"Okay everybody, today we're going to play a game called Escape from the Monster," Carrie announced to the group of campers gathered around her. "In this game, we'll choose four of you to be the 'monsters.'" As she spoke, she used her over-exaggerated air quotes along with the word "monsters," and Anne almost rolled her eyes before she remembered she was trying not to do that anymore.
"Around our 'monsters,'" more air quotes, "most of the rest of you will form a circle. Now, the object of this game will be for one of our three 'monster hunters' to get past the monsters and steal their 'treasure.' In order to 'kill' the monsters, you have to place one of these special circles around their heads." Carrie held up a tied off piece of rope for everyone to see.
"However, it won't be as easy as all that," Dan continued for her, taking a step forward. "The 'monsters,'" apparently air quotes were infectious, "will be given 'magic stones' to fight off the 'monster hunters.'" Dan lifted up a red bean bag, identifying it as one of the so-called magic stones. "And, just to make this a little more challenging…" From his pocket, Dan produced a strip of cloth and held it up in the air. "Our 'monsters' will be blindfolded!"
"So how are the monsters supposed to know when the monster hunters are coming so they can hit them with the magic stones and protect their treasure?" one of the campers asked.
"That's where the circle comes in," Carrie replied. "It'll be up to you guys in the circle to shout out to our monsters and let them know where the attack is coming from. So is everyone ready to get started?"
Anne frowned, trying to piece together the rules to the game. Four people were going to sit inside of a circle, blindfolded, throwing beanbags at other campers while getting directions shouted at them by a large group of people? That was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever… No… Anne shook her head. She shouldn't dismiss it outright like that. The other campers seemed excited. Hell, even Rebecca, who she could see on the other side of the crowd, seemed to be interested. And hey, pelting her fellow campers with beanbags—where was the bad in that?
When Carrie called out the names for the "monsters," Anne couldn't say she was surprised to be one of the ones stuck in the middle. But she couldn't complain, seeing as the four campers who got to be armed seemed like the ones who would have the most fun in her book.
Suppressing the normal reaction she'd have to someone blindfolding her, Anne let Dan tie the cloth around her eyes as the other campers formed their circle. Carrie called out ten more names for the "monster hunters," and Anne was relieved to hear Rebecca wouldn't be among them, since she was the one person she didn't want to attack with projectiles.
Melissa on the other hand, was the person she most wished to smack, and it seemed like she was going to get her chance.
Dan blew the whistle to signal the start of the game, and Anne immediately drew in a deep breath, pushing out the sounds of discordant yelling from the circle. She didn't need their directions—not when the heartbeats of all the so-called "monster hunters" were going a mile a minute.
She caught the scent of Melissa's too-heavy perfume, turned her head, and launched the beanbag, hitting her right in the middle of the head. Melissa gasped and stumbled back, hitting the grass with her bottom.
"Hey! That was too good of a shot!" Melissa protested. "She's peeking through the blindfold!"
"I didn't see any peeking," Dan called back. "You're out, Melissa. Join the circle."
Melissa muttered angrily as she stormed over to the circle, and Anne smiled to herself, another beanbag in her hand as she sought out her next victim.
Perhaps this summer camp thing wasn't so bad after all…
"I was happy to see you seem to be catching the camper spirit!" Dan said as he walked up behind Anne after the game and clamped his hand on her shoulder.
Smiling slightly, Anne shrugged. "That wasn't so bad. It was actually…kinda fun."
"See! There's lots of fun to be had here, Annie—you just have to let yourself have it."
"I'm trying," Anne admitted.
"Glad to hear it! Now head on back to your cabin and get cleaned up for dinner." With that, Dan jogged off, and Anne made her way back to the cabin.
"Hey, Anne!" Rebecca exclaimed with a bright smile as Anne returned the cabin. "Good work today with the monster escape game."
"Thanks," Anne replied, returning the smile. "It was actually pretty fun."
"This place isn't as bad as I thought it was," Rebecca said. "I had a good time this afternoon. And you know, I'm actually sort of looking forward to the campfire gathering tonight."
"Surprisingly, I think I am, too," Anne replied, her smile growing a little. "Those songs really aren't as horrible to sing as I thought."
"I know. Sorta catchy," Rebecca said. "And more fun to sing with the group than I thought they'd be."
From outside the cabin, they head Carrie call out, "Come on, campers! Time for dinner!"
Arms linked together, Anne and Rebecca left the cabin.
"Eat, eat, eat your meal,
The better you will feel.
The more you eat,
The less you talk,
The better you will feel!"
As the dining hall broke into song this time, Anne and Rebecca let themselves fall right into step. After all, neither of them really wanted to go up front again. Besides, as they'd both started to realize, it really wasn't so bad at all.
Even the meatloaf on her plate looked more appetizing than Anne would've imagined a meatloaf would seem. She didn't think her parents had ever tried to feed her one…
Anne took a bite, tasted it, then dug into the rest of the meal with relish.
"John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt,
His name is my name, too!
Whenever we go out, the people always shout,
'There goes John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt!'
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la!"
Even after leaving the campfire, the campers continued to sing, and Anne let herself join along. Sure, the song was annoying and inane, but there was something strangely fun about singing it with the group. And with only one verse, it was easily to learn, too.
"John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt,
His name is my name, too!
Whenever we go out, the people always shout,
'There goes John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt!'
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la!"
The girls burst into the cabin, singing and laughing, and the cheer seemed to be infectious. Anne was beginning to wonder why she'd been so convinced summer camp was a bad thing.
Maybe her parents hadn't been trying to be cruel after all. They must've wanted her to come here and see how much fun good, wholesome activities could be. Because they were fun—and Anne wanted to stay right there at camp and keep having that fun.
"Hey, when it's time for lights out, let's all huddle together and tell spooooky ghost stories," Melissa said in a stage whisper.
Her suggestion made the girls around her break into excited giggles, and Anne and Rebecca were right along with the crowd.
Once they'd exhausted themselves of ghost stories, the girls headed back to the bunks to catch a few hours of sleep before their wake up call. Rebecca waited until it was quiet in the cabin before she climbed down to Anne's bunk below.
"Anne?" she whispered, reaching out to tap her friend on the shoulder. "Are you awake?"
"Yeah, I'm awake," Anne replied as she sat up, blinking. "What is it? You don't…still want to try to escape, do you?" Though it had been the most appealing thought in the world the night before, the idea of leaving the camp to spend the next few weeks on the lam no longer seemed like a good one to Anne. Not when there were so many ways to enjoy herself right here.
"No," Rebecca said with a shake of her head. "That's why I came down—to make sure you didn't still want to either. Today was really fun, and I think I'm starting to like it here. I want to stay for the whole month."
"Me, too," Anne agreed. "If anything, I wish we could stay longer."
"So do I. I don't know why I thought this would be so bad. There's all this fresh air and pretty trees. Ooh, and the fuzzy woodland creatures, too!"
"And tomorrow's arts and crafts day," Anne added, bouncing a little as she spoke. "I'm looking forward to making a yarn vase."
"Me, too," Rebecca said, grinning. "I saw the yarn—they have rainbow."
"Oh, that'll be really pretty!" Anne replied, forcing herself to keep her voice down so she wouldn't wake the other girls, despite her excitement. "And I heard some of the other kids saying we might get to paint birdhouses later, too."
"So we're staying then?"
"Definitely," Anne told her friend with a nod of her head. "I just know this is going to be the best summer ever."
Rebecca nodded enthusiastically in response, then said, "Well, it's lights out, so we both need to be asleep, I just wanted to check with you."
"Okay. Good night, Becca."
"Good night, Anne."
Rebecca gave Anne a quick, friendly hug before climbing back up to her bunk to sleep.
Anne had bounded out of bed that morning, eager to face the day. She'd giggled with the other girls as they'd gotten ready and headed out to breakfast, singing as they marched to the dining hall.
Arts and crafts time had been just as wonderful as Anne had thought, and she'd beamed with pride when both Dan and Carrie had complimented her on her vase.
It wasn't until that night when they were gathered around the campfire that Anne realized something was wrong.
Terribly, terribly wrong.
Her arm was wrapped around Melissa's as they swayed back and forth, singing a song Anne inexplicably seemed to know the words to, despite the fact she'd never heard it before. And she was cheery—peppy even.
A little voice in the back of her head seemed to push forward, fighting against a fog Anne hadn't even realized was there until that moment.
I'm never cheery. Not like this.
And she wasn't. Ever. As a matter of fact, she went out of her way to avoid anything that may have even resembled this flavor of cheeriness.
You're happy. You love it at camp. You want to stay here and be happy.
Anne shook her head. That voice wasn't hers. She took a deep breath, trying to separate her thoughts from the intruding ones. Now that she recognized something was wrong, she could feel the tell-tale signs of a spell invading her mind.
And then it hit her. The songs. They were serving as a mystical chant to work the effects of the spell.
She'd known those things were evil.
"Anne, sweetie, are you okay?"
Anne looked beside her at the sound of Carrie's voice, her eyes widening as she saw the woman's face flash for a moment, revealing something hideous and demonic before her human features resurfaced. "My stomach's feeling sort of flippy," Anne replied softly, draping her arm over her abdomen and making a face. "I don't think dinner agreed with me."
"Oh, you poor thing," Carrie said soothingly, and Anne forced herself not to flinch when Carrie put her hand over her forehead. "Do you need to go back to your cabin and rest?"
"Is that all right?" Anne asked with her most pitiful expression.
"Of course, sweetie. You just go get some rest."
With a nod, Anne got to her feet, walking weakly until she knew she was no longer visible from the campfire.
Then, she ran.