All right. Brooke is going to have to make a decision. Thanks for reviewing, Rya-plume d'un souffle and Bloodylilcorpse.
The rest of the fourth week and the fifth week passed normally. It was pretty much exactly how it was before I found out Della was a ghost.
There was just one difference. I could see Della was getting more nervous about my decision. It made me feel so guilty just for wanting to grow up and live. As the last week of camp approached, my resolve to stay alive was being heavily swayed. Sometimes I'd be thinking about what I wanted to do when I grew up – be that Olympic swimmer I'd dreamed of for the last couple of years. How could I give that up? Not to mention, there were a lot of things I hadn't experienced yet. I'd never even had my first period! Would I still get to have that, if my body was frozen in time?
But when I was hanging out with Della, we'd be laughing together and I'd think how I could never give up her friendship. I had other friends, but it wasn't going to be easy for me to make more as I grew up. And Della would have to wait another year to find just one friend – maybe even longer to find someone who would literally die for her.
I think that was what clinched it. What made my decision final. I made my resolve at the start of the sixth week, but I decided not to tell Della straightaway. I didn't think about it for the first three days of the week. When only four remained, it happened.
Della brought it up, hesitantly. "Um, Brooke? I was just thinking. It's nearly the end of camp. You're going home on Sunday, and it's already Wednesday. Have you decided yet?"
I nodded slowly. "I made it a few days ago, but I decided to wait until I was sure. It's going to be hard, but...and I don't know if this is the right decision, but...I'm sticking with you. Friends make sacrifices for each other, and you're my closest friend here. I may have known all my other friends from kindergarten, but that just makes it more special – you being the first friend I've made on my own without having to grow up with you. You're my buddy, and we're going to be buddies forever."
"Buddies forever." Della echoed. She threw her arms around me joyfully, laughing with happiness. "Oh, Brooke, you had me so scared! I thought for sure you'd rather go back to your old life than stick with me! You're the best friend ever!"
"But..." I paused. "How long can I stay at home?"
Della paused, frowning too. "I guess we'll have to stage a death. Maybe in two years? That's about how long you can pretend to be growing older without changing at all seeming suspicious. Maybe you can come back to this camp, like Briana did. Then stage a death – pretend to die like I did – then we can go from there. I'm sorry, Brooke, but it's the only thing you can do – unless you change your mind."
I took a deep breath. "No." I said firmly. "I said I'd do it, and I will."
"Okay." Della agreed. "But we need to do it at the right time. Thing is, you are going to leave a corpse behind, and we can't have anyone knowing the truth. We need to do it at night after Lights Out, so you can get back to your cabin before any of your bunkies wake up. Shall we say midnight? Let's meet at the campfire pit. I'll take care of everything else. "
After that, she started chattering brightly about something trivial. I knew she was trying to take my mind off how scary this whole situation was, and I was grateful for it. Besides, I could tell what she would've liked to talk about – what we'd do once we got back to my home on Sunday night. But there were still three afternoons when we could do that.
That night, every little thing felt monumental. Chatting to my bunkies, having dinner, even sitting at the campfire with Della as usual. As we left, she whispered "Midnight" again, just to remind me, and I nodded.
So at five minutes to midnight that night, I crept out of the cabin. It didn't feel real to me. I wasn't really feeling anything. My nerves didn't scream for me to go back, and I couldn't feel my feet padding across the pathway.
Della was waiting for me by the campfire pit, just as she'd said. She sprang up as she saw me. "You came!" she exclaimed in a whisper. "I was starting to worry that you'd changed your mind and just didn't have the chance to let me know." She looked into my face carefully and said "You haven't just come to tell me that, have you?"
I shook my head slowly. "Am I late?"
"No." Della smiled in relief. "I just couldn't believe that it was finally happening. Now come on." She began pulling me towards the forest. The dangerous one. The one that was full of deadly snakes.
Still my fear of death didn't seem to kick in. I still felt absolutely nothing. We only got a little way into the forest when Della let me go and perched on a low branch. "We'll just have to wait until one of them comes out." she informed me. "You know, it was here that I told Sarah why I'd tried to scare her away from the lake. Exactly here. At least, this time, there's not much chance that someone like Briana will come in and ruin everything."
At that point, a thought hit me. "Is that why you hate snakes? Because you died from one of them biting you?"
Della smiled. "I didn't think you'd remembered when I said I hated snakes. But that's right. I might not hate them quite as much now, if they get me a permanent buddy."
It didn't take long to get a snake's attention. "Don't move." Della instructed gently. She hopped down from the branch and put her arm around me, solid as ever. "I'm only solid to you right now, not the snake." she added. "It won't hurt that much, just wait for it..."
Della wasn't quite right. The bite hurt. It wasn't like a bee sting, though. It actually hurt less than I had imagined, and once it was done, the snake slithered away, obviously scared (well, biting was a defense mechanism).
Della helped me into a lying position. "It won't be long." she whispered comfortingly. "Just close your eyes. I'll tell you when it's over."
There was one thing Della hadn't told me. It didn't take long – she was right about that, but that split second before I heard her say "Okay, open your eyes," I felt a horrible shudder go through me.
Then I opened my eyes, and stood up. Della smiled at me. "I'm guessing you don't want to see what's happened to the old you."
I wasn't sure. I half wanted to see, but at the same time, I didn't. I slowly turned, and I saw what was left of the old me. I didn't look any different, apart from the fresh wounds on my ankle, still slightly bleeding.
"You're okay, aren't you?" Della asked me. The concern was clear on her face.
"I...I think I'm okay." I murmured. "Well, obviously I'm dead, but..."
Della nodded. "I guess before anything else, we need to make sure you're solid. Thing is, you and I will be solid and visible to each other all the time. But to the living, you'll either be invisible, solid or transparent at will. All you need to do is will yourself to be whatever you want to be to each person."
"What if I want to be visible to everyone?" I asked.
"Just don't think of a particular person. Then you will be in the same state to everyone." Della advised. "I picked up on these things in the last nine and a bit years – and freaked quite a few people out on half of my third time at camp, since they knew I was dead. I used to wish I could hang out with some of them, and then accidentally showed myself to them." She hugged me again. "You don't know how much I appreciate you doing this for me, Brooke. Now go back to your cabin, quick!"
I kept myself invisible until I was back in the cabin. But I had to make myself solid to draw back the covers, get back into bed, and fall asleep.
Yes, Brooke is dead. But just because she's not in the world of the living doesn't mean that her life doesn't go on. The story's not over yet! Stay tuned!
