Sarah was the first one up the next morning. The sun hadn't even come up yet. She loved the woods at this time of the day. She did some of her best writing when she was alone in the forest. Of all the "alternative" schools she was sent to, she loved the wilderness schools the best. She had been a tomboy growing up and spent all of her free time in the woods, playing war, building forts, and making campfires.
She smiled as she recalled playing in the woods when she was younger. She remembered how much trouble she would get into when she got caught with matches. Man, would that make her mom mad! She was convinced that Sarah would burn down the woods at the edge of their neighborhood. But Sarah never worried. She knew what she was doing. She could build a perfect fire pit by age 6, and she always had water on hand, just in case. The woods were her escape. A way out of her life. The smile slowly faded from her face as she remembered sneaking out of her house while her parents fought. Sometimes, she would leave early in the morning and not return until well past dark. On days when the fights were bad, no one even noticed she was gone. But occasionally, they did notice, and those were the bad times. That thought made her smile disappear completely. It wasn't that her parents were worried about her when she turned up missing, they were just taking out their anger on someone else. And she was the only left.
Sarah sighed and ended her trip down memory lane. She looked around the campsite. Everyone was still asleep. She reached into her backpack and pulled out her journal. Not the one that Sophie had given her on her first day at Horizon. No, she had hardly even looked at that one since she got here. This was her own personal journal. The one she wrote in because she wanted to, not because she had to. This was where she kept all of her poems, stories, and thoughts. It was the one she had clutched to her chest the day she was brought to this school.
She opened it, and began writing:
"I don't know where you are now. And I don't know how much more of this I can take. I'm not crazy. I know that. Why did I have to be born into a family of – "
She stopped. Someone was awake now. She looked up. Sophie. Of course.
"Well you're up early Sarah." She stretched. "Working on your journal?"
"No." Sarah closed her notebook and shoved it back inside her backpack.
Sophie studied her face. "Okay. How about you help me with breakfast since you're up?"
*******
The rest of the morning was spent in silence. Sarah walked beside Peter the whole way home, but, much like the first day of the trip, didn't say a word. She couldn't wait to get back to campus. At least there wouldn't be so much isolated attention on her back at school. She could go back to blending into the background. At least she hoped so.
*******
They made it back to campus before dinner. Peter had been nice enough to give them the night off so they could unpack and get cleaned up.
It was after dinner, and the Cliffhangers were hanging out in the lodge. Most of them were playing a game of Monopoly, but Sarah just watched, as did Juliet. Sarah was sitting off on her own when Juliet came over and sat down.
"How's your first week going?"
"I've had worse," she answered honestly. And she had. Though, she had also had better.
"I know we really haven't had a chance to talk, but I, uh, liked your poem the other night."
"Thanks." Sarah wondered where this conversation was going. She hoped Juliet wouldn't turn out to be as annoying as Peter and Sophie.
"I know how you feel you know. I mean, you heard my poem. I'm a cutter too."
"And?" Her voice was dripping with sarcasm and anger.
Juliet looked slightly taken aback. "I just thought, that if you ever needed anything, I could help you out. Because we're not all that different you know."
Sarah stood up. "You don't know me. We're nothing alike. Just do me a favor and leave me alone." She turned to walk away, but not before she saw the hurt in Juliet's eyes. Why, oh why didn't Juliet just mind her own business? She didn't mean to hurt her, but she didn't want her help. No one could help her now.