.:Dreamz:.
Chapter One
There was a line of kids behind a truck. All of the kids were wearing their digging uniforms, and held a five-foot shovel. The last kid in line was a small boy with very pale skin and dark hair. He was struggling to hold the shovel, and with a closer look you could tell that it was because his hands were raw and bloody. And, looking at the other boys, they all had bruises somewhere on their body. They all looked tired, sweaty, and dehydrated, plus they all had several blisters on their hands. As they approached the truck, they held out their canteen and a VERY old looking man poured them some water. He did not hold it straight over the canteens so only a trickle of water actually made it into the canteens. "Six years", the man cackled, apparently oblivious to the fact that the water was missing the canteens, and apparently not caring, "Six years in jail and now they let me out. Well I'm not gonna take it this time, boys. You are not gonna send me back to that horrible place. You're under my control, and you've got the bruises to prove it."
Hector awoke with a start, and realized that he was covered in sweat. Was that really a dream? It felt so real! But Mr. Sir was in jail, right? Just like The Warden, and Mr. Pendanski. There was no way Camp Green Lake could be open again! And besides, it was just a dream. Just a meaningless nightmare, right? Then, Hector remembered something that had happened long, long ago. Something that he had almost completely forgotten about.
He had been very, very small. He'd hugged his mom good night, and fallen asleep. But it was a restless sleep. He had tossed and turned all through the night, drifting between sleep and wake. He might have had several dreams, he had no way of remembering. But he did remember one particular dream. In this horrible dream, he saw his mom leaving the bench where they were sleeping that night, walking out into the horizon. She seemed like she didn't know what she was doing as she strided away from the park. He remembered crying out in his sleep: "NO!"
The next morning, his mom was gone.
Chapter two
Remembering that time brought back so many memories. His life had been downhill from that (until, of course, after Camp Green Lake). He glanced over into the room across the hall, where his mom was sleeping peacefully and breathed a sigh of relief that she was safe. Then, he went to sleep.
The next morning, it all came back to him with a jolt. The dream, the flashback. what was it all about? He thought that if he was considered "psychic", that would kinda make him a freak. Besides, he didn't even know if it was a true "gift". For all he knew, he could have invented that memory and the dream could have just been from his imagination. But. what if they weren't? What if what he saw in his dream was real?
His fears were confirmed when he heard his mom choke on her coffee while reading the day's paper. "CAMP GREEN LAKE IS OPEN AGAIN!" she cried. Hector gasped. "You're kidding, right?" "No, I'm not! Listen to what the paper said: "The formerly deadly Camp Green Lake is open again! But new and improved. The government agreed to let the former owners take over the camp again, but with scheduled inspections. Besides, the police trust them. "They are not bad people at heart", Officer Starnt said affectionately of the three criminals-turned-good, "They were just nice people with wrong intentions." "Yeah, right." Mrs Zeroni said, speaking exactly what Hector was thinking. "They were never good people!" She went on to mutter a bunch of unprintable words. Hector was too dazed to speak. "It's. open again." he replied dumbly.
That night, he had another dream. This one was even worse. Here is basically what happened in it:
The kids (this time Hector could count; there were 11 of them) were lined up for water again. Then, suddenly, the Warden comes up. 'INSPECTION!' she shouts. Immediately, all of the boys put their shovels away and ran out to the cabins (or so Hector thought), but instead of going in they ran right past them. For the first time, Hector saw what lie beyond the cabins: miles & miles of what he expected Camp Green Lake to be: fun. The boys all jumped into the pool like their life depended on it (it probably did, considering Mr Sir was running behind them with a whip.). They pretended to be having fun but their smiles were forced, their laughs like choking. But the inspectors found nothing wrong with the camp when they showed up five minutes later. (Mr Sir had hidden his whips, and the Warden's guns were stashed away. Yes, guns.) Skip ahead a few hours: "Fine job!" The inspector said, patting the Warden's back awkwardly. He really wasn't a great actor. "You guys have sure shaped up!" He had made a not-too-complete search of the grounds & since the boys & counselors had made sure not to leave anything showing, he found nothing wrong with it. He left happily after signing some papers with a smile. But their was something forced in his smile. Hector could tell somehow that the inspector knew just what was going on. But he was on THEIR side. "I'll be sure to give the Camp Association of America very good reviews for you."
As soon as his car was out of sight, Mr Sir smiled at the boys. A sick, crooked smile. "Now that my cousin is gone, keep digging. We've got another chest of treasure to find. The one that will make that poor Stanley's treasure seem like pennies." He mumbled to himself. "Like pennies."
Chapter Three
Hector decided it was time to tell his mom and the other former D~Tent boys what was going on. He needed some support, here. The tough part would be getting them to believe him.
Skip ahead a few hours. Everyone was there. X-Ray, Squid, ZigZag, Twitch, Magnet, Armpit, Caveman, Hector, and Mrs Zeroni. "Um, Zero?" X-Ray still used Hector's nickname but in a friendly way. "What did you call us all here for.?" "A meeting," Hector replied, "I wanna tell you guys suttin I should have told you a long time ago." he paused. He looked really embarrassed. "I don't know how to explain this but I have dreams. and they turn out to be. true." He let this all sink in. "What do you mean? Like you're, psychic or something?" Stanley asked. He laughed nervously. "Not really." Zero replied. They were all silent for a while. "I'm not sure if I can believe this, honey," Hector's mom said. "But I'm willing to listen to what you have to say." Then Hector let it all out. The dream about his mom, how she'd left that night, the dreams about Camp Green Lake being reopened. And about the article. About the treasure Mr Sir was talking about. He told about how he wondered if there WAS a treasure or if the years of prison had done something to his head. One he'd let all that out, he even went on to tell about Camp Green Lake, and how he got there. His mom and Stanley were the only ones who knew about that. There was a lot to explain, but in the end everyone knew Zero's story. "And we used to think you were stupid." X-Ray said in amazement. "If I ever had to deal wif that. I'd be beyond not speakin'. Man I'd be crazy. I wouldn't even be here, I'll bet. Zero, dude, I believe you. I believe everything."
That night, Hector had another dream.
"HELP!" the kid screamed. "HELP ME!" A yellow-spotted-lizard was chasing after him. "A YELLOW SPOTTED LIZARD!" He was the same short, nervous boy who had been last in the water line. He stumbled as he ran, apparently scared to death. Then, suddenly, Mr Sir appeared. He took out his gun, but he didn't aim. He seemed fascinated with the lizard. "It knows." he whispered. "It knows the treasure." And Hector could tell, looking at him, that he did not care about the boy. All that mattered was his sick fantasy of finding the treasure. "HELP!" the boy screamed again. Mr Sir seemed to jerk awake at that time, and quickly aimed the gun at the lizard. He shot and hit it. The boy was okay. But what would happen next time? Mr Sir would give anything for the treasure. Even one of his campers.
Chapter Four
What could Hector do? The dreams were just getting worse and worse. Like, he was in two different worlds. One where he was a nice college kid with a great life, and one where he witnessed crimes so horrible that he felt bad even thinking about them. He knew that CGL had to be stopped. But how COULD it be? I mean, the inspector was Mr Sir's COUSIN, and he was probably being paid or threatened into giving good reports. If only they could get the police involved! That was it!!! They should write the police a letter! Why hadn't he thought of that?! He quickly called up all of the former d~tent boys for a meeting. He told them his idea. "So," he finished, "They'll send over another inspector who could see through the plot!" "Great idea!" The other boys commented. "Why not try it?" After about an hour, here is the note they had:
Dear Los Angeles Police Station,
We would like to remain an anonymous source. But we'd like to tell you that we are very concerned about the attenders of Camp Green Lake, the newly reopened camp. We know from inside sources that these kids are neglected, and abused. We would like you to take into account our concerns, because there are lives at risk here. Thank you.
Signed,
Anonymous
Hector sealed and addressed the envelope. He left no return address.
He drove to the post office, and took a deep breath. Then, he mailed the letter.
Chapter 5
As Hector expected he would, he had a dream about the police receiving the letter. In it, a big, kind of strange~looking policeman opened it. He quickly read it over and scowled. "Yeah, sure. We've inspected and inspected, think we're gonna inspect again?" He promptly threw the letter away.
Hector sighed. So they'd have to do something else, wouldn't they? Lucky he had connections.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------
Skip ahead a few days. Hector had been busy thinking about all of his friends, and their talents and jobs. He finally had a plan that he thought would be foolproof.
First, he called Magnet. He knew that he was working as a vet in his spare time, so he asked him to release some black widows (their venom had been removed) in their college at 8:00 when they came back in a few days. Then, he asked Twitch if he'd be prepared to drive him to Camp Green Lake after a "mysterious incident" during college. He knew what a great driver Twitch was, of course. "OK," Twitch replied. He was curious, but he didn't ask. They hung up. Then, Hector called up ZigZag. Ziggy had a deep voice which was great for impersonating adults. He gave him instructions, very precise instructions. "At 8:05, you will break into the principal's office, using the keys that X- Ray will steal. You'll announce over the loudspeakers that school is temporarily canceled because of an emergency involving. umm. dangerous creatures. OK?" "Um, OK!" ZigZag replied, as curious as Twitch. But he didn't ask either. After calling X-Ray about the keys, Hector called up Stanley. Since he had pretty much been an outcast in elementary and the beginning of middle school (before CGL), he'd basically become a technology geek. So when Zero asked him if he could find a small digital video camera, he had no problem getting one. Squid and X-Ray were the missing pieces of the puzzle, they tied the knot in the plan. He called them and asked if they'd mind a long drive to Camp Green Lake on Monday. OK, the plan was all ready. Now, they'd just have to wait until Monday.
Chapter 6
"IT WORKED!" Hector reflected. "IT ACTUALLY WORKED!" The whole D-Tent group was having a party at Hector's house. You're probably wondering what happened. Well, here's a news article that explains it all.
Camp Green Lake Is Shut Down Forever, Thanks to Heroic College Students From L.A.!
On Monday, March 19, seven young men from Los Angeles, California saved a group of boys from being imprisoned any longer in the deadly Camp Green Lake. Although policemen had inspected this camp and expected it to be perfectly healthy, it turned out that the leaders of this camp, who go by "Mr Pandanski", "Mr Sir", and "The Warden" actually had a false notion that there was still treasure buried underground at the camp, and made children dig holes, just like their previous session of running the camp. So how did these seven boys save the campers? Hector Zeroni explains that it was all a matter of being at the right place at the right time. "See, somehow a group of turantulas escaped into our college." (Zeroni paused to give his companion, who wishes to be called "Magnet", a wink). "So we took advantage of that, and the fact that our college was falsely dismissed because of the spiders [he then looked at his friend who wishes to be called "ZigZag"] to visit our old camp. One of my friends [wishes to be named as Caveman] brought a video camera and the other one drove." (The driver wishes to be referred to as "Twitch"). "We all [including "Squid" and "Armpit", some more companions who also attended CGL] drove to Camp Green Lake together, and we saw how badly the poor campers had been treated. They all had bruises, and raw palms. They had been trained to go to the 'other half' of the camp, the. normal part. but they weren't expecting us. Stanley got it all on video tape: the counselors abusing the kids and then denying it."
The L.A. police might have let the insane counselors off easy last time but this time, they are debating a life sentence.
So is this article the whole story? Of course not. Some things we'll never know.
Chapter One
There was a line of kids behind a truck. All of the kids were wearing their digging uniforms, and held a five-foot shovel. The last kid in line was a small boy with very pale skin and dark hair. He was struggling to hold the shovel, and with a closer look you could tell that it was because his hands were raw and bloody. And, looking at the other boys, they all had bruises somewhere on their body. They all looked tired, sweaty, and dehydrated, plus they all had several blisters on their hands. As they approached the truck, they held out their canteen and a VERY old looking man poured them some water. He did not hold it straight over the canteens so only a trickle of water actually made it into the canteens. "Six years", the man cackled, apparently oblivious to the fact that the water was missing the canteens, and apparently not caring, "Six years in jail and now they let me out. Well I'm not gonna take it this time, boys. You are not gonna send me back to that horrible place. You're under my control, and you've got the bruises to prove it."
Hector awoke with a start, and realized that he was covered in sweat. Was that really a dream? It felt so real! But Mr. Sir was in jail, right? Just like The Warden, and Mr. Pendanski. There was no way Camp Green Lake could be open again! And besides, it was just a dream. Just a meaningless nightmare, right? Then, Hector remembered something that had happened long, long ago. Something that he had almost completely forgotten about.
He had been very, very small. He'd hugged his mom good night, and fallen asleep. But it was a restless sleep. He had tossed and turned all through the night, drifting between sleep and wake. He might have had several dreams, he had no way of remembering. But he did remember one particular dream. In this horrible dream, he saw his mom leaving the bench where they were sleeping that night, walking out into the horizon. She seemed like she didn't know what she was doing as she strided away from the park. He remembered crying out in his sleep: "NO!"
The next morning, his mom was gone.
Chapter two
Remembering that time brought back so many memories. His life had been downhill from that (until, of course, after Camp Green Lake). He glanced over into the room across the hall, where his mom was sleeping peacefully and breathed a sigh of relief that she was safe. Then, he went to sleep.
The next morning, it all came back to him with a jolt. The dream, the flashback. what was it all about? He thought that if he was considered "psychic", that would kinda make him a freak. Besides, he didn't even know if it was a true "gift". For all he knew, he could have invented that memory and the dream could have just been from his imagination. But. what if they weren't? What if what he saw in his dream was real?
His fears were confirmed when he heard his mom choke on her coffee while reading the day's paper. "CAMP GREEN LAKE IS OPEN AGAIN!" she cried. Hector gasped. "You're kidding, right?" "No, I'm not! Listen to what the paper said: "The formerly deadly Camp Green Lake is open again! But new and improved. The government agreed to let the former owners take over the camp again, but with scheduled inspections. Besides, the police trust them. "They are not bad people at heart", Officer Starnt said affectionately of the three criminals-turned-good, "They were just nice people with wrong intentions." "Yeah, right." Mrs Zeroni said, speaking exactly what Hector was thinking. "They were never good people!" She went on to mutter a bunch of unprintable words. Hector was too dazed to speak. "It's. open again." he replied dumbly.
That night, he had another dream. This one was even worse. Here is basically what happened in it:
The kids (this time Hector could count; there were 11 of them) were lined up for water again. Then, suddenly, the Warden comes up. 'INSPECTION!' she shouts. Immediately, all of the boys put their shovels away and ran out to the cabins (or so Hector thought), but instead of going in they ran right past them. For the first time, Hector saw what lie beyond the cabins: miles & miles of what he expected Camp Green Lake to be: fun. The boys all jumped into the pool like their life depended on it (it probably did, considering Mr Sir was running behind them with a whip.). They pretended to be having fun but their smiles were forced, their laughs like choking. But the inspectors found nothing wrong with the camp when they showed up five minutes later. (Mr Sir had hidden his whips, and the Warden's guns were stashed away. Yes, guns.) Skip ahead a few hours: "Fine job!" The inspector said, patting the Warden's back awkwardly. He really wasn't a great actor. "You guys have sure shaped up!" He had made a not-too-complete search of the grounds & since the boys & counselors had made sure not to leave anything showing, he found nothing wrong with it. He left happily after signing some papers with a smile. But their was something forced in his smile. Hector could tell somehow that the inspector knew just what was going on. But he was on THEIR side. "I'll be sure to give the Camp Association of America very good reviews for you."
As soon as his car was out of sight, Mr Sir smiled at the boys. A sick, crooked smile. "Now that my cousin is gone, keep digging. We've got another chest of treasure to find. The one that will make that poor Stanley's treasure seem like pennies." He mumbled to himself. "Like pennies."
Chapter Three
Hector decided it was time to tell his mom and the other former D~Tent boys what was going on. He needed some support, here. The tough part would be getting them to believe him.
Skip ahead a few hours. Everyone was there. X-Ray, Squid, ZigZag, Twitch, Magnet, Armpit, Caveman, Hector, and Mrs Zeroni. "Um, Zero?" X-Ray still used Hector's nickname but in a friendly way. "What did you call us all here for.?" "A meeting," Hector replied, "I wanna tell you guys suttin I should have told you a long time ago." he paused. He looked really embarrassed. "I don't know how to explain this but I have dreams. and they turn out to be. true." He let this all sink in. "What do you mean? Like you're, psychic or something?" Stanley asked. He laughed nervously. "Not really." Zero replied. They were all silent for a while. "I'm not sure if I can believe this, honey," Hector's mom said. "But I'm willing to listen to what you have to say." Then Hector let it all out. The dream about his mom, how she'd left that night, the dreams about Camp Green Lake being reopened. And about the article. About the treasure Mr Sir was talking about. He told about how he wondered if there WAS a treasure or if the years of prison had done something to his head. One he'd let all that out, he even went on to tell about Camp Green Lake, and how he got there. His mom and Stanley were the only ones who knew about that. There was a lot to explain, but in the end everyone knew Zero's story. "And we used to think you were stupid." X-Ray said in amazement. "If I ever had to deal wif that. I'd be beyond not speakin'. Man I'd be crazy. I wouldn't even be here, I'll bet. Zero, dude, I believe you. I believe everything."
That night, Hector had another dream.
"HELP!" the kid screamed. "HELP ME!" A yellow-spotted-lizard was chasing after him. "A YELLOW SPOTTED LIZARD!" He was the same short, nervous boy who had been last in the water line. He stumbled as he ran, apparently scared to death. Then, suddenly, Mr Sir appeared. He took out his gun, but he didn't aim. He seemed fascinated with the lizard. "It knows." he whispered. "It knows the treasure." And Hector could tell, looking at him, that he did not care about the boy. All that mattered was his sick fantasy of finding the treasure. "HELP!" the boy screamed again. Mr Sir seemed to jerk awake at that time, and quickly aimed the gun at the lizard. He shot and hit it. The boy was okay. But what would happen next time? Mr Sir would give anything for the treasure. Even one of his campers.
Chapter Four
What could Hector do? The dreams were just getting worse and worse. Like, he was in two different worlds. One where he was a nice college kid with a great life, and one where he witnessed crimes so horrible that he felt bad even thinking about them. He knew that CGL had to be stopped. But how COULD it be? I mean, the inspector was Mr Sir's COUSIN, and he was probably being paid or threatened into giving good reports. If only they could get the police involved! That was it!!! They should write the police a letter! Why hadn't he thought of that?! He quickly called up all of the former d~tent boys for a meeting. He told them his idea. "So," he finished, "They'll send over another inspector who could see through the plot!" "Great idea!" The other boys commented. "Why not try it?" After about an hour, here is the note they had:
Dear Los Angeles Police Station,
We would like to remain an anonymous source. But we'd like to tell you that we are very concerned about the attenders of Camp Green Lake, the newly reopened camp. We know from inside sources that these kids are neglected, and abused. We would like you to take into account our concerns, because there are lives at risk here. Thank you.
Signed,
Anonymous
Hector sealed and addressed the envelope. He left no return address.
He drove to the post office, and took a deep breath. Then, he mailed the letter.
Chapter 5
As Hector expected he would, he had a dream about the police receiving the letter. In it, a big, kind of strange~looking policeman opened it. He quickly read it over and scowled. "Yeah, sure. We've inspected and inspected, think we're gonna inspect again?" He promptly threw the letter away.
Hector sighed. So they'd have to do something else, wouldn't they? Lucky he had connections.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------
Skip ahead a few days. Hector had been busy thinking about all of his friends, and their talents and jobs. He finally had a plan that he thought would be foolproof.
First, he called Magnet. He knew that he was working as a vet in his spare time, so he asked him to release some black widows (their venom had been removed) in their college at 8:00 when they came back in a few days. Then, he asked Twitch if he'd be prepared to drive him to Camp Green Lake after a "mysterious incident" during college. He knew what a great driver Twitch was, of course. "OK," Twitch replied. He was curious, but he didn't ask. They hung up. Then, Hector called up ZigZag. Ziggy had a deep voice which was great for impersonating adults. He gave him instructions, very precise instructions. "At 8:05, you will break into the principal's office, using the keys that X- Ray will steal. You'll announce over the loudspeakers that school is temporarily canceled because of an emergency involving. umm. dangerous creatures. OK?" "Um, OK!" ZigZag replied, as curious as Twitch. But he didn't ask either. After calling X-Ray about the keys, Hector called up Stanley. Since he had pretty much been an outcast in elementary and the beginning of middle school (before CGL), he'd basically become a technology geek. So when Zero asked him if he could find a small digital video camera, he had no problem getting one. Squid and X-Ray were the missing pieces of the puzzle, they tied the knot in the plan. He called them and asked if they'd mind a long drive to Camp Green Lake on Monday. OK, the plan was all ready. Now, they'd just have to wait until Monday.
Chapter 6
"IT WORKED!" Hector reflected. "IT ACTUALLY WORKED!" The whole D-Tent group was having a party at Hector's house. You're probably wondering what happened. Well, here's a news article that explains it all.
Camp Green Lake Is Shut Down Forever, Thanks to Heroic College Students From L.A.!
On Monday, March 19, seven young men from Los Angeles, California saved a group of boys from being imprisoned any longer in the deadly Camp Green Lake. Although policemen had inspected this camp and expected it to be perfectly healthy, it turned out that the leaders of this camp, who go by "Mr Pandanski", "Mr Sir", and "The Warden" actually had a false notion that there was still treasure buried underground at the camp, and made children dig holes, just like their previous session of running the camp. So how did these seven boys save the campers? Hector Zeroni explains that it was all a matter of being at the right place at the right time. "See, somehow a group of turantulas escaped into our college." (Zeroni paused to give his companion, who wishes to be called "Magnet", a wink). "So we took advantage of that, and the fact that our college was falsely dismissed because of the spiders [he then looked at his friend who wishes to be called "ZigZag"] to visit our old camp. One of my friends [wishes to be named as Caveman] brought a video camera and the other one drove." (The driver wishes to be referred to as "Twitch"). "We all [including "Squid" and "Armpit", some more companions who also attended CGL] drove to Camp Green Lake together, and we saw how badly the poor campers had been treated. They all had bruises, and raw palms. They had been trained to go to the 'other half' of the camp, the. normal part. but they weren't expecting us. Stanley got it all on video tape: the counselors abusing the kids and then denying it."
The L.A. police might have let the insane counselors off easy last time but this time, they are debating a life sentence.
So is this article the whole story? Of course not. Some things we'll never know.