clues is in his cabin," he explained as he reached to open the door, but to no avail. The boy huffed in aggravation as he threw his hands to the sky. "Locked! Of-fucking-course!"
"Well, what did you expect?" Neil asked. "It's supposed to be a surprise, remember?"
Max gave Neil a sour look before huffing. "Okay, knowing David, he probably left a spare key somewhere around the cabin. You guys check the other side and meet me in the back."
"Alright!" Nikki cheered as she leaped in excitement. She then began to crawl on all fours and repeatedly sniff the dirt like a bloodhound, Neil indifferently followed behind. Max rolled his eyes and began to search.
After a short while, the trio expectedly met up at the rear of the cabin, Nikki back on her feet with her face covered in dirt and shame.
"Anything?" asked Max.
Neil shook his head, softly patting Nikki's dirt-caked one. "Nothing. All we found was a disgruntled squirrel with an eyepatch."
"Goddammit!" Max emitted, kicking a nearby rock into the bushes. "There goes, possibly, our one shot at-WOAAH!" Suddenly, Max crashed, face first, onto the forest floor.
"Max! Are you okay?" Neil asked with concern as he and Nikki jogged to their friend. "What happened?"
Max pried himself from the grass and coughed up a leaf. "Gah! Yeah, I'm fine. What the hell did I trip on?!" he looked back over his shoulder to find a garden hose lying in the grass. He didn't pay it much attention other than annoyance, but Neil, however, gave it a second glance.
"Wait, has that hose always been there?" the science nerd pondered, rubbing his chin between his thumb and curved index finger as he approached the garden utensil for further inspection.
Max groaned painfully as he rose to his feet. "Who fucking cares! It's a hose! Now, can we please forget that I tripped on it and get back to the matter at hand?"
"I think there's more to it than that." Neil gestured to the end of the hose, at the cabin. It wasn't connected to the spigot but instead burrowed through a pre-cut hole underneath the cabin.
Max raised an eyebrow. "Oookay. I guess that's a little weird. But, so what? David probably has sprinklers out there or something."
Nikki gasped excitedly, eyes glistening as they grew twenty inches wider. "What if the surprise is a water park?"
"Uhh, we have a lake! And besides, if this shitty place can't afford to give us our own cabins, I highly doubt it can afford to rent a water park." Max said, stuffing his hands in his hoodie pocket.
Neil took the hose with both hands, bent it, then released it. "I don't think it was even sprinklers because the water isn't flowing from the cabin but to the cabin, underneath it actually," Neil explained. This little piece of knowledge suddenly sparked an interest in Max.
"So, you think this might have something to do with what David's planning?"
Neil rubbed his chin again. "Maybe. But I know for a fact that this wasn't here before."
"Great!" Max huffed, "The first and possibly only lead we have and it's in the very place where we can't get into!"
Nikki gives a shrug. "Besides it's not like we can all reach the window anyway."
"Yeah, we ca-Wait, what window?" Max turns to Nikki, a questioning but bitter eyebrow raised.
"The open window right above us? Duh!" Nikki points upward toward a small half-opened skylight framed near the roof of the cabin.
Max was about to complain as to why Nikki hadn't told them earlier, but no words could form. Instead, he pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed heavily. "Alright, gimme a boost."
Max's tiny hands strained as he struggled to reach the frame of the window. "Higher, Neil!" he ordered. "I'm almost there!"
Neil's noodly arms and legs trembled like Jell-O underneath the weight of the other two campers. "I can't! Nikki's already standing on my hands!"
"You can stand on my head, Max!" Nikki offered. Max hesitated but he took one foot off Nikki's shoulder and got a good footing before letting the other join. "Just don't struggle if my hair tries to eat your shoe. It'll only make it angry," she warned.
Max rolled his eyes but blinked as he could have sworn he heard a faint growl from underneath him. He didn't let himself get too distracted as he finally was able to reach the window, and climbed. "I got it!" he exclaimed.
"Oh, thank God!" huffed Neil as he crashed onto his weak knees after Nikki jumped off him.
Max glanced down at the two. "You guys stay out here and keep an eye out for David or Gwen!"
"Got it!" Nikki gave Max the "O.K." sign as Neil gives a weak thumbs up.
Max leaped and softly landed on the wooden floor of the councilor's room, and wasted no time in searching for clues. He skimmed and scanned every nook and cranny, every closet, every drawer, every job acceptions letters for Gwen-all zero of them-but all had to lead up no clues as to David's secret plan or where the hose supposedly leads to. Eventually, he came across an unchecked waste bin next to the desk. Max rustled through the mountains of crumpled up snack wrappers until he found a fresh newspaper. He knew David wasn't the biggest reader when it comes to news, as seeing sad or disturbing headlines always upset him, but David knew better than to throw away paper in the trash bin instead of reusing it or throwing it in the recycling bin outside. Obviously, there must be something in it that David wouldn't want anyone else to see. Max unfolded the newspaper and began skimming through a myriad of words and layers upon layers of pages and ads until one small word made Max take a second glance: Cult. Max read along accordingly.
'Local police and special agents continue to search diligently for the patient that vanished from Sleepy Peak General the other night. The patient in pursuit had recently been identified as a man who only goes by "Daniel", an infamous cult leader who has left thousands dead during his previous visits to local and even military compounds. If anyone has seen this man, please inform the police or FBI as soon as possible.'
Max gulped as he saw Daniel's mugshot. He felt cold again. Suddenly everything made sense. Suddenly everything didn't make sense. He remembered the poisonous berries and "David's" to them and his blue eyes. There was no room for doubt in his mind. He jolted when he heard a glassy tapping. He looked up to find Nikki and Neil peeking from a nearby window.
"Find anything, Max?" Nikki asked as she pressed her face against the glass.
Max ripped the page out as quickly as he could, miraculously without ruining it and frantically climbed onto the desk. "Guys! He's not David! He's not David!" he shrieked, waving the article against the window.
Neil lightly pushed Nikki out of the way. "Woah! Max, relax! What are you saying? Who's not-?" Neil took a look away and gasped. "Max, hide! David's coming!" Neil warned before looking for cover.
"He's not-!" Max growled in frustration and desperation as he quickly crumpled the page into a ball and successfully tossed it over the skylight. Before he had a chance to even think about a possible hiding spot, the door opened. 'Fuck!' Max froze like a deer in headlights as "David" spotted him. "Max?"
The boy began sweating bullets but quickly found his composure. "Uh, hey there, David." he gave a nervous wave.
"David" entered the cabin, walking towards Max, who absentmindedly took a step back. "What are you doing here? You know you're not supposed to go inside the councilor's cabin. It's not polite." he lectured with a hand on his hip. "I suggest you go to your tent and think about your actions." he pointed to the open doorway.
Max cleared his throat as he walked passed "David". "Uh...yeah, sure. Sorry about that, Dan-!" he paused, cursing under his breath. "D-David." Max hoped, prayed, that "David" didn't notice. But Daniel did.
Suddenly the door was slammed shut as was Max's only chance of escape. He froze as the man spoke. "What was that, Max?"
Max gulped, clenching his abdomen. "N-nothing, David. I didn't say anything."
"David" chuckled as he edged closer. "Well, that's funny. Because I coulda swore you said 'Dan'. Now, why would you ever mix up my name with that?" Max didn't notice it, but "David" had removed the throw rug behind him and opened a latch.
"It...it was just a mistake, David. I didn't mean to...offend you."
Max heard a scoff. "Offend me? Oh, heavens no! Don't be ridiculous!" he laughed once more before whispering into Max's ear. "It just makes me so happy with how much you've missed me."
With a yank of the hood, Max found himself falling.